Injuries and cuts arrive as the Pacers second-quarter woes grow out of control

A DOWNTOWN INDY COFFEE SHOP – Do I even need to write the words any more? The Pacers went down to Orlando on Sunday to battle the Magic. They put together 39 good minutes and nine awful ones. They lost again. That's the same story you've read many times of late.

This one was among the most extreme versions of that story. The Pacers' biggest lead of the night (12) and the Magic's (13) both came in the same quarter of the game. With 11 minutes left in the second period, the Pacers were up 41-29. Another great start. Then, with about two minutes until halftime, the Magic were ahead 63-50. Orlando was up 11 at halftime.

For basically nine minutes, Orlando dominated. They scored 34 points and conceded nine. Both numbers are appalling for a nine-minute stretch of NBA basketball. 34-9 Magic. The other 39 minutes of the game were 116-101 Pacers. 39 minutes of +15 play, and the Pacers lost again, their 12th in a row.

Circle City Spin

The Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever, up close

Circle City SpinTony East

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle admitted postgame that the 17-0 Magic surge in the middle of that nine-minute span was the difference in the game. "The stretch in the second quarter, that’s what we’ve got to address. Any kind of long offensive or defensive droughts. And most of the time they’re related," he said. "You’ve got bad droughts on offense; it’s probably your defense isn’t doing a good enough job, and vice versa. We’ll look at all of this stuff."

It's an undeniable trend. Across their last 12 games (the length of the team's ongoing losing streak), the Pacers have the worst second-quarter net rating in the NBA. -27.4 points per 100 possessions is a shocking number to read. That's also hard to make up for across three other quarters.

Recently, the Pacers have gotten off to pretty good starts. They did in Orlando, too. It doesn't matter if they get punked in the second quarter every time. And this hasn't been a "the bench always blows it" or "the starting lineup stinks when they come back in" thing. It has been lineup independent.

"Too many turnovers. 13 points off of our turnovers," Pacers assistant coach Johnny Carpenter said of the second quarter during an interview at halftime on the FanDuel Sports Indiana broadcast. "And then we were fouling at the end of drives... we've got to defend without fouling."

Carpenter said his team needed to show their hands and not swipe down as much. The Pacers had four turnovers in the second quarter and sent the Magic to the foul line for 14 free throws. There was no discipline in any phase of the game.

And then, in the second half, back to normal. Pascal Siakam dominated. Andrew Nembhard hit everything. Aaron Nesmith and Micah Potter were effective. The Pacers scored 69 points and actually ended up taking the lead for a moment in the fourth quarter.

They lost, obviously. But if that nine-minute disaster stretch was just seven minutes? Or it wasn't 34-9 and was instead something like 25-9? The Pacers probably win in Orlando.

Those are the margins the team is dealing with right now. They need their worst stretches to go from disaster to simply awful. Or merely bad. They'd be winning if not for the degree to which the bottom falls out right now.

Instead, they've lost 12 games in a row. And since December 26, they've given up 40+ points in the second quarter three times. Yikes. It's a major problem, and it just cost the Pacers another game.

Bennedict Mathurin, out again

Bennedict Mathurin has a sprained right thumb. He didn't play in Orlando and is out going forward.

"When we're down numbers, it becomes more challenging. We've gotten some guys back, but now Mathurin's out for a while. We've just gotta go day to day, game to game, whistle to whistle and do the very best that we can," Carlisle said pregame with a slight nod to Mathurin's timeline.

First of all, the Pacers will label this as "ugh". One of the most important players for them to evaluate this season is out again. One of their better players is out again. That all, obviously, stinks.

Secondly, given reporting from various outlets since this injury was revealed, it seems as if the thumb was bothering Mathurin for some time. That, combined with his toe injury, would explain some of Mathurin's recent performances. He is currently shooting a career-low percentage from the field and is shooting less than 37% from the field across his last 11 games. Right before that, he had two awesome outings just before the NBA Cup break.

In a contract year, I understand Mathurin looking to play through injury and trying to put together strong performances. You have to be on the floor to produce and play well – and thus get paid in free agency. At the same time, if he's too hurt to play well, recovering helps both Mathurin and the team. He's the best Pacer with an expiring contract this season, so his health status ahead of the trade deadline, which is in less than a month, is worth keeping an eye on.

Tony Bradley, waived

Tony Bradley has been waived. It happened yesterday, meaning he's currently in the waiver process and can't be added on a 10-day deal ahead of Pacers-Cavs. So, the team won't have Bradley or Isaiah Jackson (concussion) tonight.

Bradley's waiver is all about the contract guarantee deadline. I covered it here and here. In short – NBA players on partially or non-guaranteed contracts will either be waived by/before Wednesday, or their contract will be fully guaranteed for the rest of the 2025-26 season, even if they are waived.

Bradley's deal this season had no money guaranteed, so cutting him now saves the Pacers $1.55 million (ish) against the cap. Given their murky trade deadline plans, adding more distance between their spending level and the luxury tax line will be helpful.

I will add two opinions here. Micah Potter's contract is also non-guaranteed, but the fact that Bradley was waived suggests Potter will be retained. Deserved, certainly, he's been great. However, a similar thing happened with Keifer Sykes a few years ago. He didn't get waived, then wasn't as good post-guarantee date. That said, Potter has much more of a track record than Sykes did at the time. Keeping Potter and guaranteeing his contract for the rest of the season makes good sense to me.

Also, especially with Isaiah Jackson currently concussed, I wouldn't be surprised if Bradley is brought back on a 10-day deal after he clears waivers. The Pacers cut James Johnson in 2024, then brought him back on two 10-day contracts before re-signing him for the rest of the season in early February. It gave them more trade and financial flexibility. That could be a path here with Bradley and makes good sense to me.

A roster spot, especially now that 10-day deals are a tool teams can use, is useful for the Pacers. At some point this season, they need to take a look at as many players as possible to see who could be a long-term fit. What if they find another Potter? Perhaps the next Oshae Brissett, or even just another Bradley-level guy? I assumed the Pacers would waive one of Potter or Bradley, and once Potter earned the starting center job a Bradley waiver became logical.

Bradley and Potter actually played together in a semi-competent lineup in Orlando. The now-waived Bradley had one rebound and one block in the game. The most "Tony Bradley" stat line possible for his final game on his old contract. Without him, the Pacers will try to end their franchise-longest losing streak and beat the Cavs on Tuesday.

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