Pacers collapse during final 18 minutes in Atlanta with defense to blame

AVOIDING THE SNOW, Ind. – The Pacers and Hawks tipped off their game on Monday six hours early thanks to poor weather conditions impacting the United States. And it's a good thing, too, because the Pacers were getting weaker by the hour after the 1:30 p.m. start.

The first quarter? Pacers +4. In the second? Pacers Dead even. Then... uh oh. The Pacers were outscored by seven in the third frame and 13 in the fourth. They completely collapsed, and (joking) had the game started on time that trend may have been more damaging.

In all seriousness, the Pacers imploded. With six minutes to go in the third quarter, they were ahead by 15 points at 85-70. They were behind at the end of the frame and never led again. Atlanta outscored them 62-31 in the final 18 minutes of play.

Circle City Spin

The Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever, up close

Circle City SpinTony East

Head coach Rick Carlisle shared postgame that the team watched the final six minutes of the third quarter in the locker room immediately after the game. He called it the "decisive period" as the Hawks capitalized on poor decision making and missed shots.

It coincided with subsituations, a trend in this game. Pascal Siakam scored with 6:16 on the clock in the third quarter to give the Pacers a 15-point lead. He went to the bench as a part of his usual substitution pattern seven seconds later. The game instantly flipped.

Atlanta scored twice inside of 12 feet, then hit two free throws. After T.J. McConnell scored, the Hawks got to the cup two more times. Indiana's lead had been slashed down to seven. It was nine when Siakam re-entered the game with 3:45 on the clock. He rested for 2.5 minutes and the Pacers gave up four baskets – and momentum. They were trailing by the end of that third quarter as the Siakam-plus-bench groups struggled.

The first quarter was similar, though much less dramatic. With 6:55 on the clock, the Pacers were ahead 18-11. Siakam went to the bench. 33 seconds later, the Pacers lead was three. Siakam sat for 2:12 and re-entered with a smaller edge (seven), and the lead was four by the end of the period. (This game flow is becoming familiar...)

This isn't to say that Siakam did anything wrong or that the Pacers regular rotation was off in some way. If anything, some players returning from injury and a small-ball starting lineup made the minutes distribution for this game hard to predict, and Siakam has capably lifted bench units all season long.

Not this time. T.J. McConnell, Ben Sheppard, Bennedict Mathurin, and one of the team's centers made up the Pacers second unit in Atlanta, and that group really struggled on the defensive end. Mathurin (in the first half) and McConnell kept them afloat offensively. But after Mathurin's hot start faded, they didn't have enough scoring to make up for flimsy defense. They've been good-enough on the less glamorous end of the court this season but weren't on this day.

Jarace Walker, who often plays with the bench but has started of late, was asked about the team's defense during a halftime interview on the FanDuel Sports Indiana broadcast of the game. He talked about help defense being important and preventing Hawks players from getting downhill. Yet Atlanta had open cuts to the rim throughout the second half, and they managed 56 points in the paint in total.

Said assistant coach Jenny Boucek during a halftime interview on the same broadcast: "They play with great pace... so we've got to speed up our processing."

That didn't happen in the second half. Boucek noted that the Pacers were a step late on defense in the first half despite their lead. "We know we can be better defensively," she said. They played well for 30 minutes with that level of defense. Then, the dam broke.

It's a shame, too, because the Pacers offense was solid. Their no-center unit that opened the game once again looked effective, outscoring the Hawks by 18 points in 12:27 together. In the three games Indiana has opened without a nominal center this season, they've scored 36, 39, and 38 points in the first quarter.

In general, the offensive flow was there in Atlanta. Walker was asked about the offense halfway through the outing: "I think it started with our movement," he said. "[We] did a good job not standing still."

That was clear and matches the eye test. Said Boucek, "We're getting our feel for how we need to play offense. That's a good thing."

Boucek added that the Pacers didn't want it to be a game of trading shots. And the Pacers offense held up their end of the bargain there. Siakam had 26 points, including 17 in the third. Andrew Nembhard had 13 assists. McConnell, Mathurin, Walker, and Aaron Nesmith scored in double figures. That's all meaningful.

But the defense did not do its part. That led to a late-game disaster, and the Pacers can blame that for the loss.

Welcome back, Bennedict Mathurin

Mathurin returned to the hardwood for his first game in over three weeks on Monday. He's been dealing with a thumb injury that needed to recover, and the fourth-year guard revealed in late December that his early-season foot injury was still bugging him.

It was a tale of two halves for Mathurin. He was fantastic in the first half. 48 seconds after entering the game, he freed himself from the Hawks defense with a screen and drilled a three. He spent much of the rest of the first two quarters attacking, hitting floaters and a tough layup through contact. At halftime, he had 16 points, two rebounds, and one assist on 6/7 shooting.

Outside of one added steal, those were his final stats. Mathurin went 0/3 in the second half and added a turnover on a too-aggressive drive into a defender. He played 25 minutes in his return.

Overall, the scoring volume – especially in the first half – meant Mathurin produced more good than bad. His recount of events, and if he's playing through any pain, will be telling. Mathurin's health level will dictate how much he should play and what should be expected of him in the next few weeks.

Healthy again?

Speaking of health and returns, Quenton Jackson was active in this game after missing Pacers-Thunder with an ankle injury. But the real story of the Pacers' health was how many of their top-nine talents from last season were available in Atlanta.

The Pacers top nine in minutes per game from their NBA Finals team were Tyrese Haliburton, Nembhard, Nesmith, Siakam, Myles Turner, McConnell, Sheppard, Mathurin, and Obi Toppin. Haliburton is out for the year and Turner plays for the Bucks, so the highest possible number of those players that could be available in the same game for the Pacers this season is seven.

That has yet to happen. But in Atlanta, for just the fourth time in 2026-27, that number reached six – Toppin being the exception.

That's good news for the Pacers as they try to evaluate the roster ahead of the coming trade deadline. It's possible they don't see seven all year, but any chance to see six-plus should be celebrated. Somehow, though, they are 0-4 in the quartet of games with many of their top guys available. Presuming no injury pops up between now and Pacers-Bulls tomorrow, they'll have a chance to get win number one in a healthier reality at home on Wednesday.

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