Pacers reach franchise record losing streak with another blown lead vs Cavs
The Pacers have lost 13 games in a row for the first time ever.
INDIANAPOLIS – The previous four times the Indiana Pacers had lost 12 games in a row, they emerged with a win in game 13. Not this time. The Cleveland Cavaliers, who the Pacers were beating by nine in the fourth quarter, stormed back behind fantastic play from Darius Garland to deliver Indiana its 13th-straight loss, a franchise record.
A familiar story. In six of the 13 defeats, the Pacers held a fourth-quarter lead. Seven times, they were winning in the second half. Obviously, they lost every single time. On the nights in which they do survive their miserable second quarters, they can't finish. Now, this team stands alone as having the worst stretch in the team's history.
It's remarkable coming after a run to the NBA Finals. You can read more about that whiplash here. But something different plagues this team every night – this time, it was rebounding. And their health does them no favors. That's how a team gets up to play 13 times and loses each one, with wild inconsistency and a different group of available players almost every time.
Granted, the talent on Indiana's roster should be enough to win some of these games. But they haven't been able to and will now be remembered for this span of defeat.
"I have zero question about this group and their character," head coach Rick Carlisle said postgame. "We're not going to make any excuses. We're going to continue to fight and play hard and believe in each other and what we're doing. And it's going to continue to be next man up."
Tony East
Just like the Pacers were ahead in the fourth quarter against Orlando twice in the week prior – or against Boston, New York, and Philadelphia in mid-December – they couldn't get across the finish line ahead on the scoreboard. The Cavs dropped in 36 points in the final frame with Garland and Jarrett Allen alone matching the Pacers total from that quarter (23). The Pacers made eight shots down the stretch, Garland dropped in seven by himself.
A few Cleveland baskets, including a ridiculous one from Evan Mobley to start the final period, were difficult looks. The Pacers, meanwhile, missed all of these shots:
"I do think we're getting a couple of bad bounces. But I don't think we can make that excuse," Aaron Nesmith told me postgame. "We've won games with less. We've won games playing worse in the past. So we just gotta dig deep and find a way."
Make those and win – duh, score more points and do better. But those are shots the Pacers made earlier in that game and throughout the season. When it mattered against Cleveland? They couldn't find nylon.
And yet, the largest concern in the second half was the boards. The Cavs pulled in 30 rebounds in the second half to the Pacers nine. Cleveland's offensive rebound number (nine) matched the Pacers total. That is insurmountable, as the Pacers have learned in recent losses to the Spurs and Rockets.
"We got out rebounded 30 to nine in the second half. There's the game," Carlisle said. "There's the game right there. And that's simple possession of the ball."
And that's how it happened, loss number 13 in a row. For all of Pacers history, they've been able to avoid that number. This time, they weren't. Carlisle, as noted above, still believes in the character of his group despite all the losing. That's why he shared what he described as "petty nonsense" last week – it broke away from the norm.
When the Pacers were in Detroit earlier this season for a game that would be the last of an eight-game losing streak, Carlisle detailed his belief that the right attitude during a tough stretch is a professional one. I wanted his thoughts on if he's seeing that from his team now that the losing streak has reached 13.
"What you have to do is be professional. You have to show competitive character. You have to show amazing resilience and love and respect for the game, even when it becomes its most difficult," he said. "And we're going to keep doing that. And if guys aren't doing it, they're not going to play or they won't be on the team."
Losing is painful, and it's important that the Pacers stay together during this stretch. Any fracturing has long-term damage, and this season is only about the long-term now. The Pacers are tight-knit, and that superpower won them a bunch of games in recent seasons. It needs to keep them upbeat during this painful run of play.
"You can't be miserable. If you're miserable, you're gonna be miserable for a long time," Nesmith said. "We've got another like 40 games to play, so that's another 40 games to get better, another 40 games to continue to fight and put some in the left (win) column."
Nesmith shared that in order to keep his mentality right, he's trying to focus on doing things one day at a time and keep his eyes on what is coming next. "You can't change the past," he said. Jay Huff explained that he uses his faith to keep himself upbeat, and the team has a group that's in a bible study.
"It's hard to do. I won't say that we do it perfectly, I don't do it perfectly," Huff said of the collective group meeting the challenge that is keeping their mentality right in a long stretch of losses. "I think a stretch like this, we kind of have to. At the end of the day, we can still keep losing more games. But we can also turn things around. We can win some games. We can go on a winning streak. That's the goal."
Indeed, the Pacers can keep losing more games. But the schedule is just a touch easier through the end of January, and the team is (subjectively, in spite of results) playing better of late. A win will come soon. Staying together is the challenge in the meantime.
Tony Bradley waived, then brought back
Tony Bradley was waived on Monday, and I covered that decision here and here. It made perfect sense to me, as much as it is a bummer to see a guy who beat the odds to make the team this year get cut just before his contract guarantee date.
As I wrote in the previous post on this website, retaining Bradley on a 10-day after he cleared waivers made good sense. And that's exactly what the team is doing – the veteran big man has already been re-signed and will be available tonight as the Pacers battle the Hornets in Charlotte.
With Isaiah Jackson (concussion) still out, big man depth is needed. Fortunately, the Pacers didn't have any foul trouble in Pacers-Cavs and could get by with the Micah Potter-Jay Huff front line without reserves. That's risky to do over a longer sample, though. Having Bradley is fine, for now.
Eventually, I would think the Pacers would use their open roster spot(s) for 10-day deals in order to evaluate some younger players and see who could be a long-term fit. Especially after the trade deadline, bad teams do exactly that. In the meantime, retaining Bradley is a logical path for the Pacers to take.
Micah Potter and the two-ways stay
Bradley and Micah Potter were the focus of the Pacers plans at the contract guarantee deadline. One of them was almost assuredly going to be waived, and once Bradley was let go it seemed obvious that Potter would not be released.
That proved to be true. Potter was not waived, meaning his contract is now guaranteed for the rest of the 2025-26 season. That's a big deal for a player who had only previously signed a short-term contract during COVID and three two-way deals.
"He's just done a solid job. I don't know how many teams he's been with, but he's made these transitions before," Carlisle said of Potter. The big man joined the Detroit Pistons mid-season in 2021-22. "He's a guy that loves to play, loves to compete. He's got an intellectual curiosity for the game. He thinks the game, all those kinds of things. He does the basics very, very well. He's done some good things and we're glad to have him on board."
Even if Potter is waived later in the season, his entire $1.5 million contract will be guaranteed. He's earned it with his performance – Potter has started and few have questioned that decision.
Two-way contract players are subject to the same contract guarantee deadline as players on standard deals, but none of Ethan Thompson, Quenton Jackson, or Taelon Peter were even in danger of being waived. They are all talented, and both Peter and Thompson are on two-year contracts.
So the Pacers roster and financial outlook is basically known until the trade deadline. The questions between now and then are about learning what these players are capable of to get a better picture of what transactions make sense. They'll all try to end the 13-game losing streak tonight in Charlotte.
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