The Indiana Pacers dropped a heartbreaker on Wednesday night to the Orlando Magic 94-90. It was a back and forth game but in the end Indiana couldn’t make the big play to win.

The loss dropped Indiana to a 5-6 record on the new season, a disappointing start to the year for them. There hasn’t been much consistency from the Pacers in each game and that has hurt them on the court.

After the game, the Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle discussed a few of the biggest problems for Indiana against the Magic.

“It was a disjointed game offensively for both teams because the intensity and physicality on defense was so high. So then it becomes a mistake and we didn’t do a good job.”

The Pacers were outscored by eight points in the fourth quarter as their offense stalled. Carlisle pointed this out and how their lack of physicality hurt them when it mattered most.

“The physical level of the game increased even more in the fourth quarter,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “The first three or four minutes hurt us. We needed to do a much better job of rebounding the ball and avoiding the crowd offensively. Probably needed to pass it more. Find other ways to get it into the paint instead of trying to do everything outside of us did it from many different positions and we made it tough on ourselves.

One of the bigger problems for Indiana was their defense in the paint. Orlando outshot the Pacers 40-32, again highlighting Indiana’s struggles.

Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton scored just nine points in the loss, continuing a troubling start to the year for himself. When Haliburton has off nights, it is very difficult for the Pacers to gain any sense of competitiveness on the floor.

Forward Pascal Siakam led the way for Indiana, scoring 25 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Bennedict Mathurin chipped in 23 points and 12 rebounds, continuing his strong performance of late.

But for the Pacers, they will need more consistency if they want to be taken seriously in the Eastern Conference. Something has to change or it could quickly become a lost season for them.

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