In their past five games, the Pacers are one of the worst defensive and worst offensive teams in the NBA, hence the reason they've lost four of five.
PORTLAND, Ore. -- When he left Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Friday night, Rick Carlisle said the Pacers needed to find a way to dig deep for what remained of their western road trip after losing back-to-back games by more than 20 points to the Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz, by far the worst performances this season.
By Sunday when they watched Portland pull away with a 39-25 third quarter, they seemed like a road-weary team struggling to summon the energy necessary to keep the Blazers close. Considering how young they are, with the 10th youngest roster in the league, Carlisle hopes that's not the case, though it's hard to ignore the signs.
They haven't been nearly as good at that on the road, and they have yet to hold a team under 114 points on this trip. They're allowing 124.2 points per game in their past five games, and only the Timberwolves have given up more in their past five. They're allowing 115.4 points per 100 possessions, which puts them 21st in the NBA over the last five games.
And the Pacers can't just do that for a few periods. In the first half on Sunday, they seemed to do a good job of at least contesting shots as hard as that is to do against Portland. Point guard Damian Lillard never stops moving and neither does young shooting guard Anfernee Simons. It's even harder to cover them when getting out to them means running around or through 7-foot, 290-pound center Jusuf Nurkic.
The Pacers have never been a great defensive team this season, but they've been a better one. They have decent pieces on that end. Though it's not a strength for Haliburton, their top player, and it's a work in progress for star rookie Bennedict Mathurin, Nesmith and rookie guard Andrew Nembhard give them two strong perimeter defenders and Turner gives them one of the best shot-blockers in the league.
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