With tonight’s 121-118 loss to the Charlotte Hornets (10-7), the Indiana Pacers (6-11) have failed to defeat the Hornets in three consecutive road games. The loss also makes it the eleventh in the last fifteen road contests where the blue and gold have lost to Charlotte.
Indiana managed to trail Charlotte by five (27-22) after the first period despite making one triple in ten attempts. In the second quarter the Hornets would pull ahead by nine (35-26) in a little over two minutes into the quarter. The Pacers would counter with an 11-2 run to tie the game up at 37 with 6:54 before intermission. Then everything would go downhill.
The momentum Charlotte took into the locker room at halftime carried over into the start of the third quarter where they started opening up a can on Indiana. Pacers Head Coach Rick Carlisle burned two timeouts within the first four minutes of the third quarter as he found his team down twenty-three (76-53) with 8:06 left in the third. Carlisle would then empty out the bench and give his starters the rest of the night off.
The reserves would cut the deficit to single digits at 102-95 with 8:38 left in the game. Charlotte would answer and go back up by 19 before Indiana finished the final 4:29 with a 21-5 run. The Pacers did have a chance to tie the game, but were unable to get a shot off in the final 16.2 seconds.
The Pacers end their three game road trip with their third consecutive loss. Charlotte was led in scoring by LaMelo Ball (32p/11r/8a), Butler graduate Gordon Hayward (25p), and Kelly Oubre Jr. (16p). Indiana was paced by Jeremy Lamb (23p, all in the second half), Malcolm Brogdon (16p), and Torrey Craig (14p).
On the bright side, Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner, Caris LeVert, and Chris Duarte all played less than 23 minutes. The starters will be fresh tomorrow night on the second half of a back-to-back in Indianapolis against a below average New Orleans Pelicans team. Coverage will begin at 6:30pm on the Indiana Pacers Radio Network and Bally Sports Indiana if you cannot attend tomorrow’s game.
