by Jordan Morey
In a game featuring 22 lead changes, where neither team led by more than a point at the end of each of the first three quarters, the new-look Charlotte Hornets outlasted the Indiana Pacers in the Queen City.
The Hornets (12-41), which acquired five new players before last week’s trade deadline, topped the Pacers (30-25) 111-102 at Spectrum Center on Monday.
Indiana trailed by one at the start of the fourth quarter, but one big run for the Hornets created enough distance. In the final frame, the Hornets shot 61.1 percent for 30 points while holding the Blue & Gold to 22 points on 47.6 percent shooting.
With the loss, the Pacers and Hornets split their season series 2-2.
“We didn’t play with the kind of urgency from start to finish that we needed to have,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s as simple as that. We talked a lot about their (trades) and how they played two nights ago. They’re clearly a team that’s energized. We needed to match that and we didn’t.”
Charlotte shot 53.7 percent as a team to Indiana’s 50 percent, and made 10 3-pointers to the Pacers’ eight made treys. The Hornets outrebounded the Pacers 46-32 but were outscored 62-56 in the paint.
Seven players scored in double digits for the Hornets, led by 21 points off the bench from new Hornet Grant Williams. Miles Bridges scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Hornets, and Seth Curry scored 18 points in 19 minutes in his second game with the team.
All five Pacers starters scored in double figures, led by 22 points from center Myles Turner and 21 points from Aaron Nesmith. Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton logged 13 points and 12 assists, and Pascal Siakam scored 18.
“At some point as a group we’ve got to grow up,” Haliburton said. “I gotta play better. We just gotta play better top to bottom. I think we have to mature as a group. We have to win these games.”
Trading the lead 15 times in the first half, the Pacers held a 49-48 advantage over the Hornets at intermission. While the Pacers shot 50 percent from the field to the Hornets’ 42.9 percent, the Blue & Gold made just three 3-pointers to their opponents’ seven treys to start.
Turner had 15 points at the break, and Williams led the Hornets with 11 points.
Despite shooting just 43 percent as a team, the Hornets led 25-24 at the end of the first quarter. Neither team could achieve much separation early on, as there were eight lead changes in the opening 12 minutes.
FIRST QUARTER
In the first five minutes of action, Turner scored the Pacers’ first 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting while recording two steals and a block. He later hit a pair of free throws to make it 13 points in the period while also pulling down two rebounds.
A 12-2 Pacers run midway through the first quarter, which included an 8-0 scoring burst, gave the Blue & Gold a 17-12 midway through the frame.
A Nick Richards dunk ended the drought for Charlotte before a trio of threes from Williams, Tre Mann, and Bridges pushed the Hornets ahead 23-21 with 1:50 left, forcing a Pacers timeout.
While a 3-pointer by Obi Toppin briefly gave the Pacers the lead back, Curry got a layup to fall for the Hornets in the final seconds to keep his team ahead by a point.
SECOND QUARTER
The Hornets made four free throw attempts and Davis Bertans drilled a 3-pointer four minutes into the second quarter to give the Hornets a 34-29 lead.
Indiana’s starting unit then came back in with 6:41 on the clock, and a pull-up jumper from Andrew Nembhard and a 3-pointer from Haliburton re-tied the game at 36.
The teams kept the score within three points for the remainder of the half, and a Nembhard off-hand layup with one second left gave the Pacers a one-point lead at the break.
THIRD QUARTER
In the third quarter, the Hornets shot 68 percent as a team en route to outscoring the Pacers 33-31.
Out of halftime, there were six lead changes before 3-pointers from Haliburton, Nesmith and Siakam helped the Pacers to a 64-61 lead.
Indiana then stayed ahead as the teams rapidly traded baskets before Charlotte strung together a 7-2 scoring streak in the final 2:11, thanks to five points by Curry, to go ahead 81-80.
FOURTH QUARTER
After the Pacers tied the score twice early in the fourth quarter, a 10-3 Hornets run, before an and-one by Bridges and a bucket from Brandon Miller, gave the Hornets a 103-95 lead with 2:47 left.
Haliburton drilled a 3-pointer with 1:19 remaining to cut the deficit to five points, but the Hornets answered with a bucket on the ensuing possession and got a stop before sealing the game with free throws.
The Pacers will wrap up their three-game road trip on Wednesday in Toronto before commencing All-Star Weekend festivities in Indianapolis on Thursday.
Inside the Numbers
Tyrese Haliburton recorded his 30th double-double of the season on Monday.
The Hornets shot 65 percent as a team in the second half.
Charlotte turned the ball over 16 times to Indiana’s 11 giveaways.
The Pacers had 21 fast-break points to the Hornets’ 11.
Bennedict Mathurin had zero points for the Pacers for the first time in a game this season.
Myles Turner has scored 20+ points in three of his last four games.
Reigning Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month Brandon Miller recorded 12 points, four rebounds and four assists for the Hornets.
You Can Quote Me On That
“We didn’t get it done defensively. We didn’t it get done on the boards. Our offense was uneven and inconsistent, and we didn’t shoot well. A big concern for me is the defense in the second half and the rebounding. Defensive rebounding is so important … we just were not good.” – Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle on the loss
“When you’re going from a team that’s a lottery team and you’re working to become a playoff team, you’ve got to learn to be a killer. We just didn’t have that killer edge tonight.” – Carilsle on the loss
“Unfortunately, the process involves nights like this. And it’s no fun. Most positive growth comes from failure.” – Carlisle on the team getting that killer edge
“We’ve got to be better in these games. In order to win these games, we have to come out with a better mindset. It’s a bad one to drop, but we’ll learn from it and move forward.” – Aaron Nesmith on the loss
“We just have to have a competitive edge at all times. That’s something as a younger group striving to be a playoff team. It’s something we have to learn and grow through, and we will.” – Nesmith on the loss
“There’s no excuses. This isn’t the first time this has happened this season. It starts with me as a leader of this team. Our defense just wasn’t there tonight. I wasn’t good defensively tonight. I think as a whole, going into all-star break, these games matter. We have to have the right approach. I don’t think we had the right mindset tonight.” – Myles Turner on the loss
“We’ve got to be better if we’re going to be serious about winning.” – Tyrese Haliburton on the loss
Stat of the Night
The Pacers’ 102 points is the second fewest by the team in a game this season. This season, the Pacers are 0-11 when they score between 100-109 points in a game.
Noteworthy
- Tyrese Haliburton eclipsed 4,000 career points on Monday. Haliburton entered the game with 3,999 points.
- Center Jalen Smith didn’t suit up for the Pacers for a second straight game due to back spasms.
- Myles Turner passed Danny Granger (544) for 11th most career games with the Pacers on Monday. Turner also moved into seventh for most games played all-time for the Pacers in NBA franchise history.
- Pacers guard T.J. McConnell played in his 600th career NBA regular season game on Monday. McConnell is in his fifth season with the Pacers after playing his first four seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Up Next
The Pacers wrap up a three-game road trip in Toronto against Scottie Barnes and the Raptors on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 PM ET.
Originally posted on pacers.com