The Indiana Pacers’ defense, lacking two key players, falls short against the Toronto Raptors once more.

The Indiana Pacers’ defense, lacking two key players, falls short against the Toronto Raptors once more.

Now that Thanksgiving has here, the Indiana Pacers are officially the NBA’s worst defense.

The Pacers were ranked 29th coming into Wednesday night, but thanks to a strong defensive effort by the Charlotte Hornets against the Washington Wizards and Indiana’s defeat against the Toronto Raptors, they are now ranked 30th. Of course, the Pacers have the top offense in the NBA and are 8-6.

They’re hardly a terrible team. However, their terrible defense has been the difference between eight victories and ten or twelve so far this season.

We occasionally struggled at crucial periods when we needed to be strong with the ball and strong defensively.

After the game, Rick Carlisle, the head coach of the Pacers, said, “It cost us.” As things stand, the blue and gold are allowing the seventh-best effective field goal % in the league while also conceding the second-highest free throw rate.

For the most part, they have been successful in their season-long attempt to outscore opponents. It is a component of who they are.

But Indiana would become much more dangerous even if they were to move up to the 22nd spot in defense. Even a little bit better defense would have won them the game against Toronto.

It would only take them one more stop to finish it, but they were unable to locate it. Prior to the match,

That includes the game against the Raptors last night. The Raptors’ large wings and forwards presented challenges for the Pacers, and their double teams performed poorly most of the evening.

In the postgame, Buddy Hield mentioned the club’s difficulties against Toronto’s frontcourt and mentioned that there were communication problems on the squad.

To see the embedded media, view the original article. Haliburton Tyrese concurred.

“It was difficult for us to contain Pascal Siakam. We’ve struggled all year to get big wings,” Haliburton remarked.

Sincelosing Taddeus Young in 2019, the blue and gold have faced challenges from bigger wing players. Since then, their finest wing stoppers outside of the current team have been T.J.

Warren and Torrey Craig. “Ultimately, it came down to just, we got outrebounded by 15 [and] didn’t get enough stops when we needed to,” Haliburton stated.

The Pacers, according to Haliburton, were also failing to finish possessions defensively, and Toronto managed 13 offensive rebounds.

Indiana has struggled with it a couple times this season; they are giving up the 10th-highest number of offensive rebounds.

On Wednesday, the Pacers were without Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith, two of their greatest defenders. That was really painful.

Nembhard could have had the Raptors guards work harder that night, and Nesmith would have been a terrific addition against Toronto’s wings. It was harder when I missed them.

“Not having them hurt, because they’re two of our best defenders,” Haliburton remarked. “We wish we could have those guys, but the thing we messed up is communication,” Hield said.

Hieldmakes an important argument. Indiana needed to improve even if they lacked skill.

They lost a game that they had opportunities to win. The Pacers’ outstanding offensive can only help them come closer to greatness.