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INDIANAPOLIS — The needle drop hit in the Indiana Pacers’ starting lineup announcement, and the chorus of the “Welcome Back, Kotter” theme song played just long enough for the fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse to fill their lungs with air for what was coming next. The audio flipped again to 50 Cent’s “Many Men,” and Tyrese Haliburton ran out for the home fans for the first time since he tore his Achilles in June 2025, though you couldn’t hear his name over the deafening sound of 17,000 people screaming in unison.
Unfortunately for the home crowd, that was the last time they really got to roar. By the second quarter, the only noise coming from the fans was boos condemning the Pacers for a totally flat performance in a game that was so eagerly anticipated for so long.
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The Dallas Mavericks routed Indiana from the start, dropping 44 first quarter points on their way to a 37-point first half lead. The Pacers would rally back a bit in the second half after 19-year-old Dallas star Cooper Flagg exited the game with a shoulder injury, but this was a premium example of a game not being as close as the 16-point final margin would indicate.
“It was one of the best crowds I’ve ever seen here,” head coach Rick Carlisle said after the loss to Dallas. “But a great crowd doesn’t guarantee you anything if you don’t compete the way you need to compete.”
The Pacers needed a big fourth quarter comeback to win their opener against an uninspiring New Orleans Pelicans game a few days earlier. A few days later, the Pacers fully looked like the blitzkrieg offense we expected as they trounced the Nets in Brooklyn. On Monday night, Indiana gave the Milwaukee Bucks their first win of the season in the most jarring result of the new year so far.
“That’s what the NBA is,” Haliburton said after the game. “It’s not all fairytales, sunshine, and rainbows.”
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Indiana’s roster remains similar to the one that went to the 2025 NBA Finals, but every year is different, and it leaves this team with new questions to answer from the last time it was whole. That’s especially the case in an Eastern Conference is significantly improved….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pacers-got-tyrese-haliburton-back-120000357.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-27 12:00:00
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