Rick Carlisle Blasts The Pacers After Blowout Loss In Game 5

After evening the series in Indianapolis on Sunday, the Pacers were hoping for another W to put the Knicks on their heels. Instead, it's the Pacers who find themselves on the brink of elimination. Just about everything went wrong for the Pacers tonight, who were outscored in every quarter of the game.

With three days before the next match, both sides will have some time to rest and prepare for the series ahead. For the Knicks especially, they need every break they can get right now amid a flurry of injuries that have them limping to the Conference Finals. If not for Jalen Brunson, who scored 44 points on the night, the Knicks might already be done.

The Pacers still have a chance to keep their season alive and we saw in Games 2 and 3 how potent they could be when their offense are clicking. if they can just tap into the energy they played with during the first half of the season, it could give them the push they need to force a Game 7. At the very least, they'll need their stars to step up and deliver for them to have any kind of chance. 

With 22 points and 8 assists, Pascal Siakam did his part for the Pacers but it was Tyrese Haliburton who was notably ineffective, and his lack of production in the series is already raising a few eyebrows.

Tyrese Haliburton Is M.I.A.

To start the season, Tyrese Haliburton appeared to be among the top 12 players in the world. He was on fire for the opening few months and even led the Pacers to the in-season tournament Finals, where they first put their name on the map.

But after suffering an injury about halfway through the season, Haliburton lost some of his explosiveness and he hasn't been the same since. As his shooting, scoring, and playmaking have declined, the Pacers faded from the team they once were and barely even made a top-six seed despite the state of the weakened Eastern Conference.

Even after the trade for Pascal Siakam, Tyrese has been highly inconsistent and it's carried over into this series against the Knicks. In Game 1, he finished with just 6 points in the loss and he only had 13 tonight with just 5 assists in 33 minutes.

This version of Tyrese Haliburton will never be good enough to get the Pacers to the Finals and his lingering health problems are going to keep holding them back in a significant way. Pushed to the brink of elimination, these next two games will be a major taste for Haliburton and his Pacers and the whole basketball world will be watching to see how they respond.