Teams need a lot of luck on their way to making it to the NBA Finals. The Indiana Pacers were certainly last season's team of fate — only for everything to come undone in Game 7 of the NBA Finals after Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles in the first quarter of their eventual defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder. That seems to have set off an unfortunate chain reaction for the Pacers, as they seemingly couldn't get any luck on the injury front.
Entering their Monday night clash against their rival Milwaukee Bucks, they were missing five key guys from last season's runner-up squad. Joining Haliburton on the mend were TJ McConnell, Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, and Obi Toppin. Any other team would have folded. But not this Pacers team. Led by Pascal Siakam, they overturned a double-digit deficit in the fourth against the Bucks, only for Giannis Antetokounmpo to drain a buzzer-beater to hand the Pacers a 117-115 defeat.
The Pacers have now lost six of their first seven games of the season, and it hasn't been for a lack of trying. They really wanted to earn this win against the Bucks, but the basketball gods seemingly don't have their backs anymore. And all Siakam could do is power through the pain.
“It's almost laughable. But it's not funny,” Siakam said, per Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. “You want to feel good about the effort, but the result isn't there. It's hard, hard time for us as a team. We just have to keep going. … It's hard to be positive but we have to.”
This season is shaping up to be a lost one for the Pacers. Nonetheless, fans should continue to count on them to give it their all until the very end.
Pascal Siakam has unenviable task of leading depleted Pacers
The Pacers are cobbling together a workable roster in the rubble caused by their injury woes. The good news is that they have multiple-time All-Star Siakam leading the way. But there are so many question marks up and down the roster that it's imperative for Siakam to be at his best every night just for Indiana to have a shot at winning.
The likes of Aaron Nesmith, Jarace Walker, and Isaiah Jackson will need to step up quickly, lest they risk burning Siakam out this early in the new season. Someone among the Pacers' guards (Quenton Jackson, RayJ Dennis, Taelon Peter) should also make the starting job theirs for the time being.
