The first three games have been a rollercoaster ride for an Indiana Pacers team that's looking to cement themselves as one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. And on Monday night, the Pacers continued to show that this rollercoaster may long continue as they remain one of the biggest glass cannons in the league — they can score at will but their defense is shaky at best. They allowed Paolo Banchero to carve them up to the tune of 50 points on the night in a 119-115 loss to the Orlando Magic.

Now, given how little of the season has passed, there is no reason for the Pacers to be majorly concerned despite getting off to a 1-3 start. As for head coach Rick Carlisle, he believes that there is plenty of reason to be hopeful about all the progress the team has made thus far through the first week of the new campaign.

“In this game, we didn't win, but we moved in the right direction,” Carlisle said, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.

Tyrese Haliburton bounces back but Pacers fall to Paolo Banchero's career night

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Tyrese Haliburton has not started off the 2024-25 season on the right foot. He went scoreless in a blowout loss against the New York Knicks this past Friday, and overall, he hasn't looked like his usual self. But on Monday night, Haliburton did get back on track, tallying a near triple-double with 19 points, nine rebounds, and 10 assists.

But with the night Paolo Banchero had, the Magic were always going to be a difficult team to beat. But as has been the case for the Pacers under Rick Carlisle's tutelage, defense took a backseat on Monday night. Banchero was a mismatch problem that Indiana could not solve, and it's not like the Pacers are going to be anything close to a lockdown defensive team by any means as they did not make any major changes to their personnel from last season.

The Pacers' next run of games continues to be unforgiving. They will look to get back to winning ways against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, and that contest will be followed up with games against the New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, and a rematch against the Magic (in that order).