The Indiana Pacers used just six players because of injuries and rest in a 108-104 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night, the earliest into a season any team has used that few players in nearly 80 years. The last team to use six or fewer players this early in a season was the Lakers in 1948, when they used just five in their third game.
The Pacers (2-6) began the game with 11 players on the sideline: Tyrese Haliburton (hamstring), Pascal Siakam (rest), Johnny Furphy (knee), T.J. McConnell (hamstring), Larry Nance Jr. (illness), Andrew Nembhard (cervical), Aaron Nesmith (hamstring), Ben Sheppard (knee), Obi Toppin (lumbar sprain) and Ivica Zubac (ankle). Kelly Oubre Jr. was a late scratch with a bruised knee.
Six Players Carry the Load
Indiana started Jay Huff, Quenton Jackson, Jarace Walker and two players on two-way deals, Braden Smith and Jalen Slawson. Another two-way player, Kobe Brown, was the lone reserve. Walker led the Pacers with 44 minutes, while Jackson had the fewest minutes for Indiana with 34.
“These guys all played too many minutes,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But they played their hearts out. … The guys left everything out there, and our fans got their money’s worth, even though we weren’t able to win the game.”
Monday marked the first time since Nov. 20, 2004, that the Pacers used only six players. That game, against Orlando, came one day after the “Malice at the Palace” brawl between Indiana and Detroit, an incident that led to multiple suspensions. Carlisle also coached that Indiana team, and he drew comparisons between that loss to a Grant Hill-led Orlando squad 22 years ago and what his Pacers nearly accomplished against the Hawks.
“People are still talking about that game,” Carlisle said. “And they will talk about this game for a long time.”
Close Finish Falls Short
The previous low for players used in a game this season was eight, by Philadelphia on Oct. 25. Over the past 15 seasons, seven other teams have used six players, almost all of them in meaningless contests near the end of a season.
Indiana suffered its fifth straight loss, a result that might have seemed inevitable before tipoff. But the Pacers had real hopes of ending the skid when Jackson stole the ball from Nickeil Alexander-Walker and converted a layup to cut the deficit to two points with 1:36 left. Jackson then missed a 3-pointer with 43.1 seconds remaining that would have given Indiana the lead. Onyeka Okongwu hit a jumper with 10.2 seconds left to make it 108-104.
Alexander-Walker scored 34 points to lead the Hawks, who avoided the embarrassment of losing to a severely short-handed team.
“I thought everybody did an unbelievable job,” Smith said. “It’s hard. I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a game where six guys have dressed. For all of us to just go out there and leave it all on the court and at least just give them a game, I think it was a big deal to be able to do that. It’s hard. You’re exhausted for a lot of the time, so it makes it difficult mentally.”
Injury Management Takes Center Stage
Some of Indiana’s absences will last weeks, while others simply could not play Monday, the second night of a back-to-back set. “Injury management,” Carlisle said before the game.
The players who sat out have a combined salary of about $193 million, while those who played make about $15 million.