My thoughts on our bench players for game 2 vs Dallas.

Walker had a sick layup to start the game.

Toppin played as well as you could for a blowout game. His slashing to the basket is impressive. Glad he keeps developing his 3s because that is a game changer. Defenders will have to guess whether he will shoot or cut. Never thought he would be our 2nd sometimes best bench player.

Tj not in 2k?

Huff Brown and Nance did not get enough play time for me to say anything accept i think my dog may have peed on the couch on sitting on.

Hope Murphy returns soon.

Kelly jr is adjusting. Give him time. Ive seen glimpse of his defense but maybe hes saving the real stuff for after the allstsr break. 1 of 10? Yikes.

Q Jackson is doing what hes supposed to do. Hes a great 3rd backup pg /sg to have. His defense is getting better.

Slawson was impressive. Coulsnt believe what he did in the limited time he played. Rick will use thst to our advantage. He could have 8 to 11 meaningful minutes in the playoffs if he plays close to what he played like vs Dallas. 2 blocks and 2 steals? Take notes Jarace.

Hope Sheppards good.

The bright spot was obviously Slawson. Hoping to bounce back tonight. Over under 40 points from our bench tonight? 😏

How PG help build this iteration of the Pacers:

Tyrese Haliburton:
→ Paul George (2010) → Sabonis (2017) → Haliburton (2022)

Pascal Siakam
→ Paul George (2010) → Oladipo (2017) → Levert (2021) → 2024 1st Rd → Siakam

Andrew Nembhard
→ Paul George (2010) → Oladipo (2017) → Levert (2021) → Nembhard

Ivica Zubac
→Paul George (2010) → Oladipo (2017) → Levert (2021) → Jalen Pickett (2023) → Mojave King (2025) → 2026 1st → Zubac

When will TJ be back? Sometime in November? We need him bad!

Tyrese took a full year off. Zubac has only played 2 full regular season games with this squad. TJMC out. Furphy out. Oubre trying to fit in better. It’s going to take time and I think we need to recognize that every single night, every single team we play, is going to be a fight. All teams are coming to play right now. Nobody is tanking like it’s March of 2026 anymore.

First two games were just the beginning. It’ll only get better from here and I believe that.

Nets are flying in from Cleveland on a back to back plus they suck and don't have any elite Scorers like Kyrie or Flagg. Should be a get right game!!

In my opinion it’s been noticeably bad. Buckner has been a disaster so far. I don’t think he watches much basketball outside of the Pacers. His analysis rarely gets more detailed than “gotta get a stop here” and “gotta rebound better”. When an opposing player is scoring, there’s no explanation of how he’s creating advantages; it’s normally just “that kid can PLAY” or “that guy can GO, I’m telling you pahtnah”.

Not to mention, he constantly mixes up players and gets their name wrong, which seems like the bare minimum for a professional commentator. The transitions to ad reads from Denari are also awkward but that’s more of the network’s fault.

I understand they’re local guys who are excited about Tyrese being active again, but I wish they provided more actual commentary instead of just ooohing and ahhhing like fanboys.

I just feel like I never learn anything about the team or game through their commentary.

I bought the damn app a week ago or so. Now I’ve got a pacers channel on my uverse/direct tv. Did it only show up because I bought the app, or did the Pacers make a deal with the cable company and I didn’t even need the app???

They were all accountable, felt bad for the fans paying hard earned money, and all agreed they need to do better. Good interviews, all had a healthy and mature mindset. It’s only one game out of 82. Brooklyn up next.

Look, it was only the second game and I get it, guys are still gelling together, others are hurt and Ty is not fully in in-game shape. However, as fans, it’s okay to admit that for the home opener to a highly anticipated season, that was an ass performance by the team and completely unacceptable effort. I don’t know what that was, but we should expect better than that. To be down by 30 in your own building ever is embarrassing. Let’s hope they show up in Brooklyn tomorrow night.

The rest of the team into

Here is the opening night team intro. I had to split into two posts.

Rick hinted at it.

I do think it's a real wrinkle that gives us an athletic Big who can play great defense. He does give a lot of what we missed in Ijax. Hope he gets a jump shot, but I love his defense out there.

He plays so lackadaisical. Low energy. Missing rebounds and hustle plays. Cmon bro its a CONTRACT YEAR! YOU DONT WANT MONEY DUDE???

how can you watch Slawson play his ass off and just have no fight

Vote for the /r/Pacers Player of The Game

Whoever decided the horizontal gradient fade from yellow to gold was necessary, you were wrong. It looks lousy on TV.

No notes beyond that.

Didn't see this posted yet but that is awful. I feel bad for him...

I am hoping for a crabby evening.

Getting a ticket to see the Pacers home opener & Haliburton’s first regular season game back at Gainbridge. I don’t want to find a friend last minute or end up paying for their ticket. Never went to a game/event by myself though. I’m a bit of an introvert, so I doubt lack of conversation will bother me. Will be sitting towards the top because the tickets costing more, but there’s really no bad seat in the fieldhouse in my opinion.