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MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - MARCH 15: Ben Sheppard #26 of the Indiana Pacers shoots over Jericho Sims #00 ... [+] of the Milwaukee Bucks during the first half of a game at Fiserv Forum on March 15, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
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MILWAUKEE – There have only been two instances in this NBA season of a player having less than 16.5 minutes of action in a game yet having a +/- below -30, and they both came over the weekend. Indiana Pacers reserves T.J. McConnell (16:17, -34) and Bennedict Mathurin (11:54, -34) both sparingly hit the hardwood in a loss vs the Milwaukee Bucks, yet those minutes were a disaster for the Pacers. In a seven-point loss, Indiana was crushed with those two on the floor.
The rest of the blue and gold’s second unit was largely poor as well, but they didn’t quite have the same statistical outlier nights. It was an important game for the Pacers, yet they lost despite a strong outing from their starting five. The bench minutes were costly.
“Just was a pitiful performance by our bench, starting with me. It’s not going to get it done,” McConnell said after the game.
Indiana’s starting lineup won their minutes by 10 points in that game against the Bucks. The opening five with Obi Toppin on the floor instead of Myles Turner was +16. Those two groups combined to play for over 28.5 minutes, yet the Pacers were -33 in the other 19.5 minutes. When the team mixed and matched starters with reserves, they were crushed by Milwaukee.
A five-man unit with All-Star forward Pascal Siakam and four reserves lost their shared playing time by 10. A different, yet similar, combination of players was -9. A lineup with three bench players alongside Turner and two-time All-Star Tyrese Haliburton was -7. These groups show a trend that hurt the Pacers – when they mixed and matched starters with reserves, they were dreadful in that game.
“It was a struggle,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlsile said of the second unit minutes that night.
What is going on with the Pacers bench?
That one outing was the culmination of a trend for the blue and gold. Their bench, which was a weapon down the stretch of the 2023-24 season and a useful group in the playoffs, has been struggling of late. The NBA’s top scoring from last season is down to ninth this year, and their plus/minus has fallen from +0.8 per game to -1.3.
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