The Indiana Pacers are trending because their home opener on Friday, October 23, 2026 turned into a heavy 121–105 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The game was meant to be Tyrese Haliburton's celebratory home return after a right Achilles tear suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 Finals, and instead it became a national talking point about how badly the night went. Indiana was outplayed from the opening quarter and never seriously threatened the result.
Haliburton had spent about 16 months rehabbing the right Achilles tear he suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 Finals, per the Indianapolis Star. Two nights earlier, on Wednesday, October 21, he had 23 points and 12 assists in a 123–120 road win at New Orleans, including 13 points in the fourth quarter, according to Axios. That made his first home game back a genuinely emotional event for the franchise and its fans.
Against the Mavericks, Haliburton finished with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists on 8-for-17 shooting, according to Yahoo Sports. He missed all four of his three-point attempts, so the scoring line came without the outside shooting that usually defines his game. The team was also outscored badly during the stretches when he sat on the bench.
Indiana trailed 44–27 after the first quarter and 77–43 at halftime, having been down by as many as 37 points, per the Indianapolis Star. The Pacers won the second half 62–44, but that only trimmed the final margin to 16. CBS Sports and Yahoo Sports both framed the game around a first half that removed any realistic chance of a comeback.
Indiana shot just 7-of-32 from three-point range and committed 19 turnovers, 13 of them in the first half, which handed Dallas 22 points. Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 23 points but also gave the ball away 5 times. Those two categories — missed threes and live-ball giveaways — are the clearest statistical explanation for the deficit.
After the game, head coach Rick Carlisle said it
Carlisle described the problem as attitude and disposition, noting that for two straight games the team had not had what it needed in the first half, and said plainly that it was not okay. He also acknowledged being booed by the home crowd and took responsibility, saying he did not have his players ready to play. That kind of public self-criticism from a head coach is a large part of why the story traveled beyond Indiana.
Ben Sheppard could miss extended time with a left meniscus injury, T.J. McConnell missed all of training camp with a hamstring problem and remains out, and Aaron Nesmith is working back from a hamstring strain, per the Indianapolis Star. A rotation missing multiple guards and wings puts more load on Haliburton and Siakam early in the season. It also limits how much Carlisle can change lineups while the team searches for a working combination.
Kelly Oubre Jr. shot 1 of 10 from the floor against Dallas and is averaging 3.5 points on 20 percent shooting through two games, according to Yahoo Sports. That is a small sample, so it is a description of a cold start rather than a verdict on his season. Still, with other rotation players injured, his struggles have drawn extra attention.
Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg left in the second half with left shoulder soreness after a flagrant foul by Nesmith, per the Associated Press. He had 14 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals in 17 minutes before exiting, according to CBS Sports and Yahoo Sports. Because Flagg is one of the league's most discussed young players, his injury became its own headline alongside the Pacers' loss.
Kyrie Irving scored 24 points on 8-for-15 shooting, including 5-of-10 from three, and PJ Washington added 20 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks, per CBS Sports. Dallas built its lead early and had enough scoring to absorb Indiana's second-half run. The Mavericks' efficiency contrasted sharply with Indiana's 7-of-32 night from beyond the arc.
Andrew Nembhard scored 16 points, Ivica Zubac had 9 points and 11 rebounds, and Obi Toppin added 13, according to Yahoo Sports. Siakam's 23 points came with those 5 turnovers, making him the highest-scoring Pacer in a game that was already decided by halftime. The spread of scorers shows the problem was not a single player's off night but a collective first-half collapse.
Indiana went 19-63 in 2025-26, the worst record in franchise history, one season after going 50-32 and reaching Game 7 of the 2025 Finals, per Yahoo Sports. That swing means every early-season result this year is read against the question of whether the team has actually recovered. A home opener like this one feeds the worry rather than quieting it.
CBS Sports experts placed Indiana between third and eighth in the Eastern Conference, while Yahoo projected the team eighth and pointed to its defense as the concern, according to Axios. Those are projections made before the season and they already look optimistic next to a 37-point first-half deficit. The range itself shows how much uncertainty surrounds this roster.
Yahoo's projection of eighth in the East cited defense, and the Dallas game fit that concern: Indiana gave up 77 first-half points and 121 overall. A team that shoots poorly from three and turns the ball over 19 times puts even more pressure on its defense, because opponents get extra possessions and transition chances. Fixing the defensive end is the more direct route to making the offense look better.
Indiana also debuted its new statement-edition uniforms, a gold gradient design with pinstripes, and Caitlin Clark was in attendance, per the team site. Those details widened the audience for the night beyond people who follow the Pacers' rotation. They also made the contrast sharper between the celebratory staging and the result on the floor.
A hyped homecoming for a franchise player, a 37-point first-half deficit, and a head coach saying publicly that his team was not ready to play is a combination that travels well beyond local coverage. The Associated Press, CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, Axios and the Indianapolis Star all covered parts of it. The volume of coverage, not any single play, is what pushed the Pacers into wider trending conversations.
With McConnell and Nesmith unavailable and Sheppard potentially out for a while, Carlisle is working with a thinner backcourt and wing group than he planned. That makes Haliburton's minutes management more delicate in his first weeks back from a serious Achilles injury. It also means the team's early struggles may partly reflect availability rather than only effort, even though Carlisle framed the problem as attitude.
Indiana's next game is Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets, according to the team site and Yahoo Sports. A road game against a weaker opponent gives the Pacers a chance to show whether the Dallas first half was an aberration or a pattern. The result will shape how the same story is written a week from now.
The Pacers will stop trending when either the first-half effort improves or the results change, and the next few games will show which comes first. Watch the first-quarter margin, the turnover count and the three-point shooting, because those three numbers explain the Dallas loss most directly. Watch Haliburton's minutes and efficiency too, since his return is the reason the spotlight is on at all.
