Finals to Freefall: Pacers’ Stunning Collapse Deepens in 2025-26

The contrast could hardly be more jarring. Last spring, the Indiana Pacers were a feel-good story, riding a wave of pace, youth and confidence all the way to the NBA Finals. Now, as the calendar turns deep into the 2025-26 season, that same franchise is mired in a season that has unraveled almost beyond recognition.

Friday’s 123-113 loss to the San Antonio Spurs — a team playing without its own franchise centerpiece in Victor Wembanyama — marked Indiana’s 11th consecutive defeat. The streak has come not against the league’s elite alone, but in games the Pacers once would have circled as opportunities to stop the bleeding.

Injuries remain part of the explanation, especially the absence of All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton, whose offense and tempo have long been the engine of Indiana’s system. But the Pacers can no longer lean exclusively on that rationale when veterans like Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard are still in uniform and producing.

Head coach Rick Carlisle offered a blunt assessment afterward, pointing to a disastrous second quarter that erased an otherwise competitive effort. His comments reflected the mood around the organization: there is frustration not just with losing, but with the manner in which games continue to slip away.

1. Second-Quarter Slippage

Indiana entered Friday’s contest knowing the margin for error was slim. Even with Wembanyama sidelined, the Spurs had more stability than a Pacers group still searching for continuity amid lineup shuffles. The Pacers’ undoing came during a second-quarter stretch that saw them hemorrhage points, miss defensive rotations, and settle for rushed shots. What had been a workable game plan early quickly disintegrated, leaving them chasing the scoreboard the rest of the night. Carlisle did not sugarcoat the issue afterward, calling the second quarter “the killer” and stressing the need for consistency across all four periods. In his view, execution — not effort — is becoming the central problem. The coach also acknowledged the cumulative toll of injuries and a relentless schedule against quality opponents. Yet even with those caveats, the message was unmistakable: Indiana is failing in the details that separate a competitive team from a broken one.

2. Stars Without Spark

The Pacers built their recent success on a formula of speed, ball movement and trust in their lead guard. With Haliburton out, the burden has shifted heavily onto Siakam and Nembhard to keep the offense afloat. Siakam has delivered steady numbers, but his impact has been muted by a lack of spacing and rhythm around him. Defenses are loading up on the post and daring Indiana’s supporting cast to beat them, a challenge the Pacers have rarely met. Nembhard, meanwhile, has been asked to orchestrate the offense under conditions that do not suit his natural role. Without Haliburton’s gravity, Indiana’s attack has become predictable, often devolving into isolation late in the clock. The result is a team that can look competitive in spurts, only to unravel when it fails to score through its sets. For a roster that reached the Finals by overwhelming opponents with tempo and cohesion, the stagnation has been stark.

3. Searching for a Way Forward

There is one silver lining amid the wreckage. Thanks to a shrewd trade with the New Orleans Pelicans, Indiana controls its own 2026 first-round pick, giving the front office a potential avenue to restock talent. That asset, however, does little to solve the immediate problems on the court. The Pacers still have to navigate the rest of this season with a depleted roster and a locker room trying to rediscover purpose. Carlisle continues to emphasize fundamentals — execution, consistency and attention to detail — as the building blocks for a late-season reset. Whether those words can resonate with a team battered by weeks of losses remains uncertain. For now, the Pacers are left to endure the reality of their freefall, hoping that the lessons learned in a brutal winter will somehow inform a better spring ahead.