The Indiana Pacers are off to an uneven start in the first week of their 2024-25 regular season.

After an encouraging overtime win over the mighty Boston Celtics (in a rematch of the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals) on Wednesday, Indiana managed to build its record to a semi-respectable 2-3. All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton, the team’s best player last year and its bright future star, has struggled mightily as a shooter thus far. The 6-foot-5 Iowa State product is averaging just 14.6 points on a brutal .346/.250/.667 slash line, 6.6 assists and 5.0 rebounds during his first five games.

Former two-time All-NBA power forward Pascal Siakam has been the club’s best player this year. The 6-foot-8, 30-year-old veteran is averaging an encouraging 20.6 points on shooting splits of .547/.458/.625 (that would be, by far, his best 3-point conversion rate on a full season – on 4.8 attempts). !), plus 7.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 0.8 steals per night. These numbers generally match his averages since 2019-20 – he’s scoring 22.6 points with .486/.338/.770 shooting times, 7.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.0 steals and 0 .6 blocks per fight.

Now the Pacers have been completely demoted in a recent league-wide team power rankings from Stephen Noh from sports newsmoving five spots on its preseason list to No. 17.

“Tyrese Haliburton had a rough start,” Noh admitted. “He made a highly contested miracle 3 to send the Pacers into overtime against the Sixers and had his first good game in Monday’s loss to the Magic, but he made just 26.5 percent of his 3s averaging 14.0 points per game. His timing seems very bad.

Noh also observed that the team, which thrived on a running scoring style last season en route to the Eastern Conference Finals, declined in that aspect this year.

“That transition offense that defined their path to the Eastern Conference Finals last season is gone – they 22nd in the league on average before shooting,” Noh wrote.

Head coach Rick Carlisle implemented an outstanding offense that helped Indiana to a 47-35 record and that aforementioned Eastern Finals appearance, with an emphasis on movement and shot. However, it was all orchestrated by Haliburton, and if he doesn’t reach that All-NBA level, the club’s upside is in trouble.

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