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INDIANAPOLIS – The Pacers were depleted in the personnel department on Monday night and it showed on the scoreboard.

Playing without Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis and Jeremy Lamb, Indiana shot a season-worse 32.7 percent from the floor, losing 109-94 at home to the Spurs.

Offense was an issue all night for Indiana, as they missed numerous opportunities at the rim, shot 23.5 percent from behind the arc and 66.7 percent from the foul line.

San Antonio pulled away to close out the first quarter and Indiana never threatened from there.

Only three Pacers scored in double figures, with Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert scoring 18 points apiece.

Without Turner, the Indiana defense wasn’t the major problem. Although Turner’s absence right now is a right toe injury could linger (see more below).

Monday’s loss brings the Pacers actually closer to falling out of the entire playoff picture, versus the No. 8 seed.

Next up for the Pacers is a 3-game stretch against 3 of the worst 5 teams in the NBA (Thunder: 20-37, Magic: 18-39, Pistons: 17-40).

 

Three Things Learned

1. More Opportunity For Goga: We’ll get more into this below, but the latest injury to Myles Turner means that Goga Bitadze is back in the rotation. Bitadze started and played 23 minutes on Monday (before leaving with an ankle injury), scoring 7 points, grabbing 9 rebounds and blocking 5 shots. It’s that last number of Bitadze that stands out. When the Pacers drafted Bitadze nearly two years ago, they felt like the trait that would help him find a place in the NBA the quickest was his rim protection. He is starting to look more and more comfortable doing that defensively. For however long Turner is out, this is such a valuable chance for Bitadze to get meaningful minutes and try to further a development that has already taken positive steps this season.

2. Myles Turner Out Indefinitely: An already struggling Pacers defense will now be playing without Myles Turner for some time. Just before tip on Monday night, the Pacers announced that Turner would be out indefinitely after an MRI revealed that the center had suffered a partial tear of the plantar plate in the big toe of his right foot. It goes without saying what such a loss means to the Pacers and their shaky rim protection whenever Turner is off the floor. Bigger picture, a couple of thoughts immediately come to mind. Bitadze should be penciled in for consistent minutes. And then for Turner, you have a bit of an elephant in the room question. If surgery is needed, that could end Turner’s season. If that is the case, could we have seen Turner’s final game in a Pacers uniform? Such a thought will be reserved until the offseason as the Pacers must make another decision on their young big guys.

3. Show Up At Home: If the Pacers are going to make any noise up the Eastern Conference playoff standings, they must actually show up at home. Entering Monday night, the Pacers were last in the East with a 9-16 home court record (17-14 on the road). Well, they will play 10 of their final 15 games inside of Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Given the opponents on that slate, any record short of 7-3, 8-2 would be a disappointment. Obviously, the Pacers don’t have 17,000 inside of Bankers Life Fieldhouse every night this season, but every team is facing some sort of restricted attendance. Unless a miracle happens, Indiana’s nearly three-decade streak of consecutive seasons with a better than .500 record at home will come to an end.

 

Pacers Upcoming Schedule

-Thunder (Wednesday, 4/21, at 7:00 PM)

-Pistons (Saturday, 4/24, at 7:00 PM)

-@Magic (Sunday, 4/25, at 8:00 PM)

-Trailblazers (Tuesday, 4/27 at 7:00 PM)

-Nets (Thursday, 4/29 at 7:00 PM)

 

Eastern Conference Playoff Picture

1. 76ers (39-18, .684)

2. Nets (38-19, .667)

3. Bucks (35-22, .614)

4. Hawks (31-26, .544)

5. Celtics (31-27, .534)

6. Knicks (31-27, .534)

 

Play-In Teams

7. Heat (30-28, .517)

8. Hornets (28-28, .500)

9. Pacers (26-31, .456)

10. Bulls (24-33, .421)

 

Outside Looking In

11. Wizards (24-33, .421)

12. Raptors (24-34, .414)

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