INDIANAPOLIS – With Tyrese Haliburton beginning to look like himself again, the Pacers should have one of the best offenses in the NBA. And with the regular season beginning Wednesday on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans, the team is looking to establish a defensive identity.
The Pacers' ceiling could very well be determined by their defense. The team scored at least 60 points in the first half of all four of its preseason games before benching its starters. But it also gave up at least 56 points in the first half of every game.
Through training camp, Pacers players and coaches have emphasized that recovering from their franchise-worst 19-63 season in 2025-26 will be a matter of reinforcing winning habits. The team knows that Haliburton's return doesn't guarantee them contention, and that it must reclaim its spot among a revitalized Eastern Conference.
"It's just about creating chemistry, honestly, on both sides," said Andrew Nembhard, who often guards opponents' best ball-handler. "It's about creating chemistry and learning tendencies of our guys."
A key part of the Pacers' run to the NBA Finals in 2025 was the improvement of their defense from bad to mediocre. When the Pacers made the Eastern Conference Finals in 2023-24, they had the 24th-best defensive rating in the NBA regular season. In 2024-25, that jumped to the 13th-best. After ranking 23rd last season, coach Rick Carlisle – who said the team has "made some improvements, but it's gonna be an ongoing thing" – must stabilize the team‘s defense this year.
As they are on the offensive end, the Pacers are adjusting to center Ivica Zubac defensively. Zubac, who the team acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers in February, brings something new in the paint. Zubac is not the shot-blocker Myles Turner was, but Zubac made the NBA's All-Defensive Second Team – which Turner never did – in 2023-24.
The Pacers have high hopes for Zubac as their last line of defense, albeit they'll ask him to play differently than the Clippers did. In the pick-and-roll, Zubac is used to playing drop coverage, which stations the defensive center multiple feet behind the screener and ball-handler to keep the center near the rim. The Pacers play what they call "up-to-touch" coverage, keeping the defensive center at the same level as the screener and forcing the center to recover to the basket quicker.
"Our system is slightly different than what they did with the Clippers, but he's working hard at adjusting to how we play, and there's certain things that we're adjusting because he's a little different than anybody we've ever had," Carlisle said. "So you never are all the way to your destination. I mean, there's always going to be work and adjustments and continued need for attention to detail with everything."
Said Nembhard: "We're just working on him getting up-to-touch. He's always been in a drop. I think the biggest thing that he helps us with is the defensive rebounds that end our defensive possessions, but start our offense, too."
The Pacers start the regular season against a Pelicans team that has underperformed in recent years but has offensive firepower with the likes of Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III and former Pacer Bennedict Mathurin. While the Pacers' defense could be a work in progress, they must guard well enough to win to start the year.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers on finding defensive footing before opener: 'It's gonna be an ongoing thing'