Pacers face record halftime deficit, lose Tyrese Haliburton's return at home, 121-105 to Mavericks

First-half defense was abysmal

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was concerned about the team's progress on defense for most of training camp, and boy did that ever show up in Friday's game.

In the first quarter in particular, the Mavericks did whatever they wanted, getting into the paint at will, creating open 3s off of drives and turning defense into offense and fast-break layups and dunks.

The bottom fell out in the last six minutes of the first quarter. At the first media timeout at 6:41, the Mavs led 16-15. They finished the quarter on a 28-12 run to take a 44-27 lead into the second period, shooting 69.6% from the floor (16 of 23) including 8 of 13 from 3-point range for 1.69 points per possession. The second quarter was better but not by much as the Mavs scored 33 points on 45.8% shooting while the Pacers' offense fell into a hole and scored all of 16. The Mavericks built their lead to as much as 37 points and took a 77-43 lead into the break. It equaled the largest halftime deficit in Pacers history.

The Pacers had no answers for Dallas stars Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg, who combined for 27 points and eight assists in the first half. Flagg scored 14 on 4 of 6 shooting with six assists and was +34 in his time on the floor. He injured his left shoulder when he was fouled by Aaron Nesmith on a fast break, which is the only reason he didn't have a massive game.

Cooper Flagg injury update: Watch Pacers Aaron Nesmith commit flagrant foul, knock Cooper Flagg out of game

The Mavs scored 22 points off turnovers and 32 points in the paint in the first half. The Pacers responded with a much better second half with Flagg out, but they still couldn't guard Irving and made too many mistakes.

Turnovers a sign that the offense still isn't fully organized

The Pacers are still integrating some important pieces into the offense and with T.J. McConnell out, the second unit isn't in anything resembling sync.

And on Friday night, that resulted in a lot of turnovers, which in turn resulted in a lot of fast-break points.

The Pacers had 13 first-half turnovers, which led to 22 points. The Mavericks are loaded with long-armed athletes who can get their hands in passing lanes and get out and run in transition, so that was a particularly bad recipe on Friday night.

Some of the culprits were the Pacers' best players as Pascal Siakam finished with five turnovers, center Ivica Zubac had three and Tyrese Haliburton three. Some of those came because Dallas was being physical, but others came because plays weren't run the way they were supposed to be. The Pacers are a long way from building the cohesion they had in their playoff runs.

The Pacers didn't make the shots they did get

Even on the occasions when the Pacers' offense did work as it was supposed to, they didn't take advantage of the looks they got.

The Pacers made 39 of 87 field goals with 30 of those coming in the paint as they actually won the points-in-the-paint battle with 60. However, they made just 7 of 32 3-pointers including just 2 of 15 in the first half when the game got away from them. They battled back to within 13 points of the lead in the fourth quarter and they might have had a real chance at a comeback if they had hit some open shots. After a 9 of 30 performance in Wednesday's win, the outside shooting does seem to be an issue early.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers face record halftime deficit, lose Tyrese Haliburton's return at home, 121-105 to Mavericks