Indiana finished their opening week of the season with a 2-2 record and had some unfortunate injuries along the way. Week two was doubly worse as they went winless in four matchups and added even more players to the injury report.

Before their nationally televised game against LeBron James and the Phialdelphia 76ers, the Pacers announced that Tyrese Haliburton had a hamstring strain and would be out at least two weeks. His status moving forward would be week-to-week as it was a mild strain.

Coach Carlisle shared that Ben Sheppard had successful surgery to repair a torn meniscus and later clarified on his weekly radio segment that he was unsure if Sheppard would return this season.

The Pacers rallied together for a gritty effort against the 76ers, but unfortuantely fell short as they could not cotain Tyrese Maxey who dropped 17 of Philly's 39 fourth-quarter points. They lost this battle 114-109, but the effort was there and it looked like there would be momentum to build upon.

They traveled to Miami for their next game and no new players were listed on the injury report. Unfortuantely, Obi Toppin had a weird back issue that flared up during the team's walkthrough on Friday and it caused him to miss the game. The Heat were at full strength and destroyed the Pacers front court with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo leading the way. It was a 145-125 blowout.

Hoping to snap a three-game losing streak, the Pacers hosted the winless Brooklyn Nets on Sunday evening. Indiana's high-powered offensive game against Miami was left in South Beach as the Pacers and Nets had a rock fight. The Nets pulled out a 98-90 victory with both teams struggling to throw the ball into the ocean all night. The good news was that no new players were added to the injury report, but Toppin remained out.

Then on Monday evening the 'Pacers' took on the Hawks. The injury report that looked so clean was now chalk full of them. Before the pregame press conferences, Carlisle shared that only seven players would play, but 10 guys would be out. Then moments before tipoff, Kelly Oubre Jr. --one of the original seven healthy players-- hurt his knee and the Pacers were down to just 6 players: three standard roster guys (Huff, Jackson and Walker) and three two-way guys (Brown, Smith and Slawson). The "Super Six" poured their blood, sweat and tears into the game, but fell short 108-104 in an unforgettable effort.

Four games were played and four losses were added to the record. Two games were inspirational. Two were forgettable.

Here is your Good, Bad and Ugly for Week 2 of the Pacers.

The Good

The Super Six

Heart. Grit. Tenacity. Effort. Togetherness. Unselfish.

It was uplifting watching these six players battle their tails off for the entirety of a 48-minute game while their top-8 -players were on the sideline in street clothes.

This group of six proved that if you compete at a high level you give yourself a chance to win any game. Guys have been battling injuries left and right, but the spirit that these six played with has been lacking all season. Hopefully the Pacers key players used Monday night as an example of how they can get better and get this team back on track.

Braden Smith

The rookie point guard got his first career start against the Atlanta Hawks. In 42-minutes of play, he recorded a double-double: 19 points and 10 assists. He shot 8-13 from the field, had 2 steals and looked like he belonged. With a shorthanded roster, the rookie took advantage of an opportunity and showed fans why the team targeted him as a target in the draft.

Steals

Indiana ranks 10th in steals during this week stretch. They are tied with the Hawks for 8.3 per game.

Andrew Nembhard

In three games, Nembhard led the team in scoring. He averaged 21 points per game, but his shooting percentage was a woeful 39.2%. He did however connect on 40% from three and made 86% of his free throws. He led the team in minutes per game with 33.5.

Personal Fouls Drawn & Free Throw Percentage

Indiana continues to be aggressive at attacking the paint. They rank 3rd in the NBA in personal fouls drawn. Last week they were 29th in free throw percentage by jumped all the way to 15th at 77.4%. 8 players shot 80% or greater:

Nesmith - 93.3%
Jackson - 90.9%
Nembhard - 86.7%
Huff - 85.7%
Brown - 83.3%
Slawson - 81.8%
Oubre - 80%
Siakam - 80%

The Bad

Assists

Without Tyrese Haliburton this team has struggled offensively. Indiana was 3rd in assists last week, and fell all the way to 21st. If that isn't a sign of how imporrant Haliburton is to the offense, I don't know what is. Indiana needs much better ball movement from the guys on the floor...and they need to hit their shots. Too many potential assists left on the board.

Turnovers

Indiana ranked 19th in turnovers this past week with 16 per game. The previous week they were much stronger in protecting the basketball...but once again, that's life without Haliburton.

Opponents True and Effective Shooting Percentage

Thankfully for the Pacers, teams have not been shooting the lights out on them despite their up and down play. Indiana ranks right in the middle of the pack at 15th in opponents true shooting percentage and 14th in opponents effective field goal percentage.

Fouling

The Pacers rank 12th in fouls committed. While it isn't in the bottom 10, they are in the bottom half of the league in committing fouls...which is usually a result of bad defense.

Pascal Siakam's Shooting

Last week was a terrific week of efficiency for Siakam, but without Haliburton and the defenses attention more fixated on him, he struggeld from the field. He shot a solid 45.8% from three but missed all of his three-point shots. He still averaged 18.7 points per game, approximately 5 less per game than last week.

The Ugly

The Offensive, Defensive and Net Ratings

Indiana finished the week with the 7th worst offense, the 10th worst defense and the 8th worst net rating.

When you lose several games, get blown out by 20 in one, and struggle to score the basketball in 2 of them, these numbers are likely to happen, This is clearly a reflectio of their injury problems and a reminder how much Tyrese Haliburton means to the success of this team.

Three-Point Shooting

The Pacers are the 8th worst three-point shooting team during this stretch making just 32.9%. While it is actually 0.2% better than last week, they dropped from 16th in the NBA to 23rd. The Pacers starting front court during this stretch of games is Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith and Jay Huff. They combined to go 8-41 (19.5%) from long-distance.

Injuries

I listed injuries as an ugly last week and there has been no improvement on this front. The Pacers health issues are a real concern and Carlisle said that the team will not bring players back before they are ready. Haliburton will be out at least another week, Sheppard is going to be out for a significant amount of time, and Furphy is nowhere close to returning.

On the positive side of things, Zubac was seen sitting on the bench against the Hawks for the first time since the Pacers-Bucks game and is questionable for the Grizzlies game. Toppin appears to be getting closer to a return. McConnell did some injury rehab work by practicing with the Noblesville Boom, and Oubre's knee injury didn't seem too serious.

Until this roster gets fully restored, it will be an uphill battle to win games. But things are pointing to the team getting closer to fully healthy versus not, even if it means they're without Haliburton for an extended amount of time.

Second Chance Points

According to HoopsJunkie.com, the Pacers rank dead last in second chance points at just 11.3 per game. The Orlando Magic are 29th and they have 12.9 second chance points per game. This is something the Pacers will need to improve on.

Last week they ranked 26th in second chance points...so that got even worse in an area it was already U-G-L-Y.

Rebounding

Last week the Pacers were in "Bad" category in rebounding, this week...they're in the UGLY. The Pacers rank 24th in total rebounds with 40 per game. They are 23rd in defensive rebounds at 29.8 and 22nd in offensive rebounds at 10.3.

Rim Protection without Zubac

The Pacers rank 26th in blocked shots. Without Big Zu, their lack of interior presence has been noticeable, despite the outlier against a smaller Hawks team who only scored 26 points in the paint.

The Record

Indiana went winless against teams that are not playing great. The loss to Brooklyn was brutal, and the way in which they loss to Miami is inexcusable. Yes, it is still early in the season, but a four-game losing streak is pathetic when you consider the schedule.

You can follow me on X @AlexGoldenNBA and listen to my daily podcast, Setting The Pace, wherever you get your podcasts.