INDIANAPOLIS -- Over the last two games, the Indiana Pacers have gotten off to poor first half starts. Heading into the locker room, they have trailed by double-digits in their first two meetings -- and that is less than ideal.

If you look at the first and second quarters from the first two games of the season, the Pacers have been outscored by 17 points in three of the four periods. That's unacceptable.

After the Pacers 16-point loss to the Mavericks, Tyrese Haliburton spoke to reporters about setting the tone.

"I would say these past two games we have not been the tone setters," Haliburton said. "We've responded, and the first game it was a little more managable than today, but there's a lot of room for us to grow and get better."

Setting the tone for the game is something the starting five is responsible for and Haliburton took ownership of that.

"I really put it on that first five. We gotta be a lot better in the that starting group," Haliburton said. "I thought our second group was amazing, specifically Q (Quenton Jackson) and Slaw (Jalen Slawson). They brought great energy for us. But it was too little too late. You give up almost an 80-point first half it's really hard to win."

Carlisle was disappointed with the effort of his team in the first half and echoed Haliburton's remarks.

"It just simply comes down to an attitude and dispoisition," Carlisle said. "And two straight games we haven't had it in the way we need to have it in the first half. You get down 37 points with this kind of crowd and you geet booed, it's not okay."

During the 2025-26 season the common messaging from the team was "the standard is the standard". This is all about playing to a high-standard each and every night. Last night the Pacers performance was so poor that Carlisle said he didn't want to embarass himself by using the word standard.

Indiana's biggest issues in the first half of both games has been their lackluster defense. Dallas shot a blistering 57.4% from the field, 52.6% from three and made 13-15 from the free throw line. The rotations were often late which led to shooters being left wide-open for three.

Offensively, Carlisle said that he rewatched the first six minutes of the game before coming to the press conference and the lack of moving the basketball and playing too much one-on-one ball stood out the most with their offensive issues. This led to Dallas forcing 13 turnovers and outscoring Indiana 22-4 in points off turnovers.

Because of the stagnant offense, Indiana is not getting into the rhythm they need to for high-quality shots, especially from three. Through two games the Pacers are shooting a horrendous 22.9% from distance in the first half and 29.6% overall. Crisper ball movement and cutting with more purpose will get the team better looks and in the flow of the game.

Overall, Indiana can't afford to dig themselves into holes every game. They're a terrific comeback team, but climbing up the mountain every game is not a recipe for success. Setting the tone from the jump is the only way that they can flip the early season script.

Like Carlisle said in the postgame press conference, he has to do a better job of getting these guys ready to play. But with a battle-tested group like this, they need to take accountability for their lackluster starts and play with an edge from the opening tip.

Indiana will have a chance to bounce back after a disappointing loss against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday evening. The Nets lost their season opener to the Charlotte Hornets 110-103. They will face the Cleveland Cavaliers Saturday evening before facing the Pacers on the second night of a back-to-back.

This is the perfect opportunity for the Pacers to prove that Friday night's performance was a one-off and not indicitive of who they are.

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