After one week of play, the Indiana Pacers have a 2-2 record and are tied for 7th in the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers had a narrow 123-120 road win against the New Orleans Pelicans after trailing by 10 at halftime, and dominated the Brooklyn Nets on the road in a 136-109 victory. They lost their home opener to the Dallas Mavericks in blowout fashion 121-105, and fell to the Milwaukee Bucks 110-102 on the second night of a back-to-back.

Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Pacers first week of play.

The Good

Assists

Through four games the Indiana Pacers are third in the NBA in assists per game with 29.3. When the Pacers are able to reach 30 assists in a game that is usually a recipe for success. Indiana is also 4th in assists to turnover ratio, which is a sign that their franchise point guard is back.

Having Tyrese Haliburton running the offense is the key to the Pacers high-assist number. He ranks second in the league with 9.5 assists per game.

Field Goal and Two Point Percentage

The Pacers are shooting an impressive 48.5% from the field which ranks 5th in the NBA. While shots haven't been falling at a high-clip from distance, the Pacers are averaging 31 made twos per game on 51.5 attempts. This puts the Pacers at 60.2% from two in their first four contests which is a great number.

Indiana is also shooting 69.4% in the restricted area (8th in NBA), 52.7% from paint in the non-restricted area (4th) and 65.2% from 10-14 feet (3rd).

Personal Fouls Drawn

This might come as a surprise to fans, but the Pacers are 10th in personal fouls drawn at 24.5 per game. While Indiana is in the top third of the league in this category, they can do a better job of getting to the line...they just have to connect on their free throws at a higher percentage.

Pace

You can't spell Pacers without "pace" and that's the way this team likes it.

Indiana is tied with Atlanta, Orlando and Sacramento for the 8th best pace in the NBA. Three of the four teams that the Pacers have played rank above them in this category, but once this roster gets healthy, an increase in pace is certain to happen.

The Pacers are 5th in fastbreak points per game with 19.5 and 3rd in fastbreak assists per game with 6.5.

Siakam and Haliburton

While injuries have been piling up for the Pacers, their two stars have been available for every game.

Siakam is averaging 23.5 points per game on 52.9% shooting from the field, 44.4% from three and a woeful 56.0% from the free throw line (more on that later). After a strong rebounding game against Milwaukee, his per game numbers are at 7.8 per game, with 4.0 assists and 0.5 steals. The team is a +1.5 in his minutes.

Haliburton has scored 20 points or more in three of the four games played. He is averaging 21.8 points per game on 51.6% shooting, 37.0% from three and 86.7% from the free throw line. As mentioned above, he is dishing out 9.5 assists, grabbing 4.5 rebounds, forcing 1.2 steals and blocking 0.8 shots per game. The team is a +4.8 with him on the court.

Because of their strong play, both were finalists for Player of the Week in the Eastern Conference.

The Bad

Offensive, Defensive and Net Rating

The Pacers are 11th in offensive rating, 14th in defensive rating and 13th in net rating.

While these numbers aren't necessarily "bad", they haven't been good, especially when you consider their four opponents they have played are a combined 3-11.

I give the Pacers somewhat of a pass because of the amount of injuries they've had, but they have not played good enough to convince me that they will remain Top 15 in all three categories.

Rebounding

A tale as old as time...the Pacers are a mediocre rebounding team!

Indiana ranks 24th in opponents rebounds per game with 49.0. They rank 14th in opponents offensive rebounds per game. They are 11th in defensive rebounds, 23rd in offensive rebounds and 18th in total rebounds.

With Zubac dealing with an ankle injury, the team will need to lean on one another and rely less on one person cleaning up the glass --but that should be the case with or without Big Zu.

Three Point Shooting

Indiana is 16th in three-point percentage at 32.7% --which is a horrible number for them. They're sixteenth in three-pointers made and fourteenth in three-point field goals attempted.

Only four players are shooting 40% from distance or greater (Sheppard, Siakam, Nembhard and Toppin) while six are shooting sub 29% percent (Huff, Jackson, Walker, Oubre, Nance and Brown). Haliburton (37%) and Nesmith (35.3%) are shooting at a decent clip, but could be better.

The Ugly

The Injuries

Not even four games into the season and the Pacers have seen five rotational players miss time.

T.J. McConnell has been dealing with a hamstring strain since training camp and has yet to return.

Aaron Nesmith missed the season opener with a hamstring strain but returned to the lineup for the home opener.

Ben Sheppard tore his meniscus against the Pelicans and is scheduled to have surgery in New York on Wednesday.

Ivica Zubac sprained his ankle against the Nets and missed 85% of that game and the Pacers matchup with Milwaukee.

Andrew Nembhard missed the game against Milwaukee with a back/neck injury.

And Johnny Furphy has been out since February with a torn ACL.

Free Throw Shooting

The Pacers rank 29th in free throw percentage at 70.1%. Nesmith is shooting 71.4% from the charity stripe and is a career 82.7% free throw shooter. Siakam is leading the team in free throw attempts with 6.3 but is only connecting on 56% of them. Zubac, Oubre and Walker are all shooting 50%, and Slawson is a team worst 25%.

This has to be cleaned up as the season progresses. Three starters are shooting worse than they should, and your top-two bench wings are also lower than expectations.

With the Pacers being Top 8 in fouls drawn, they have to be more efficient from the foul line.

Second Chance Points

Indiana ranks 28th in opponents second-chance points, allowing 21.8 per game. On the offensive side, they average just 13.3 second-chance points per game, which is 26th in the NBA.

The New Additions

Unfortunately, the Pacers signings of Kelly Oubre Jr. and Larry Nance Jr. have been underwhelming to start the season.

Per 100 possessions, Oubre has a -21.4 net rating and Nance has a -14.6. For players that have been in the rotation consistently through the first four games, they are dead last in this category.

Oubre has shown more flashes of fitting in than Nance, but both still have a lot of work to do as they learn and adapt to this Pacers' system.

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