On Monday night, the Indiana Pacers lost their third straight game and got off to a disappointing 1-3 start in their first week of the 2024-25 NBA regular season. Against the emerging Orlando Magic and their budding young superstar Paolo Banchero, the Pacers put up a mighty fight, but couldn’t resist a final fourth-quarter kick and some key free throws that helped the Magic ice the contest, 119-115.

Here are our three takeaways from the disappointing finale.

The third-year All-Star enjoyed his best game of the year, despite facing a two-time All-Defensive Teamer: Pacers power forward Pascal Siakam. At 39:37, Banchero He scored 50 points on 16-of-26 shooting from the floor (3-of-9 from beyond the 3-point line) and a whopping 15-of-22 shooting from the charity stripe, pulling down 13 rebounds and dishing out nine dimes. , blocked two shots and had a steal.

Banchero made NBA and Magic history, becoming the youngest Orlando player to score 50 or more points at 21 years and 351 days. He is the second-youngest player to record 50 points, 10 or more rebounds and five or more assists in a game, behind LeBron James, of course. Banchero’s big night marked the first 50 pieces of the young 2024-25 season. Given how often players score these days, it probably won’t be the last.

“Man, I’m tired. I’m very tired,” Banchero said, according to ESPN News Services. “But it was an amazing game.”

After perhaps the Magic’s second-best player, forward Franz Wagner, was ruled out midway through the game’s third frame, the onus of scoring fell even more on Banchero, who delivered with flying colors.

“It was just about being in the zone,” Banchero said. “I felt like I was in an open gym, at home, just working on my game. I felt every shot like it was going in and it’s a good feeling when you have a day like that. Not every game is going to be like that, but I I’m glad it was like that today.”

The Pacers’ newly named starting guard was aggressive defensively all night, but needed to acknowledge that the assistant referees were calling nearly all of his contacts late in the game, with the contest still within Indiana’s reach. The 6-foot-6 Vanderbilt product apparently lost his composure and was whistled for a sixth and final foul against reserve guard Anthony Black with 2:07 left. He was ejected from the game, forcing Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle to replace eighth man Ben Sheppard.

At 30:54, Nesmith finished with 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field (0-of-1 from long range) and 4-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe, four rebounds, a dime and a slam. . Nesmith left at a critical time. The Magic were in the midst of a 20-7 run that helped them rally from a deficit to a 115-112 lead. Indiana certainly could have used Nesmith’s defense late.

Indiana’s best player in its challenging first four games has been, without a doubt, Pascal Siakam. But to reach the heights they hope to reach, the Pacers hope All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton can snap out of his brutal shooting slump. That was no longer the case Monday night.

In 35:03, the 6-foot-5 Iowa State product scored 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field (4-of-9 from deep) and 3-of-4 shooting from the foul line. in addition to contributing 10 assists and nine rebounds, as well as a steal. So far this year, he is averaging a decent 14.0 points with a still brutal shooting line of .339/.265/.636, along with 5.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds. Those aren’t All-Star numbers.

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