Rick Carlisle’s ‘tough’ confession after Giannis Antetokounmpo’s dagger

The 2025-26 Indiana Pacers the roster has nowhere near the quality it had to end the 2024-25 campaign. Tyrese Halliburton was already slated to start the year, making it difficult for them to be much of a threat to begin with, but The Pacers have suffered a flood of injury problems it can already kill their season before it even has a chance to get going.

But on Monday night, they faced their rival Milwaukee Bucks at home and smelled blood — coming back from a double-digit deficit to tie the game at 115 thanks to an Aaron Nesmith layup in the dying embers of the game. The Pacers put up such a wonderful fight, only to fall to a Giannis Antetokounmpo fadeaway from about 20 feet at the buzzer, handing them a 117-115 loss, their sixth loss in seven games to start the new campaign.

In an already challenging season for the Pacers, the last thing they need is another one to pile on the adversity they’re already having difficulty overcoming. But for the head coach Rick Carlislehe and his team just have to keep pushing through this mountain of trouble and maybe see the light at the end of the tunnel at the end of the day.

“This is all you can ask for. We were down by double figures again in the fourth quarter. We came back to tie it. This time it’s tough, but it’s important. We all have to keep our eyes on the ball and keep fighting,” Carlisle said, per Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star.

It’s not entirely clear how much fight these Pacers have left in them, as such a loss must be very demoralizing. But as long as Carlisle is at the helm, don’t expect this Indiana team to simply throw in the towel.

The Pacers are running on steam amid a 1-6 start

Just to show how much injury trouble the Pacers have had to deal with this season, five of their rotation players during the NBA Finals were against the Bucks on Monday night. Halliburton is joined by TJ McConnell, Andrew Nembhardt, Benedict Maturin and Obi Toppin. Carlisle, trying to cook up something to keep the Pacers alive, played 13 players in a 117-115 loss to the Bucks.

The good news is that the Pacers reclaimed their 2026 first-round pick, so if they can’t land him, they’ll have a high lottery pick in what many expect to be a stacked draft.