Some signs of life for Pacers, but still a loss

The visiting Pacers lost to the Dallas Mavericks 105-94 Sunday night. The Pacers are now 46-17 while the Mavericks are 36-26. The Pacers have now lost four straight for the first time in two seasons.
The Big Plays
The Mavericks hit several big shots down the stretch and made the right plays, you know, that kind of thing. But the one play in this game that really stands out came midway through the fourth quarter when the Mavericks' Vince Carter (yes, he's still in the league at age 37), simply out-jumped the Pacers' Paul George (he's 23 and a pretty good jumper himself) and Evan Turner (he's 25 and also a pretty good athlete) for a rebound. Carter then dribbled back outside and threw the ball to a wide open Jose Calderon who sank the 3-pointer to give the Mavericks an 84-75 lead with 8:59 to go. The Pacers did have the ball and were down three with under four minutes to go, but Paul George missed a jumper and the Pacers never had the ball and a chance to tie it or take the lead again.
The Ups

Lance Stephenson had 21 points, including 18
in the first half, in the Pacers loss Sunday night.

1) Actually, yes, there were some good things in this one. Generally, it was good to see the return of some defensive effort after it was missing in the first quarter when the Mavericks hit 13 of 22 shots. The Pacers had been down by 17, but cut the lead to 48-45 at halftime. It was almost like, hey, there's that team that was so good in the first two months of the season again. So, you know, it's still there and even though this game was a loss, the Pacers at least made Dallas work for the win (the Mavs shot just 39 percent after the first quarter), unlike what had happened in their previous two loss at Charlotte and Houston.
2) When the Pacers were having a lot of their success early in the season, Lance Stephenson and Paul George were significant players in the offense. That's something that has been missing in this losing streak. But a piece of good news Sunday night is that George scored 27 points on 8 of 14 shooting and Stephenson had 21 points, including 18 in the first half, on 8 of 10 shooting. George also finished with 11 rebounds and just one turnover. However, as has been his problem at times this year, Stephenson finished with six turnovers.
The Downs
1) Well, yes about those turnovers. The Pacers finished as a team with 20 turnovers and that's a number that's hard to win with. Seven of them came in the third quarter, where the Pacers did briefly lead in this game, only to help the Mavericks take the lead for good.
2) The bench, especially without C.J. Watson in the last five games, has had its issues and Sunday was one of those nights. On the offensive end, the Pacers scored just four points on 1 of 9 shooting from the field. On the defensive end, without the quicker Watson to defend the Mavericks' Devin Harris, it led to Harris scoring a season-high 20 points on 6 of 9 shooting and the Mavericks bench scored 41 overall. It doesn't seem to matter which team Harris is with, the Nets, Hawks, Jazz, Mavs, he's been a Pacer killer for years. It's just predictable and hard to watch. And while Turner is still in an adjustment period with the Pacers, he needs to be a factor on offense in a close game when they need him too.
Afterthoughts
Well, there is no joy in losing four in a row. There were, however, some steps in the right direction in this one. The Pacers actually shot better than the Mavs at 47.8 percent to 44.4 percent, but partially because of those turnovers, the Pacers had 14 less attempts. So, at least there was some kind of defensive effort in this one. It would have been good to see George and Stephenson play a little smarter on defense at times though. When they both had to leave in the third quarter after picking up their fourth fouls, that was a key moment in this game too and the Mavericks did take advantage of it. The Pacers do have a good shot of ending this losing streak thanks to the schedule giving them Boston at home next.
Next Up
The Pacers play host the Celtics in a 7 p.m. game Tuesday night. The Celtics are 22-41 after defeating the Detroit Pistons 118-111 Sunday night. Boston is led by former Butler coach Brad Stevens on the bench. On the court, the Celtics are led by Jeff Green at 16.9 points, Avery Bradley at 14.3 points, Jared Sullinger at 12.9 points and 8.2 rebounds, point guard Rajon Rondo at 12.2 and 8.8 assists, Brandon Bass at 11.1 points and 5.9 rebounds and Jerryd Bayless at 9.8 points. Rondo had 18 assists in Sunday's win for Boston. The Pacers defeated the Celetics 97-82 back on Nov. 22, 106-79 on Dec. 22 and 102-97 on March 1.