The Pacers play their first game of the season in front of a home crowd this afternoon when they take on the Philadelphia 76ers.

Both teams are looking to right the ship. The visitors are 0-2 for the season after dealing with injuries to their major stars. Rick Carlisle assessed that his team would face a desperate opponent in this game. Nick Nurse, for his part, isn't hiding from the fact that his players have left a lot to be desired thus far.

The Pacers are coming off a lopsided loss to the Knicks on Friday. The game can more or less be summed up by the fact that Tyrese Haliburton failed to score a single point.

Haliburton has been relying on deep three pointers to generate offense and, while those shots are within his arsenal, he simply hasn't found the rhythm in the new year. Nobody should freak out over the first few weeks of an NBA season, which historically have little predictive value. However, we can all agree with Carlisle in hoping to see Tyrese turn on the aggression and attack the paint a bit more going forward.

The bright spot from Friday was Bennedict Mathurin, again. Over the summer we heard how motivated he was to get back into action after having to sit out the team's playoff run with a shoulder injury. So far, he's backed up all the talk with his play on the court.

How to Watch

Tipoff is at 3:30 PM ET.

TV: FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan

See ya in the comments!

Tagged in:

Game Thread