The Indiana Pacers found themselves on the wrong end of a blistering opening performance, giving up 49 first quarter points to the Charlotte Hornets on 82.6% shooting. The Hornets didn’t miss a shot inside the arc until the early stages of the second quarter, but even despite that, the Pacers were in position to minimize the damage of that performance by scoring 37 first quarter points themselves.
Over the course of the next two quarters, the Pacers were much better defensively, outscoring the Hornets 54-47, but even though the Indiana offense closed the gap in the third quarter, they still lost the second, being outscored 22-20.