Pacers' Rick Carlisle Calls Himself Out After Game 3

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle shredded himself for his decisions in the team's 126-104 blowout Game 3 home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Pacers relied on effort and defense to capitalize on injuries to All-Stars Darius Garland (for two contests) and Evan Mobley (for Game 2), plus reserve forward De'Andre Hunter (also for Game 2) to get off to an early 2-0 record, on the road, in their semifinal playoff series.

But all that fizzled out in Game 3, with the action returning to Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Pacers actually kept things relatively close in three of four quarters — but that didn't matter much when they got roundly outscored, 34-13, in a brutal second quarter that broke the game wide open in Cleveland's favor.

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Things were neck-and-neck in the first quarter, 32-32, while the Pacers actually outscored the Cavaliers in the third frame, 34-31. The Cavaliers did outscore Indiana 29-25 in the fourth, with the game already well out-of-hand.

Per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star, head coach Rick Carlisle has taken responsibility for the defeat in its aftermath.

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"This was a very poor effort in the beginning of the game, through too many parts of the game," Carlisle said. "It's on all of us. We all own it. Very clearly I didn't have these guys ready for this, so I take responsibility for that."

Pacers All-Star power forward Pascal Siakam had a solid night, notched 18 points and four boards.