Candace Buckner

candace.buckner@indystar.com

Pacers at Hawks%2C 7%3A30 p.m. Saturday%2C FSI

Every game the Indiana Pacers play early this season will be viewed through the prism that they're missing three of their top six players. The current front five – CJ Miles and Roy Hibbert thrown in with Donald Sloan, Solomon Hill and Luis Scola – was not the unit the Pacers envisioned even a week ago. However, injuries to David West, George Hill and C.J. Watson (and remember Paul George) forced Indiana turn to Plan D.

Still, this distraction, although legitimate when watching three reserves get introduced as starters, cannot justify Indiana's glitches through the first two games of the season.

On Friday night, the Pacers lost too many possessions while the Memphis Grizzlies secured the 97-89 win at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Here, Indiana had a good opponent, a Western Conference playoff team, down by 13 points early in the third quarter before fumbled possessions aided the Grizzlies' devastating 26-2 run. In that third quarter, the Pacers committed six turnovers and could not get away with the sloppiness like they had in the season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers.

On Wednesday night, Indiana gave the ball away 17 times yet won by 12 points. By Friday, the count increased one to 18 turnovers but the result was far different.

"Probably to be expected but not acceptable," coach Frank Vogel said about the early rash of turnovers. "We should be able to do better than that no matter what our situation is … you've got to play the game the right way and part of that is taking care of the basketball."

For the second straight game, the starters were burdened this problem. On Wednesday, the starters committed 13 of the team's 17 turnovers. Against Memphis, again showing as much chemistry together as baking soda and vinegar, they threw away another 13 possessions. Overall, Scola (2 points, 5 rebounds) gave up the ball five times, playing the dribble-handoff game like hot potato. And neither he nor Hill (5 points, 4 fouls) played effectively enough to stay on the floor when the Pacers needed a rally. Both players sat out the entire fourth quarter while the Pacers turned to Lavoy Allen (8 points, 10 rebounds) and Chris Copeland (16 points, 6 rebounds) for significant minutes.

"They've struggled," Vogel said, while speaking about the starting unit. "We'll look at both situations. If we have to change it or we just have to play better with that group, see which one makes sense, but certainly that group struggled the first two games and we've got to do better."

The Pacers started the game with more turnovers (six) than made field goals (three) over the opening 5 minutes. Expectedly, Memphis took advantage and built an 11-point lead before the close of the quarter. However, just like Wednesday night, only the appearance of bench players – Damjan Rudež, Allen, Copeland and Rodney Stuckey – kept it close.

Against the 76ers, their faster and smoother pace changed the game. On Friday, they engineered the second-quarter comeback when the Pacers flipped a four-point deficit to a 13-point lead.

However, the positive steps made in the second quarter were undone by a stretch of mistakes through the third quarter, including three straight wasted possessions soured by turnovers committed by Scola, Sloan and finally, after a 20-second timeout, Miles. Though Sloan showed consistency while replacing George Hill with 12 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds and Miles scored 13 points on 12 shots, no starter finished with a plus/minus rating higher than negative-12. The greatest productivity came from the bench that produced 49 points.

So, how long will it take for the patchwork starting unit to pull together, play in harmony and not be outshined by the reserves? Vogel, without missing a beat, offered his answer.

"Hopefully, two games," Vogel said.

Follow Star reporter Candace Buckner on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.

Pacers at Hawks, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, FSI