Candace Buckner

candace.buckner@indystar.com

ATLANTA – Inside Philips Arena on Saturday night, one impediment after another welcomed the Indiana Pacers.

For starters, the Pacers do not play well here during the regular season, having lost 12 of the last 13 games as the road team against the Atlanta Hawks. Also, since Saturday marked the Hawks' home opener, Grammy-award winning rapper T.I. performed throughout the night, including before the game when players were forced to mill about, stretch their limbs and try to focus while a sold-out house partied around them.

And these were just the distractions before tip-off. The Pacers didn't have to wait long for another headache – losing yet another player to injury. The sum of these dynamics proved too much for injury-plagued Indiana as the Hawks took the 102-92 victory.

If only the distraction of sold-out Philips Arena presented the only problem for Indiana (1-2). Now, the fate of the Pacers' point guard depth depends on a doctor's Sunday evaluation.

"Another guy down," replacement point guard Donald Sloan summarized, "which we don't need right now with so many out already."

The team started the game with 10 players on the bench, and finished with nine as Rodney Stuckey, the only good thing to come out of the Pacers' summer, left the court with 51.9 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Stuckey has played backup point guard to great success through limited minutes, but on Saturday he aggravated the same left foot that had bothered him through the preseason. However, coach Frank Vogel described it as a "new injury." Stuckey seemed befuddled by the pain, saying after the game: "To be honest with you, I don't know what's going on with my foot right now."

Stuckey becomes the fourth active player on the roster stricken who could miss time, joining the injured trio of David West, George Hill and C.J. Watson. None of those players made the team trip to Atlanta – and that's not to mention Paul George who is expected to miss the entire season. So, roll call. Even the Pacers are losing count.

"With the five or six guys we have out, if they're looking at this game, I think they're ready to come back and fight and get in there with us," Sloan said. "I think they're really desperate and eager to get back on the court, see how we're fighting to be in games."

As undermanned as they looked, the Pacers were not completely overmatched. In spite of never holding a lead, the Pacers still competed stride for stride with their former playoff foe. So, the only silver lining that may come out of this almost biblical plague of injuries could be the revelation of the reserves. The Pacers continue to find the once-buried treasures on the bench.

Chris Copeland – the fan favorite who only appeared in half of the games last season – played as the cavalry in chaos and scored a team-best 21 points, the most in his two years as a Pacer. Take away his four turnovers, three coming in the fourth quarter, and he's a fearless player who views the world as one big green light. Indiana dreadfully needs that now.

"You got to give Chris Copeland freedom offensively," Vogel said. "He's a little bit like Lance (Stephenson), he's going to make a bonehead play here and there and that's just something you live with when you have guys with special gifts like Cope has. He's a gifted, gifted scorer so you have to give them some freedom to go out and let their talent shine."

Solomon Hill – the subject of so much preseason praise that it seemed far reaching at times – finally showed the two-way abilities his bosses have been crowing about. Hill scored 10 points (3-of-8) and also provided six assists and five rebounds while defending the league's best shooter, Kyle Korver, who only finished with nine points on five attempts.

Even Lavoy Allen, who picked up five fouls, contributed at a steady rate (six points, six rebounds) before being forced to the bench. So, although the healthier Hawks appear to be much better than last year's version that finished 8th in the Eastern Conference and pushed Indiana to seven games in the first round of the playoffs, the Pacers still climbed out of a 17-point deficit and had a chance late in the game to spoil the opener. Indiana trailed 95-92 before Indianapolis-native Jeff Teague penalized the Pacers' pick-and-roll defense with a wide-open 18-foot jump shot off of a high screen. The bucket doused Indiana's 9-2 run.

And so there ends the silver lining. The Pacers still lost the game, still exposed their lack of chemistry with another 18-turnover game and still played offensive basketball in spurts (just 38.3 percent shooting). The problems may be mounting, but at least the excuses are few.

"We're fighting hard but we can do better though," Copeland said. "We put ourselves into positions to actually win, so we can do better. I can't say we're doing our best."

Follow Star reporter Candace Buckner on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.