Candace Buckner

IndyStar

Magic at Pacers, 7 p.m. Thursday, FSI

In a matter of weeks, the Indiana Pacers will look back on the season and wonder: What happened to their composure? Who stole their clutch? And where in the world did they misplace their closer?

The Pacers lack the gene that every true contender possesses. Throughout this season, they have not consistently shown the ability to weather the close games and survive heart-pounding moments to calmly raise victorious fists at the end. On Tuesday, it happened again.

In a folly of a fourth quarter, a battlefield of botched plays, the Chicago Bulls made one more shot than the Pacers. So, the night will go down as a 98-96 loss, but in the bigger picture, it was the latest example of the Pacers (39-35) folding in another close game.

"It’s at its peak," said Paul George (20 points on 7-of-16 shooting, nine rebounds, five assists), when asked about his frustration level. "Same game, losing the same way. It’s frustrating. It’s real frustrating."

• BOX SCORE: Bulls 98, Pacers 96

After Tuesday, the Pacers are 17-21 in games in which they are leading or trailing by three points in the final minute; that's the most losses in the NBA, which even leads lottery-bound, sub-.500 teams like Minnesota, Orlando, Brooklyn and Philadelphia.

After Jimmy Butler broke the tie with the pull-up jump shot with 3.7 seconds remaining, the Pacers' C.J. Miles had to force up a 29-footer as a response. Though Miles grazed the rim, the shot did not fall and the Pacers have now missed 24-of-25 shot attempts within the final 10 seconds of one-possession games.

"A game is never won or lost in the last possession," Monta Ellis reasoned. "We just got to see what we can do better within those 47 minutes and see what we can do better. Stop putting ourselves in this position."

To make things easier on themselves, maybe the Pacers could focus on those final 12 minutes.

Before Miles' desperate shot, in the fourth quarter Indiana ran a stagnant offense, blew layups, threw away three possessions and settled for a rash of perimeter looks within the final 2 minutes. Overall, the Pacers shot 5-of-22 from the floor and were held scoreless over the final 3:03.

Chicago (37-37) wasn't much better, missing eight straight shots in the quarter before Nikola Mirotić snapped Indiana's 10-0 run with a corner 3-pointer that tied it.

The Bulls, the third best 3-point percentage shooting team in the league (36.9), hit 10-of-26 from deep. Though burned by the 3-point arc, the Pacers could've survived the barrage had defenders played with better decisiveness on Chicago's last possession.

George, who fell in pain after 6-10, 275-pound center Cristano Felicio landed on his left foot after an attempt at a rim late in the third quarter, moved with hesitation when he returned to the court. During the last play, George had Butler one-on-one. Expecting a screen from Mirotić that never happened, George continued with the design of the defensive play and thought George Hill would make the switch to defend Butler. However, Hill continued to slink back, allowing Butler space to hit his open 10-footer.

"That was going to be the play for us to switch and guard the iso," George explained, "but (Mirotić) slipped out which caused the confusion on our path."

It may have been one late play but now 74 games into the season, the Pacers have not shown the ability to complete those plays. After the game, Ellis faced his locker stall and pulled on a black shirt with an image of the Larry O'Brien Trophy on the back. That prize as a league champion is a long shot for the Pacers. But after losing another close game, even a postseason appearance could be a mirage.

"It’s getting late, we’ve got to do something now," Ellis said. "Playoffs coming and if we keep playing this way, either we’re going to miss the playoffs or we’re (not) going to make it out of the first round. We got to play a little better."

Follow IndyStar Pacers Insider Candace Buckner on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.

Magic at Pacers, 7 p.m. Thursday, FSI