Missing 11 players, Pacers play just six in loss to Hawks - ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers used just six players because of injuries and rest in Monday night's 108-104 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, marking the earliest into a season a team has used that few players in nearly 80 years.

The last time a team used six or fewer players this early in a season was in 1948, when the Lakers used just five in their third game of the season, according to ESPN Research.

The Pacers (2-6) began the game with 11 players on the sideline: Tyrese Haliburton (hamstring), Pascal Siakam (rest), Johnny Furphy (knee), T.J. McConnell (hamstring), Larry Nance Jr. (illness), Andrew Nembhard (cervical), Aaron Nesmith (hamstring), Ben Sheppard (knee), Obi Toppin (lumbar sprain) and Ivica Zubac (ankle). Kelly Oubre Jr. was a late scratch because of a bruised knee.

The Pacers started Jay Huff, Quenton Jackson, Jarace Walker and two players on two-way deals: Braden Smith and Jalen Slawson. Another two-way player, Kobe Brown, was Indiana's lone reserve. Walker led the Pacers in minutes with 44. Jackson had the shortest time on the court for Indiana with 34 minutes.

«These guys all played too many minutes,» Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. «But they played their hearts out.… The guys left everything out there, and our fans got their money's worth, even though we weren't able to win the game.»

Monday was the first time since Nov. 20, 2004, that the Pacers used only six players. That game against Orlando was one day after the «Malice at the Palace» brawl between Indiana and Detroit, an incident that led to multiple suspensions.

Carlisle coached that Indiana team as well — and drew comparisons between that Indiana loss to a Grant Hill-led Orlando team 22 years ago and what the Pacers nearly did against the Hawks on