Routinely unfathomable and all too often grim, the last five minutes of games that are separated by five points or less is the equivalent of the witching hour for the Pacers — who are minus-34 in 67 clutch minutes this season, despite otherwise posting a slightly positive net rating. Unraveling from average to borderline ill-starred, Indiana has a knack for finding falling pianos to stand under in close-run contests, be it committing mystifying gaffes on defense, struggling to “hit a bull in the ass with a bass fiddle” from the perimeter, or ending up on the wrong side of crucial non-calls (twice!
How crunch-time defines the current state of the Pacers
