The Indiana Pacers scored 108 points per game this season. Some quick math tells me that is 27 points per quarter, a healthy amount. The Pacers won multiple games this season in which they only scored a teen-something amount of points in an individual quarter.
Bad quarters are survivable.
Atrocious quarters are not.
Combine the 1st, 2nd, and 4th quarters of the Pacers Game 1 loss to Boston, and the Pacers have a 66-58 lead on the scoreboard. Throw in the 3rd quarter, and Indiana lost by double digits. That’s how bad the 3rd quarter was, fueled (or, in this case, not fueled) by a harrowing 8 point quarter in which the Pacers only made 2 shots.