Indiana Pacers Team Report - November 11

(Basketball News) - The Indiana Pacers suffered their worst home loss since joining the NBA in 1976, as they were crushed by the Los Angeles Clippers, 102-68, on Wednesday at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Stephen Jackson scored 17 points on 6-of-16 shooting and Jamaal Tinsley netted 15 for the Pacers, who suffered their first defeat of the season. Fred Jones added nine points for Indiana. which was looking to start the season with five straight wins for the first time since joining the league .

Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal managed just eight points in 26 minutes in the loss. O’Neal aggravated his injured left foot in the third quarter. He came back in the game, but was then pulled with the contest already decided.

The Pacers were without the services of Ron Artest, who was benched for the second straight game for what head coach Rick Carlisle termed "compromising the integrity of the team."

Indiana was also without starting center Scot Pollard, out with a sore back, and forward Jonathan Bender, who checked into the locker room feeling ill.

Jackson has averaged 16 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in Indiana’s first five games of the season.

The Pacers are off until Friday when they visit Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers. Last season, the Pacers swept four games from the Sixers.