INDIANAPOLIS — Forward Jalen Johnson posted 22 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Hawks to a 128-108 win over the Pacers on Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

The Pacers — missing seven players due to injury — are 0-5, their second-longest winless streak to start a season in franchise history. They are 0-1 in NBA Cup Group Play. The Hawks improved to 3-3, 1-0.

Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 21 points and guard Dyson Daniels had 18 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals. Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 18 points. Forward Jarace Walker added 17 and guard Quenton Jackson had 15. Forward Aaron Nesmith and newly-acquired guard Mac McClung had 12 each.

Here are three observations.

The bottom fell out in the third period

The Pacers actually got out to perhaps their best start of the season, taking an 18-6 lead with 7:08 to go in the first quarter. They made 5 of their first 6 shots, but even that period didn’t end well as they made just 2 of their last 15 field goal attempts to finish 7 of 21. They hung in well enough in the second quarter and trailed just 63-59 going into halftime, but they lost contact quickly in the third.

The Hawks started the period on a 22-5 run and the Pacers made just 2 of their first 19 field goal attempts in the period. The last four minutes of the period actually counted as a rally, but they were still outscored 34-17 and fell behind by as many as 23 points. They made just 5 of 24 field goals in the period including 4 of 15 from 3, scoring just 0.64 points per possession. The Hawks meanwhile were 13 of 25 and 3 of 8 and posted 1.35 per possession. The Pacers were down 97-76 to start the fourth and couldn’t make nearly enough of a dent in the fourth quarter to make it close.

The Pacers couldn’t get the ball in the paint

The Hawks were playing without their franchise player and All-NBA guard Trae Young, and though that made it difficult for the Hawks early on the offensive end, it gave them an even more dominant defensive lineup and made it nearly impossible for the Pacers to pierce their length and get the ball to the paint or to the rim.

The Hawks started Nickeil Alexander-Walker at point guard, a 6-5 defensive ace, alongside a list of other defensive aces already in the lineup. With All-Defensive first-teamer Dyson Daniels at shooting guard, 2024 No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher at small forward, Jalen Johnson at power forward and 7-2 Kristaps Porzingis at center, the Hawks had length on the perimeter and in the paint and on the few occasions when the Pacers managed to get to ball into the paint the Hawks were usually able to either block shots or force kickouts. As a result, a Pacers team already low on firepower with so many players out had to settle for a lot of jump shots and couldn’t get much of anything easy.

The Pacers scored just 38 points in the paint, making just 19 of 45 attempts in the lane. Twenty of the 38 points came in the fourth quarter when the game was mostly decided and they were 10 of 18 in the lane in that period. They shot 35 of 99 from the floor overall and were 13 of 47 from 3-point range, having to take far too many shots from distance.

The Hawks, meanwhile, got to the rim easily

The Hawks found the exact opposite experience when they tried to get the ball to the rim. The Pacers had difficulty stopping the ball on dribble drives all night even in the half-court and the Hawks were able to get lots of transition baskets on runouts from missed 3s.

The Hawks were just 10 of 30 from 3point range, but it didn’t matter because they scored 74 points in the paint on 37 of 53 shooting in the lane. They also scored 28 points on fast-breaks with transition defense a significant problem. The Hawks had an 18-2 advantage on points in the paint in the third quarter, which is what allowed them to put the game away in the first place.