Indiana played with six players, the fewest this early in a season since 1948, and lost 108-104

The Indiana Pacers used just six players 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.

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

Indiana began the game with 11 players on the sideline and finished it with a rotation that included two players on two-way contracts and one reserve.

The Pacers are 2-6, and the loss was their fourth in five games.

The injury report reads like a roster. Tyrese Haliburton is out with a hamstring issue, Pascal Siakam sat for rest, and Johnny Furphy, T.J. McConnell, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and Ben Sheppard are all out with various injuries.

Larry Nance Jr. was out with an illness, and Obi Toppin has a lumbar sprain.

Rick Carlisle started Jay Huff, Quenton Jackson, Jarace Walker and two-way players Braden Smith and Jalen Slawson. Kobe Brown, another two-way player, was the only reserve.

Walker led Indiana with 44 minutes. Jackson, the shortest stint among the six, played 34.

Atlanta did not have a clean night either. Jalen Johnson was out with a left ankle sprain, and Kingston Flemings served a one-game suspension.

The Hawks made 15 3-pointers before halftime, tying the franchise record for any half, and led comfortably for long stretches.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker made nine of his 15 attempts from 3-point range, and CJ McCollum finished one rebound short of a triple-double with 13 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds.

Onyeka Okongwu added 13 points and 10 rebounds, and rookie Zuby Ejiofor made his regular-season debut and hit a 3-pointer for his first NBA basket.

The game was closer than the circumstances suggested. Indiana cut a double-digit deficit to single digits with an 11-2 run and stayed within reach through the fourth quarter.

Atlanta's shooting cooled after halftime, and the Hawks' offense became stagnant, which let the six-man Pacers group hang around.

The finish still went Atlanta's way, but the Hawks made it harder than it needed to be.

Carlisle's assessment was blunt and appreciative at the same time: his players were asked to play too many minutes and they left everything on the floor.

The Pacers were within six points in the last two minutes, which is remarkable for a team playing its sixth man 44 minutes and its first year with this rotation.

The six-player game is the extreme version of a problem that has defined the first two weeks of the season across the league: injuries and rest decisions colliding with the schedule.

Indiana's case is the most severe. The Pacers have been missing Haliburton, their offensive engine, and the rest of the absences are not load management but a genuine run of injuries.

The last time Indiana used six players was Nov. 20, 2004, one day after the brawl in Detroit that led to multiple suspensions.

That historical echo is not a comfort to a team that is 2-6 and has to play again this week.

There is a competitive question here that the league will have to answer eventually. A team this short-handed is not fielding the roster it was built to field, and the product on the floor is different.

From Indiana's side, the game is a survival exercise. From Atlanta's side, it is a game that should have been a blowout and turned into a four-point win.

The Hawks leave with a victory and a warning about letting a short-handed opponent stay close.

The Pacers leave with a loss, a lot of minutes on six players and a roster that needs to get healthy before the schedule gets harder.

The league's injury problem is not new, but the extremes are. Eleven players on one sideline in the first two weeks is the kind of number that raises questions about the schedule and about how quickly teams are asked to play again.

Indiana's rotation decisions were not really decisions. The Pacers played the six players who were available.

What Atlanta should take from the night is narrower. The Hawks let a team with six players stay within four points, and that is a habit that costs games against healthy opponents.

The Pacers' next step is medical. They need bodies back before the schedule turns.

Indiana plays again on Wednesday, and the team has not said whether the roster will look different.

Atlanta's next opponent protects the ball, which will be a different kind of test for the pressure defense.

The six-player night will be remembered as a curiosity. The six losses are the part that matters in April.

The Pacers' medical report will decide the next two weeks, and there is no shortcut around it.

Carlisle used his timeouts to manage the minutes, and the Pacers still had a chance in the final two minutes.

Forty-four minutes for Walker and 34 for Jackson is a workload no team plans for, and the next game will show the cost.