{"id":405667,"date":"2026-01-11T06:21:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T06:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/405667\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T06:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T06:21:18","slug":"central-notes-carlisle-cunningham-ivey-garland-j-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/405667\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Notes: Carlisle, Cunningham, Ivey, Garland, J. Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took a month for it to occur, but Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle became the 11th coach in NBA history to win 1,000 games when Indiana defeated Charlotte on Thursday, writes Michael Marot of The Associated Press<\/a>. The Pacers snapped a franchise-record 13-game losing streak with the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy for our players,\u201d said Carlisle, who hugged his assistants and players after the win. \u201cThe last month has been so challenging in so many ways. We have an amazing group of guys who continue to fight through thick and thin.\u201d<\/p>\n

After coming one win away from winning their first NBA championship last June, the Pacers have dealt with numerous injuries in 2025\/26 and are currently 7-31, the worst record in the league. Carlisle, 66, is in his 24th season as a head coach and won a title with Dallas in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has never been about me getting a milestone win,\u201d Carlisle said. \u201cIt\u2019s about our organization and our franchise. As it has gotten tougher and tougher I have leaned into thinking more about gratitude for the things that we have. We have great people and we have terrific players.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have more from the Central Division:<\/p>\n

Pistons star Cade Cunningham<\/a> is questionable to suit up for Saturday\u2019s matchup vs. the Clippers due to a right wrist contusion, tweets<\/a> Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. The former No. 1 overall pick is an MVP candidate this season with Detroit holding the best record in the Eastern Conference at 28-9. Cunningham, a 6\u20196\u2033 guard, missed Wednesday\u2019s win over Chicago with the injury.
\nSpeaking to reporters on Friday, including Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter video link<\/a>), Pistons guard Jaden Ivey<\/a> said he\u2019s in a \u201cgreat space\u201d from a health standpoint and is no longer on a minutes restriction. The impending restricted free agent missed most of last season with a fractured left fibula and was sidelined to start \u201925\/26 after undergoing right knee surgery this fall. Ivey is averaging a career-low 16.7 minutes per game through 22 appearances.
\nWithin a story questioning whether the Cavaliers can be a contender as currently constructed, Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports<\/a> describes Darius Garland<\/a>\u2018s trade value around the league as \u201cmuted.\u201d The two-time All-Star point guard has been inconsistent this season as he continues to deal with the effects of a toe injury which required offseason surgery.
\nAfter missing the past two games while in the league\u2019s concussion protocol, Bulls big man Jalen Smith<\/a> has been upgraded to questionable for Saturday\u2019s contest vs. Dallas, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link<\/a>). Veteran wing Kevin Huerter<\/a> (back tightness) is also questionable, Johnson adds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took a month for it to occur, but Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle became the 11th coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,19704,39602,19709,155547,162571,14056,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-405667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-cade-cunningham","12":"tag-darius-garland","13":"tag-jaden-ivey","14":"tag-jalen-smith","15":"tag-kevin-huerter","16":"tag-rick-carlisle","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}