The Indiana Pacers missed another golden opportunity on Wednesday night, falling to the Chicago Bulls in a heartbreaking overtime loss. They have now lost 13 games this season against non-playoff teams, and have fallen to just 2-10 on the second night of a back-to-back which is the second worst mark in the NBA.
On the bright side: That means the Pacers are an impressive 35-20 in games where they have at least one day off. They’ve played their best basketball of the season against the best teams in the league (8-4 against the top three teams in the East, and a recent win over the #1 Seed in the West). Both of those things bode well for their playoff chances. Playoffs? Playoffs? (Did you read that in the Jim Mora voice?)
The question remains, will this be a play-OFF team, or a play-IN team? There are 15 games to play, and a whole lot to be determined.
The Pacers are currently tied with Philadelphia for the No. 6-seed in the Eastern Conference, and that’s the key seed to shoot for, at minimum. If you finish in sixth place or better, you make the full playoffs and don’t have to worry about the play-in tournament. Teams that finish 7th-10th in the conference have to play elimination games to determine their fate.
Additionally, the Pacers are just two games behind the No.4-seed in the conference. If they could get hot down the stretch and move into fourth, they would not only avoid the dangerous play-in scenario, they would earn home-court advantage in the opening playoff series.
The Pacers are still learning how to play with Pascal Siakam and without Buddy Hield and now Bennedict Mathurin, who suffered a season-ending torn labrum. Tyrese Haliburton is still trying to find his groove after putting up historic numbers before his injury in the first half of the season. TJ McConnell has been a spark plug off the bench, and they’ve started to find a lot of success when pairing McConnell and Haliburton together a little more. Aaron Nesmith is a dawg, and Pascal Siakam is one of the true buckets of the NBA. Myles Turner is playing well and is about to break the all-time franchise record for blocked shots. And the Pacer rookies Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard have been contributing and showing some serious promise for Indy’s future.
It’s a talented team, and a dangerous team. They just need to get out of their own way at times.
In the final 15 games of their schedule, they’ve got seven at home, and eight on the road. The biggest challenge will be their upcoming five game road trip which includes three games out West against the Warriors, Lakers, and Clippers. LeBron James and the Lakers will also make their one and only trip to Indianapolis on Good Friday (March 29th) which is always an incredible atmosphere.
The opportunity is there for the Pacers to make some noise this month and beyond. If they don’t reach the four or five seeds, finishing sixth would still be a nice accomplishment. It was my original prediction for the season, and I’m sticking to it.
And if you haven’t paid much attention to the Pacers this season, now would be a good time to start. The Fieldhouse has been electric, and the fun is just getting started.
Tyler Smith covers the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Hoosiers for IndySportsLegends and is a frequent contributor to the Journal Review. He is also the youth and sports pastor at New Hope Christian Church.
