What the Pacers need to do to avoid the Play-In Tournament
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The NBA Playoffs are set to begin in less than a month, and the Indiana Pacers are looking for their first trip to the postseason since 2020.
The Indiana Pacers are 41-33 with just eight games to go, good for sixth-best in the Eastern Conference standings.
If the season ended today, the Pacers would play the No. 3-seed Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
The Pacers trail the Orlando Magic by two games, but Orlando has 10 games remaining, two more than Indiana.
It would be an uphill battle for Indiana to attain the No. 5 seed, so the Pacers need to focus on how to keep the No. 6 spot and avoid the Play-In Tournament.
The NBA’s Play-In Tournament will be conducted from April 16-19 and is used to determine the seventh and eighth spots in the NBA Playoffs, which begin on April 20.
If the Pacers finished the regular season seeded 7-10, they would participate in the Play-In Tournament.
The Blue and Gold clinched at least the 10 seed, so they are guaranteed to play at least one game beyond the regular season.
However, the team could miss the rest of the playoffs with a pair of poor performances in this tournament setting.
To avoid the Play-In Tournament entirely and secure a spot in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the Pacers simply need to hold their sixth position in the conference standings.
Indiana currently enjoys just a one-game lead over the Miami Heat and a two-game lead over the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Pacers have played two more games than the Heat and one more than the 76ers, so the margin of error over the final few weeks of the season is slim.
The Blue and Gold hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the 76ers, and the winner of the Pacers’ home game vs. Miami on April 7 will determine which team gets that tiebreaker heading into the end of the regular season.
What bodes well for Indiana is the way they have been playing of late, aside from Wednesday night’s 125-99 loss in Chicago. After an up-and-down stretch following the All-Star break, the Pacers are finally returning to form.
However, the Pacers won three games over their five-game road trip, including Monday’s 17-point upset win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton scored 21 points on a team-high 6 three-pointers in the win, which marked just the third time this season that the Pacers have won on the second night of a back-to-back.
Haliburton led the team in scoring on Saturday night when the Pacers beat the Golden State Warriors. The Iowa State product had 26 points and 11 assists in the win.
With Haliburton and the rest of the team playing good basketball, the Pacers have every chance to hold their spot in the standings with less than three weeks remaining on the schedule.
Of the eight games left for Indiana, only four teams sit above .500.
Three of those four games will take place in Indianapolis.
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers come to town on Friday night before Indiana will play the Brooklyn Nets twice. Then, Oklahoma City and Miami come to Gaindbrige Fieldhouse before the Pacers play a two-game road trip in Toronto and Cleveland. Indiana will end its season at home against Atlanta.
The Pacers might need to end the season winning at least six of their final nine games to hold off both Miami and Philadelphia, with the April 7 game against the Heat being the biggest game of them all.
Should the Pacers finish ahead of the Heat and 76ers, Indiana would enjoy its first postseason action in four years.
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