Road to playoffs about to get tougher for Pacers
Here’s the Indianapolis Star reporting on the Pacers, who have played excellent basketball for a long stretch of time and have their eye on the postseason:
The Indiana Hoosiers aren’t hearing Brad Stevens’ footsteps. The Indiana Pacers are.
It is not only Stevens’ Boston Celtics creeping up on the Pacers, though. Indiana, Boston and Miami are tied for seventh in the Eastern Conference at 30-36. Charlotte, which was to play the Los Angeles Clippers late Tuesday night, was a half-game behind at 29-36.
No more than two of those four — Indiana, Miami, Boston, Charlotte — will make the NBA playoffs.
The once-moderate schedule confronting the Pacers? That’s over…
The combined winning percentage of the Pacers’ remaining opponents is .512. Of the six teams with a realistic shot at the No. 7 and 8 playoff spots, only the Brooklyn Nets (.523) have it tougher. But Brooklyn, which visits the Pacers on Saturday, has 11 home games out of 17 remaining; the Pacers have seven at home, nine on the road.
