This season, the Indiana Pacers elevated themselves to a terrific spot in the Eastern Conference. From a non-contender the past couple of years, the acquisition of Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam has been the key ingredients to their ascension. Sitting in the sixth seed in the East, the Pacers are hoping that they avoid the play-in tournament and likely face the Milwaukee Bucks or Boston Celtics right away.
Indiana has the 18th hardest schedule remaining, so it would not be too difficult to maintain the sixth seeding. Bennedict Mathurin is out for the season, but the rest of the nucleus will still be prime and ready for the stretch run. As a youthful squad, this initial year will be a massive learning experience for their franchise whether they have an early exit or they can advance deep in the postseason.
Since the Pacers will need a plethora of things to go their way if they want to make some noise in April and May, these numerous scenarios will be a huge help for them.
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Advance to 3rd seed ; face the Cavaliers in Round 1
For an inexperienced unit like Indiana, the home court advantage in an environment like Gainbridge Fieldhouse will be integral to advance to the East Semis. For instance, their in-season tournament victory against the Celtics was punctuated by their raucous fans who were inspiring them to erase the early deficit and advance to the next round of the knockout stages.
Guys like Haliburton, TJ McConnell, Aaron Nesmith, and Obi Toppin are some of the notable names that enhance their production where the fans are on the edge of their seats. Moreover, Indiana has a winning record so far against the Cleveland Cavaliers, so they will have a small edge heading into a seven-game series in the NBA Playoffs.
It will be a contrasting style type of battle as the Pacers have one of the best offenses in the association, while the Cavs have the fourth-highest defensive rating in the league. With Haliburton likely the best player on the floor in this matchup, the upper hand goes to Indiana in a six or seven-game tilt.
Heavyweight matchup against the Bucks
Here come the Bucks against the Pacers, which will absolutely be an epic series regardless of the result. Aside from the on-court excellence, there are a couple of off-court issues that brewed from their earlier outings this season. Those minor arguments and indirect statements in the press conference are a legitimate reason on why a Pacers-Bucks battle will be an intriguing one for any NBA fan.
For the Indiana fanbase, it will be a pleasant sight to see Milwaukee again as they have played them five times this year, and they have won four of those games. With the unusual quirk due to the format of the play-in tournament, the five contests against the opponent is very unusual, but it has benefitted the Pacers immensely.
All the wins were still during the tenure of Adrian Griffin, so the defensive holes were heavily exposed. Since the Pacers are a high-octane offensive squad, they were able to tally at least 120 points in all of these victories. That will unlikely be the case in the postseason, but Indiana knows that they have the momentum and recipe to complete an upset against a more talented bunch.
Pundits will likely have the Bucks to come out on top in five or six games, but a puncher's chance is always plausible.
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