The Indiana Pacers are facing dire times down the stretch, falling from being a comfortable middle-of-the-pack playoff team, to an outsider looking in after losing three games in a row and seven of their last 10 outings.

Star forward Paul George knows more than anybody that this team will need to put all their chips down and go for broke in the last six games of the season in order to break a deadlock between the Pacers (37-39) and the Chicago Bulls, as well as the Miami Heat.

“We were holding on at sixth (place) for so long and now we’re half a game up on the eighth spot,” George told Nate Taylor of the Indianapolis Star prior to the Bulls' win on Sunday. “It’s gut-checking time. It’s been gut-checking time. Now we’re really on the hot seat. We’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got to get it done, man. We’ve got to close this season out right.”

The three teams have exactly the same record after Saturday, with the Bulls having the edge in seventh place, followed by the Heat in the last spot, forcing the Pacers out of the playoff window as it stands, due to the tiebreakers system.

“Everybody is pretty upset,” point guard Jeff Teague said shortly after the loss to the Toronto Raptors on Friday. “Everybody wants to win. We just don’t have a flow. We played well in the first half, but then we just forget what we said what we were going to do (at halftime).”

Team president Larry Bird has sought help, signing former Pacers swingman Lance Stephenson to a three-year contract earlier this week — who is set to make his debut on Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Pacers will have a rough go through the remainder of the season, facing four playoff teams in the last six games of this 2016-17 campaign.