Indiana Pacers Racking Up Injuries At the Worst Time

The Indiana Pacers are dealing with at least three injuries as they fight for the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference.

The last few days have not been kind to the Indiana Pacers. Al Jefferson, Glenn Robinson III, and Rodney Stuckey have all found themselves in the care of the team’s medical staff in a matter of 48 hours.

With less than three weeks until the playoff begin — and the Pacers being far from locked in to a spot — the timing of these injuries are sub-optimal for Indiana.

UPDATE: In a press release, the Pacers announced Al Jefferson will miss at least two weeks with a sprained left ankle while a left patellar tendon strain will keep Stuckey out of the Indiana Pacers lineup for four to six weeks.

Al Jefferson’s looked the worst as he went to the floor screaming in pain after rolling his ankle during Indiana’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Unless you are pulling a Paul Pierce, leaving the game in a wheel chair isn’t a good sign. Myles Turner, who isn’t a doctor, thought it could have been a broken bone.

The good news is Doogie Howser-Turner’s prognosis was incorrect. The x-rays came back negative according to coach Nate McMillan and though Jefferson left the arena in a walking boot and on crutches, he was at least positive in the locker room after the game.

McMillan only ruled him out for a few days, but that proved too optimistic.

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Stuckey also went down with an injury, which is a problem considering he was getting extended minutes in Robinson’s absence. GR3 injured his calf in practice the day before and is expected to miss at least two weeks.

All of this isn’t helping Indiana separate itself from the cluster of three teams tied for fifth place in the Eastern Conference going into tonight. Unfortunately for Indiana, they don’t hold tiebreakers over those teams — the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks — so they are dropped to the seventh seed if the playoff started today. That also means they would face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.

Indiana needs to get out of the seventh or eighth seed if they want to make a playoff run of any sort. They haven’t beat the Boston Celtics or Cavaliers (when they have LeBron) this season. They have beat the Washington Wizards, the current third seed, and gave the Raptors (in fourth) all they could handle in the playoffs last year.

Next: Who Deserves Time Off of the Bench for the Pacers?

Unfortunately, three of the Pacers bench players aren’t healthy as the regular season winds down. Robinson’s absence might be the most problematic, but it isn’t any easier to solve that problem when the next man down is also dealing with an injury.