The 5 Reasons the Pacers Will Make the Playoffs

Culture of Winning

The Indiana Pacers want to make the playoffs. Can you say that about many of the other teams in contention for the what may be the worst 8th seed in recent memory?

Michael Jordan has stated his desire to have his Charlotte Hornets make it. But other teams — the Celtics, Nets, Magic — look to be in clear tanking mode. Those three would all prefer a higher pick than losing to the Hawks four times in the postseason.

The Heat and Pistons seem more likely to want in on the playoffs, but we can probably expect Dwyane Wade to miss a lot of his team’s remaining games. And Miami has done some strategic late-season resting of players in the past, so Chris Bosh may develop some mystery ailments down the stretch as well.

With Stan Van Gundy trying to change the culture in Detroit, he no doubt would love to get some postseason experience for his young players. But with Brandon Jennings out for the year, and as the post-Josh Smith glee wears off, the road there might just be too tough for a Pistons team that has lost its last four games.

Perhaps more importantly, none of the other teams in contention for the 8th seed are likely to add any useful players before the trade deadline. And while many will even sell off assets, the Pacers may try to pick up someone. And at worst, Larry Bird will probably stand pat.

All indications so far are that he wants the 8th seed.

The Indiana Pacers don’t tank, as a rule, and they haven’t won fewer than 32 games since the 1988-89 season. In fact, they have only won fewer than 35 once since then (in 2009-10).

Even forgetting the long-term history, players like George Hill and David West aren’t used to losing. Neither has done much of it in his career, and you can add Roy Hibbert to the list of guys who have come to expect good results.

Then there are C.J. Miles and Rodney Stuckey.

Miles has never sniffed the postseason, and Stuckey hasn’t played a playoff game since 2009. My guess is that, as much as they might like some vacation time in the summer, each will go all out late in the year.

And for better or worse — and many fans who want a high pick will yell “WORSE” — the front office is likely to push this squad to max out its win potential.

If things continue to go badly, that maximum might be 28 wins.

But there are plenty of reasons to think that the Indiana Pacers can finish with 36 wins or more and crawl into the postseason — where they can have a rare swapped-seeds, first-round rematch with the Atlanta Hawks.

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