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The Indiana Pacers Move into 8th Place in the East

By Jared Wade

Feb 27, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Luis Scola (4) is knocked to the ground and questions why he was whistled for a foul during a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats Cleveland 93-86. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 27, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Luis Scola (4) is knocked to the ground and questions why he was whistled for a foul during a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats Cleveland 93-86. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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If the playoffs started today, the Indiana Pacers would be in. They used some hard-nosed defense and George Hill’s triple double last night to get a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, while all the other teams in the race for the 7th and 8th seeds lost. And this put them in 8th place.

If there ever was a night for Pacers fans to tell the rest of the league “scoreboard,” then Friday, February 27, was it.

  • Pacers 93, Cavaliers 86
  • Celtics 106, Hornets 98
  • Knicks 121, Pistons 115
  • Rockets 102, Nets 98
  • Pelicans 104, Heat 102

As a result:

There is plenty of reason to think that the Pacers will not relinquish this spot for the foreseeable future — and that they might even leap frog the Heat soon.

I broke it down in more depth in this post yesterday, but just take a look at the Pacers next eight opponents:

  • vs 76ers
  • vs New York
  • vs Chicago
  • @ New York
  • vs Orlando
  • vs Milwaukee
  • vs Boston
  • vs Toronto

Obviously, the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors are both good teams. But Chicago just lost Derrick Rose to a knee injury, and Toronto fell down by 40 at home last night to the Golden State Warriors, which were playing on the second night of a road/road back-to-back.

Of course, any team can beat any team in this league on any given night. The Knicks won last night for crying out loud. So there is a reason that games aren’t played on paper and instead are played inside my TV set.

But it stands to reason that this healthy Indiana Pacers roster should go about 6-2 in these next eight games — or at least 5-3 — and that should be enough to retain their position in the top eight.

Unfortunately for fans who hope Indiana will make the playoffs and potentially upset their first-round foe … that’s probably not happening. The Milwaukee Bucks would have to completely collapse and/or Indiana would have to go on an insane run the rest of the year for the Pacers to supplant them for the 6th seed.

So the Pacers are probably not going any higher than 7th place. And that means they are likely to face either the Atlanta Hawks or the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. Is is possible that the Pacers could beat one of those teams? Sure. Is it remotely likely? No. Not whatsoever.

Still, I for one would love to see a Pacers/Hawks first-round rematch from last postseason with the seeds reversed. I’m not sure that has ever happened before, so the neat-o factor alone would be worth the price of admission.

Though I’m sure Roy Hibbert disagrees.

Next: Paul George Doubles Down on Goal to Return in Mid-March

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