The Indiana Pacers Remain Slightly Above Average in the Power Rankings

Jan 12, 2017; London, United Kingdom; Indiana Pacers mascot takes the court before a NBA game against the Denver Nuggets at the O2 Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 12, 2017; London, United Kingdom; Indiana Pacers mascot takes the court before a NBA game against the Denver Nuggets at the O2 Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports

The Indiana Pacers remain in the top half of the NBA despite embarrassing themselves in from of the entire world in London.

The Indiana Pacers are one of the better teams in the NBA even if they play terribly on the road.

Indiana’s five-game winning streak was snapped last week in London when the Pacers only showed up in body but not in spirit to face the Denver Nuggets.

Despite the loss, our roundup of experts have Indiana in the top-half of the NBA, but there are still plenty of concerns going into the coming weeks.

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Indiana’s schedule is getting easier before it gets harder, as Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo notes the next 10 games only have two opponents with winning records. A perfect chance to create some room between themselves and lesser playoff-bound teams.

After that though, it gets tougher. Marc Stein of ESPN notes that the Pacers had the easiest schedule to start the season but one of the NBA’s tougher ones in the second half of the season — something our own Ryan Eggers wrote about recently.

The Pacers knocked off the Pelicans on Monday but now face a three-game road trip out west where they will face the Sacramento Kings, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Utah Jazz.

Next: Indiana Pacers Mid-Season Grades: Kinda Good, Kinda Bad

If Indiana wants to be anything more than average, they’ll need to pick up wins against the Kings and Lakers this week, which is no easy task.