The Indiana Pacers are starting to break into the top 10 in the power rankings, but a tough schedule ahead could halt their progress.
The Indiana Pacers are winners of seven in a row as they bounced back from a losing streak with the best basketball they’ve played all season.
During that time they’ve had the best defense in the NBA and the 14th best offense, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that they’ve been winning. Sure, they weren’t playing the NBA’s best, but they took care of business both at home and on the road. And while it isn’t accounted for in this week’s roundup, they took care of their first test in their current gauntlet of games by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But it only gets tougher this week.
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Tonight the Indiana Pacers host the Cleveland Cavaliers, then hit the road to play the Washington Wizards before returning home to take on the Milwaukee Bucks this weekend. If the Pacers win two of those games, they move up into everyone’s top 10 in the power rankings.
But more importantly than the rankings, Indiana is only a half-game behind the Atlanta Hawks and a full game behind the Wizards. It won’t be easy to overtake either, as both have winning records in their last 10 games. Washington, in particular, is proving themselves a worthy challenger to anyone in the NBA, much less the Eastern Conference.
If the Pacers can win this week, the Pacers are moving up in more than just the power rankings.
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It won’t be easy, but it isn’t impossible when the Pacers have Jeff Teague playing like an All-Star again and Paul George closing out games with both his scoring and his defense.