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The Indiana Pacers and their schedule ahead

By Jonathan Matthes

MILWAUKEE, WI - MARCH 02: Victor Oladipo #4 of the Indiana Pacers dribbles the ball while being guarded by John Henson #31 of the Milwaukee Bucks in the fourth quarter at the Bradley Center on March 2, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI - MARCH 02: Victor Oladipo #4 of the Indiana Pacers dribbles the ball while being guarded by John Henson #31 of the Milwaukee Bucks in the fourth quarter at the Bradley Center on March 2, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
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After an impressive win on the road in Milwaukee, the Indiana Pacers should be able to march toward a challenging rest of their schedule with a bit of pep in their step. What does the rest of their schedule entail?

The Indiana Pacers are now 2-2 after the All-Star break. There was a blowout home win over the Atlanta Hawks. Then there were two embarrassing stumbles on the road against Atlanta and Dallas. Then an impressive playoff-y win against the Bucks in the “good” land.

And I mean that seriously, defeating a playoff team — and division rival to boot — on the road, while they launched a momentous rally when your star player couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half, is a big deal. It certainly is a lot more telling than when they slept-walked through the majority of the road Atlanta game. A similar anomaly experienced by Golden State, for the record.

Anyway, the road ahead is not an easy one for Indiana. According to both tankathon.com and simple math, Indiana has the second toughest schedule to close out the regular season. Which is abnormal in the East. Only Washington finds themselves with a schedule in the top ten. Most of the Eastern playoff contenders have “easy” schedules. Boston, Toronto, Milwaukee and Cleveland fall between 16th and 21st. Miami, Detroit, Charlotte and Philadelphia are all in the bottom five.

While that is all well and good, this doesn’t mean Indiana is going to lose every one of their remaining games, or that Philadelphia is going to win all of theirs. If you have a competitive fiber in your body, you should be excited about having the opportunity to prove yourself against good teams. If you believe that you’re worthy of a top-four playoff seed, you shouldn’t be intimidated by the other teams you’re competing with.

The top four isn’t a fantasy for the Pacers either. Indiana mostly controls their own fate going forward.

Looking at the tiebreakers (head-to-head), Indiana owns the tiebreaker with Cleveland. Meaning if they tie the Cavs, Indy wins the division. The Pacers lost the tiebreaker with Detroit, but that’s probably not going to matter. Indy is now up a game on Milwaukee, down a game with Miami and Washington; and are tied with Philadelphia and Charlotte. The Pacers can still win four of those series outright.

If you own five tiebreakers against those seven teams, you’re in better shape than most.

Looking at the playoffs, Toronto and Boston are in their own race of two. The Raptors are the best team in the East right now; and while the Celtics are keeping pace, they are only doing so barely. But even with Boston looking uneven, they are still seven games clear of the Cavs. A huge cushion.

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Cleveland is vulnerable, hell, everyone in the East is vulnerable. But while Cleveland has LeBron James, they also don’t have any interior defensive presence nor do they have a second scoring option sans Kevin Love. The Pacers also don’t have a consistent secondary scorer either, but they can actually defend the glass. And, on top of that, the Pacers have figured out how to rebound, Indy is the NBA’s fourth-best rebounding team since the beginning of February.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Charlotte and Detroit are almost dead in the water. The Hornets have been out of sorts virtually all season long. They are a big five games out of the loss column behind eighth-place Miami.

While the common theory at the time was that Detroit has improved since the Blake Griffin trade, they haven’t. With all due respect to Ish Smith — who is a nice spark plug point guard off the bench — their offense hasn’t been able to kick it into high gear without Reggie Jackson running the point.

Washington and Philadelphia are both good teams. The Wizards, in particular, are dangerous. They are moving the ball really well and will be a handful for whoever has the displeasure of playing them in the postseason. Philly is not in Washington’s class, yet. But unlike Milwaukee and Miami, the Sixers have the diversity of talent to hang with the 3 through 6 seeds.

The Heat are really riding the struggle bus. The only reason Detroit and Charlotte have any flickers of life is that the Heat have lost 13 of their last 20.

So, while Indiana’s road ahead will be challenging, the once ludicrous goal of a Central Division title is within reach. After the Milwaukee win, Indiana is 1.5 games behind the Cavaliers. The Pacers can seize the four seed if they beat Washington (no small task) on Sunday.

Next: 8p9s Mailbag: We have Lance GIFs

The Pacers have already won four more games than the geniuses in Las Vegas thought they would, and if they retain the focus and resilience they demonstrated against Milwaukee, they can win a lot more.

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