The Indiana Pacers may be scarred, but they’re certainly not finished. Despite finishing the regular season with a losing record at 34-38, the Navy and Gold clinched the 9th seed in the East and has a solid chance to brave through the play-in tournament and extend their five-year playoff streak.
It absolutely won’t be easy to thwart their counterparts, but this novel opportunity is staring them right in the eye. They simply need to seize it. Ultimately, the Pacers hold their own fate, and whether they flunk to the finish line or trek back to the postseason despite a turbulent campaign will be a matter of sheer willpower and utilizing their strengths to an optimum.
A silver lining in this another injury-marred season for the Indiana Pacers is their strength in numbers. Despite losing key players for long stretches, the team has managed to keep afloat despite all the instability and off-court entropy. And most of the credit in this sense belongs to the less-heralded members of the Navy and Gold.
As they start their mini-journey in the play-in tournament, the Indiana Pacers can still turn heads and remind everyone why they are perennial playoff customers. But to do that, the team may need to turn to their secret weapons aside from their reliable pillars to silently help carve a path for the team to make a postseason return. Here are three payers who may just fit that bill.