The Pacers have a chance to make a statement

The Indiana Pacers showed early in the year that they were no longer going to be a lottery team. For the last two seasons, they have been relegated to the lottery as they remade their roster. An injury to Tyrese Haliburton also sunk them a year ago as they were rolling.

Things have changed. They made the In-Season Tournament final, have beaten the Bucks four out of five times they've faced them, and are just one of two teams to beat Boston multiple times. The Pacers have shown that when they are at their best, they're good enough to beat anyone.

After beating Orlando on Sunday, they have shown that they can play some good defense too. They have a chance to make a statement with the new few teams they play. If they keep up that defensive effort, they can make up some ground in the standings.

Looking at what they have in front of them, they play nine more games on the road this season, including Tuesday night at Oklahoma City. They have one more long road trip at the end of March which is five games. The eight home games they have left are the more important ones.

Most of those games are played against teams in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers play three more games against teams in front of them in the standings. Winning those games would move them towards getting home-court in the playoffs, which is still well within reach.

Getting Pascal Siakam involved in more small-big pick-and-roll would be nice to help ease things offensively. Haliburton getting his shot back is necessary in order to accomplish this as well. His jump shot opens everything else up with Indiana's offense.

It all starts with a win against the Thunder on Tuesday night. Beating one of the best teams in the West on the road would be a heck of a statement.