In their first week after the All-Star break, the Indiana Pacers went 3-1 with their only loss being against the Denver Nuggets on the second night of a back-to-back. Though they were slumping a little bit heading into the break, the Pacers have gotten things back on track and look like one of the hottest teams in the league once again.
Naturally, many experts seem to notice this as well as the Pacers are now in a good spot in the most recent roundup of NBA power rankings.
The Pacers are a top-10 team all across the board
Website | Ranking | Previous ranking |
|---|---|---|
NBC Sports | 8 | 10 |
ESPN | 9 | 10 |
CBS | 9 | 11 |
Yahoo! Sports | 8 | 8 |
NBA | 7 | 11 |
In every expert power ranking besides Yahoo! Sports, the Pacers have made a jump of at least one spot. Furthermore, they rank within the top-10 in all five power rankings and are as high as No. 7 on NBA.com's.
In first their three wins after the All-Star break, which came against the Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers, and Toronto Raptors, the Pacers had a win differential of 52 points. In other words, they defeated these three teams by an average of 17.3 points.
The Pacers are continuing to look like title contenders, and that shows in the most recent power rankings. However, there is still a lot of basketball remaining before the playoffs, and the Pacers must end the season on a high note.
Currently, Indiana stands as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference but is just one game ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons. There is a tight race in the middle of the Easter Conference standings, which is important given that home-court advantage is on the line. However, the Pacers are still in the driver's seat and control their own destiny. As it stands, there is a good chance they will finish as a top-four seed in the East, but only if they continue playing the way they have been.
With less than two months left in the regular season, this is an important stretch for the Pacers as they hope to finish the campaign out strong. Fortunately for the Pacers, they have one of the easiest schedules remaining in the league and could take advantage of that.
It is an encouraging sign for Pacers fans to see the team universally be considered a top-10 team in the NBA, but it is clear that they have other goals in mind. As they aim to win a championship this season, the Pacers are a team well-suited to make another deep playoff run and potentially achieve this goal.