It was a nearly perfect start of April for the Indiana Pacers. Through their first six games they went 5-1. Most impressive was the way the entire team actually played as a team. The captain, Danny Granger, has averaged 23 points in the six games so far and has a stunningly high 52% field goal percentage. Besides Granger, five other players are averaging double-digit points per game and two are above .500 in field goal percentage. The Pacers also scored 100+ in every one of their five wins.
The first game of April was a tough battle in Houston, where Indiana had to go to overtime to defeat the surging Rockets. Next was a home bout versus the New York Knicks, who had already beaten us twice this year. It looked like the Knicks would sweep the season series but the Pacers came from 17 points down in the third quarter to win by 8. Those two wins showed how much heart, tenacity, and strength this team really has. After the Knicks game, the Pacers traveled to Washington to face the Wizards. We kept the momentum going by winning that game handedly.
Sitting at 4-0 in April, the Pacers looked to make everybody in the league realize they were for real when the Oklahoma City Thunder came to town. The Thunder are the best team in the West and arguably the best team in the NBA. Were the Pacers intimidated? Absolutely not. At one point in the game, the Pacers led by 19! Even though Kevin Durant scored a ridiculous 44 points in the game, the Pacers won 103-98.
The lone dark spot in the last stretch of games is the loss to the Boston Celtics. It shouldn’t be used an excuse, but that game was their ninth game in thirteen days. Plus, it was the night after we beat the Thunder. It’s hard to beat one of the best teams one night, and then prepare for a weaker opponent the next day. Fortunately, the Pacers rebounded last night and beat the visiting Toronto Raptors.
I’ve been saying since about midway through the season that the Pacers’ bench had to improve if he had any real hope of making it past the first round of the playoffs. The signing of Leandro Barbosa was exactly what we needed. When the backup shooting guard scores more than 10 points, the Pacers are 6-0. It used to be that the only scorers the bench had was George Hill and Tyler Hansbrough, and both of those guys are streaky. You couldn’t always count on them to put up enough points to keep the team in the game. Now that Barbosa is here, there are three guys on the court that cannot only create shots, but also make them.
One of the other key bench players is Lou Amundson. I have spent quite a lot of time bashing this guy since the preseason. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for the Pacers and Pacers’ fans, Lou has really improved his game since the beginning of the season. Since the All-Star Break, Lou is averaging 4.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Both of those numbers are twice the amount he had before the All-Star break. With Amundson and Hansbrough in the game at the same time, you’ve got two power forwards that play with tenacity and energy that not many other frontcourt duo’s can match.
Ok, so as of me posting this story, here are the Eastern Conference standings:
1- Chicago Bulls (43-14)
2- Miami Heat (40-15)
3- Indiana Pacers (35-22)
4- Boston Celtics (32-24)
5- Atlanta Hawks (34-23)
6- Orlando Magic (34-23)
7- New York Knicks (29-27)
8- Philadelphia 76ers (29-27)
I don’t think there’s any way we can catch the Bulls. However, if the Heat continue to collapse before the playoffs, we could catch them. They have to play 11 games, two more than us. They also have to play five road games, also two more than us. Finally, they have two games against the Bulls and Celtics.
Before we can daydream about moving up, we have to worry about moving down. The Magic and Hawks are more than capable of catching the Pacers. In fact, all they have to do it tie us and they will get the better seed. Fortunately for us, those two teams have tough schedules. The Magic have nine games remaining and six of them are on the road. The Hawks have nine games left to play as well, and six of them are against teams above .500.
As for Indiana, we have nine games left. Three of them are on the road. Three of them are against winning teams. On top of all that, we only need three more wins to guarantee a playoff berth. Based on nothing but my opinion, I believe we will need to win five games to guarantee us the #3 seed.
Next five games:
4/11- at Cleveland Cavaliers (18-36)
4/13- vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (18-36)
4/14- at Milwaukee Bucks (28-29)
4/16- vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (25-33)
4/17- at Philadelphia 76ers (29-27)
The final nine games of the 2012 season starts in Cleveland. The Cavs have struggled all season but apparently that’s because the only team they practice for is the Pacers. It took us overtime to defeat them back in December and they beat us by 11 in February. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Cavs beat us in their place. The Bucks game will be difficult because that is a team that is fighting for a playoff spot. A win for them will mean much more than to us. The Timberwolves have fallen out of the Western playoff race and we have beaten them once already. The 76ers are really struggling as they are on a four-game losing streak and show no signs of improvement. We should win that game and finish with at least three wins in the five-game stretch.
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