It was a rough March for the Indiana Pacers. After last night’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs the team finished with an 8-9 record during the month and have a combined 30-21 record on the season. Looking back on the 17 games, the Pacers had a month that seemed like a roller coaster ride comprised of ups and downs. Early in March, the team went on a four-game losing streak that happened to be against teams that will most likely make the playoffs. Those games really showed just how much more work the Pacers had to do before becoming true contenders. Then we got a solid win over the Philadelphia 76ers, but that was nullified by back-to-back blowout losses to the New York Knicks. Indiana then got back on track with wins over the Clippers, Bucks, and the dreaded Miami Heat. However, the month ended with a 1-2 record and blowout losses to the Nets and Spurs.
Now, the Pacers are entering the final month of the season. They are in 5th place in the Eastern Conference Standings, but they could easily fall to 6th or 7th if they don’t start winning more consistently. If they do keep winning, they could just as easily jump up to 3rd or 4th in the standings.
Here’s some numbers for the April schedule:
- 15 games altogether
- 10 games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
- 8 games against teams with winning records
- 3 back-to-back sets of games
It’s not inconceivable to believe that Indiana will win at least 10 of their games in the final month of the regular season. That would give us a final record of 40-26 and hopefully a 3-5 seed in the playoffs.
The biggest problem the Pacers face in the playoff race is that every Division winner is guaranteed a Top 4 seed. There is no way we can catch the Chicago Bulls who are 10 games ahead of us in the Central Division. There is also little reason to believe anybody will catch the Miami Heat, who have a six game lead in the Southeast Division. Those two teams will undoubtedly take the 1 and 2 seeds, and that leaves spots 3-8 up for grabs. I don’t think Indiana will fall as low as 6, 7, or 8, but you never know.
The other teams that are in contention for the middle seeds are the Celtics, Magic, 76ers, and Hawks. The Celtics have an absolutely brutal April, as 11 of their 15 games are against teams with winning records. They also have to play the Heat three times and the Chicago Bulls once. Plus, eight of their last games are on the road. The Magic play 14 games and 9 of them are against winning teams. The 76ers have 14 games and have just six games against teams with winning records, including two against Indiana. The Hawks have, by far, the easiest closing schedule of all these teams. They play just 12 times and only 4 of those are road games.
Before I get any farther, I want to thank former Pacer Jeff Foster for his 13 years of service to the Indiana Pacers organization. Foster announced a few weeks ago that he was being forced to retire because of prolonging back injuries. He has spent his entire career with the Pacers and he was always a player you could count on to play 100% every night. He played with tenacity and heart that you rarely see these days. He was never the kind of player that would rack up 20 points a night but he was the kind of player you have to have on your roster.
Foster’s sudden retirement led to the signing of Kyrylo Fesenko. I don’t know to pronounce his name either so don’t feel bad. The 7’1”, 280 lb. Fesenko is a fourth-year player that has averaged 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. He was signed by the Pacers on March 23rd but has yet to play at all, or even be in uniform on the bench. I am not sure how much longer he will have to sit out but we could really use an adequate backup for Roy Hibbert.
Upcoming games:
4/1- at Houston Rockets (27-25) [W 104-102 OT]
4/3- vs. New York Knicks (27-26) [W 112-104]
4/4- at Washington Wizards (12-39) [W 109-96]
4/6- vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (39-12) [W103-98]
4/7- vs. Boston Celtics (29-22)
4/9- vs. Toronto Raptors (17-35)
-results in brackets
It’s a tough game to start April. The Rockets are coming off a win and are in a similar playoff race to the Pacers. The Knicks dominated us in back-to-back games in March. The Heat beat us in the same fashion three times in a row before we got the best of them. Maybe the same will happen with the Knicks. Plus, they’ll be missing Jeremy Lin because of an injury. We had a tough time knocking off the Wizards last week. Now we have to go to their house where they may get the best of us. I seriously doubt we’ll beat the Thunder, but it’ll be a nice chance to watch Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. We have a 2-1 record against Boston so far and we could really use the win in case we tie with them in the standings. Toronto should be an easy win.
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