Pacers beat Chicago as brutal schedule looms
By TYLER SMITH (@TylerSmith_ISL)
ISL Editor
INDIANAPOLIS — The Pacers concluded their important 7-game stretch with a 105-96 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Before this stretch began, I said the Pacers needed to go 6-1 to have a shot at the 3-seed in the Eastern Conference, thanks to the brutal schedule that is upon them. They finished 4-3 which probably won’t cut it.
Take a look at the remaining schedule for this team-
Even the “weaker” teams on that list have been playing great basketball of late. There are no breaks the rest of the way for Indiana, and the 76ers are right on their tails- just a half game back and a much lighter remaining schedule.
“We always focus on one game at a time,” said Pacers Coach Nate McMillan. “You can only play one at a time, so there’s no need to try and look at the next four or five games. The focus tonight was Chicago, and now we start focusing on Milwaukee.”
“Tough schedule for us,” said Bojan Bogdanovic. “We’ll be playing playoff type teams every night, but we still feel like we can go out there and have a chance to win.”
Even though the 3-seed looks unlikely at this point, getting the No. 4-seed is an important goal. The Celtics have been slumping of late and have their fair share of tough games the rest of the way. Home court advantage might come down to the two remaining games the Pacers have with the Celtics. They can’t afford to drop both games. A split probably does the trick.
The Pacers are 12-3 at home without Victor Oladipo and just 6-8 on the road without their star. Not only does that mean something for this next stretch of games, it also shows the importance of earning the home-court advantage in the 1st round.
