Pacers next road trip could mean everything
By TYLER SMITH (@TylerSmith_ISL)
ISL Editor
INDIANAPOLIS — Don’t look now, but the Indiana Pacers are right back in the mix for home court advantage in the Eastern Conference. They’ve won four of their last five games, while the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers have slumped. Indiana is just 1 1/2 games behind each with 23 games to play.
I’m never one to overreact to small samples, but this next 5-game road trip for the Pacers could easily be a determining factor for their entire season. If they go 1-4, they can probably kiss home court advantage goodbye. A 2-3 trip would also be tough to bounce back from with just 18 games on the schedule after that. If they can find a way to go 3-2 or the less likely 4-1, they’ll be in business.
Winning in Milwaukee will be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Winning in Dallas will be a big challenge, though the Mavericks are just 16-14 on their home court this season, for whatever reason. The other three games consist of Cleveland (who will be playing on a back-to-back), San Antonio (14-13 at home this season), and Chicago.
“If you don’t get excited about the end of the year coming and where we can be in playoffs, I have nothing for you,” said Justin Holiday. “I don’t think we’ll have a problem getting ready for these games on this trip.”
Myles Turner had the big three to seal the win over Portland on Thursday night. He knows the importance of the day-to-day grind: “It’s a tight race and we’ve got to take it one game at a time,” Turner said. “We’ve been trying to get our morale back and we know what we’re capable of.”
The Pacers are 14-14 on the road so far this season, and this will be their third five-game road trip of the year. They’ve gone 3-2 in each of their first two trips, and they’ll look to do it again.
If the Pacers can survive this trip, they’ll have 10 of their final 18 games at home to finish the season. They still have two games left with the Miami Heat, and one in Philadelphia. Those head-to-heads could mean everything, as long as Indiana can hold their own on this trip.
