Here We Go, Welcome To The Playoffs!

Well the playoffs are here! Your Indiana Pacers are the fifth seed and are set to take on the fourth seeded Boston Celtics. This is a match-up that we are all too familiar with in recent weeks as the Pacers lost to the Celtics twice at the end of the regular season. As a Pacers fan, the last 3 weeks have been some of the roughest times in recent memory. There have been a lot of losses with a few wins sprinkled in, just enough to ease the pain. Below is a reminder of some of the pain that has been endured.

I will be honest. The last few weeks have beat me down mentally. Without home court and no sign of any consistency, I am not convinced that Pacers are going to make it out of the first round of the playoffs. The team overall has looked tired with little or no fight. Coach Nate McMillan played the starters in a meaningless game against the Brooklyn Nets and the Pacers proceeded to get blown out. In the last regular season game against the Atlanta Hawks, McMillan heard the criticism and rested 5 players, 4 of which were starters. These players were Myles Turner, Thad Young, Bojan Bogdanovic, Wesley Matthews, and Domantas Sabonis. The only starter to play was Darren Collison and he played just 16 minutes.

What benefits came from this Pacers vs Hawks game? Well most importantly the Pacers main players got to rest, which will hopefully rejuvenate them for the playoffs. Next, we got to see the Pacers young talent in extended minutes for what is basically the first time this season. TJ Leaf scored a career high in points and had a career high in rebounds, 28 and 10.

Edmond Sumner had 22 points including the 3 game winning free throws. The young guys playing well seemed to also rejuvenate the players that were resting, as the players were going crazy on the bench and during post-game. The fearless leader, Victor Oladipo, also posted a video of him hollering in his bedroom as he watched Sumner hit the game winning free throw.

Do I think that this new breath of life is going to be enough to catapult the Pacers into the second round? As I said previously, no. Not this year. I do think though, that Pacers will make this a better series now than if they had been defeated against the Hawks. We will find out a lot after the first game of the playoffs, but as for now I have the Celtics winning in 6. Wow, that pained me to type.

Photo Credit: NBA.com

The Pacers begin the playoffs at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 14 in Boston. The game will be televised on TNT.