In the first time in years, the Indiana Pacers played a game that didn’t matter. Last year’s team had to play until Game 82 to get into the playoffs, and even in the season after Paul George’s injury, the Pacers were fighting to the bitter end. But for the first time since 2010, Indiana was in a game that had little obvious consequence or wasn’t a detour during The Struggle.
The bright side of the Pacers being locked into the 5th seed — while waiting for the outside possibility of playing someone other than the Cleveland Cavaliers — is coach Nate McMillan got to put some of the deep rotation players into the game after awhile.