Since the turn of the new year, Indiana has been a revitalized basketball team. A 13-7 record in the past two months puts the Pacers in the sixth spot in the conference, just 3.5 games behind the third-seeded Wizards.
It’s good timing, too, because the season was almost getting out of hand. There was an embarrassing loss to Brooklyn in the second game of the season and a four-game losing streak in late December. Indiana idled on the outside of the playoff picture prior to January’s ascent, behind the New York Knicks. It wasn’t pretty.
There were some expectations – Vegas pegged Indiana for 43.