Source: Michael Hickey / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers found themselves in a must-win situation on Sunday coming off a tough loss to Cleveland just 48 hours prior.
The blue and gold delivered in one of the most dominating wins of the season as they defeated the Atlanta Hawks 157-115.
Indiana needed to win this game in order to secure an outright spot in the NBA Playoffs. They could have done that in their previous game against Cleveland, but after coming up short in that game, the Pacers would need to come up big once more against an Atlanta team with a healthy Trey Young returning just in time to try and give the Hawks a shot at the postseason.
The Pacers set the tone of just how the game was going to unfold with an 8-0 run from the opening tip. Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam would account for Indiana’s first 19 points all by themselves. By the 7:50 mark of the 1st quarter Indiana found themselves up 19-6 as the Hawks went 3-for 7 in that span and turned the ball over twice.
The game continued like that the whole way with Atlanta never getting to win earshot again. Myles Turner had a superb performance finishing with a team-high 31 points and 12 rebounds in yet another double-double effort.
Pascal Siakam added 28 of his own and TJ McConnell continued his stellar play off the bench. McConnell added 17 points to go along with 8 assists. Tyrese Haliburton also had a double-double of 12 points and 13 assists.
The 157 points scored marks the fourth time this season Indiana has scored more than 150 in a game. The last time the Pacers achieved that was back in 1979.
With the win in hand and a 47-35 regular season record, the Pacers are the 6-seed in the NBA Playoffs, just avoiding the dreaded Play-In Tournament, which Atlanta now finds themselves in with the loss.
Indiana will square off with the Milwaukee Bucks in what is expected to be an exciting playoff series.
“We’re happy to be in, but our work has just begun,” said head coach Rick Carlisle. “That’s the way we’re going to look at this. Just getting to the playoffs is not the goal. The goal is a championship. We’ve got to have big aspirations and have high standards. That’s what we’re going to take into this.”
You may recall that the Pacers and Bucks met each other five times during the regular season, in which the Pacers won four times. One of those wins was in the In-Season Tournament semi-finals.
Despite a rocky road under new head coach Doc Rivers, the Bucks finished the regular season as the 3-seed with a 49-33 record. The Bucks have only won three of their last ten coming into the postseason; not exactly what you would call “momentum.”
The time and date for Game 1 of their forthcoming playoff series is still TBD, but rest assured, Indiana is right right where they want to be as the franchise continues to build for both the immediate and long-term future.
