OKC Thunder: Dissecting 16 playoff seeds and 4 WC team records

Indiana Pacers:

• 65 games played (39-26)
• Record versus seeded teams: 34 occasions (17-17)
• Record versus lottery teams: 31 occasions (22-9).
• Home record (21-11)
• Road record: (18-15)
• Back to back sets: Eight played (5-11)
  • three sets with both teams seeded (2-4)
  • three with one seed/one lottery seed (1-5)
  • two with both teams in the lottery (2-2)

For a club viewed as having depth and quality two-way play, a dive into the Pacers record doesn’t reflect that assessment. Indiana is around .500 on the road and abysmal in back-to-back sets. The fact they’ve only played eight of the latter works in their favor and since it’s unlikely there would be any of those sets played in the season resumption it will benefit Indy and hurt teams like the 76ers and Mavericks who are in a virtual tie with them.

The hiatus also helped Indiana because it allowed Victor Oladipo additional time to heal and gave Malcolm Brogdon some extra time to heal as he’s suffered from numerous bumps and bruises this season.

And while the Pacers are a .500 team against the elite squads they are also a team who could get hot from the perimeter and be a nightmare out.