NBA 2018-19 Playoff Chances: The Indiana Pacers and the difficult road ahead

The Future:

The 2018-19 NBA playoffs

Indiana Pacers need to make the playoffs this season

The biggest challenge right now, though it does not seem very difficult, is for the Indiana Pacers to stay in the playoff contention. As of today, they are 12 games ahead of the 9th placed Miami Heat, which makes it safe to say that they will eventually make the playoffs.

But their main concern should be making it to the top 4 as they will then get home court advantage, which is a huge positive for any NBA team. If the season ended right now and the Pacers finished 3rd, they would not only get the home court advantage, but also avoid both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics in the 1st round, getting the Detroit Pistons, thus boosting their chances of advancing.

Bojan Bogdanovic has been stepping up lately, ever since Victor Oladipo went down and with Darren Collison playing well and the twin towers of Indiana in Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis playing really great basketball, the Pacers should be able to keep the 76ers and Celtics at bay and make it at least with home court advantage for the playoffs.

Playoff chances: 10/10

The Indiana Pacers should safely make the playoffs this season, as they have shown some really good form even without Victor Oladipo on the court for most part of their season. Key role players have stepped up and assumed different roles which has helped keep this team going. Keeping hold of their 3rd place spot seems like the biggest task ahead of them right now.