All the Indiana Pacers have preached about all season is getting the No. 1 seed and having homecourt advantage in the playoffs. It appeared they would secure that goal as they came out firing to begin the season and kept it up for quite some time. Then there was a significant shift and the Pacers appeared to be in a free fall. Luckily for them the Heat had some trouble as well which kept things close between them. However after last night’s 98-86 lost to Miami in a game which the Pacers were down by as many as 20 points, they now seem content with being No. 2.
Following the matchup of the Eastern Conference titans, the Pacers were singing a different tune from the one they’d preached all year. With the Heat’s win they’re now at the top of Eastern Conference sitting a half game ahead of the Pacers.
via the IndyStar:
“Now it’s not in our hands,” Paul George said, “and we’re perfectly fine with that.”
“We all right, man. I feel like we’re better as the underdog and we just got to keep playing hard and stay positive with each other,” Lance Stephenson said. “Whatever God put us at, I feel like if he puts us in the second place or he puts us in first place, we got to live up to the challenge,” Stephenson said. “But I like us as underdogs and us coming after people. I feel like we got to get used to playing under pressure and being on top.”
These sentiments are clearly different as Paul George said BEFORE the game, “(The top seed) is what we preached about all year”. Well it’s not completely over yet. The Heat have the Hawks, Wizards and Sixers remaining on their schedule while the Pacers will face the Thunder and the Magic.
