The gaps among playoff teams in the Eastern Conference have begun to open up. Just a month ago, only three games separated the two through six seeds, but now it has been extended to eight games. The team sitting in that final spot in the East’s top tier? The Indiana Pacers.
Indiana has some ground to make up over the final 27 games of the season. Luckily, they are right in the middle with the 16th strongest remaining schedule. The biggest problem? The two teams directly above them in the standings (Miami and Philadelphia) are 26th and 29th in strength of schedule respectively.