There are no moral victories, but even in the loss, the Indiana Pacers looked like they could make a series of a first-round meeting against the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics win put them ahead in the standings for now but both teams have similarly difficult schedules to finish the season, and Indiana only needs to get one game ahead of Boston to regain home-court advantage. They still should fight for 4th place in the Eastern Conference.
But if their fate is sealed, or appears that it is, they may want to think about resting their players, and if they want to think even deeper, they might consider a mini-tank job to end the season.