In all likelihood, the Pacers will have to top the Celtics on Friday in order to clinch the final homecourt spot in the East. Both teams enter the final installment of the regular season series with identical records at 47-32, but Boston already has a 2-1 head-to-head advantage.
If the Celtics win the critical match-up... They’ll secure the tiebreaker and take a full-game lead over Indiana with only two games remaining on the schedule, which means the Pacers would no longer control their destiny for the 4-seed. At that point, in order to swap places with Boston, they would have to win out against Brooklyn and Atlanta while also getting assists from both Orlando and Washington in games against the Celtics.