It's April 1st, the Pacers are clinging onto the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and they just beat the Lakers. Life is good right?

Maybe I'm on high alert for April's Fools pranks or maybe this team has driven me to full blown paranoia, but I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I turned to Twitter to calm my nerves – a place known for tranquil rationality – but as it turns out, I'm not the only one expecting disappointment today.

April is an odd time in the NBA. For some teams, the playoffs have already started. According to Rick Carlisle, you can lump the Pacers in that group.

"These are all playoff games, you know. I mean, they're fighting for their position in the standings. We are, too."

For other teams, the season has been over for a while and these games are simply an opportunity to boost lottery odds and/or for players to showcase themselves. The Nets are in an odd position seeing as they are effectively eliminated from the Play-In but without any first round picks. I guess that puts them in the "players showcase" category.

With the Miami Heat only a half-game behind the Pacers in the standings, now would be an inopportune time to allow the Nets players to showcase themselves too much. Aaron Nesmith, the Pacers resident defensive ace, will almost surely be tasked with hounding Cam Thomas all night. Thomas has led the Nets in scoring in 10 out of his last 11 games, averaging about 26.5 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game in March while shooting 47.5% from the field.

Luckily the Pacers have plenty of firepower of their own. Pascal Siakam has been on a tear over the past month, nearly averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds. You can see his comfort growing, something he's spoken about openly.

I’m definitely getting better at [fitting into the offense]. I think the team is kind of understanding some of the things that I do well, and we’ve been working on a lot of things.

It also helps that Haliburton has looked more like himself over the past few games. He's averaging almost 19 points and 9 assists over the past six games (of which the Pacers have won four) and his three point shot has started to fall again.

Things are rounding into form the Blue & Gold. Now they just need to show they can play high-level basketball with any consistency. Hopefully they start tonight.

Injuries

Nothing new to report for the Pacers at the time of writing.

How to Watch

Tipoff is at 7:00 PM ET.

TV: Bally Sports Indiana, NBA League Pass

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan

See ya in the comments!

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