For the No. 6 seed Pacers, the playoff fun is just beginning

It's not enough to have simply qualified for the playoffs for the first time in four years; this Indiana team has a chance to make significant post-season noise.

The Pacers have won nine of their last 13 games, have beaten the Milwaukee Bucks four of five times during the regular season (one of those wins coming during the In Season Tournament) and are playing the best basketball in the Eastern Conference this side of the Boston Celtics.

So what I’m saying, and what Rick Carlisle is saying in his post-game press conference after the Pacers clinched the No. 6 playoff seed Sunday afternoon with a 157-112 win over Atlanta, is this:

It's not enough just to reach the postseason for the first time since 2020. It’s time to win, to first address that 9-game playoff losing streak the Pacers currently own, then to win a series or two and make some significant noise. You might have thought Carlisle would be filled with light and joy after a fairly perfunctory walkover against the Hawks, who are stuck in the No. 10 seed and had little to no interest in performing the basic functions of defense.

Not really.

He was wearing his game face.

“This organization has been to the conference finals eight times, the NBA Finals one time and won the ABA championship three times,” he said. “This is not an organization happy to be in the playoffs…That’s not what this is about. This is not about small market, lower expectations. We can’t have that.”