Out of the 22 NBA teams that played in the restart, 16 have moved onto the first round of the playoffs, including the Indiana Pacers, who have NC State representation. Both head coach Nate McMillan and forward T.J. Warren played for NC State in their collegiate careers.
McMillan, who played for NC State from 1984 to 1986, is in his fourth season as head coach of the Pacers. The Raleigh native led Indiana to a 45-28 record, having clinched a spot in the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. Indiana has lost in the first round of the playoffs each of the last three seasons.
Warren, who played for NC State from 2012 to 2014, is in his sixth NBA season and first with Indiana after spending the first five seasons of his career with the Phoenix Suns. The 2014 ACC Player of the Year leads the Pacers in scoring with 19.8 points per game and scored in double figures in seven straight games before the break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Warren continued his hot streak in the bubble, scoring 53 points in his first outing and averaged 31 points per game across all seeding games.
Due to Warren’s excellence, the Pacers were able to climb the NBA standings despite being without All-Star Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb and not having Victor Oladipo back to his former glory yet.
The Pacers have shot the ball well from the field this year at a 47.6% clip that is good for second in the NBA and have been one of the league’s better defensive teams with a 108 defensive efficiency rating, good for sixth in the league. One of the team’s weaknesses is rebounding as it ranks 25th out of 30 teams in rebounds per game with 42.8.
Because the Pacers jumped to the fourth seed, the team will be matched up with Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat in the first round. The Heat has won three of its four matchups this season, with the Heat’s only loss coming in a game where it rested its starters.
In the most notorious matchup between the two teams on Jan. 8, Warren and Butler had physical and verbal altercations that resulted in Warren getting ejected. Following the game, Butler proceeded to call Warren “trash” and “soft” and claimed that Warren is not in Butler’s so-called “league.” Butler then went so far as to post a photo of the Heat’s schedule, circling the next matchup with the Pacers and adding the caption “Don’t be mad you can’t guard me,” directed at Warren.
In their first matchup after the incident, Butler posted 19 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals and effectively shut Warren down. Warren ended the contest with 12 points on 5-14 shooting, ending his hot streak in the bubble.
Warren will be playing in the playoffs for the first time in his career after not making the playoffs during his time with the Suns. McMillan, on the other hand, will be in the playoffs for the ninth time as the head coach of an NBA team. His previous six appearances have all resulted in a first-round exit, and the farthest he has gone in the postseason was to the conference semifinals as head coach of the Seattle Supersonics in 2005.
If McMillan and Warren want to be able to move past the first round, the team will need to play to its regular-season strengths and try to outpace the Heat’s streaky shooting tendencies. If Warren and the Pacers can keep up with the Heat on the offensive side of the floor, it should have no problem throwing pesky defenders at Miami, such as Myles Turner or the Holiday brothers.
The Pacers are a bit of a long shot to win the NBA Finals with 100/1 odds according to Vegas Insider. Currently, Miami is listed as a four-point favorite for Game One and of the 17 experts on ESPN who provided first-round predictions, zero predicted that Indiana would escape victorious.
To see how Warren, McMillan and the Pacers fare in Game One, the game is viewable on TNT at 4 p.m. The rest of the series will be alternately available for viewing on ESPN and TNT.
