Pacers struggled through March and surrender top spot to Miami.
Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert has conceded that with the way his team is playing right now, they don’t deserve the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Having led the way in the East for almost the entire season thus far, the Pacers fell behind Miami on Monday night after their loss to the San Antonio Spurs, coupled with the Heat’s win over the Toronto Raptors.
It has undoubtedly been a struggle for Frank Vogel’s men in recent weeks despite a win over their nearest rivals just under a week ago, with their record in March reading 8-9.
What has perhaps made the situation worse for them is that Miami have also been dealing with their own issues through the same time period, and yet they have somehow managed to overthrow Indiana at this late stage with the playoffs just a fortnight away.
While Hibbert has been particularly vocal in recent days after insisting that some of the players had been “selfish”, he has added to that by insisting that his team doesn’t even deserve top place.
“Good for them (the Heat),” Hibbert said when told that the Heat (51-22) were now above the Pacers (52-23) in the standings, as reported by the Indy Star.
“We don’t deserve it. Good for them. Whoever we see in the playoffs, we’ll see, but we’ve got to figure things out…But we don’t deserve the No. 1 seed.”
While the Pacers have struggled offensively in particular during their slump, it was reported that George Hill and Lance Stephenson had to be separated during the loss to the Spurs, with the duo seen engaged in a verbal confrontation on the bench.
Perhaps that is part and parcel of the game and with the problems on the court intensifying those off it, the Pacers will have to find a way of regrouping and pushing to clinch the top seed with just under 10 games to go in the regular season.
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