The Pacers aren't hiding behind cliche statements like they aren't worried about what other teams around them in the standings are doing.
They admit they look at the standings on a daily basis.
"Every day I look at them," forward Danny Granger said. "I like to look at which teams we're competing against, who they're playing, how their schedule looks compared to ours."
The Pacers have a one-game lead on Orlando for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. But they also know a multi-game losing streak can quickly cause them to fall to as low as seventh in the East.
"It's a constant battle with every game -- win or lose -- meaning something," Granger said. "It's kind of interesting to keep track of the teams we're competing with."
The Pacers face a tough challenge when they play Oklahoma City, which has the second best record in the league, and Boston, which has won five of its last six games, on Friday and Saturday in Indianapolis.
"Back-to-back games are less about rest, but more about lack of preparation," coach Frank Vogel said. "Oklahoma City may be the best team in the NBA, right up there with Miami and Chicago. We're looking forward to using that as a barometer to see where we're at. It's a big challenge this weekend."
The Pacers were positioned for a letdown game. They came from behind to beat New York the night before. Then they had to face a Wizards team that's playing for nothing more than pride. The Pacers didn't let a repeat from when New Jersey beat them last week happen on Wednesday. The Pacers are 18-8 against teams with a losing record this season. "These games tend to be letdown games," forward Danny Granger said. "We came out and had an instance like that a week ago. We came into this game really focused knowing the weapons the Wizards have."
Guard Leandro Barbosa said he and Knicks guard J.R. Smith talked after Tuesday's game about the incident that happened between the two of them in the final seconds of Tuesday's game. Smith was given a flagrant foul level-2 for throwing Barbosa to the ground. The NBA changed it to a level-1 flagrant on Wednesday. "We're all good," Barbosa said. "We talked to each other. I was waiting for him to do some action, and when he did, I was prepared. If I wasn't I could have got myself in trouble."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We were very focused as a team. We tend to have our ups and downs, but we know what type of team we are so it's easy for us to stay focused." Center Roy Hibbert.
