Look, if Boston can't beat this Oladipo-less Pacers team without home court advantage, they aren't going to stand a chance against the superior teams above them in the standings... so I don't really care if we putter out over the remainder of this regular season. Regardless of seed, we SHOULD dominate the Pacers...
... That said...
If you're the type of person who -
1 - Thought we'd be a juggernaut this year based on our ability to take LeBron to 7 games in the playoffs last year.
2 - Thinks Boston is better off without our star guard - as shown in our ability to take LeBron to 7 games in the playoffs last year.
... Well then, strap yourself in for this mind-bender.
The Pacers took LeBron to 7 games in the playoffs last year too. In-fact, what they did was actually more impressive. Their only losses to the Cavs came by 3, 4, 3 and 4 points. They had two victories by 18 and 34 points. In the 7 games, the Pacers actually outscored the Cavs 704 to 664.
Compare that to Boston, who lost games by 30, 9, 20 and 8 points. In 7 games, LeBron and the Cavs outscored the Celtics 683 to 677.
By that math, the Pacers (who won 48 games) were actually better than the Celtics (who post-Kyrie injury played at a 48 win pace).
Now, factor in the fact that the Pacers will be missing their star guard... and how ya'll feel about teams being better without their star guards... Ya'll should be deftly afraid of the Pacers.