The Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics will be getting better acquainted over the next few days, and possibly beyond.
The Pacers (45-30) play the Celtics (44-31) in the first of two meetings in an eight-day stretch on Friday night in Boston. They are also in line to square off in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs should the standings hold over the final games of the regular season.
Indiana and Boston each boast a win on their home court against the other, but they aren't exactly playing their best basketball in a bid to perhaps secure the conference's fourth seed and home-court advantage in the potential first-round playoff matchup.
The Pacers have lost five of six following Wednesday's 107-99 loss at Oklahoma City while Boston dropped four in a row before posting a 116-106 victory at Cleveland on Tuesday.
"We've got to take it as the playoffs have started for us," Celtics guard Marcus Smart told reporters. "It's a playoff team and it's a possible team we might play. So for us to come out and really build some momentum against them before the playoffs starts, who knows if we may match up with them. But if we do, we're ready and we built up that momentum against them early."
Indiana likely can echo the same thing as its recent tough stretch was extended by former Pacer forward Paul George, who scored seven of his 31 points in a decisive 24-0 run on Wednesday.
Forward Bojan Bogdanovic, who leads the team by averaging 18.0 points, answered a 35-point performance in Sunday's 124-88 win over Denver with 28 points against Oklahoma City.
Indiana misfired on 14 consecutive shots during the pivotal stretch against the Thunder, much to the chagrin of the 29-year-old Bogdanovic.
"In the last month, in every single game, we've got those five or 10 minutes of play-calls that we don't execute (well)," Bogdanovic told the Indianapolis Star. "We get nervous for no reason."
Power forward Domantas Sabonis has improved his club-best rebound average (9.3) by totaling 51 boards in the last four games. He had 12 points and nine rebounds in the first encounter with the Celtics and 20 and seven in the rematch.
