Indiana Pacers: 5 keys to series vs. Celtics

3. Outstanding bench play

The Pacers have players on their bench who are starter material in Cory Joseph and Domantas Sabonis. Sabonis has been one of the most productive sixth men in the league in 2018-2019, but he can’t do it alone against the Celtics.

It will be up to coach Nate McMillan to exhaust all options off the bench once playoffs begin, including under-the-radar guys like T.J. Leaf, Aaron Holiday and Kyle O’Quinn (O’Quinn has had spurts of inactivity recently, but played the last two matchups against Boston and Brooklyn).

The playoffs can either bring the best out of these under-used players, or they’ll be non-factors against Brad Stevens’ defense. But similar to the 3-point shooting uptick, it’s an option that can’t hurt for McMillan.

What using more bench players means for the Indiana Pacers is more variability, and hopefully a higher chance that an unexpected outbreak performance could shock the Cs and steal away a few games in the series.