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Victor Oladipo returning on January 29th was supposed to rocket the Pacers up the Eastern Conference standings, right? 

Besides his debut on the 29th where he hit the game-tying three with nine seconds left, it’s actually been the opposite of that for Indiana. 

The blame isn’t solely on Oladipo at all. 

But the Pacers are 1-5 since then, 1-4 on an important homestand, and have lost five straight games overall. 

Those numbers are definitely cause for concern. 

How much though? And why? 

Kevin Bowen joined The Fan Morning Show on Monday morning to discuss. 

“It’s just a ton of missed opportunities since they’ve come home from that Western Conference trip of now you’re slipping in the Eastern Conference, and I think when you look at the East, home court means so, so much,” Bowen told the guys. 

Right now the Pacers are sixth in the Eastern Conference standings. They trail Miami, the fourth seed, by 3.5 games. Seeds 1-4 have home court advantage in the first round. 

That’s something Indiana hasn’t enjoyed since 2013-2014. 

“I mean if you look at the teams that you could potentially be matching up with in the playoffs, they’ve lost probably less than five games at home all season. The fact that the Pacers are looking at having to go on a torrid run after the All Star break if they want to get back into one of those top four seeds. I’m just not sure we’re going to see that happen.”

Currently the 76ers, Heat, and Celtics are ahead of the Pacers in the standings. Those are the teams that realistically they have a shot at surpassing in the second half. 

But what, overall, has been the biggest concern in this two week stretch? 

“I would say just the inability to finish games at home against teams that are missing their stars, that’s a really, really big red flag,” Bowen said to Jeff & Big Joe. 

Hopefully they can start to lower that red flag on Monday night against Brooklyn who, by the way, are currently the seventh seed behind the Pacers. 

Be sure to subscribe to The Fan Morning Show & listen every morning from 7 – 10 a.m. 

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