Five years ago today, Indiana Pacers beat Cleveland Cavaliers for most recent playoff victory

The Pacers hope to return to the postseason next year

Today is April 27, 2023, which marks the five-year anniversary of the Indiana Pacers most recent playoff victory.

On this day in 2018, the Pacers took down the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the first round of postseason play. Indiana dominated the battle, winning 121-87 to force a Game 7 in Cleveland.

It was as impressive as playoff wins get. The blue and gold had a balanced attack and saw seven players score in double figures, led by All-Star Victor Oladipo's 28. He was 11/19 from the field and 6/8 from deep.

Future All-Star Domantas Sabonis was impressive, too, with 19 points off the bench. But the Pacers defense on LeBron James was perhaps their most notable feat of the night as they held him to 22 points on 7/16 shooting. The Nate McMillan coached Pacers were a force on both ends.

Two days later, Indiana would drop Game 7 in Cleveland by four points. They lost the series against the Cavs 4-3, but they actually outscored Cleveland by 40 points across the seven games. It was an extremely competitive series between a rising Pacers team and the James-led Cavaliers, who went on to the NBA Finals.

Since that night five years ago, the Pacers have lost nine straight playoff games. They fell in Game 7 to the Cavs before being swept by Boston and Miami in the ensuing seasons, one of them coming in the NBA bubble.

While the Pacers performance on that April night in 2018 was stellar, that era of the roster didn't reach the heights it looked like it could at the time. Injuries, including a significant one to Oladipo, held the team back significantly while ill-fitting pieces never quite meshed. In the postseason specifically, the Pacers played against Boston without Oladipo and Miami without Sabonis, which significantly hurt their chances.

Now, the blue and gold are hoping to return to the postseason with their new franchise cornerstone, Tyrese Haliburton. "Can we get to 45 [wins]?" President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard mused about 2023-24 at his end of season press conference.

"Next year, we want to be in the playoffs... that's 100% the goal going into next year," Haliburton said the day before. Clearly, after a strong 2022-23 season, the Pacers want to reach games beyond the regular season.

The next time Indiana makes the playoffs, they will hope for better fortune than their last two trips and will hope to replicate some of their successful outings from 2017-18.

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