The have looked pretty sluggish as of late in their back-to-back losses against the Lakers and Philly, and things took a turn for the worst when David West was ruled out due to a lower back injury.

No West? No worries. The Pacers just racked up two consecutive blowout wins -- a 111-90 laugher against the Cavs in Cleveland followed by a 95-73 pounding of the Magic at home. Now the Pacers are 42-26 for the season and lead the Knicks by 1.5 games for the second seed in the East. Here's to hoping the Pacers can hold on, and that the Celtics will keep off  the Bulls for the sixth seed, and that Derrick Rose won't be back this season. That's a lot of hoping.

Indiana is arguably still playing kind of sluggish but were able to get two easy wins against struggling teams with nothing to play for, so perhaps that will boost their confidence for a crucial upcoming stretch against Milwaukee, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and Phoenix -- to close out the month. Not going to be easy so going 0.500 during this stretch will be considered good enough for me.

On the bright side, David West's back is not regarded as serious and he should be back soon. Danny Granger has also been cleared to practice, though with just 14 games left in the season it looks like he won't even be 80% the player he was last season heading into the playoffs. Perhaps it will be a good thing to keep him to limited minutes off the bench.

Also promising is the play of Tyler Hansbrough, who started in place of West and had double-doubles of 18 and 11 and 14 and 14 in the last two games. Gerald Green also returned from a long exile on the end of the Pacers bench to put up 20 and 6 and 15 and 8 in the two games while shooting 50% from the field. Hopefully both of these guys will keep it up even when West, and eventually Granger, return.

Right now, though, it feels the Pacers are still missing something (perhaps a little swagger?). Frank Vogel needs to reach deep into his bag of tricks to make sure that these young guns are mentally ready come playoff time.

Depressing loss against a lottery team. The Pacers looked like they were the better team on paper and acted like they could turn it on at any minute to pull the game away. Unfortunately, that never happened.

Jrue Holiday and Spencer Hawes of all people just killed the Pacers, who unbelievably, still held a 1-point lead heading into the fourth. But the 76ers turned it on and the Pacers spluttered until it was too late. They hit a few big shots to pull a little closer but they never threatened after the half-way mark in the fourth, losing a dispirited 98-91 road game to drop to 40-26 for the season.

David West got into some awful foul trouble early in the game which swung things around. Paul George couldn't hit anything again. As coach Frank Vogel suggested, the team was hitting a wall and needed to grind through it heading towards the playoffs. They have a perfect opportunity to grab the 2nd seed with both hands as the Knicks are struggling with injuries, but instead the Pacers have continued to cough up their chances.

The 2nd seed is more important than it looks as the Pacers will want to avoid the Celtics, who are currently in 6th place. If the Pacers can lock up the second seed they will likely play the Hawks, who are not a walkover by any means but will be slightly less dangerous than a prideful Boston team on its last legs.

PS: Roy Hibbert started off well but missed a ton of shots late. He finished with 25 and 10, but shot just 9-26 from the field. On the whole, still a positive thing to see as the Pacers could really use his offense in the playoffs.

Losing to the Lakers without Kobe (well, 12 minutes of ineffective Kobe) and Pau Gasol -- at home, mind you -- has to equal the Pacers' worst loss of the season. Even worse than the Miami game a few nights ago.

When I heard Kobe was going to play, I actually thought it would be a good thing for the Pacers. Surely he would not be 100% and might try to do too much, which would play right into the Pacers' hands. Unfortunately, he played just 12 scoreless minutes and realized he couldn't go on, and sat out the rest of the game.

Rather than folding, however, the Lakers just caught fire from downtown and could not miss. Steve Blake and Antawn Jamison combined for 9-14 from the outside, and Metta World Peace outhustled and frustrated Paul George. Dwight Howard got the Pacers big guys in trouble early and often. Lance Stephenson contributed to a lot of wild, out of control plays, many of which turned into turnovers. Even though there were some questionable calls in favor of the Lakers, the Pacers absolutely deserved to lose this one. 

It was just horrible, and I worry the Pacers might be heading in the wrong direction at a key stretch of the season. Road games against Philly and Cleveland coming up, then home games against the Magic and Bucks. The Pacers need to win all four.

At least the Indiana Pacers can beat the bad teams. After getting thumped by the Heat, the Pacers returned home to Bankers Life Fieldhouse and put together an easy 107-91 victory.

This win, the Pacers' 40th of the season, was one of those where the starters were killing the opponents but the bench was killing the team -- at least in the first half. Roy Hibbert had his best game of the season by far with 27 and 12 on 10-15 shooting to go with 4 blocks in 34 minutes.

Paul George had 17, David West 13, George Hill 16 and Orlando Johnson 12.

Great win, but it won't mean all that much if they can't hold fort against the incoming Lakers next game.

I am firmly of the belief that the Indiana Pacers are better team now than the team they were when they twice beat the Miami Heat earlier this season. The problem is, this current Heat team is playing out of their minds. Combine that with home court for the Heat and a thirst for revenge -- the Pacers simply had no chance.

Final score, 105-91, and the Pacers never got very close after the Heat finished off with a flurry to lead by 10 at the half.

The Pacers' strategy appeared to be to contain Lebron James and let everyone else beat them. They kept Lebron to a season low 13 points, but boy, the other guys REALLY stepped up. Mario Chalmers had 26, Christ Bosh 24 and Dwyane Wade 23. As for the Pacers, apart from David West, who had 24, no one else was effective.

This was a game that put the Pacers back in their rightful place -- very very far behind the Miami Heat. That said, the Pacers are probably still the second best team in the East, and that can't be a bad thing at this stage of the season. With some luck, they are still the team in the East with the best chance of causing an upset against the defending champs, even if that chance is, as of now, barely above zero.

Next up, the Timberwolves at home, followed by a date with another streaking team -- the LA Lakers.