The Pacers don't plan to walk away from the playoff race without a fight. Indiana hopes to tie its longest winning streak of the season -- three games -- when it takes on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.
"We have to win all of our games going down the stretch and we'll see where that takes us," Pacers guard Flip Murray said. "If we win all of them and we don't make the playoffs, there's nothing we can do about it. We have to win and hope the teams in front of us lose some games so we can make a run for that last spot." The Pacers can't underestimate the lottery-bound Timberwolves because Minnesota came from 20 points down in the second quarter to beat Indiana by 13 points in December. The Timberwolves will be coming to Indianapolis on a three-game winning streak against the Pacers.
A victory Friday could help the Pacers move to within a game of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
PACERS 102, BOBCATS 95: The Pacers almost blew a double-digit lead against the Bobcats for the third time this season.
The Pacers let a 13-point lead get down to one with less than two minutes remaining before pulling out their fourth straight victory at home. Point guard Flip Murray scored 14 of his 22 points in the third quarter to help the Pacers come from 13 points down.
Small forward Shawne Williams picked up the slack for Murray in the fourth quarter when he had 14 of his 16 points in the final 12 minutes of the game.
Power forward Troy Murphy helped out in the scoring department by getting 18 points to go with 13 rebounds.
