Pacers Links: Pacers return home to tight Eastern Conference playoff race

While the Indiana Pacers took a loud and boisterous loss in Miami, the game still just counted as one loss in the Eastern Conference standings where the Pacers remain deadlocked with the New York Knicks, trailing by mere percentage points for second place in the East.

In fact, the Knicks, Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks (2-7 in the East standings, respectively) all lost their last game. So despite the disappointing performance and loss in Miami, the Pacers return home just as the left -- in a tight race for playoff seeing in the East.

The Pacers have two games at the Fieldhouse this week, starting with a visit by the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday followed by the surging Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. The T'Wolves are struggling with mass amounts of injuries to key players, especially in the front court (Kevin Love, Andrei Kirilenko, Nikola Pekovic). Minnesota plays San Antonio on Tuesday with all of their injured players still questionable which I assume will be the case on Wednesday in Indy.

Check out the links:

Indiana Pacers upset over effort vs. Miami Heat - USA Today

While Miami has improved, Pacers have not | 1070 The Fan – Opinion & Analysis

Dissecting the Pacers’ Loss in Miami | Pacers.com

Chris Bosh, 'The Worst Shot' and the Pacers | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE MIAMI HEAT

Roy Hibbert of Indiana Pacers finally improving field goal percentage as season winds down - Fantasy Basketball - ESPN

Indiana Pacers upset over effort vs. Miami Heat - USA Today

How the Heat used misdirection to confuse the Pacers' elite defense - SBNation.com

John Wall says he deserves a max contract, claims ‘everywhere’ is his sweet spot | Ball Don't Lie - Yahoo! Sports