Nate Taylor

IndyStar

Knicks at Pacers, 7 p.m. Tuesday, FSI

First priority for the Indiana Pacers was to return to the playoffs after a rare absence last year. The Pacers accomplished their season-long mission Sunday with an emphatic win over the poor Brooklyn Nets.

Minutes after the game, the Pacers, with many players smiling in the locker room about a first-round series that awaits them, began discussing their next goal, one that is just a two-day undertaking: capturing the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.

“The job is still not over,” Rodney Stuckey said after Sunday’s game. “We’re trying to get that seventh seed.”

Stuckey and several Pacers stressed the importance of why they need to keep winning before the playoffs start this weekend. The Pacers will face the New York Knicks on Tuesday in the final home game of the regular season. Carmelo Anthony is expected to play for the Knicks, but rookie Kristaps Porzingis is listed as doubtful. On Wednesday, the Pacers will face the Milwaukee Bucks on the road in the season finale.

If the Pacers win and Detroit loses to Miami on Tuesday, Indiana will be the seventh seed and face the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the playoffs. The Pacers can also clinch the spot by winning their final two games or Detroit losing its final two (including Wednesday at Cleveland). The eighth seed will face Cleveland.

Pacers clinch playoff berth by ripping Nets

Stuckey presented three reasons the Pacers need finish the regular season on a three-game winning streak:

>>The final two games should help the Pacers stay in rhythm and allow coach Frank Vogel to set his rotation for the postseason.

>>The seventh seed allows the Pacers to avoid facing the Cavaliers and LeBron James, who has never been eliminated in the first round in his 13-year career.

>>The seventh seed matches the Pacers against the Raptors, a franchise that has advanced past the first round just once and was upset in the first round the past two years.

“Toronto is a great team, but we feel like we match up with them well,” said Stuckey, even though the Pacers lost three of the four regular season meetings. “They have some great players, but we also have great players and also have some great players that come off the bench, too.”

After Sunday’s game, Vogel gave no indication that he would rest any of his starters the final two games. Vogel said his intent is to play everyone their usual minutes since the playoff seeding has yet to be determined.

Vogel then explained his reason was not so much about attaining the seventh seed.

“We’re not worried about any of that other than playing well the final two games,” he said. “When the seedings are done, we’ll play whoever the NBA says we should play. But right now we’re just worried about us.”

Monta Ellis agreed with Vogel.

“I don’t believe in rest,” Ellis said after Sunday’s game. “It’s time to turn it on. I just think the more we play, the sharper we’ll be going into the playoffs. I’d say if we was up in the third or fourth seed, then I’d say let’s look more for rest. But these last two games, and we had to go down to today’s game to clinch, I don’t think it’s right for us to get rest and sit for games. It’s time for us to continue to play and get sharper and go into the playoffs with great momentum and positive energy.”

Ellis noted that if the Pacers play the final two games with a makeshift roster, then it is possible for them to play poorly, lose and then enter the postseason and have a similar performance.

“You can’t just turn it on,” he said. “These last two games are very important for us to come together as a team.”

For Stuckey, Sunday’s victory meant he would make his first postseason appearance since 2009. He called his two playoff experiences with the Pistons phenomenal. Then he shifted his thoughts to preparing himself and the rest of his teammates to achieve their two-day goal before attacking the mission of pulling off a first-round upset.

“It was definitely an exciting time and I’m happy that I’m back, but we still have a lot to improve on,” he said. “We want to keep winning and keep building. Just because now we are in the playoffs, we don’t want to stop. We’ve got to keep working.”

Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.

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Knicks at Pacers, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Fox Sports Indiana

KNICKS

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Storylines

GEORGE COULD HAVE A TOP FIVE SEASON: At 23.2 points per game, Paul George is on pace to have the fifth-best season in franchise history for scoring average. Ahead of him is Danny Granger (24.1 in the 2009-10). The highest in Pacers NBA history is from Billy Knight, who averaged 26.6 points per game in 1976-77.

QUOTABLE: “In Toronto, we didn’t come out the way that was planned. We had to redeem ourselves and come out and take care of our own court. Coach (Frank Vogel) challenged us. He said the starters didn’t get off to a good start at Toronto. He wanted us to come out and set the tempo for the second unit. I think we did a great job of that.” — George Hill on the Pacers’ mentality entering Sunday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.

PREDICTION: The Pacers still have something for which to play: the seventh seed. The Knicks’ offseason starts after Tuesday’s game. Pacers 117, Knicks 97.

– Nate Taylor

Doyel: Myles Turner's return to form vital for Pacers

3 things to know about the Raptors

The Pacers have a 1-3 record against the Raptors this season.

The Raptors have increased their winning percentage in each of the past three seasons. Their 54 wins this season are a franchise record and they have a 31-9 record at home.

Paul George has averaged 16.3 points (second-lowest vs. Eastern Conference opponents) on 30.8 percent shooting (lowest vs. East) in the four meetings against the Raptors this season.

3 things to know about the Cavs