Pacers thrash Hornets to launch NBA playoff bid

LOS ANGELES – The Indiana Pacers launched their bid for a playoff place with a 144-117 blowout over the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time) as the NBA's postseason got underway.

Oshae Brissett scored 23 points and Doug McDermott added 21 as the Pacers got off to a fast start and never eased up in a comprehensive wire-to-wire victory in Indianapolis. 

Domantas Sabonis contributed 14 points and hauled down 21 rebounds with nine assists in a dominant display.

"I feel like everybody's confidence is the highest it's been all year," Sabonis said. "This is the perfect timing for us," added Sabonis, one of eight Pacers players who finished with double-digit points tallies.

Miles Bridges scored 23 points to lead the scoring for the Hornets, whose season was brought to an emphatic end with the loss.

The Pacers will now play the loser of Tuesday's late game between the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards on Thursday for a place in the playoffs.

Only one win had separated the ninth-placed Pacers from the 10th-ranked Hornets during the regular season, which wrapped up on Sunday.

However a gulf in class soon became apparent on Tuesday as the Pacers sprinted into a 40-24 lead by the end of the first quarter. 

By halftime the Pacers had opened up a 24-point cushion to effectively kill the contest against a strangely subdued Hornets line-up. 

The Pacers continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over and led by as much as 32 points in the fourth quarter as Charlotte struggled to make any sort of impression against an iron Indiana defense.

The NBA used a play-in tournament for the playoffs this season after deploying the format last year when the pandemic-disrupted campaign was completed in the Orlando bubble in Florida.

Under the new format, teams in each conference ranked from seventh to 10th place play a mini-tournament to determine the final two playoff places to go alongside the top six from each conference who have qualified automatically.