The Indiana Pacers will host the Brooklyn Nets at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Monday.

The Pacers (42-33) remain alive in the playoff race and control their destiny in the Eastern Conference. Sitting in sixth place of the standings entering Monday’s slate, Indiana knows a win here will continue to create separation with a Miami Heat that’s breathing on their necks. The Pacers have been struggling with consistency in recent weeks, however, and they own a 3-2 mark across their last five contests. At least the Pacers can feel confident of their chances thanks to their strong play at home, where they’ve gone 22-15 on the season. Ultimately, though, this team will go as far as their trio of Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner can carry it. If these three players are trending up, then the Pacers are a tough team to beat, mainly due to the pace they feature on offense when running the court.

Bennedict Mathurin (shoulder) is the only absence for the Pacers in this one. The second-year forward will miss the rest of the 2023-24 season.

The Nets (29-45) are in a more complicated scenario here. Even though Brooklyn remains alive in the playoff race, their 116-104 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday didn’t help their plans of reaching the Play-In Tournament. Brooklyn now sits 16 games below the .500 mark, but more importantly, the Nets are 5.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks in the race for the final spot in the Play-In Tournament. Given the Nets only have eight games remaining in the schedule, the team needs to win out and wait for a few losses from Atlanta to have a shot at reaching the postseason. Playing on the road shouldn’t be something they’re looking for, however, as the Nets have gone 12-26 away from home this season.

The Nets are listing Ben Simmons (back), Dariq Whitehead (lower leg) and Keita Bates-Diop (lower leg) as out. All three will miss the rest of the season.