Why the Pacers can't win right now

Down four at halftime with their backs against the wall, facing a potential 0-2 hole to the eighth-seeded Hawks, the Pacers exploded in the second half on Tuesday, outscoring Atlanta 53-33 over the final 24 minutes.

Paul George followed up his 24, 10, five, four and two performance in Game 1 with 27 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, four steals and a block in Game 2, the Pacers held the Hawks to just 39 percent shooting, and for the most part in that second half, looked like the mighty Pacers who had gotten off to a 33-7 start this season.

And yet in watching Game 2 and following along after the game, there was no sense of the Pacers figuring things out or finally getting back on track, but rather questions about whether they're capable of playing that way consistently anymore and reports that Lance Stephenson and Evan Turner had to be separated during a fight on the eve of the postseason.

Stephenson, Turner and the Pacers may be over that scuffle, but what Tuesday night reminded us is that while Indiana is obviously playing to win right now, they're doing so without any kind of reward in sight. This isn't the Western Conference, where the top eight teams are so competitive and compact that any playoff win - let alone a series win - feels like a triumph worth celebrating.

The Pacers are a 56-win No. 1 seed in a Conference where that gets you a date with a 38-win No. 8 seed, and even though we expected the Hawks to match up well based on their three-point shooting and regular season series, Indiana isn't going to be celebrated for knocking off Atlanta or splitting two home playoff games against a 44-loss team. No, based on the way they came flying out of the gates to start the season and the expectations they had for themselves in a weaker East, nothing about this Pacers playoff run will seem rewarding until they win a few games in the East Final, at least.

Beating the Hawks, let alone just evening their series at one game apiece heading back to Atlanta, certainly won't do it, and neither will taking out one of the Wizards or Bulls.

Frank Vogel went from Coach of the Year candidate to now reportedly coaching for his job, and if that's the case, one would have to expect it's probably Conference Finals or bust for him, too. The Pacers are still downright scary when they're defending at their highest level, but their offense is a mess at times and if they fall short of the final four, questions will once again arise about whether Vogel wore down his players with poor minute management earlier in the season.

Remember, coaches are often evaluated in comparison to expectations as opposed to how well they actually performed on the job.

Larry Bird's job is almost surely safe, but he'll still be facing some questions of his own when it comes to his decision to tinker with a lineup and chemistry (by adding Andrew Bynum and Evan Turner to the mix) that seemed to work so well together early in the year.

George is always a bad shooting game or two away from questions surrounding his ability to lead a team offensively, Roy Hibbert almost disappears from sight entirely these days, the consistent-as-they-come David West hasn't looked his best in two playoff games so far and there's now a massive spotlight on everything Stephenson and Turner do from here on out.

The Pacers remain talented enough and defensively capable enough to make the Eastern Conference Final and potentially beyond, at which point a lot of those questions surrounding Vogel, Bird, George, Hibbert and co. will be answered and this may finally look like a team back on track again.

But thanks to both the expectations and the unnecessary drama they've created for themselves, the Pacers cannot answer any of those questions with some first or even second round victories. They're playing to win, of course, but for at least the next week or two, they can't.