Indiana Pacers fans might want to start paying attention to the projected postseason standings after all.

After a brutal start to the season, most Indiana fans assumed the only reason they would watch the standings would be to keep tabs on the Pacers’ odds of landing the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft lottery.

However, starting with Thanksgiving week, Indiana’s statistical profile has looked much more like that of a playoff team.

Not surprisingly, the Pacers picked up their first back-to-back wins of the season and their first road win of the year during the recent stretch.

Indiana fans shouldn’t start planning a parade, but it’s realistic to start paying attention to the playoff picture.

What was the turning point?

Heading into a game Nov. 24 at the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons, the Pacers were 2-14 with a team field goal percentage of .411 – one of the worst team shooting percentages in modern NBA history.

Indiana lost that game but finished with a respectable .476 shooting percentage. Since that night, the Pacers possess a .492 team field goal percentage, with no single-game percentage worse than .449. The .492 figure, if it were for the whole season, would make Indiana the third-best shooting team in the league.

The Pacers entered that Detroit game with a point differential of -12.81. That kind of point differential can put a team on the short list for the worst teams of all time. In the seven games since, the Pacers have a point differential of +1.71. That’s the type of mark you’d expect to see from a 45-win team, which is what many expected Indiana to be this season before injuries took their toll.

What changed? The Pacers have a marked uptick in unassisted two-point field goals over the last seven games. About 60 percent of Indiana’s two-point baskets in the last seven games have been unassisted. It was 47 percent before.

“Unassisted two-point baskets” isn’t necessarily a key to success. The Pacers ranked in the bottom 10 in that category the past two seasons and still fielded one of the most efficient offenses in the league. However, the current iteration of the Indiana roster likely benefits from an increase in points created through individual efforts.

Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell scored less than their averages over the past seven games, but almost all of the two-point baskets they made have been unassisted. This approach from the Indiana point guards – fewer shots, but breaking down defenses more frequently – seems to have unlocked the Pacer offense.

Will it be enough?

Can the version of the Pacers we’ve seen in the last seven games make a postseason push?

Despite the horrible start, Indiana is just four games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for 10th place in the Eastern Conference and the last spot in the play-in tournament.

If the Pacers maintain the statistical profile they’ve shown in the past seven games, that works out to around 32 wins over the final 59 games. That would give Indiana a final record of about 37-45. That would have been enough to take part in the Eastern Conference Play-In rounds in three of the five seasons since the NBA adopted that format.

Looking at the standings, the Pacers need to pass three teams to reach 10th place in the East. A 37-47 record almost certainly would be enough to pass the 13th-place Brooklyn Nets and 12th-place Charlotte Hornets, who have far more difficult schedules than Indiana the rest of the way.

That means Indiana would still have to catch either Milwaukee (and their former center) or Chicago for a spot in the play-in. Chicago has faded since a strong start and is on a 33-win pace. Milwaukee’s fate hinges on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s health and trade status. They’ll be hard to catch if Antetokounmpo is healthy and in a Bucks uniform. They’ll sink like a stone without him.

Bottom line: If the version of the Pacers we’ve seen the last seven games is the version of the Pacers we get the rest of the season, a play-in spot is far from far-fetched.