Jermaine O'Neal has returned to the court for the Pacers, and thinks that his team may have to win out in order to qualify for the playoffs in the weak Eastern Conference.

"We put ourselves in a position where we?re probably going to have to win out and get some help along the way. It?s a tough challenge, but it?s a challenge that we?re going to have to accept if we want to get into the postseason," O'Neal said.

The Pacers were three games behind Atlanta, the eighth seed, heading into their battle with the Celtics on Wednesday night. Including their game in Boston, Indiana has eight games left on their schedule.

However, O'Neal understands that beating the Celtics, who are looking for win number sixty, will be an extremely difficult task.

"I don?t think anybody?s fooled by any means by what the task is come Wednesday. Those guys have the best record. They?re the best team in the NBA right now. So we have to do a better job on communicating and really pushing our tempo. I think our tempo can give us the opportunity, but defensively at the end of the day we have to slow those guys down, too."