The Oklahoma City Thunder were heavy favorites to rise from the Western Conference and reach the NBA Finals for the majority of the season. The team boasted an NBA record 16-game lead over second place, after all. The same can’t be said for the Indiana Pacers, who battled their way past three of the East’s top-five teams to reach the Finals themselves. While most still expect OKC to handily take care of Indiana, the Pacers are finally getting their due respect.
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Dwyane Wade and The Timeout crew discussed how overlooked the Pacers were by the masses this season. Indiana did finish fourth in the Eastern Conference with an even 50 wins, but many questioned if they’d even win their first-round matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks after Damian Lillard’s return was announced.
Instead, the Pacers trounced the Bucks – and then the first-seed Cleveland Cavaliers – in just five games. The New York Knicks gave them a bit more trouble, but Indiana still has yet to be on the brink of elimination during their impressive postseason run. Chris Johnson believes the Pacers should have earned everyone’s respect, considering no one picked them to be where they are.
“They were silent killers, they were overlooked,” Johnson said of the gritty Pacers squad. “We spent the whole season talking about Boston in the East, and the Cavs, and even talking about New York towards the end of the season. But we never really gave Indiana the respect that they needed.”
Wade believes that being viewed as the underdog has only added to the Pacers’ excitement. Now, everyone who didn’t believe in them at least has to give the team its props. “You know, it gotta feel good for [Indiana] that everybody has to now pay respect to them,” the Heat legend said. “You have to talk about us … You gotta come kiss the ring.”
As a small market team without a bonafide superstar heading into the season, the Pacers were never a team that NBA media gravitated towards. Tyrese Haliburton’s slow start to the campaign didn’t help their case, either. But this well-rounded and deep Pacers squad eventually climbed into the thick of the playoff race and never dropped out again.
Now, Haliburton and the Pacers have the opportunity to accomplish something no one expected. Still a longshot favorite to take down the mighty Thunder, it will take several masterful performances from Indiana’s star guard and the rest of the team’s talented cast to make this a competitive series.
Even if the Pacers do come up short in embarrassing fashion, it’d be hard to chalk this season up as anything other than a resounding success for the franchise. If Haliburton and company are able to bring the city its first-ever NBA Championship, though, their names will forever be etched in franchise history.
