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Jamal Collier
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers advanced to their first NBA Finals in 25 years on Saturday night, completing their postseason rise from up-and-coming, and perhaps, overlooked, underdogs to Eastern Conference champions.
The Pacers defeated the Knicks 4-2 in the conference finals, capped off with a 125-108 victory in Game 6, as Indiana secured its first trip to the Finals since 2000.
“I can’t put into words how special this group is,” Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said. “And how much this means to us.”
Indiana will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, which begin Thursday night in Oklahoma City.
Pascal Sakak won the Larry Bird Trophy as Eastern Conference finals MVP after finishing with 31 points, narrowly defeating Haliburton in the voting. Haliburton added 21 points, 13 assists and 6 rebounds on Saturday. The two Pacers stars shared an extended embrace after the final buzzer on Saturday night.
“It is rewarding to be in this position,” said Siakam, who scored 30 points in three games during the series. “To be able to get to this level and having an opportunity to play for an NBA championship. That’s amazing.”
Haliburton added: “We just talked about, man, this is what we got together to do. To do something special and we’re part of it right now.”
After reaching the conference finals last year before getting swept by Boston, the Pacers struggled to open the 2024-25 season. They were under .500 as recently as Jan. 1 but closed the season on a 34-14 run before entering the postseason as the No. 4 seed in the East.
Then the Pacers went on an improbable playoff run. They dispatched the Milwaukee Bucks in five games despite the dominance of Giannis Antetokounmpo. They upset the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in a convincing five-game series as well, despite the Pacers being underdogs in every game during the series. That set up a matchup against the Knicks, perhaps the franchise’s greatest rival, but Indiana defeated New York for the fourth straight playoff series, and sixth time in their past seven meetings.
And throughout their run, the Pacers pulled off three thrilling comebacks. They trailed by eight points with less than one minute remaining three times during the playoffs and came back to win, a feat only one team in NBA history had ever done before these Pacers.
“This group has been special, pulled off some very special things,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who made his second NBA Finals as a head coach (Dallas 2011) and joins Bird as the second coach in franchise history to take a team to the Finals. “So, we don’t take it for granted at all.”
The moment also provided a bit of symmetry: The Pacers last reached the NBA Finals in 2000 after winning the conference finals against the Knicks in Game 6.
Indiana wound up losing in the championship that season to the Los Angeles Lakerswhich is why Carlisle’s words in the aftermath could prove prudent, when he suggested “this is not time for popping champagne.”
“I think you enjoy tonight and then after that we got to move forward,” said Siakam, who won a championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019. “We got a team out there that’s waiting for us that’s serious. They’re the best team in the NBA. That that’s the challenge. I was telling the guys, for me, I got [to the Finals] when I was in Year 3 and I thought I would get back there a lot. It didn’t happen. So it’s a hell of an opportunity and you don’t know when you’re going to get it again.”
Indiana will be heavy underdogs once again entering the Finals. Oklahoma City was installed as -750 favorites to win the series, according to ESPN BET. In the past 20 years, only the 2018 Golden State Warriorswho were -1075 entering their series against the Cavs, were heavier favorites, according to ESPN Research. The Pacers flew under the radar entering the postseason without the kind of star power normally reserved for presumed NBA Finals teams, but won the Eastern Conference thanks to a relentless offense, which plays at a fast tempo opposing teams have had trouble keeping up with all postseason, a deep bench and a few thrilling comebacks punctuated by some clutch play.
“I think it’s a new blueprint for the league, man,” said Pacers center Myles Turnerthe longest-tenured player on the team. “The years of the superteams and stacking [stars] is not as effective as it once was. Since I’ve been in the league, this NBA is very trendy. It just shifts. But the new trend now is just kind of what we’re doing. OKC does the same thing. Young guys, get out and run, defend and use the power of friendship.”
