Pacers return to conference finals with something to prove

By Canadian Press on May 17, 2025.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton started this season intent on quieting anyone who considered last year’s Eastern Conference finals run a fluke.

Now that the Pacers are back, Haliburton and his teammates have a new goal: Proving to themselves they were right all along about how good these Pacers could be.

“You heard (Boston coach) Joe Mazzulla this year say Indiana was our toughest opponent,” Haliburton said after Friday’s practice. “That kind of became like a meme, like a participation award in a sense. But I think that’s the most respect you could get from who you’re ultimately competing against.”

Indiana should have had everyone’s attention long before this postseason began.

Sure, the Celtics swept the Pacers out of last year’s playoffs with a hobbled Haliburton out the final two games, as they won the NBA title. But there was nothing easy about it.

Boston needed a late turnover from Haliburton to force overtime in Game 1 and another key Haliburton turnover in overtime to close out the 133-128 win at home. And even without Haliburton, Boston eked out two three-point wins in Indianapolis.

In those moments, though, the Pacers were already thinking about taking their next big step.

“As soon as we lost to Boston last year,” swingman Aaron Nesmith said when asked to pinpoint the moment he knew Indiana could reach a second straight conference finals. “Everybody had the right mindset, I think we all used it as fuel for the summer. Everybody believes we should be here in this spot and now we’re ready to take advantage of it.”

That series, especially the ending in Game 1, provided Indiana with some key lessons for its next chance — value the opportunities when they come, play through the final buzzer and take nothing for granted.

It steeled the Pacers for what they’d face this season — early injuries, Haliburton’s slow start and a rugged 10-15 mark that had the doubters talking again about Indiana’s “good luck” to face two teams severely limited by injuries in last year’s playoffs.

That’s when the Pacers showed resilience.

Since Dec. 13, they’ve gone 48-19, surging into the East’s No. 4 seed and earning home-court advantage in the first round for the first time since 2013-14.

This run has been even more impressive than the previous one. They eliminated Giannis Antetokounmpo and fifth-seeded Milwaukee, the 2021 NBA champs, in five games by sweeping three home games. They also knocked out Donovan Mitchell and top-seeded Cleveland in five games by sweeping the three road games.

And they did it in ways that seemed unfathomable a year ago. The Pacers did it with tough, physical basketball, never backing down from the challenges and even turning their oft-criticized defense into a strength.

As a result, Indiana erased deficits of 20 points in Game 2 at Cleveland and 19 points in a decisive Game 5 on the Cavs home court, thanks largely to Haliburton’s 3-point shooting and putting Indiana within four wins of reaching its second NBA Finals in franchise history.

Haliburton did his part, too, starring in two big comebacks.

He ended Milwaukee’s season with a last-second layup in overtime of Game 5 and left Cleveland in a 2-0 hole after grabbing his missed free throw and knocking down a last-second 3. Both baskets, eight days apart, capped two Pacers rallies from seven points down in the final 40 seconds — something that had happened only one other time in the previous 1,643 playoff games going back to 1997-98.

Their resilience has created confidence anything is possible, and it may not have happened without last year’s rollercoaster postseason.

“We’ve been in hostile games, we’ve been on the road, had to find ways to win,” three-time All-Star Pascal Siakam said. “We’ve been down, we’ve been up, we’ve seen it at the highest level. But you still have to go through it. It doesn’t mean you’re immune from (losing), but I think we have a better experience because we’ve seen it before.”

Next up is a rematch with the New York Knicks. Indiana eliminated New York in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden last May.

This is not the same Pacers team that found themselves facing 1-0 deficits in all three of last year’s series. These Pacers have won four straight close-out games when they’ve been in the lead and these Pacers believe they’re far from finished.

“We’ve had many games where you could take a screenshot at any moment and be like ‘How did they win this game?’” Haliburton said after his Game 2 winner at Cleveland. “We just figure out ways to win. We don’t give up and we’re battle tested.”

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Michael Marot, The Associated Press