Long drought ends for Pacers, who have chance to turn snake-bitten history

Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton celebrates with their home fans after an Indiana three-pointer during the second half of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks. —AP

INDIANAPOLIS—The Pacers have finally ended the franchise’s 25-year NBA Finals drought, achieving the unthinkable after starting 10-15 and looking like anything but a title contender.

Now Indiana will try to exorcise the demons of its decades-long, snake-bitten history and actually win the title when the Pacers take on Oklahoma City in the Finals.

“It is really a special thing that happened 25 years ago, I wasn’t even six months old,” Tyrese Haliburton said after Indiana’s series-ending victory over New York. “There’s a lot of fans who have never seen success from this organization, especially people around my age. They weren’t alive for it.

“So it’s really special what we’re doing, and we’re just trying to keep making this a special place, a place where people want to come.”

The Pacers play in a state where basketball is treated like religion, championship teams become royals, and players and coaches emerge as revered figures when they achieve the unexpected, like these Pacers.

But Indiana hasn’t always been that dream destination for NBA players, instead being tabbed as a snake-bitten franchise for most of its 48 seasons in the league.

After winning three ABA titles, it took a telethon to save the financially floundering NBA newbie in July 1977.
The Pacers made just one playoff appearance during their first decade in the NBA, losing both games to Philadelphia.
Fans booed resoundingly when the Pacers used a first-round draft pick on Reggie Miller in 1987 instead of home-state favorite Steve Alford.
And their pathway to championships in the 1990s seemed hopelessly blocked by Michael Jordan’s Bulls or Patrick Ewing’s Knicks until the breakthrough run in 2000, only to lose to Shaquille O’Neal, the late Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

And though Miller was still playing at a high level, it has taken another quarter-century to make it back.

The journey hasn’t been an easy one.

For ABA, NBA double

This Pacers team rallied to eliminate some other snake-bitten opponents. They knocked out the 2021 NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks, the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and the Knicks.

The second final chapter begins on Thursday in Oklahoma City.

Indiana will open as the underdog against the Thunder. Two former ABA powers, San Antonio and Denver, have won NBA titles. But if the Pacers can capture the Larry O’Brien trophy, they would be the league’s only team to be crowned ABA and NBA champions.

“This is not the time to be popping champagne,” said coach Rick Carlisle, who led the Dallas Mavericks to the 2010-11 title. “Getting to the NBA Finals is an accomplishment. But if you start looking at it that way, you’ll go into it with the wrong mindset.

“When you get to this point of the season, its two teams, it’s one goal so it becomes an all or nothing thing.”