By Joshua Miranda
Sports Capital Journalism Program
INDIANAPOLIS — Nine thousand, one hundred and twenty-six days. That’s how long it will have been since the state of Indiana last hosted the NBA Finals.
The league was different back then. Reggie Miller, the star of the Indiana Pacers’ Finals run, was a rare mold of a star trying to prove he could shoot the lights out on his way to victory. His team, the 1999-2000 Indiana Pacers, led the league in 3-point shooting, with the most makes at the highest percentage. They were coached by Larry Bird, a member of the 1985-86 NBA Champion Boston Celtics. They played at Conseco Fieldhouse.
But they faced a rising dynasty, the Los Angeles Lakers, owners of the NBA’s best defense and the league MVP, Shaquille O’Neal.
Fast forward 25 years, and the Indiana Pacers are back in the NBA Finals.
This time with Tyrese Haliburton, the star of the Pacers’ Finals run, a rare mold of a star trying to prove he can pass the lights out on his way to victory. His team, the 2024-25 Indiana Pacers, leads the league in 3-point shooting, with the most makes at the highest percentage in the playoffs. They are coached by Rick Carlisle, a member of the 1985-86 NBA Champion Boston Celtics. They will play at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
But they’re facing a team with a chance to become a rising dynasty, the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the NBA’s best defense and the league MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Wait, has the script just changed only the years and the names?
But the 2025 Indiana Pacers didn’t finish the season as the top team in the East, unlike their 1999-2000 counterparts. This version of the Pacers entered the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, only to launch one of the most improbable runs to the NBA Finals in recent memory. At the end of the 2024 calendar year the Indiana Pacers were a below .500 team, and as the page of the calendar turned, so did their fate.
“I feel like we started the season, not as well as we should have,” said Ben Sheppard of the Pacers. “The ups and downs of the year, just seeing how much we overcame, is definitely something to be proud of, but still a lot of work left to do.”
They’re chasing something bigger than just a banner, they’re trying to right the wrongs, to finally deliver the title this state has long felt slipped through its fingers.
Their postseason journey has been nothing short of a paradox, history-making in both triumph and defeat. They became the first team, out of 971, to win after trailing by 14 or more points in the final 2:50 of regulation. They’re also the first NBA team with multiple 20-point comebacks in a single postseason since the play-by-play era began in 1996-97. And in the Finals, they became the first team in 28 postseasons, out of 121 before them, to erase a 7-point deficit in the final 3 minutes of regulation and still win.
But not all history has been kind.
They’re also the only team in NBA playoff history to lose a game by 15 or more points in every round of the postseason, and they now hold the record for most turnovers in a half during an NBA Finals game.
Inconsistency has been the lone kryptonite for an Indiana Pacers team with one foot in the promised land. And that inconsistency may reflect the rhythm of their star player.
Through two games of the NBA Finals, Haliburton has scored 31 points, the same number he posted in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals alone. Scoring has never been his priority; he prefers to let the game come to him. But when Haliburton flips the switch and looks for his own shot, the Pacers become nearly unstoppable.
The numbers back it up: When Haliburton scores 20 or more points, the Pacers are 31-3, a staggering 91% win rate. When he doesn’t? Their odds drop below 50%.
Haliburton’s journey to this moment hasn’t been smooth. He missed the final games of the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals after suffering a left hamstring strain in Game 2, and his Pacers were swept by the Boston Celtics in his absence. His offseason was cut short by Olympic duty, as he joined Team USA’s gold medal run at the 2024 Paris Games, and the early part of Indiana’s season showed the wear of that compressed timeline.
Now, Haliburton is again battling the injury narrative. After Game 2 of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City, he was seen limping following media availability, signaling possible signs of another leg issue. During shootaround on June 10, muscle tape was visible on his lower leg, though he appeared unfazed during practice.
“I’m fine,” Haliburton said. “It’s just a lower leg thing. I’ll leave it at that. I feel fine, and I’ll be ready for Game 3.”
“He practiced,” added head coach Rick Carlisle. “I know he has some discomfort, he feels it. But each day, he’s getting better.”
The Indiana Pacers, true to their name, play the game with pace. That tempo has been their secret weapon throughout the first three rounds of the NBA Playoffs, helping them run opponents off the floor. But that style comes with a cost: it wears on the body.
In the earlier rounds, Indiana’s opponents lacked the depth to keep up with the relentless pace and high-powered offense. But in the NBA Finals, that edge is gone.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are built for this.
They’re deep, with 14 players averaging double-digit minutes during the regular season, and nine doing the same in the playoffs. They play just as fast as Indiana, maybe even faster. Since the 2000–01 season, among all teams to reach the Finals, the 2024–25 Pacers rank third in pace. The Thunder? Second, trailing only the 2016–17 Golden State Warriors.
And unlike Indiana’s previous opponents, Oklahoma City doesn’t just keep up. The Thunder lock down. They boast the best defense in the NBA. So once again, the Pacers are facing an uphill climb, this time against a team that can match their strengths and add even more to the mix.
But still, the series stands at 1-1.
Which means all the numbers, all the rankings, all the matchups, they matter only until the next tipoff. Because now, it’s a race to three more wins.
