This 2023-2024 season has been nothing short of exhilarating for the Indiana Pacers. With their third-year coach, Rick Carlisle, the team is flexing their strong record of 47-35. The last time they had a winning record was the 2019-2020 season when the Pacers lost to the Heat 0-4 in the season. When Indiana hired Carlisle in 2019 he was greatly respected among the league, being one of the most successful coaches in all of the NBA’s seventy-seven-year existence. According to Stat Muse, “Carlisle is the twelfth all-time winningest coach with 943 wins under his belt.” “Before being the head coach of the Pacers again, he was the coach of the Detroit Pistons (2001-2003), Indianapolis Pacers (2003-2006), and the Dallas Mavericks (2008-2021),” according to Basketball Reference.com. Carlisle returned to the Pacers in 2021 where they had a 25-57 record. Each of the three years after that, Indiana has improved by at least ten games.
This season the Pacers have added many new faces to their squad. Many critics have said that they are too young with not have enough experience to make a deep playoff run, but I think the opposite. Sure Indy has some new faces like Benedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard, but they also have many vets like Myles Turner who has been in the league for nine years, and Pascal Siakam who has been in the league for eight years as well as winning the NBA Finals in 2019. Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin have been in the league now for two years.
The last time the Pacers made the playoffs was in the 2019-2020 season in the midst of all the Covid restrictions. They drew the Miami Heat who were stacked with Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Bam Adebayo. Indiana was led by their star Victor Oladipo who had a breakout season before being injured the next year that would never let him play the same strength again. Though the games were close, the Pacers proved no match for Miami. The series score was 4-0. The Heat went on to go all the way to the NBA Finals where they met Lebron James and the Lakers. The Lakers won the series 4-2.
“Since 2019 the Pacers have been on a playoff drought with three subpar seasons, to say the least. Victor Oladipo got injured on January 23, 2019, “according to IndyStar.com. The spectators, fans, and announcers immediately knew that it was serious. You could see his kneecap jolted over to the side a couple of inches. After that, Oladipo was never the same and ended up getting traded to the Heat for Caris LeVert. They had some success with LaVert, but nothing close to what they had with Victor Oladipo.
Since then, the Pacers have not even had a single winning season until this year. This has been in major part to receiving Tyrese Haliburton in a trade from the Kings. Haliburton came from Iowa State University where he played point guard for the Cyclones and led them to two successful seasons before being drafted. He was the first Cyclone to be drafted in the first round since 2012. He played his first seasons with the Sacramento Kings before being traded to the Pacers in 2021. Ever since Tyrese’s start with Indiana he has shown a tremendous amount of potential, but always fought the critics about him being a “wannabe All-Star.” Haliburton took that to heart and is now one of the most dominant guards in the league while being one of the youngest at twenty-four.
The Pacers and Knicks have a long-lasting rivalry that not many people are aware of. This tradition started mainly with Reggie Miller of the Pacers and Patrick Ewing and Jon Starks of the Knicks which blossomed in the playoffs of the 1993 season. Being the fierce competitor that Miller was, he hated to lose and would do absolutely anything to win. This started many player-to-player rivalries with Miller. He wasn’t the most liked player on the court that’s for sure.
In summary, the Pacers will have their work cut out for them in this history-packed series. Both teams, but especially the Pacers, will have much to prove to both themselves and their fans as neither team has made a deep playoff run in many years.
