The Indiana Pacers have transcended a typical "team of destiny." I don't know how to classify them anymore, but "team of the Basketball Gods" is at least on the right track, I think.
Thus far, Indiana has won 13 playoff games after another stunner on Thursday night. Most of them have been outrageous, and a lot of them have been improbable, bordering on impossible. Here's the extremely definitive and objective rating of each Pacers playoff win so far.
No. 13: Round 1, Game 1 (117-98 over Milwaukee)
A comfortable, clinical win to kick off the playoffs. This game was never in doubt and it set the tone for Indiana's run.
No. 12: Round 1, Game 4 (129-103 over Milwaukee)
It was obvious the Pacers would bounce back in this game after looking flat in Game 3, but the way they responded proved just how much better than Milwaukee they are. This was an early playoff statement.
No. 11: Eastern Conference Finals, Game 4 (130-121 over New York)
Back in Indiana after dropping a game, the Pacers were not about to let the Knicks even the series, so Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam put togehter perhaps their best combined game of the playoffs. 62 points, 17 rebounds, 17 assists, 5 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover. Domination.
No. 10: Round 1, Game 2 (123-115 over Milwaukee)
Are you sensing a pattern here? The Pacers pulled off one wild win against the Bucks (that's way further down the list) but mostly, this series was controlled by Indiana front to back.
No. 9: Round 2, Game 1 (121-112 over Cleveland)
At the time, this looked like an impressive, but perhaps not sustainable, start to the series for Indiana, who was an underdog in this series. Boy, that feels like a lifetime ago. This was a wire-to-wire win for the 'Cers.
No. 8: Round 2, Game 4 (129-109 over Cleveland)
This win was "crazy" because it was a perfect chance for Cleveland to even the series, and instead the Pacers buried the Cavs in the first quarter, jumping out to a 15-point lead and pretty much never easing up. There wasn't much in-game craziness.
No. 7: Eastern Conference Finals, Game 6 (125-108 over New York)
Again, there was no suspense in this game, but it was crazy because it clinched a Finals berth for this Pacers team that — despite an ECF run last year and a 50-win season this year — weren't given any chance to do that.
No. 6: Eastern Conference Finals, Game 2 (114-109 over New York)
This was one of the rare instances where Indiana almost blew a late lead. The Pacers were up 10 with under three minutes left before New York stormed back and made it a one-point game after a Josh Hart layup with 14.2 seconds left. But the 'Cers fought off the Knicks and took their second straight game at MSG to open the ECF.
No. 5: Round 2, Game 6 (114-105 over Cleveland)
This game gets buried by the madness of the games still to come on this list, but it was pretty wild in its own right; in Cleveland, down 12 after the first quarter and down nine in the second half, the Pacers easily could have phoned it in and returned to Indiana still up 3-2 in the series. Instead, they went on a 26-5 run in the third quarter and sent Cleveland packing.
This would be a standout game in this run if not for... everything that is still to follow.
No. 4: NBA Finals, Game 1 (111-110 over Oklahoma City)
This game may have never reached the point where fans said "Oh, this game is actually over," like some of the others, but the stakes propel it into the top three. The stakes, plus a(nother) Tyrese Haliburton game-winner, this one coming with 0.3 seconds left and giving Indiana its first lead of the night.
The Pacers are three games away from winning the NBA Finals. Whew.
No. 3: Round 2, Game 2 (120-119 over Cleveland)
With 57.1 seconds left, the Pacers trailed this game 119-112. They got the ball after a Donovan Mitchell free thow, drew a foul... and then Pascal Siakam missed two free throws. With 48 seconds left, they were still down seven points. Then they forced a turnover, then another, then got an offensive rebound on a Tyrese Haliburton free throw leading to a three-pointer and boom, Pacers win 120-119.
No. 2: Round 1, Game 5 (119-118, OT over Milwaukee)
Indiana fought back in regulation in this one... only to find themselves down seven with under 40 seconds left in OT. Then Gary Trent Jr. forgot how to basketball, turned the ball over twice in 20 seconds, and Indiana used an 8-0 run in 34.1 seconds to steal a win. We had no idea what we were in for at this point.
No. 1: Eastern Conference Finals, Game 1 (138-135, OT over New York)
The Aaron Nesmith game. This was a 17-point game with just over six minutes left. Then, Nesmith made six 3-pointers in the final six minutes, then two clutch free throws in the final seconds to keep Indiana in the game.
Then Tyrese Haliburton hit the (he thought) game-winning three, which turned out to be the game-tying three, but he did the Reggie Miller choke celebration anyway, and somehow that's like the fifth-craziest thing to happen in this game. In an unprecedented postseason run, this game will still stand out in our memories a decade from now.
NBA news roundup
- As if the Dallas Mavericks aren't going through enough change, the Knicks are now seeking permission to interview Jason Kidd for their now-empty head coaching position, according to Marc Stein. Does Dallas have interest in sticking with Kidd through the Cooper Flagg era, or would they rather go in a different direction for the future?
- Tyrese Haliburton hitting the game-winner in Game 1 of the NBA Finals in his yet-to-be-released signature sneakers is hilariously representitive of Indiana's postseason run. Everything is coming up Hali.
Will Oklahoma City just keep getting better?
The common belief among NBA fans is that Oklahoma City will just keep getting better after this year. All of its core players are young and improving, and the franchise has a seemingly endless cache of first-round draft picks ready to be used or traded.
But is that really how things work? Yes, OKC has indeed hit big on a few draft picks in recent years like Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren... but the front office has also picked Ousmane Dieng, Josh Giddey and Aleksej Pokuševski. Even the best drafting teams don't bat 1.000 in the draft, so it's not realistic to think all of OKC's picks will yield a positive asset.
Plus, the team around the stars this year — Aaron Wiggins, Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso — was perfectly concocted. The outer edges of a roster are notoriously tough to keep together, especially in today's second apron league.
Oklahoma City is clearly a franchise on the rise, and a dynasty is very possible. But team-building, even at the highest level, is rarely linear in the NBA. The work for Sam Presti and the front office isn't over, and if they start to believe it is, things can get tenuous a lot quicker than we think.