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Out of all the teams that are still standing in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, the Indiana Pacers come across as the unlikeliest one that's still in pursuit of the title this season. Regardless of how one views Tyrese Haliburton and company, what matters to Indiana is that it's alive in the postseason with a chance to break a particular spell the franchise has yet to reverse.
This feels like a random playoff trend, but fascinating nonetheless: Since the 1990s, the Pacers have been to the Eastern Conference finals in each year that ended in the No. 4. They have lost in all those series, though, so the Pacers will be up against some more odds in the upcoming matchup versus the high-powered Boston Celtics.
Will the Pacers break the spell?
Here's a rundown of what happened to the Pacers in each of those particular “cursed” years.
Back in 1994, Indiana, then still coached by Larry Brown, swept the Orlando Magic in three games in the first round of the playoffs. The Pacers then defeated the Atlanta Hawks in six games in the second round. Their run was halted by the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals. The Knicks won the first two games of that series before Reggie Miller and the Pacers responded with three wins in a row to take the series lead. But the Knicks got the job done by winning the last two games of the series.
Ten years later, during the first season of Rick Carlisle as Indiana's head coach, the Pacers steamrolled the Celtics in a first-round sweep. The Miami Heat got Indiana's wrath in the second round, as the Pacers eliminated Dwyane Wade's team in six games. Unfortunately for Indiana, it could not capitalize on an early 1-0 series lead, as the Pistons finished the matchup in six games.
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It was the same fate the Pacers suffered a decade later. Coming off another Eastern Conference finals appearance a season before, the 2013-14 edition of Indiana found its way back to the same round. The Pacers were nearly upset in the first round by the Atlanta Hawks but they managed to advance to the second round after taking out the Hawks in seven games. In the Eastern Conference semifinals, Indiana, coached by Frank Vogel and led on the court by Paul George, booked John Wall and the Washington Wizards tickets to Cancun after six games. And once again, George and the Pacers met LeBron James and the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals. The Heat wrapped things up in six games and the Pacers would not get past the first round again of the playoffs until this season.
It will be a tall order for the Pacers to pull off an upset against Jayson Tatum and the Celtics. But the upcoming series is the perfect opportunity for Indiana to silence their critics who think the Pacers wouldn't have gone this far if only the Milwaukee Bucks (first round) and the Knicks (second round) were healthy.
Indiana is the clear underdog against the Celtics, but it shouldn't be forgotten that they defeated Boston twice in five meetings back in the regular season.
The Pacers are being led in the playoffs by Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner, and Haliburton, a talented trio that should be good enough to at least keep the Celtics on their toes.
Game 1 of the Pacers vs Celtics series will this Tuesday night at TD Garden in Boston.
