While they didn't quite get over the finish line, the Indiana Pacers captured the hearts and minds of NBA fans everywhere this postseason with their shocking run to the NBA Finals, where they took the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games. Many still suspect that had Tyrese Haliburton not gone down with a heartbreaking Achilles injury early in that game, Indiana could have hoisted its first Larry O'Brien trophy.
In the aftermath of the Pacers' incredible run, fans were left wondering how a team that was so overlooked throughout the regular season could have performed this well when no one expected them to.
Recently, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle spoke on the involving nature of the game and how his team was able to push all the right buttons in the epic playoff run.
“The NBA game has now become a play hard league. It's not just being top heavy with stars. Roster construction is changing. It's become more important to have more good players than be top heavy with two or three great players that get all the touches,” said Carlisle, per Caitlin Cooper on X, formerly Twitter.
A changing NBA game
As Carlisle mentioned, teams are veering further and further away from the star-heavy lineups that dominated the league during the 2010s. The Phoenix Suns recently became a cautionary tale of what happens when a team pours too many resources into forming a Big Three at the expense of building out a sustainable and sensible roster.
While the Pacers may not have had a traditional superstar on their team last year, they did have an elite assortment of players who were all perfect complements for Haliburton, who saved his best basketball for Indiana's playoff run, knocking down several game tying or game winning shots in the closing seconds of postseason games.
The Pacers are now faced with the prospect of a 2025-26 season in which Haliburton will be sidelined due to injury, a brutal consolation prize for the team's best-ever playoff run.
However, with Carlisle coaching, teams will know better than to count Indiana out completely next year.
