Nate McMillan was fired by the Indiana Pacers after the team was swept by the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs.

The move comes two weeks after the Pacers signed McMillan to a contract extension. The 56-year-old talked about getting fired with Bob Kravitz of The Athletic.

“Yeah, well that was the reason for signing the extension; I was going to get that chance,” McMillan told The Athletic on Thursday. “But in saying that, my thought at the time (of signing the deal) was we would get out of the first round of the playoffs because we were heading down to Orlando with a healthy roster (except for Lamb). I felt confident we could beat those teams. …

“If we had gone down there with that full team, a healthy team, and lost, I would have made the decision for them. But I understand, sometimes you have some bad luck. To me, it’s like what’s happening in this country. We can’t put the pandemic on the guy who’s running the country, but you’ve got to take responsibility for what happens on your watch. And we failed to advance, so I have to take responsibility for that.”

The Pacers played at Disney World without All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis, who was dealing with a foot injury. Indiana star shooting guard Victor Oladipo also wasn't at 100 percent, as he was still making his way back from that gruesome knee injury he suffered in 2018-19.

Nate McMillan won't make any excuses, but even he knows he coached a depleted team in the playoffs the last two years. Without Oladipo in 2019, the Pacers got swept by the Boston Celtics. Without Sabonis in 2020, the Heat had their way with Indiana.

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