The Indiana Pacers advanced to the NBA Finals on Saturday, defeating the New York Knicks 125-108 in Game 6 of their conference finals matchup.
A year ago, the Pacers fell one round short of the championship series after losing in a four-game sweep to the Boston Celtics. This time, Indiana needed only five games to dispatch the Knicks, a longtime rival of the franchise.
The Pacers will face the Thunder in the finals, with the series starting on June 5 in Oklahoma City. The Thunder were the NBA’s best team during the regular season, winning 68 games.
Oklahoma City will have home-court advantage in the upcoming series.
Indiana was led to the championship round by point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Entering Game 6 against the Knicks, Haliburton was averaging 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 10.0 assists in the series.
The Pacers acquired the star guard midway through the 2021-22 season, trading All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis in exchange for Haliburton in a move that shocked the NBA. The ensuing summer, Indiana drafted guard Aaron Nembhard and traded for swingman Aaron Nesmith, both of whom have since played pivotal roles in the team’s starting lineup.
The Pacers also traded last season for forward Pascal Siakam, who was named to his third All-Star team earlier this year.
Indiana is known for its frenetic style of play. During the regular season, the Pacers finished seventh in the NBA in pace. The team has been one of the league’s best since the new year, posting a 34-14 record after January 1, fourth-best in the NBA.
Indiana finished fourth in the East after the hot close to the season, and then knocked off the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round for the second straight year. In the second round, the Pacers upset the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers in only five games, taking out the conference’s top-seeded team. Then in the third, Indiana defeated New York in another postseason rematch from 2024.
The Pacers’ head coach is Rick Carlisle, who was previously an assistant for Indiana from 1997 to 2000, and then the team’s head coach from 2003 to 2007. Carlisle was the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks from 2008 to 2021, winning a championship with the team in 2011.
The showdown with the Thunder will be the Pacers’ second finals appearance and first since 2000, when they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
Indiana is one of 10 NBA franchises to have never won a championship.
