Looking Back At The History Of The Indiana Pacers Franchise
Indiana Pacers are one of the teams to participate in the NBA’s first ever preseason games in India. With that in mind, we take a look back at the team’s history
On Dec. 20, history was made when the NBA announced its first ever NBA India Games 2019. The announcement stated that the Sacramento Kings and the Indiana Pacers will face off twice in two days on October 4th and 5th, 2019 for the first-ever NBA preseason games in India. It’s time to get to know each of these teams better. Having looked back at the history of the Sacramento Kings, it’s time to take a trip down memory lane with the Indiana Pacers:
ABA Dominance [1967-1976]
Established in 1967, the Indiana Pacers are considered the most successful franchise in ABA history. Led by superstars like Mel Daniels, George McGinnis, Rick Mount, Roger Brown, Bob Netolicky, and Freddie Lewis, the team won three championships [1970, 1972 & 1973] in four years and appeared in five of the ABA’s nine Finals
Early struggles in NBA [1976-1989]
After the ABA-NBA merger in 1976, the Pacers were stricken with financial troubles that led to a lack of continuity for close to a decade. In their first thirteen seasons in the league, Indiana
Pacers only had one winning campaign (1980-81) when they sealed the last Playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They were eliminated in the first round of the Playoffs by the Philadelphia 76ers in a 2-0 sweep. The tide began to turn a couple of years after they drafted a skinny kid from UCLA as the 11th pick in the famed 1987 Draft in Reggie Miller.
It took the first couple of years of Millers’ career for the
Indiana Pacers to make some noise and qualify for the postseason. From 1989 till the end of Miller’s career (2004-05), Indiana, under six different head coaches (Dick Versace, Bob, Hill, Larry Brown, Larry Bird, Rick Carlisle, and Isiah Thomas), made the Playoffs all but one year (1996-97). Five of those 16 postseason appearances ended agonizingly in the Conference Finals (1994, 95, 98, 99, 04). In three of the five Conference Finals appearances, the Pacers were eliminated in the most disappointing fashion possible – a Game 7.
The one year they made it out of the Eastern Conference, they were beaten in the 2000 NBA Finals by the Western Conference Champions – the Los Angeles Lakers – in six games.
Miller considered the greatest Pacer ever, accumulated 25,279 points at 47.1% shooting in 1389 regular season games. As things stand, he ranks second on the all-time list for most three’s made with 2560, second only to Ray Allen’s 2973.
