The last time that the Indiana Pacers won a playoff series, local legend Reggie Miller was still on the court rather than headed for Hall of Fame induction, Rick Carlisle was leading the team from the bench and the team was just starting to feel the effects of the bad blood stirred up by the fabled "Malice in the Palace" earlier in the season. Back then, in the spring of 2005, Pacers fans all expected the team to contend every season, but even we probably didn't realize just how much Reggie had to do with their annual deep dive into the postseason. When Miller retired after the Pacers lost in the second round to, of all teams, the Detroit Pistons, few of us could have foreseen the depths of mediocrity that awaited as the franchise tried to turn itself around. After seven long years, though, the Indiana Pacers have emerged once again as a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference, and the most compelling proof of that so far was their 105-87 victory over the Orlando Magic in Indianapolis on May 8. With that Game 5 triumph, the Blue and Gold closed out their first-round series and slayed many of the club's personal demons.
For most of the years after Miller hung up his three-point gun for good, the Pacers did very little to excite any of us. Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, Jamaal Tinsley and the like represented ownership's attempt to give us a little bit of star power to light our way to Conseco Fieldhouse during the season, but the results were pretty unsavory. Year after year, Indiana languished just outside the playoff hunt, while team president Larry Bird assured us that he had a plan in place, if we'd only be patient. That was a tough road to hoe for most supporters, because the team wasn't good enough to be exciting, nor bad enough to land a top draft pick. In terms of fan satisfaction, watching the Pacers game was definitely NOT like after the risotto.
But last year brought a little real hope when the Pacers played tough in a first-round playoff loss to the Chicago Bulls, and then the team quietly put together a really solid season in 2011-12 and landed the third seed in the East. With the Chicago Bulls completely transformed by a slew of injuries, the Pacers can legitimately be considered the second best team in the conference, behind likely next-round foes, the Miami Heat. And, given the Heat's inconsistent play and all-flash vibe, would it really be shocking to see the Pacers still standing once the conference finals roll around?
The city of Indianapolis has been slow to embrace these new-look Pacers, partly due to the prominence of the Indianapolis Colts on the local scene and partly due to the Pacers' own morass. If, a couple of weeks from now, they're playing for a trip to the NBA Finals, I predict that fan support will be just like the team itself: all the way back.
Adam Hughes was raised, and still lives, in rural Indiana. He has been a Pacers fan since the early 1980s and has witnessed the rise and fall of a great NBA franchise. He follows the current club closely and is happy to see the Pacers begin their next ascent.
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