INDIANAPOLIS — The Pacers are in uncharted territory.
For the first time ever, the franchise has made it to Game 7 of the NBA Finals and is one win away from its first-ever NBA championship.
”Regardless of what happens on Sunday, I think this team has captured the hearts of the fan base and will be remembered forever,” said Mark Montieth, a longtime Indianapolis sports journalist.
The story of the 2024-2025 Indiana Pacers might not be finished, but Montieth said this team of scrappy, young players has cemented itself in Pacers lore.
”As one of the great teams in franchise history and one that really excited the city,” he said.
Getting one win away from hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy is farther than any Pacers team before them, including the much heralded, Reggie Miller-led 2000s team.
Many of whom were in Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the Game 6 win on Thursday night.
To get to the last Pacers professional basketball championship, go back more than 50 years to the early 1970s when the blue and gold ruled the American Basketball Association with championships in 1970, 1972 and 1973.
”Great players, great people,” said Billy Keller, a player on all three of those teams. “We had really just a great bond of people. Nobody cared who scored the points, we just wanted to win.”
Keller played for the Indiana Pacers for seven seasons and was coached by the legendary Bobby Slick Leonard.
Keller sees a lot of similarities between the championship teams he played on and this modern Pacers team.
”It wasn’t a teammate per say, it was really a family, and I believe that’s what I’m seeing with the team today,” Keller said.
Going into what is without doubt the most momentous game in Pacers history on Sunday night, Montieth thinks back to a famous Slick Leonard saying.
”He would tell the players to walk out there like they own the damn place,” Monteith said. “Don’t think of yourself as the underdog or the home court advantage. Walk out there like you own the damn place.”
That mantra certainly worked, all three Pacers ABA Championships were won on the road. We’ll see if the current day Pacers can bring some of that magic to Oklahoma City on Sunday.