UNSCRIPTED: Indiana Pacers are going to the NBA Finals!
Unscripted
By Keith Edmonds
FWIS Contributing Writer
“When it happened 25 years ago I wasn’t even 6 months old. This is a special time for our organization, players, and fans. The Pacers took a chance on me when no one else would, and getting to the Finals is something that I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.”
~Tyrese Haliburton Pacers star point guard
The above storyline is true! The Indiana Pacers really are going to the NBA Finals for the 1st time since the year 2000! After defeating the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals (4-2). They are headed into a showdown with the Oklahoma City Thunder to determine who will become NBA Champions beginning June 5! The Thunder were arguably the NBA’s best team during the regular season and are led by league MVP Shai Gilgous Alexander (SGA) who is a PHENONMENAL player! But they are much more than SGA! He is surrounded by a talented group of players that will guard you tenaciously so the Pacers have their work cut out for them! But, before I get too far into this piece let’s just take a moment and applaud our Pacers who WEREN’T EXPECTED TO BE IN THIS POSITION! When these play-offs started it was Boston, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and New York who were the teams to beat (according to the “experts”) and very few if any picked the Pacers from Indiana (of all places) to get through that gauntlet of teams to get to the NBA finals, but to quote the great Chris Berman of ESPN... THAT’S WHY YOU PLAY THE GAME! The Pacers have been one of the best teams in the NBA play-offs with a style of play that could be only described as FRENETIC! They get up and down the floor with such speed that I have no other choice but to compare it to another sport that this state is known for; Indy Race Cars! They are confident, resilient, and approached each challenge with an air and swagger that belies their previous play-off experiences as they are looking to win the NBA finals for the 1st time in franchise history!
Both of these finals teams have an unspoken leader surrounded by tremendously talented role players who understand what needs to be done in crucial situations during the course of any given game and unless you are a serious basketball fanatic, you have no idea who starts for each team and definitely have zero chances of guessing the bench players! For example who are Chet Holgrem, Jalen Williams, and Alex Curuso for the Thunder and Andrew Nesmith, Ben Sheppard and Obi Toppin for the Pacers? I’ll wait....
Get my point? That’s what makes this NBA Finals such an intriguing event!
This series should be fun to watch as both teams are playing extremely well and coming off of series where they weren’t the “favorites” to win. The Thunder are 80-18 in their games this season (including an outstanding 12-4 in the play-offs while the Pacers after going 10-15 in their first 25 games, finished 40-17 for the remainder of the season and then proceeded to defeat Cleveland and then those pesky guys from New York! Most experts think that the Thunder will win this series in 6 tough games, but as for me, I think that if the Pacers win one of the two games in Oklahoma this week (The Finals start June 6) then THEY will win in 6 games! Why, because the Pacers are tough to beat in Indianapolis with that crowd and the sound of Indy race cars roaring in the background drives opposing teams crazy!! So let's see what happens and I’ll report back soon! Go Pacers! Vrrrrrroom....
Predicted Starting Line-Ups for Finals Game 1: