I am so sorry that I have now shown you the infamous Indiana Pacers Boy Band cover shoot. No this is not a 90s R&B group this is the 2013-2014 Indiana Pacers. From left to right we have slightly aging rejuvenated David West, a crafty point guard with a sweet stroke from three George Hill, an up and coming 2-Way Wing player Paul George, tenacious rebounder and defensive player Roy Hibbert, and finally the pesky tad bit annoying Lance Stephenson. They don’t look like much, but this team took the league by storm in 2012 and almost but a stop to the Big 3 in Miami. Yeah, the team with LeBron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh.
Today I just want to talk about this Pacers team 1) because this is roughly the time where I started watching basketball religiously, and 2) I love a good defensive underdog. This team had strikingly similar features to the grit-and-grind Memphis Grizzles and the 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons. Like eerily similar to that Pistons team. However, I want to talk about where it all went wrong for this team as well. This picture is a curse. I’m not superstitious maybe just a little stitious, but this picture was the start of the unraveling of this once great team. So, during the 2012-2013 season, the Indiana Pacers looked to be an up and coming team especially behind first-year All-Stars Paul George and Rot Hibbert. George had come into his own at this point in the absence of star forward Danny Granger due to injury. Hibbert was also becoming known as the best rim protector in the Eastern Conference. With a decent supporting cast and some veteran leadership from David West, the team looked as good as ever. Posting a 49-32 record that season earned them the 3 seed in the playoffs. Finally, in the playoffs, the Indiana Pacers bested the Atlanta Hawks and a surprisingly good New York Knicks team led by Carmelo Anthony in six games each. Finally came the gauntlet, the Miami Heat, and especially LeBron James. The Pacers played their hearts out in this series taking the soon to be champs to seven games. Even though they lost that series, everyone had their eyes on this team.
So as the next year rolls by the Pacers have posted a 33-7 record in the league while averaging a 93.9 defensive efficiency which was the best in the league by a wide margin. By the time the infamous photoshoot for GQ happened the Pacers boasted a record of 42-13, tops in the league. Unfortunately, that was one of the last times the Pacers touched success. In the last 27 games of the NBA season, the Pacers kept a record of 14-13, and then the team chemistry began to unravel. This is why I believe the photo was a curse, not just to my eyes but to the franchise as well. The team kept their top seed in the playoffs, but the 8th seed Atlanta Hawks took them to seven games. The next test was the up and coming Washington Wizards who had the team on the ropes until Game 5. Guess which team was waiting for the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. It was the two-time defending NBA Champions Miami Heat, led by you know who. I will say however that even though the Pacers were defeated in six games by the giant Heat, they went out valiantly, fighting the whole way down. I’m just sad to say that they were the team that was supposed to take down the Big 3 and become the Chosen Ones of the East. I blame the photo, I only blame the photo because what else is there to blame. A rough stretch at the end of the season had the team beaten and battered in the playoffs and the mountain just became too tall to climb. I enjoyed watching this team in my younger years just coming into the NBA. They were the hard-nosed, blue-collar type of NBA team that surrounded opponents with their stifling defense.
In the 2014-2015 season, the Pacers had lost Paul George to an injury during the US Olympic team practices that left him out all season. They missed the playoffs that year and undoubtedly missed their window into the NBA Finals. No one person from that infamous photo still plays for the Pacers. Rightfully so I believe the photo should be erased from history and maybe just maybe this will help the Pacers franchise come back to some early 2010s glory.
I hope you really enjoyed this story because I had a fun time writing it. Thank you once again for making it to the end of my blog, and please leave a comment on your favorite team that never became a champion. As always see y’all next time, James.
The Weird, Wacky, and Sometimes Wonderful NBA 