Indiana Pacers Playoff Tickets

Indiana is one of the most basketball-crazy states in the world, with the game being loved at the high school, college, and pro levels. Thus, fans across the state have been absolutely delighted that their NBA team, the Indiana Pacers, have been at or near the top of the NBA in terms of their ability to get to the playoffs and compete for championships on a regular basis.

The 1990s were the peak of the playoff competitions for the Pacers, as they boasted a combination of outside shooting and physicality that not every team in the league was able to match. The outside shooting came from Reggie Miller, of course, whose ability to knock down threes and get into the heads of his opponents was unmatched at the time.

Miller, the man with the most three-point field goals made in league history to that point, was so dangerous at a time when teams usually used a strategy of packing the paint to avoid getting beat by the many great big men of the era. This often freed things up for Miller to be one-on-one with a defender, which gave him an advantage and let him free up space to shoot.

The Pacers did have plenty of skill on the interior as well, with Rik Smits there to clean the glass and provide additional scoring. Known as the Dunking Dutchman, Smits was a tough cover inside even for the dominant centers of that era which included Dikembe Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning, and Patrick Ewing.

Speaking of Mourning and Ewing, the Pacers had robust rivalries with the Knicks and Heat during that era of playoff basketball. Both Miami and New York loved to play physical and hard-nosed basketball, which made for some very intriguing games with the similarly physical Pacers. Games against those teams usually saw Dale and Antonio Davis play a role, as those two players were built for the intensity with which both teams played those contests.

In the 2000 NBA Playoffs, the Pacers managed to advance past the Knicks to get to the Finals, where they held their own against the Los Angeles Lakers. Just managing to clear the hurdle that was the Knicks en route to those Finals was impressive, and solidified Miller’s status as a legend of the game.