The Indiana Pacers team celebrates after winning Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA basketball playoffs against the New York Knicks in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (Michael Conroy / AP Photo)
The Indiana Pacers are going to the NBA Finals.
As the final buzzer went off, the deafening roar of thousands of fans filled the arena as the Pacers defeated the New York Knicks 125-108.
It’s been 25 years since the Pacers won the Eastern Conference Finals.
The sea of gold shirts lingered inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis to celebrate the historic win.
“It’s amazing. This takes me back to when I used to watch all the time when I was in college,” said Pacers fan Alana Cummings. “Reggie Miller, the Knicks, Pacers, like, there’s a lot of nostalgia here for me.”
The last time the Indiana basketball team made it to the NBA Finals was in 2000 when Reggie Miller led the team to defeat the Knicks. The Pacers then went on to lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals.
Tyrese Haliburton said the team had a chance to punch their ticket to the finals two days prior in New York.
“We just didn’t, didn’t play hard enough, and I thought we did a great job responding,” Haliburton said.
Haliburton said he’s proud of the team, and glad they were able to celebrate with fans and family.
“It’s definitely a, you know, probably a core memory in our lives,” Haliburton said. “But I think there’s a lot more work to do. And you know, let’s just keep creating memories.”
With the final round of games quickly approaching, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle also said there is still work to do.
“This is no time to be popping champagne,” Carlisle said. “When you get to this point of the season, you know, it’s two teams, and it’s one goal, and so, you know, it becomes an all or nothing thing, and we understand the magnitude of the opponent.”
Game six was close all through the first half. The teams went back and forth taking the lead. Pacers fans were on the edge of their seats.
During halftime, fan Mitch Harris said he grew up watching the Pacers.
“I think this is the most important game, maybe, of the franchise in like, 25 years, right since they’ve been a championship, and it would mean a lot,” Harris said. “I think I’m going to cry either joy or pain, because I don’t want to go back to New York, but it would mean a lot, I think, to a lot of the fans.”
For Harris it was tears of joy after the Pacers were able to clench the win in the second half.
The Pacers win also meant the end of the season for the Knicks.
“There’s disappointment, because you fall short of what your goal is, right? And there’s, in the end, there’s only going to be one team that achieves the goal,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau.
Thibodeau said the team will have to take the disappointment and use it as motivation for the next season.
Pacer’s Pascal Siakam was awarded most valuable player of the conference.
The NBA Finals tip-off is this Thursday in Oklahoma City, against Western Conference champions OKC Thunder.
The Pacers have yet to win an NBA title. The team did win three American Basketball Association (ABA) titles with the last one in 1973 before the team joined the NBA in 1976.
Contact WFYI All Things Considered newscaster and reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org or on Signal at SamHorton.05.
