Recapping the Surprising NBA Finals Run for the Pacers

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00:00We do not expect this for Indiana, perhaps at any stage throughout this NBA postseason,

00:05and certainly not before the year got started, despite the fact the Pacers reached the Eastern

00:11Conference Finals exactly a year ago. That 21-1 price on the Pacers to win the Eastern Conference

00:18before this NBA season started, seventh best in all of the East. And that 28-1 price pre-playoff,

00:28fourth best number, well and good for the Pacers, who were the fourth seed in the Eastern

00:33Conference playoff bracket. But with how short the numbers were on the Celtics and the Cavs,

00:39we didn't expect anybody else playing in the Eastern Conference Finals, let alone winning

00:44that Eastern Conference crown. It almost feels like after last season, Indiana reaching the

00:49Eastern Conference Finals, despite some optimism in this team, was an anomaly. And yet here they are

00:55for a second consecutive year, and here the Pacers are in the NBA Finals.

01:00Yes, and also understand this, you do need some luck along the way to order to win championships.

01:05Every team usually benefits from it. You take a look at the Pacers and the Bucs, series number one,

01:09Damian Lillard, a little bit of damaged goods. All right, now you're going to get the Cleveland

01:12Cavaliers. The Cavaliers in that, a little bit of damaged goods, you handled their business.

01:16Now you face the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, as opposed to, let's just say,

01:20having to go a healthy Boston Celtics team. Well, that Celtics team was knocked out by the Knicks,

01:24so you got the Knicks, and you still were the underdogs and still won. Like, they're playing

01:27good basketball. And also, these weren't close series necessarily. 4-1 against Indy, 4-1 against

01:33the Cavaliers, 4-2 against the Knicks here. And now you move into, obviously, the Finals,

01:37you're going to be an underdog again against the true overall number one seed. We'll see what they

01:41can do. But again, you've got to take advantage of the injury situations that other teams present.

01:46They did that. No fault. And they looked good doing it. They didn't slip by any one of these

01:50rounds here. They were the better team in each and every round.