Jayson Tatum just reminded everybody how good the Pacers can still be

Last season, the Indiana Pacers made it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since Paul George led them there in 2014. They went head-to-head against the league-leading Boston Celtics, who were the overwhelming favorites to win the series. Ultimately, this is exactly how it went down. The Celtics swept the Pacers in four games, but anyone who watched the games would tell you it was much closer than it seemed.

While the Pacers did not steal a victory against the Celtics, each game (except for Game 2), was decided by five or fewer points. Additionally, the Pacers had a win in their grasp during Games 1 and 3 but choked it away. Their lack of experience and overall talent was evident in comparison to Boston's. However, there was a lot to like about how the Pacers played the Celtics.

The Celtics went 16-3 en route to their NBA-record 18th championship. Despite losing one game in every other series against the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dallas Mavericks, none of those series were as close as the Pacers one, a sentiment that Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla seems to agree with as well.

Fast forward a few months, and things are not looking as good for the Pacers. They are 3-4 through the first seven games of the 2024-25 NBA season and do not look like that same team that gave the Celtics their biggest challenge of the postseason, even though they brought back nearly the exact same roster.

Regardless, Celtics star Jayson Tatum recently appeared on Jeff Teague's Club 520 Podcast and made it known just how tough it was for them to defeat the Pacers last season.

Jayson Tatum says the Pacers were Boston's 'hardest series' last season

Tatum revealed to Teague that he believed the Pacers gave Boston their toughest challenge during last season's championship run. More specifically, the Duke alum spoke about how well the Pacers do at getting their opponents to play their game instead, the impressive performances from their role players, and the players' ability to play off the ball.

"I'm on record for saying it--the Pacers, that was the hardest series that we had last year. Just how fast they play, they would sub in three people at a time, T.J. McConnell was unreal at home...the role players that they got, they [are] just all so selfless, they don't stop moving, everybody play[s] without the ball," Tatum said.

"The way they play, they bait you into playing how they play and that works for them. Our thing is we want to get stops on defense, you look up and the score might be 135, that's the game that they want to play, and when they get you playing that way, they can beat anybody. We came back in overtime in the first game, Game 3 we [were] down 19, and Game 4, we went down to the wire. We swept them, but every game we [were] dead tired."

The reigning champions still look like one of the most dominant teams in the NBA and are destined to make another deep playoff run, if not repeat as champions. However, to the delight of Pacers fans, Boston's only loss so far in their 7-1 start came against Indiana in a conference finals rematch.

Things are not looking great for the Pacers early on, but Tatum's comments serve as a reminder about just how good they can be for the team when everything is clicking on all cylinders.

You can watch the whole interview with Tatum and Teague here: