Last season, the Indiana Pacers made their first conference finals appearance in a decade. Despite ultimately losing to the eventual champion Boston Celtics in a four-game sweep, everybody would tell you that the Pacers played them harder than any of their other opponents in the postseason. Realistically, the Pacers could have (and maybe should have) won three of the four games they played against Boston, which is a sentiment Joe Mazzulla has publicly agreed with.
Though they were four games short of their first NBA Finals appearance since 2000, the Pacers sent a message to the NBA--they are resilient, and nobody wants to face them in a seven-game series. The Pacers have constantly proved that they are willing to rise to the occasion and will not back down against the NBA's top teams.
After their slow start to the season, the Pacers have turned things around and are reminding the basketball world just how good they can be, so much so that even those closest to the league are taking notice.
Brian Windhorst says it will be tough to beat the Pacers in a playoff series
In a recent episode of The Hoop Collective (YouTube link), ESPN's Brian Windhorst, who traveled to France to cover the NBA Paris Games 2025 between the Pacers and Spurs, revealed his biggest takeaway from the two-game series. Windhorst said it will be difficult for any team in the league to beat the Pacers in the playoffs because of how tough they play. Additionally, he mentioned how impressive the team looks on defense, especially after Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith returned.
"One of my big takeaways is how difficult it's going to be to beat the Pacers in a seven-game series. I'm not predicting that they're going to make another run again, I'm just telling you I don't want to see that team in a series because the way that they play is wearing and since [Aaron] Nesmith and [Andrew] Nembhard have come back, that is a different looking team," Windhorst said.
"I spent quite a bit of time with them this week in that game, and it's not worth examining the game, but they put Nembhard on [Devin] Vassell that game, and Vassell did nothing. I didn't even know Vassell was on the court."
Since the start of the new year, the Pacers have a 121.3 offensive rating. This ranks as the third-best in the league across that span, only behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets. Additionally, while their defense still ranks in the bottom half of the league, there is no denying that the Pacers look improved on that front.
In November, Celtics star Jayson Tatum spoke about last year's conference finals against the Pacers and admitted that it was the hardest series they played all postseason.
"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.
"We swept them, but every game we [were] dead tired."
A year later, the Pacers have stayed true to their style of basketball that wears opponents down, making it more difficult for them to lose in a playoff series. Currently, the Pacers are 25-20 and are sitting relatively comfortably as the No. 5 seed in the East. It is tough to consider them legitimate title contenders, especially since they share a conference with the Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers. However, if they taught the basketball world anything last year, it is that they thrive as underdogs and are capable of doing the unexpected.