The Indiana Pacers dynasty in the 1970s have been forgotten as the most of the ABA disbanded when it merged with the NBA in 1976. For more than a decade the Pacers tried to find their way as the Celtics and the Lakers and the rest of the classic NBA teams ruled over the league. In 1987, the team started to turn things around. The team drafted Reggie Miller and the club began to collect the talent that would lead to a bevy of Pacers playoff tickets in the ‘90s. Eventually Rick Smits, Derrick McKey, Sam Perkins, Jalen Rose, and Mark Jackson came together to make the Pacers a team to fear throughout the Eastern Conference.
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The final pieces came when Larry Bird took over as coach and Chris Mullin joined the team. The Indiana Pacers were a team of tough role players and incredible shooters. That combination got them to the NBA Finals in 2000. The Lakers were favored heavily and ultimately won the series 4 games to 2, but playoff tickets saw a Pacers team that tried to counter every Shaq dunk with a three pointer or a mid range jump shot. The team suffered for the next two seasons, trying to rebuild after most of the 2000 squad left. Jermaine O’Neal, Brad Miller, Ron Artest, Jamaal Tinsley, and Austin Croshere were the driving forces behind the Pacers return to the conference finals in 2004, but the team could not overcome the Pistons and began the slow fall from contention again.
This season Jim O’Brien has been a given a roster with a hole in the post. Jermaine O’Neal was trade to the Raptors for T.J. Ford. The trade gives both players the chance they needed to start over. Ford gives the Pacers a quick point guard who can distribute the ball to one of the many shooters on the floor. O’Brien is a coach who does not mind lacking a low-post threat instead. Instead, Troy Murphy, Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavy and many others will be encouraged to shoot to their hearts content. Jeff Foster is an incredible rebounding machine who will be happy to chase down every miss. The approach has led to playoff tickets before, and may take the Pacers and the fans at Conseco Fieldhouse back to the playoffs.
The approach is not as fool hardy as it sounds. With O’Neal gone, Granger can continue to blossom into the star that he has been flashing since two seasons ago. The player is a complete force, a player who can shoot, drive, pass, play defense, and rebound. Pacers playoff ticket will really rely on Dunleavy and Murphy embracing the wide open approach. The approach will let them do what they do best, shoot. They are not much for defense and are not very good on the boards, but they can light the scoreboard up with catch and shoot plays and that is all O’Brien will ask of them over the regular season schedule.