From starting their season to securing another conference final, the Indiana Pacers have come a long way. Well, the doubts were always there, if the Pacers would play in the postseason this year, but HC Rick Carlisle always “believed” in his team. “You look surprised, I’m absolutely not surprised,” Carlisle had said before the playoffs. But that’s the thing about the Pacers, they have a habit of being defiant. Despite being 50-32 in the league, Indiana knocked out the best NBA team from the championship race in just five games. Still, after such a major win, Pascal Siakam will not allow the Pacers locker room to rise in celebrations just yet.

Ever since his move from the Raptors in 2023, Siakam has emerged as one of the best players for the Pacers. Even when the Pacers were going through a rough patch during the regular season, Siakam stood tall for his team and continued his good form. Perhaps this is what a player with a championship mindset does. And knowing the championship road is still long, the 31-year-old wants his teammate to focus on the bigger prize rather than celebrating their 4-1 win over the top-seeded Cavs.

See, Pascal is not just a brilliant player for the Pacers. He has now become the leader of a young team who have never tasted a championship. “It helps to have a guy like Pascal who has won a title as well kind of guiding us through this week and guiding us getting ready,” Pacers wing Doug McDermott had said before the Cavs series. And now that they have made it to another conference finals, Siakam is not willing to pass this opportunity.

“I think we’re a little bit like we greedy at the end of the day. Like we feel like we’ve been here before. So I don’t think, like last year we could have been like man, this is the first time in a while that, like, we were just here last year. So I think for us it’s just that focus got to shift like we got to be wanting more and to me that’s what I’m going to continue to preach to the guys,” he said during the post-game presser.

As the veteran on the team, Pascal Siakam wants to hit the message home. Last season, the Pacers surprised everyone by making it to the Conference Finals. However, their end was rather unceremonious. The franchise got swept by the Celtics, who eventually won the chip. Hence, having experienced what it’s like to be within touching distance of the Finals, this is the time for them to take the next step.

As a team, the NBA community might not rate them highly. They don’t harbor the biggest stars of the league. Rather, their cornerstone, Tyrese Haliburton, regularly receives the ‘overrated’ mantle. So the Pacers have plenty of motivation to upset the matrix. Several of their players have even seen growth this season.

As a roster, their depth was a pivotal reason for them upsetting the number one-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. Moving forward, Haliburton now believes the Pacers have what it takes to get the better of any of the remaining six teams in the postseason.

Tyrese Haliburton feels the Pacers are different

Many teams have depth in the league at this point in the season. Still, Tyrese Haliburton feels the Pacers are unique. Despite him being the star, Haliburton doesn’t lead the team in scoring. In addition, even as the focal playmaker, there isn’t a noticeable disparity in his and Andrew Nembhard’s assists. That’s where he thinks the Pacers have an edge.

“We’re different than every other team in the NBA. You know, we don’t just have one guy who scores all the points or, you know, we we I think we defeat teams in different ways… We’ve preached our depth all, you know, for the last couple years and, you know, it’s paying off now,” Haliburton said about the Pacers.

In tonight’s closeout game, the two-time All-Star was sensational. He scored a team-high 31 points, splashing six threes in the Pacers’ comeback win in Game 5. He credits the team’s selflessness for his breakout performance. The Pacers had to ‘weather a storm’ from the Cavaliers, something the team expected going into the opposing arena.

But they continued to display resistance. Once that lead flipped in their favor after a “bu*****t” start to the third quarter per Haliburton, the Pacers never let go. Aside from him, Siakam supplied 21 points, Nembhard was efficient with 18 and 6 assists, and Myles Turner made huge plays on the defensive end.

Although there is a belief that the Pacers have overloaded on offense, they rely more on their momentum. They managed to hold the Cavaliers to just 10 assists while forcing 11 turnovers. Moreover, for the series, the Pacers had five guys averaging more than 14 points.

Their rivals may view Tyrese Haliburton as the biggest threat. But there is no hierarchy within the Indiana Pacers. They have a number of players who are capable of having those big nights. In the playoffs, that is a ravishing quality that the Pacers proved is great enough to squash giants.

Now, they are the ones waiting. Either the Knicks or the Celtics will be pitted against their electric team. But this time around, they don’t just have experience; the Pacers are also extremely confident with their depth.