The Indiana Pacers Surprise the NBA

The Indiana Pacers Surprise the NBA! Well they haven't surprised true Pacer fans. The truth is the Indiana Pacers have been sneaky good and an up and coming team in the NBA for a couple of years. Tuesday night they rode an 8-0 run to come from behind in overtime to beat Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks 119-118 and win their opening playoff series 4-1.

The force behind the Pacers is guard Tyrese Haliburton. The fact is he is a bonafide super star in this league. He hails from Iowa State. The Sacramento Kings drafted him 12th overall in 2020. But the Pacers traded for him in 2022. Since then he has made two all star teams, and this year was the NBA assist leader. He also won olympic gold with Team USA in the 2024 Paris Games.

But the truth is when you come out of Iowa State and head to Sacramento and then Indianapolis you might get missed by a lot of casual fans. A lot of good players who end up in Indy leave when their contracts are up. (Paul George and Victor Oladipo). Because of that it has been hard to build a winner in Indy. Even winning an olympic gold medal, it was hard for Haliburton to get noticed on a roster that included LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant and Jayson Taytum, just to name a few.

While the Pacers surprise the NBA, their superstar Tyrese Haliburton may be the best player you have never heard of, or at least don't know much about.

Up next the Pacers have a tall task as they will face the best team in the East when they play a best of seven series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs are great for the first time in their post-LeBron James era. This series should be worth a look!

For more NBA playoffs talk and analysis tune in to Craig Shemon and Company from 2-6pm on ESPN Southwest Florida.