Tiger Woods’ dominance and other trends from Pacers’ last NBA Finals trip
For the first time since 2000, the Indiana Pacers are in the NBA Finals.
Indiana topped the New York Knicks 125-108 in a climactic Game 6 Saturday night, securing its place in the final battle for the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. The series itself was a throwback to 2000, when the Pacers defeated the Knicks in six games to earn their most recent Finals berth.
Pascal Siakam led the Pacers to victory in Game 6 with 31 points, five rebounds, three assists, one steal and three blocks to be named Eastern Conference Finals MVP. Siakam had three 30-point games in the conference finals, tied for the most in a single series with Reggie Miller in 2001, according to ESPN Research.
Tyrese Haliburton contributed to the dominant win with 21 points and 13 assists.
From sports to movies to the Pacers themselves, going back to that time 25 years ago offers a trip down memory lane and some unlikely threads to the current age of pop culture and Indiana’s squad.
Here’s a look at what things were like the last time the Pacers played in the NBA Finals.
It was a fun stretch for fans of basketball and hockey …
Around the same time the Pacers and Los Angeles Lakers were competing for the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, the final series in the quest for the Stanley Cup was underway in the NHL.
The matchup between the Dallas Stars and the New Jersey Devils proved to be a dramatic affair. Four of the series’ six games were decided by one-goal margins, and Games 5 and 6 featured a combined five overtime periods. New Jersey jumped out to a 3-1 series lead, and center Jason Arnott eventually lit the lamp in the second overtime of Game 6 to clinch the Devils’ second Stanley Cup.
Elsewhere in the sports world …
On the green, Tiger Woods was gearing up for a remarkable summer. Two weeks after Pacers-Lakers Game 6, Woods would win his first U.S. Open by 15 strokes, a record for a major win that still stands. In July, Woods would win the British Open to complete a career Grand Slam, and in August he would nab the PGA Championship.
Woods’ PGA Championship triumph at Louisville’s Valhalla Golf Club made him the first golfer to capture three majors in one calendar year since Ben Hogan achieved the feat in 1953.
On the charts …
“Maria Maria” by Santana, featuring The Product G&B, topped the charts for the first half of the 2000 Finals. The final week of its 10-week stretch as the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 began the day before Game 3. The song landed at No. 3 on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100. Interestingly, the No. 1 song on the end-of-year list — “Breathe” by Faith Hill — never reached No. 1 on a weekly chart.
At the box office …
“Mission: Impossible II” wrapped up its second weekend at the top of the domestic box office just before Game 1 of the Pacers-Lakers series.
The second film in the “Mission: Impossible” series starring Tom Cruise grossed over $57 million domestically on opening weekend, the best of any film that year. It went on to become 2000’s highest-grossing film worldwide, exceeding $500 million.
Coincidentally, the eighth and most recent movie in the “Mission: Impossible” series was released in U.S. theaters May 23, during the Pacers’ current run.
A current Pacers star is born …
Most of the players who have had a pivotal role in Indiana’s return to the Finals this year likely weren’t following along the last time the Pacers competed for the league title.
Star guard Tyrese Haliburton was only a few months old at the time of the Pacers-Lakers series. (He was born in February 2000.) Stalwart forward Pascal Siakam, born in April 1994, had recently turned 6. Center Myles Turner, born in March 1996, was 4.
The team’s current coach, Rick Carlisle, was following along closely, though; he was an assistant coach with the Pacers that season. The 1999-2000 campaign would be his last assistant gig before becoming head coach of the Detroit Pistons two seasons later, his first top job.
Source: espn.com