INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Pacers rode an emotional roller coaster Thursday night.
They stood and applauded in tribute to the late Nancy Leonard,
the organization’s matriarch. They cherished the newest addition to the fieldhouse rafters, an Eastern Conference championship banner. The fans booed, naturally, as Oklahoma City’s players were introduced and roared at the sight of the dapperly dressed two-time All-Star Tyrese Haliburton.Yes, opening
night had a little bit of everything in this NBA Finals rematch.
“I'm sure our fans will provide a great environment for this game,” coach Rick Carlisle predicted before tipoff. “There are a lot of unknowns heading into this season without Tyrese, without T.J. (McConnell) to start the season. But we've got an eager group of competitive guys that I think are very much looking forward to competing in this game.”
The Thunder hoisted their title banner and received their championship rings before Tuesday's 125-124 double-overtime victory over Houston at home.
This time, they hit the road for a contest that lived up to the expectations even if it was unusually ragged as the injured Haliburton and McConnell watched from the front row.
Haliburton sported glasses, a pink sport button down sweater, a white dress shirt and a pink tie in his first regular-season game since being ruled out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon. McConnell won't play until November because of a hamstring injury and the Pacers lost their other starting guard, Andrew Nembhard, with a sore left shoulder in the first half. Nembhard did not return.
But even without Haliburton in uniform, the night started with a bang.
Instead of holding a pregame ceremony unfurling the banner, it was just there when fans entered the arena. And rather than holding a traditional moment of silence for Leonard, who helped save the franchise in 1977, the sellout crowd applauded as a video tribute played on the scoreboard before the national anthem. The 93-year-old Leonard died last month.
Just the thought of what she meant to the franchise rekindled some emotional thoughts from Carlisle, who laughingly recounted the story of how she and her husband, Hall of Fame coach Bobby “Slick” Leonard, once guilted Indiana's players and coaches into parasailing.
“Had it not been for her, the Pacers wouldn't be here in all likelihood,” Carlisle said. “And if the Pacers had gone away in 1977 when they had the telethon to keep the team, it's probably pretty unlikely the Colts would have come and so this would have been a Pottersville of professional sports without her and certainly Slick as well.”
In June, Gainbridge Fieldhouse was rocking in the first quarter of Game 7 as fans came to watch the game in Oklahoma City on the big screen, then fell silent as they watched Haliburton crash to the floor, unable to get up. The Pacers went on to lose the game, falling short of their first NBA crown.
Haliburton, who isn't expected to play this season, was his usually joyous self. He said in an interview with ESPN that he recently began running and jumping.
The rest of the Pacers tried to begin showing they remain capable of another run without him against a Thunder team whose expectations are much clearer.
“It's very, very difficult because it's a great team,” Carlisle said of the champions. “They have some guys that are out tonight, but they're so deep and they have so many interchangeable pieces that it doesn't really mean much that they're missing a few guys. We have a lot of new guys, too.”
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