Favorite Pacers Team(s) of Yours? All-Time

[basketballwacko2]

There was never a better basketball player and team leader than Mel Daniels! I actually had this basketball card til my Dad threw most of them out!

[glasket]

Mine were the the years where Dale and Antonio Davis showed opposing teams who the real men of the NBA were. Great toughness.


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[Grang33r]

I'm a 90s kid, born in '88 and raised on the Pacers. Reggie was (is) my hero, and I wanted to be Mark Jackson. My last name is Smith, so as a kid, I felt a connection to Smits, lol. The Davis "brothers" were the baddest dudes. Heck, I even liked Travis Best and I loved Sam "Smooooooth" Perkins. My immediate answer to the question in the thread is obviously those late-90s teams that fought with NY, Chicago, and finally broke through to the Finals.

Probably not as popular for most of the fanbase, but after those 90s teams, I loved the JO/Artest/SJax/Tinsley squad. Man they were fun to watch. It was always a game of "can we hold the opponent below 80?" I wish they could've kept their heads out of their rear-ends and won Reggie a ring. It's a simultaneous admiration and never-ending grudge with that group.

Obviously the PG/Hibbert/DWest teams were good and I was thrilled to be contending again and I'll always like that team. But this current squad is quickly out-pacing that group in terms of connection to the fanbase and likability. Oladipo and Myles are high level players and high character guys I'm proud to have on the Pacers. Along with Sabonis, GRIII, Thad, Lance, this group plays hard and plays together and does it with flare and humility. If this core sticks together for a few years and manages to compete on an ECF level or better, they're going to seriously challenge that 90s group. Which is saying A LOT.

PS - I LOVED when the whole team shaved their heads, but if I were Rik Smits, I'd pay to have those pictures erased from history!

Awesome thread. It's funny i just noticed it but i was just texting with a friend of mine after the Orlando game about this same exact topic. He's not a Pacers fan but a NBA fan and i was telling him how i really enjoy this team and they're among my favorite teams to watch.

As Pizza guy said, i was born in 84' so im a bit older so i grew up with Reggie as well and those days were my childhood. I couldnt ever get enough of seeing and reading about those Pacers teams. While Pacers always had a chance, they were always behind Jordan and the Bulls and it never truly felt we had a chance. Maybe it's like Houston/GSW right now - Houston is super strong and talented team, but i just don't see them winning over GSW in a series. Anyhow, the 1999 team i thought we were the best and just came up short which i remember how devastating it was. And than in 2000 they finally made it to the finals. I would say that was my favorite team. Jackson/Reggie/Rose/DD/Smits with Perkins, Mullin, Croshere, Best, McKay off the bench and the "future" Harrington and Bender also there when healthy. What the Greek freak is now, is what i thought Bender would turn out to be once he matured.

Close second is the 2003-04 Pacers. Tinsley/Reggie/Artest/O'Neal/Foster. I loved Foster and his hustle. I was a huge Artest fan, i know looking back on it kinda gotta shake my head. I really liked the bench because it had a good mix of youth (Harrington, James Jones, Bender, Brezec) and vets (Johnson, Anderson, Pollard) and in garbage time Fred Jones was a show. He was also the slam dunk winner that season.

[boomershadow]

That 2000 Finals team would have to be a close second to me. Obviously that's the pinnacle of the team's success in the NBA and Jalen Rose had a great season, but it misses out on the top spot for me because of the lack of Antonio Davis.