Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was introduced to the Grateful Dead four decades ago by then-Boston Celtics teammate Bill Walton.

Q: Does being in the East help us with getting Kevin Durant? Maybe the Suns don’t want KD in the West. Maybe KD wants the best chance to win and the East gives him that chance. It seems like the path would be easier in the next year being in the East. – Kristopher, Oceanside, Calif.

Warriors Guard's Role in Pacers' Remarkable Finals Run Revealed originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Game 1 of the NBA Finals saw an epic fourth-quarter comeback followed by a Tyrese Haliburton game-winning shot that will live forever in Indiana Pacers lore. HALIBURTON WINS GAME 1 FOR THE PACERS. THEY TRAILED BY 15. ANOTHER CRAZY INDIANA COMEBACK 🚨 https://t.co/heI0ELIivW pic.twitter.com/1Qr6XlDbA7

The Indiana Pacers aren't a destination for the NBA's free agents and rarely earn high draft picks. To reach the Finals, they had to buck convention and get creative.

Indiana's big man has often been viewed as everybody else’s “missing piece,” but he continues to succeed on the team that drafted him — with a big payday ahead.

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith went viral for the wrong reasons during Friday night's game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers. For starters, a fan sitting courtside for Game 4 of the NBA Finals was wearing a "Dumb and Dumber" costume with Smith's face plastered on it.