“That’s all I’m thinking about right now.” Rick Carlisle’s eyes never left the screen as he watched open-top Thunder buses roll by in Oklahoma City blue, “2025 Champions” emblazoned across their sides. He’d hoped that early taunt might light a fire under his underdog Pacers. Instead, the moment the ball tipped, a different image blasted through his mind. Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana’s All-Star playmaker, erupted for nine first-quarter points—three triples against the Thunder despite a nagging calf strain—only to collapse seven minutes in, clutching his right leg.

Carried off amid tears, Haliburton’s Achilles had been injured, confirmed moments later by his father, John, to ABC’s Lisa Salters. The season’s momentum—and a city’s breath died on the court.

Carlisle tried to steel himself in the locker room, but emotion cracked his voice as he recounted the moment via Scott Agness on X: “All of our hearts dropped. He will be back… He authored one of the great individual playoff runs in the history of the NBA”. And what a run it was: a 0.3-second buzzer-beater in Game 1, a 14-point burst in just 23 minutes (Game 6) to force a Game 7, and five game-winning or tying shots in the final five seconds of playoff contests, tying Reggie Miller, trailing only LeBron James since 1997, all before turning 26.

Despite Haliburton’s exit, Indiana clung to a 48–47 halftime lead. The Feverish spirit that carried them through comebacks against the Bucks, Cavs, and Knicks refused to fade until Oklahoma City, eager to shed its SuperSonics past, outscored the Pacers 56–43 in the second half and claimed a 103–91 victory, securing their first title since 1979 with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander earning Finals MVP honors on 29 points and 12 assists.

There’s a cruel symmetry in this: every player wearing No. 0 in these playoffs—Dame Lillard, Jayson Tatum, now Haliburton—suffered an Achilles tear. Indiana has known this heartbreak before—Miller’s 2004 collapse, George’s 2016 injury—but tonight’s wound cuts deeper.

Still, on a night defined by agony, Indiana’s grit shone brightest. They battled through 21 turnovers and drew 23 fouls, diving for every loose ball. Carlisle watched with pride and pain intertwined as his players scrapped in the crucible. And through the roaring confetti of OKC’s parade, his vow echoed: “He will be back.”

For a city chasing its first banner in half a century, those words are more than comfort—they’re a rallying cry for the next chapter.

Rick Carlisle and the Painful Poetry of Almost

And nobody knows about next chapters better than Carlisle. Picture him pacing the sideline, the confetti swirling around him like a storm he nearly weathered—because this was his eighth season back with the Pacers, his third stint overall and second as head coach. He’d inherited a team adrift and, over 339–318 regular-season games, rebuilt it in his image: scrappy, unpredictable, and perfectly timed for big moments. Carlisle’s blueprint turned Indiana into back-to-back conference finalists and, for the first time since 2000, an NBA Finals contender, pushing his playoff record to 41–34.

His fingerprints were on every key move—the bold gamble to acquire a young Tyrese Haliburton, the seismic trade for Pascal Siakam, and the faith to let role players like Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard blossom. Carlisle had first arrived in Indianapolis in 2003–04, replacing Isiah Thomas and guiding the Pacers to a franchise-record 61–21 season and a division crown, only to witness the fallout of the Malice at the Palace and navigate injury-plagued years before moving on to claim a 2011 title with Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas.

When he returned in 2021 on a four-year, $29 million deal, he did it again, trading veterans, stockpiling draft assets, and drafting gems like Bennedict Mathurin. After consecutive playoff misses in 2022 and 2023, he engineered a 47–35 rebound in 2024 and a 50-win season in 2025, notching his 900th career win along the way. Across a 993–860 career record, Carlisle has earned a reputation for turning adversity into advantage.

Tonight, as confetti crowns another city and his floor general watches from the sidelines, his legacy remains: a coach who builds resilience, defies doubt, and trusts that the best chapters—written in sweat and second chances—are still waiting.