{"id":104018,"date":"2025-06-17T04:49:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T04:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/104018\/"},"modified":"2025-06-17T04:49:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T04:49:13","slug":"nba-champion-draws-eerie-comparison-between-pacers-and-mavericks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/104018\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Champion Draws \u2018Eerie\u2019 Comparison Between Pacers and Mavericks"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA Champion Draws \u2018Eerie\u2019 Comparison Between Pacers and Mavericks<\/a> originally appeared on Athlon Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Indiana Pacers have emerged as one of the NBA\u2019s most intriguing teams this postseason, propelling themselves to an NBA Finals berth on the back of Tyrese Haliburton.<\/p>\n

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After dispatching tough opponents in the earlier rounds including the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Milwaukee Bucks, one-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pacers’ deep run and performance has drawn comparisons to a team that defied monumental odds\u2014the 2011 Dallas Mavericks.<\/p>\n

Just as the Mavericks upset heavy favorites\u2014defeating the Portland Trail Blazers in six, sweeping the defending champion Lakers in the semifinals, and dispatching the Thunder in five games in the Western Conference Finals\u2014the Pacers have defied expectations at every playoff stage.<\/p>\n

\"Indiana<\/p>\n

Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam shoots the ball while Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James defends.\u00a9 Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Former NBA champion with that 2011 Mavericks squad, Brendan Haywood, recently drew an especially striking parallel between these two teams.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis [Pacers] team has EERILY similarities of that 2011 Mavericks team,\u201d Haywood commented, highlighting the structural resemblance between Indiana\u2019s balanced scoring attack and defensive rigor and the Mavericks\u2019 championship blueprint.<\/p>\n

Back in 2011, the Mavericks captured the championship by blending veterans, including Brendan Haywood, with a measured offensive attack that revolved around Dirk Nowitzki\u2019s brilliance.<\/p>\n

Nowitzki averaged 26.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in the Finals, and the Mavericks\u2019 disciplined approach, efficient shooting and formidable defensive schemes helped them overcome the Lebron James-led Miami Heat.<\/p>\n

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Fast forward to 2025, the current Indiana Pacers are carving out their own identity on the court much like the 2011 Dallas Mavericks did on their championship run,\u00a0replicating their underdog magic by dispatching higher-ranked teams in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

During the 2024\u201325 playoffs, Tyrese Haliburton has averaged 18.6 points and 9.3 assists per game\u2014numbers that not only underscored his ability to orchestrate the offense with precision but also proved critical as he guided his team through unexpected victories. His steady play, reminiscent of Dirk Nowitzki\u2019s calm efficiency in 2011, has helped Indiana overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.<\/p>\n

Related: NBA Reacts to New Video of Tyrese Haliburton on Monday<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jun 17, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBA Champion Draws \u2018Eerie\u2019 Comparison Between Pacers and Mavericks originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Indiana Pacers have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[21994,7,8010,193,686,149,4057,1105,2955,107,126,300,185,166,189,121,6,1220,191,279,471,490,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-104018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-2011-mavericks","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-brendan-haywood","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-dallas","13":"tag-dallas-mavericks","14":"tag-dallasmavericks","15":"tag-dirk-nowitzki","16":"tag-eastern-conference-finals","17":"tag-giannis","18":"tag-indiana-pacers","19":"tag-lakers","20":"tag-lebron-james","21":"tag-mavericks","22":"tag-miami-heat","23":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","24":"tag-nba","25":"tag-nba-finals","26":"tag-new-york-knicks","27":"tag-pascal-siakam","28":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","29":"tag-the-mavericks","30":"tag-tyrese-haliburton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114696903958502230","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}