INDIANAPOLIS\u2014 On Wednesday night, Pacers fans packed Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The Rider family was in that crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean it\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d said Kristen Rider, a Pacers fan. \u201cWe\u2019re an amazing team and I think it shows on the court and off the court, and we\u2019re just proud to be Pacers fans,\u201d said Kristen.<\/p>\n
But what has been bringing the Riders to Gainbridge is Grandma Mary, who passed away in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was the sweetest lady, and she just loved her Pacers. Probably more than us,\u201d said Pam Rider.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing into high school, we would go to the games. I would call her after, and she would be like, \u2018Oh my goodness, can you believe that happened?\u2019 She was a really big George Hill fan,\u201d said Kristen.<\/p>\n
Kristen shares how the Pacers brought her and Grandma Mary closer together.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always said that they were our boys, and we would call each other after every game. And in December, she told me this was our year. She passed in January, and after that, we have been full speed,\u201d said Kristen.<\/p>\n
Full speed ahead in making it to almost every Pacers playoff game.<\/p>\n
The Riders have been regulars at Gainbridge this season since Grandma Mary’s passing, fulfilling a promise to support the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all five of us, so it\u2019s a family affair, so it\u2019s been really fun,\u201d said Pam.<\/p>\n
Going to the games helps the family connect, as well as keeping Grandma Mary’s spirit alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been very emotional, but also very, it\u2019s every week that we’re spending together to go to a game, and it’s been great,\u201d Kristen added.<\/p>\n
In addition to Gainbridge, the family makes a stop at Kilroy\u2019s for breadsticks and a drink in honor of Grandma Mary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS\u2014 On Wednesday night, Pacers fans packed Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The Rider…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,7996,113,126,3866,6,1220,114],"class_list":{"0":"post-95345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-gainbridge-fieldhouse","10":"tag-indiana","11":"tag-indiana-pacers","12":"tag-indianapacers","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-finals","15":"tag-pacers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114674443597810780","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95345","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=95345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}