OKLAHOMA CITY – Kyle Nading hasn’t stepped foot in his home state of California in the month of June.
That’s been the duration of this improbable Pacers run to Game 7 of the NBA Finals. What started as a trip to Game 1 in Oklahoma City on a whim has turned into a three-week excursion that has had this health care manufacturer living out of suitcases and hotel rooms and rental cars and spending as much money as he has to offer.
His seats for Game 7’s 103-91 loss in Oklahoma City, positioned just two rows behind one of the baskets, cost more than he was willing to reveal.
“All of the way up until about middle of the fourth quarter of Game 1, all of these (Thunder) fans are asking me if I’m going to come back for Game 5. When I’d say yes, they’d say, ‘No, you’re not, because it’s about to be a sweep,'” Nading said from his second-row seat behind the basket while surrounded by Thunder fans. “… After Game 5, they asked, ‘Are you going to be at the parade? Because we’re closing you out in Game 6.’
“Every single game, I’ve been told things by all these fans. They can say it, but the story keeps changing. And here we are in Game 7.”
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It’s fair to estimate the cost is in the several thousands, based on the prices of those around him. About a dozen rows behind him in the next section were his friends from Indianapolis, Jessica and Chris Cox, who decided on a whim at the end of Game 6 that they had to be here for the final attempt at a championship. So they bought two seats along the railing for $3,300.
Jessica spent the game waiving a gold Pacers towel as Chris held up a WWE championship belt, an ode to Tyrese Haliburton’s fandom.
That would become a cosmic tribute as Haliburton collapsed near mid-court in a 16-16 tie with what his father, John, later told ESPN was an Achilles injury. Haliburton screamed and punched the floor after he fell, and after a minute of teammates gathering in a circle, he was helped off the court and back through the tunnel that split these Pacers fans who made the 800-mile trip from Indianapolis.
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The injury was so jarring that it left Thunder fans silenced. A game would resume, and a championship would be won by the home team that won 68 games this season. But for Pacers players and coaches and the fans who made the trip, an eerie feel would settle into the rest of the game.
Odds had stacked up against this Pacers team all season after a 10-15 start and entering a postseason in which it was the No. 4 seed in an Eastern Conference with heavily favored teams such as the Celtics and Cavaliers. It was one of those teams that many experts pegged to take on the 68-win Thunder, but instead it’s been the Pacers trying to become one of the most unlikely champions the sport has ever seen.
In many ways, they were playing with house money. And that’s the mentality fans took to finding ways to make a trip like this happen — one few saw coming but none in attendance will ever forget.
“This is what we cheer for. Game 7? This is what we imagined as kids, and here it is,” said Scott Roosa, a season-ticket holder who works at a Dick’s Sporting Goods distribution plant.
It’s been a quarter century since the last time the Pacers played in the NBA Finals, back when a team led by Reggie Miller lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games in 2000. And Roosa was there. He estimates that he paid around $150 for a ticket back then, a far cry from the $1,000 he dished out to watch in the highest level on Sunday night.
But ever since he went searching for a signature gold outfit 10 years ago and landed upon a sparkling, silky gold coat, he’s felt more and more obligated to go into character at the biggest Pacers games. He’s made it to one game in each of Indiana’s four series this postseason, and he’s fortunate they could get it done in Game 6 to make this one possible, too.
Joining him in Section 317 were Jordan and Joshua Kendall, two siblings who moved to Indianapolis from Illinois several years ago. They didn’t grow up with the 2000 Pacers team, so this year’s ride to the Finals has been entirely new ground. It’s why they’ve created a traveling party to different road series for as long as it’s lasted.
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And it hit them when they realized where their $1,200 seats had them sitting for the final game to close out a title.
“No way,” said Jordan Kendall, who bartends in Indianapolis. “I just realized we’re sitting in 3-1-7. That’s crazy.”
Paycom Center was overwhelmingly blue as the Thunder looked to close out their first championship at home. But Pacers gold scattered in bits throughout the crowd, with pockets of fans mostly concentrated around the tunnel where the team runs on and off the court.
They froze there as Haliburton was carried into the locker room. And it was there they stood and contemplated what a Pacers victory could ultimately mean in a moment like this.
“Life’s complete,” Chris Cox said as he dreamed.
Life wasn’t complete on Sunday in Oklahoma City. The Pacers were in a championship fight until their star made a wrong turn, felt his leg pop and screamed his way to the floor. And just like that, a playoff run that spanned two months, four cities, four improbable victories and all the way to the final day ended on a note that was unlike the rest.
But they had it, and they’ll remember the only NBA Finals Game 7 in Pacers history.
That’s why they spent the money they did, why the fan inside could not say no.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ‘This is what we imagined as kids’: Pacers fans spend big, travel far for chance at title
Reporting by Nate Atkins, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
