Indiana Pacers End Season In Disappointment

May 30, 2014; Miami, FL, USA; Indiana Pacers players react on the bench during the second half in game six of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2014 NBA Playoffs against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

That’s the best way I can describe the way the Indiana Pacers went down last night.  You could probably throw out the word expected after watching this team the second half of the season and with all the up and down play of the playoffs.  There were those times when you really thought the Pacers had it together, but then last night’s loss just shows that it wasn’t all there.

I’ll have to say as well that the writing was on the wall and it didn’t matter if Brian Shaw was here as a coach, if Frank Vogel got fired, if Danny Granger was still around, if Chris Copeland was starting, if Andrew Bynum never stepped foot into the locker room, this “implosion” looked to be coming. I think it was a bunch of little things that bubbled over, and it was too late to contain it.

It really does stink for this team because they were a bunch of guys that seemed to just love playing together and seemed all on the same page, but there had to be something that brought the dark cloud over the team.  In a way, it would be interesting to find out, but then again, I don’t want to know because that just makes it worse to know.

I’m not going to take a look at where they are going because I’d rather sit back and look at where they’ve been.  We can talk all we want later about those off season changes that do look to be coming.  Right now, you look back and see a team that everyone around here was excited for. I don’t remember a time when it just felt like there was that energy in the air months before the season even tipped off.

Even during the season, you could get that sense of NBA Finals or Bust from the fans.  It’s amazing how many of those fans were quick to start shooting the arrows at this team once they started struggling.  For me, real fans stick through the good and bad, sure you can criticize, but you still support. I didn’t see much of that from “fans” during this tumbling through the playoffs.

I understand it’s not all rainbows for this Pacers team as they did get blown out at home during the playoffs. But you have to give some credit for that they did meet those regular season goals they set out to do.  That’s where it just boggles my mind that people got so down on this team even when they had achieved success in the regular season.

It’s almost like people couldn’t take the big picture look for a minute and see that they got the home court they wanted, they got another division title, they had two All-Stars, just plenty of good karma going around. But it just kept getting clouded over the play of the team, which I understand because we are in that now, now, now mode of thinking.

What have you done for me lately?  That is why it’s such a disappointment for this team.  The road to the NBA Finals should have gone through Indianapolis, and the Pacers needed to keep that home court advantage.  Even in this series against the Heat, they ended up losing game two, and were tied going down to Miami. There’s another what if, if they’re able to hold their own at home in game two, who knows where we are now?

But that’s what makes I sit on the sideline so I can say what if.  That’s could be the best way to describe this season: WHAT IF?