Three crowns in four years! The Pacers ABA dynasty!

In 1967, Indiana did not have any professional basketball team at this time. A group of local entrepreneurs raised funds to pay franchise fees, making Indiana a new member of the American Basketball Association (ABA). At that time, the team's goal was already determined to take the lead in the sprint in the professional basketball league, so the name Pacers can also be translated as the leader.

The first player signed by the team at that time was Roger Brown from Brooklyn, New York. Brown was once banned by the league at that time. He worked at General Motors in Ohio. The 1.96-meter-high striker is good at one-on-one singles at critical moments. Now his No. 35 jersey has also retired from the team early and is nominated for the Basketball Hall of Fame.

In the 1967-68 season, in the first season of the Pacers, Roger Brown averaged 19.6 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, and was selected for the second team of the All-American League team that season. In addition, among the other Pacers who performed well in the first season, the Pacers also included rookies Bob Netolic, Freddy Lewis, and Jimmy Reil. These young talents helped the team significantly improve their combat effectiveness, and once made the Pacers a popular team with a very high box office in the new league.

Led by head coach Larry Staverman, the Pacers defeated the Colonel Kentucky 117-91 in the first game. The team won five consecutive victories at the beginning of the season, and finally won the season record of 38 wins and 40 losses, ranking third in the East. In the end, facing the Pittsburgh Flyers who held regular season + playoff double MVP Connie Hawkins, the Pacers were swept out in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Before the second season began, the Pacers completed several very important trades in team history.

They packed Jimmy Dawson, Ron Kozliki and others away in exchange for the then-Season Rookie Mel Daniels. The strong center, who is 2.06 meters tall, became the two-time MVP, and the team later chose to retire his No. 34 jersey.

After the Pacers started 2 wins and 7 losses in the season, the management hired Bob Leonard as the team's new head coach. Bob Leonard is also another Indiana legend who led the NCAA championship at Indiana University.

Under the leadership of this passionate coach, the team scored 42 wins and 27 losses in the next season, defeating the Miami Florida man (the predecessor of the Miami Heat) with one win and a win-win situation. MVP-level Mel Daniels averaged 24 points per game and a league-high 16.5 rebounds. In the playoffs, the Pacers reversed and defeated Kentucky from 1-3 behind, and then eliminated Miami in 5 games. Although they finally lost to Oakland Oaks 1-4 on the finals stage and missed the championship, the Pacers' championship momentum has begun to rise and they have gradually become the strongest team in the league.

1969-70 season is the greatest season in the history of the Pacers. At that time, the team included four veteran ABA players, Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, Lewis and Netolic, as well as senior defender John Barn Hill, and rookie Billy Keller from Purdue University. The team's regular season record was 59 wins and 25 losses. The team won the Eastern Conference championship with 14 wins and even set a single-game scoring record in the ABA at that time in the game against his old rival Pittsburgh Flyers, defeating his opponent 177-135.

Next, the Pacers were unstoppable in the playoffs, first sweeping the Carolina Cougars 4-0, then repelling the Kentucky Colonel 4-1, and finally defeating the emerging Los Angeles Stars 4-2 in the finals. Roger Brown shone in the finals, averaging 32 points and 10 rebounds per game; with 23 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, Nottliki, who averaged 20.6 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, was selected for the second team of the All-Squad team, while Mel Daniels averaged 18.7 points and 17.6 rebounds per game, and was selected for the All-Squad team for three consecutive years. In the 1970-71 season, the team was arranged to the Western Conference Division. Under the core lineup of the original team, he joined Purdue's popular rookie Rick Mont. The team won the Western Conference Championship with a record of 58 wins and 26 losses, leading the Utah Stars (Utah Jazz) with only one win and a division champion, and became the third consecutive division champion, but the Pacers lost to the Utah Stars in the playoffs, and the latter eventually became the champion team of the season.

As the core of the Pacers, Roger Brown averaged 20.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game in his career for the first time, and Mel Daniels won the second MVP trophy in his personal career with an average of 21 points, 18 rebounds per game.

In the 1971-72 season, the team once again added a local star player George McGinnis.

This 2.03-meter-tall forward player, who has both strength and skills, chose to leave Indiana University and join the Pacers after the end of his sophomore season. Rookie Darnell Hillman also joined the team. The team's advantages of deep rotation and balanced lineup began to show.

Although the team's regular season record was only 47 wins and 37 losses, they successfully revenge the Utah Stars a year before the playoffs. In the finals, facing the New York Nets with Rick Barry, the Pacers won the series in six games and won the second ABA championship trophy with strong momentum.

But surprisingly, this championship team is the only team to have no players selected for the best team, with only Roger Brown, Daniels and Lewis being selected for the All-Star.

In the 1972-73 season, the team's lineup was slightly adjusted, Nottliki was traded by the management, and the All-Star Downey Freeman was added to the backcourt position..

George McGinnis rose strongly this season, averaging 27.6 points and 12.5 rebounds per game in the regular season, leading the Pacers to second place in the league in the regular season, second only to the Utah Stars. He played against the Utah Stars for four consecutive years in the playoffs, and defeated his opponent 4-2 again with a big score. The opponent in the finals was Colonel Kentucky, and this round of series was also called the "I-65 Series" by fans. (This name originated from Interstate 65 in the United States, because this road just connects the cities where the two teams are located, and the two places are about 290 kilometers apart. Each showdown between the two teams has a strong regional confrontation, which can be called a derby battle). In the end, the Pacers won and won the championship after seven games, becoming the first team in ABA history to reach a consecutive championship. In the 1973-74 season, the Pacers still had strong dominance. George McGinnis continued to maintain his top star combat power, and averaged 25.9 points and 15 rebounds per game. As the star grew, the performance of Brown, Daniels, Lewis and others around him gradually became dull, and their personal performance was lower than the career average. The team's regular season record once again fell behind the Utah Stars.

defeated the San Antonio Spurs 4-3 in the first round of the playoffs, and then faced Utah for the fifth time in the playoffs. This time, the Pacers won three games in a row while falling behind 0-3, but eventually got out in the seventh game. Looking at these five rounds of playoff matches against the Utah Stars, three rounds played seven games, two rounds to six games, all of which are classic duel scenes in the history of the ABA playoffs.

In the 1974-75 season, the team changed tremendously. The Pacers moved to the newly completed downtown Market Square Athletics. An era came to an end. ABA veterans Brown, Daniels, and Lewis were all traded. George McGinnis began to shoulder the responsibilities of the team and played the best individual season performance in the team history. He averaged 29.8 points, 14.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game, ranked first in the league in scoring, fifth in rebounds, third in assists, second in the league in steals, and shared the regular season MVP honors with Julius Irving. The team won rookies Billy Knight and Ryan Elmore, and joined veterans Bill Keller and Hillman. The increasingly progressive Don Booth teamed up with Kevin Joyce to partner with the back line, bringing new blood to the team. Although he only scored the third record in the league in the regular season, in the playoffs, George McGinnis once again defeated all sides in the playoffs, averaging 32.3 points, 15.9 rebounds and 8.2 assists in 18 playoffs.

Pacers first defeated the San Antonio Spurs led by George Gervin 4-2 with a big score, and then eliminated the Denver Nuggets 4-3 in the Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately, the counterattack journey was not able to be performed all the way, and finally stopped in the finals, facing the Colonel of Kentucky 1-4 to lose the championship.

Then the offseason summer entered the team's summer. Although the record has been stable for several seasons, like other ABA teams, the Pacers gradually faced a financial salary crisis. McGinnis left the team in the face of a high contract offered by the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA league, and his No. 30 jersey was later retired by the team.

The 1975-76 season was the last year of the ABA League. Billy Knight stepped forward to maintain the team's competitiveness. He averaged 28.1 points and 10.1 rebounds and was selected into the ABA All-A-Series team. Don Booth continued to evolve, setting a record of 689 assists and 346 steals in a single season. The team finally scored a regular season record of 39 wins and 45 losses, which was the only season in the team's history that fell behind 50% of the winning rate since the first season.

Despite this, the Pacers continued to make the playoffs steadily as always. Facing the defending champion Colonel Kentucky in the first round, the Pacers lost and were eliminated. Then in the summer of 1976, the Pacers joined the NBA teams such as the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs to join the NBA League, and the Pacers' ABA era officially came to an end.

But even so, today's Pacers still retain a lot of connections with the ABA era.

Bob Leonard and George McGinnis work on the team in broadcasting, Mel Daniels and Billy Knight also hold important positions in the team, Bob Netolic, Billy Keller and many other former players still often appear in the home stadium, which can often arouse a lot of old feelings for local fans.

Since joining the NBA, the Pacers have not been able to continue the brilliant achievements of the ABA league. In nearly 50 years, the Pacers' highest achievement so far is only reaching the NBA Finals in the 1999-00 season. However, the Pacers' dream of winning has not been achieved.

Above Indiana's home court, three ABA championship flags are hung high, and five ABA-era retired jerseys are from George McGinnis, Mel Daniels, Roger Brown, Bill Keller, head coach Bob Leonard, and former NBA-era three-pointer Reggie Miller. Now, after these legends, the Indiana Pacers' torch bars are passed to Halliburton, who are three games away from the team's first NBA championship trophy.