1998 Eastern Conference Finals

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Editor's Note: In anticipation of Sunday's episode of "The Last Dance," which will feature the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals between the Pacers and the Chicago Bulls, Mark Montieth spoke to many of the 1997-98 Pacers about that season and the series with the Bulls. This section chronicles the seven-game series with Michael Jordan and the Bulls. Read Part 1 »

Eliminating New York sent the Pacers into the Eastern Conference Finals against Chicago, which had won the two previous championships and three in a row from 1991-93. The two teams had split their four regular season games, each team winning once on the other's home court. The Bulls had started slowly while Scottie Pippen held out, but finished strong to win 62 games, four more than the Pacers. Chicago appeared to be in the final phase of its 1990s dynasty, on the verge of breaking up. The Pacers felt confident they derail their last title run.

Austin Croshere, forward: I wasn't on the playoff roster because I broke the fifth metatarsal in my left foot in a three-on-three drill during early pre-game warmups. I already had a stress fracture. But as a rookie you might tell them that your foot hurts, but you don't want to be the guy who says you can't go. So, on a benign cut, that bone broke.

I remember Mark West being really excited because that meant he would be active for the playoffs. I was like, "Gee, thanks, Mark!" I played no role on the team anyway, so it wasn't going to matter.

Rick Carlisle, assistant coach: I thought Larry Bird did as great a job as a coach can do, coming in to coach a veteran team that the majority of people thought had run its course. A lot of people look at that team and say it surpassed expectations, but in that locker room, for all of us, we thought we were the better team.

PHOTO GALLERY: Looking Back at the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals »

Fred Hoiberg, guard: We did have a lot of confidence going into that series. Obviously, it's a whole different animal in the playoffs, you're going against one of the greatest dynasties of all time. But Larry had instilled a lot of confidence in that team.

Travis Best, guard: We were of the mindset everything was setting itself up for us to knock off the dynasty. It was our turn. Indiana had been knocking on the door for a few years, so I just remember thinking this was our time.

Mark Jackson and the Pacers weren't lacking confidence heading into the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals. (Photo Credit: NBAE/Getty Images)

Chicago won the first two games in the series at the United Center, each by six points. The Pacers came back to win Game 3 at Market Square Arena behind Reggie Miller's 28 points. He sprained his ankle in the third quarter and had to go to the locker room for treatment but scored 13 points in the final 4:11 to lead a 107-105 victory.

It was one of his classic playoff moments but was overshadowed two days later in Game 4. Running up from the baseline, Miller bumped into Michael Jordan, turned left, caught Derrick McKey's inbound pass and in one motion swung to his left and hit a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left that turned out to be the difference in a 96-94 victory.

While MSA went berserk and Miller ran to the other end of the court and jumped up and down on his sprained ankle, the national television cameras caught Bird standing in front of the bench with no expression, aware of the remaining time on the clock. Austin Croshere, equally bald as his healthier teammates, could be seen jumping up and down in the second row of the bench.

Croshere: I don't even have a memory of it. The only reason I know about it is because of the video. The video has become the memory for me. I've told my kids, I'm going to be in one of these episodes (of "The Last Dance"). I'm sure they'll pan to that.

Mark Jackson, guard: To see Reggie come off open and have the opportunity to take and make a shot was special. To see it drawn up and executed was a thing of beauty. And to hear that arena go absolutely nuts was special.

Dan Burke, video coordinator: We had that set with several options. You still see that set. I call it Y. Rick (Carlisle) had that already, and Larry liked the spread part of it.

Antonio Davis, forward: Big players make big shots. He made a big shot.

It's clear as day there was a little push. Was it a shove? It was a good no-call to me. Like Jordan in the Finals against Bryon Russell (later in the playoffs). It was a good no-call.

Mark Pope, forward: I have to go do these speaking things and one of my favorite topics is when Reggie hits that shot. The camera zooms in on coach Bird and he's stone-faced.

He had this ability to refuse to indulge in the emotion of the moment. All of us want to indulge in that moment and lose our minds. He was the only person in that building who was looking at 0.7 seconds on the clock. He was thinking, we've got a game to win.

People were screaming, ripping off their clothes, running around, and spilling drinks on one another, but that's when a leader should be at his very best. When everybody else has indulged in the moment, he stayed with the task at hand to lead our group.

In his first season as a head coach, Larry Bird nearly guided the Pacers to the NBA Finals. (Photo Credit: NBAE/Getty Images)

Two factors at the end of that game often get overlooked, both involving Derrick McKey.

His perfectly timed and placed inbound pass over Scottie Pippen enabled Miller to hit the shot without interrupting his motion. Then he defended Jordan on the Bulls' last possession, forcing a miss. McKey always made inbound passes in clutch moments. He, for example, also made the pass leading to Rik Smits' game-winning shot in Game 4 of the 1995 playoff series against Orlando.

After Miller's shot, Jordan barely missed an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer with McKey trailing him with a distracting hand in his face.

McKey had torn his Achilles tendon at the end of the previous season and did not play in a game this season until Dec. 23. He then suffered what was reported as a strained quad muscle in his right knee in Game 2 of the second-round series against New York, one that forced him to sit out Game 4 after attempting to play in Game 3. But the injury was worse than that.

Derrick McKey, forward: We didn't know what it was. I didn't get an MRI, it just felt like really bad tendinitis. In the playoffs you don't practice that much anyway, so I got treated between games and did the best I could to get ready. By the end of each game the pain had come back and was getting worse, but I could made it work.

I was on one leg trying to guard Scottie and Michael. I could defend going one way better than the other. The way I could defend better was to their strong (right) hands.

I had surgery right after the season was over with. I had the same surgery (Victor) Oladipo had. Mine didn't tear off the bone like Oladipo, but it was shredded. My tendon was shredded. When they did the surgery, they cut it off and reattached it.

Best: I know he played hurt all year. For him to give us what he had was impressive. He was such a diverse player in what he brought; he was a glue piece for us.

Antonio Davis: To me, Derrick was as valuable as Reggie. In my book, a lot of this stuff wouldn't happen without him. He was a coach's dream. He could do so many different things.

There were so many times Derrick would say stuff to me in practice and I would automatically do it from that point on. The way I posted up, the way I defended...little things. He was so talented and knew about every aspect of the game.

He was playing on a torn quad. I was like, "Man, you're crazy." That was Derrick.

Derrick McKey played hurt in the 1998 playoffs. (Photo Credit: NBAE/Getty Images)

Croshere: He was always in my corner, pulling me aside, telling me things about people I was guarding.

Jackson: Timely suggestions. He didn't say a lot, but he had nuggets all through that season and would tell you what he saw.

Donnie Walsh, general manager: He was a very underrated player. He was a pro's pro, that's what he was.

McKey: I (threw inbound passes) a lot in Seattle, too. I was used to it.

I just made sure where my (outlet) guy was I could throw it to if I got in any trouble with the first option. Someone like Dale (Davis) or Antonio who was athletic enough to get the ball if I needed to throw it in the air.

When Reggie came off, I saw him become open. Scottie was on me so I had to wait a little bit so I could see under his hand and get Reggie that pass in rhythm. Sometimes you have to give him a ball fake or a look-off. That might give me a little window I need to make the pass. Give it to him in rhythm and in the slot where he can go right into the shot.

If Reggie can get us to that point, then it's my job to go out and play defense and not put it on him defensively. He guarded Michael a lot anyway, but at the end of the game they put the closer in. I'm not a Mariano Rivera guy, though, I'm more of a Lee Smith guy.

Reggie Miller's game-winning 3-pointer over Michael Jordan in Game 4 remains one of the most celebrated shots in franchise history. (Photo Credit: NBAE/Getty Images)

A brief skirmish between Miller and Bulls guard Ron Harper in front of the Bulls' bench late in Game 4 led to backup forward Jalen Rose being suspended for Game 5 in Chicago because he ran off the bench. The Pacers were never in that one, losing 106-87. Bird said the team "quit on me."

But when the series resumed in Game 6 back in Indianapolis, the Pacers responded with a 92-89 victory. Best — playing the entire fourth quarter — beat Steve Kerr to hit a runner high off the backboard with 33.3 seconds left to give the Pacers a two-point lead. After Jordan hit two foul shots to tie the game, Best got a step on Jordan, drew a foul, and hit two foul shots with 8.5 seconds left. They proved to be the game-winning points once Jordan slipped while trying to drive on McKey from the left wing on the Bulls' final possession.

Best: I just remember being out there and thinking, I've got to be aggressive. I've got to look for the shot when it's there and I can't wait for anybody else to get it done. You have to try to make it happen. I was feeling pretty good, the fourth quarter came and I was able to knock down some threes and there were a lot of pressure situations late in the game where if you can't get the ball to Reggie you have to make something happen.

Walsh: Travis was a guy Chicago didn't know what to do with. They didn't have the quickness to deal with him. I remember one game Michael took himself out and they put Kerr in the game. On the first play Travis faked out Kerr completely and drew a foul and Jordan looked at him and started laughing. Like, I know what you're going through.

He was a little guy but he was built like a football player. You've got to be like that to go in there.

Burke: He came up at the biggest times, every year I was around him. Another glue guy. Just a good soul. We had a lot of that.

And so it was off to Chicago for Game 7. The Pacers had not won there in three games in the series and had been beaten badly in Game 5 but still managed to convince themselves they would win the game as they headed to the United Center. Bird had them get taped and dressed at the hotel. There was a practical element to that, assuring they would have ample pregame time if traffic delayed their arrival at the arena. But the players took it as a statement: "We're coming to play."

Jalen Rose, forward: Chicago is one of the places you actually get a police escort, so you don't have to worry as much about being late. They know the importance of these games, so they made sure we got to the arena.

I really believe that was a high school, AAU manipulation thing Larry had for the team. As a youngster I used to sleep in my uniform, sleep with the ball, the night before a game because I wanted to be ready to play. It was that kind of mindset.

Jackson: We laughed (about dressing at the hotel). We were like a high school team, like, This is going to win us the game. We're ready to play as soon as we step off the bus. We looked at it like, "This is genius."

Burke: We had a police escort, with sirens. You felt the intensity on the bus. There are always rides that are quiet, and that one was quiet. There was something thick in the air on that bus ride. That's what they worked for that whole year, to win that game.

McKey: We were confident. You get to that point there's not any more secrets. There's not going to be anything new. We had beat them three games and they beat us three games. We split during the regular season, too. We were thinking, "Why not?" I think we played like it. We knew and they knew it. They may not admit it, but we had 'em. A play here and there, like in any game.

Pope: I feel like I remember this so clearly. Coach talked to us about his first Finals experience when he played for Boston and what a magical experience that was. And as he did on rare occasions he was incredibly emotional talking about it.

The journey is so long, right? But there you are one game away from dethroning the most dominate teams of the last 50 years. I just remember walking out of the locker room having this emotional moment, thinking, "If we're not ready to go play this game, man, we'll never be ready, ever."

It was one of those moments I felt Coach Bird just let us see inside his very rare self and what made him this kind of ultimate competitor. And it was freaking awesome.

The Pacers' confidence became visible to all when the game started, as they took a 20-8 lead in the first quarter. They led 27-19 after the first quarter, but the Bulls came back to take a three-point lead at halftime and led by as many as eight points late in the third quarter.

The Pacers regrouped, however. Rose hit consecutive shots to force at tie at 69 and then Smits' three-point play with 8:54 left in the game gave them a 72-69 lead midway through the period. The Pacers still were holding a three-point lead when Smits and Jordan lined up for a jump ball with 6:39 left at the Bulls' end of the court. Smits was unable to control the tip to a teammate and Pippen grabbed it. Jordan missed a shot, but Pippen grabbed the offensive rebound, which led to Kerr's 3-pointer that tied the game.

Antonio Davis hit a short jumper on their next possession to give the Pacers their final lead. The Bulls scored the next six points to take control, but the Pacers were still within two points with less than two minutes remaining. They failed to score the rest of the way, however, and lost 88-83.

Bird later blamed himself for not calling timeout before the jump ball to get his players lined up better, but there were plenty of other issues. The Pacers shot 48 percent from the field while the Bulls shot just 38 percent, but the Pacers were outrebounded 50-34 and gave up 22 offensive rebounds. That allowed the Bulls 20 more shot attempts, negating the shooting percentages. The Pacers also hit just 23-of-37 free throws. Dale Davis hit just 3-of-10, which inspired him to work with a shooting coach over the summer and make a dramatic improvement the following season.

Rose: (The jump ball) ain't why we lost. We lost because they had Michael Jordan. When you're on the losing team of course you feel like, "I could have done more."

Jackson: That's Larry taking one for the team. I've seen guys lined up right and wrong and win or lose jump balls. We just got a bad bunce. We lost the game. You can always go to 50 things and say, This is why we won or lost.

Rik Smits, center: I'll have to look at that jump ball again. But we were getting our butts kicked on the glass.

Jackson: If they jump 10 times, Rik wins nine.

McKey: Hustle plays. A lot of little stuff. You've got to play defense and you've got to rebound to win.

Smits: The frickin referees took over. They started calling fouls. It was like we were getting screwed. The usual.

Chris Mullin, forward: Larry always said you want Game 7 on your home court. That was something he always emphasized.

Carlisle: It was a very special group. We were very close, but it was the home court deal. We played a strong game and they outlasted us in the end. That's where it really gives you an edge in a Game 7, at the end of a close game.

Hoiberg: After the game, Larry told everybody to leave the locker room. He just wanted the players and staff in there. It was somber. We felt we had a golden opportunity and we let it slip away.

There were a lot of tears in that locker room. I remember Jerry Krause coming in and trying to congratulate us, but nobody wanted to hear it. It was a nice gesture. But it was a tough locker room

Rose: Rose: I remember being one of the first people to leave the locker room because the media wasn't coming to talk to me. I'm mad that we lost like everybody else. I had made (two) shots to tie the game. I remember somebody being at the free throw line and thinking, "Larry's about to let me close!" He took me out (with 7:13) left and I'm thinking, "He's going to give me a quick blow, he's putting Derrick in there for some defense. Cool." I'm sitting there on the edge of my seat, watching the clock, watching the clock, waiting to go back in. But I didn't get back in.

I get on the bus and Larry's sitting there with a cold one. He's looking at me like Mean Joe Greene looking at that little kid (sympathetically, in the commercial). I could tell he felt bad. Right away I think, "All good, Legend. We'll be back next year. No problem."

You think that's going to happen more often.

The information wasn't what it is now. If we knew how intimately they were disrespecting their general manager, that they represented a high level of dysfunction but were able to overcome that...I didn't realize they were smoking cigars on airplanes and all that. I'm watching that documentary thinking, "We should have beat them."

Life went on, of course. The Pacers reached the Finals two years later, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. It could be argued the 1998 playoff team was superior to that one and would have had a better chance to win the championship over Utah as Chicago did, but that can be debated either way.

What matters now is that each of the Pacers from the 1997-98 team are alive and well and leading happy lives, a further reflection of the maturity they showed during their playing careers.

Reggie Miller, Mark Jackson, Jalen Rose, and Austin Croshere have broadcasting careers.

Fred Hoiberg is the head coach at Nebraska and Mark Pope is the head coach at Brigham Young.

Chris Mullin, formerly the head coach at St. John's, is back living in the Bay Area and working again for his original NBA team, the Golden State Warriors.

Antonio Davis has moved back to his hometown, Oakland, and runs a transportation and logistics company with his brother.

Mark West is the Vice President of Player Relations for the Phoenix Suns.

Rik Smits, Dale Davis, Derrick McKey, and Travis Best are retired and living in Arizona, Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Springfield, Mass. respectively, although Smits has begun to live part of the year in Indianapolis again.

"The world moves on," Walsh said. "I look at these kids and they're doing stuff you can't believe."

Have a question for Mark? Want it to be on Pacers.com? Email him at askmontieth@gmail.com and you could be featured in his next mailbag.

Mark Montieth's book on the formation and groundbreaking seasons of the Pacers, "Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis," is available in bookstores throughout Indiana and on Amazon.com.

Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Indiana Pacers. All opinions expressed by Mark Montieth are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Indiana Pacers, their partners, or sponsors.

running-at-the-bulls-an-oral-history-of-the-1997-98-pacers-part-2

Running at the Bulls: An Oral History of the 1997-98 Pacers (Part 2)

Throughout the Pacers' history as an NBA franchise, all 43 seasons of it, eight teams have reached the Eastern Conference finals. One of them stands above the rest for intrigue and what-ifs, even more than the one that played for the championship in 2000.

The group that took Chicago to seven games in 1998 and nearly unplugged the Bulls' title run at the United Center in Game 7 might have been the best of them all. It's open to debate, of course, and there's no definitive answer, but that season stands out for its fresh enthusiasm, chemistry, veteran leadership, and raw talent.

It fell just one game and six points short of advancing to the Finals, where it would have had a legitimate opportunity to win the championship Chicago ultimately won. Instead it had to settle for a lot of happy memories and the knowledge it came closer than any other to knocking out a Bulls team with a healthy Michael Jordan once they began winning championships in 1991.

The season is as much discussed and fondly remembered today as any in the NBA, including the team that beat New York two years later to reach the Finals. Larry Bird shook up the league by jumping into the head coach's seat and defied the doubters by winning Coach of the Year honors. His players on the whole were thrilled to have him as their coach and responded to his calm, trusting approach with the enthusiasm of Little Leaguers.

That Pacers team is back in the news this weekend because it will be featured in the next episode of "The Last Dance," ESPN's Michael Jordan-centric documentary on the Bulls' sixth and final championship. There will be plenty of highlights to show from the seven-game series in which the home team won each game, but the entire season was a highlight for Pacers players and fans — until it ended so abruptly and agonizingly on May 31 in the United Center.

The team was coming off a disappointing 1996-97 season, Larry Brown's last, in which it failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1989. The core of the team had been to the conference finals twice under Brown, however, so it had tasted success. It was in a sense in a dead heat against Father Time. Returnees Reggie Miller (32 years old), Mark Jackson (32), Rik Smits (31), and Derrick McKey (31) had passed the threshold of 30, as had trade acquisition Chris Mullin (34) and free agent signee Mark West (37). Antonio Davis (29), Dale Davis (28), Travis Best (25), and Fred Hoiberg (25) were beyond their break-in period.

Jalen Rose had been cast off by Denver after two years and spent a frustrating season riding Larry Brown's bench with the Pacers. He was in need of career rehab but showed the potential of a player who had been drafted 13th overall. Even the two rookies were experienced. First-round draft pick Austin Croshere (22) had played four years at Providence and second-round pick Mark Pope (25) was coming off a five-year collegiate career that included a transfer and a season in Istanbul, Turkey.

That group won a then-NBA franchise record 58 games and breezed through the first two rounds of the playoffs before meeting the Bulls in the conference finals in a classic seven-game series.

The 1997-98 season unofficially began for the Pacers in May, when Larry Bird was introduced as the next head coach at a press conference at Market Square Arena that was attended by media from around the nation. It was a homecoming of sorts for the Indiana basketball legend who needed no introduction to anyone except as a coach, given the skepticism surrounding his hire. Was this a publicity stunt to sell tickets after a losing season?  Was it a hopeless grab at nostalgia?

Fact is, Bird won over everyone once he met them, players included, with the thought he had put into the job and his sincerity about executing it.

Donnie Walsh, general manager: I had observed Larry for a long time as a player and I knew the personality and everything that made him go. And it was all really positive. And then when I met with him...there was one meeting I had that lasted two hours. I asked him, "Tell me what you would do with this team, Larry." He took me from the first practice to the finals of the NBA, and I mean in detail. So, I knew then he could do it. I thought it was a home run.

He just gives off the vibe. I checked it to myself a lot, just to reassure myself. Every time I did, I thought, "Yeah, he's got it."

Fred Hoiberg, guard: I went to the press conference. Reggie was there, too, and maybe someone else. We were in town and working out that day.

I was excited. He was a guy I idolized growing up. Just watching those great Celtics teams as a kid and seeing a guy from a small town go in and at times completely dominate the league...and now I get the opportunity to play for him.

Donnie Walsh introduces Larry Bird as head coach of the Pacers in a press conference at Market Square Arena. (Photo Credit: NBAE/Getty Images)

Travis Best, guard: I was elated. The Larry Brown situation was not one of the best for me my first two years. His expectations of me were the total opposite of what kind of player I was. Had he been there for another couple of years, I probably would not have re-signed with the Pacers after my contract was up. The last year had left a bad taste in everybody's mouth. At that point everybody had tuned him out. Guys were ready to start fresh.

When Larry Bird was hired? To hear that? He was one of my favorite players, a guy who played professionally in the same state where I grew up, where I watched every game before cable was popular. I grew up watching those Celtics teams. To hear he was going to be coaching us, I was elated.

The very first time I talked to him he started our relationship on the best note I could have asked for. He said he had watched film, had watched me, he liked the decisions I made. He said I had the green light in terms of looking to score but thought I could pass the ball as well. He wanted me to be more aggressive and come to camp in tip-top shape. That was huge for me to hear because offensively I felt I had taken a step back under Larry Brown.

Rik Smits, center: Anything after Larry Brown was easy. I liked Larry as a person but he was a bear to deal with on the basketball court. Nothing was ever good enough. It was obvious we were ready for a change and Bird was the complete opposite. He knew what it was like for the players. He realized the situation we were in. He said, "I'm going to get you in the best possible shape. You know what you're doing on the court." He didn't try to teach us like Larry Brown used to do. It was a good fit at that time. Everybody was excited about it.

Antonio Davis, forward: Larry Brown was a stickler for doing things the "right way," but you always felt it was a moving target. You were thinking, "What is the right way? Every time you come in here you explain the right way differently." At times you wanted to throw your hands up and say, 'Man, I don't want to hear that today."

Best: I didn't even know what that meant. I had been hearing that for two years.

Antonio Davis: Don't get me wrong, I loved Larry Brown. But he was a control freak. He wanted to control every single possession.

Mark Jackson, guard: Larry Brown is a Hall of Fame coach, a brilliant basketball mind, but he had a different style of coaching than Larry Bird. Both did incredible jobs for the Pacer organization, but Larry Brown was going to stop and talk and make corrections, then make more corrections. His style was trying to max out our ability. It did work, but it ran its course.

Both guys trusted me; the difference was, with Larry Bird, anything we decided to run, he still had ultimate trust in a quarterback audibling at any point. Larry Bird just had a different approach and it was a much-needed vibe for us.

Bird got his whistle wet coaching the Pacers rookie and free agents in a mini-camp, then took a team to the Atlanta suburbs for Summer League play. His debut there was national news but the group representing the Pacers didn't perform particularly well. Jalen Rose participated as a show of good faith after a frustrating season under Brown but arrived late and didn't play well. Erick Dampier, the previous year's first-round draft pick, had borrowed a van the previous night and then overslept the next morning, arriving late for a morning shootaround. He was traded to Golden State the following month for Chris Mullin. Bird insisted the two events weren't connected. But a warning had been sounded.

Dan Burke, video coordinator: That trade was probably already in the works, but from the outside it looked like, "You're late, ok, if you don't want to be here we'll send you somewhere else." That stuff was built into our discipline.

Larry's thing was, you be on time. And on time for him was 15 minutes early.

Chris Mullin, forward: Golden State was on a different trajectory and I had an open dialogue with them. They were going to rebuild. I wasn't 100 percent against rebuilding, but I wanted to know if I was going to be here when I retired. I was willing to bite the bullet and go through it, but it didn't seem to be working out.

When Larry got the job, it became really appealing to me. Those guys (Miller and Jackson) were my age and I knew them really well. I had known Donnie forever, and he had been with them so long. He's a New Yorker through and through. I had heard stories about him since I was a kid with (coach Lou) Carnesecca. It was really appealing.

That team hadn't changed a lot. They had been together trying to get to that next level. It was like walking into a well-oiled machine I just had to fit in and find a way to contribute and hopefully take it a step further.

The Pacers took their training camp to Orlando for the first time that season, preparing for the season at the Disney World complex. The players stayed in their private bungalows and each had a golf cart for transportation. There, Bird backed up his promise to make them the best-conditioned team in the NBA. The players responded with enthusiasm to his demands, and bonds were formed quickly. But for the rookies, it was an eye-opener.

Burke: When Larry got hired, we had that rookie/free agent camp right away. Our first practice was at Market Square, and Reggie showed up to watch that first practice. He saw Larry's commitment to conditioning and that sent a message right away. From what I understand, Reggie contacted some of his teammates and said, "Boys, we better come in shape."

That started the attitude of training camp: This isn't some novelty, hiring Larry Bird. This guy is all business and he's going to expect your best effort. We're here to win.

We had a lot of new guys on the team then. Just the freshness of something different and being by ourselves (in Orlando). That brought a lot to it. Watching veterans like Chris Mullin and Reggie Miller and Mark Jackson — they loved it. It was basketball. They liked being together, it was obvious. It was work, but I never felt like these guys thought it was work. Larry's practices, we worked. It was "do your job." That was Larry's battle cry and that's what everybody did.

Best: There was enthusiasm, there was energy; guys were willing to run through a brick wall for him. We wanted to win, not only for ourselves and the city and the fans, but for Larry as well.

Hoiberg: It was a fun camp. Larry Bird's practices were as demanding as any coach I've played for. He always wanted us to be the best-conditioned team and that was a huge part of his philosophy; that we would be in better shape than the opponents. Not a lot of NBA teams flat-out run sprints. He would get us on the line, and we would run a lot. It wasn't fun at the time, but It certainly paid off.

Mullin: We worked our (butts) off, no question.

Dan Burke: It was for them. It was for the players. That's what I learned from Larry. Larry had won championships. It wasn't about winning one as a coach, it was winning one for these guys. That was obvious the way he coached them and managed them. He was definitely, 'I've had my time.' He wanted them to have theirs.

Contrary to the productivity and spirit of training camp, the Pacers lost their preseason opener at the University of Dayton to Cleveland. Even worse, Croshere broke his left wrist when he was smacked on a rebound attempt two minutes and four points into his debut. He would miss the next six weeks and not play against until Nov. 20.

Eleven days later, another notable preseason event occurred. Travis Best and Dale Davis missed the team's 3 p.m. flight to Nashville for a game against Charlotte. They were on the tarmac, walking toward the airplane, when the stairs went up, the door was closed and locked and the plane pulled away. Best contends it was only 2:50, but apparently that wasn't early enough. Davis picked up the tab for their commercial flight to Nashville, via Atlanta.

In both cases, Bird displayed the toughness he was trying to instill in the team.

Austin Croshere, forward: I went over to the sideline and told (trainer) David Craig I thought I might have broken my hand. He looked at it and said, "Yeah, you broke your hand." And Bird said, "Go make your ------- free throws." I made my free throws and then left the game.

Best: I guess we needed to get there a little sooner. We thought we had another 10 minutes. We didn't think much of it. It was an odd thing to see the team pull the stairs up and pull off. Me and Dale, we put our tail between our legs and had to buy our own ticket.

Mullin: I remember David Craig saying, "Coach, what do you want to do?" Larry said, "What time is it?" David told him. And Larry said, "Let's go then."

That was the last time anyone was late. That was the last time in my three years with the Pacers anything was askew. In the NBA, that's insane. It's impossible. That was a tight ship."

Mark West, center: I thought that was great. He was saying, "I don't care what your status is." The rules were for everybody, not for the few.

Mark Pope, forward: I'll never forget Ike (Dale Davis) standing there by the side of the plane as we started to roll out. I thought, "This is something."

Burke: One of our expressions for defending screens is "lock and go." After that happened, Reggie would be up front when it was time to leave and yell, "lock and go!" You had this awareness and accountability from within. We were disciplined and that carried over to what they accomplished.

The discipline might have been established by then, but chemistry and cohesion had not. The Pacers lost the regular season opener in New Jersey, 97-95. They followed by winning their home opener over rebuilding Golden State, but two weeks in were just 2-5. There were no hints of panic, however, and they went on to win nine of their next 10 games. After losing the final two games of a Western road trip, they didn't lose consecutive games the rest of the regular season.

The chemistry remained strong throughout the season and the team continued to improve. Miller had perhaps the best season of his career, hitting a running stream of clutch 3-pointers, while Jackson reveled in the freedom awarded by Bird. The players gradually grew comfortable with assistant coaches Dick Harter and Rick Carlisle being defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively, while Bird managed the operation with a deft touch.

Antonio Davis: We lost some games early. We just had to keep at it. The message we got from the coaches was, this works. The timing is a little off, just stay with it.

Jackson: He did not disappoint. He came with no ego. He was a team leader. He embraced what he had accomplished already as a player and took us to the next level.

The thing he emphasized to Reggie and me was how desperately he wanted us to get to the NBA Finals. He told us it was a whole different experience, and given how much work we had put in it was something we truly deserved. He wasn't a coach who was afraid to allow his leaders to have a huge voice. He understood the advantages of it as a coach. And embraced it. He kept on top of the pulse of the team and got it directly from the leaders.

Best: Larry did a great job of delegating responsibility. I thought he did a great job as a head coach with the situation that was given to him, this being his first time coaching. He took the reins and never relinquished them. He was very honest with us and made us work. He taught us his way of trying to win: everybody getting involved, being in better shape than other teams and having an easy-going feel around the locker room.

Walsh: Larry was like an orchestra leader. He felt the team the whole year. Sometimes he would let things go and sometimes he wouldn't.

Larry Bird quickly won over Indiana's veteran locker room in his first season as head coach. (Photo Credit: NBAE/Getty Images)

Larry always knows what he doesn't know. And when he knows it, he really knows it. He doesn't get into areas he doesn't know and he's very confident in the areas he does know.

Mullin: It was the most low-maintenance, no BS place ever. It was just basketball. The priorities were set in stone. The way Larry and Donnie constructed that roster from Day One was to get to the Finals.

Larry early in training camp was talking about getting homecourt advantage. He wasn't in there to see if he could coach, he wanted to win a championship. I hadn't been in a situation where I started the season thinking going to the Finals. We would think about going to playoffs and then scratch and claw round by round.

Hoiberg: We were up pretty big in a game one time, maybe in San Antonio. They went on a little run and Dick Harter and Rick Carlisle were yelling, "Call timeout!" Larry turned around and said, "Listen -------, I'll call all the timeouts!  When was the last time you played in a meaningful game?" We went on a 12-0 and the other team had to call a timeout.

Mullin: I remember early on he said, "I'm not going to ask you guys to do anything that hasn't worked for me. We're not going to overdo anything." There was no deviation there. You look at the record and it speaks for itself. There were no hidden agendas.

Hoiberg: We would hang out as team, go to dinners...it was a team that genuinely liked each other. That team and my first year in Minnesota with Garnett, Sprewell, and Cassell — those were the teams that stood out for unity. Sprewell was one of the greatest teammates I ever had. He bought lunch for the team every day. He was a great teammate.

Jackson: The chemistry was incredible. Certainly the best I had experienced. The camaraderie, no cliques...we laughed, we joked, we embraced each other's role, we supported one another. It was a tied-together basketball team and it started from the top.

Pope: I was a dumb rookie. I didn't know anything. I had no reference points. After that I was blessed to bounce around the league a long time and I've been in basketball almost every year since. It's after the fact I recognize what a monumental blessing it was for me as a really bad-playing rookie to learn what the league was supposed to be like from Reggie Miller and Mark Jackson and Chris Mullin and Larry Bird and that whole crew. Dale, Antonio...there's a lot of rookies that come into the league and they come into places where they don't do it like that, and those rookies think that's how you carry yourself as a pro.

I tell people all the time, I don't know if I've ever been around a better leader than Reggie Miller in terms of him being a pro, him coming and competing every single day.

Antonio Davis: That whole team, man...looking back, I took it for granted. That's how you thought it was going to be everywhere. Then I go to Toronto (for the 1999-2000 season). You could live in the same building with a teammate and you didn't even know it. It was just so different.

Guys had birthday parties for their kids and every guy was there; would show up for a little bit, drop off a little present. Even if guys didn't have kids they showed up. It meant a lot. So when you get out on the floor it's more than teammates, you feel like you know this guy. He's part of your family and you're part of his family. You have that bond. We really clicked. It was the sense of us against the world.

West: I still look at that as one of the great experiences of my career. I had played on quite a few teams. Just the overall way they were and how they accepted me was special.

Mark Jackson was there and of course Reggie. I had never seen it quite the way they did with their rookies. We'd win a game and if one of those guys was "Player of the Game" and got a watch or a gift certificate or whatever, right away they would give it to one of the rookies. I thought, "Wow, this is pretty special." It was the attitude that "When I do good, we all do good."

Having been around the league for a while, I thought that was different and special.

Burke: There was always excitement, there was always camaraderie. I remember being on a back-to-back road trip and riding from the airport to the hotel and going right by the FleetCenter (in Boston). These these guys start singing. They're making up their own lyrics about not wanting to have a shootaround. They were laughing. I thought it was bringing them together.

Jackson: We'd be on the bus and (Bird) would announce we're having practice tomorrow and we'd break out in our own version of "Kumbaya." He would be up there dying laughing.

Or we would be in the middle of a shootaround or practice, and if we thought we had no business being there we would be singing songs or making subtle jokes about, "Why are we here?" Larry Brown would have put us on the line. Larry Bird thought it was hilarious.

Burke: Larry had said from the beginning we were going to have as many shootarounds as possible. We taped (ankles) for them. We didn't kill them, but we had some pretty brisk drills based on what we were going to see that night.

We sweated in those shootarounds. We worked. We did "Pacer layups," where you're constantly running fullcourt. He told them, "These are going to be 25 or 30 practices other teams aren't going to do. But we're going to get better.

I definitely saw a build-up to that team, coming closer together and becoming tougher, along with the physical improvement. It started with him being calm and confident and being driven.

Mullin: He coached like he played 100 percent dedicated, focused, no drama. He was funny without even knowing it. For me, for the older guys, he was like a teammate guiding us, encouraging us.
He would say, "If you guys don't play the first five minutes, I'm taking you out. Get your ---- going or I'm taking you out." That was his halftime speech.

I remember a game, I wasn't playing terrible, maybe I was 3-for-7 or something like that. He said, "Mully, you going to make a shot or not?" It was like older brother talking to you, saying, "Come on, let's get goingl"

Burke: Larry stayed after and rebounded for everyone. I remember thinking, "I can't leave because Larry's still out here." That was the care he showed. Doing your job meant doing extra. If you're not doing your job well, you need to stay after.

Hoiberg: When you have one of the greatest players of all time in your corner...I remember a game, I was running down in transition in front of the bench and had a 3-pointer. As soon as it released from my hand, Larry Bird yelled, "Money." It's so much easier to shoot the ball when you're not looking over your shoulder.

It did go in. When you have that kind of belief behind you, it makes the game a lot easier.

Jackson: Every once in a while, he would tease us by taking shots in practice. You're sitting there thinking, Larry Bird is shooting the ball and stroking shots. It was fun.

Croshere and Pope were old for rookies, but still rookies, and experienced the growing pains all rookies have. Croshere played in 26 games for 243 minutes in a hard-luck season that began and ended on the injured list. Pope played in just 28 games for a total of 193 minutes but was given the role of inbound passer when Derrick McKey was not available and later was awarded the task of giving the fire-up talk in the players' huddle before they took the floor. Both recall a season of naivety and tough love.

Austin Croshere: Everything was new to me. I had to get everyone's gear and take it to the trainer and then pick it up (after it had been cleaned) and drop it off at everyone's bungalow. I was just trying to work hard and fit in.

But it was a dream come true. It took me a good quarter of the season not to be in awe of Larry Bird. He would rebound for me after practice, be chasing after the ball and passing to me. I was like, What is happening here?

Pope: The first preseason game at home was one of the worst/greatest experiences of my entire life. Clearly in a million years I don't belong with this group, right? We're playing Cleveland. I'm playing pretty good. I haven't embarrassed myself and he doesn't check me out. Every timeout I'm thinking, "Surely he's going to put in a real player now." But he didn't.

On the last play, I inbound and clear out to the weakside. Reggie drives baseline, and as soon as he does, I'm thinking, This is not good. Reggie throws the pass and I catch the ball. Of all the people in this arena, I'm the one guy who should not be shooting this shot. I kind of peed my pants. I was wide open but I shot-faked. I shot-faked no one because there was nobody there. I actually shot-faked the air and drove middle and it rimmed out. And we lost the game.

I go in the locker room after and it so uncomfortable. These are vets and I clearly was not up to the task at hand. That's what you learn as a bad rookie player, you learn you have to make a play.

The next day at practice I'm stretching in the corner and Coach Bird walks over to me. He's my hero, right? He says, "Hey what happened last night?" I gave him some baloney answer about thinking I could get into the lane and get a better shot. He said, "I don't blame you, I blame me. Because I should have known better than to have you I the game." It was the worst thing anybody has ever said to me. Not really the worst, but it was the truth.

Croshere: I remember one game early in the year. The ref was Hue Hollins. I had gotten my third foul in the first half and a little later Hue handed me the ball on the sideline right next to Larry to throw it in. I said, "Coach, that's my third foul." He said, "Just inbound the ------- ball, you're not going to play long enough to foul out." Hue looked at me and started laughing. Then Larry started laughing.

Pope: We're playing the Knicks and Charles Oakley caught me with a good one in the third quarter, an elbow right in the head. In the moment I'm seeing stars, but in the moment I'm also thinking, I can't wait to go home and call Mom and say, "Charles Oakley just elbowed me in the head! I can't believe it!"

Croshere: We got our first paycheck and they had taken money out for something and Mark goes to David Craig, "Hey, what's up with this?" David said it was the charge for having a single room on the road. The collective bargaining agreement says you're supposed to have a roommate, so to get a single room you have to pay something extra.

1998 Eastern Conference Finals

Running at the Bulls: An Oral History of the 1997-98 Pacers (Part 2)

"The Chemistry Was Incredible": An Oral History of the 1997-98 Pacers (Part 1)

Looking Back at the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals