No one expected the Indiana Pacers to be here.

The Pacers have not been favored to win a series this postseason since the first round and look nothing like the prototypical championship contender—yet they now stand just one win away from the 2025 NBA title after forcing a Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton have rightfully dominated the headlines during Indiana’s two-month playoff run, but head coach Rick Carlisle deserves his share of praise too.

Carlisle has maximized a Pacers squad that features one 2025 NBA All-Star in Siakam but no MVP candidate—a rarity for a team that is this deep into the postseason. None of Indiana’s players received a single vote in this year’s MVP race, and outside of Siakam’s 10th-place finish back in 2020, not one of them has ever even received a vote.

This roster is full of misfits, outcasts, and overachievers—from ex-lottery picks Aaron Nesmith and Obi Toppin who were cast aside by Eastern Conference rivals, to the undrafted sparkplug T.J. McConnell—which only makes Carlisle’s body of work more remarkable.

While most teams shorten their rotation in the playoffs, Carlisle has defied convention by running with nine players on almost every night. Even that nine-man group has waxed and waned, with players like Ben Sheppard, Tony Bradley, and Thomas Bryant moving in and out based on match-ups and momentum.

At 65 years old, Carlisle is now also the oldest head coach to appear in an NBA Finals game—and it shows with his wisdom and feel for the moment. He knows exactly which buttons to push, and, more importantly, when.

Game 6 against the Thunder was a perfect example. With Haliburton reportedly banged up and coming off a rough Game 5, Carlisle turned over the keys to their offense to Andrew Nembhard early on. Nembhard responded by scoring eight straight points to flip a 10–2 deficit into a 15–12 lead by the 6:12 mark of the first quarter.

That proved to be the only lead change of the night.

Indiana never looked back after that. Carlisle inserted McConnell midway through the first period, and the veteran guard’s frenetic energy galvanized the Pacers. By the time McConnell checked out with 5:48 left in the second quarter, Indiana was ahead by nine, 42–33.

The Pacers then closed out the half with a 22–9 burst, capped by a Siakam buzzer-beater, and did not let the lead fall below 17 over the second half. At one point, their margin even ballooned to a high of 31. Indiana pulled through with a 108–91 win that was clinical and had Carlisle’s fingerprints all over it.

Beyond his bold rotation, he also made a few crucial tactical shifts. Carlisle dialed back the team’s full-court pressure to half court–focusing instead on traps–which also preserved their legs for the offensive end, and it paid off. Indiana was unfazed by the pressure of an elimination game and forced a winner-take-all Game 7 at Oklahoma City for the championship.

Carlisle is now just one win away from his second NBA title. If the Pacers pull it off, he’ll become just the fourth coach in league history to win it all with two different franchises. His 2011 run with the Dallas Mavericks remains one of the greatest underdog stories of all time—but this one with Indiana might actually top it–that is, if they can pull it off.

Regardless of how this series ends though, Carlisle has already cemented his legacy as a master tactician—an elite coach who never hesitates to throw out conventional wisdom and can squeeze the most out of limited rosters. Save for Dirk Nowitzki–who was actually in the tailend of his prime–he has never coached a top tier superstar in his apex, yet at every stop, he has still found a way to make the most of his situation.

Most fans might not fully appreciate the genius that is Rick Carlisle, but for basketball purists, he is already regarded as a bona fide legend who deserves to be recognized among the game’s elite.