The Indiana Pacers made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals last year before getting eliminated by the Boston Celtics.
This year, their plan was to do much better.
Speaking to Pat McAfee, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle talked about what his team did last summer when their season ended in disappointment.
“When we did exit meetings last year after the season, we talked about the importance of a great summer of conditioning. This is one of the reasons why Tyrese [Haliburton] had a slow start to the year. He was coming off the injury last year in the Conference Finals to Boston. He was not really healthy until two or three days before actual training camp started. He missed out on a summer of conditioning and base-building. You don’t just come into training camp to get in shape. Nowadays, you gotta do your conditioning stuff during the summer,” Carlisle said, via NBA on ESPN.
"When we did exit meetings last year after the season, we talked about the importance of a great summer of conditioning."
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle on developing the fast-paced identity of the team 💨
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Carlisle is right: a few people were criticizing Haliburton at the start of the season.
They didn’t like the way he was moving or shooting, and people were shocked that he wasn’t delivering his patented passes that have been so great over the years.
That was because he was returning from an injury and wasn’t yet at 100 percent.
A few months later, he was looking much better, and, unsurprisingly, the Pacers were as well.
But they really got better as the season came to a close, playing as one of the best teams in the league and fighting even harder as the playoffs began.
Now they are beginning their run at a championship, battling the fierce Oklahoma City Thunder.
This goes to show that teams are never taking time off, and even the summer is filled with important moments that will shape the season ahead.
That means right now, next season’s championship team could be plotting its course to a title.
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