CLEVELAND, Ohio — In the world of playoff basketball, there are teams that wilt under pressure and teams that rise to the occasion. Then there’s the 2025 Indiana Pacers — a team that doesn’t just survive pressure, they seem to crave it.
The Wine and Gold Talk podcast’s latest episode revealed a stat that perfectly encapsulates the Pacers’ remarkable resilience: “Game 1 was the Pacers’ fifth comeback victory from a deficit of 15 or more points in the 2025 NBA playoffs, the most by a team in a single postseason since 1998,” Ethan Sands informed.
Let that sink in. This isn’t just clutch basketball — it’s historic clutch basketball.
“This is who the Pacers are. They’re a mentally tough team. They’re relentless. They’re never fazed by anything,” Chris Fedor explained. “Doesn’t matter if they’re at home, on the road, doesn’t matter if it’s a regular season game, playoff game. They just look like a team that has been there before.”
That mental fortitude was on full display in Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, where Indiana somehow managed to win despite leading for only 0.3 seconds of the entire game.
The stats painted a picture of what should have been a blowout loss: 17 more turnovers than OKC and 16 fewer field goal attempts.
For most teams, that’s an insurmountable deficit. For the Pacers? Just another day at the office.
What makes this team so uniquely resilient? It starts with their ability to withstand early adversity without collapsing.
As Jimmy Watkins highlighted, “They only gave up nine points off those first half turnovers. Those turnovers can be so deflating, especially when they’re stacking up like that.”
The Pacers’ composure in clutch situations is equally remarkable.
As Fedor noted, “Late in the game, Indiana showed why it has been one of the best clutch teams all playoffs long. They looked like a team that had been there and was really, really comfortable in that moment.”
Behind this unbreakable spirit is mastermind coach Rick Carlisle, whose strategic adjustments have proven to be game-changers time and again.
“They certainly have a coaching advantage too, because I thought the things that, that Rick Carlile figured out in the second half and the adjustments that he made in the second half, you felt those, those showed themselves,” Fedor observed.
The Pacers have constructed a roster of players who embody this resilient identity.
From Pascal Siakam’s championship experience to Tyrese Haliburton’s late-game heroics to Andrew Nembhard’s fearless play, this team has created a culture where no deficit feels insurmountable.
For teams facing the Pacers, this mental edge creates a psychological hurdle that’s becoming increasingly difficult to overcome.
As Watkins explained, “If you’re up by 12 against the Pacers and they score two buckets in a row, you’re thinking about it. You are thinking about it.”
The Pacers have become the NBA’s ultimate playoff nightmare — a team that’s never truly beaten until the final buzzer sounds. And that unbreakable spirit might just be their ticket to a championship.
Here’s the podcast for this week:
_Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from the Cleveland Wine and Gold Talk Podcast by cleveland.com. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions._