Scot Pollard is 500 Festival Parade grand marshal. What to know about the NBA champion
Scot Pollard will be the grand marshal for the AES 500 Festival Parade.
The Carmel resident will lead during the Indianapolis 500 race weekend event on May 24.
Here's what you should know about the 2025 AES 500 Festival Parade grand marshal.
The 6-11 Pollard played in the NBA for 11 years, including for the Indiana Pacers from 2003 to 2006. He is an NBA Champion and three-time NBA Finalist.
He was the 19th pick of the 1997 NBA draft, chosen by the Detroit Pistons. A three-time NBA Finalist, Pollard retired after his Boston Celtics won a championship in 2008.
The son of former University of Utah basketball player Pearl Pollard, Scot Pollard was born in Murray, Utah, and grew up in San Diego, California, and Kennewick, Washington. He played college ball at the University of Kansas, where he graduated in 1997 with a degree in education.
Pollard appeared as a contestant on the reality television series 'Survivor: Kaôh Rōng' in 2016, being voted out on Day 27 and becoming the fourth member of the jury.
🏁🏎️: 500 Festival Parade returns. What to know about parking, performers and tickets
He received a heart transplant in February 2024, after contracting a virus in 2021. (The donor was Casey Angell, a 45-year-old man who'd died in a Texas hospital after a short health battle.)
He and his wife, Dawn, started the non-profit Pearls of Life to advocate for organ donations, educate the community and support families who are going through the organ transplant or donation process. Dawn Pollard serves as the organization's executive director and Pollard is the volunteer spokesman, traveling the country sharing his personal story.
IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow contributed to this report.
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OKLAHOMA CITY — So … what exactly happened here, and what does it mean going forward? That's why I've been trying to figure out ever since I staggered out of Paycom Center late Thursday in the wake of the Indiana Pacers' stunning 111-110 comeback win against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Advertisement It wasn't just that the Pacers rallied from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit; it was the way they came back. Oklahoma City seemed to be dominating, forcing a series of JV-playing-the-varsity-type turnovers in the first half and seemingly coasting behind its NBA MVP in the second. But somehow, the size of the Thunder lead never quite matched the eye-test vibes, and the Pacers stayed close enough for a late stretch of hot shooting and sprinkling of Tyrese Haliburton clutch fairy dust to put them on top. In the wake of my bewilderment, I rewatched the game Friday morning and compared it to my notes on what I thought I saw from my perch Thursday. Watching again left me with a lot of random thoughts about some fairly important things that went under the radar: Aaron Nesmith's ironclad perimeter defense, Rick Carlisle's creative play-calling (corner iso for T.J. McConnell? Triple drag to get Nesmith an open 3?), the forces of nature that were Lu Dort and Alex Caruso, the incredibly random Ajay Mitchell cameo and more. But I can't do play-by-play from the whole game, so let's narrow things down. In particular, 10 plays stand out as important ones that defined not only why the Pacers came back and won but what the strategic questions will be for both teams Sunday in Game 2 and beyond. A harbinger of what was to come for the Thunder came on this free-throw miss. Nembhard tapped out a rebound, Pascal Siakam retrieved the ball while Cason Wallace recovered from presumably falling off the edge of the earth on the left side of our TV screens, and Siakam blew to the rim for a bucket over an MIA-for-the-night Chet Holmgren. This play encapsulated several underlying themes from the game: Siakam's quietly great play, the struggles of Holmgren and Wallace and Nembhard making subtle big plays. Advertisement But the one I want to focus on is rebounding. The Thunder were a terrible rebounding team last year, and when Isaiah Hartenstein wasn't on the floor, they mostly remained a terrible rebounding team this year. With Hartenstein removed from the starting lineup and only playing 17 minutes in Game 1, guess what they were terrible at? Indiana had 13 offensive rebounds, even while sometimes staying small themselves, and this play was illustrative. It was also an omen for an even bigger play later. Oklahoma City should have been up by 20 at halftime after forcing 19 Indiana turnovers and holding the Pacers to 45 first-half points. The reason the Thunder weren't was that their offense kept leaving money on the table. Much was made of the lack of points off turnovers, but a lot of them were turnovers that weren't particularly conducive to quick baskets. The Thunder also missed an unusually large number of shots at the rim, going just 8-of-22 in the restricted area in the first half; give Myles Turner some credit, as he played a major role in several of the misses. The other issue for the Thunder was how many not-great quick jump shots they were taking. In part, this was because the Pacers were able to guard one-on-one on the perimeter without sending much help; Nembhard on Gilgeous-Alexander and Nesmith on Jalen Williams were both up to the task. Beyond that, the lack of minutes for Hartenstein took the Thunder's best screener out of the game, and that made it harder to get bodies off their two best scorers. In theory, the Thunder were playing five-out, but they weren't running much of anything. Rewatching this game, it was shocking how many zero- and one-pass possessions the Thunder had. This is a fairly indulgent one by Gilgeous-Alexander, who tilted too heavily toward hunting quick jumpers, but at least he's the MVP. The ones initiated by secondary players were even more egregious; remind me again why Wallace is trying to cook with 17 seconds on the shot clock? All that presaged the final possession for the Thunder, when Gilgeous-Alexander did the same and got a decent jump shot but also missed an open Williams at the top of the key. In this clip, Nembhard drove to the cup with Holmgren in perfect position to snuff his shot at the rim, and then Holmgren … just kind of watched Nembhard lay it in. While this play also stood out for the cleaner ball movement Indiana had in the second half — quicker actions, fewer passes, not trying to seal bigs and thread entries in traffic — that cleared up the Pacers' plague of turnovers, the bigger point here is the Thunder just need way, way more from Holmgren. Advertisement Holmgren can be pretty hard on himself, and I imagine he's gnashing his teeth watching film of his game. He finished 2-of-9 from the field with no assists, and the eye test might have been worse. Credit Turner for stymying several of Holmgren's forays to the rim, and (dis)credit the Thunder's offensive impatience for taking him out of the game as a secondary offensive player. Holmgren is at his best when the ball swings to him against a rotating defense or he's able to finish a play at the rim, but with Oklahoma City in hero-ball mode, his offense took a major hit. But we can't let him off the hook. He was a non-factor protecting the rim and on the glass, even with the Thunder switching his matchup to keep him off Turner and let him roam a bit more. The biggest reason for Thunder optimism going forward is that Holmgren and Jalen Williams should both be way better in future games; that's especially true of Holmgren on defense. Another look at this MONSTER block by Benn ⤵️ — NBA (@NBA) June 6, 2025 Mathurin didn't play a lot in Game 1, but he held up very well at both ends. This spectacular block of Williams' drive was the highlight and underscored a 6-of-19 shooting night from Williams when he also missed multiple assist chances. Look at Mathurin's man, Hartenstein, under the rim; if Williams either drops this off or lobs it, it's a dunk. Williams lamented after the game that a lot of the shots he missed were normal shots for him that just didn't go down. Certainly, there are elements of truth to that, particularly in his pull-up game. However, his Game 1 performance left a lot to be desired as a secondary offensive weapon and brought up reminders of his 'spring tour dates' in the Denver series (2-of-13; 3-of-15; 5-of-14; 5-of-20) and his struggles to be a secondary weapon against the Dallas Mavericks a year ago. Again, one wonders if more Hartenstein as a screener might have helped; the two had a solid run at the start of the fourth quarter with the help of some road-grader screens from Hartenstein. Regardless, Oklahoma City's 'other' All-Star is a huge key to this series. While Indiana got all it needed and more from its No. 2 guy in Siakam, Williams left the Thunder short in that respect. That can't be the case going forward. On this play, Hartenstein got Nembhard off Gilgeous-Alexander's body with a solid screen, cooking a switch that leaves the MVP guarded by the highly cookable Thomas Bryant. It went down as a jump shot, but these were some of the easiest points of the night for a player of SGA's caliber. Advertisement As I noted above, the Thunder missed a ton of paint shots, and on the night, they missed a staggering 40 2s — making only 41.2 percent inside the arc. That's how they barely averaged a point per possession despite shooting 21 of 24 from the free-throw line and making a respectable 11 triples. These stretches, where Hartenstein was setting ball screens for Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams, were the Thunder's best offensive forays. Hartenstein sprang both Thunder All-Stars downhill for layups with the help of Gortat screens that stopped his own man from helping. He also set up weakside mayhem with short rolls and quick kickouts and even aggressively took a few handoff plays to the cup himself in the first half. There's a reason Hartenstein didn't play longer, which I'll get to in a minute, but one major adjustment for the Thunder for Game 2 has to involve increasing his role; he's just too important to both their offense and rebounding, the two areas in which they lost Game 1. That's particularly true since his replacement, Wallace, had little impact in 33 minutes replacing him. This play precipitated Hartenstein's removal, as he lost track of Turner at the 3-point line. The Thunder were already leery of starting Hartenstein because they were worried about him getting isolated in space against Haliburton, but the death knell for his evening was all the 3-pointers Indiana's stretch bigs got at his expense. It started late in the first quarter when he and Kenrich Williams messed up a zone scheme that left Obi Toppin with a practice 3-pointer from above the break, but the situation escalated in the second half. This Turner shot was the third in a series of similar errors; Hartenstein also let Bryant and Toppin get free for catch-and-shoot 3s in the second half, which is why Thunder coach Mark Daigneault took him out for good with 7:44 left after Turner's make. (Bizarrely, the Thunder didn't even put him back in with 0.3 seconds left when they could only score on a lob. What did they think Wallace was going to do on that play?) The 'play better' adjustment looms large here. Hartenstein's instincts will always be to protect the rim, but he can't lose the assignment so regularly if he's going to stay on the court longer. The Pacers were trying to deny Gilgeous-Alexander catches in the backcourt and pressure his dribble all game, even handing over two free points at the end of the first quarter when Nembhard needlessly fouled him 75 feet from the hoop with the Thunder in the bonus. Advertisement In the fourth, however, it started paying off. On this play, the MVP tapped out on getting the inbound pass after a Pacers basket, and the ball went to Holmgren instead, who decided to call his own number and attack Turner at the cup. The shot failed, and Holmgren was done for the night shortly after this, with the Thunder playing five smalls for the final 3:24 until Holmgren returned with 0.3 seconds left. Logically, as I rewatched, this was the only thing that made sense for OKC. Holmgren was terrible, and Hartenstein was a 3-pointer waiting to happen, which is no bueno sitting on a multi-possession lead. Moreover, that same unit of five smalls finished the first half and tortured the Pacers, forcing an avalanche of Indiana turnovers. Remember that missed Nembhard free throw above? This will awaken some ghosts for Thunder fans since it was also a massive factor in their Game 6 loss to Dallas a year ago. And it was why Caruso stepped in early on the second free throw by Siakam with 3:24 left. Hartenstein, the Thunder's best rebounder, was out, and Caruso was the closest thing left to a 'big.' (Holmgren would have been useless here as well; he gets shoved into the stanchion on every foul shot.) Caruso knew that Jalen Williams on the other side would get caved in by Nesmith, and nobody else on the court was an instinctive rebounder. (Caruso, who played 28 minutes, also might have run out of gas in the fourth; he was uncharacteristically cooked off the dribble multiple times.) Siakam missed the free throw, and a lane violation was called, giving him another one that he ended up converting. That point ended up being massive given the one-point final difference. But hey, it could have been worse. I joke that the best offense against Oklahoma City is missing a foul shot, but there's a kernel of truth; when Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams aren't on the floor, they are supernaturally bad at this for an otherwise historically awesome team. Check this out: On that third free throw, Caruso ended up boxing out air and nearly fell over, and Nesmith again caved in Jalen Williams. Look at the Pacers' rebounding position if Siakam had missed again: One other issue with Oklahoma City playing small is Caruso in the dunker spot instead of, say, a dunker; if it's Hartenstein or Holmgren, the image above is an easy lob to the square for two points. Instead, Siakam blocked this shot, and he's able to because Gilgeous-Alexander had no realistic lob option as he came down the pike. Advertisement If there's one aspect of this that Daigneault might be replaying in his head, it's likely whether he could have closed with a bit more size in his 'small' group by using Kenrich Williams instead of Wallace. Wallace shot 3 of 9, playing 33 lightly impactful minutes and finishing with a plus/minus of minus-13. Kenrich Williams, meanwhile, played 27 very effective minutes when Holmgren missed OKC's late March blowout win over Indiana, finishing a team-best plus-23 that night; he would have added a bit more size, screening and rebounding to this look. Here's the thing, though: Oklahoma City's small group did fine down the stretch if you just look at the shots they took and allowed. In a vacuum, over the last four minutes, they probably had better ones than the Pacers. Nembhard made an and-1 mixtape 3-pointer, Nesmith made one that he shot like the ball was on fire while he was still moving, and of course, minutes earlier, Turner banked in a 3 by accident. Meanwhile, Dort, Jalen Williams and Wallace all missed catch-and-shoot fungoes. The Thunder were 0-of-9 outside the charge circle in the fourth quarter; the Pacers were 9-of-14. Make-or-miss league, as they say. Sometimes it happens even if the strategy and process are fine. For the most part, the real problem wasn't the 12-2 run at the end; it was the fact that Oklahoma City hadn't amassed a much greater lead before. HALIBURTON WINS GAME 1 FOR THE PACERS. THEY TRAILED BY 15. ANOTHER CRAZY INDIANA COMEBACK 🚨 — NBA (@NBA) June 6, 2025 Yeah … this was something. As I noted above, at the start of the play, it looked like Gilgeous-Alexander had a chance to hit Jalen Williams for a dagger 3. Also, props to Carlisle for not calling a timeout and letting Haliburton work against a scrambled defense. That 'scrambled' part stands out in one sense: Dort is matched up with Haliburton when the shot goes up, but he didn't pick him up at the other end. Dort chases the offensive rebound despite not exactly leading the league in this category and doesn't chase back to regain the matchup. Haliburton ends up with the less stout Wallace on him. Making matters worse, Wallace doesn't get into his dribble and doesn't force him left, even though Haliburton is a more comfortable pull-up shooter going to his right. That should have been clear to the Thunder if they watched some of Haliburton's tape. Here's Game 1 of the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks, for instance, with a virtually identical shot to end the third period when Haliburton gets a chance to cook against Bobby Portis. This play, however, was probably the least relevant thing going forward for the rest of this series. It was a one-point game in the final minute, and then Gilgeous-Alexander missed his pull-up and Haliburton made his. Big picture, the Thunder have to feel decent even though Indiana stole the result. Oklahoma City dominated big chunks of the game, made a series of very fixable mistakes to let Indiana back in it, has obvious tactical alternatives it could put into play and was in position to win the game despite very poor outings from its second- and third-most important players. On the other hand, the Thunder gave away a game they had in the bag, and there's no guarantee they defend as well going forward as they did in the first half of Game 1. Advertisement Given what an overwhelming favorite the Thunder were coming into this series, and the fact that they survived a similar late collapse against Denver, I still would rather hold their cards; aspects of this game reminded me of the Philadelphia 76ers' Game 1 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001 or the Miami Heat's Game 2 win at Denver in 2023. Nonetheless, what's good for all of us (we have a series!) is probably not great for Oklahoma City. Game 2 is now a must-win, and the pressure carries over from there to win at least once in Indiana. This was entirely avoidable, and how the two teams resolve the questions above will go a long way toward telling us what happens next. (Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; top photos: Alonzo Adams, Kyle Terada/Imagn Images, Julio Cortez-Pool,)
