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Jermaine O'Neal returns to take in Pacers' run: 'I'm hoping this is the storybook ending'
LAS VEGAS -- It's been 25 years since the Pacers last played in an NBA Finals, which also means it's been 25 years since Jermaine O'Neal Sr. arrived.
O'Neal became the Pacers' big splash the last time they tried to follow up a surprise appearance in the championship round. And after more than a decade spent largely away from the Pacers and the NBA scene, Indianapolis' all-time leader in All-Star appearances came back to take in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
And he plans on being back for Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday as well. After all, he, too, has been waiting a quarter-century to see this franchise in the spot they fell just short of in his time in Indianapolis.
"I'm just happy for the city," O'Neal said. "The city's been through a lot. It's a hard-hat, hard-working city with people that really love the team. Man, I'm happy for them.
"The energy was amazing. That's what I told my wife: If I had to say one thing I miss about playing and playing there, it's the energy. I felt like I was in the game. I was sweating, and I'm like, 'Why am I sweating?' I had one of the equipment guys get me a washcloth. I was sweating like that."
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The 46-year-old is now 11 years removed from his NBA career and 17 from his eight-year run with the Pacers. He arrived at age 22 in a splash trade fresh off Indianapolis' loss to the Lakers in the 2000 Finals, and he went on to reach six straight All-Star appearances and became the franchise's all-time leader in blocked shots until Myles Turner surpassed him last season.
O'Neal's teams never got back to the Finals, though, falling one round short against the Pistons in 2003-2004 in Rick Carlisle's first season as coach before a fallout related to the Pacers-Pistons brawl broke up a title favorite the very next season.
But O'Neal felt something when he ran into Carlisle before Game 4 against the Knicks and realized the symmetry in his coach returning to this moment.
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'He's one of the greatest coaches I've ever been around," said O'Neal, who is now coaching Dynamic Prep Academy in Irving, Texas. "He's just smart, man. You let a guy like Rick Carlisle to script against the same team in a seven-game series, he's probably going to win a lot of those battles, if you give him talent to go with his basketball mind."
Now in his second stint with the Pacers, Carlisle has hit this kind of ceiling in the playoffs before, like when he led the 2010-2011 Mavericks to an NBA Finals upset of the Heat.
"I remember we used to be in timeouts and the first horn would go off and he's kind of sitting there like, 'We're going to do this.' And then we go out there and run it," O'Neal said. "He has that type of mind where he can draw up things on the fly.
"And he's not a rah-rah-rah, in-your-face type of coach, but he says things and he says things in a way where you know when he's upset and you know when he's about his business. But he's so smart, man. He finds a way to hit the right button and the right strings with these players."
Carlisle's presence is the one similarity O'Neal sees between this year's Pacers, who are tied 1-1 with the Thunder in this year's NBA Finals, and the talented group he played with that fell short. O'Neal's early teams were led by an aging but clutch Reggie Miller to go along with O'Neal and Ron Artest as the budding stars.
"We were a very physical, defensive-minded team first. We would just wear you down defensively. We were kind of unique because we had an inside-outside presence," O'Neal said. "But (this year's Pacers) are a pace, speed, side-to-side, ball gotta work. I thought we were deep, too, but we didn't have to go deep to win the game.
"I think they have to go deep to win games because right now as (Tyrese) Haliburton is trying to define himself as a true, true star where you can throw him the ball and he's going to get you a bucket. SGA (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) is that guy. There's a handful of those guys. I think Haliburton has a chance to be that."
O'Neal shared a moment with Haliburton before Game 4, where he told the star point guard to become more selfish. He said Haiburton told him, "I've got you, OG."
'You can tell he's a basketball savant," O'Neal said. "He works to set the table for other people, and sometimes that unique skillset can impact your ability to impact the game offensively if you keep passing, keep passing and keep going. I think his next step will probably come next year, which is probably why he didn't make the All-Star Game this year because he had too many games where he wasn't aggressive. I think he can still get 30 and 10. He has to take that next step."
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O'Neal's evaluation came days before Haliburton hit a fade-away jumper with less than 2 seconds left to beat the Thunder 111-110 in Game 1 on Thursday. With a game-tying or game-winning shot in all four playoff rounds so far, it's possible that Haliburton's next step is happening right now.
That possibility kept O'Neal from counting out the Pacers against the heavily favored Thunder. And he certainly knew what his heart wanted to happen.
