After four games the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat are dead even. Now the Pacers have to attempt to brush off historic performances from Lebron James and Dwyane Wade and travel to Miami for Game 5.

Along with every other sports outlet in the country, we have analyzed this series by looking at both teams offensive and defensive play calls and nitpicked every type of statistic. But maybe it’s time to take a step back. Maybe it’s time to take a look at the larger narrative.

November 19th, 2004. The infamous Malice in the Palace. Some people claim that is the day professional basketball died in Indiana. Those people were perhaps being over-dramatic. But things did change that day. An organization lost its respectability. “Basketball Paradise” lost its context in regard to the Pacers and they turned into just another small market team.

July 8th, 2010. The Decision. Some people claim that this was the day that professional basketball died everywhere. Those people were definitely being over-dramatic. I think the Dallas Mavericks proved that last year. But Lebron James changed the game. Whether it’s fair or unfair, the Miami Heat became the bad guys. I’m assuming that you remember this. It’s no that coincidence that it strongly resembles this. The Heat are probably the most covered team in sports of the past twenty years. They also might be the most hated.

For a few brief moments in June when Dirk Nowitzki hoisted that trophy over his head, it felt like the Heat experiment was a failure. But like most box office movies where the bad guy loses in the end, he will come back stronger in the sequel. And coming into this NBA season nearly every pundit predicted that the Miami Heat would walk away champions.

On July 8th, 201o, the Miami Heat found the magic seeds to get a championship. Throw them in the ground and watch them grow instantly. Keep hydrated with an Udonis Haslem or two, maybe a Mario Chalmers, and make sure you hire an Erik Spoelstra to watch over them, and you will get your desired results in 12 to 24 months.

Meanwhile, Larry Bird had been staring at what felt like a demolition site, plowed over by a flying drink and whatever thoughts fly around in the mind of the man known in those days as Ron Artest. Larry Legend went with the only option in front of him: he started rebuilding, brick by brick, draft pick by draft pick. Grab a Danny Granger for a foundation, draft a Roy Hibbert for support. Acquire a Darren Collison or George Hill to tie the place together. Maybe even add a Barbosa to provide a little flair. And sure enough it started to look right.

The Indiana Pacers have an excellent team. But hardly anyone knows it. They get approximately zero national coverage. The Miami Heat, on the other hand, can’t make a ham sandwich without breaking national news.

And unfortunately we have to talk about the attendance. The Miami Heat have sold out a fair amount of games. But according to my (perhaps biased) eyes, they are sold out by a lot of late arrivals and early departures. Indiana, though, had the second-worst attendance in the NBA this season. While that has improved mightily for the playoffs — which have feature commendable raucous sold-out crowds at The Fieldhouse — it certainly merits a little bit of criticism. But perhaps, the Indiana faithful were just a little gun-shy the past couple years. It’s nice to have a team full of talented, high-character guys, but would it amount to much? Danny Granger isn’t Reggie Miller so what’s the point? It seems like the team has great chemistry, but are they tough enough to exceed expectations?

Maybe because of November 19th, 2004 — and all the police blotter coverage that followed — the fans were hurt. Hurt in the most unique way. Maybe they just were in need of a little motivation. Maybe they needed a push. Maybe they needed a reminder that these are not the Pacers of the 90s, but they are also not the Pacers of the mid-2000s. They are simply the 2012 Pacers.

If anything could assure everyone in Pacer Nation of that thought it would be a Game 6 in Indiana with a chance at eliminating the Heat. If the Pacers can win Game 5 in Miami, Bankers Life Fieldhouse will have an air to it for Game 6 that can’t be described with words — only through goosebumps.

The Pacers will not be playing the Knicks. John Starks won’t be in attendance. Eight points will not be scored in nine seconds. But the Miami Heat will be there. One of the most talented athletes in the history of sports will be there. Whether you hate Lebron James or not, he will be spectacular. And Dwyane Wade will be relentless.

And it’s only fitting that the smug smirk of Pat Riley will likely be somewhere in attendance. One can only hope that the game is on TNT and Reggie Miller is calling it, just to even out the karma. Can anyone else picture Roy Hibbert playing the toughest game of his life? Is anyone else dying to see Lebron James shoot two fourth-quarter free throws for the tie in front of 18,000 screaming Pacer fans? Is anyone else anxious to see if there is a Pacer player willing and able to step up and put the final dagger into the bad guys Heat?

I know I’m looking ahead. But I can’t help it. I know that there is a game tonight. And there are still plenty of stats and offensive schemes to analyze. But right now I can’t seem to focus on PER or true shooting percentages; I’m too focused on the possibility of great basketball drama.

If basketball is not already completely back in Indiana then it will be if the Pacers can win tonight. If you’re a basketball fan and you “miss the old days” (and I know you do) then cancel all plans that would prevent you from watching Game 6 on Thursday.

Because win or lose, it is going to be special.

The league has announced that Game Two of the Pacers/Heat series will be played in Miami at 7:00 pm. It will air on TNT.

As Game One is on ABC (Sunday at 3:30 pm) and all of the Magic series was either on ESPN or NBA TV, this will be the first time all season that Pacers fans will get to here Charles Barkley, Kenny the Jet and Ernie Johnson discuss a TNT game they’re playing in during half time. I suppose Shaq will also probably be there. And whaddya know, maybe Reggie Miller will ever done commentary.

17 years ago today, Reggie Miller scored eight points in nine seconds against the New York Knicks. Let’s take a look back and enjoy one of the best moments in Pacers history. If it wasn’t for this, this site wouldn’t have this name. Thank you, Reggie.

Lightning rod New York Post columnist Peter Vecsey wrote today that Larry Bird will not return next year as Pacers head honcho “regardless of how the 26-18 team finishes.” He knows this is a certainty, he says, due to being informed by “someone very much in the know.”

“He has definitely decided not to return,” the source asserted.

Hired six seasons ago as Donnie Walsh’s eventual replacement, Bird was paid $5 million per for the first five. It appeared he was about to retire to his home in Naples, Fla., after last season. However, a strong finish, topped by a promising first round playoff showing against the Bulls, and an appeal from owner Herb Simon to stick around convinced him otherwise, in spite of having his salary slashed to $1 million.

A handshake promise was given Simon last summer by Bird that he would consider re-upping for another season, but that has been ruled out. It’s believed Simon is aware of such and has a petite list of prospective replacement candidates.

Walsh, I’m told, is eager to get back to work full time for a team as soon as his consultancy contract with the Knicks expires, yet it’s doubtful he would be rehired by Simons.

“They’re just not as close as they once were,” claimed a source.

The firm belief by those with a pulse on the situation: Simon is more apt to choose a marquee name like Reggie Miller or Chris Mullin as opposed to promoting the people on site, general manager David Moray or personnel director Kevin Pritchard.

Look for Walsh to resurface as a reasonable contender for jobs in Orlando or Washington should Otis Smith be fired and/or Ernie Grunfeld not be rehired.

If Bird were to step down, it wouldn’t exactly be a shock. He was reportedly reluctant to return last season, and likely has in his own mind fulfilled his core mission of the post-Brawl franchise reclamation project: returning the franchise to respectability and leaving it healthy, both on the court and the balance sheet.

UPDATE: As for Reggie becoming GM, I don’t see it as the best move. I wrote about it — poorly, if I recall — a while back when the idea first surfaced. Here’s an excerpt.

being an Indiana legend could be as problematic as it is helpful. Reggie would get a pass on some blunders because of who he is. But as the blunders added up (and they would … even great GMs have a sizable list of misfires), he would likely feel a lot more pressure to fix them than a guy like, Daryl Morey, or even Chris Mullin, would.

Conseco is colloquially referred to as “The House Reggie Built.” How do you deal with that? That puts a ton of pressure on a man to make things right. And perhaps the worst thing to do after you make a mistake as a GM is try to instantly fix it.

The second-longest-tenured Indiana Pacer of all time has retired from the only team he has ever known. Yes, in a sad development, Jeff Foster has called it quits at the age of 35 midway through his 13th season. He has suffered from chronic back trouble for years now, and after undergoing two different corrective procedures this year, apparently with limited success, he has decided that his body will no longer allow him to play the relentless style of basketball Pacers fans have had the pleasure to watch for the past 13 seasons.

“It’s with deep regret that I have to conclude my basketball career,” said Foster. “I’ve given my all to the Pacers and the community the last 13 years. I had hoped to be able to finish the season, but unfortunately my back problems prevented that from occurring. I want to thank the Simon family and the Pacers’ organization for 13 memorable years.”

According to the Pacers, Jeff ranks in the top 10 among all players to have ever suited up for the NBA incarnation of the blue and gold in 11 different statistical categories. With 764 games played as a Pacer, I believe he is third in NBA franchise history, behind only Rik Smits (867), and some guy named Reggie (1,389). Perhaps most special of all, the three of these guys combined to play precisely 0 games for another NBA franchise. In that respect, and many others, Jeff Foster is a true Pacers legend. (UPDATE: Those games played figures were merely regular season totals. Throw in playoffs, and it is 817 for Jeff, 971 for Rik, and 1,533 for Reggie).

This announcement really is a shame since Jeff had the game to keep playing for several more seasons. He just doesn’t have the body for it anymore. Earlier this season in Boston, Foster jokingly told me that he knew he would never pass Reggie Miller on the all-time games played list for the Pacers. “[Tonight], I officially became the second-longest-tenured Pacer behind Reggie,” said Foster on January 6 after the first game he played this season. “And I am not catching him. I’ve got five more years to go [to catch up] — that’s not happening.”

At the time, it was a funny comment from a guy who is one of the classiest men, and best financial planners, in the league. Now? In hindsight? It takes on a different meaning. He seemed very sure that he was on the road to recovery and eager to play alongside a group of guys who were help taking this franchise, finally, for the first time in more than a half-decade, against what must have seemed like all odds, back in the right direction. He knew he could still compete and was even joking about being upset that Tyler Hansbrough stole some of his rebounds that night.

In doing so, Tyler did what few NBA players ever could.

Foster, who played in 764 games  had a truly uncanny ability to track down boards. He truly was among the best who have ever lived, and it is with no nostalgia or any effort to praise a man who is now leaving the league that I say this.

Jeff never played a ton of minutes so he doesn’t rate that high on the career leaders for rebounds per game or total rebounds (where he is 197th all time). But according to Basketball-Reference.com, he is 8th in modern NBA history in terms of rebound rate (which measures the percentage of available boards a player gathers while on the court, I believe dating back to 1972). By collecting 18.95% of the missed shots that occurred while he was in the game over 13 seasons — nearly one out of every five misses — he trails only Dennis Rodman (23.44%), Dwight Howard (20.99%), Swen Nater (20.85%), Moses Malone (19.83%), Larry Smith (19.3%), Marcus Camby (19.13%) and Dikembe Mutombo (19.1%).

On the offensive end, he was even more impressive. Again, Jeff never played a ton of minutes so he “only” ranks 84th since records began being kept. But he is 5th since then in offensive rebound rate. He trails only Jayson Williams, Rodman, Moses and Larry Smith aka Mr. Mean.

Pretty amazing company.

Thanks for all the ball-chasing memories, Jeff. It will be a pleasure to see your number retired.

Notice the blue and yellow square at the bottom. One number. One franchise. Infinity plus one boards.

(video via JA Sherman)

Not to be a jerk, but this is some pretty shoddy reenactment work, fellas. Like, Lifetime movie courtroom dramatization bad. The 8 points in 9 seconds recreation, something I would like to think I, the founder of this blog, know something about, is particularly garbage.

The first three is OK. The inbounds angle is way off here and, in real life, Reggie caught the pass standing on the line and had to step back to make sure it was a trey. That’s nitpicking though. But after the guy imitating Reggie hits the shot, he just hangs for a second before immediately beginning to defend the guy playing Greg Anthony. In reality, Reggie initially sticks Starks way out beyond the arc. But after John cuts towards inbounder Anthony Mason, Reggie leaves the future-2-for-18-in-an-NBA-Finals-Game-7 performer in order to prevent the pass to Greg Anthony. He is able to double Greg (along with Byron Scott) due to the most underrated aspect of this play: Sam Mitchell leaves the inbounder and jumps in front of Starks to prevent Mase from throwing that pass. While Mason is realizing this is going on, Greg Anthony is busy tripping on his own foot. And by the time Mason realizes he should have just passed it to Greg before he fell down, it’s too late because he is already throwing the ball in. To nobody. Or, more accurately, to Reggie.

But, OK. All this is also nitpicking. These elements would be definitely be integral if I were directing this recreation, but it’s an excusable choice to leave out such details. There are a lot of moving parts to coordinate and I’m guessing the producers of this video don’t have a huge budget to spend time choreographing off-the-ball action.

The next part is inexcusable to omit, however.

In this rendition, when Reggie steals the inbounds, he is already behind the arc. He merely needs to stick the shot. But that’s not how it went down. As we all know — and what makes this arguably the most heads-up play in NBA history — Reggie grabs the errant pass, pivots, takes a spin dribble in retreat to the three-point line, squares up and buries his second three in as many seconds. Having the guy playing Reggie just catch and grab the ball behind the line and stick a jumper is just sloppy work, guys.

The Jordan shove play isn’t reenacted much better. MJ didn’t fall down in the real play. He was merely thrown off balance and nearly recovered to challenge the shot even. Instead, these poor-attention-to-detail filmmakers have Mike hitting the deck and Reggie struggling to catch the inbounds pass. The kid playing Miller dribbles twice before popping the jumper. In real life, Reggie just catches, squares up and knocks it down.

And I’m not going to even comment on this impersonator’s horrible attempt to mimic Reggie’s “sprint down the court and twirl around like a ballerina” celebration. Not that such a public display is really something I would want to recreate personally, but if you’re going to do it, at least make an attempt to get it right.

The re-enactment of Miller’s bank heave against the Nets is done well here. I’ll give them that. (Although I can’t actually tell if this banks in, honestly.) But it is the least memorable of these three plays. And they fail to follow it up with the even more improbable drive-the-lane-and-two-hand-dunk-in-traffic play that Reggie did to send that same game into double overtime. (A double OT during which the Pacers were outscored 13-2 … *sigh*).

In conclusion, nice thought, fellas from ChinaPacers.com. I respect the effort.

But I don’t respect the final product.

Let’s try a little harder next time.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

This is probably not a good idea.

For starters, there just is not a great track record for once-elite NBA players succeeding in the front office. Larry Bird has arguably done a pretty decent job since Donnie Walsh left and the Legend started flying solo. He hasn’t done a lot, but was patient enough to wait out the cap hell the team was in, and he has left the team well-positioned for future improvement.

Joe Dumars has been both praised and killed for his decision-making. With Dumars, there have been some infamous moments: Darko-over-Wade/Melo/Bosh decision, the wretched 2009 Summer (he overpaid for non-fits Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva) and the debacle that was the 2010-11 team. But he won a title and made a bunch of savvy moves also: Ben Wallace and Rip trades, Sheed pick-up, Tayshaun.

So all in all we can say he has been successful, at least for a time. This is true of even the best GMs, really, and would likely be true of Reggie even if he beat the odds to ultimately prove OK at his job.

On the flip side, of course, Jerry West is one of the best GMs of all time. He helped make the 1980s Lakers a dynasty and revived the Grizzlies franchise by putting them in the Playoffs for several straight seasons despite having no players outsiders considered stars. He is almost universally praised as one of the best to ever do it.

The rest of the list of great players turned GMs isn’t that pretty, however. Elgin Baylor led the Clippers nowhere. Michael Jordan’s tenure, when it comes to player personnel decisions, has been laughable to the point that we don’t even need to get into the details. Chris Mullin has signed some players to horrible contracts. Remember Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy, Jr? (More on this later.) That was his handiwork. Isiah Thomas as a GM? That’s the whole joke. Kevin McHale in Minnesota. Ask KG or Joe Smith how that went. And Wes Unseld’s tenure in Washington is rarely remembered fondly.

I may be forgetting some guys on either side of the good/bad ledger. But if Larry Bird is probably the third best GM — and Dumars’ controversial stint is second — among the eight Hall of Fame players listed here, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for hiring a Hall of Fame player. (I know they haven’t let Reggie in yet. Don’t care. He’s a Hall of Famer.)

Of course, basing a hiring decision on what other people have done is silly. That’s not the real reason I don’t think Reggie should be brought in even if Donnie Walsh could be brought in as a mentor.

See, Simon has shown a great interest in handing the keys over to state legends. First Larry Bird. Then Isiah Thomas. One was an excellent coach. One was a terrible coach. And, as noted, Bird has been an OK GM that a lot of fans — and sportswriters — would tell you has been awful.

Still, when he was brought into the front office, some fans felt as though he was hired more for his ability to sell tickets than make player personnel decisions. “Boomer for Adults” he was called by some. (Boomer being the Pacers mascot who dunks basketballs off of trampolines much to the delight of children.) Everyone who really paid attention knew that Walsh was the one running the show. Bird was just there to hang out and smile for the camera, fans thought.

That was not true, of course, as we now know. Bird was indeed actually groomed for the role he now has. But the initial perception, and the uncertainty of the “two-headed monster” making decisions in the later years, were not particularly helpful for the franchise in hindsight. It was a distraction for fans. And it certainly didn’t lead to a great product on the floor. The franchise is just now getting out from under all the decisions made by Bird and Walsh.

And now Simon wants to go through all that again?

On top of that, being an Indiana legend could be as problematic as it is helpful. Reggie would get a pass on some blunders because of who he is. But as the blunders added up (and they would … even great GMs have a sizable list of misfires), he would likely feel a lot more pressure to fix them than a guy like, Daryl Morey, or even Chris Mullin, would.

Conseco is colloquially referred to as “The House Reggie Built.” How do you deal with that? That puts a ton of pressure on a man to make things right. And perhaps the worst thing to do after you make a mistake as a GM is try to instantly fix it.

That’s what Isiah did constantly in New York, just doing deal after deal after deal that only deepened the downward spiral of debacleness. (Not a word. But was on a D kick.) In fact, I would argue that the greatest thing that Bird the GM has done was not try to fix his mistakes.

He, and Donnie, made the difficult decision to unload Stephen Jackson (and include Al Harrington) in exchange for the terrible, horrible, awful contracts of Lil Dun and Troy Murphy. That was an understandable, but bad, decision. Combined with the Tinsley banishment, another understandable, but bad decision, this put a millstone around the franchise’s neck for years. But Bird didn’t panic and start trading future picks and Danny Granger for whatever the 2009 version of Steve Franchise was. He just waited out his mistakes.

Does Reggie have the personality to do that? Or, running a team in a building that may as well be named after him, and facing daily headlines and ESPN chatter about his underperforming team, would he start trying to fix things immediately? Having become increasingly familiar with his personality while watching him on TV the past few years, I think the latter is more likely.

All that, combined with the fact that most all GMs just do not do well in their positions in the long-term, it seems likely to me that Reggie would not become a great GM. And that would forever sully the way an entire state feels about it’s biggest professional basketball hero.

And mostly, I just don’t want that to happen.

So perhaps it’s selfish, and perhaps I’m thinking like a 12-year-old when I say this, but I would prefer that Reggie simply stays where he is: in the rafters.

Most everyone knows that former Pacer Clark Kellogg replaced the long-in-the-tooth Billy Packer a few years back as the number one college basketball color analyst at CBS. Kellogg will be alongside Jim Nantz at next weekend’s Final Four in Houston.

What came as a special delight was the pairing of ex-Pacers Reggie Miller and Len Elmore as dual color analysts for the Southeast Regional. Spurred on by the infectious excitement of play-by-play man Gus Johnson, Miller was almost overcome by the moment in Butler’s overtime win over Florida. When Butler guard Shelvin Mack hit a three-pointer near the end of overtime, the former Knick killer yelled, “This is an old-fashioned shootout for a chance to go to the Final Four!”

It’s nice to see the ex-Pacers get their shots on a national stage. It seemed especially appropriate as Butler, the small private school from Indianapolis, moved onto the Final Four for the second year in a row.

This guy knows how to get excited.