The date is June 19th, Game 6 of the 2025 NBA Finals. An underdog Indiana Pacers team, which had defied previous expectations before the playoffs, was now one loss away from falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers would need another signature “clutch” performance if they wanted to complete one of the most miraculous Finals runs of all time. When the two teams tipped off in front of a packed Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the Pacers delivered a masterclass, winning by a margin of 17 points. The victory left the team one win away from becoming the owners of one of the most astonishing Finals titles of all time, which ultimately slipped through their fingers in Game 7.
This particular Pacers team garnered attention in the national media, with most of the focus on Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton (with his four buzzer-beaters in consecutive rounds) and head coach Rick Carlisle, who had finally been able to execute his dream strategy with this team.
But one crucial factor went off the radar: the unwavering support the Pacers got from their fans. With a capacity of more than 18,000 people, Gainbridge Fieldhouse was larger-than-life during the 2025 postseason: consistently selling out, erupting with noise and giving the Pacers a decisive home-court advantage.
“The state of Indiana is about basketball, and that’s the first time I really felt it,” Bennedict Mathurin, who plays for the Pacers, said to the Indy Star after their Game 3 victory in Indianapolis.
The Pacers are not the only professional basketball team Indiana has been showing up for. The Indiana Fever, led by superstar Caitlin Clark, has been the WNBA’s hottest ticket. The Fever are one of the most visible and popular brands in the WNBA, leading the league in home-court attendance and TV viewership.
Indiana’s current pro-basketball success is just the latest chapter in the state’s centuries-long infatuation with the sport. Basketball has been more than a pastime for Indiana; it’s part of a Hoosier’s DNA.
“Basketball may have been invented in Massachusetts, but it was made for Indiana.”
– James Naismith, inventor of the game of basketball
The game of basketball originated in Massachusetts in the winter of 1891 thanks to YMCA instructor James Naismith. One of his initial players, Nicholas McCay, ventured into the rural state of Indiana a few years later to spread the game further.
At the time, Indiana had a weak sports scene. Both baseball and football, popular sports at the time, required ten or more people to field competitive teams. Indiana, a predominantly agricultural and rural state, had tiny schools that could not support big teams.
“What makes [basketball] different than, say, football is you have to have five guys or girls. That’s it. You know, not 11,” Matt Martin, executive director of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, said.
Basketball also supported the existing farm culture in Indiana, with the season played in the winter when little farm work needed to be done. So when temperatures plummeted and dwindled, Hoosiers were all too happy to hit the court.
In Naismith’s words, “Basketball may have been invented in Massachusetts, but it was made for Indiana.”
As basketball gained popularity, the spectator count began to climb. Especially in rural Indiana, where there was not much else to do in the cold winter, Friday night basketball became part of the social fabric. Games became a time for townspeople to meet, have fun and root for their own.
In 1911, the IHSAA established the Indiana High School State Tournament. By the 1920s, more than 600 teams would compete in a winner-takes-all bracket to be the Indiana state champion. Each win mattered, and rivalries began to take shape. High schools would compete with each other to build the best courts — today, 13 of the 15 biggest high school arenas in the country are located in Indiana. Rich fans would reward coaches and players with cash, and coaches who saw a tall boy with talent would sometimes even recruit them by offering their parents a job in their school district.
The IHSAA tournament produced some of the earliest sporting icons in Indiana. One of the most famous was Bobby Plump of the renowned Milan High School Team. He hit the game-winning shot in the IHSAA State Final, beating powerhouse Muncie Central and immortalizing the team’s victory in Indiana basketball history as the ultimate underdog story.
“[Milan is] kind of the antithesis of what Indiana basketball is known for … this underdog factor that people love,” Jacob Rude, Indiana Fever reporter and lifelong Indiana resident, said.
The tournament has always been chock-full of talent. Future NBA Hall of Fame players Larry Bird and Oscar Robertson were tournament standouts, and Indiana has historically produced the highest number of All-American basketball players per capita.
In 1928, Indiana High School Athletic Association Commissioner Arthur Trester persuaded Butler University to build the largest basketball arena at its time, with a capacity of 15,000 people. It would later be used to host future state tournament games. For 62 years in a row, the Indiana High School boys basketball final four tournament sold out.
Basketball has been “the” sport in Indiana for a century now, and while it may not be at its peak currently, the recent success of the state’s professional teams has sparked a sort of renaissance.
“To see the Fever the last two seasons and the Pacers this season, it really feels [like basketball is] as big as ever in Indiana,” Rude said.
When you rewatch the NBA Finals Game 1 Haliburton buzzer-beater, it is easy to draw parallels to 1954, when Bobby Plump drove to the right and hit the game-winning shot for tiny Milan. Each played for a team that was never expected to compete. Each ended up defying expectations. Each represented a state that has, on a national scale, been somewhat overlooked.
“The Pacers were underdogs in three of their four series, and that’s how … Indiana looks at ourselves, too,” Martin said. “We’re a flyover state, you know, we’re the Hicks versus Knicks, the corn, all that kind of stuff.”
