INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers have finally ended the franchise's 25-year NBA Finals drought , achieving the unthinkable after starting 10-15 and looking like anything but a title contender.

Now, Indiana will try to exorcise the demons of its decades-long, snake-bitten history and actually win the title when the Pacers take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals.

“It is really a special thing that happened 25 years ago, I wasn’t even six months old,” Tyrese Haliburton said after Indiana's series-ending victory over New York. “There’s a lot of fans who have never seen success from this organization, especially people around my age. They weren’t alive for it.

"So it’s really special what we’re doing, and we’re just trying to keep making this a special place, a place where

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