The Indiana Pacers are on a 'mission': Become the NBA's most difficult team to beat

Indiana has made historic comebacks look routine during the NBA playoffs through cool-headed confidence and ruthless efficiency.

On television debate shows and inside group chats, the question has been asked repeatedly since Wednesday night: Where did the Indiana Pacers’ 17-point rally in the fourth quarter to steal Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals from the Knicks rank among the NBA’s all-time playoff comebacks?

More telling about Indiana and its historic postseason, however, is that perhaps the better question is where it ranked among the Pacers’ playoff comebacks during just the past five weeks.

In that span Indiana has produced precedent-defying comebacks to clinch a first-round series against Milwaukee and knock off top-seeded Cleveland in the second round and now, in the Eastern finals in New York, to become the ultimate unkillable opponent.

“It’s a muscle — the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s not easy.”

Since the NBA began keeping play-by-play data 28 years ago, teams trailing by seven-plus points in the final 50 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime are 4-1,702 — and the Pacers are responsible for three of the victories, all since mid-April.