Best season from all three Indiana professional sports franchises

Many people have always looked at Indiana as a basketball state, and rightfully so. In most cases, Indiana residents will point to the movie “Hoosiers” as the ultimate sports movie that defines what the state is all about — a small town, high school basketball squad that made an improbable run to win the 1954 state championship.

It’s no surprise that among the three professional sports teams that reside in the state, teams like the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever have put on for the land of the Hoosiers for several decades. Along with these two teams is the Indianapolis Colts, who made the move from Baltimore essentially overnight back in 1984.

As these three teams have been the faces of professional sports in Indiana, here are the best teams in each franchise’s history.

2006 Indianapolis Colts

With the Chicago Bears eyeing a potential move to Hammond, Indiana, this championship feels even sweeter for Colts fans who can carry their in-state bragging rights. The 2006 Colts finished with a 12-4 record overall, which was good enough for the top seed in the American Football Conference (AFC) South Division. Led by Tony Dungy, this team had five Pro Bowl selections:

• Peyton Manning, Quarterback
• Marvin Harrison, Wide Receiver
• Reggie Wayne, Wide Receiver
• Tarik Glenn, Offensive Tackle
• Jeff Saturday, Center

Manning was the leader of the high powered offense, with Harrison and Wayne as outlets who both at some point in their career led the entire league in yards per touch. Glenn and Saturday had been two of the most important pieces on the offensive line for multiple years by the 2006 season, most notably in the 2003 run to the conference championship game against the New England Patriots.

 In their first playoff game, they faced off against the Larry Johnson, one of the best running backs in the National Football League (NFL) for the previous two seasons, and shut him down to secure a 23-8 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card game. They advanced past the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round by a score of 15-6 and only field goals to get the job done. In the AFC Championship, the Colts trailed by 18 points to the New England Patriots before storming back and winning 38-34, largely in part to a late run by Joseph Addai in one of the final plays of the game. After a slow start in the Super Bowl against the Chicago Bears, the Colts got the job done with a 29-17 win to make themselves Super Bowl champions.

While the Colts have five championships to their name — three NFL Championships and two Super Bowl championships — the 2006 run is labeled by many fans to be the sweetest. Legends such as Johnny Unitas, John Mackey, and Gino Marchetti were integral to the early success of the franchise, but it can be hard to top this run from a team led by Most Valuable Player finalist and Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.

2012 Indiana Fever

The Indiana Fever debuted for the first time ever in 2000, just after the Indiana Pacers were coming off a Finals defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers. It was a long stretch of growing pains for this franchise, missing the playoffs in four of the first five seasons.

During that stretch, the team was able to select Tamika Catchings with the third overall pick in the 2001 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Draft. With the exception of her first year after being drafted, which was derailed by an ACL injury, Catchings was a top five finisher in MVP voting in 10 of the next 11 seasons, including winning the award in 2011.

Coming off her MVP campaign and seven consecutive playoff appearances, the only thing missing was the championship trophy. Alongside Catchings, the squad had Katie Douglas, a combo-guard who was coming off an All-Star season, and Briann January, one of the best defensive guards in the game. Lin Dunn was the head coach of this team.

This team entered the playoffs against the Atlanta Dream, who stole the first game on Indiana’s home court. However, the Fever bounced back to win two elimination games and send Angel McCoughtry and the Dream home for the season. The Fever found themselves in an 0-1 hole again against the Connecticut Sun in the Eastern Conference Finals. The second game came down to a one possession game, where the Fever won from a game winning shot by Shavonte Zellous. The Fever closed out the final game and would take on Maya Moore and the Minnesote Lynx in the Finals.

This time, the Fever struck first, before the Lynx evened the series at 1-1. Zellous had another impressive outing in the third game to put the Fever up 2-1, one game away from the first championship in franchise history. The Fever would close out the Lynx with an 87-78 closeout win, led by 25 points from Catchings, who was also named the WNBA Finals MVP. This Fever squad was a perfect combination of talent at the right time, but it also fulfilled the legacy of Tamika Catchings — one of the greatest players to ever step on a WNBA court.

2025 Indiana Pacers

In the American Basketball Association (ABA), the Indiana Pacers were seen as one of the greatest teams the league had to offer. Led by multi-time MVP winner Mel Daniels, the early 1970s championship teams in the ABA also included talented players such as Roger Brown, Bob Netolicky, George McGinnis, Freddie Lewis, and Darnell Hillman over that four-season window.

For an 18-year stretch that primarily took place in the 1990s, Reggie Miller put the Indiana Pacers on the map as one of the greatest shooters the league has ever seen. He was the head of the snake that made the Conference Finals six times in his career, included the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals in 2000.

With all of this stiff competition, it’s hard to pick a single Indiana Pacers team better than the one from the 2024-2025 season. Coming off a Conference Finals loss to the eventual NBA Champion Boston Celtics in 2024, the Pacers were looking to bounce back. Led by Tyrese Haliburton as the floor general, and Pascal Siakam as an All-Star forward, everyone knew this team would be a playoff contender — but the ceiling was unidentified.

Coached by Rick Carlisle, the Pacers actually started the season off with plenty of struggles. The team was 9-14 after 23 games, and 16-18 after 34 games. However, the flip would be switched dramatically, as the Pacers would end the season winning 34 of its last 48 games to finish off with a 50-32 record, good enough for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Unlike Siakam, Haliburton was not rewarded as an All-Star for his early season struggles, but he did get the nod as an All-NBA Third Team member.

The Pacers faced the Milwaukee Bucks in the First Round, the same team they had just beat the year before. A team led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard was going to pose a challenge. In the last game, the Pacers were down by seven points with 30 seconds left. Everyone thought game six was inevitable — except the Pacers. They closed out the remaining time on an 8-0 run to win the game and the series, highlighted by Haliburton’s game winning layup.

In the Second Round, the Pacers played the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers led by Donovan Mitchell. Along with Mitchell, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley were also named All-Stars for the Cavaliers this season. The Pacers gave zero breathing room to Cleveland and they stole game one on the home floor. In game two, the Cavaliers led by seven points with 48 seconds left when the Pacers rolled back again — Haliburton hit the game winner again for a step back three pointer to stun the Cleveland fans. After Cleveland won game three, Indiana controlled the rest of the series and made it back to the Conference Finals.

Indiana faced the New York Knicks, led by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. Similar to the Cleveland series, the Pacers did not have home court advantage once again. The Knicks were up by 14 points with 2:39 left in game one — and then, the Pacers began their run. Aaron Nesmith hit an avalanche of three pointers to keep the Pacers chipping away. The lead went to eight, then six, then five, then two. The Pacers were down two with a chance to tie or win it, when Haliburton got the ball and shot a fadeaway three pointer for the win. The ball bounced off the back of the rim, higher than twice the backboard height, and went in. Haliburton pulled out the iconic Reggie Miller “choke” celebration to taunt the Knicks and their fans for the way they just lost the game.

However, the game was not over, as Haliburton had his foot on the line. With that said, there was five more minutes of extra play. Nevertheless, the Pacers still closed it out with all the momentum. They also took the second game in New York to take a 2-0 series lead. Indiana would eventually win the series 4-2, with Pascal Siakam being named the Eastern Conference Finals MVP.

For the NBA Finals, they faced the best record in the NBA — the Oklahoma City Thunder. In game one, most people thought it was over, especially after Oklahoma City led by nine points with 2:37 remaining. However, the Pacers would once again not quit.

Myles Turner drilled a clutch three, followed by Andrew Nembhard hitting a step back three on the NBA MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. In a matter of possessions, the Pacers were down by one with the final shot to win the game. Haliburton surveyed the defense, dribbled against All-Defensive player Cason Wallace, and sinked the midrange jump shot to secure the win at the buzzer once again.

This series was much more competitive than many thought coming in. Oklahoma City took game two, but Indiana bounced back in game three behind Ben Mathurin’s 27 points. The Thunder stole game four in Indiana to regain home court advantage behind 35 points from Gilgeous-Alexander, and then took a 3-2 series lead behind NBA All-Star Jalen Williams and his 40 point performance. The Pacers, facing elimination for the first time all playoffs, took game six and forced a game seven.

Early in game seven, the energy was off the charts. It was looking great for Indiana. Haliburton opened the game with nine points and three shots from behind the arc in less than seven minutes — and then, it all went south. He made a driving effort to the basket late in the first quarter, slipped and fell. It turns out the injury became much more serious, as it was announced Haliburton had torn his achilles.

It was devastating to get so close, on the final stage, in the final game. Everything was taken from him, and the Pacers even had a lead during the time of the fall. Indiana gave their best effort the rest of the way without their best player, as they even took a one-point lead going into halftime. However, the Thunder ultimately won game seven by a score of 103-91. Haliburton would also miss the entire 2025-2026 NBA Season to recover, and he plans to be ready by the start of the next season.

While this team will not get a trophy at the end of the day, the context behind this squad make it one of the best stories in NBA history. Haliburton had a clutch buzzer beater in every single series. The Pacers made comeback after comeback. They were getting multiple wins against teams that had home court advantage and substantially better records than them. A healthy Haliburton likely makes this one of the greatest championship teams in not just NBA history, but all of sports. This is a team that every Hoosier will remember positively, and they will be hoping to eventually secure that trophy once Haliburton returns.