Farewell to the 2012-13 Indiana Pacers

While the Miami Heat hogged the NBA spotlight with the league MVP and a never-ending 27-game winning streak, the Indiana Pacers trudged through the regular season — silently.

The Pacers won 49 games (eighth best in the NBA) and they did it with a clammed-up defense that protected the rim and gobbled up boards while trying to suffocate opponents.

Tom Thibodeau and the Bulls’ defense was, statistically, just as good, but they attracted greater media attention than Indiana with the entire Derrick Rose should he or shouldn’t he play with a healthy knee and healing mind situation.

Out West, the Lakers mostly stunk and Dwight Howard’s back never seemed right, but they still managed to steal the spotlight from the Pacers, too.

The Knicks rained in more 3-pointers than anybody else and managed to snag the East’s second seed. And the Knicks reside in New York, so of course the focus shifted to Carmelo Anthony and his one MVP vote before anything came up about Indiana.

Fans of the Pacers didn’t seem to mind any of this, though. Indiana was 25th in league attendance.

The lowly, awful, destined-for-a-top-lottery-pick (again) Charlotte Bobcats coerced more fans to their home games than the Pacers. And somehow the Orlando Magic, on the way to a 20-win season, devoid of a star, led by leading scorer Arron Afflalo, averaged 2,326 more fans a night at home games.

NBA fans in New York or Los Angeles felt indifferent to the Pacers. Apparently, so did Pacer fans.

When the playoffs started, the talking TV heads largely followed suit with the rest of America and ignored Indiana. In the East, the consensus was that ...

1) The NBA title was Miami’s to lose.

2) Maybe the Knicks, with floor spacing and all their 3-point shooters, could force a six-game series, otherwise, the Heat would steamroll to the Finals.

3) The NBA Finals were the only place LeBron and company would bump into any kind of dangerous adversary.

The narrative made sense. Rose never did return from a shattered confidence. Boston had lost Rajon Rondo in January after tearing up his knee, and Indiana’s Danny Granger played in five games before he bowed out to undergo season-ending surgery.

And the Knicks, gosh, who really thought that New York, led by the shoot-first, play-defense-later Carmelo Anthony could or would threaten the defending champs?

Before Miami faced Indiana in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat dispatched the Milwaukee Bucks in four games and the limping Bulls in five.

Indiana needed a full six games to bury the Atlanta Hawks and another six to embalm the self-combusting New York Knicks.

So the over-looked, never-appreciated Pacers and the Miami Heat meet in the Eastern Finals.

LeBron and his “others” versus Roy Hibbert (that really tall guy), David West (the dude with the Xavier tattoo) and Paul (what school did he go to?) George.

It turned out as the best series in this year’s playoffs. LeBron hit the winner in game one, the Pacers fought back in game two and so on it went. Each team exchanged blows, both fan bases remained convinced the referees were completely one sided and we all got to see a seventh game — which was admittedly a total dud.

Miami ran away with a 23-point blowout, but the Pacers proved there’s still room in the league, and there always will be, for teams that believe in the old stand-by principles that size matters and defense plus rebounding leads to wins.

And judging by the packed and delirious Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where the Pacers were 8-1 in the playoffs, fans in and around Indiana might have figured out they have an NBA team worth rooting for.