Pacers bring spotlight to Indiana as governor savors NBA Finals run

This year’s NBA Finals are a battle between two small-market franchises, but the governor of Indiana is fully embracing the national limelight shining on his state.

The Pacers are in their first NBA Finals since 2000, going up against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers won three ABA titles in the early 1970s, while the Thunder organization has not won a title since 1979, when they were the Seattle SuperSonics.

The Pacers are up 1-0 in the series after yet another incredible comeback. Gov. Mike Braun said he watched the game again shortly after it wrapped up, and then once more the morning after. Now, he’s starting to think they are a “team of destiny” that embodies the blue-collar attitude of his state.

Braun was a basketball player in high school, and even played against Indiana legend Larry Bird.

“Basketball to Hoosiers, it’s 49 other states, and then there’s Indiana. It means a lot, because the Pacers have been always competitive, but never been quite in that position to win it,” Braun said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. “And this isn’t one with authority other than they now have become a team of destiny, it seems almost. But coming back from 15 points (in Game 1), it’s underdog status. 

“I’ve always loved it when I was in sports and even as a politician, and there’s something about it. When it works out, it’s even sweeter. So that spotlight’s going on Indiana, the same spotlight on Oklahoma, two states that are not in the national limelight. Of course, we are now, and I’m savoring every minute of it… It’s been a fun time to be governor of Indiana, let’s put it that way.”

Braun said the Finals are a chance for Indiana to tell its own story, and shows why people are flocking there to live. 

“I remember when I lived out in Boston for two years going to business school, they must have not taken geography back in high school. They had a couple of people who asked, ‘Where exactly is Indiana?’” Braun recalled.

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Braun has lived the American dream. After playing against Larry Bird in high school, he became an entrepreneur before going into politics. Today, while he runs Indiana, three of his four children run his business, and his wife has owned the same home accessory gift store for 47 years.

And while he is watching his Pacers vie for their first NBA championship, he can’t but think of a movie about Indiana basketball and the next generation.

“Well, I think that that would go back to if you watched the movie ‘Hoosiers,’ that would tell you every reason for (why Indiana is the basketball state). We’ve got so much history of that, and the proof is in the pudding.”

That proof is Braun’s outfits while he campaigned and debated – just rolled-up long-sleeve shirts. Oh, and Bobby Knight joining him on the campaign trail.

“Where I grew up, right on Highway 231, you didn’t really pay much attention driving by it every day,” Braun said, “but on that same basketball goal that I played on is a grade-schooler or high schooler still out there on the driveway.”

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