NBA Sends Clear Message to Rick Carlisle Amid Playoffs

That puts Carlisle among elite company. The Top 10 list of playoff coaching wins reads like a Hall of Fame roll call, with legends like Phil Jackson, Pat Riley and Gregg Popovich leading the way. Jackson, of course, sits at the top with a total that will be hard for anyone to match.

Carlisle, now 65, has been a part of the NBA since his playing days began in 1984-85. Though his career as a player was relatively short, he won an NBA title with the Boston Celtics in 1986 before moving into coaching.

He spent more than a decade as an assistant with the New Jersey Nets, Portland Trail Blazers and Pacers before landing his first head coaching job with the Detroit Pistons in 2001. He later coached the Pacers, then moved to the Dallas Mavericks in 2008. He led the Mavericks to a championship in 2011 and stayed in Dallas until 2021 before returning to Indiana.

Since his return, the Pacers have improved each season. They went from 25 wins in Carlisle’s first season back to 35 in the next. While they missed the playoffs both years, they took a big step forward last season by reaching the Eastern Conference finals, where they lost to Boston after a 47-win regular season. This year, they hit the 50-win mark and are one win away from the NBA Finals.

Carlisle hasn’t reached the NBA Finals since that 2010-11 title run with Dallas, where the Mavericks won 16 of 21 playoff games and took down the Miami Heat in six games. Now, he’s on the brink of another finals appearance, this time with a team built around depth, chemistry and the steady hand of a veteran coach.

Game 5 is set for 8 p.m. ET Thursday back in New York. The game will be televised on TNT.