Pacers Operations team prepares for first NBA Finals home game in 25 years

INDIANAPOLIS — The NBA Finals might not have been in Indianapolis in 25 years, but Gainbridge Fieldhouse has hosted NBA All-Star Weekend, playoff games and plenty more in that time to prepare.

”There is nothing better than the finals,” said Dean Heaviland, the Pacers VP of Game Operations and Entertainment. “To be on the main stage, to have everybody watching us.”

Heaviland knows because he’s been here. He has worked for the Pacers for 31 years, including the last time the blue and gold graced the NBA’s grandest stage in 2000.

Heaviland and his team are ready to be back.

”Engage the audience and just make it something,” he said. “It’s a life memory they’re always going to have.”

Heaviland said his job at every game, and especially the NBA Finals, is to enhance the experience, not distract from it. 

”We work really closely with the coaches, the coaching staff, on what to do, what we can do, when we can do it,” he said.

The biggest and brightest feature might be the 18,000 t-shirts ready for every fan. The scene will create a sea of gold behind the team.

“The energy of everyone looking the same, everyone is on the same team,” Heaviland said.

Each fan will also find an LED wristband at their seat. The wristbands will create a light show during the game. It’s one of the elements Heaviland and his team ran through on Wednesday at 4 p.m. We were there to watch the final run through, just more than four hours from tip off.

”We’ll see every video that’s going to be up on the video board, we’ll listen to the music that will play at certain times,” he said. “We go through every timeout. We start at doors open and we’ll go through each element that we see is actually going to happen.”

The anthem singer also gets a run-through, as well as the halftime performer.

”Tonight we’ve got a BMX stunt All Star that’s coming in from Belgium that will do some amazing things,” Heaviland said.

All of his team’s work culminates in what fans experience and how those fans support the team. Heaviland and his crew might not wear a jersey, but they feel a part of the squad on the court. 

”When we have different things that happen during the game and we see the team react, you feel like you’re a part of it and you know you’re doing anything you can to help them,” Heaviland said.