Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle says a message from last year’s exit meetings resonated with his team and ultimately catapulted a run to the 2025 NBA Finals. The Pacers’ surprising postseason run to the NBA Finals to face the Oklahoma City Thunder isn’t what many expected in 2024-25. However, ahead of the team’s last offseason, Carlisle stressed the importance of summer conditioning. For Carlisle, the Pacers winning the Eastern Conference Finals had a lot to do with his team’s conditioning, which he believes gave Indiana a significant edge against the New York Knicks, per The Pat McAfee Show. “When we did the exit meetings last year, after the season, we talked about the importance of a great summer of conditioning, and look, this is one of the reasons that Tyrese [Haliburton] had a slow start to the year,” Carlisle said. “He was coming off of the injury last year in the Conference Finals to Boston. He got healthy just in time to start practicing with Team USA with the Olympics. “Then, once the games started, he wasn’t playing much, and he got dinged up in the second-to-last game, and then he was not really healthy until about two or three days before actual training camp started,” Carlisle concluded. Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle says his team entered training camp conditioned for an 82-game regular season, which is necessary in today’s NBA. “It’s a commitment. You don’t just come into training camp to get in shape,” Carlisle added. “Nowadays in this NBA, you’ve got to do your conditioning stuff in the summer, and you’ve got to come in really tuned up.” “Playing with pace is a commitment.. When we did exit meetings last year we talked about having a great summer of conditioning” Coach Carlisle #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/RJLpNC8u2j — Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 2, 2025 Myles Turner on Tyrese Haliburton’s ‘overrated’ after Pacers win Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images Pacers center Myles Turner addressed Tyrese Haliburton’s “overrated” mantra after advancing to the NBA Finals. “I’m so proud of Tyrese [Haliburton], bro for real,” Turner said. “Man, I just, y’all seen when it comes to being a superstar, bro, you got to take everything that comes with it, the highs and the lows, the good and the bad and, you know, from how the season started to how he was getting trashed, and everybody was basically trying to turn their heads to him. And he, you know, he just kept his head down and kept working, man, you know, I think that, you know, even going to these playoffs, the whole overrated thing. I mean, obviously, we know that’s dead now.” Turner earned MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals.