Mark Montieth

This is the 35th anniversary of Travis Best’s 81-point game in high school in Springfield, Massachusetts. He had 48 at halftime.

Mark Montieth: Super-frosh Wagler is the latest player to erupt on the road in Indiana - Indianapolis Business Journal That’s particularly true in basketball, where home-court advantage is an overwhelming factor.

Sometimes someone comes to your house and ruins the evening. A look at some examples in basketball games played in Indiana, courtesy of Keaton Wagler, Evan Turner, Mo Williams, Super John Williamson and Austin Carr.

www.ibj.com/articles/mar...

Mark Montieth: Coach’s daughter cried foul when ABA scheduled Pacers road game on Christmas - Indianapolis Business Journal One of the games included the team her father coached, so she asked that the schedule be changed.

Imagine a 15-year-old girl convincing a professional sports commissioner to stop playing games on Christmas Day because she wanted her father to be home. It happened in 1971 when the daughter of the Pacers' coach wrote a letter.
www.ibj.com/articles/mar...

Media access has changed a lot over the years. Reporters rarely sit courtside at NBA games now. Many interviews are manipulated by media relations departments. Strange to think it once was OK for a photographer to visit a player in his hospital room and take a picture of publication.

Mark Montieth: Haliburton’s absence gives other Pacers chance to fill the gap - Indianapolis Business Journal The Pacers have dunked on the Vegas brains for three seasons running, surpassing preseason projections by an average of 7.5 wins.

The Vegas oddsmakers have underestimated the Pacers the past three seasons. Have they done it again this year?

www.ibj.com/articles/mar...

Mark Montieth: Daniel Jones is just the latest pro athlete to enjoy a career resurgence here - Indianapolis Business Journal The Giants’ pariah is the Colts’ Superman—one who has the power to cool the seats of his general manager and head coach and perhaps extend their employment beyond this season.

Sometimes a "failed" athlete finds new life in a new place with new coaches and teammates. Colts quarterback Daniel Jones is the latest example, but there have been others in Indianapolis. My story in this week's Indianapolis Business Journal.

www.ibj.com/articles/mar...

Mark Montieth: Nancy Leonard was Pacers' assistant GM, Super Mom and unyielding rock - Indianapolis Business Journal Nobody messed with the franchise's matriarch, who ran the show, backed the players, hosted the parties, told the coach what to do and anchored Murderer’s Row.

My story on Nancy Leonard for the Indianapolis Business Journal.
www.ibj.com/articles/mar...

Lannan & Giles: Unscripted August 22, 2025 Duncan Giles could not make this week's podcast, so Larry welcomes local sports author Mark Monteith

Larry Lannan and I talked sports, mostly on whether or not the Pacers will miss Myles Turner and Rick Carlisle's evolvement as a head coach.

soundcloud.com/podcasts-by-...

You reach a stage in life where you realize that with the possible exception of socks and underwear, you’ll never need to buy another article of clothing. Unless you shrink into a smaller size.

Mark Montieth: Sportswriter Bob Hammel wasn’t a paragon of objectivity, but he remained true to his kind nature - Indianapolis Business Journal Bob Hammel might qualify as the biggest homer of all sportswriters in Indiana, if not beyond, during his 30 years as sports editor of the Bloomington Herald-Times (which was named the Daily Herald-Tel...

Bob Hammel was a homer in his coverage of IU sports, no doubt about it. But he also was talented, prolific, smart and a genuinely nice man. That made for some interesting times in his coverage of Bob Knight's basketball program. Even the chair throw was excused.

www.ibj.com/articles/mar...

Costco has put Halloween items on display. Don’t know what took them so long.

Rick Mount has been conducting shooting camps for 45 years. He swears Wednesday will bring the final day of his final one. He doesn’t get around like he once did and can’t put on shooting exhibitions any longer.

Surprised Denver not on there, despite the fact it’s practically in a different area code than downtown.

The Pacers play the 20th game seven in franchise history Sunday at Oklahoma City. (That includes game five of a best-of-five series.) They are 11-8 in those games, 6-2 in the ABA and 5-6 in the NBA. Rick Carlisle is 2-0 with the Pacers, both wins coming on the road. Was 1-2 with Dallas.

Mark Montieth: Pacers in 2000 were a few bad breaks away from championship - Indianapolis Business Journal The Indiana team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals and took Chicago to seven games in 1998 might be sexier, but the 2000 squad had the guts and clutch shooting to go farther.

I covered the Pacers' run to and through the NBA Finals in 2000 for The Indianapolis Star. Here's a look back at a memorable season filled with playoff drama. Nearly lost to Milwaukee in the first round, took the Lakers to six games in the last.

www.ibj.com/articles/mar...

Wasn’t that a John Lennon quote?

These are probably the two greatest players who called Indianapolis home. That means they were from a city high school or played for the Pacers. Oscar Robertson is undoubtedly the greatest hs player from the city. You could argue the Pacers had better players than Reggie but none had a better career

You’ll find nonconformists in every crowd. Just throw it over your shoulder if you’re not feeling like one of the masses.

Nancy Leonard has been a fixture at Pacers home games since her husband Slick became the coach in 1968, aside from a period in the early 80s after he was fired and before he became a broadcaster. Health issues have kept her away most of this season but she was back for the last 2 playoff games.

Today brings the fourth edition of Pacers and Racers, as the Pacers host a playoff game on the same day as the Indianapolis 500. The two sporting neighbors have a long history together, as I wrote in the latest edition of the Indianapolis Business Journal at www.IBJ.com.

The New York tabloids are not known for their subtlety.

Pacers were outrebounded (as usual) by the Knicks, 46-39, but only committed seven turnovers and outscored New York 27-4 off turnovers.

Gene Keady turned 89 yesterday. Someone once mailed this article to me. When I brought it up to Keady he said, “No wonder I’m crazy.“ Notice they gave him different ages in the headline and story.

Of the 23 playoff series the Pacers have won in the NBA, 14 were clinched on the road. That’s appropriate for team that won all three of its ABA titles with road victories. Don’t preach to them about homecourt advantage.

The gold standard. For many years.

The Pacers are 7-22 in NBA playoff series when they open on the road. They have only won one of them when they lost each of the first two games. That was last season against New York.

Lance Stephenson returns to the Pacers. As a fan.

Great gathering in West Lafayette today with former Purdue beat writers, former sports information department members and coach Gene Keady. He’s aging but still has his sharp sense of humor. Referring to his former wife, he said, “Pat liked you guys. She told me, ‘You’re the only asshole in there.’”

The Pacers have the name of every player who has appeared in a game for the franchise on the wall in their practice facility. Even Darvin Ham, who played in one game for five minutes. There are a lot of names, but it’s really a pretty exclusive group in the grand scheme of things.