Which team is the most regrettable? The runner-up in the past three years has been all dark horses, and the highest ranking in the regular season is the fourth

Last season's playoffs, the Pacers reached the finals again after 25 years. Although they finally lost to the Thunder in the tiebreak battle and failed to win the first championship in the team's history, and the team's core Haliburton also suffered a serious injury from a ruptured Achilles tendon, the Pacers' performance is indeed quite outstanding.

It is worth mentioning that the Pacers are only ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, and their record is not as good as the Cavaliers, Celtics, and Knicks. In the playoffs, the Pacers only have home advantage when facing the Bucks in the first round, and have no home advantage when facing the Cavaliers, Knicks, and Thunder in the next three rounds. So the Pacers can be regarded as a dark horse, but unfortunately they failed to be the biggest winner.

is not just the Pacers. The three teams that have reached the finals in the past three years but have not won the championship are all dark horse teams without exception, but they are all like Pacers, without being so shady. The runner-up in 2023 is the Heat. Their regular season record is average, and they finally made it into the playoffs as eighth in the Eastern Conference. However, they went on to black eight all the way, eliminating the Bucks, Knicks, and Celtics, successfully reaching the finals, becoming the second team to reach the finals. The runner-up Mavericks in 2024 also had an average regular season record, ranking fifth in the West, but they only won one less game than the fourth-place Clippers. Since he did not rank in the top four in the Western Conference, the Mavericks did not have a home advantage in every round of the series in the playoffs, and they also had no home advantage in the finals against the Celtics, the number one in the Eastern Conference.

Although the Mavericks eliminated the three Western teams, the Clippers, Thunder and Timberwolves, and reached the finals, compared with the Celtics, the overall strength of the Mavericks is also at a disadvantage. Except for Doncic and Irving, the players in other positions are not as good as the Celtics. It is precisely because the Mavericks reached the finals as a dark horse that they could not beat the Celtics in the end and did not win the championship.

The Heat, Mavericks and Pacers have reached the finals as dark horses in the past three years, and their highest ranking is only fourth in the division, but they ultimately failed to win the championship against their stronger opponents. Among them, the Heat and the Mavericks basically have no ability to resist, while the Pacers fought with the Thunder to a tiebreak battle and eventually passed by the championship, which is indeed a pity. The Pacers were able to reach the finals and persisted until the tiebreak, which was inseparable from Halliburton's magical performance in the playoffs. In each round of the series, Halliburton staged a winning or a draw, and the Pacers completed major reversals many times at the last critical moment. Without these key victories, the Pacers might have been eliminated long ago. However, Halliburton broke the Achilles tendon in the most critical tiebreak battle, which is very sad.