Pacers Home Opener: Heat at Pacers

For the first time since May 30, 2004, I attended an Indiana Pacers game at the Conseco Fieldhouse. Hospitality Jim, who I attended the Chicago Blackhawks game with on Monday night, was in Indianapolis to see a kids concert with his wife and daughter. He wanted to attend his first NBA game so I decided to make the trip south on Friday. I left Chicago at 2 pm and arrived at 6:20 pm (one hour time change plus 20 minutes of traffic leaving Chicago).

Parking
Parking is free in downtown Indianapolis after 6 pm. I parked on Meridian St. by University Park. It was a few blocks away from the arena which is my preference since it allows me to pass any ticket scalpers along the way. On my walk to Conseco Fieldhouse, I found one parking lot on Pennsylvania St. that was only charging $3 for event parking and the lot across the street only charged $5. At least I did not have to sit in traffic leaving the parking lot after the game.

Obtaining Tickets
On the walk to Conseco Fieldhouse there were plenty of ticket scalpers along Pennsylvania St. I got to the corner of Maryland St. and Pennsylvania St. when I found some fans that had $25 face value tickets. I offered them $10 each for the tickets and after they tried to negotiate for more money a couple of times I paid $20 for both tickets.

Pre Game Dining
After buying the tickets I met Hospitality Jim at Scotty’s Brewhouse on the corner of Pennsylvania St. and Virginia Ave. – one block north of Conseco Fieldhouse. There are quite a few restaurants and bars within one or two blocks of the arena.

The Game
Miami led 49-47 at halftime before going on a 16-4 run to start the 3rd quarter. Indiana could not comeback from the run and never got closer than 10 points behind.

Dwyane Wade scored 32 points and Jermaine O’Neal had a double-double to lead the Heat to a 96-83 victory. It was the first time the Heat won in Indianapolis since 2001 and only their 6th win at Indiana in their 22 year history.