Bittersweet.

In full disclosure, bittersweet is the adjective I’m using to describe my trip to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, May 27 in Indianapolis.

I mean I’m a Chicago Bulls fan through and through, so not being at the United Center in Chicago for a game seemed weird.

But I wanted to go to my first NBA playoff game, I had vacation days and my original plans were changed, Indianapolis is only a 3 1/2 – hour drive, I love basketball, and who knows when the Bulls will be good enough to host a playoff game.

This is where the bittersweet ended.

After the Bulls’ factor, it was all sweet.

I’m going to fast forward to the end and then I’ll come back, but one of the sweetest parts of the entire trip to Indy was, I was a member of the live audience for one of the Inside the NBA on TNT’s last broadcasts as I was less than 10-feet away from Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith.

I have been a basketball fan since Day 1. Football and boxing have taken turns for being second, but they were never close to my love for hoops.

Growing up a nerd, I would watch games, keep stats and tell people around me to be quiet when games or the pre-show or post-show were on so I could hear every insight. Who would have thought I’ve been a journalist, mostly in sports, for the last 20 years?

Most of the time (after the Bulls, Michael Jordan and NBC dominated NBA TV broadcasts in the 1990s), it was the Inside the NBA crew. They’re funny, knowledgeable, real and picked on each other like real brothers. NBC has the NBA TV contract again and I believe the same crew is making the transition, too, but nothing is ever the same when a move like this is made, so it was special for me to be there for one of the last TNT shows.

Back to the game.

I didn’t have a horse in the race, but I subconsciously sided with the Pacers because I saw their momentum coming in as they won the first two games of the series and lost the third because Karl Anthony Towns had a massive fourth quarter.

Also, Tyrese Haliburton is becoming one of my favorite players in the league because he plays unselfishly while putting his team on his back when need be. I bought a Haliburton city jersey/T-shirt to make my fandom official.

It was boosted more when Haliburton recorded a triple-double with 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds. In my head, it was a quadruple-double because he had zero turnovers. Super crazy, although, his Game 4 performance puts him in a four-way tie for No. 8 (Chris Paul times two and Magic Johnson) on the list as Rajon Rondo and Norm Nixon tie for 19 assists without a turnover in a playoff game, while Magic Johnson, Robert Reid and Johnny Moore are listed with 17, and Paul and Jason Kidd were flawless with 16 assists.

Still, watching Haliburton do his thing in person was amazing.

It was also cool to see the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and Anthony Towns play in person because I hadn’t yet.

The atmosphere was awesome.

I sat next to a University of Indiana student from Japan who is at the school for her first year of a two-year program. She had never been to an NBA game, regular season or playoffs, and was just as excited or more excited than I was to be there (although I will debate).

In front of me were two drunk Pacers’ fans who playfully talked smack to a group of six or seven Knicks’ fans who had hilarious comebacks. They made a great game even better.

Prices for anything (I had a few beverages and purchased two T-shirts, while the third was given to every chair in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) were cheaper than I would have had to pay in Chicago. I think I got two Coronas (I double fisted so I didn’t have to come back) for what I would have paid for one at the United Center.

Oh, there was also the score, the Pacers won 130-121 to take a 3-1 Eastern Conference Finals Series lead. The Pacers won the series 4-2 on Saturday, May 31.

Now, I’m trying to find my next sport, game, location for a weekend trip because, schedule and commitments pending, this is now a thing.