position_played_on_team_/_speciality mel daniels
Basketball is a sport that is played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court . The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop in diameter and mounted at a height of to backboards at each ___MASK77___ of the court . The game was invented in 1891 by Dr . James Naismith , who would be the first basketball coach of the Kansas Jayhawks , one of the most successful programs in the game ' s history . The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis . The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) as a member club of the league ' s Eastern Conference Central Division . The Pacers were first established in 1967 as a member of the American Basketball Association ( ABA ) and became a member of the NBA in 1976 as a result of the ABA  NBA merger . They play their home games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse . The team is named after Indiana ' s history with the Indianapolis 500 ' s pace cars and with the harness racing industry . The Pacers have won three championships , all in the ABA . The Pacers were Eastern Conference champions in 2000 . The team has won nine division titles . Five Hall of Fame players  Reggie Miller , Chris Mullin , Alex English , Mel Daniels , and Roger Brown  played with the Pacers for multiple seasons . Indianapolis ( pronounced ), is the capital and largest city of the U . S . state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County . It is in the East North Central region of the Midwestern United States . With an estimated population of 853 , 173 in 2015 , Indianapolis is the second most populous city in the Midwest , after Chicago , and 14th largest in the U . S . The city is the economic and cultural ___MASK80___ of the Indianapolis metropolitan area , home to 2 million people , the 34th most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U . S . Its combined statistical area ranks 26th , with 2 . 4 million inhabitants . Indianapolis covers , making it the 16th largest city by land area in the U . S . The original American Basketball Association ( ABA ) was a major - league professional basketball league founded in 1967 . The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA  NBA merger in 1976 . The Minnesota Muskies were a member of the American Basketball Association , born with the league ' s creation on February 2 , 1967 . L . P . Shields and Fred Jefferson were the owners after paying a franchise fee of $ 30 , 000 . The team then played one season in Minnesota before moving to Miami , Florida to become The Floridians . The team colors were blue and gold and games were played in the Met ___MASK80___ in Bloomington , Minnesota . Melvin Joe Daniels ( July 20 , 1944 -- October 30 , 2015 ) was an American professional basketball player . He played in the American Basketball Association ( ABA ) for the Minnesota Muskies , Indiana Pacers , and Memphis Sounds , and in the National Basketball Association for the New York Nets . Daniels was a two - time ABA Most Valuable Player and a seven - time ABA All - Star . He was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 . Massachusetts ; officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts , is the most populous state in the New England region of the northeastern United States . It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east , the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south , New Hampshire and Vermont to the north , and New York to the west . The state is named for the Massachusett tribe , which once inhabited the area . The capital of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England is Boston . Over 80 % of Massachusetts ' population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area , a region influential upon American history , academia , and industry . Originally dependent on agriculture , fishing and trade , Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing ___MASK80___ during the Industrial Revolution . During the 20th century , Massachusetts ' economy shifted from manufacturing to services . Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology , engineering , higher education , finance , and maritime trade . The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame , located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield , Massachusetts . It serves as the sport ' s most complete library , in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball . Dedicated to Canadian physician and inventor of the sport James Naismith , it was opened and inducted its first class in 1959 .