Whereas the Indiana Pacers were founded in 1967, as members of the American Basketball Association; Whereas the Indiana Pacers won American Basketball Association Championships in the 1969–1970, 1971–1972, and 1972–1973 seasons and had 2 other championship appearances; Whereas, during the seasons between 1970 and 1975, the Indiana Pacers averaged 51 wins per season; Whereas Mel Daniels, Freddie Lewis, Roger Brown, and Billy Keller were members of all 3 Indiana Pacers championship teams; Whereas the 1973 Indiana Pacers championship team had a strong native Hoosier presence on the team; Whereas the 1973 Indiana Pacers championship team was built around George McGinnis, who attended George Washington Community High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, and later attended Indiana University; Whereas Billy Keller attended George Washington Community High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, and later attended Purdue University; Whereas Don Buse attended Holland High School in Holland, Indiana, and Evansville College in Evansville, Indiana; Whereas, during the 1972–1973 season, Don Buse, a rookie, made several contributions, and Gus Johnson, a National Basketball Association veteran at the end of his career, was brought onto the team to bring bench strength and leadership; Whereas the revived group finished with a 51 to 33 record after winning 11 consecutive games late in the 1972–1973 season, the fourth-best record in the league behind the Carolina Cougars and the Kentucky Colonels in the East and the Utah Stars in the West; Whereas the Indiana Pacers took control of the 1972–1973 series by winning Game 4 on the home court of the Houston Rockets, as Billy Keller hit a game-winning 3-pointer from the left wing off a broken play with 14 seconds left for a 97 to 95 victory; Whereas that shot gained historical value in passing years because William Robert Slick Leonard rose off the bench and shouted, Boom, Baby! as the ball dropped through the net