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Celebrating the one-year anniversary of "Basketball, She Wrote" with fire t-shirts

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper  

Time flies when you're writing, editing, and publishing blogs, apparently. As All-Star weekend fast approaches in Indy, so too does the one-year anniversary of Basketball, She Wrote -- which was launched during All-Star weekend last season. To celebrate the upcoming milestone, we here at Basketball, She Wrote have decided to update the selection of gear available for purchase through the Basketball, She Wrote shop at Teepublic.

After all, this is a blog about the basketball played by the Indiana Pacers and the Indiana Pacers are playing a brand of basketball, in which they continue to burn down the nets with the NBA's best offense, that warrants some rebranding in the form of (literally) fire t-shirts. In that regard, there is no way that I, as one of few people uniquely positioned to make a t-shirt in reference to this quote, wasn't going to make a t-shirt in reference to this quote.

Hot Girl Basketball 

As such, this is "hot girl basketball" -- the t-shirt made to acknowledge the fact that there have been seven games in the NBA this season in which either team has scored at least 150 points and the Pacers have been part of five of those seven games. Needless to say, if points are going to be scored, the Pacers are likely to be involved -- for (mostly) better and (sometimes) worse. So, this is the shirt for when the offense is impossibly hot, allowing the Pacers to win a game over the Atlanta Hawks on the road in the In-Season Tournament, even when they surrender 152 points. It's also the shirt for when the offense seems as though it is a self-contained machine of inevitability, manufacturing 70 points in a half against the Sacramento Kings, despite being without Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, or Aaron Nesmith and with Isaiah Jackson and Jalen Smith both dealing with injuries and/or ailments. 

This team is going to score points, and that aspect is rarely boring; it's hot girl basketball.

Also, it just so happens that another anniversary is fast-approaching. When the calendar flips to February, it will mark exactly 10 years since this photo was taken. 

It's also been 10 years since the Pacers won a playoff series. Maybe, (knocks on wood) that will change this season? Either way, for a closer look at the new fits and, perhaps, in an attempt to finally break the curse (hey, it could happen!), it only seems fitting to re-create the photo of a team that was known for playing lockdown defense.

Behold, me and some fellow real (fake) hoopers:

Just as it was mission improbable to score on the 2013-14 Pacers, it's also mission improbable to stop the 2023-24 Pacers from scoring. Enjoy "hot girl basketball" in whatever way you choose to interpret it. If nothing else, these shirts are obviously straight fire. 

Pretty Girls Can Guard, Too  - back print w/ alternate color-block design  

To be fair, on the day that Rick Carlisle's quote went viral, the Pacers ranked 28th in defensive rating, giving up 120.6 points per 100 possessions, while still posting a positive net rating (because, well, hot girl basketball!!!). Since then, they've made a modest leap, jumping up to 21st over the last 17 games, while "holding" opponents to 117.6 points per 100 possessions. As always, at least as it pertains to the regular season, the Pacers don't have to be good defensively. Or, even mediocre. They merely need to be bad, as opposed to terrible. Recently, they've actually been better than merely bad -- especially since acquiring Pascal Siakam, whose presence has pushed the team into the top-20 on that end of the floor with the addition of his wing-sized length and positional versatility. Put simply, he's alleviated some of the heat on the hot girl basketball quotient, as far as being almost wholly reliant on outscoring teams, while also, hopefully, turning up the temperature on the team's ceiling. Spicy, you might say. 

Regardless of the context for the Pacers, however, this shirt is for all of the confident people, who take pride in playing defense and looking good while doing so. 

Naturally, "pretty girls who can guard, too" are concerned first and foremost with pursuing stops, stunning while stunting the scoring runs of the opposition. 

Scientifically speaking, you don't have to be a "pretty girl" to guard, but you will be a "pretty girl" if you can guard -- and, therefore, you will never, ever be boring. 

So, dare to be interesting. Lockdown the yard, defending your individual match-up without peel switching or requiring help from the corners, and you too, will be a "pretty girl who can guard" -- adding to the hotness of hot girl basketball, just like the Pacers (on good days).

Jokes aside, this is the part where I tell you to enjoy the shirts. Both designs are truly for all the niche basketball fans, who are also niche readers of Basketball, She Wrote. Thanks for supporting me in my first year of blogging independently about the basketball played by the Indiana Pacers. I can't do it without you, and for that, you are also, quite obviously, straight fire!