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INDIANAPOLIS — Folgers or Maxwell House is fine. Wesley Matthews doesn't care about fancy, barista-crafted, pressed beans. He takes it black ... and then sprinkles eight of those little sugar packets in.

Simple and sweet, that's the way he likes his coffee. But not in the morning. That's not when Matthews' coffee obsession rears its caffeine-laden mug.

Matthews swigs his joe right before he takes the court. Coffee is his NBA fuel and, now that he's landed with the Indiana Pacers, he's ready to perfect his pregame coffee warm up ritual.

"They only have Equals and Splendas. It's disgusting," Matthews said of the condiment selection with the Pacers. "I'm going to bring my own sugar."

Matthews had his java routine down to a science when he played in Dallas.

He'd show up at the American Airlines Center on game night at 5:15 p.m., grab a cup of coffee, add eight sugars and head to the hot tub, where he would soak and drink.

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But Dallas isn't where this ritual started. Matthews remembers exactly when his world of basketball and coffee collided.

'I was dragging'

Matthews was just 24 or so, sitting in the Portland locker room next to veteran teammate Sean Marks.

"I was just tired. I was dragging," said Matthews, 32. "And he had coffee. He said, 'You want a cup?'"

Matthews declined at first. In his mind, he didn't need that. He was too young to drink coffee. That was for old guys.

"And then I tried it one game and I was just wired," he said. "I had a good game and I'm somewhat superstitious, so it's just part of my routine now."

A cup of coffee right before a game, Matthews said, gives him the perfect boost that lasts all four quarters. He's not sure what it is, but it's different than those hyped-up energy drinks or a cup of hot tea.

A recent ESPN story chronicled how the Portland Trail Blazers have gone to the extreme for its players' love of coffee, though Matthews said he was drinking with Portland "way before they did it."

About 45 minutes before Portland takes the court, the team's sports performance specialist, Todd Forcier, heads back to prepare the pregame java.

He has beans, an electric grinder and kettle, two stainless-steel 16-ounce French press coffeemakers, and powdered, organic, coconut-based "superfood" creamer.

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"We're like baristas on game day," Forcier told ESPN.

Pacers coach Nate McMillan said he doesn't ever see his team concocting something like that. Matthews seems to be the sole Pacers player who is a pregame coffee connoisseur.

"Hell no. No," said center Myles Turner. "I don't like the crash that you get off caffeine so I try to stay away from that."

It isn't the crash or the caffeine that keeps Thaddeus Young away from coffee. He said he just simply doesn't need it to play.

"I have a ton of energy when I'm out there," he said. "I don't think I need too much more."

A Pacers coffee cohort

How Matthews got into the coffee game sounds eerily familiar to McMillan's story.

The Pacers coach drinks a cup before each game, dating to his playing career with the Seattle SuperSonics.

"I remember exactly when it happened," he said. "It was one of those games where I was feeling kind of flat."

McMillan didn't drink coffee, but teammate Ricky Pierce, who used to drink it all the time, turned to him in the locker room.

"He said, 'Young fellow, go get you a cup of coffee,'" McMillan said. "I went and got a cup of coffee and it kind of became part of my day. I had to have a cup of coffee."

Drinking coffee before games in the NBA isn't new, he said. If anything, it's probably a routine that's on the downswing.

"These guys now, they have energy drinks and a lot of other things like that to kind of get that caffeine," McMillan said. "We didn't have the energy drinks back in the 90s."

McMillan and Matthews have something else in common, too: a love of super sweet caffeine.

"I like coffee," McMillan said, "with my sugar."

'It's not a magic drink'

Downing caffeine and then playing hardcore basketball? It sounds kind of scary.

"Coffee is definitely a better alternative to energy drinks or supplements or pills," IU Health dietitian Katie Hake said. "You don’t know how much caffeine is being dosed in those or what other hidden stimulants there are."

A grande cup of coffee at Starbucks has about 300 milligrams of caffeine, an amount Hake said she would consider safe to play on. But it truly depends on each individual.

If a player has a heart condition, "he wouldn't want to drink a ton of caffeine," she said. "The natural adrenaline from the crowd and the game, you pair that with caffeine, it could potentially (be dangerous)."

Other, lesser risks, can also pop up.

"If they are real sensitive to the caffeine, it could cause irritability or GI (gastrointestinal) distress," she said. "That's not something you want before a big game, going to the bathroom."

By the time a player is at the NBA level, they probably know what works for them and what doesn't, she said.

And drinking coffee before a game likely would decrease a player's fatigue and give them a little boost.

"While they actually may not be performing better, they think they are because of the coffee," she said. "It’s not a magic drink."

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @Dana Benbow. Reach her via e-mail: dbenbow@indystar.com.