The Knicks choked away a 17-point fourth-quarter lead, including a nine-point cushion with 52 seconds left in regulation, to drop Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
The ghost of Reggie Miller made its way inside MSG once again, as Tyrese Haliburton knocked down a deep game-tying two-pointer that ricocheted high off the back iron before falling into the cup to send the game to overtime.
He proceeded to recreate Miller’s famous choking signal from Game 1 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals.
Aaron Nesmith headlined a 16-4 run over the last two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter, scoring 15 of those points.
Haliburton led the charge for the Pacers, dropping 31 points and dishing out 11 assists. In addition to the crucial fourth quarter comeback, Nesmith poured in 30 points and made eight of nine three-point attempts, five of which came in the fourth quarter.
“You can never let your guard down against them,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau. “No lead is safe.”
Those eight three-pointers made are the most by a Pacer in a playoff game in franchise history.
Jalen Brunson, the NBA’s 2025 Clutch Player of the Year, poured in 43 points while shooting 15-of-25 from the field and 12-of-14 from the charity stripe, but he airballed a potential game-tying three-point attempt in the final seconds of overtime.
The Knicks managed to get the rebound and kick it back out to Karl-Anthony Towns, who poured in 35 points at a 64.7% clip, but it rang off the front of the rim.
New York was in control for 45-and-a-half minutes of this game, until the Pacers pulled off the improbable.
“There’s obviously disappointment when you fall short,” Thibodeau said. “We have to take a look at the film, make our corrections, and then we’ve got to change quickly for Game 2.”
Thibodeau went to his bench for meaningful minutes, as Miles McBride clocked 25 minutes. Mitchell Robinson, whose stats didn’t jump off the statsheet, was a presence down low and logged 20 minutes.
Indiana started the game in a full-court press, trying to force turnovers, slow down the Knicks, and play fast by running in transition. New York, which plays pretty slow to begin with, didn’t have any issues with the full-court press.
“There’s a lot of emotional highs and lows in the playoffs,” Thibodeau said. “You’ve got to bounce back quickly.”
Game 2 of the series is on Friday with tip-off set for 8 p.m. ET from the Big Apple.
