The ghosts of Reggie Miller were alive and well at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night – and Tyrese Haliburton once again played the role of Garden villain to perfection.
Haliburton tied the game with a wild jumper at the buzzer in regulation, then helped Indiana complete a stunning 14-point comeback to beat the New York Knicks 138-135 in overtime in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
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The Pacers now hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series after pulling off one of the most improbable finishes in NBA playoff history.
New York led 121-107 with under three minutes remaining in regulation, seemingly in complete command. Jalen Brunson had returned from foul trouble and attacking the rim with abandon. Karl-Anthony Towns was stretching the floor and punishing mismatches. A sold-out Garden crowd of 19,812 was in full throat and ready to erupt. Instead, it was brought to a church-like hush as the Knicks unraveled completely, outscored 31-14 in the final 2:51 of regulation and overtime.
Aaron Nesmith sparked the Pacers’ comeback with a barrage of three-pointers, burying five in the final three and a half minutes of the fourth quarter. He finished with 30 points on 8-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc – including back-to-back makes and a pair of free throws after the Knicks tried to foul him intentionally.
Even with Nesmith’s late heroics, Indiana still trailed by two in the final seconds. Haliburton recovered from a loose dribble, stepped back near the three-point line and launched a high-arcing jumper just before the horn. It bounced high off the back rim, hung in the air for what felt like an eternity before dropping through the cylinder. He sprinted to the sideline and flashed a choke gesture – a direct nod to Miller’s infamous 1994 taunt aimed at Spike Lee.
Video replay confirmed Haliburton’s toe was on the line. The basket counted for two, tying the game at 125 and forcing overtime.
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Indiana’s Andrew Nembhard then came alive in a see-saw overtime with a three-pointer followed by two go-ahead layups – the second giving the Pacers a 136-135 lead with 26.7 seconds left. A deflected pass off Brunson’s fingertips turned the ball back over to Indiana, and former Knick Obi Toppin slammed home a breakaway dunk to seal the win with 10.9 seconds remaining.
It wasn’t Miller’s eight points in 8.9 seconds to silence the Garden in the 1995 Eastern Conference semi-finals. It was somehow worse.
Haliburton finished with 31 points and 11 assists. Nembhard added 15 points, including seven in overtime. Pascal Siakam scored 17, and Myles Turner contributed 14. The Pacers shot 57.1% from the field and 17-of-30 from deep, surviving New York’s fourth-quarter surge and executing flawlessly down the stretch.
It was a collapse of historic proportions for New York, who appeared to have the game in hand after a 19-3 run midway through the fourth that opened a 111-94 lead. Since play-by-play tracking began in 1997-98, teams leading by 14 or more points with less than 2:45 remaining in regulation had been 994-0. The Knicks are now the one-in-a-thousand outlier.
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Brunson poured in 43 points and five assists but was hampered by foul trouble for much of the fourth quarter. Towns, who had struggled mightily from deep against Boston, responded with 35 points and 12 rebounds, including 4-of-8 from three. OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges each added 16 points, and the Knicks shot a blistering 53% from the field – but faltered when it mattered most.
The overtime classic on a rainy Wednesday night in Manhattan marked the first Eastern Conference finals game at Madison Square Garden in 25 years – and, fittingly, another instalment in one of the NBA’s most storied playoff rivalries. The Knicks have now reached the conference finals four times since 1994. All four times, the opponent has been Indiana. New York won those meetings in 1994 and 1999. The Pacers answered in 2000 – and now again in 2024, with another early blow on enemy hardwood.
Game 2 is Friday night at the Garden. The Knicks will have to regroup fast. The Pacers, after stealing home court in spectacular fashion, are already writing the next chapter of a rivalry that refuses to fade.
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