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With Reggie Miller on the call, the Indiana Pacers paid homage to their franchise legend on Wednesday night.
Well, it wasn’t a direct homage — but the New York Knicks, in their first Eastern Conference Finals game of the 21st century, blew a double-digit fourth-quarter lead to drop Game 1 against Indiana, 138-135.
New York led by as many as 17 with just over six minutes to go, and even by 14 with less than three, but it was no match for the Pacers.
Aaron Nesmith did his best Miller impression by drilling six consecutive three-pointers to help Indiana cut their deficit to just two points with 22.1 seconds to go. After the Knicks, on two occasions, went 1-for-2 from the line, Tyrese Haliburton hit a buzzer-beater that he thought was a three and did Miller’s infamous choke signal while pointing at him. But, Haliburton’s toe was on the line, and the game headed to overtime.
New York got out to a four-point lead to start overtime, but a 5-0 Pacers run gave them their first lead since it was 45-44 in the second quarter. Neither team got out to more than a one-point lead for the next two-plus minutes, until former Knick Obi Toppin slammed one home with 15.3 seconds left to go up three. The Knicks missed two game-tying threes, and the Pacers stole the victory.
Teams leading a playoff game by nine-plus points in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime of a playoff game had been 1,414-0 since 1998 entering Wednesday.
Also, since 1997, teams are now 4-1,640 when trailing by seven-plus points in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime of a playoff game – the Pacers have won three of those games this season alone.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, it was a taste of their own medicine – they had completed comebacks of 20, 20, and 14 points against the Boston Celtics to win their second-round series.
Haliburton and Nesmith had 31 and 30 points, respectively – 20 of Nesmith’s came in that epic fourth quarter.
Jalen Brunson led the way with 43 points, while Karl-Anthony Towns had 35 plus 12 rebounds – but neither hit their game-tying three-pointers in the final seconds.
This series is a rematch of the second round last year, which Indiana won in seven games against an injury-riddled Knicks squad, but it’s also who the Knicks faced in both the 1999 and 2000 Eastern Conference Finals – the teams split both of those series.
In fact, the Knicks and Pacers faced each other four times in the playoffs during the 1990s, with both teams winning a pair. Both of New York’s wins sent them to the NBA Finals.
Now, the rivalry is hotter than ever. Game 2 is Friday night in Madison Square Garden.
And if there’s any saving grace for the Knicks, they would wind up winning the series where Miller hit them with his choke signal.
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