Knicks vs. Pacers: Ranking rivalry’s top five moments, from Reggie Miller’s ‘choke’ to John Starks’ headbutt

Of course the New York Knicks‘ first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 25 years would be against the Indiana Pacers.

Indiana was the Knicks’ opponent the last time they made it this far (in 2000) and this will mark the ninth time the two franchises have faced off in the postseason. They met in last year’s Eastern Conference semifinals, but six of those showdowns took place from 1993 through 2000 with each team winning three series apiece. Of those six series, two went the distance and are regarded as two of the most memorable playoff battles of all-time. 

The Pacers were led back then by Reggie Miller, the stealthy sharp shooter whose trash talk was just as effective as his three-point shot. The Knicks were spearheaded by Patrick Ewing, a future Hall of Fame center who didn’t particularly have a warm and cozy relationship with Miller during the height of their rivalry. 

“He was a great con man,” Ewing said of Miller in “Winning Time,” an ESPN documentary about Miller’s battles with the Knicks. “He’s always crying to the ref, running off, flopping, knock you down, smack and act like he’s the one getting smacked. You know, to tell you the truth, I hated Reggie.” 

Knicks vs. Pacers predictions, expert picks for 2025 Eastern Conference finals: New York on upset alert?

Brad Botkin

As you can see, the Pacers-Knicks rivalry isn’t for the faint of heart. Before they renew their rivalry on Wednesday night, here’s a recap of the greatest moments from the rivalry’s 1990s heyday. 

5. LJ’s four-point play 

If there was ever a team that best symbolized the Cinderella label, it was the 1999 New York Knicks, a team that made the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed and without their best player. 

They didn’t have Ewing due to injury. What they did have was a collection of hungry players who largely had been written off at this point in their careers, including guards Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell and Charlie Ward, center Marcus Camby and former Charlotte Hornets superstar Larry Johnson. 

Perhaps no player personified the spirit of the ’99 Knicks more than Johnson, who was coming off a regular season that saw him average a then-career low 12 points per game. But like a lot of his teammates, Johnson showed during the playoffs that he still had some magic left in him. 

After shocking the top-seeded Miami Heat in the first round and sweeping the Atlanta Hawks in the second round, the Knicks earned a date with the Pacers for the right to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. The Pacers, who were coming off a heartbreaking, seven-game loss to the “Last Dance” Bulls in the previous year’s Eastern Conference finals, were a heavy favorite to defeat the Knicks, who went just 27-23 during the lockout shortened regular season.  

After splitting the first two games, the Pacers led by Knicks by three points and needed to get one more stop during the game’s final seconds to preserve the win. On New York’s final inbounds play, a Ward pass was tipped before being retrieved by Johnson, who then seemed unsure of what to do next. After standing still for what felt like an eternity, Johnson pump faked and began to drive to his left before hoisting up a shot while simultaneously drawing contact. 

The shot — to the shock of just about everyone — hit nothing but net, tying the score and giving Johnson the chance to complete the rare four-point play after a foul was called on Antonio Davis, who was guarding Johnson. 

Johnson made the free throw, and the Knicks pulled off an improbable 92-91 win. The Knicks would go onto win the series in six games. The Pacers, though, would get a measure of revenge the following season, defeating the Knicks in a six-game series to punch their first NBA Finals ticket. 

4. John Starks’ headbutt 

In many ways, this was the moment that jump-started the Knicks-Pacers rivalry. It occurred in Game 3 of a first-round series of the 1993 Eastern Conference playoffs, the first-ever postseason matchup between the teams. 

Starks’ meltdown was a long time coming. It had been brewing for years, stemming from Miller’s perceived slight just before their first matchup against each other. 

“Before the game, for sportsmanship, I go out to shake John Starks’ hand and he wouldn’t even shake my hand,” Miller recalled in Winning Time. “I’m like, ‘What’s up with that?’ I had no problems with John before that, so I was like, ‘Oh, okay, I see what’s going on here.’ From that point on, I made it a mission. I’m gonna embarrass this kid.” 

Trailing 2-0 in the series, the Pacers needed a win to keep their season alive. For Miller, that meant upping the ante when it came to filling Starks’ ears with incessant trash talk. 

Late in the game, with the Pacers comfortably ahead, Miller really went to work on Starks, talking even more trash and increasing his physicality with the Knicks’ point guard. 

“I was so mad,” Starks recalled years later. “I wanted to hit him. Everything just came up to my head, and I just tapped him, and he went into the theatrics, falling back like I killed him or something.” 

Apparently, a nudge from Miller to Starks was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Starks raced down the court with the sole purpose of confronting Miller, who admits that he went into full acting mode after Starks’ head made contact with his own. 

“It didn’t hurt,” Miller said. “I was more in shock. But I was like, ‘I’m gonna milk this. I’m gonna act like I just got hit by a tank.'” 

While Miller was fine, the same couldn’t be said of Starks, who was nearly pummeled on the court by New York teammates Ewing and Charles Oakley after his headbutt led to an ejection. They were livid that Starks allowed himself to be drawn into Miller’s game. Ewing said later that Starks’ mother confronted him, telling him to never touch his son like that again. 

“I said, ‘Mrs. Starks, if he headbutts [Miller] again, I’m gonna smack the living daylights out of him,'” Ewing recalled. 

Game 3 belonged to Miller, but the series went to the Knicks, who rolled to a 109-100 win in Game 4 behind Ewing’s 28 points and 13 rebounds. The Knicks would ultimately reach the Eastern Conference finals, where they fell to Michael Jordan’s Bulls in six games. 

3. Miller stuns ‘choking’ Knicks, silences Spike Lee 

Along with facing the Knicks, Miller had another opponent to overcome during Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference finals. 

Spike Lee, the award-winning director and avid Knicks fan, was in his usual courtside seats for that game. While never one to blend in, it appeared that Lee was even more demonstrative that night while focusing nearly all of his energy on trying to make the Pacers’ best player miserable. 

“He became part of the game,” Miller said of Lee. 

For the first three quarters, Lee was having a great night as his Knicks took a 70-58 lead into the fourth. But things quickly started to unravel for Lee and the Knicks after Miller drained a three-pointer early in the quarter. 

“I remember going to the Davis boys and Rik [Smiths] and saying, ‘Guys, just set screens. I’m gonna make everything,'” Miller said. 

Miller basically did make everything from that point on. All told, he scored 25 of his game-high 39 points in the fourth quarter en route to a 93-86 win and a 3-2 series lead. Along with scoring at a record pace, Miller spent the quarter barking at Lee, whose evening had taken a drastic turn for the worst. 

At one point during his iconic performance, Miller famously looked at Lee and made the choke sign. But, according to Lee, that wasn’t the only gesture Miller made. 

“Right in front of me,” Lee recalled years later, “my wife’s sitting right here, he puts one hand around his neck, and with the other hand, he grabs his crotch. I didn’t mind the choke sign, but to grab his nuts with my wife sitting right there? Come on.” 

2. Starks, Knicks strike back 

After their Game 5 collapse in 1994, basically everyone rode off the Knicks, who would now have to win a game in Indiana if they were going to bring the series back to New York for Game 7. 

The atmosphere inside Market Square Arena was, simply put, electric. With the franchise’s first-ever trip to the NBA Finals on the line, Pacers fans were in rare form. 

“It was like a bunch of hungry people with raw meat at their fingertips,” said longtime Pacers broadcaster Mark Boyle. 

To his credit, Lee — who was blamed by many for being the cause of Miller’s scoring outburst in Game 5 — was in attendance that night. Like his team, Lee was also jeered by Pacers fans, but their treatment of him that night paled in comparison to what he would have faced back home had the Knicks lost Game 6. 

“I’m praying to God, because I know, if we lose this game, it’s gonna he hard to live in New York City,” Lee said. “My main man John Starks caught fire.” 

Indeed, Starks delivered one of his most memorable performances as an NBA player, scoring 26 points on 8 of 11 shooting, including making all but one of his six 3-pointers. Starks outplayed Miller, who went just 8 of 21 from the field and 2 of 7 from deep. 

“I kind of blame myself for that Game 6 loss,” Miller said, looking back. “If we were gonna move on to the Finals, we had to close them out in that game. Going back to Madison Square Garden, it’s gonna be tough.” 

Indiana actually took a 71-67 lead into the fourth quarter, but it scored just 19 points the rest of the way. Conversely, the Knicks — led by Ewing’s 24 points and 22 rebounds — put up 27 in the fourth to advance to their first NBA Finals since 1973. 

1. Eight points in nine seconds 

Yes, you read that right. In the final eight seconds of Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals, Miller scored eight points in one of the most jaw-dropping moments in NBA history. 

Visiting Indiana trailed 105-99 with 18.7 seconds left. Virtually everyone thought the game was over, except for Miller. 

“I say to Mark [Jackson], ‘Alright, let’s just try to get a quick 3,'” Miller recalled. 

And then the carnage ensued. Jackson, a former Knick and one of the league’s best point guards at that time, got things going by finding Miller on the inbounds pass. Miller caught it, took one step and drained his triple over Starks. It was now a 105-102 game with 16.4 seconds left. 

That’s when things really went haywire. 

On the ensuing inbounds pass, Knicks big man Anthony Mason (who was in that position only because Derek Harper, who normally inbounded the ball for the Knicks, had been ejected from the game) pump faked before he fluttered a pass to teammate Greg Anthony. Anthony slipped and fell with the assistance of Miller, who made contact from behind. 

Instead of going to Anthony, Mason’s pass was intercepted by Miller, who then calmly turned and stepped behind the 3-point line before drilling the tying shot with just over 13 seconds left. 

While Miller’s herculean effort had tied the score, the Knicks were given a reprieve when Starks was then fouled by Pacers forward Sam Mitchell, giving Starks two free throws and a chance to give the New York the lead. Starks, though, was still in a state of shock from the recent sequence of events. 

“We watched John’s eyes,” Jackson recalled. “He wanted no parts of those foul shots.” 

Starks’ first free throw clanked off the back iron. His second one hit the front of the rim. Ewing grabbed the rebound, but he missed his shot. The rebound was corralled by, of all people, Miller, who was fouled by Mason, who just moments earlier had thrown the errant inbounds pass. 

Miller, one of the best free-throw shooters in history, made both shots, completing his legendary performance that included eight points in a nine-second span. The Pacers’ 107-105 win was sealed after the Knicks couldn’t get a shot off during their final possession. 

Miller’s iconic performance was a foreshadowing of what was to come. The series ultimately went the distance and came down to a final shot in the closing seconds of game seven. Down by two points, the Knicks got the ball to Ewing, whose game-tying layup attempt clanged off the rim before harmlessly hitting the Madison Square Garden floor. 

While Ewing and his teammates sulked off the court, Miller and his teammates danced to midcourt. It wasn’t a championship, but a road victory in Game 7 against their archrivals was the next best thing.