NEW YORK — Move over, Reggie Miller. Your Pacers descendants just authored a new chapter in Knicks misery.
Aaron Nesmith drained six 3s in five minutes, Tyrese Haliburton nailed a prayer of a shot that bounced from the back of the rim toward the heavens, only to fall gently through the net at the end of regulation to force overtime, and the Pacers finished off their third stunning comeback of this postseason with a 138-135 win over New York in the Knicks’ first Eastern Conference finals game in 25 years.
HALIBURTON FORCES OT AT THE BUZZER 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Q2A0wz5ECg
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 22, 2025
What’s the Miller connection? The Pacers trailed by 17 halfway through the fourth quarter and were still down by nine with about a minute to play in regulation. In consecutive years against the Knicks, Miller scored 25 in the fourth quarter to beat New York at Madison Square Garden in a conference finals, and then eight points in nine seconds to win a conference semifinal game.
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Nesmith, who scored 30 points in Wednesday’s game, began his 3-point barrage with 4:55 left in regulation and the Pacers trailing by 15. He connected on six 3s, and Haliburton made another, as the two fought furiously to overcome an uncharacteristic stretch earlier in the fourth in which Indiana showed a rare lack of poise and found themselves down 17 with Knicks star Jalen Brunson on the bench with five fouls.
But OG Anunoby missed the first of two free throws for the Knicks with 7.3 seconds left and made the second, giving the Pacers a chance to inbound the ball with the clock stopped.
Haliburton took it the length of the court, dribbled inside the 3-point line and then back out, and thought he won the game in regulation when his last-second shot clanged sky high off the back of the rim and fell through the net as time expired for what for a brief moment seemed like a 126-125 Pacers win.
Haliburton, who took the shot with his team trailing by two, went so far as to mimic the choke sign, reminiscent of Miller’s gesture toward Spike Lee after scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern finals between these longtime rivals. But officials ruled in real time that Haliburton’s toe was on the 3-point line as he shot the ball, meaning the goal was worth two. A replay review confirmed the call, sending the game into overtime.
Aaron Nembhard scored seven of his 15 points in overtime. His layup with 27 seconds left put the Pacers ahead for good, and former Knick Obi Toppin’s putback dunk with 15 seconds left made it 138-135. Brunson, who scored 43 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns, who added 35 points, both missed 3s at the end that could have tied the game.
Haliburton finished with 31 points and 11 assists. Indiana has now fostered stunning fourth-quarter comebacks against Milwaukee, Cleveland, and now New York this postseason, but the first two were mere warmup acts to what transpired on Wednesday in the big city.
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When Brunson collected his fifth foul with 10:05 left in the fourth quarter – an eternity by NBA standards – the Knicks led by just two points.
Nembhard, one of the better perimeter defenders in the league, fouled Miles McBride on a 3. And on the next possession, Nesmith, another excellent defender, fouled Towns on a 3. Together, McBride and Towns made five of six from the foul line.
As an aside, Haliburton and Nesmith missed open 3s. Pascal Siakam, who found a tougher going against the Knicks than he did in the Cleveland series, missed a layup and had his dunk attempt blocked at the rim by McBride. Overall the Pacers missed eight shots while falling behind by 17 with Brunson out of the game.
The Pacers, well, they found a way back into the game, and into their closet of knives – where they keep the sharpest, biggest blades for cutting the Knicks’ hearts out of their chests.
This story will be updated.
(Photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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