Tyrese Haliburton is the perfect Knicks foil, and proved it last night

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The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.

Good morning. RIP to “Around the Horn,” the ESPN show that frankly made me want to pursue sportswriting. Andrew Marchand writes that the show lost its way in recent years, but that won’t change its place in my heart.

While You Were Sleeping: Another choke, 30 years later

I often think about how the term “cliche” can be misconstrued. An idea that’s so ubiquitous, so known, it becomes boring. No one wants to associate with a cliche, but that cliche was so good initially that it became bad. Seems unfair. 

So excuse my use of the cliche here, but the Pacers’ 138-135 overtime win last night in Madison Square Garden was the definition of “instant classic.” It became one the second this shot from Tyrese Haliburton went in:

TYRESE HALIBURTON’S STEPBACK GETS THE BOUNCE TO SEND GAME 1 TO OVERTIME 🤯

Did he celebrate too early?

🎥 @NBApic.twitter.com/TjIu4OlAcO

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 22, 2025

Again, another cliche: The sequence — and the final three minutes of the fourth quarter, really — was jaw-dropping. The Knicks led this game by 14 with 2:45 left, and according to The AP’s Josh Dubow, the winning team in that scenario was 994-0 entering last night. 

One aside: 

• None of this happens without Aaron Nesmith, who was an absolute killer down the stretch for Indiana. He finished the night with 30 points on 8 of 9 3-pointers, five of those coming in the final 3:14 of regulation. Lordy.
  

And then there’s Haliburton, the superstar and perfect Knicks antagonist. He had 31 points, and the wherewithal to creep back toward the 3-point arc for that final shot in regulation (though his toe was on the line) was incredible. His celebration was even better. 

Doing that homage to Pacers legend Reggie Miller, author of the same antic in Madison Square Garden 30 years ago, was electric. Hitting it with Miller in the building? Cinematic. 

The Pacers are three wins away from the NBA Finals after an absolute theft. What a game. 

• Also last night: Apologies to the NHL Western Conference final, which took a back seat to the theater above. The Dallas Stars are up 1-0 on the Edmonton Oilers after an incredible comeback of their own, in which they scored five goals in the third period to win 6-3. Read more on that here. 

Let’s keep … pushing:

News to Know

The tush push lives
NFL owners decided against banning the “tush push” yesterday, sources told The Athletic, bringing a dramatic saga to a temporary end. It was a major upset, and as Dianna Russini reported in a must-read piece, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie hustled to recruit allies and made an impassioned speech in front of fellow owners before the vote. Jason Kelce made an appearance, too. I’m glad it lived, and Mike Silver thinks it would’ve been a bad look to ban it after the Eagles won the Super Bowl.

SGA claims MVP
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is indeed the NBA’s most valuable player, the league announced last night, a day after his Game 1 win over the Timberwolves. He is clearly worthy: 32.7 points per game on a 68-win team that’s three victories away from the finals. He earned 71 out of 100 first-place votes, which was a minor surprise, considering the perceived tightness of this race between him and Nikola Jokić. I thought Andrew Schlecht’s breakdown of just how valuable the 26-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander has been was fantastic.

An Indy 500 scandal
IndyCar blueblood Team Penske fired its entire senior leadership team yesterday in the wake of a massive cheating scandal, just five days before the Indy 500. The saga began this week with the discovery of illegal modification to a part on both Penske cars racing in the 500 and ballooned from there — the same infractions were found on Penske cars from last season, including the one that won last year’s Indy 500. See the full timeline here. Wild.

More news

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Feedback Loop: One half of our flag football team is done

It was a busy day, so we’re making this quick. Your Pulse 2028 Olympic flag football team is: 

QB: Lamar Jackson
The obvious choice. An elite passer and even better runner who makes for the perfect flag football quarterback. Jackson will still only be 31, too. Nearly 50 percent of you chose the two-time MVP. 

• Other leading vote-getters: Patrick Mahomes (18.6 percent), Josh Allen (15.9 percent)
• Best write-in candidate: Jayden Daniels

RB: Saquon Barkley
Barkley won this by literally one vote, and I’m not sure we’ve thought this through. Running backs infamously age quickly; Barkley will be 31 for these Games, and I’m a little worried what two more seasons will do to his body. Maybe our runner-up, Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs (26 for the Games), would be better. 

• Other leading vote-getters: Gibbs (37.9%), Bijan Robinson (15.4%)
• Best write-in candidate: Ashton Jeanty (special shout-out to the person who voted for Thanasis Antetokounmpo) 

WRs: Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Amon-Ra St. Brown
Here we find our wrinkle. These are all great calls, but St. Brown can also play for the German team should he so choose. Chase is good because Joe Burrow did not make our roster, so the Bengals are clear. I like this group. 

• Other leading vote-getters: Brian Thomas (18.7%), Drake London (10.7%)
• Best write-in candidates: Tyreek Hill (though he will be 34) and Malik Nabers

I like our team. Now we turn to the defense, where the setup is a little different: five players, which include two corners, two safeties and one “rusher,” which I’m interpreting as a versatile middle linebacker. 

Pick your defenders here. We’ll finish the roster tomorrow.

What to Watch

📺 WNBA: Fever at Dream
7:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video
This is a rematch of Atlanta’s win yesterday, and I think Ben Pickman’s note to us last week about the Dream looks prescient now. They’re legit. 

📺 NHL: Panthers at Hurricanes
8 p.m. ET on TNT/Max
Super, super fascinated to see this one. Florida took a 1-0 lead this week with a smackdown on road ice. These teams don’t like each other. Good TV! 

📺 NBA: Timberwolves at Thunder
8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
The SGA foul-baiting narrative is in full swing. Oklahoma City was overwhelming in other ways, too, in Game 1, so I’m curious to see any adjustments from Minnesota. 

Get tickets to games like these here.

Pulse Picks

Read this story and you’ll be captivated by Karen Weekly, the gritty former lawyer who’s overtaken Pat Summitt as Tennessee’s winningest coach. Make time for this one. 

The heat lamp is focused on Juan Soto in Queens right now. How has the $765 million man already dug himself such a hole?

I found this staggering from a few days ago, about the plans for Saudi Arabia’s new superclub soccer team. The details are a must-read. 

This was fun: NBA Draft prospects making their own player comps, instead of scouts doing it for them. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: NYT’s story on the Bill Belichick saga. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: The live blog from Spurs’ big win in the Europa League final.

Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Top photo: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)

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