Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton had just one regret about his "choke" celebration against the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals.
He did it too early.
Haliburton capped off a 14-point comeback in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter by hitting an unlikely buzzer-beater to tie the game. After driving into the lane, Haliburton dived back toward the 3-point line and threw up a shot that hit the back rim, bounced high into the air, and came down through the hoop for the tying basket.
Haliburton celebrated by running toward the sideline and putting his hands to his neck in a "choke" sign reminiscent of former Pacers star Reggie Miller.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Haliburton said he thought he had just won the game when he did the celebration and regrets using it too early.
"If I would have known it was a 2, I would not have done it," Haliburton said. "So I might have wasted it.”
Though he may have just missed ending the game in regulation, Haliburton got another chance to ice it in overtime. After the Knicks missed a pair of game-tying 3-point shots and then lost the ball out of bounds, Haliburton held the ball to inbound with 0.2 seconds left.
With the Knicks not having enough time to catch and shoot, TNT broadcaster Stan Van Gundy had an on-air suggestion on how Haliburton could end the game.
"You can literally take the ball out of bounds right now if you're Indiana and hand it to the guy," said Van Gundy. "You can hand it to Karl-Anthony Towns. He can't shoot it with 0.2. I would just hand Karl-Anthony Towns the ball right here."
Inbounding near the announcer's table, Haliburton appeared to heed the advice and handed the ball to Towns to run out the clock and give his team an early 1-0 lead in the series.