The Indiana Pacers roared back late in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night, May 21, at Madison Square Garden, ultimately stealing Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals from the New York Knicks.
Tens of thousands of fans sat shellshocked inside MSG as Indiana forward Aaron Nesmith drilled six 3-point shots in the final period (five of them in the final 3:14) and helped the Pacers climb out of a 14-point deficit with just under three and a half minutes to play in regulation.
Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton hit the game-tying shot as time expired, a long 2-pointer that would have won the game for Indiana had his toe not been on the 3-point line. Believing he'd hit a 3-pointer to close out the comeback, Haliburton mimicked Reggie Miller's iconic "choke" celebration from Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals at MSG, when Miller dropped 25 fourth-quarter points on the Knicks in a comeback Pacers' victory.
Ironically, Miller was the color commentator on the call for TNT's television broadcast in New York Wednesday.
Haliburton's iconic playoff moment wasn't actually over, however, and Indiana had to come back onto the floor and beat New York in overtime. After winning by a score of 138-135, Haliburton made another throwback reference to a different all-time Knicks antagonist when he quoted an iconic Michael Jordan line from one of his early Nike shoe advertisements.
"It's gotta be the shoes," Haliburton said, per ESPN.
"In another era of NBA basketball, Michael Jordan -- before he became a New York supervillain -- did a Jordan shoe campaign with Knicks superfan Spike Lee built around that line," the ESPN article continued.
While Nesmith was the Pacers' fourth-quarter killer and put up 30 points in the game of his career, it was still Haliburton who led Indiana to victory with 31 points, 11 assists, four rebounds and one steal -- not to mention the shot that gave the Pacers the chance they needed to win in overtime.
Indiana is now up 1-0 in a series New York must feel it should be leading, which could add some mental weight and pressure to the Knicks as the series rolls on. New York opened as 6.5-point favorites to best Indiana in Game 2 at MSG Friday night, though that spread has since dipped to 5.5 points, per ESPN BET.
The Knicks entered Game 1 as 4.5-point favorites to win that contest.