Pacers vs Knicks playoff game
Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
The Eastern Conference Finals showdown between the Pacers and the Knicks has managed to unlock plenty of passion among the fan bases of both teams. However, one man who was rooting for Indiana while watching Game 2 at a brewery went a bit too far after allegedly stabbing two members of the New York faithful after tempers flared.
The Knicks haven’t won an NBA title in more than 50 years, and the Pacers have failed to secure a championship since joining the league in the wake of the ABA merger that was finalized a few years after New York’s most recent triumph.
Both franchises have made some deep runs over the decades only to come up short, and the two squads have a rivalry stretching back to the 1990s thanks to the beef between Reggie Miller and Spike Lee that stemmed from the six postseason battles that transpired over the course of eight years (the two teams split those series, although the Pacers had a 2-1 edge in conference finals showdowns).
It had been 25 years since they’d met with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line before that drought was snapped earlier this month, and as things currently stand, the Knicks are going to need a bit of a miracle to stage a comeback after falling into a 3-1 hole with a 130-121 loss on the road on Tuesday night.
There’s been no shortage of trash talk between fans of both teams in addition to some isolated incidents where some people went a bit too far, including the moment that unfolded when a Pacers fan was ambushed by Knicks fans near Madison Square Garden after New York clinched its second-round series.
According to Fox59, a Pacers fan allegedly leaped over the line based on what transpired when he headed to Danny Boy Beer Works in Carmel, Indiana to watch Game 2 on May 23rd.
According to a police report, the fan in question, 24-year-old Jarrett Funke, sparked an altercation with a couple of Knicks fans who were at the brewery after knocking one of their hats off before being escorted outside.
However, witnesses say he returned to the patio five minutes later before stabbing one of the men in the back and slashing the other in the leg before being detained by police who arrived on the scene.
Funke claims he was acting in self-defense while asserting the Knicks fans were the aggressors, but the report notes responding officers spoke to multiple people who described him as the “primary aggressor.”
He was subsequently charged with two counts of felony battery, another pertaining to criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon, and faces between three and 15 years in prison.