BY MARK HALPERN
Last night we saw the tipoff of the Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers and this will go down as one of the most unforgettable games for both team’s fanbases.
The Knicks and the Pacers have a long-time standing rivalry that goes as far back as the Patrick Ewing era. There is no love lost between these two teams as the Pacers knocked the Knicks out of the playoffs last year. IN my opinion it wasn’t because they were good, but because the Knicks had a ton of injuries, but still drove it to 7 games. So, there are high expectations that this series will go the same.
On May 7th 1995 I witnessed one of the most miraculous moments in basketball when Reggie Miller scored 8 points in under 9 seconds to beat the Knicks and Miller turned to the infamous Spike Lee and symbolized the Knicks choking in the final minutes by putting his hands around his throat saying the Knicks choked. Well, last night we as Knicks fans witnessed the second coming of the Miller episode watching Aaron Nesmith go 8-9 on 3pt in the game and he made at one point 5 straight to bring the Pacers back to within two after the Knicks squandered a double-digit lead and gave one of the most clutch players in the NBA in Tyrese Haliburton one last shot with just under 3 seconds. Haliburton got away from Josh Hart and to what he thought was a game winning 3 pointer as the ball hit the back of the rim and got a lucky bounce and it fell through the hoop in what at the time Haliburton thought it was a 3 pointer and he immediately celebrated in Reggie Miller style by doing the same choking symbol to the same fan in Spike Lee (who is arguably the biggest Knicks fan in the world.) Well Haliburton’s right foot was on the 3-point line so it only counted as a 2-point shot but still sent the game into overtime. In overtime the Pacers outscored the Knicks 13-10 to win the game by three and take home court advantage.
Several factors went into this collapse. The lackadaisical defense around the 3-point line while they were up double digits. Missing critical FREE THROWS at the end of the game, mainly by Karl Anthony Towns. If he would have made all 3 of his free throws in the last seconds of the fourth then the Haliburton shot wouldn’t have mattered. Finally foul trouble definitely played a factor at the end of the game for players like Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby, both of whom had five fouls, Josh Hart and Karl Anthony Towns had four each.
Last night was a tragedy for all Knicks fans, now the team needs to have a short memory in getting ready for game two. They can’t go down 0-2 going back to Indiana. So game two is a must win.
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