Pacers vs. Knicks recap: Indiana takes Game 1 in OT after stunning comeback, Tyrese Haliburton's bouncing buzzer-beater

The New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers reached the Eastern Conference finals by virtue of a record number ofridiculous comebacks. That bore out in Game 1.

On Wednesday, it was the Knicks yielding a late double-digit lead to a furious Pacers surge, then falling 138-135 in overtime to complete one of the most stunning games of an NBA playoffs that had already set a high mark for drama. 

New York led by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter and by 14 points with 2:45 remaining. Teams were, emphasis on past tense, 994-0 when leading by at least 14 with 2:45 left. And now they’re 994-1, and it shouldn’t be a surprise the Pacers were involved after posting some of the wildest comebacks in recent memory against both the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers.

The game came down to one final possession for the Pacers, down two points with 7.3 seconds left. The ball naturally reached the hands of Tyrese Haliburton, who attempted to continue his run of heartbreakers with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

For a moment, it looked like the ball had clanged away, before falling back in the net. For a moment, the the game looked over, and then replay showed Haliburton’s foot was on the 3-point line. Overtime.

All told, the Pacers scored 23 points in the final three minutes and 14 seconds of regulation, the most any team has scored in such a stretch in NBA playoff history, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press.

Haliburton had something special prepared for the moment after the shot, pulling out the Reggie Miller “choke” sign against the Knicks with the Pacers legend himself calling the game for TNT, not realizing his team had five more minutes left to play.

Fortunately for Haliburton, the Pacers pulled it out in a back-and-forth overtime that hinged on a challenge that took away the Knicks’ last real chance to retake the lead. Haliburton finished the game with 31 points on 12-of-23 shooting, 11 assists and 4 rebounds.

“If I knew it was a two, I would not have done it,” Haliburton said. “I might have wasted it.”

Game 2 is scheduled for Friday at 8 p.m. ET in New York.

The Aaron Nesmith game

Haliburton might have had the big shot, but Aaron Nesmith was responsible for seemingly every other huge swing for the Pacers in the final minutes.

Nesmith had 10 points with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 30. He made six 3-pointers in those final five minutes of regulation — the first player in NBA history to make six 3s in the fourth quarter of a playoff game — and pulled the Pacers back into a game that should have been over. He had some help from a Knicks defense that needed a while to realize what he was doing.

Nesmith went scoreless in overtime, but we would be talking about an impressive Knicks win without him.

Jim Irsay’s final tweet presaged a miracle

Not long after the game started, the Pacers posted a tribute to Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, who died Wednesday at the age of 65.

Irsay’s final post on social media: a well wish to the Pacers, right before they posted one of the most incredible comebacks in NBA history.

What can the Knicks take from this?

Say this for the Knicks, they looked like the clearly better team … outside of the first four and last four minutes of regulation.

In the early minutes, the Pacers got what they wanted early, making their first nine shots from the field and pushing the pace of play to a level the Knicks rarely reach. The two teams combined for 131 points in the first half, but it was the Knicks leading by seven.

New York’s offense proved able to keep up with Indiana, thanks to 30-point games from both Jalen Brunson (43 points) and Karl-Anthony Towns (35 points, 12 assists). Even though so many of their wins have featured an offense that runs almost exclusively through Brunson, it was only when their star point guard picked up his fifth foul that they took a lead that looked impossible to relinquish.

Towns and OG Anunoby scored every field goal of a 14-0 run that turned a 94-92 nailbiter into a 108-92 runaway lead, with Brunson on the bench for all but one of the buckets. It should have been enough. 

Instead, it was just the launchpad for Haliburton and Nesmith to enter their fans’ nightmares.