The Knicks-Pacers rivalry is back — and so are the iconic moments
When Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton hit what he thought was a game-winning 3-pointer against the New York Knicks at the end of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals — a replay review changed the shot to a two — he immediately looked over to the broadcast booth.
Locking eyes with TNT commentator and former Pacers legend Reggie Miller courtside at Madison Square Garden, Haliburton brought his hands to his neck and mimicked the famous choke gesture Miller made in the same building 31 years ago.
“Everybody wanted me to do it like last year at some different point, but it’s got to feel right and it felt right at the time,” Haliburton said after Wednesday’s game. “If I would have known it was a two, I would not have done it. So I might have wasted it.”
Whether or not Haliburton wasted the celebration too early, the series between the Pacers and the Knicks is off to a thrilling start. Game 1 alone (which Indiana won 138-135 in overtime) featured a never-before-seen comeback, absurd shotmaking, physical play and a thrilling finish, all while stars delivered signature moments.
The instant classic immediately became the latest entry in the New York-Indiana rivalry, which reached a fever pitch in the 1990s. It’s now seeing a new generation add its own chapters to the story.
“I don’t know why we keep running up against the Pacers,” Knicks legend Latrell Sprewell told NBC News ahead of Game 1. “But it’s fun. It’s good for basketball. There’s a lot of history involved. It’s fun to see it repeat itself.”
There is indeed quite a bit of history between the two clubs. Between 1993 and 2000, New York and the Pacers squared off in the postseason six times. The Knicks won two of the first three matchups, from 1993-95, while Indy won two of three between 1998 and 2000.
The hard-fought battles featured numerous iconic moments.
In 1993, New York guard John Starks headbutted Miller in Game 3 of the first round after he and Miller had exchanged trash talk for much of the series up to that point. (The Knicks would advance to the next round with a win in Game 4.)
In 1994, Miller made the infamous choke sign in the direction of director Spike Lee after scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter of a Pacers win at Madison Square Garden in Game 5, though Indiana would lose the next two to be eliminated in seven games.
In 1995, Miller famously scored 8 points in nine seconds to help Indiana steal Game 1 in a series it would eventually win in seven.
In 1999, an eighth-seeded New York team upset the Pacers, thanks in large part to a 4-point play by Larry Johnson in Game 3. (The Knicks would win in six despite an Achilles injury to center Patrick Ewing.)
Three times (1994, 1999, 2000), the teams played in the conference finals, with New York winning the first two times before the Pacers broke through.
The teams did not meet again in the playoffs until 2013, and then not again until last year, when the current iteration of the rivalry started percolating once again.
“It’s just a very intense matchup. That’s really the simple truth about it,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle — who was also an assistant with the Pacers from 1997-2000 — said ahead of Game 1. “It’s always great competition.”
Indiana won last year’s semifinal series in seven games, though several important Knicks players were injured for much of it. The 2024 meeting still had flashpoint moments, including a game-winning three by Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard in Game 3, or the New York crowd chanting “F— you, Reggie” at Miller at the end of Game 2 — punctuated by Josh Hart letting Miller know that’s what the fans were saying in case he couldn’t hear.
“This is why I can’t stand the Knicks,” Miller said about that moment on a podcast last June. “They’re front-runners. They think they’re God’s gift to basketball. Now that you guys know you’re going to win the game, the chant’s OK.”
“They should have left it at that. When gasoline was poured on it was when Josh came up to me. … I think he was trying to be funny.”
Haliburton and the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson continued the feud (albeit in a lighthearted manner) in the summer, nearly squaring off in a ring at the Garden during a taping of “WWE Smackdown,” with Brunson at one point threatening Haliburton with a steel chair.
“He’s a great player. I love competing against him,” Haliburton said of Brunson after Game 1. “I know maybe I’m not supposed to say that we’re friends. I love competing against that guy.”
The 2020s versions of the Knicks and Pacers still have a few more series to go to match the scale of the rivalry from the ’90s. At the very least, if Haliburton keeps hitting shots like he did in Game 1, he’ll quickly become as much of a villain as Miller was.
“I think the storied rivalry between the Pacers and Knicks is really cool, but I think where we are right now, we’re writing our own stories,” Haliburton said Wednesday. “I think where we are is a special time, and something that’s going to be remembered by fans of the Pacers, fans of the Knicks moving forward.”