Pacers come back from 14 down in final 2:50, force OT on wild shot, then take Game 1 from Knicks

Words fail me in trying to describe the wildest game of these playoffs, but this stat explains the insanity better than anything I would write:

This game was over and the celebration was starting early in Madison Square Garden because of the first wildly improbable pivot point of the night: Jalen Brunson picked up his fifth foul with 10:05 left in the fourth quarter and had to go to the bench. Knicks fans were on edge, fearing the game would swing to Indiana without their offensive engine, but instead New York went on an unexpected 14-0 run — with the Pacers fouling two 3-point shooters on consecutive possessions as part of it — and there was some great defense by New York.

Brunson eventually returned, and his 3-pointer put the Knicks up by 14 with 2:51 left in the game, a shot that felt like the dagger. It wasn’t, because that’s when the second wildly improbable pivot point of the night came: Aaron Nesmith got red hot and hit four 3-pointers from that point on as he scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to spark a Pacers comeback.

Still, after an OG Anunoby free throw with 7.3 seconds, New York was up two and just needed to get one stop. That’s when Tyrese Haliburton reminded everyone just how clutch he is with the wildest pivot point of the night:

Haliburton even pulled out the Reggie Miller choke sign after that bucket.

“I wasn’t, like, plotting it or anything,” he said at the podium postgame. “Everybody wanted me to do it last year at some different point but it’s got to feel right… If I had known it was a 2, I would not have done it. I might have wasted it.”

Haliburton’s toe was on the line, which forced overtime. While the Knicks got off to a fast start in OT, the Pacers roared back again and made just enough plays to go to 6-0 in clutch games this postseason. New York had two looks at a 3-pointer to tie and force a second overtime, but Brunson and Towns missed, and that was the ballgame.

Indiana got the shocking road win, 138-135 in overtime, and now has a 1-0 lead in the series. Game 2 takes place Friday night back in Madison Square Garden.

“Give them a lot of credit, they closed the game out like they’ve been doing all playoffs,” Brunson said. “Just not really good on our part.”

This game added to the lore of one of the NBA’s great rivalries, but this game also is nothing like that past. The last time the Knicks and Pacers met in the Eastern Conference Finals back in 2000, the average score was Pacers 92.5, Knicks 86.7. This will not be that kind of series — these teams were within two points of that total after three quarters.

Both teams were incredibly comfortable on offense, able to get to their spots without much resistance for a playoff game. Look at it this way: The Pacers started the night 8-of-8 from the floor but didn’t take much of a lead because they couldn’t get stops.

Jalen Brunson seemed unbothered by whoever was guarding him. Indiana doesn’t like to trap or send aggressive help, but it’s going to need to do some of that this series just to get New York off balance.

Haliburton continued to make a mockery of the idea that he is underrated with 31 points and 11 assists on the night.

Brunson was also brilliant, finishing the night with 43 points on 15-of-25 shooting and getting to the line 14 times. Karl-Anthony Towns added 35 points. Mitchell Robinson didn’t have a lot of counting stats to note — other than the four offensive rebounds — but he had a massive impact on the game. The Knicks’ bench outplayed the Pacers’ bench for the night.

Nesmith finished the night with 30 for the Pacers. Indiana had a more balanced attack with Pascal Siakam scoring 17 and Andrew Nembhard adding 15.

This series may come down to which team can get enough stops on a given night, although there wasn’t much of that with the Knicks having a 127.4 offensive rating for the game (for comparison, that’s 10 points per 100 possessions better than their regular season number) and the Pacers at 131.

Maybe this series will not be about stops, but rather drama and offense. However, it’s going to be hard to top the drama of Game 1.