The Indiana Pacers cemented themselves as the greatest comeback team the NBA playoffs have ever seen on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. By erasing a 14-point deficit in the final 2:45 of the fourth quarter to force overtime against the Knicks, the Pacers now hold three of the four craziest comebacks in NBA postseason history, all in the last two months of play. Wednesday’s Game 1 theft of the Eastern Conference Final was their masterpiece.
Aaron Nesmith was unconscious from deep, hitting six fourth quarter 3-pointers to keep Pacers in the game. The Knicks missed some crucial free throws late, and then Tyrese Haliburton delivered a ludicrous game-tying shot (that he thought was the game-winner) to force overtime. Even though they needed five more minutes and some more heroics from the likes of Obi Toppin to get the win, the lasting image will be Tyrese Haliburton recreating Reggie Miller’s iconic choke celebration after his spinning, fading, foot-on-the-line 2-pointer bounded off the back rim straight up in the air and, somehow, fell straight through the net.
In Madison Square Garden, the reaction to Haliburton’s shot was pure shock. The Knicks faithful couldn’t believe what they’d just witnessed. Down the road at Radio City Music Hall, the Knicks held a watch party for fans who couldn’t get in the door to MSG, and their collective reaction was something to truly behold. When Haliburton’s shot hit the back rim, a number of fans turned away too quickly and failed to watch as the ball fell back through, leading to pandemonium followed by pained silence.
The video, apparently taken by one brave Pacers fan who decided to go to this, is truly incredible and a near-perfect encapsulation of modern fandom. Two fans of opposite teams, phones out, filming their reaction to a big moment and ready to troll the one standing next to them — and one of them jumping the gun and doing so too soon. I really want to see the other guy’s video (which I’m sure he deleted quickly in an effort to burn all evidence of this night off his phone) because he was starting to talk some incredible trash and then fell into dejected silence.
The good news for Knicks fans is there are six more opportunities for New York to get back into this series and win it, but the scars from Wednesday night will take some time to fully heal.
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