Rain Or Shine, Down Or Up, The Pacers Win Tight Games. Ask The Knicks

NEW YORK – It was a rainy, gray day outside in New York City as the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks faced off for Game 1 of the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals.

It was the first battle of a series between two improving teams. One group, the Pacers, is in the conference finals for the second straight season. Led by Tyrese Haliburton, they’re hoping to move to the NBA Finals for just the second time in franchise history. They’ll have to beat the Knicks to do it. New York hosted their first conference finals game in 25 years on Wednesday, and fans avoiding the wet, gloomy city were greeted by the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.

Little did the fans know, they were going to be rushing out of that arena and back into the pouring rain three hours later. And when that moment came, they couldn’t get out of Madison Square Garden fast enough.

The entire game played between the Pacers and Knicks was part of that story. The first 37 minutes of action kept the teams, and the fans, tense – it was 92-91 Knicks with 11-minutes to go in a back-and-forth game. Everyone was waiting for a signature moment or run. Many considered the two teams as equals heading into the series, and the first three quarters did nothing to disprove that.

New York had their moment. The ensuing 3:25 of play featured a 16-2 Knicks run, which put the hosts ahead by 16 with about seven minutes to go. The fans were indoors and excited, out of the rain and celebrating a game that was trending toward a conference finals win.

Indiana battled after falling behind by as much as 17, but they trailed 119-105 after a three-point shot from Knicks star Jalen Brunson with 2:51 on the clock. A 14-point lead with under three minutes finally relieved some of the tension in the arena. Spectators were shouting. Brunson pointed to the sky. The duel, to many, felt over.

The Pacers are not a part of that many. They never quit or feel like they are out of a game until the final buzzer sounds. That mentality allowed them to erase seven-point deficits in the final minute against Milwaukee and against Clevleand earlier in the playoffs. Despite the mini-celebrations that had entered MSG, Indiana hadn’t quit. They had one more push to make.

It started with a three-point shot from Aaron Nesmith, then another from Haliburton. As the Knicks scored a few times in the next minute, they were met by three more outside shots from Nesmith. The fifth-year wing was on fire and in a flow state, one he described as the best feeling in the world.

“He went unconscious. It was obviously very much needed,” Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard said of Nesmith’s burst. “He makes those types of plays. He’s a big-time hooper.”

Despite flawless outside shooting and good-enough defense, Indiana was still down by five with 34 seconds to go. The Knicks had the ball. The game was over if New York simply inbounded the ball two more times. They would have been taking free throws to possibly put the game away.

Instead, Pacers All-Star forward Pascal Siakam earned a steal. Nesmith hit another three-point shot. The Knicks were off from the foul line twice. In 2:44, the Pacers had pulled off an 18-6 run, and they had a chance. Down by two with the ball and the game clock about to expire, Haliburton did what he has done so often in the last two months.

The ball bounced so high off the rim that a portion of the crowd thought it was a missed shot. They cheered. Instead, they were hit with dread as the ball fell through the net. Haliburton thought it was a three pointer that won the game on the spot, so he ran to the other end of the floor to celebrate – copying the choking hands made by Pacers legend Reggie Miller decades ago in the same arena. Miller was sitting close by as an announcer for the TNT broadcast of the outing.

Instead, it was a two-point shot. “Quickly in my celebration, somebody said it was a two,” Haliburton said, saying that his focus shifted. The game would go to overtime, but the Pacers had done it again. They had erased a major deficit in the finals minutes – something that it seems like only they can do. In the last 25 years, NBA teams have a record of 1-698 when trailing by 7-9 points within the final 90 seconds of a playoff game… that is, outside of the 2025 Indiana Pacers. They are 3-0 in such games this season.

“Remarkable resilience by our guys hanging in, finding a way to get the thing to overtime and then [making] enough plays,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said.

The game was not over and still had a five-minute overtime remaining. Indiana’s heroics and celebrations could have been for nothing if they didn’t emerge from the extra period with a win. And for a few minutes, it didn’t look like they were going to – New York scored the first four points of OT as the Pacers came back to reality on offense.

But a key block from Pacers center Myles Turner, a quick three from Nembhard, and otherwise solid play gave Indiana a lead at 130-129 with 2:12 to go, their first advantage since the second quarter. Nembhard, Haliburton, and forward Obi Toppin would go on to score at the basket for the blue and gold at times in the next few minutes.

The Knicks would be heard from again, though. At least on the basketball court. The volume of the arena became a major story in the final minutes as Brunson kept earning trips to the foul line. Fans would cheer as the official’s whistle blew and sent Brunson to the stripe – they were excited that the Knicks might win after all.

But as Brunson stepped up to shoot foul shots, the crowd made sure Madison Square Garden was silent. Collectively, thousands of fans shushed each other to help Brunson focus. It worked. The star guard canned all of his foul shots in overtime to keep the Knicks ahead.

Yet Indiana had too much inertia to let the crowd beat them. Brunson put the Knicks ahead with 36 seconds to go before Nembhard immediately answered with a cut. The fans, who had just finished chanting “de-fense”, all groned. New York was behind and had perhaps only one more chance to score before having to intentionally foul and stop the clock to keep up.

The possession went poorly. A defensive deflection from Nembhard caused Brunson to tip the ball out of bounds, and the Pacers had the ball and the lead. The crowd couldn’t believe it. 30 minutes of real time ago, they were euphoric. With a 14-point lead, they thought it was over. They cheered and screamed. Surely, the Knicks were going to win.

Surely not. overtime, they tried to help their team with silence. It wasn’t enough. One more dunk from Toppin and a stop from the Pacers in the final seconds sealed the deal. Indiana 138, New York 135 was the final score. The crowd had just spent an entire overtime shushing each other. Haliburton silenced them all.

“Always fun playing back in the garden and definitely coming out here with a win,” Toppin said.

The decrease in volume was more apparent as Haliburton took center court to talk with TNT reporter Allie LaForce for a postgame interview. The building was nearly empty. The Pacers, who were given a 0.3% chance to win by ESPN when down 14 in the final three minutes, had sent the fans to the exits.

In the end, Haliburton kept the rain coming for Knicks fans. They felt it in the arena and couldn’t wait to get out. As they left, they walked right into more drizzle from the sky.