The defending Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers entered last night’s game against the New York Knicks at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with a 13-40 record. Indiana is entrenched in a “gap year” with Tyrese Haliburton watching in street clothes and Myles Turner leaving in free agency for Milwaukee.
Despite being double-digit underdogs to New York for the first time since 1993, that didn’t stop Rick Carlisle’s proud core from treating last night’s matchup at Madison Square Garden like their Super Bowl. All-Star Pascal Siakam led the way with a team-high 30-points. Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard were fighting tooth and nail. So was long time pest TJ McConnell.
The team’s exchanged the lead 39 times, which was the most in the NBA this season. Mike Brown’s group couldn’t get a stop and the Pacers prevailed 137-134 in double overtime. You could see how important the game was to Indiana’s players even amid a lost season. That was only because it was the Knicks, who have a 9-12 record against their forever foe over the past three seasons.
Indiana Continues To Be A Knicks Roadblock
There’s a long history between these two longtime rivals with nine-playoff meetings dating back to 1993, including six times in an eight-year span.
1993 Round 1: Knicks win 3-1
1994 Round 3: Knicks win 4-3
1995 Round 2: Pacers win 4-3
1998 Round 2: Pacers win 4-2
1999 Round 3: Knicks win 4-2
2000 Round 3: Pacers win 4-2
2013 Round 2: Pacers win 4-2
2024 Round 2: Pacers win 4-3
2025 Round 3: Pacers win 4-2
Per Mike Vaccaro of the NY Post, since the “division era” of sports, which began in 1969 and marked the first year that all four major professional leagues had playoffs, the nine postseason affairs is the second-most times a New York team has ever faced the same opponent. Meanwhile, more than one-fifth of New York’s 28 championship chases since 1973 have been dashed by the Pacers.