Ranking the Storied Playoff Encounters Between the Knicks and Pacers

This series is perhaps best known for one of Reggie Miller`s most iconic moments: his incredible eight points in nine seconds, as the Knicks melted down, surrendering a six-point lead in the final 19 seconds of Game 1 at home. The Pacers built a commanding 3-1 series lead, but New York valiantly fought back to force a Game 7. In the decisive game, Patrick Ewing agonizingly missed a potential game-tying finger roll off the back rim as the final buzzer sounded. (Ewing had previously hit a dramatic turnaround floater with 1.8 seconds left to win Game 5.) With this series victory, Miller and the Pacers not only eliminated the Knicks on their home court but also effectively closed out the Pat Riley coaching era in New York. Riley resigned his position 10 days later and controversially agreed to take over the Miami Heat as coach and team president, a move that led to a significant tampering settlement.

With Michael Jordan retired from the NBA to pursue professional baseball, both clubs recognized a golden opportunity, finding themselves tied heading into Game 5 of the conference finals. The Knicks held a double-digit lead for most of the game, a contest in which Miller was shooting poorly, providing ample ammunition for Knicks fan and legendary filmmaker Spike Lee to relentlessly taunt the guard. However, Miller caught fire in the fourth quarter, glaring pointedly at Lee courtside each time he hit a shot. After one particularly long Miller triple, which gave Indiana the lead, he famously looked at Lee and put both hands around his own neck, symbolizing that the Knicks were “choking” away the game. Miller finished Game 5 with 39 points—an astonishing 25 on just 10 shots in the fourth—leading Indiana to a stunning comeback and a 3-2 series lead. Yet, New York dug deep, winning Game 6 in enemy territory behind guard John Starks` 26 points. A performance for the ages from Patrick Ewing—24 points, 22 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks, and the winning putback dunk—secured Game 7 and propelled the Knicks to the NBA Finals.

In the lockout-shortened season, a new-look Knicks squad, featuring Latrell Sprewell in place of Starks and Marcus Camby instead of Oakley, lost Patrick Ewing to a partially torn Achilles tendon that he sustained (but valiantly played through) in Game 2 of the series. However, this series is most remembered for a controversial moment in Game 3. With the Pacers leading by three points at Madison Square Garden with just under 12 seconds left, Indiana coach Larry Brown implored his players to implement tight perimeter coverage to prevent a three-pointer. Knicks forward Larry Johnson caught the inbound pass, pump-faked Antonio Davis to get him off balance, then launched a 24-foot attempt. It found the bottom of the net while official Jess Kersey was blowing his whistle for a foul—a highly dubious call, given that Davis didn`t appear to make much, if any, contact with Johnson. (Even Kersey himself acknowledged a year later that the call was a mistake.) Johnson completed the four-point play, the Knicks won Game 3, and they eventually triumphed in the series to meet the Spurs in the Finals.

This series saw a handful of pivotal moments throughout its early games: notably, the bizarre kicked-ball violation late in Game 1 that unfairly disadvantaged the Pacers, and the crucial deep three-pointer from Andrew Nembhard that helped Indiana secure Game 3 and stay afloat. But above all else, Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, and the Pacers orchestrated a flat-out dominant Game 7 performance on the road, exploding for 39 points against the Knicks in the first quarter alone. That initial flurry was a harbinger of things to come. Indiana shot a playoff-record 67.1% from the field in a contest where the already injury-plagued Knicks got even thinner. OG Anunoby tried his best to return to the lineup after straining his hamstring earlier in the series but could hardly move and was quickly subbed out. Star guard Jalen Brunson broke his hand during the game. Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, and Bojan Bogdanovic—all key members of the Knicks` rotation—had already been ruled out for the season. Because of these factors, you can be sure that the players from this Knicks team, who led the series 3-2 before losing two straight, will relish the shot at revenge, even if they won`t publicly acknowledge it.

The top-ranked Pacers` defense, led by Paul George and Roy Hibbert, consistently vexed Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks throughout this six-game series. In particular, the No. 2-seeded New York was unable to pull Pacers big man Hibbert away from the basket and struggled to score comfortably around the rim. The clearest illustration of this occurred with five minutes remaining in the clinching Game 6. With the Knicks up 92-90, Anthony got a step on George and spun baseline, attacking the basket. He went up for a one-handed dunk, but the 7-foot-2 Hibbert met him at the apex for a highlight-reel block. Hibbert has stated that he has two posters of this block—arguably the defining play of his career—in his home.

Reggie Miller, in a way, saved some of his finest performances for last, hitting one crowd-silencing dagger after another and scoring 34 points—including 5-for-7 from three-point range—at Madison Square Garden to eliminate the Knicks on their home floor in six games. This matchup marked the final playoff meeting between the clubs involving both Miller and Patrick Ewing, who were 34 and 37 years old, respectively. (Ewing missed Games 3 and 4 with an injured foot.) Indiana`s victory earned the franchise its first, and only, trip to the NBA Finals, where the Pacers would ultimately fall to Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O`Neal, and Phil Jackson`s Los Angeles Lakers.

The 60-win Knicks had an opportunity to sweep Indiana in three games (the league wouldn`t move to best-of-seven in the first round until 2003), but John Starks head-butted Reggie Miller in the third quarter while his team was ahead. This impulsive decision led to his ejection, angry shoves from Oakley and Ewing, and completely shifted the game`s momentum. The Pacers went on a decisive 59-34 run for the rest of the game to stave off elimination. Fortunately for Starks, the Knicks managed to close out the Pacers in Game 4.

The 58-win Pacers, bolstered by the additions of Chris Mullin and Jalen Rose the prior offseason, held a clear advantage in this series: the Knicks had been playing for months without Patrick Ewing, who had tragically shattered his shooting wrist in a devastating fall against the Milwaukee Bucks just before Christmas. New York managed to get by Riley`s Heat in the first round but dropped their opening game with Indiana. The 1-0 deficit prompted vigorous rehabilitation from Ewing, who returned for Game 2 but with too much rust to make an immediate impact. The series concluded in five games, with Indiana using its elite balance of the league`s fourth-best offense and fifth-best defense to set up a conference finals showdown with Michael Jordan and the `Last Dance` Bulls.

Looking for more drama? You`ve found the right series, one that is already building its case to vault up the list of Pacers-Knicks playoff showdowns. After Indiana`s seven-game victory in 2024, Tyrese Haliburton cemented his status as a Madison Square Garden villain by wearing a sweater featuring Reggie Miller making his famous choke signal toward Spike Lee. But Haliburton escalated things further at the start of this series on Wednesday night, using the choke sign himself after sinking a seemingly impossible jumper at the end of regulation—a shot that bounced high off the rim before dropping through the net to send Game 1 to overtime. As Haliburton celebrated, he looked directly at Miller, a TNT analyst working courtside. Miller, in turn, acknowledged Haliburton, who is clearly carrying on the Hall of Famer`s legacy as Indiana`s persistent irritant to the Knicks.

There was ample chaos both before and after that shot. Aaron Nesmith caught fire from beyond the arc, scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter alone to fuel the late comeback, during which Indiana shot a perfect 6-for-6 over the final three minutes of regulation. The shell-shocked Knicks, who admitted after the game that they had relaxed, thinking victory was assured, continued to struggle defensively in overtime. This included a play where they intended to intentionally foul but instead surrendered a late dunk to Obi Toppin, giving the Pacers a three-point lead. The ultimate outcome was the Pacers completely silencing an arena that, just minutes earlier, had been electrified by their team`s late-game cushion. Instead, Indiana secured a dramatic victory, demonstrating precisely why this rivalry remains one of the NBA`s best.