NEW YORK, NY — The exhaustion was palpable. As reporters dispersed from his locker, a dejected Josh Hart, Knicks forward, sat slumped, head in hands, then stared blankly ahead. He was processing the unthinkable: how a dominant 14-point lead with under three minutes left in regulation of Game 1 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals had vanished, a cruel mirage in the desert of a grueling basketball battle.
For a remarkable 44 minutes, the New York Knicks had seemingly cracked the code to containing the Indiana Pacers’ notoriously breakneck pace. They had met the Pacers’ speed and tempo with equal fervor, and for much of the game, it had worked. The Knicks seized control early in the second quarter, establishing a lead they would meticulously maintain until the dying seconds of regulation. It was then, in a moment of pure, improbable magic, that Tyrese Haliburton’s game-tying shot — a high-arcing prayer that kissed the back rim, hung precariously, and finally dropped — forced overtime, and with it, the unraveling of the Knicks’ meticulously crafted advantage.
“We didn’t finish the game out,” a visibly frustrated Hart admitted to reporters just moments before his solitary contemplation. “We didn’t run through that finish line. I feel like defensively we let off the gas; the intensity and physicality wasn’t there. Offensively, we were playing slower, a little stagnant, and it looked like we were playing not to lose. We got to make sure we don’t make that mistake again.”
The sentiment echoed in the interview room down the hallway, where Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau offered a terse, yet telling, assessment: “You just can never let your guard down against them. No lead is safe.”
These blunt evaluations from both player and coach illuminate a stark truth that underpinned New York’s collapse: the Knicks, a team that thrives on methodical halfcourt play and ranks a lowly 26th in pace across the league, had strayed from their identity. Their strength lies in grinding games down, forcing opponents into a physical, defensive slog, particularly against teams like the Pacers who crave an up-tempo, free-flowing offensive assault. Indiana’s modus operandi is to play fast, and Game 1 served as a painful reminder that attempting to match their blistering speed for an entire 48 minutes often leaves opponents winded, flailing, and ultimately, unable to halt their late-game surges.
The Pacers’ propensity for improbable comebacks this postseason is already the stuff of legend. They’ve secured victories in two games where they trailed by seven points or more inside the final 48 seconds – a statistical anomaly so rare it puts teams facing such deficits at an astounding 3-1,679 disadvantage.
Indeed, the first half of Game 1 saw the Knicks soaring. They poured in 69 points, tying a franchise record for most in a half of a playoff game. Ironically, they had previously set this very mark last year in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals… a series they ultimately lost to these same Pacers in seven games. Early on Wednesday night, the Knicks were masters of transition. They crashed the boards, then swiftly launched outlets, sending players streaking down the court for high-percentage looks at the rim or precise kickouts to the perimeter. In essence, for a significant stretch, they had outpaced the Pacers at their own game.
Until they couldn’t.
As the fourth quarter wore on and New York desperately clung to its dwindling lead, Knicks players visibly sagged. They doubled over, slow to rotate on defense, their movements betraying their fatigue. Their defensive cohesion suffered most profoundly. In a dizzying display of sharpshooting, Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith connected on five consecutive 3-pointers, contributing 20 of his 30 points in the final frame. The Pacers as a team collectively drained an astonishing seven straight from beyond the arc to close the period. For the most part, these were wide-open looks that the gassed Knicks simply couldn’t contest in time.
The Pacers, sensing their opponents’ exhaustion, accelerated their play, becoming more assertive with each possession. They closed the fourth quarter on a devastating 31-14 run, with Nesmith as the undeniable catalyst. The question of whether fatigue had truly set in for New York loomed large.
“I mean, yeah, once he hits one, you have to be on high alert,” Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson acknowledged after the game. “I got to do a better job of finding him. I think he had one or two with me in the vicinity that started it off. That’s not a way to close a game.”
Wild comebacks have become a recurring theme this NBA postseason, and now, Friday’s Game 2 looms as an absolutely essential contest for New York. The Knicks, however, are a resilient and cohesive unit, and they themselves have embraced the comeback ethos throughout these playoffs. But if Game 1 offered any clear lesson, it’s that New York’s optimal path to victory doesn’t lie in trying to outrun the Pacers; it lies in their ability to grind them to a halt.
“It’s a tough one,” Hart reiterated, his disappointment still evident. “We’re all disappointed in it, but the series is not over after one game.”
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