In the early stages of the Chicago Bulls' dynasty run in the winter of 1992, Donnie Walsh, then general manager of the Indian Pacers, pondered how he wanted to completely reform his roster. He remembers the exact moments of inspiration.
Or, more accurately, when it upgrades to star guard Reggie Miller.
The Pacers hosted Pat Riley's New York Knicks on December 30, Indiana played a game on the offensive end. Center Rik Smits controls on the top of the key while Miller flashes to the elbow and then cuts to the rim, hoping to get a backdoor pass from the Pacers Big Man. The ball gets there. Miller didn't.
Before the future Hall of Fame can step on paint, Knicks executor Charles Oakley stepped forward, shoulders waiting for Miller. The defender hit the floor as the ball sailed from the border.
"Wow!" broadcaster Marv Albert said on the televised broadcast, being overshadowed by the collective groan of Indiana crowds. The officials - perhaps abandoned by the sheer force of Oakley's action - were surprisingly chosen to foul. All of this fell into Walsh.
Walsh said of Miller's collision with Oakley: "The referee didn't know what to do." At that time, I told myself: 'This summer, I got two guys like oaks. 'Because such players will immediately change the composition of our team. ”
Added approaches to defense-oriented defender Derrick McKey and body power forward Antonio Davis. As Walsh changed the avid Pacers more like the Grindstone Knicks, what became a hot competition began to form.
Indiana and New York will begin playing for Eastern Conference champions Wednesday, and they have many shared, extremely dramatic playoff history. From 1993 to 1995, they met in three straight wins and six in eight playoffs from 1993 to 2000.
Competition was largely restored last year when the club eliminated the game in the semifinals, with Indiana finally winning the Knicks by taking out the Knicks in the Garden and playing in Game 7 with historic shooting performance.
It's the ninth playoff session between competitors, and we ranked the first eight games – full of hitters, celebrity running, classic comebacks, changing the damage of the series, Phantom four-point play and iconic blocks – setting the stage for the next chapter of this annual series.
1. 1995 Eastern Semi-Finals
In one of Miller's most iconic moments, he lost his first game with eight points in nine seconds as the Knicks melted, throwing a six-point lead in the last 19 seconds.
The Pacers built a 3-1 series lead, but New York was back in Game 7, just because Patrick Ewing missed the potential game-tempting finger as the final buzzer rang out. (He had a dramatic turnaround float with 1.8 seconds left to win the game.)
With the series win, Miller and the Pacers closed not only the Knicks on the garden floor, but the Riley era. Ten days later, the coach quit his show with New York and controversially agreed to take over the Miami Heat as coach and team president. (New York, Miami is accused of tampering, while Riley is still in a contract in New York. The settlement — $1 million and a first-round draft pick from the Heat — cleared the way for Riley to officially go to work.)
2. 1994 Eastern Conference Finals
With Michael Jordan retiring from the NBA and playing professional baseball, both clubs have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to find themselves tied for Game 5 of the finals.
The Knicks were double-digit for most of the game, with Miller shooting poorly, bounced to Knicks fans and legendary filmmaker Spike Lee to repeatedly laugh at the Guard. But Miller caught fire in the fourth quarter and stared at Lee Court every time he hit the ball. After a particularly long Miller tripled to Indiana's lead, he looked at Lee and placed his hands around his neck, suggesting that the Knicks were suffocating the game with nothing to seal it off.
Miller will finish Game 5 with 39 points - a fourth shot of just 10, leading Indiana to an amazing comeback and a 3-2 series. But New York digs deeper and wins Game 6 of enemy territory behind guard John Starks' 26 points. Ewing's performances - 24 points, 22 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks and a winning dunk - swung Game 7 and arched the Knicks into the final.
3. 1999 Eastern Conference Finals
The new look of the lockdown Knicks replaced Starks and Marcus Camby instead of Oakley instead of Marcus Camby - lost to the partially torn Achilles tendon he suffered in Game 2 of the Series Series.
However, the series had its biggest memory in Game 3. With less than 12 seconds left in the garden, Indiana coach Larry Brown begged his players to implement tight perimeter coverage to avoid giving up triple. The Knicks grabbed the inbound pass to striker Larry Johnson, put on Davis and left him out of balance, then allowed the 24-foot attempt to fly.
When official Jess Kersey fouled, it found the bottom of the net, as Davis didn't seem to have contacted Johnson, which is very suspicious. (Even Kersey himself, admitted that the call was a mistake a year later.) Johnson finished the four-pointer game, the Knicks won Game 3, and they eventually won the series, meeting the Spurs in the final.
4. 2024 Eastern Semi-Finals
There are several huge moments in the first few games of this series: i.e., the strange kicking violation of the ball later in the first game, which should not be whistled (apparently disadvantaged among the Pacers) and Deep 3 from Andrew Nembhard, helping the Indiana SEALs keep the club in the series in Game 3. But most importantly, Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and the Pacers pieced together a flat game 7 on the road, scoring 39 points on the Knicks in the first quarter alone.
The initial outbreak is a sign of what is about to happen. Indy's playoff shooting percentage was 67.1% in one game. OG Anunoby tried her best to return to the roster after tightening the hamstrings earlier in the series, but had little movement and was quickly eliminated. Star guard Jalen Brunson broke his hand during the game. Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic – all major members of the Knicks rotation – have been excluded from the season. So you can bet that the Knicks players lead the game 3-2 and then lose twice in a row, even if they don't say so publicly that they say revenge.
5. 2013 Eastern Semi-Finals
The top Pacers defense, led by Paul George and Roy Hibbert, gave Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks throughout the six-game series. In particular, the New York No. 2 seed cannot pull Pacers big shot Hibert out of the basket and can't score comfortably on the edge.
The clearest example is: the racer has five minutes left, while the Knicks are up 92-90, and Anthony takes a step towards George and spin baseline before attacking the basket. He got a one-handed dunk, but Hibert met his highlight there 7-2.
Hibbert said he had two block posters at home - arguably the decisive drama of his career.
6. 2000 Eastern Conference Finals
Miller saved his best in some way, hitting a gang of curly daggers and scoring 34 points in the garden (including 3-3 5-7) to eliminate the Knicks on their home court in six games. The showdown was the club's last playoff meeting, involving Miller and Ewing, 34 and 37 respectively. (Ewing missed 3 and 4 games on his injured foot.)
Indiana's win won the franchise, and its first and only trip to the NBA Finals, the Pacers will fall into Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Phil Jackson and the Los Angeles Lakers.
7. 1993 East First Round
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Stephen A and John Starks fired for Knicks' victory
Stephen A.
The 60-win Knicks had a chance to sweep the mark in three games (the league only made seven in the first round), but Starks led the way in the third quarter with his team.
The decision made him angrily pushed by Oakley and Ewing, and completely changed the momentum of the game. The Pacers played 59-34 games for the rest of the game to avoid elimination. Fortunately for Starks, the Knicks ended the Pacers in Game 4.
8. 1998 Eastern Semi-Finals
The 58-win Pacers joined Chris Mullin and Jalen Rose in the offseason, with a clear advantage in the series: The Knicks have been playing for months without Ewing, and they fell down his shooting wrist before Christmas in the devastating Milwaukee Bucks. New York managed to win Riley and the Heat in the first round but signed the first game with Indiana.
A 1-0 deficit prompted Ewing to recover violently, and Ewing returned to the second game, but it was too much rust to have an immediate impact.
The series ended in five games, with Indiana using the elite balance of the league’s fourth-largest offense and fifth-largest defense to play the finals with Jordan and the “The Last Dance” Bulls.
Where is the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals?
Looking for more drama? You found the right series. After the Pacers won seven games in 2024, Haliburton wore a sweater with Miller sending a famous cho signal to Spike Lee, allowing the Pacers’ point guard to solidify the guard of the Madison Square Garden villain, just like Trae Young.
Even WWE is involved in the scene, the confrontation between Brunson and Halliburton when the pro wrestling journey comes to the garden. “WWE, when they do, they’re cooking.” Brunson talks about coincidence that the Knicks and the Pacers faced the playoffs again after the stunt.
Brunson said he had a lot of respect for Haliburton, who was selected for the U.S. Olympic roster by the Nick star, who won the gold medal last year. During the 2023 FIBA World Cup, the two knew each other.
If the series continues the wild season script that both teams have been following, this game can expand this list into one of the best Knicks Infantry playoff showdowns.
Both teams have an impossible 20-point comeback this playoffs - against Indiana's Bucks and Cavaliers, twice with the Knicks Celtics. Haliburton and Brunson are the two most important performances. The Knicks' floor general led the playoffs with 14 shots, while Indiana's quarter was the league's best four games in the playoffs, making it only at the last minute of the game.