Given the longtime rivalry between the Knicks and the Pacers, not a few quarters believed the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals would be as tightly fought as their other playoff encounters. Considering that the series has just started, time will tell before the contention is proven right. If Thursday’s match is any indication, however, conventional wisdom looks likely to find validation.
In a postseason already replete with spectacular play, Game One of the East Finals took the proverbial cake. It certainly had all the ingredients fans invariably deemed critical to the concoction of a delectable set-to. No love lost between the protagonists, just about every possession hotly contested, physicality on overdrive, even controversial whistles. Above all else, the outcome was secured only in the very last second, and in overtime to boot.
For a while there, the Knicks appeared to be firmly in control of the encounter. They took the lead a third into the second quarter, and ostensibly for good. So dominant were they in front of a capacity crowd of 19,812 at the Garden that they carried a double-digit lead with under three minutes left in regulation. Victory looked to be theirs — until, that is, the Pacers managed to mount a monumental comeback off outstanding defense and unconscious three-point shooting. And had supposedly “overrated” Tyrese Haliburton not gotten his right foot to straddle the arc, they would have lost outright on the last-second shot that found the net only after an extremely high bounce.
Redemption for the Knicks seemed at hand when they scored the first two baskets in extra period, but the Pacers would not be denied. On the strength of relentless coverage, fortunate bounces, and astute decision-making on the fly, the latter finally claimed the triumph. Superlative shot-making under pressure produced lead changes in the last five minutes, and only after an uncharacteristic breakdown from Tom Thibodeau’s charges on an inbounds play by the visitors was the contest decided.
The Knicks will, no doubt, ruminate on how they wound up snatching defeat from the throes of triumph, but they also know enough to move on, and pronto. On Saturday, they have a chance to even the series, and they’ll be keen to translate homecourt advantage into their first win in a conference finals series since the turn of the millennium. As they prep for the challenge, they would do well to keep up their intensity from opening tip to final buzzer lest they see a repeat of Thursday’s result.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
