The Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks are no strangers to each other in the postseason, given the former eliminated the latter last season to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
Now, a case could be made that this year’s conference final matchup is an unexpected one, given the massive roadblocks that each team faced in the semifinals. Fourth-seeded Indiana recorded its second straight five-game series win by dispatching the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, while third-seeded New York upended the defending champion Boston Celtics in six games.
Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers will renew acquaintances against Jalen Brunson and the Knicks on Wednesday in New York for Game 1 of their best-of-seven series.
Haliburton got the better of the matchup last year and played the role of the hero (or villain, depending on your point of view) in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. He punctuated his team’s series victory by wearing a hoodie with an image of Reggie Miller’s infamous 1994 “choke” taunt to Knicks superfan Spike Lee while speaking with reporters after the game.
Haliburton and Brunson would meet up again approximately one month later at MSG — this time in a WWE ring. Although the “chance” encounter was scripted and resulted in nothing more than a stare down, it still had New York fans on the edge of their seats.
“It was obviously something that he wanted to do and the way he played last year in the playoffs, I mean, it was fitting,” Brunson said. “And so, he played well in the Garden. Obviously, Knicks fans and Pacers fans, they go back and forth. But I think he did a great job with it last year, but now we’re moving on.”
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said as much when meeting with reporters on Tuesday.
“The challenge is always the same, it’s no different whether it’s a game or a series — it always resets,” Thibodeau said. “Each game is different. You have to prepare for that particular game. You’re not carrying anything over from the previous series or the previous game. You just have to be right and ready when the ball goes up (on Wednesday) night.”
The Knicks won two of the three meetings between the teams this season, with Karl-Anthony Towns leading the way. The five-time All-Star averaged a robust 30.3 points and 12.0 rebounds in those three games for New York.
Towns, however, made just 3 of 19 attempts from 3-point range in the series versus the Celtics.
Bennedict Mathurin enjoyed a career night in the lone Pacers’ win in the regular-season series against the Knicks. He recorded career-bests in 3-pointers (seven) and points (38) in Indiana’s 132-121 victory on Nov. 10.
Mathurin wasn’t alone, as Haliburton collected 35 points and 14 assists for the Pacers.
While Haliburton has been a regular contributor in the playoffs, Indiana prides itself on spreading the wealth.
“People look at playoff victories and point to great scoring performances and triple-doubles and stuff like that,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “Series-defining plays oftentimes are loose-ball effort plays.”
