Donnie Walsh, the general manager of the Indiana Pacers at the time, considered how he intended to completely revamp his team’s roster in the winter of 1992, during the beginning of the Chicago Bulls’ historic run. He can pinpoint the precise instant when inspiration came.
Or, more precisely, when it took star guard Reggie Miller level.
On December 30, Indiana was using a set play offensively against the Pacers, who were facing Pat Riley’s New York Knicks. Miller flashed to the elbow before cutting toward the hoop in the hopes of getting a backdoor pass from the Pacers big man, while center Rik Smits maintained control at the top of the key. The ball arrived. Miller didn’t.
Charles Oakley, a Knicks enforcer, came forward and had a shoulder waiting for Miller before the future Hall of Famer could even put foot in the paint. The ball soared out of bounds, sending the guard falling to the ground.
On the transmission, play-by-play commentator Marv Albert exclaimed, “Whoa!” but was overpowered by the Indiana crowd’s collective groan. It’s interesting that the officials decided not to call a foul, possibly because of how violent Oakley’s conduct was. Walsh was affected by all of this.
In reference to Miller’s collision with Oakley, which resulted in the New York forward receiving a $10,000 fine from the league office even though no foul was called, Walsh stated, “The referees had no idea what to do.” “Right then, I told myself: ‘This summer, I’m getting two guys just like Oak.’ Because players like that would immediately change the makeup of our team.”
This was accomplished by adding muscular power forward Antonio Davis and defense-minded guard Derrick McKey. And the seeds of what would eventually develop into a fierce rivalry were planted when Walsh changed the fast-paced Pacers to resemble the grindstone Knicks.
New York and Indiana, who will open their Eastern Conference championship matchup on Wednesday, have a long and incredibly emotional postseason history together. From 1993 to 1995, they faced each other in three consecutive series, and from 1993 to 2000, they faced each other six times in eight postseasons.
When the teams faced off in the conference semifinals last year, the rivalry was significantly reignited. Indiana won the series by defeating the Knicks at the Garden with a historic shooting display in Game 7.
In order to set the stage for what could make this year’s series a worthy next chapter, we ranked the first eight meetings between the rivals, which represent their ninth playoff meeting. These matchups were full of head-butts, celebrity run-ins, classic comebacks, series-changing injuries, phantom four-point plays, and iconic blocks.
1. 1995 East semifinals
As the Knicks collapsed, giving up a six-point lead in the last 19 seconds to lose Game 1 at home, Miller scored eight points in nine seconds, one of his most memorable performances.
As the last buzzer sounded, Patrick Ewing missed a potentially game-tying finger roll off the back rim, but New York rallied to force a Game 7 after the Pacers had taken a 3-1 series lead. (He had won Game 5 with a spectacular turnaround floater with 1.8 seconds remaining.)
Miller and the Pacers ended the Riley era with the series win, in addition to shutting out the Knicks on the Garden floor. Ten days later, the coach resigned from his position with New York and controversially accepted the position as coach and team president of the Miami Heat. While Riley was still bound by his New York contract, Miami was accused of tampering by New York. Riley was able to formally take the position after a settlement of $1 million and a Heat first-round pick.)
2. 1994 East finals
Both teams, who were tied going into Game 5 of the conference finals, had a fantastic opportunity when Michael Jordan left the NBA to play professional baseball.
The Knicks were up double digits during most of the game, one in which Miller was shooting terribly, giving fodder to Knicks fan and famed director Spike Lee to continuously chirp at the guard. But Miller caught fire in the fourth quarter, looking at Lee courtside each time he hit a shot. Miller looked to Lee and put both hands around his own neck after a particularly long three-pointer that put Indiana ahead, suggesting that the Knicks were choking the game away and lacked the necessary finishing touches.
Miller would lead Indiana to the incredible comeback and a 3-2 series lead by finishing Game 5 with 39 points, 25 of which came on just 10 shots in the fourth quarter. However, New York persevered and won Game 6 in hostile territory thanks to 26 points from guard John Starks. Ewing’s game-changing performance—24 points, 22 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks, and the game-winning putback dunk—turned Game 7 around and sent the Knicks to the Finals.
3. 1999 East finals
In Game 2 of the series, Ewing sustained a partially ruptured Achilles tendon, which he played through, costing the new-look, lockout-year Knicks, who had Marcus Camby in lieu of Oakley and Latrell Sprewell in place of Starks.
However, what transpired in Game 3 is what most remember most about this series. With less than 12 seconds remaining and the Pacers leading by three points at the Garden, Indiana coach Larry Brown pleaded with his team to use tight perimeter coverage so they wouldn’t allow a triple. The inbound ball was grabbed by Knicks forward Larry Johnson, who then pump-faked Davis to throw him off balance before launching a 24-foot attempt.
While official Jess Kersey was blowing his whistle for a foul, it found the bottom of the net. This was a very questionable foul, considering Davis didn’t seem to make much, if any, contact with Johnson. (A year later, Kersey himself admitted that the call was an error.) The Knicks won Game 3 after Johnson made the four-pointer, and they went on to win the series and face the Spurs in the Finals.
4. 2024 East semifinals
The strange kicked-ball infraction late in Game 1 that shouldn’t have been whistled (and obviously hurt the Pacers) and Andrew Nembhard’s deep 3-pointer that helped Indiana win Game 3 and keep the team in the series were two of the series’ notable moments. Above all, though, Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, and the Pacers put together a resoundingly dominant away game in Game 7, outscoring the Knicks by 39 points in the first quarter alone.
What was to come was hinted at by that first flurry. In a game that further thinned the already injured Knicks, Indy shot a playoff-record 67.1% from the field. After spraining his hamstring earlier in the series, OG Anunoby made every effort to rejoin the lineup but was promptly replaced since he was barely able to move. During the game, star guard Jalen Brunson fractured his hand. Bojan Bogdanovic, Mitchell Robinson, and Julius Randle—all important players in the Knicks’ rotation—had previously been declared out for the season. As a result, even though they won’t express it in public, you can guarantee that the players on this Knicks squad, who lead the series 3-2 before dropping two straight, will enjoy the opportunity for retribution.
Where could the 2025 East finals land?
Do you want more drama? You’ve located the appropriate series. When Haliburton wore a sweater featuring Miller’s iconic choke motion toward Spike Lee during the Pacers’ seven-game victory in 2024, it cemented the Pacers point guard’s status as a villain in Madison Square Garden, much like Trae Young did.
When the professional wrestling tour visited the Garden, the WWE even capitalized on the situation by arranging a fight between Brunson and Haliburton. Brunson remarked, “WWE, they were cooking when they did that,” in reference to the coincidence that the Knicks and Pacers will now play one other in the playoffs.
Haliburton, who was selected for the U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal last year over the Knicks star, is someone Brunson says he greatly admires. It was at the 2023 FIBA World Cup that the two became acquainted as teammates.
This series has the potential to rank among the greatest Knicks-Pacers playoff matchups if both teams continue to play crazy end-of-game scripts.
This postseason, both clubs have had two unlikely 20-point comebacks: the Knicks’ twice against the Celtics and Indiana’s once each against the Cavaliers and Bucks. And when it counts, Brunson and Haliburton have been among the top performers. When considering only the last minute of games, the Indiana star has a league-high four clutch baskets this postseason, while the Knicks’ floor general leads the playoffs with 14.
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