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Former Knicks Forward Comes Up Big in Pacers' Comeback

One Indiana Pacers forward added insult to the New York Knicks' injury amidst the Pacers' improbable comeback at Madison Square Garden.
Geoff Magliocchetti|
May 21, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) reacts in the second half against the New York Knicks during game one of the eastern conference finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
May 21, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) reacts in the second half against the New York Knicks during game one of the eastern conference finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

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New York Knicks

On Wednesday night in Manhattan, Obi Toppin at least partly finally fulfilled the potential the New York Knicks saw in him when they made him in the eighth overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft.

Toppin's metropolitan timing, however, couldn't have been worse.

As if losing several sizable leads to the Indiana Pacers in their Eastern Conference Finals opener wasn't bad enough, the Knicks had to watch former lottery savior Toppin play a sizable role in the comeback's completion.

For example, Toppin's emphatic slam dunk with just over 15 seconds remaining in an overtime period closed out scoring in Indiana's 138-135 win, one that gave them an early lead in the best-of-seven set. The slam gave Toppin two of his four overtime points, as he previously put in another dunk when the game engaged in its last exchange of buckets.

“I feel like we're just super resilient,” Toppin said in video from SNY. “With us, you've got to play until the last buzzer goes off. I feel like everybody on this team is going to work 110 percent every single game until that last buzzer, and I feel like that's what happened. I feel like they slowed down a little bit and we just kept it going.”

Toppin is in the midst of his second tour with the Pacers following a 2023 trade that sent second-round picks to Manhattan. Both have featured a postseason battle with his original NBA employers, who never found a spot for him in their primary lineup after the All-Star breakout of since-departed Julius Randle. Toppin has since become a reliable depth star in Indianapolis and lived up to such a reputation amidst the Pacers' push.

The Dayton alum and Brooklyn native showed the Knicks what they were missing during the final stages: though somewhat limited in the second half (played just over a dozen minutes in the first three periods), his final entries no doubt flipped the ECF into the Pacers' favor.

Toppin stepped in for Thomas Bryant with 3:44 remaining in regulation, seemingly set to play out the stretch with the Knicks ahead by 14. With Toppin on the floor, the Pacers whittled the gap to three before he sat for Bryant with 14 ticks remaining. Clutch sinks from Aaron Nesmith and Tyrese Haliburton set the stage for Toppin's dramatic dunks.

The 27-year-old's name went on to pepper the overtime playsheet after his final re-entry came in relief of Myles Turner with 2:24 left. Indiana trailed by one at the time but immediately took the lead back on an Andrew Nembhard double.

About 20 seconds after he came back, Toppin gave the Pacers a chance to extend the new lead with a steal of former teammate Jalen Brunson. Though Indiana didn't score on that possession, Toppin later helped them keep pace (pun intended) as the two sides traded doubles in the last minutes.

When Indiana's flurry of threes finally stopped falling, Toppin broke loose and put back a Haliburton misfire from deep to open the last 60. After the Pacers bounced an inbounds pass off Brunson, Toppin busted loose for his highlight dunk, one that forced the Knicks into desperate threes in their final moments with the ball.

With his clutch quartet, Toppin was one of three players to score more than two points in Wednesday's extra five minutes next to Nembhard and Brunson. Toppin also finished the game with 10 rebounds off the bench, a Pacer-high and third-best overall behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart.

The show-stopping slam also offered Toppin redemption in more ways than one: amidst a 13-3 Knicks run in the second quarter (one that wiped out the Pacers' last pre-overtime lead), Toppin went somewhat viral for flubbing a fast break dunk that turned into a three-point for Towns. The comeback afforded Toppin the last laugh as the Pacers improved to 9-2 this postseason, including 3-0 when Toppin plays at least 20 minutes.

Despite some tremendous transactions in the new decade, the 2020 draft has become a bit of a sore subject for the Knicks: New York drafted Toppin with the eighth overall pick during that virtual draft, passing on both Haliburton and Nesmith, both of whom played major roles in the Pacers' recent postseason success.

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Geoff Magliocchetti
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.

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