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Knicks Nemesis Tyrese Haliburton Booed at WWE Event

MetLife Stadium was no refuge for Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, an avowed enemy of the New York Knicks.
Geoff Magliocchetti|
Jun 19, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) reacts after a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first half of game six of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
Jun 19, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) reacts after a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first half of game six of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

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New York Knicks

MetLife Stadium gave good grief to New York Knicks nemesis and Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton after he dared show his face in the tri-state area.

Haliburton was one of thousands to descend upon New Jersey for the second night of WWE's two-part SummerSlam event headlined by John Cena's "street fight" bout with Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship. When the broadcast highlighted Haliburton's presence, he was roundly booed at the metropolitan crowd, one that no doubt remembered his role in the Knicks' demise in each of the last two seasons.

Haliburton is the undisputed franchise face of the modern Pacers, who have ended each of the last two Knicks seasons.

The more recent defeat was particularly painful, as Indiana spoiled the Knicks' first visit to the Eastern Conference Finals in a quarter-century with a six-game victory that punched their ticket to the NBA Finals. Haliburton opened the series on an appropriately macabre note, as his buzzer-beater at the end of the series' first game forced an overtime session that led to a Pacers comeback victory.

To his credit, Haliburton, who walked in on crutches as he continues to recover from a torn Achilles in the Finals finale against Oklahoma City, took the rude welcome in stride, going full heel as he encouraged fans to get louder. While MetLife Stadium is a stone's throw away from Meadowlands Arena, shuttered for basketball since the New Jersey Nets' departure, plenty of Madison Square Garden dwellers no doubt lingered among Sunday's crowd.

Like his Manhattan backcourt counterpart Jalen Brunson, Haliburton is a big fan of professional wrestling. He and Brunson previously brought the Knicks-Pacers rivalry to the ring during a WWE event at Madison Square Garden, as they served as respective de facto cornermen for heel Logan Paul and fan favorite LA Knight just about a month after Indiana took a seven-game playoff meeting in the conference semifinals.

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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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