Knicks Facing Forever Problem With Pacers

The defending Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers entered last night’s game against the New York Knicks at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with a 13-40 record. Indiana is entrenched in a "gap year" with Tyrese Haliburton watching in street clothes and Myles Turner leaving in free agency for Milwaukee.

Despite being double-digit underdogs to New York for the first time since 1993, that didn't stop Rick Carlisle’s proud core from treating last night’s matchup at Madison Square Garden like their Super Bowl. All-Star Pascal Siakam led the way with a team-high 30-points. Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard were fighting tooth and nail. So was long time pest TJ McConnell.

The team’s exchanged the lead 39 times, which was the most in the NBA this season. Mike Brown's group couldn’t get a stop and the Pacers prevailed 137-134 in double overtime. You could see how important the game was to Indiana's players even amid a lost season. That was only because it was the Knicks, who have a 9-12 record against their forever foe over the past three seasons.

Indiana Continues To Be A Knicks Roadblock

There's a long history between these two longtime rivals with nine-playoff meetings dating back to 1993, including six times in an eight-year span.

1993 Round 1: Knicks win 3-1
1994 Round 3: Knicks win 4-3
1995 Round 2: Pacers win 4-3
1998 Round 2: Pacers win 4-2
1999 Round 3: Knicks win 4-2
2000 Round 3: Pacers win 4-2
2013 Round 2: Pacers win 4-2
2024 Round 2: Pacers win 4-3
2025 Round 3: Pacers win 4-2

Per Mike Vaccaro of the NY Post, since the “division era” of sports, which began in 1969 and marked the first year that all four major professional leagues had playoffs, the nine postseason affairs is the second-most times a New York team has ever faced the same opponent. Meanwhile, more than one-fifth of New York's 28 championship chases since 1973 have been dashed by the Pacers.

The Pacers-Knicks Rivalry Has A Long History — June 5, 1994; New York, NY, USA; FILE PHOTO; Knicks Patrick Ewing celebrates win over the pacers with Spike Lee as the game winds down. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY NETWORK | USA TODAY

Indiana has won the last four times spanning three entirely different generations – the Jalen Brunson-Haliburton era, the Carmelo Anthony-Paul George rivalry and the Patrick Ewing-Reggie Miller battles. There’s also been plenty of forever moments.

The hatred began with John Starks' headbutting Miller in 1993. The long Knicks nemesis infamously made a choke signal at Spike Lee the following spring - in a series the Knicks won in seven for the record. Miller's miraculous eight points in 8.9 seconds in Game 1 of the 1995 playoffs, where the series concluded with Ewing missing a game-tying finger roll in the final seconds of Game 7. Larry Johnson’s four-point play en route to New York becoming the first eighth seed to go to the Finals in 1999.

In more recent times, fans will forever have the image of Roy Hibbert's game six block on Anthony at the rim burned in their brains. Two years ago, it was Nembhard drilling a 31-foot, tiebreaking 3-point prayer with 16 seconds left and the Pacers on the ropes down 2-0.

New York's Last Two Seasons Were Ended By The Pacers

Then there was the Nesmith out of body experience in game one last spring culminating with Halibutron’s buzzer beating heave that dropped from the sky and tied game. The face of Indiana reenacted Miller's gesture and the Knicks suffered one of the biggest choke jobs in NBA history by blowing a 111-94 lead with 6:26 left and nine-point edge with 52 seconds left. In playoff history, teams were previously 0-970 when trailing by 14 or more in the final 2:50 of regulation.

Coaches come and go, the years pass and rosters turn over. There was the Larry Brown and Larry Bird led teams of Rik Smiths, Derrick McKey and the Davis boys, Antonio and Dale. The hard-nosed Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy's collection of Charles Oakley, John Starks, Larry Johnson and Allan Houston. The Hicks versus Slicks.

There Is Extra Incentive For The Knicks To Win Before Indiana's Return To Form

The tanking Pacers are working damn hard to secure a top four draft pick after trading their 2026 first to the Clippers with protections at the trade deadline for Ivica Zubac, who will solidify their center position for years to come and was acquired with eyes towards the future.

It will feel right having a retooled and fully-healthy Indiana team renewing their rivalry with the Knicks next season. Right now, the Eastern Conference crown is seemingly up for grabs and the Knicks have a chance to seize things before Indiana will once again be standing in their way next year.

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