The Pacers beat the Knicks in overtime after a late comeback.
"Wow, what a weird game," Tyrese Halliburton said to the fans in the locker room at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Then the Indiana Pacers star picked up a pineapple slice from the spread after the game.
With the Knicks up by 14 points with less than three minutes left, New York fans were buzzing about "the most famous arena in the world." Until then, Aaron Naismith and Tyrese Halliburton had helped the Indiana Pacers achieve an unimaginable feat.
The Indiana duo led the Pacers in a miraculous comeback, defeating the Knicks 138-135 in overtime in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
After the game-tying shot, Halliburton made Reggie Miller's infamous choke gesture to the New York crowd... 
With the Pacers trailing by two and the clock ticking down to the final seconds, Halliburton did what he had done before in this playoff: be a hero. The 25-year-old looked to the market and shot a long jumper that experienced a friendly high bounce and magically went in.
When the Garden crowd thought it was a game-winning triple, Halliburton choked the crowd, just as Pacers legend and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller did to Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Knicks superfan Spike Lee when he led Indiana to a comeback in the 1994 playoffs.
However, upon review, the referees ruled it a two-pointer that forced OT From there, the Pacers held on and secured the win. Halliburton finished with 31 points and 11 assists, while Naismith added 30 points on 8-of-9 shooting.
The Pacers made their third miraculous comeback in this year's playoffs. According to Indiana, since the 1996-97 season, only four teams have won 1,706 playoff games after trailing by seven or more in the final 50 seconds of regulation or overtime - Indiana has won three of those this postseason.
The first victory came against the Milwaukee Bucks, who trailed by seven points with less than a minute of overtime. The second victory came in the second round against the East's number one seed, the Cleveland Cavaliers, who led by seven points with 46 seconds left.
Even more impressive, the Pacers became the first team in the last 27 postseasons to win a game after trailing by 14 points on 971 attempts in the final 2:50 of the fourth quarter, according to the team. Knicks star Jalen Brunson scored 43 points and praised the Pacers for their never-give-up attitude.
- "They should be given a lot of credit, they've played well all playoff time. There wasn't anything good on our side," Brunson said after the game.
After the game, Halliburton said he watched the 2010 documentary "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. New York Knicks" many times as a kid and knew that the Pacers didn't win that series after Miller's infamous chokehold gesture.
Choking or comeback, Pacers win late, shock Knicks in OT...
In addition to "not wanting to repeat it," Halliburton expressed some regret for making the shot that ultimately didn't win the game.
"It felt right at the time," Halliburton told reporters. "If I had known it was a two, I wouldn't have done it. I might have wasted it. If I did it again, people might say I was aura-farming. I don't plan on using it again."
- "Players can do whatever they want," Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle said when asked what he would have done if Halliburton hadn't made the gesture.
"It's an emotional thing, it's not a big deal. We have to go out there - it's not likely to get any louder than tonight," Carlyle said. "I mean, it was crazy out there. The atmosphere never lets you down. This time of year, you want to go out in the most hostile, most difficult environment and test your mental strength ... it's not a big deal to me."
The two teams have a long, historic rivalry dating back to the 1990s, when players like Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley, Antonio and Dale Davis, and Rick Smith played for the team. They met in the second round last year, where Indiana beat the Knicks on the road in Game 7.
Still, Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns downplayed the "historical similarities" between this game and previous games, choking on Halliburton.
"It's our job to make history. We're not here to repeat history; we're here to make history. So that doesn't come to my mind. I just think about the present and what we can do right now so we can make our history," said Towns, who finished with 35 points and 12 rebounds.
👉Pacers Shock The World, Make History In Game 1 Win vs Knicks?! | Pat McAfee Show
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