The most dramatic rivalry: Knicks-Pacers always delivers

There are certain fundamental truths about playoff basketball. For example: Any matchup between the Knicks and Pacers is sure to produce an extraordinary moment or improbable finish worth revisiting for generations.

If they're standing in each other's way come May, the Knicks and Pacers somehow always find a way to deliver. The same was true Wednesday in Manhattan, though Knicks fans will tell you whatever their team did down the stretch of Game 1 sure as hell wasn't "delivering."

New York was cruising to a 1-0 series lead in its first conference finals appearance in 25 years. The Knicks extended their lead to 17 midway through the fourth quarter, held a 14-point advantage with 2:40 remaining, and were still comfortably nursing a three-possession lead with 35 seconds left. The Knicks were the 1,435th team to hold a lead of nine-plus points entering the final minute of a playoff game and none of the previous 1,434 managed to lose.

But this is Knicks-Pacers, so of course the clock couldn't run out like a run-of-the-mill playoff game. After a handful of Pacers 3-pointers and a couple of Knicks turnovers, Tyrese Haliburton had a chance to tie or win the game for Indiana. We should've known what was coming, as Haliburton's become as inevitable as this iconic postseason rivalry itself.

The fact Haliburton's prayer merely sent the game to overtime rather than resulting in a walk-off win dulled the excitement somewhat, but not before the Pacers superstar did his best Reggie Miller impression (with Miller a few feet away at the TNT broadcast table):

For the uninitiated, Haliburton's choke sign was a nod to Miller directing the same gesture to the Madison Square Garden faithful (and Knicks superfan Spike Lee) during the 1994 East finals. Miller's Pacers overcame a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit - and constant heckling from Lee - to steal Game 5 of that series. However, New York got the last laugh with wins in Game 6 and 7, with Knicks legend Patrick Ewing recording the series-winning dunk with 26.9 seconds left in the do-or-die game.

That was the second of three straight playoff matchups between Ewing's Knicks and Miller's Pacers, with New York and Indiana meeting six times in eight postseasons between 1993 and 2000. The 1995 East semis saw Miller famously score eight points in nine seconds to stun the Garden again in Game 1, with Ewing blowing the potential game-tying layup in the final moments of Game 7.

There was Miller's shot to force OT in Game 4 of the 1998 East semis (which the Pacers won) and Larry Johnson's unforgettable four-point play to help the Ewing-less Knicks past the heavily favored Pacers in the 1999 conference finals.

After briefly renewing hostilities in the second round of the 2013 playoffs, the rivalry entered the modern era last year, when Haliburton's Pacers got the best of Jalen Brunson's banged up squad. The lingering animosity from that matchup even led to flirtations with a professional wrestling feud.

Though most of the combatants in this year's series weren't born yet when the rivalry took root, all of that baggage served as the backdrop for this year's Eastern Conference finals, which tipped off 30 years to the day after Ewing's blown layup.

Unfortunately for Knicks fans, a new generation is now all too familiar with the drama, angst, and heartbreak this matchup often provides. The Pacers outscored the Knicks 20-6 over the final 2:39 of regulation, with Indiana's 23 points over the final 3:14 the most scored by a playoff team in the play-by-play era (since 1997). Haliburton's pop-up buzzer-beater will headline highlight reels for years, but it was forward Aaron Nesmith who exploded for 20 points over the final 4:45 of regulation.

History will also forget that the Knicks scored the first four points of overtime, with Indiana ultimately recording one of the most unfathomable victories in postseason history for the third time in the last three weeks.

New York had a 99.7% chance of winning Game 1 with under three minutes to play, according to ESPN's win probability meter. That fact and many others will leave Knicks fans absolutely gutted, but this series is far from over. The Thunder let Game 1 slip away in their second-round series against Nikola Jokic's Nuggets, only for Oklahoma City to now find itself three wins from the Finals. Back in 1994, the Knicks rebounded after Miller labeled them chokers.

Whether the 2025 Knicks are made of the same mettle remains to be seen, but don't put anything past this matchup. There's something about these two teams coming together at this time of year that makes anything feel possible.

Joseph Casciaro is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.