It was a moment of deja vu for the New York Knicks.
31 years on from when Reggie Miller hit his iconic ‘choking’ celebration inside Madison Square Garden, Tyrese Haliburton wheeled out his own version of the infamous gesture after orchestrating a chaotic late-game comeback.
Hailburton pulled off Reggie Miller’s celebration in the Garden@NBAONTNTIt was a shocking collapse in New York on Wednesday night as the Indiana Pacers rallied late on to steal a 138-135 win against the Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Pacers forced overtime after they were down 14 points with 2:51 remaining in regulation time.
After mounting an improbable comeback, Haliburton, who has laughed in the face of his ‘overrated’ haters, tied the game with a wild jumper at the buzzer in regulation to send the contest to overtime.
However, Haliburton thought it was a 3-pointer and that the game was over, running towards the sideline and making a choke signal to the New York crowd.
But a video replay confirmed Haliburton’s toe was on the line. The basket counted for two, tying the game at 125 and forcing OT, which the Pacers won 138-135.
Haliburton’s celebration was a callback to Hall of Famer Miller’s famous gesture to Spike Lee when he led the Pacers to a comeback win over the Knicks in a 1994 playoff game.
Unsurprisingly, the Madison Square Garden crowd was shocked at the scenes unfolding on its home court, and that included the Inside the NBA crew of Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal who were in attendance at the game.
Barkley kept exclaiming, “What, what!” while Draymond Green, who was a special guest, repeatedly said, “Oh my God!” several times.
O’Neal was seen in the background looking stunned, and towards the end of the video, Green told the entire cast, “Oh, he did the choke!”
After the game, Haliburton admitted this was the right-time to bring back Miller’s iconic celebration.
It was another clutch moment for HailburtonGetty Shaq, Barkley, and Ernie Johnson couldn’t believe Haliburton had made the shotX@NBAonTNT Kenny Smith had to let them know it was only a two and the game was going to OTX@NBAonTNT“I wasn’t like plotting on it or anything,” Haliburton said after the game.
“Everybody wanted me to do it last year at some point, but it’s got to feel right. It felt right at the time — well, if I would’ve known it was a 2, I would not have done it. So I think I might’ve wasted it.”
It’ll be a game etched into history as entering the matchup, teams that were down nine or more points in the final minute of a fourth quarter in a playoff game were 0-1414 since 1998.
Now it’s 1-1414.
New York led 119-105 with under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. According to ESPN Research, their win probability was 99.7%
The Pacers have somewhat become the kings of comebacks This is their fourth of the postseason when trailing by three possessions with less than a minute to go.
Only the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are enjoying their own thrilling postseason this year, had ever achieved such a feat in the playoffs before this season, doing so in 2014.
“Well, I would like to not keep being in this situation,” Haliburton added.
“But we’re just a group that has spent a lot of time with each other. I think that just gives us all confidence in each other.
“I’ve seen people joke about us. We’re like a college team with how close we are and how we’ve been together. We’re all super young. But man, it’s special. I love playing with these guys.”
For the Knicks, the loss comes after stellar efforts from Jalen Brunson who notched 43 points and Karl-Anthony Towns who put up 35 points.
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