Knicks vs. Pacers: Best (and infamous) moments of rivalry

They didn’t face one another in the NBA playoffs until 1993, but the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers got acquainted really quickly after that.

The two franchises wound up playing six memorable playoff series against one another over an eight-season span, including two-consecutive matchups in the Eastern Conference finals in 1999 and 2000.

A quarter-century later, it’s Knicks vs. Pacers for a spot in the NBA Finals once again. The two teams begin their best-of-seven series with Game 1 on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, and it’ll rekindle one of the league’s great rivalries of the 1990s that’s suddenly been given new life with the rise of the Knicks under Jalen Brunson and the Pacers with Tyrese Haliburton the past two seasons.

The Pacers got the best of the Knicks in the 2024 Eastern Conference semifinals, blowing out New York in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. It was the eighth overall playoff series between the two, and the first to go to a Game 7 since the Pacers and Knicks did so in back-to-back years in 1994-1995.

The anticipation for this latest matchup has also triggered nostalgia for those classic battles between Reggie Miller and Patrick Ewing, and how the Knicks and Pacers turned into an NBA playoffs rivalry. Here are some of the best (or infamous) moments from Knicks vs. Pacers playoff series of the past ahead of the 2025 Eastern Conference finals:

Knicks vs. Pacers in NBA playoffs: Best rivalry moments

1993: John Starks headbutts Reggie Miller

The roots of the Knicks-Pacers rivalry can likely be traced back to this moment during Game 3 of the 1993 playoffs when New York and Indiana met in a best-of-five first-round series. Starks head-butted Miller in frustration, drawing the ire of teammates Charles Oakley and Ewing, and the Pacers came back to avoid a sweep. Though the Knicks won the series, 3-1, seeds had been planted.

1994: Reggie Miller vs. Spike Lee (but Patrick Ewing prevails)

Miller’s first big moment antagonizing Knicks’ fans came in Game 4 of the 1994 Eastern Conference finals. The Pacers star had 39 points, including 25 in the fourth quarter to spearhead a double-digit comeback that is remembered for Miller jawing with Knicks super fan Spike Lee courtside and putting his hands around his neck to symbolize New York choking the game away. The Knicks, however, won the series after Ewing put together perhaps the finest performance of his NBA career in Game 7, finishing with 24 points, 22 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 blocks.

1995: Reggie Miller’s 8 points in 9 seconds

The Knicks and Pacers met again in the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals and perhaps the defining moment of this playoff rivalry occurred in Game 1 when Miller scored eight points in nine seconds as New York improbably blew a late lead in front of a stunned Madison Square Garden crowd.

The series also featured Ewing hitting a game-winner in Game 5 with the Knicks facing a 3-1 series deficit, and then narrowly missing a game-winning layup at the buzzer in Game 7. The Knicks were never the same. The Pacers closed out them out at Madison Square Garden and Pat Riley left that offseason for the Miami Heat.

1998: Reggie Miller forces OT in Game 4

Ewing’s return from a serious wrist injury wasn’t enough for the Knicks after Miller scored 38 points and hit his latest Madison Square Garden dagger to force overtime in Game 4, right as it seemed as though New York was on the verge of evening the series. Indiana won Game 4 in overtime and then advanced to face Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the 1998 Eastern Conference finals.

1999: Larry Johnson’s 4-point play

Larry Johnson’s unlikely shot as he was fouled at the end of Game 3 of the Knicks’ 1999 Eastern Conference finals series against the Pacers helped offset the loss of Ewing in Game 2 to a partially torn Achilles and paved the way for New York’s return to the NBA Finals.

2000: Reggie Miller KOs Knicks for only NBA Finals trip

Miller and the Pacers finally made it to the NBA Finals by knocking out the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. Miller had 34 points in the clinching win.

‘I told the guys before the game,’ Miller said in his postgame interview with NBC, ‘if the league called you up and asked you, you only had to play one game and you could pick the spot where you would play and if you win that game, you can move on to the Finals, would you take it and where would you want to play? Everyone in unison said, ‘The Knicks’ and ‘The Garden.’ ‘

2013: Roy Hibbert blocks Carmelo Anthony in Game 6

The Knicks-Pacers rivalry was briefly reignited in 2013 when the two teams met in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Indiana won in six games – part of an ongoing stretch during which the Pacers have won five of the past six playoff matchups against New York – and Roy Hibbert punctuated the series win with an emphatic block on a Carmelo Anthony dunk attempt at the rim in the fourth quarter of Game 6.

May 2024: Andrew Nembhard’s Game 3 winner

The Knicks-Pacers rivalry really came to life again last year when the two teams battled over seven games in the 2024 Eastern Conference semifinals. The Knicks won Game 1, in part, thanks to an incorrect kicked ball violation in the final minute and the Pacers blew out New York at Madison Square Garden in Game 7. But the shot that perhaps swung the series occurred in Game 3, when Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard hit a contested stepback 3-pointer with 16 seconds left to give Indiana a lead it didn’t relinquish.

Watch Pacers vs. Knicks with Sling TV

June 2024: Tyrese Haliburton and Jalen Brunson appear on WWE Smackdown

The stage was set for this year’s rematch almost a year ago when Haliburton and Brunson got involved in a match between WWE superstars Logan Paul and LA Knight on the June 28, 2024 edition of WWE Smackdown at Madison Square Garden.

Haliburton played the role of heel, attempting to supply Paul with brass knuckles before Brunson intervened from his ringside seat. After Knight won the match, Brunson entered the ring with a chair during a standoff between the two wrestlers and Haliburton.

‘I’ll be back,’ Haliburton told the pro-Knicks crowd as he walked backstage.

Pacers vs. Knicks schedule: How to watch 2025 Eastern Conference finals

(all times Eastern; * – if necessary)

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