At Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, the Indiana Pacers made a 138-135 overtime thriller that saw them greatly triumph over the New York Knicks in the first match of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
The Pacers, who were down by 14 points and only had three minutes remaining in the normal time, made an incredible win, helped by six three-pointers in a row. Aaron Nesmith was the star of the night with five of these three-pointers. Indiana thought for a moment that they had won the game outright when a fadeaway jumper by Tyrese Haliburton went in at the buzzer. But, the video replay indicated that one of his shoes was still on the line, and the shot was ruled a two-pointer and sent the game into overtime.
The Pacers managed to get over that agony and they were able to keep the lead. With 35 seconds left in OT, Jalen Brunson provided the Knicks with a 1-point lead on a very tough floater, but Indiana replied with a layup from Andrew Nembhard and a decisive dunk by Obi Toppin to secure the victory.
Haliburton was the best with 31 points and 11 assists for the Pacers, also, Nesmith with his great 30 points shooting 8-of-9 from three-point range contributed a lot. Brunson had 43 points for the Knicks, and Towns helped with 35.
This was the fourth time in the postseason that the Pacers had to come back from a 15+ point deficit. Game 2 will be in New York on Friday.
