The Pacers silence Madison with another historic comeback: Indiana 1 New York 0

Indiana Pacers fell to 0-2 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the best team in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, thanks to two incredible comebacks in the final seconds. New York Knicks also went down 0-2 against the Boston Celtics after coming back from a 20-point deficit in both matches. The Eastern Conference Finals have started the same way, with a wild game where it's clear that in these playoffs, mistakes come at a high cost, and the ones from Indianapolis should never be counted out.

Since '96/'97, no team had managed to overcome a 7-point deficit in the final 50 seconds of a playoff game. The Pacers have done it 3 times this postseason. It's unbelievable. The Knicks seemed to have the game completely in control. In fact, they were up 108-92 with 7 minutes left, 119-105 with 2:51 remaining, and most notably, after a basket by Kar Anthony-Towns, they were leading 123-115 with 41.1 seconds left. Then came the sequence of madness. With 34 seconds to go, Aaron Nesmith nailed a three-pointer to bring his team within five. In the next play, after a miss by Brunson and a recovery by Siakam, Nesmith hit another three, bringing them within 2 with 22 seconds left and preparing Madison Square Garden for what was coming.

With 14 seconds left, Towns was fouled and only made one of his free throws. The same scenario at 12 seconds, but Nesmith hit both to cut the deficit to 1. Another missed free throw by OG Anunoby left the Pacers trailing by 2 with 7 seconds to go. Then the madness ensued. Tyrese Haliburton attempted a drive that didn't go as planned, had to step back, and ended up shooting a seemingly 3-pointer that turned out to be a 2-pointer. The highly-arched shot touched the rim, soared over the Madison Square Garden about a meter and a half, and dropped in cleanly, silencing the arena. The overtime was another wild ride that the Pacers won, closing Game 1 with a score of 138-135.

Analyzing the game beyond the final madness makes little sense. We will see mentally how this affects the Knicks in Game 2: it has been shown that being up 2-0 is very difficult to overcome, especially if it's at home. They played well almost throughout the game, if they hadn't faltered at the end, they would surely have had their chances. Yesterday, the 43 points from Jalen Brunson and the 35 from Towns were of no avail. Haliburotn finished with 31 and Nesmith with 30. Astounding.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Los Pacers acallan el Madison con otra remontada histórica: Indiana 1 New York 0