This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
Not at Madison Square Garden.
Not after the mayor of New York renamed 15 city streets in honor of the 15 players who carried the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference Finals in a quarter century.
Not after the Knicks dominated the Indiana Pacers for nearly 45 minutes in Game 1 on Wednesday night.
But this is the NBA — where momentum is fragile, chaos is routine, and no lead is safe. And these Knicks? They’ve flirted with volatility all postseason long.
They rarely play a full 48. They ease up when urgency should be peaking. And on Wednesday, it cost them more than just a game. It may have cost them the series.
Game 1 slipped through their fingers in gutting, slow-motion fashion. The Knicks led by 14 with 3:14 left in regulation. The game looked finished — until Aaron Nesmith caught fire, hitting six straight threes. Until Tyrese Haliburton, quiet most of the night, buried a game-tying jumper at the buzzer. A shot that would have won the game — if his foot wasn’t on the line.
The Knicks had multiple chances to shut the door. They never did.
Instead, they collapsed. Indiana took full control to end regulation, and New York let go of the rope in a stunning 138-135 loss that swung home-court advantage and ripped the momentum straight out of their hands — just days removed from toppling the defending champion Boston Celtics.
This was supposed to be the next step. Instead, it became a misstep.
“We didn’t finish the game out. We didn’t run through that finish line. I feel like defensively we let off the gas, intensity and physically weren’t there, offensively we were playing slower, a little stagnant, and looked like we were playing not to lose,” said Josh Hart. “We got to make sure we don’t make that mistake again.
“Obviously it’s a tough one, we’re all disappointed in it, but the series is not over after one game.”
He’s right. It’s not over. But for a team with championship aspirations, it was a wake-up call — a gut check — and a reminder that talent alone won’t be enough. The margin for error is gone.
Now, they’ll need to fight to take it back.
“We didn’t do what we needed to do. If we did, we’d be coming in here talking a whole different ball game. There’s a lot of things that we did good, and we put ourselves in position to win. It’s just about executing, being disciplined for 48 minutes,” said Karl-Anthony Towns. “We’re doing that for more of the game than we did in the last two series, but we have to be better this series especially against this team. We played 46 good minutes. Those two minutes is where we lost the game and that’s on all of us. We’ve all gotta be better and step up to the plate.”
Yet the Pacers make things difficult. Stylistically, the Knicks lean on their stars — top-heavy by design — while Indiana comes in waves. Rick Carlisle routinely stretches his rotation to 11 deep. In Game 1, he deployed 10. Tom Thibodeau countered with seven trusted contributors logging 20-plus minutes — and one more, Cameron Payne, with just nine.
The Knicks knew what was coming. They prepared for the track meet.
But it’s one thing to brace for a sprint — and another to feel the dust gathering in your lungs mid-race.
“Obviously it’s disappointing, but we didn’t think it was going to be an easy series,” said Hart. “That’s a tough opponent and this doesn’t change that. So we gotta go out there, watch the film tomorrow, get better, learn and not let this happen again.”
Now, the Knicks have to lick their wounds and regroup for Game 2. They had Game 1 in their grasp — and let it slip. A sick twist of fate for a team that stormed back from 20-point deficits twice against the defending champs. A team that built its playoff identity on poise under pressure — one of the most clutch in the league — just opened the conference finals by coughing up a double-digit lead on their home floor.
“In the playoffs when you win it’s the best thing ever. When you lose it’s the worst thing ever,” said team captain Jalen Brunson. “So the best way to deal with all that is just stay level-headed, make sure we have each other’s backs. Obviously not the way we want to finish the game. Like he said, Tomorrow we watch film, get better, and make sure we’re ready for Game 2.”
