The Knicks’ come-from-behind victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 stunned the sports world.
But it wasn’t even the most shocking thing to happen in the Eastern Conference this week.
The fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers are now up 2-0 in their second-round series against the top-seeded — and heavily favored — Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Pacers earned both victories on the road, including a Game 2 in which Indiana erased a seven-point deficit in the final 57.1 seconds and won, 120-119, on Tyrese Haliburton’s step-back 3-pointer.
And now Cleveland’s season is in serious jeopardy.
“It sucks,” Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell said after Tuesday’s loss. “It stings. But we’ve got to go out there and take care of business. Otherwise, that’s it.”
Cleveland went 64-18 in the regular season behind the NBA’s highest-scoring offense; the Coach of the Year in Kenny Atkinson; and a deep roster headlined by three All-Stars.
But injuries appear to be catching up with the Cavs, who in Game 2 were without two starters in point guard Darius Garland (toe) and power forward Evan Mobley (ankle), as well as their sixth man, De’Andre Hunter (thumb).
Forced into the starting lineup, guard Ty Jerome managed only two points on 1-of-14 shooting, while forward Dean Wade finished with three points in 30 minutes.
That put even more of the onus on Mitchell, Cleveland’s leading scorer, who erupted for 48 points with nine assists but was one of only four Cavaliers to eclipse five points.
Cleveland led by 20 points in the third quarter, and it had a 95.9% win probability after Mitchell scored his final point on a free throw to put the Cavs up, 119-112, with 57.1 left, according to ESPN Analytics.
But Mitchell played 36 minutes — up from his season average of 31.4 — and committed a costly charge that gave the ball back to the Pacers, then down by five, with 45.2 seconds left.
Indiana trailed by three with 27.1 seconds to go when Pacers’ Andrew Nembhard stole an errant inbound pass from Max Strus. Haliburton then drew a foul on Jerome with 12.1 seconds left, leading to a pair of free-throw attempts.
Haliburton made the first, cutting the Pacers’ deficit to 119-117, then intentionally missed the second. He corralled his own miss, stepped behind the 3-point arc and drilled the go-ahead 24-footer with one second on the clock.
“It’s the NBA,” Haliburton said afterward. “Crazier things have happened.”
Mitchell failed to box out on Haliburton on that fateful missed free throw.
“I should have grabbed the ball,” Mitchell said. “I should have grabbed it. I was right there, so that’s on me.”
Tuesday’s late-game chaos followed a Game 1 in which Indiana unleashed a 15-4 run in the fourth quarter to clinch a 121-112 win.
Cleveland shot just 9-of-38 on 3-pointers in Game 1, accounting for their fewest makes of the season, while the Pacers made 19 of their 36 attempts from 3-point range, many of which were uncontested.
Haliburton made the go-ahead 3-pointer in Game 1, too, albeit with 6:21 left in regulation.
“I’m at peace,” said Haliburton, who last month was named the NBA’s most overrated player in an anonymous player poll conducted by The Athletic. “I’m at peace with my game. Understanding I’m trusted in these moments, I have all the confidence in the world to make these shots.”
Cleveland has been without Garland since Game 2 of its first-round series against the Miami Heat, but the Cavs faced little resistance in that lopsided four-game sweep.
But the Pacers (50-32), with one of the NBA’s deepest rosters and highest-powered offenses, are in a different class than Miami. Six players scored in double-figures for the Pacers in Game 2, including four who finished with at least 19 points.
Indiana’s depth proved similarly potent in last year’s second-round series victory over the Knicks, who endured injury after injury during that seven-game bout.
This year’s second round has been even more dramatic, with the road team winning Game 1 in all four series.
History is on the Pacers’ side. Teams that won Games 1 and 2 on the road in a 2-2-1-1-1 format are 24-4 in those series since 1984.
If the third-seeded Knicks advance past the second-seeded Celtics, they would be met in the Eastern Conference Finals by either a Pacers team that pulled off a historic upset or a Cavaliers team that rallied to get there.
“We can sit here and dwell on this and be home in about four or five days, or we can move on and take some things that we did really well and go from there,” Mitchell said after Game 2. “I have no doubt everybody in the locker room is ready for [Game 3 on] Friday.”
