Josh Hart playing for the New York Knicks in 2024. Photo by Megan Briggs via Getty Images
All but two NBA teams currently find themselves on the outside looking in, as the 2024 NBA Finals has kicked off between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks. All the other teams are in the same boat, and that includes the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers. Those two were at each others’ throats two weeks ago.
The Pacers notably defeated the Knicks in the second round of the NBA playoffs. That was thanks to a critical Game 7 which saw the Pacers shoot a record 67.1 percent as a collective unit. Following that game, Tyrese Haliburton trolled the Knicks by wearing a hoodie depicting Reggie Miller performing a choking pose. That was to infer that the Knicks choked the series away.
That troll did not do Haliburton any favors, however. He and the Pacers earned the right to face the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, and would be swept by them in four games. On “The Roommates Show,” a podcast with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, Hart admitted that he trolled Haliburton about getting swept.
“Damn, y’all couldn’t get one win?” Hart said on the podcast. “Y’all beat us game seven, whatever, y’all mad hype. Y’all couldn’t get one win? After three leads in the fourth?…Damn, we could have did that…Like, at least get one.”
Hart acknowledged that he trolled Haliburton following their series loss to the Celtics. He claimed that for all the game they talked, they could not even get one win. Hart also said that the Knicks could have gotten at least one win against Boston, had they faced them.
History Unknown
It is undeniable that injuries played a roll in the downfall of the Knicks’ season. By the time Game 7 rolled around, they were down to just one starter in Jalen Brunson. He himself left the game due to a fractured hand — in the visual version of the podcast, he can be seen wearing a hand cast.
But the Pacers, for the most part, did not have an injuries when they were swept by the Celtics. They they lucked out with a first-round matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks, who lacked Giannis Antetokounmpo for the entire series and Damian Lillard for most of it. The Pacers capitalized on a severely depleted Bucks team and defeated them in six games.
Meanwhile for the Knicks, they reached the 50-win mark for the first time since 2013. That granted them the number two seed in the Eastern Conference. They defeated a Philadelphia 76ers team sporting a compromised Joel Embiid in the opening round in six games as well.
The Pacers once again got somewhat lucky as they faced a Knicks team severely depleted by injuries and down to one starter: Brunson. He did what he could, but the Pacers showed up when it mattered, destroying the Knicks in the do-or-die Game 7 with historic shooting. Now, both teams will look towards 2025, where they may very well find themselves on another collision course.
