Key takeaways:

• Tyrese Haliburton’s buzzer-beater and Aaron Nesmith’s 20-point fourth quarter fueled a historic Pacers comeback.
• The Knicks blew a 14-point lead in under three minutes, exposing fatigue and defensive breakdowns.
• Indiana now leads the series 1-0, with Game 2 looming large for New York’s playoff hopes.

Josh Hart sat at his locker in front of reporters, trying to comprehend how the Knicks gave away a 14-point lead with less than three minutes left in regulation. Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals was theirs to lose — and they did just that, falling 138-135 to the Indiana Pacers in overtime at Madison Square Garden.

“We didn’t close the game out,” Hart said. “We didn’t run through that finish line… Defensively, we didn't have — we let off the gas. The intensity and physicality [weren’t] there. Offensively, we were playing slower, a little stagnant, and looked like we were playing not to lose.”

For most of the night, the Knicks matched Indiana’s blistering pace, though many question whether they’re built to play that way for four quarters, let alone a series. They tied a franchise playoff record with 69 first-half points and looked in control until they hit a wall late in the fourth. That fatigue might prove to be a recurring storyline if the Knicks don’t adjust.

Aaron Nesmith’s fourth-quarter explosion buries Knicks

Aaron Nesmith turned into the Knicks’ worst nightmare, torching them for 20 of his 30 points in the final five minutes of regulation. He capitalized on tired defenders and poor switches. “Each shot that he made just kept giving us more confidence that we could really win this game,” said Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton.

Notably, it was Haliburton’s own high-arc buzzer-beater — a shot so wild it scraped the clouds — that sent the game to overtime. Though it was only a two-pointer after review, the damage was done. From there, Indiana pounced on New York’s errors. Even Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau admitted, “You just can never let your guard down against them. No lead is safe.”

Pacers dominate clutch time, Knicks must shift gears to stay alive

The Pacers have been winning clutch games this postseason. That’s no fluke — they’ve outscored opponents 69-43 on clutch-time possessions, a ridiculous 1.6 points per trip (per NBA). They run hard, stay unselfish, and don’t blink when they’re down double digits. For the Knicks, that means playing at Indiana’s pace is a dangerous trap. If they want to even this series, they’ll need to slow things down, limit transition buckets, and pull more from the bench to keep starters fresh for crunch time.

But Jalen Brunson, who dropped 43 points, can’t do this alone. Karl-Anthony Towns added 35 and 12, but it still wasn’t enough. “We played 46 good minutes. Those two minutes [are] where we lost the game,” Towns said.

Game 2 now feels like a must-win for the Knicks. If the squad repping the Big Apple can’t figure out how to control tempo — and if Haliburton or Nesmith get hot again — this series could slip away faster than anyone in New York is ready for.