Tyrese Haliburton was confident the game-tying jumper at the end of regulation was good — until it hit the rim, bounced high, and seemed to hang in the air forever.
"It felt good when it left my hands," Haliburton said. "I thought it was going to go in, just the ball felt like it was up there for eternity."
"No, I knew... it's going in."@TyHaliburton22 had NO doubts about his game-tying shot at the end of regulation 🔥 https://t.co/zpKpukTdaq
— NBA (@NBA) May 22, 2025
At first, he thought it was a game-winning three. Then came the realization: it was only two, enough to send the game into overtime.
“Then my focus just became winning it,” Haliburton continued.
Indiana did exactly like that as the Pacers rallied from 17 points down in the fourth, and 14 with little more than three minutes left in regulation to steal the East Finals opener against the Knicks in New York, 138-135, in overtime.
[ALSO READ: Clutch Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers complete comeback vs Knicks in East Finals opener]
After OG Anunoby split a pair of free throws to make it 125-123 in favor of the Knicks, Haliburton received the inbound pass from Aaron Nesmith, went coast-to-coast, sprinted into the paint, and then backed out to hoist a fall-away jumper.
"It looked like it had a chance. It was awfully high,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle commented about the shot that sent the game to overtime.
"It bounced straight up and I just watched and I was like, 'Oh, that's good and it went straight in," Nesmith said.
It did, and the Pacers went on to score the final four points of overtime to score another comeback win this ongoing playoffs.
Earlier, Haliburton drilled the game-winning layup in Game 5 to end the Milwaukee Bucks season in their opening-round duel. He then drilled the clutch triple that won it for Indiana in Game 2 of their semifinal series with the no. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers.
Another round, another comeback.
“The biggest thing for me is I already have the confidence to take the shot in the moment," Haliburton said.
He continued: "My group wants me to take those shots, my coaching staff wants me to take those shots, I think our organization wants me to take those shots. That gives me a lot of confidence."
Overall, Haliburton ended up with 31 points, 11 assists, and four threes but aside from his heroics, it was Aaron Nesmith’s fourth quarter explosion that helped set the stage for Indiana’s improbable comeback.
Nesmith drained six threes alone en route to a 20-point fourth quarter, finishing with a playoff career-high 30 markers and eight triples.
“It’s unreal. It’s probably the best feeling in the world. When the basket feels like an ocean and anything you tossed out is going in, it’s just so much fun,” he told reporters in the post-game press conference.
In the play-by-play era (since 1996-97), the record of playoff teams that have trailed by seven or more points in the final 50 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime is only 4-1,702.
The Pacers have three of those four wins, and all of them have come this postseason.
“It’s like a muscle; the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets and it’s not easy. We always say Pacers basketball is 48 minutes, and tonight it’s 53 minutes,” Carlisle noted.
Indiana now shifts its attention to Game 2 on Saturday (PH Time), May 24 as the Pacers aim for a 2-0 lead against the Knicks.
“It’s a long series. We’re not going to get too excited about this. We got things to clean up, they [Knicks] have things to clean up. Game 2 is going to be another war,” Carlisle insisted.
