INDIANAPOLIS — For the second year in a row, the Pacers will see the Knicks in the playoffs. It’s the fourth time the two teams will match up in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The other times they played each other with a trip to the NBA finals on the line was in 1994, 1999, and 2000.
We went back to the tapes to take a look at the history between these two teams and also talked with Bill Benner, a former sports columnist at the Indianapolis Star.
Benner covered the two teams in the 90’s when the rivalry started. It was the first time an Indiana sports team was really on the national stage.
“And it was against the Knicks, it was New York, and so that made it an extremely big deal. And of course we had this guy named Reggie Miller, number 31, who made it a very personal thing,” said Benner.
The Pacers and Knicks first Eastern Conference Finals match-up was in 1994 and gave us one of the most iconic images in sports history.
“Spike Lee, yeah,” said Benner, making a choking motion.
Reggie Miller scored 25 points in the fourth quarter and made sure Spike Lee knew about it.
“One of those things that as I was sitting on the baseline on press row, and as you’re seeing that you’re going, 'Oh my God. He just gave him the choke sign.' But like I said afterward, Reggie tried to downplay, but there was no downplaying it, not in New York,” said Benner.
The Pacers would ultimately lose that series in seven games, but met again in 1999. Again, the Knicks won, this time in six games.
“Early in the series had been the Larry Johnson 4-point play. Very controversial and for Pacers fans that will forever be the play that turned the series toward the Knicks,” said Benner.
In 2000, the Pacers would get their revenge.
“Coming back in 2000 seemed to make it all worthwhile,” said Benner.
Now, here we are. New teams, but no less intensity.
“New York likes to think it’s the center of the basketball universe. No, no, no, Indiana is the center of the basketball universe, and so there’s that kind of back story. It’s not just Hicks vs Knicks, Pacers vs Knicks, it’s Indiana vs New York. And I think that is always at play,” said Benner
It’s renewed on Wednesday Night with a trip to the finals up for grabs for the first time in 25 years.
“I like the Pacers, and I like the Pacers in six,” said Benner.
