INDIANAPOLIS – The Knicks and Pacers have played several memorable Game 6’s in their playoff history, continuing with Saturday night’s meeting.
The Post’s Zach Braziller takes a look at back at them:
Roy Hibbert blocked Carmelo Anthony at the rim, rebuffing the Knicks’ hopes of forcing a Game 7. They had a two-point lead at the time with 5:03 remaining.
The Pacers scored on the other end and the Knicks never led again.
Hibbert was a monster that day, notching 21 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks.
It would mark Anthony’s final trip to the postseason as a Knick. They didn’t get back there again until 2021.
“You’ve got to give them guys credit, especially when they got a chance to set. Roy Hibbert gets to sit in the paint, causes havoc,” Anthony, who scored 39 points in defeat, said afterwards.
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Revenge for Reggie Miller and the Pacers.
A year after they were eliminated at MSG, they return the favor. Miller scores 34 points and hits five 3-pointers in the dominant 93-80 victory.
Indiana advances to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, becoming the second former ABA team to get there after the Spurs the previous season.
With a chance to advance, the Knicks face adversity in the second quarter.
Larry Johnson, who had become such a vital part of the team when Patrick Ewing was lost to a torn Achilles tendon in Game 2, went down with a sprained knee.
The Knicks still found a way in one of Allan Houston’s finest moments. He was unstoppable, scoring 32 points and outplaying Reggie Miller.
It was a remarkable postseason run for the eight-seeded Knicks, who outlasted the rival and No. 1 Heat in the first round, swept the Hawks in the second round and got past favored Indiana in the conference finals.
This remains the Knicks last trip to the NBA Finals, and before this spring had been the last time they clinched a series victory at the Garden.
This series is remembered for Reggie Miller’s eight points in 8.9 seconds in Game 1 and Patrick Ewing’s missed finger roll at the buzzer of Game 7. But the Knicks showed guts in even getting it to that point.
They pulled out a hard-fought Game 6 win behind Ewing’s 25 points and 15 rebounds, beating the Pacers on the road while facing elimination for the second straight year.
Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason combine for 32 points and 17 rebounds as the Knicks hold the Pacer to 82 points.
The favored Knicks had their backs against the wall after Reggie Miller took over Game 5 at the Garden, scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter and giving superfan Spike Lee the choke sign.
The Knicks, who had already lost twice at Market Square Arena, wouldn’t be denied.
John Starks scored 26 points to lead them and Derek Harper made big plays late in the tense contest.
They would go on to win a memorable Game 7 back at the Garden and reach the NBA Finals, where the Knicks would lose in seven games to the Rockets.