The Indiana Pacers face off in a series-deciding Game 7 on Sunday against the New York Knicks. In their NBA history, the Pacers have a record of 3-6 in Game 7s, with nearly all of them coming on the road where they are 2-6.
Update: the Pacers dominated and are now 4-6 in 10 Game 7s including 2-1 at Madison Square Garden. This game has been added to the article.
“We’re excited for the opportunity,” Tyrese Haliburton said after game six. “For a lot of us this is our first playoff experience, let alone Game 7 … We got to be ready to go for 48 minutes. The Garden is an unbelievable environment … and we haven’t won there yet. We have to prove we are able to do that.”
“It’s the ultimate game,” Rick Carlisle said of preparing for Game 7. “… This team has been through a lot of new experiences and this will be another new one. We’ll do everything possible to get them ready but in Game 7s it always comes down to compete level and how you’re tied together.”
“It’s gritty,” Pascal Siakam said of what makes these games so different. “It’s going to be hard … I think as long as you stay within the game plan and play with energy, the hardest playing team usually wins these games.”
Here’s a brief overview of each winner-take-all playoff game in their NBA History including three at Madison Square Garden:
1994 Eastern Conference Finals
Indiana Pacers 90, New York Knicks 94
In the first of the team’s Game 7s in their NBA history, the Pacers and Knicks faced off in the playoffs for the second-straight season. One of the epic series battles chronicled in one of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries: Winning Time. The Pacers came up short in this one, losing 94-90. Reggie Miller led both teams in scoring with 25 points but airballed a potential game winner with less than five seconds left after Patrick Ewing gave the Knicks the lead with a tip dunk (offensive goaltending) on the previous possession. The referees called a bizarre flagrant penalty that allowed the Knicks to push their lead to 4 instead of it remaining a one-possession game.
1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals
Indiana Pacers 97, New York Knicks 95
The Pacers beat their arch-nemesis of the 90s for the first time in the playoffs in a road win in Game 7 in the third playoff meeting between the two teams. Patrick Ewing missed a game-tying layup at the buzzer. Reggie Miller led the way for the Pacers with 29 points. “Ding dong the witch is dead” Mark Boyle said as the buzzer sounded with Indiana advancing to the conference finals. This was the last time the Knicks played in a Game 7.
1995 Eastern Conference Finals
Indiana Pacers 81, Orlando Magic 105
The Pacers blew out the Magic in Game 6 but received the same treatment in Game 7. Dale Davis had 15 points and 14 rebounds, but the Pacers were no match in this game for the dynamic duo of Shaq and Penny who combined for 42 points.
1998 Eastern Conference Finals
Indiana Pacers 83, Chicago Bulls 88
The Pacers took the 2-time defending champions all the way to Game 7 but came up short. Reggie Miller scored an efficient 22 points, but Michael Jordan nearly had a triple double with 28/9/8 to finish the only time Jordan and Miller ever met in the playoffs. The Pacers were up 3 with about six minutes left when the Bulls won a crucial tip ball, then got an offensive rebound and Steve Kerr tied the game with a 3. That swung the momentum to the Bulls and the Pacers never quite got it back.
2005 Eastern Conference First Round
Indiana Pacers 97, Boston Celtics 70
The lower-seeded Pacers pulled off the upset in the year of the Brawl and Reggie Miller’s final season. Stephen Jackson led the Pacers in scoring with 24 points and it was clear it was his night as his first shot was a corner 3-pointer that bounced high off the rim and fell in.. The Pacers won three times on the road in the series, and this is the second win on the road for the Pacers in a Game 7. This is one of their two road game seven wins.
2013 Eastern Conference Finals
Miami Heat 99, Indiana Pacers 76
The Pacers kept it close for a quarter, but the LeBron James-led Heat ran away in the second quarter outscoring the Pacers 33-16 and it was never a game after that. Leading scorer for the Pacers was Roy Hibbert with 18. A disappointing ending to a fantastic series.
2014 Eastern Conference First Round
Indiana Pacers 92, Atlanta Hawks 80
In their most recent Game 7 win, the Pacers avoided a historic collapse by finally beating the 8-seeded Hawks. Paul George led the Pacers with 30 points as they won their second straight after falling behind 2-3 in the series.
2016 EASTERN CONFERENCE FIRST-ROUND
Indiana Pacers 84, Toronto Raptors 89
The Indiana Pacers with a starting lineup of George Hill, Monta Ellis, Paul George, a rookie Myles Turner, and Ian Mahimni. The 7-seed Pacers were behind by double digits for much of the second half and made a big run late to get within three points twice as the Raptors scored just 11 points in the final quarter but three turnovers in the final two minutes caused the rally to fall short. Paul George had 26 points and 12 rebounds. DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points on 10 of 32 shooting to lead the Raptors as they finally got out of the first round with that Lowry/DeRozan core.
2018 EASTERN CONFERENCE FIRST-ROUND
Indiana Pacers 101, Cleveland Cavaliers 105
The incredible Victor Oladipo season ended with a Game 7 loss to LeBron James and the Cavaliers. The Pacers fell behind by as much as 14 points in the first half but they came back to take a 3-point lead halfway through the third quarter. The Cavaliers though stormed back and stayed ahead around 8 points for the remainder of the game. Tristan Thompson, improbably now a Pacers legend, still gives me nightmares after being inserted into the starting lineup for this game (15 points and 10 rebounds). Myles Turner fouled out with about six minutes left on what could have been a big play as he fought for a rebound and put it in, much like Thompson had done to him in the game without getting called for a foul. LeBron scored 45. Victor Oladipo had 30 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals in defeat.
2024 Eastern Conference Semifinals
Indiana Pacers 130, New York Knicks 109
The Indiana Pacers came out and couldn’t miss a shot. They shot 76% in the first half and really didn’t slow down all that much from there. Tyrese Haliburton looked like Reggie Miller, even jawing with a courtside fan in the first quarter. It was a dominating performance where the Knicks simply had no answers as they continued to suffer injuries including losing Jalen Brunson to a fractured hand in the second half. But the Pacers fully earned this victory and left no doubt, weathering the inevitable Knicks run to start the second half and pushing the lead back beyond 20. It was a dominant performance to advance to the conference finals.
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