The Knicks collapsed in historic fashion in game one of their first Eastern Conference Final in 25 years, blowing a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter before falling in overtime in front of a stunned Madison Square Garden crowd.
Nobody in the sold-out building could make sense of what they just witnessed, as a Tyrese Haliburton buzzer beater bounced sky high off the back iron and dropped right in to tie the game in the fourth quarter after New York blew multiple chances to ice the game at the free throw line.
One notable stat that circulated social media highlighted just how improbable the Knicks’ choke job was, as multiple reporters and statisticians revealed that the Knicks are the first team to lose a game in the play-by-play era in which they led by 14 or more in the final 2:50 of a playoff game.
Teams that had held that lead with that much time left had previously won the game all 977 times before Wednesday night.
That stat, along with the sight of Haliburton mimicking the classic Reggie Miller choke sign after his game-tying shot, will live on as the lasting images of one of the worst playoff losses in Knicks history, and they will have to pick themselves up and put game one behind them in a hurry before game two on Friday night.