Knicks versus Hicks: Part Eight

Can the Pacers slow down Jalen Brunson? Can the Pacers maintain their breakneck pace given New York's ability to crash the offensive glass? Will Tyrese Haliburton take his game to another level?

Here we go again.

Hicks versus Knicks. Knicks versus Hicks. Whatever.

This will be the eighth time these two franchises have hooked up in the NBA playoffs, six of those meetings having come in the 1990’s and 2000, one in 2013-14 and now this, the Eastern Conference semifinals, which begin tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Most of the Pacers were either not yet born or were rolling around in Pampers at the time of the peak Knicks versus Hicks matchups, at least during the 1990’s, but Rick Carlisle, who’s lived through a number of those series as a player and a coach, felt compelled to give his young team a history lesson when he met with them prior to Saturday’s practice. I don’t know specifically what he told them about the rivalry, but there’s plenty of material.

Reggie Miller going for 25 points in the fourth quarter of Game 5 in New York inspiring Reggie to give Spike Lee the famous choke sign.

Miller again dropping eight points in the final seconds to win Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals. (We’ll never forget.)

Larry Johnson’s bogus 4-pooint play in the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals. (We’ll never forget – again.)

The 2000 Eastern Conference Finals victory, led as usual by Miller, sending the Pacers to their first-ever NBA Finals.

The 2013 second-round playoff series when Roy Hibbert’s block of Carmelo Anthony’s dunk attempt in Game 6 was the game-changing moment in a Pacers’ series victory.