Tyrese Haliburton left one final dagger in the Knicks after the Pacers beat them to head to the Eastern Conference Finals.
As most seven-game series’ in the NBA playoffs are wont to do, Knicks vs. Pacers got pretty chippy by the end, perhaps most notably with New York guard Donte DiVincenzo accusing Indiana’s roster of “trying to be tough guys” after his team’s Game 5 win to take a 3-2 series lead.
DiVincenzo’s teammates then decided to further the beef by wearing all black for what they hoped would be a funeral of a Game 6...
Knicks pulled up to Game 6 dressed in black pic.twitter.com/Bx7g8ZAWCg
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 18, 2024
... a decision that backfired spectacularly when they promptly lost two blowouts in a row to blow their series lead and get sent home.
Some would call that choking under pressure, and while Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton did not exactly do that after hitting six threes to score 21 points and send the Knicks to Cancun... he certainly made reference to the most famous instance of a Pacers star calling the Knicks chokers with his choice of postgame attire following Sunday’s 130-109 win:
Tyrese Haliburton showing up to the press conference with the iconic Reggie Miller choking photo on his sweatshirt. @WISH_TV #Pacers #BoomBaby #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/AnSRAfbp51
— Angela Moryan (@AngelaMoryanTV) May 19, 2024
For a better look, THE PACERS THEMSELVES tweeted a high-definition photo of their star player wearing a sweatshirt with Reggie Miller making the choke sign at the ‘90s Knicks to essentially call the team they just beat chokers, which is kind of an astounding thing for an actual team account to do:
Tyrese Haliburton in a Reggie Miller sweatshirt after winning Game 7 at the Garden pic.twitter.com/TKuOc3t1zu
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 19, 2024
However, when considering that Knicks guard Josh Hart took time out of his own team’s Game 2 win to tell Miller himself “f--- you” while the Pacers legend was calling the game for TNT... I think the beef levels here will allow it.
Now, while this is, objectively, a hilarious burn, it’s also hard not to imagine these photos coming back to bite Haliburton the next time his team blows a lead, given the way the NBA internet is essentially fueled by the bonfires of celebrated downfalls and roasting.
But that’s a problem for another day. For now, Haliburton did get to have his own Reggie Miller moment, likely the final step towards his being beloved in Indiana for life... and possibly also becoming a lifelong enemy of the city of New York.
