Rivalry renewed - Why this absurd New York Knicks-Indiana Pacers series could signal a massive shift in the East - ESPN

MICHAEL JORDAN'S WALK-OFF message to then-Indiana Pacers coach Larry Bird after vanquishing him in Game 7 in the 1998 Eastern Conference finals is one of the most memorable moments of «The Last Dance» documentary.

«You b----. F--- you.»

It's just one stitch in the tapestry of Pacers rivalries over the decades. For a team that hasn't won a championship since moving from the ABA to the NBA in 1976, the Pacers have a lengthy history of deep antagonism with East rivals.

The 1990s battles with the New York Knicks have been freshly unearthed this spring with the Reggie Miller footage of the choke gesture from the 1994 East finals in heavy rotation.

The infamous «Malice at the Palace» brawl was an outgrowth of the rivalry between the Pacers and the Detroit Pistons in the mid-2000s.

In the 2010s, the Pacers went head-to-head with the Miami Heat in the playoffs three consecutive years, the peak being an epic seven-gamer in 2013, all won by the Heat but all hotly contested and angst-ridden.

This is the second consecutive postseason in which the Pacers have faced the Knicks, with last season's second-round battle won by the Pacers in a lopsided Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks essentially ran out of players. Now, as the teams face off in the 2025 Eastern Conference finals, signs point toward this being the dawn of yet another epoch in the rivalry.

The Pacers and Knicks — with neither team having been, at any point in the season, the bookmakers' favorite to get this far — are both constructed for the medium term.

And with the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the two prohibitive favorites who were wiped out by the current Eastern Conference finalists in this year's second round, facing potentially