Still, because Haliburton's foot was on the line, the Knicks could avoid making history if they could recover in overtime. Instead, it was much of the same as the Pacers kept rolling, with Andrew Nembhard doing most of the damage with seven points in the extra period.

The Knicks took one of their hardest hits off the floor following Wednesday’s crushing collapse against the Pacers.

Jalen Brunson had just tied Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing's franchise record by reaching 30 points in the playoffs for the 18th time with the New York Knicks. Then the Knicks hit the Indiana Pacers with a 14-0 run after Brunson had to go to the bench early in the fourth quarter Wednesday night after picking up his fifth foul,

The first question — the one that dominated brainwaves and airwaves, tabloid back pages and possibly therapists’ billable hours all across the Tri-State area on Thursday — is obvious: How the hell did the Pacers just do that?

Knicks fans have seen it all. They've never seen this, though: a loss so jaw-dropping that it somehow silenced the city that never sleeps.

The New York Knicks were less than one minute away from taking a 1-0 lead over the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals at a frenzied Madison Square Garden before suffering a crushing defeat, that one analyst is calling the “biggest choke job” of all time.

Aaron Nesmith went wild down the stretch, hitting six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby missed killer free throws in the final 14.3 seconds, as the Knicks failed to close out the win.

Follow live coverage of tonight's Game 2 as the Knicks look to rebound after a heartbreaking Game 1 defeat to the Pacers in overtime