From cheering to dead silence: How did the Knicks send himself under the sword?

New York Knicks fans have seen strong storms, but have never experienced such shock.

In the Madison Square Garden, hundreds of fans emerged from the stairs like walking dead, leaving the noise of the field behind. On the streets of Manhattan, only the "squeak" sound of the wet soles rubbing the steps in the silence: some people's eyes are wide open, some people's eyes are red, and everyone is speechless. "The New Yorkers can't speak" - this detail is more heart-wrenching than the score.

Halliburton shouted on his way back to the locker room with victory: "Why is it so quiet?" The answer is hidden in the most unlikely script in basketball history.

In the first match of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night, when Bronson hit a three-pointer to widen the gap to 14 points (2 minutes and 51 seconds left in regular time), a large number of fans began to leave, and some even left. After 58 seconds, Bronson scored another 2 points for a layup, and the 9-point advantage seemed as stable as Mount Tai. The cheers of left-behind fans in the stadium confirmed the consensus that "the game has ended."

But the charm of basketball never ends with data - Aaron Nesmith rewrites the script with his historical performance in the playoffs: he hit 6 three-pointers in a single quarter (3 in the last minute of the final quarter), and the Pacers instantly narrowed the score with "three-point rain". When Halliburton carried the ball before the end of the game, the Knicks were still leading by 2 points, but no one expected that the next 0.3 seconds would become a historical turning point.

Pacers defender changed direction and broke into the penalty area. When he seemed to be about to drag in overtime, he suddenly threw a "ball of despair" behind his back. The ball hit the basket and bounced into the air, as if it was gently supported by the God of Basketball. Finally, it drew an elegant arc and fell into the net - unfortunately, Halliburton's toes happened to step on the three-point line, and the 2-point tied the game into overtime. In the end, the Pacers completed the reversal 138 to 135, while the Knicks became the "background board" of two historical records: since 1998, the team that fell more than 9 points in the last minute of the final quarter won 0 wins and 1,414 losses in the playoffs, and this game was rewritten to 1,414 losses; since 1997, the team that led 14 points and had 2 minutes and 50 seconds left, ended with a 977 consecutive victory in the playoffs, with the first loss.

"We should have discussed a completely different game here." Towns' reflection revealed the mystery: the Knicks used 46 minutes to build the victory, but lost everything in the last 2 minutes of regular time + overtime. The defensive collapse became the fuse of a defeat: the failure to switch defense in time in the pick-and-roll defense allowed Nesmith to get a large open position; the missed position without the ball, the rebound protection failed, and even the tactical fouls arranged by the coach were forgotten by the players, watching the Pacers complete the outbound ball and dunk. The offensive power cut was a fatal blow: 3 of the 15 mistakes in the game appeared in the last 150 seconds of overtime (only 1 point difference), and Bronson and Towns had a total of 78 points in firepower at critical moments. Like the Celtics in the last round, the team fell into the "arrogance trap" after leading the score - hastily shot, missed free throws, and was chaotic, and was eventually "snatched food" by the Pacers.

"Our intensity has dropped, the pace has slowed down, and it has fallen into the rhythm of the opponent." Hart's summary came to the nail on the head. This team, known as the "last quarter killer", finally tasted the taste of being reversed. There are still positive signals at the data level: Bronson and Towns' "dual core" performance is still strong, rebound dominance (except the last quarter) is still an advantage, and the Pacers' fast break tactics do not defeat the Knicks' psychological defense until the end. Halliburton's "throat lock" celebration reminds people of Reggie Miller's classic provocation against Spike Lee in the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals - the Pacers also completed a reversal, but eventually lost the series. Now the Knicks are facing a similar script: is it a repeat of the "curse of being reversed" or a replica of the history of "reversal of adversity"?

As Bronson said: "Obviously this feels terrible, but the series has just begun. We cannot indulge in defeat, we must find the antidote in video analysis." Friday's second game will reveal the answer - when the "God of Basketball" overdraws the Knicks' luck in G1, can this team labeled "resilience" prove with a rebound: this historic defeat is just a "black humor" in the finals journey?

The charm of basketball is that someone can always break the "impossibility". When Knicks fans walked silently on the streets of Manhattan in the early morning, they might not know that this defeat, defined by the data as the "1/1415 probability", has long surpassed the game itself and became an eternal footnote on "miracle" and "regret" in the long river of NBA history. And the next chapter of the story is waiting to be written.