The Knicks led by 17 points with 6:26 remaining in the fourth quarter and by nine points with under a minute left, only to lose, 138-135, in overtime at Madison Square Garden.

Teams trailing by 9 or more points in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime had a combined record of 0-1,414 in the playoffs since 1998. The Knicks just became the footnote to that infamous stat, marking the first time such a lead was squandered in over a quarter-century of postseason basketball.

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?

For as much as the Knicks need to refocus on Friday night’s enormous Game 2, they also have to remember what led to them blowing a 14-point lead in the final 2:39 of regulation to avoid it happening again.

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.

As the Pacers crept back into the game, the Knicks were confronted with a burden few franchises carry: 50 years of history.

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.