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It seemed safe to assume the Knicks were going to take the first game of their playoff series with the Pacers based on the 14-point lead they had with less than three minutes left. However, they made history for all of the wrong reasons due to a monumental collapse that caused one gambler who made what seemed like a surefire bet to lose close to $10,000.
By now, I imagine every NBA fan knows what went down when the Pacers headed to Madison Square Garden for Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Finals showdown with the Knicks on Wednesday night.
The two squads kept things pretty close over the course of the first three quarters before the home team started to pull away in the fourth en route to building what seemed to be an insurmountable lead when you consider New York was up 119-105 when Indiana got the ball back with 2:41 left on the clock.
However, the Pacers subsequently kicked off a 20-6 run they capped off when Tyrese Haliburton hit what appeared to be a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer before a review determined his foot was on the line.
The Reggie Miller-inspired choking signal he pulled out may have been a little premature, but the bucket was still good enough to force the overtime period where the Pacers seized on the momentum in their favor to get the 138-135 victory.
Just how bad was New York’s defeat? Well, ESPN gave the Knicks a 99.7% chance of winning before they imploded, and teams leading by 14 points or more within the last 2:45 of a playoff game had posted a 994-0 record since 1997 before they added the first entry to the loss column.
According to The New York Post, one gambler who was keeping tabs on Kalshi, a prediction market that gave the Knicks a 99% chance at winning around that point in the contest, decided to wager $9,262 in the hopes of taking home $9,723—just $97—courtesy of a Knicks win.
Unfortunately, they didn’t make a single penny while losing 962,000 of them thanks to the final result (the outlet says Kalshi confirmed the authenticity of the bet in question).
Ouch.