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.

The Knicks were ahead by double digits in the fourth quarter, but the Pacers stayed close enough to make a charge in the final minute.

In the final minute of overtime, an Obi Toppin follow-up dunk and nifty pass from Haliburton to a cutting Andew Nembhard gave the Pacers the spark they needed to withstand two late three-point attempts from New York stars Jalen Brunson (43 points) and Karl-Anthony Towns (35 points), which would have tied the game.

The sudden silence among Knicks fans spoke volumes. As the Indiana Pacers celebrated Tyrese Haliburton’s stepback buzzer beater in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, a sellout Madison Square Garden hushed in disbelief.

In a disaster of epic proportions, the Knicks squandered a 17-point fourth-quarter lead in Game 1 and are the first team in NBA playoff history to blow a lead of 14 or more points with 2:45 remaining. Teams were previously 994-0 in the playoffs, but the Knicks’ collapse didn’t come from nowhere.