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Josh Hart Assigns Blame for Knicks' Game 1 Collapse Against Pacers

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Max Dible | Last updated May 22, 2025 6:49 AM ET

The New York Knicks blew a 14-point lead to the Indiana Pacers to drop Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night, and Josh Hart didn't mince words when it came to the reason for the collapse.

Hart's assessment during his postgame press conference was nuanced and varied, though it can be summed up in one simple concept: the Knicks stopped playing to win and started "playing not to lose."

“We didn’t close the game out. I feel like our intensity dropped. We started playing slower, playing more into their hands. We let that one slip," Hart said, per the New York Post. "I feel like defensively, we let off the gas. Intensity and physicality weren’t there. Offensively we were playing slower, a little stagnant, and looked like we were playing not to lose. We gotta make sure we don’t make that mistake again."

Like any big comeback, particularly those that happen seemingly all at once in a short stretch of time near the end of a game, New York didn't just lose the contest -- the Pacers also won it.

More accurately, Aaron Nesmith won it with six fourth-quarter 3-pointers, including five of them in the final 3 minutes and change. Tyrese Haliburton also cashed in on a game-tying buzzer beater that sent the contest to overtime and resulted in a three-point Indiana victory, 138-135.

But as deflating as the Game 1 defeat might be to the Knicks players in its immediate aftermath, there is plenty for the team to build upon in what has the look of a long series.

Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony-Towns were both spectacular on offense, netting 78 total points between them. New York won both the battle of the boards and the free throw line, and led the contest after the first, second and third quarters before stretching out its biggest lead of the night late in the fourth.

Brunson remains arguably the top clutch player in the NBA, and the Knicks opened as 6.5-favorites for Game 2 in Madison Square Garden on Friday. That line has dipped to 5.5 points since ESPN BET listed it, but New York will enter the contest as a significant favorite to even the series before it heads to Indianapolis for Games 3 and 4.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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