Channing Frye says Game 1 of Pacers-Knicks was almost as good as Game 7 of 2016 NBA Finals: ‘Close’

In the eyes of some people, Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors was one of the greatest games in NBA playoff history.

The contest included some of the best players in league history, such as forward LeBron James and guard Stephen Curry. Not only that, but it was a back-and-forth affair with 20 lead changes and 11 ties over the course of 48 minutes of play, all with a championship at stake.

Former Cavs big man Channing Frye knows as well as anyone how great of a battle that Game 7 was, even if he didn’t appear in the contest. He was a member of the Cavaliers at the time, yet he thinks Wednesday’s Game 1 of the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks came “close” to that in terms of the best playoff games he’s ever seen.

The Pacers took home-court advantage away from the Knicks in Game 1 with a three-point victory in overtime. Aaron Nesmith and Tyrese Haliburton were among the heroes for Indiana.

Nesmith knocked down six 3s in the fourth quarter, the most triples from any one player in the final frame of any game in NBA playoff history. He finished with 30 points overall. Haliburton, meanwhile, had 31 points of his own and saved his team with a wild shot at the end of regulation.

Maybe the reason folks like Frye are lauding the Knicks-Pacers contest as a historically great playoff game is the late-game comeback the Pacers made. Indiana trailed by 14 points with under three minutes remaining in regulation, yet it managed to overcome such a deficit to force overtime and later win the game in the extra period.

The Knicks now have arguably a must-win Game 2 looming. After all, the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers dropped the first two games at home back in their respective second-round series, and both teams got eliminated in that round.

It should be interesting to find out how the likes of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns respond to the Knicks’ Game 1 loss on Friday, and the Knicks might need big games from both of them to avoid ending up in an 0-2 hole.