1994 Eastern Conference Finals Appearance

Lore & Background

The 1994 Eastern Conference Finals was the Pacers' coming-out party. After years of rebuilding, the team, anchored by Reggie Miller's clutch shooting and the gritty defense of the Smits-Davis frontcourt, stunned the basketball world by pushing the top-seeded Knicks to the brink. The series is best remembered for Reggie Miller's iconic 'choke sign' gesture toward Knicks fan Spike Lee during Game 5, a moment that crystallized Miller's legend and the Pacers-Knicks rivalry. The series itself was a brutal, physical affair, typical of 1990s Eastern Conference basketball. The Pacers won Games 1 and 5 at home but fell in a decisive Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, 94-90. Despite the loss, the run proved the Pacers could compete with the NBA's elite, laying the foundation for future deep playoff runs, including their 2000 NBA Finals appearance.

In Their Own Story

The Market Square Arena crowd was a wall of sound, thick and vibrating. Game 5, tied 2-2, and the Knicks were in town, their swagger filling every corner of the court. Reggie Miller caught the ball on the wing, his eyes locked on the basket like a predator sizing up prey. The shot clock was winding down—four seconds, three. He pump-faked, and John Starks, desperate and airborne, bit hard. Miller leaned in, let the contact come, and released the ball. It kissed the net as the whistle blew. Four-point play. The arena detonated. Miller turned to the courtside seats where Spike Lee sat, his mouth agape, and with a cold, deliberate stare, Miller wrapped both hands around his own throat. The choke sign. The crowd lost its mind. The Pacers would win that game, and the series would stretch to seven, but that moment—that pure, defiant act—became the soul of the 1994 run: a small-market team refusing to blink.

Reader's Guide

The 1994 Eastern Conference Finals was the Indiana Pacers' first trip to the NBA's final four since the ABA merger in 1976. It unfolded in late May and early June 1994, with the Pacers facing the New York Knicks, the East's top seed and a team built like a concrete wall. To grasp the magnitude: before 1991, the Pacers had never won a single NBA playoff series. Zero. Then, in 1994, they swept the Orlando Magic in the first round and swept the Atlanta Hawks in the second—becoming the first team in league history to sweep both opening rounds before falling in the conference finals. That seven-game war with the Knicks didn't end in a trophy, but it ended the notion that the Pacers were just happy to be there. This series also birthed one of the NBA's most personal and electric rivalries. The Pacers and Knicks would collide again in the playoffs in 1995, 1998, 1999, and 2000, each meeting adding another chapter. For Pacers fans, the 1994 run is the cornerstone—the year their team stopped knocking on the door and kicked it off its hinges.

Did You Know?

• Reggie Miller scored 39 points in Game 5, including a memorable four-point play, to lead the Pacers to a 93-86 victory.
• The Pacers had never won a playoff series before 1991; their 1994 conference finals appearance came just three years later.
• Game 7 of the series was decided by a late Patrick Ewing dunk and a missed three-pointer by Reggie Miller in the final seconds.
• The 1994 Pacers were the first team in NBA history to sweep both the first and second rounds of the playoffs before losing in the conference finals.