NEW YORK (Ticker) -- This time, it was not Reggie Miller who came up with the biggest basket against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Jermaine O'Neal scored his only points of the second half on a follow shot with three seconds left as the Indiana Pacers posted a 95-94 victory over the Knicks, who wasted a franchise-record 24-point run.
Indiana trailed, 94-93, after Dikembe Mutombo's tip-in with 33 seconds left. O'Neal missed a bank shot, but the ball went off Kurt Thomas' hands out of bounds, giving the Pacers another shot with 22 seconds left.
Anthony Johnson was long on a 3-pointer with five seconds left, but the 6-10 O'Neal outleaped the 7-2 Mutombo for the rebound and put in the go-ahead shot.
"I missed the shot before and I wanted to make at least one shot tonight," said O'Neal, who had 14 points on 5-of-17 shooting. "It was nice and it was good to get one for Reggie. I was very confident I would make that shot. As soon as it left my hand, I knew it was in."
"He tried to box me out at the same time and the ball ended up bouncing high," Mutombo said. "I just couldn't get it. O'Neal got it and I tried to block the shot, but he hit the basket."
Kurt Thomas airballed a contested jumper just before the buzzer, allowing Indiana to remain the NBA's only unbeaten road team at 5-0.
"The last play of the game, with three seconds left, it's not much time to really draw up anything," Thomas said. "We were just trying to get the best shot up. I felt I made a move to the goal and was trying to draw the contact and get the shot up."
"We were looking to get Allan (Houston) the ball," said Knicks forward Keith Van Horn, who fouled out with 2:03 left. "Kurt popped out and I thought we got a decent look, considering we had three seconds left."
Long-time Knicks nemesis Miller made 6-of-7 3-pointers and scored a season-high 31 points for the Pacers, who went 8:01 without a point in the third quarter as the Knicks turned a 63-48 deficit into a 72-63 lead.
"This is the greatest place to play basketball and I've had some great games here," Miller said. "More importantly, this was a game we had and we got the victory. We had a huge lead and they came back and we hung in there."
"This is a tough one because it was so close and you can't put your finger on any one thing," Houston said. "We came all the way back and changed the momentum of the game by playing better defense. When you close games like this it's tough, especially when you make a run like that."
Miller, whose previous season high was 15 points, made 10-of-12 shots, including three 3-pointers in an 11-point fourth quarter.
"They won't do it, but there should be something here with Reggie's name or number on it," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "The things that he has pulled off in the years here are the reason he is going to be a Hall of Fame player. Never underestimate greatness."
Van Horn and Houston scored 16 points apiece to lead five players in double figures for New York (2-7). Thomas had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Mutombo 13 and 14.
The Knicks dominated the glass, outrebounding the Pacers, 50-29.
"I have to make sure I keep the team up and keep them positive," Knicks coach Don Chaney said. "They fought hard enough to have won; we just didn't come away with the win."
