New York is a Knicks town, and that fan base has been starved for a winner for decades, getting fed mostly scraps in the James Dolan era. That has changed in the last couple of years, as the Jalen Brunson-led Knicks are winning — and New York went wild after the Knicks knocked off the Celtics to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since Shaq and Kobe started winning titles together.
That celebration turned on a fan, Hanz Perez, who wore Pacers gear in New York — the team the Knicks will face in the next round. It wasn’t pretty.
Monday, Perez went on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” and talked about being a firefighter and a lifelong Pacers fan (complete with a Pacers tattoo on his arm). That’s when Tyrese Haliburton joined the conversation and did what franchise icons do, stepping up and offering to fly Perez and a friend out to Indianapolis for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Tyrese Haliburton is flying out Pacers fan Hanz Perez to a playoff game after he was hit with trash in New York for wearing his jersey
(Via @PatMcAfeeShow )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 19, 2025
“I personally wanna bring you and a plus one out to Indiana for game four..
Everybody in our organization wants to make sure that you’re taken care of” ~ @TyHaliburton22#PMSLivehttps://t.co/QN7dTplbIwpic.twitter.com/B8y1iqVO02
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 19, 2025
“Everybody in our organization wants to make sure you’re taken care of. All the team’s excited to meet you. It’s all we’ve been talking about,” Haliburton said.
Well played by Haliburton and the Pacers.
Perez is in for what should be an intense, incredibly even game and series — this one is a genuine coin toss. In that case, the Pacers could use all the good karma they can get, and Haliburton got them some.
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