For the first 45 minutes of regulation, it looked like the New York Knicks were going to pull out a win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

With 2:45 left to play in regulation, the Knicks were up by 14 and looked primed to secure the win over the Pacers, but in a shocking turn of events, Indiana slowly but surely chipped away at the lead until the game was tied at the end of regulation.

And from there, well, the rest was history: the Pacers and Knicks battled back and forth through the proverbial extra innings, but in the end, Indiana secured the OT win on the way to a statement Game 1 victory.

Unprecedented? Yes, as during overtime, Josh Dubow of the Associated Press noted that this was the first time in NBA history when a team leading by 14 with 2:45 left to play didn't secure the win in regulation.

“Knicks led by 14 with 2:45 to play in 4th quarter and now are in OT vs Pacers,” Dubow wrote. “Teams leading playoff game by 14+ in final 2:45 of 4th quarter are 994-0 in play by play era (since 1997)”

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Now, for Knicks fans, this has to stink, but Dubow's coworker, Tim Reynolds, dropped even more truth on the situation, noting that New York is now 390-2 in games where they had a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter, while the Pacers had an unprescidented offensive output of their own.

“Since 1996 … — Knicks were 390-1 with a lead of 17 or more points in a fourth quarter (including playoffs). They're 390-2 now,” Reynolds wrote. “Pacers tonight … — 23 points in the final 3:14 of regulation. That's the most in the final 3:14 of regulation of a playoff game in the play-by-play era (since 1997).”

Fortunately for Knicks fans, the fact that this loss is a statistical anomaly proves that the team had every chance to secure the win, even if they didn't. Chances are, next time, the odds will fall in New York's favor in a similar situation, and it could be the Pacers who are wondering what went wrong at the end of regulation. Unfortunately, that doesn't take away the sting of the defeat, or the fact that the Knicks are now 0-1 in this seven-game series, with Game 2 much more of a must-win contest moving forward.