The Indiana Pacers have shown their support for a fan who had a bad day in New York by inviting him to attend Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. The fan, Hans Perez, was pelted with garbage for wearing a Tyrese Haliburton jersey during a Knicks game, and the incident went viral on social media.
Perez appeared on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" on Monday, where Haliburton surprised him with the good news that the Pacers would fly him out to Indiana and put him up for a night so he could attend the game. Perez was thrilled about the development and thanked Haliburton for the invite, chanting "Let's go Pacers" enthusiastically.
It turns out that Perez wasn't the only one hit with garbage in New York. ESPN's Brian Windhorst was also heckled by fans and pelted with garbage after the Knicks closed out the series with the Celtics. The clips, compiled by Awful Announcing, contain language that is not suitable for work.
The first clip is relatively harmless, save for the language, and Windhorst appeared to handle the heckler well. However, the second clip shows fans launching trash at Windhorst as he walked away. Some people in the crowd, after realizing what had happened, tried to get it to stop.
The Pacers and Knicks will get things started on Wednesday with the first two games of the series taking place in New York before the action goes to Indiana. It's the first time since 2000 that the Knicks have reached the Eastern Conference finals, while the Pacers made it to the conference finals last season but were defeated by the Boston Celtics.
The series sets up a rematch from last year's playoffs, with the winner getting a chance to win its first championship since the 1970s. Wednesday's Game 1 could set up yet another excellent series, with both teams eager to prove their worth and take home the trophy.
