
All this bettor wanted was a free lunch, but they instead just lost a chunk of their bank account.
The Knicks were in the driver’s seat, enjoying a 14-point lead with less than three minutes to play in Game 1 against the Pacers, a deficit that no team in playoff history had ever recovered from.
Teams were 994-0 when holding that kind of lead entering the contest.
With the Knicks leading comfortably and seemingly on their way to a win, a bettor on prediction market Kalshi wagered a large sum of $9,626 with the hopes of profiting $77.
Kalshi has since confirmed the wager’s authenticity to The Post.
The bettor wagered on the Knicks when they had a 99 percent chance of winning, likely within that window of the Knicks leading by double digits with less than five minutes to go.
Surely this fan woke up feeling as bad as anyone Thursday morning — or perhaps they didn’t sleep at all.
Aaron Neismith and Tyrese Haliburton heroically – or anti-heroically, in this case – nailed clutch shots over the games final two minutes in Indiana’s shocking win.
Neismith, in particular, is one of the more important villains of this story, hitting a record six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs
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Then, with ice in his veins, Haliburton drove the lane and was shut off nicely by Mitchell Robinson, but the Pacers guard dribbled back to the 3-point line and fired a deep two, which clanked off back iron and fell to the bottom of the cup to tie the game at 125-125 and send the game to overtime.
The Pacers ultimately won, 138-135, to grab a 1-0 series lead.

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Game 2 on Friday will be a borderline must-win for the Knicks and they enter as 5.5-point home favorites.
Will this unknown bettor double down?
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Erich Richter is a brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt but he has a black belt in MMA betting. During the football season he’s showcased massive profits at The Post in the player prop market the last two seasons. While constantly betting long shots, his return on investment is 30.15 percent since 2022.