Celtics win insane overtime thriller against the Pacers, take 1-0 series lead in East Finals
On Tuesday night at the Garden the Boston Celtics hosted the Indiana Pacers in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston heads into the series after taking care of business in 5 games against an injury plagued Cleveland Cavaliers. While Indiana is coming off a grueling back and forth 7 game series against the New York Knicks. For Boston’s young core the Eastern Conference Finals has become almost a forgone expectation at this point. For Indiana this is uncharted territory for them and their young star Tyrese Haliburton who is playing in his first Conference Finals. Boston head’s into this one with rest on their side and they’ll need it for the Pacers high tempo offense. The questions for the Pacers will be can they keep the momentum from their Knicks series going or will a rested Boston team prove to be too much in game 1?
First Quarter:
The Celtics would come out of the gates clearly showing their emphasis on defense with a quick stop and a Jaylen Brown transition bucket to start the game. While Joe Mazzulla wasted no time using his challenge 35 seconds into the game to overturn a foul called on Al Horford attempting to block a shot. Boston’s defense would continue to show it’s teeth early as they forced multiple turnovers into transition buckets, eventually leading to an Al Horford 3 pointer that would put Boston up 12-0 early. Indiana would fight back from the twelve point deficit and show why they’re one of the best offensives in NBA history cutting Boston’s lead to 25-20 with 3:10 to go in the first.
The Pacers would continue to claw back into the game cutting Boston’s lead to 3 with 1:30 to go in the first after a tough Obi Toppin jumper. Toppin provided a massive spark for the Pacers with 11 first quarter points to cut Boston’s lead to 34-31 at the end of the first. Both teams had their moments in the first after Boston jumped out to it’s 12-0 lead the Pacers showed the same resilience they did against the Knicks to battle back and close the quarter strong. Boston was led by their stars in Tatum and Brown who combined for 18 points in the first but they’d need to get more from Horford, Holiday and White as the game goes on.
Second Quarter:
Boston would come out strong in the second going on a 9-4 run to start the quarter fueled by an Al Horford and-1 to make it a 43-35 Celtics lead. Horford looked well rested after the Celtics deserved rest after taking care of business against the Cavaliers. Boston’s defense was on point early in this one forcing 7 turnovers in the first 15 minutes of the game. Myles Turner would turn it on for the Pacers trying to keep them within striking distance with 18 points in 12 minutes, hitting a 3 pointer to cut Boston’s lead to 52-47 with 5:11 to go in the half.
Indiana would tie the game with 2:43 to go 57-57 with Myles Turner and Aaron Nesmith scoring big baskets. Boston would struggle from 3 in the first half shooting 7/21 from deep. While the Pacers were shooting 58% from the field and 50% from 3 in the first half, and a deep Tyrese Haliburton 3 pointer would tie the game at 64-64 to end the half.
Third Quarter:
Boston would stumble out of the gate in the second half missing an open shot, blowing a defensive assignment and then getting called for a moving screen to turn it over. Giving the Pacers their first lead of the night 69-64. The Celtics would immediately bounce back led by Jayson Tatum fueling a Celtics 7-0 run to retake the lead 71-69 with 9:53 to go in the third.
Boston would continue to extend their lead after the Rick Carlisle timeout ramping up their play on both sides of the ball. Led again by their stars in Brown and Tatum hitting shots and forcing turnovers. Boston would get it’s lead back up to double digits after a 20-6 run but the Pacers refused to go away. Former Celtic Aaron Nesmith would hit some buckets to cut into the Boston lead making it 92-88 Boston with 1 minute to go in the third. The Celtics were a +16 with Tatum on the floor and a -12 without him through the first 3 quarters. Tyrese Haliburton would hit another ridiculously deep 3 pointer to make it 94-93 Celtics at the end of the third.
Fourth Quarter:
The Pacers 14-2 run to end the third had Boston on it’s heels with only a 1 point lead heading into the fourth and they’d need to rely on Jayson Tatum impacting the game on both ends to close this one out. Tatum would continue to be Boston’s best player in the fourth making his presence felt on both ends, forcing a Pacers turnover with 6:40 to go in the game with Boston holding a 104-101 lead.
Myles Turner would continue to be the Pacers best player hitting a 3 pointer to make it a 104-104 game with 5:43 to go in the game. A Derrick White 3 would cut Indiana’s lead to 108-107 with 4:14 to go. Boston found themselves down 4 with 3:15 to go but a Horford 3 pointer would make it 111-110 with 3 minutes to go. The Pacers would continue to hit tough shots as Nembhard would hit a tough bucket with 1:57 to go to put Indiana up by 5.
Jaylen Brown would hit a pair of free throws with 57 seconds left to cut the Pacers lead to 115-114 with Boston on the ropes. Nembhard would hit another jumper to put the Pacers back up 3 with 46 seconds to go in the game.
Boston would get multiple open looks to tie the game or cut the lead to one but would miss them all including a Jayson Tatum wide open 3 pointer that he couldn’t get to fall. Indiana would get the rebound and the game looked all but over, but the Pacers would do the unthinkable and turn the ball over with 8 seconds left giving Boston a chance to tie. Boston would answer the unthinkable with the more unthinkable as Jaylen Brown would hit a ridiculous 3 pointer to tie the game with 5.7 seconds to go. Haliburton would do his best to get a look at the end of the game but it would come up just short and this game was headed to overtime.
Overtime:
Overtime would get off to a slow start but Haliburton would hit the first bucket giving the Pacers a 120-117 lead with 3:21 to go. Boston would turn the defense on after that though with a Horford block into Tatum free throws to take a 121-120 lead with 2:25 to go in the game. A horrible Jayson Tatum three with 1:46 to go would lead to a Haliburton 3 pointer that Derrick White fouled him on leading to the Pacers retaking the lead 123-121. Tatum would redeem himself hitting an and-1 layup with 1:12 to go to give Boston a 124-123 lead.
Tyrese Haliburton would drop the ball out of bounds on the next possession and it would be disastrous for the Pacers, as Jayson Tatum would hit a massive 3 pointer to extend the lead to 127-123. The Pacers would turn it over again after the 3 pointer and Boston who was on the brink of defeat at the end of regulation now had the Pacers on the ropes with 30 seconds to go. The teams would trade free throws back and forth in the final 30 seconds but the Pacers wouldn’t be able to close the gap enough to come back in this one. For Indiana they had this game all but wrapped up and with how it ended I’ll be very interested to see how they come out in game 2. Boston did everything they could to lose in the final 2 minutes but their superstars showed up when they needed them most and they were able to overcome their mistakes and win a game they had no business winning.
Jayson Tatum had his struggles in the fourth quarter but Jaylen Brown hit a massive 3 to tie it and Tatum showed up massive for the team in overtime and the Celtics got the only thing that mattered the 1-0 series lead.