by Jordan Morey
Extra minutes were required in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, as the top two scoring teams in the NBA got into a shootout in Boston.
When the final overtime buzzer sounded at TD Garden, however, an upset result wasn’t to be for the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers, as the top-ranked Boston Celtics came out on top 133-128 in overtime of Game 1. Game 2 of the seven-game series will occur on Thursday at 8 p.m. in Boston before the series shifts to Indianapolis for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Pacers had chances to put the game away late in the fourth quarter, but the Celtics had enough clutch moments down the stretch to hold on to home court.
In the final frame, the Celtics led by five early before a 14-6 Indiana run from 5:43 to 1:57 put the Pacers back in front by three. With six seconds left in regulation, Boston All-Star guard Jaylen Brown drilled a contested 3-pointer in the corner to force overtime after the Pacers turned the ball over on an inbounds pass.
After a solid start to overtime for Indiana, Boston used an 8-0 scoring spree, during which Boston All-Star forward Jayson Tatum converted an and-one and followed it up with a 3-pointer, to give the Celtics a 129-123 advantage with 25 seconds left.
The Pacers never recovered from there.
“Today we played great for about 47 minutes…just didn’t sustain for 48,” Pacers All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton said. “We’ll go back, watch some film, and there will be good and there will be bad. We’ll learn from it and will be a lot better in Game 2.”
Tatum led all scorers in the game with 36 points (12-for-26 shooting) and 12 rebounds, Jrue Holiday scored a season-high 28 points, Brown totaled 26 points, and Derrick White and Al Horford each chipped in 15 points.
Haliburton topped a trio of double-double performances for the Blue and Gold with 25 points and 10 assists, while Pascal Siakam added 24 points and 12 rebounds, and Myles Turner had 23 points and 10 boards. Obi Toppin scored 15 points off the bench for the Pacers, and T.J. McConnell had 13 points.
Overall, the Pacers shot 53.5 percent from the field, and the Celtics made 47.5 percent of their shots. Boston drained 15 3-pointers as a team to Indiana’s 13 treys, but the Celtics finished 24-for-30 from the free-throw line to the Pacers’ 9 of 10 freebies.
Indiana gave up 22 turnovers in the game, and Boston coughed the ball up 14 times.
The Pacers never led in the first half, but knotted the game at 64-64 by intermission after trailing by double digits early. In a topsy-turvy third quarter, Boston went on a 23-6 run before the Pacers finished on an 18-5 spree, as the Celtics led 94-93 going into the final frame before forcing extra time.
At halftime, the teams tied at 64 after Indiana shot 58.8 percent overall (8-for-15 from 3-point range) and the Celtics were 52.1 percent from the field (7-for-22 from 3-point range).
Turner got off to an electric start, going 7-for-10 from the field for 18 points in the first half, while Haliburton and Toppin each had 11 points in the first 24 minutes. Brown led the Celtics with 14 points (7-for-12 shooting) and Tatum had 11 points at intermission.
The Celtics came out hot in the first quarter, but the Pacers bench answered with an 11-5 run at the end of the period to narrow their deficit to 34-31.
Boston shot 58.3 percent in the opening frame, with Brown accounting for 10 points, but Toppin scored 11 points for the visitors in the first frame to make it a one-possession game.
The Celtics could hardly miss following the jump, making five of their first seven shots while holding the Pacers scoreless in the opening three minutes to lead 12-0.
Out of a timeout, Siakam made back-to-back baskets before Andrew Nembhard and Haliburton each drilled 3-pointers to cut it to 16-10 with seven minutes on the clock.
Six straight points by Turner and a layup from Toppin narrowed the Blue and Gold deficit to 25-20, but a finger roll layup and floater from Brown put the Celtics up 29-20 with 2:45 left in the first quarter, forcing an Indiana timeout.
Out of the huddle, the Pacers went on an 11-5 scoring spree, during which Toppin scored nine points to cut the deficit to three before the buzzer. The Pacers bench outscored the Celtics reserves 15-3 in the first quarter.
Clutch shotmaking in the second quarter by Turner played a major role in the Pacers retying the game before halftime.
Boston constructed 7-2 and 6-2 runs through the first four minutes of the second quarter, thanks to five points by Payton Pritchard and four from Horford, to put the Celtics back in front by double digits at 47-37.
After another Indiana timeout, Turner scored 12 straight points for the Blue and Gold on four made baskets, which included a pair of 3-pointers, to narrow it to 52-47 with 5:28 left in the first half.
Indiana then went on an 8-2 run, during which Haliburton and Nembhard drilled threes, to tie the game at 57.
In the final 1:46 of the half, the teams tied twice before a 3-pointer by White with 19 ticks remaining put the Celtics back in front. With three seconds left before intermission, Haliburton nailed a trey from 35 feet to make it 64-64.
The Celtics held the Pacers scoreless for almost four minutes in the third quarter while using a 23-6 run – including 12-0 at one point – to go back ahead by double digits before the Blue & Gold cut it to one.
After Haliburton scored five quick points to give the Pacers their first lead early in the third quarter, the Celtics constructed what would become a 23-6 run, where Tatum scored 12 points and Brown added four, to go ahead 86-75 with 4:50 on the clock. Indiana didn’t record a point from 8:13 to 4:33 in the third.
A layup from Toppin stopped the bleeding, and spurred the 18-5 span for the Pacers. McConnell had six points in the scoring streak – which closed at 14-2 before the end of the frame – and Haliburton banked a 3-pointer after a pump fake from the left side of the arc at the buzzer to carry momentum into the final frame.
The fourth quarter was tight from start to finish.
The teams stayed within five points in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter until Turner drained his third trey of the game to tie the game. Siakam then followed Turner’s trey up with back-to-back buckets to put the Pacers in front 108-104 with 4:34 remaining, forcing a Celtics timeout.
A basket by Holiday and free throws by Brown cut it to 115-114 with 57 seconds left, but Nembhard hit a jumper at the free throw line to put the Pacers up by three.
On the ensuing possession, the Celtics got two shots off but missed both before the Pacers turned the ball over on an inbounds play with 10 seconds left, which the Celtics turned into a game-tying three.
The Celtics smothered Haliburton in the last five seconds as he chucked up a prayer before the regulation buzzer.
Haliburton hit a step-back 3-pointer to put the Pacers in front 120-117 to start overtime, but a layup by Brown and free throws by Tatum put the Celtics ahead by one with 2:27 left in the first overtime.
Tatum’s quick six points and a bucket from White in the 8-0 streak then proved too much of a lead
“This loss is totally on me. With 10 seconds in regulation, we should’ve just taken a time out, advanced the ball and found a way to get it in and make a free throw or two and ended the game,” Pacers head coach Rick Carilsle said. “But it didn’t happen and we made some other mistakes, but our guys just need to concentrate on fighting the way they fought in this game from start to finish and we’ll be back Thursday.“
Inside the Numbers
There were 11 ties and 10 lead changes in the game.
Indiana’s 38 team assists tied the most for a playoff game in franchise history, which was achieved in Game 2 against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs.
Indiana’s bench outscored Boston’s second unit 30-13.
Tyrese Haliburton recorded his fourth double-double of the playoffs, Pascal Siakam logged his third, and Myles Turner posted his second.
Indiana was called for 23 fouls and Boston had 15.
Boston recorded 11 steals in the game.
The Pacers outrebounded the Celtics 44-43.
You Can Quote Me on That
“We made mistakes, so that’s an area we have to clean up. Rebounding was pretty even, but we did a lot of good things we need to continue to do. We’ve been a tough-minded, resilient team really for almost the entire second half of the year. We have to continue with that and come back in here on Thursday night.“ – Carlisle on the turnovers
“Yes, but he caught the ball and was faced up so Pascal decided to lay off, which I understand. That’s probably the right decision. You don’t want to give up the four-point play. A lot of things had to go wrong for us and right for them, and they did. We’ve gotta own it and get ready for Thursday.” – Carlisle on whether or not he gave instructions to foul when up three at the end of the game.
“All year long, our battle cry has been to continue to play, continue to push tempo, continue to execute. Keep playing no matter what. It has served us well and it did tonight, too. It’s unfortunate. We did so many good things in this game that it came down to a couple mistakes at the end. But this is the NBA playoffs. We have to learn from it and bounce back.” – Carlisle on the team’s fight
“That last play in the corner, I think we were going to foul but the way Jaylen caught it it was like he was just going to shoot it right away. I think Pascal didn’t want to foul, which I thought was the right play because I thought he would’ve got called for three shots. Jaylen just made a big shot and then on that last possession I just didn’t get a good one. I felt like there was a better shot for me to get.” – Tyrese Haliburton on the end of regulation
“I think it’s more on us. I think they’re a great defensive team. They have great defenders, individual and team defenders. But they’re not a team that forces a ton of turnovers, they’re a solid team. I felt like more of them were probably on us than on them forcing them. We’ve got to clean that up. Outside of tonight and one game last series, we have really taken care of the ball. We will fix it in Game 2.” – Haliburton on the turnovers
“We know we can play with these guys. That’s for y’all to say, there’s a lot of people saying that we don’t belong here. We don’t really care. We know we belong.” – Haliburton on the loss
“Of course it’s frustrating. We felt like we were in the position to win the game. But you can’t dwell on it. What I will say is that we’ve lost every Game 1, but we’ve responded well in every Game 2s. I expect that from this group, I expect us to be ready to go.” – Haliburton on the loss
“I thought as soon as I got to him, I was a little late because of a screen, he was going up so I didn’t want to (foul). When I thought I was going to do it, it was too little too late. … It’s just a judgment call. … It was a tough shot. “ – Pascal Siakam on Brown’s three at the end of regulation
“Obviously a lot of turnovers … and a lot of fouls. I think we know we have to do better, and will be better at that especially.” – Siakam on the turnovers
“I think we did a lot of good things. We’ve got to go back, get better. At the end of the day, as much as it hurts, it’s one loss so we have to move on from it. … Try to continue to get better. We think it’s going to be a long series. So just have that mindset.” – Siakam on the loss
“As long as we continue to do us, we’ll be fine.” – Siakam on looking ahead
“That was my message after the game as well. I think that a lot of people will talk about the free throw discrepancy, but at the end of the day when you have 22 turnovers – and big-time turnovers – I think we showed our age a little bit tonight. I think, being a youthful team, in this high-stake of a game, those uncharacteristic mistakes just made their way out. We just go over, look at tomorrow, and just get right back going because we’re right back Thursday.“ – Turner on the team beating itself wit turnovers and fouls
“Same thing we’re doing all season. I guess poise is a good way of putting it. We kept our poise when things were good or bad. It’s encouraging, but at the end of the day we weren’t poised enough to win the game. “ – Turner on the team rallying back
“The fact that we all have a common goal in mind. At the end of the day, I think that early in the playoffs when we got tested a little bit we kind of started to separate a bit and we nipped that in the bud in the first round and it has brought us closer. As disappointing as tonight’s loss was, I think that we did some encouraging stuff but it’s one of those things that’s going to bring us closer as well. – Turner on the loss and looking ahead
“It’s definitely a long series, and that’s the message we’re going to continue to convey.” – Turner on the loss
“It’s not that difficult to stay together, brother. I’m going to tell you right now, it’s been a very long season. We’ve had a lot of highs, a lot of lows. It ain’t going to stop here.” – Turner on if the close loss
Stat of the Night
Indiana finished with 22 turnovers in the overtime loss, which the most by the Pacers in the 2024 postseason. The Celtics turned those turnovers into 32 points.
Noteworthy
Boston starting center Kristaps Porzingis did not play in Game 1 due to a calf injury sustained during the first round. His status for the rest of the series is questionable.
Indiana is 0-3 in Game 1s (all on the road) this postseason and the Celtics are 3-0 (all at home).
Celtics starters Derrick White and Jrue Holiday were named to the All-Defensive Second Team on Tuesday afternoon.
Up Next
The Pacers and Celtics will return for TD Garden for Game 2 on Thursday, May 23 at 8:00 PM ET.
Tickets
The Eastern Conference Finals will shift to Indianapolis when the Pacers host the Celtics for Game 3 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, May 25 at 8:30 PM ET.
Originally posted on pacers.com