Celtics-Pacers schedule: East Finals matchup dates and times

Celtics-Pacers schedule: East Finals matchup dates and times originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics will face a bottom four seed in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second year in a row. And this time he expects a different result.

The No. 6 seed Indiana Pacers completed their upset of the No. 2 seed New York Knicks in Game 7 of their second-round series on Sunday to set up a date with the No. 1 seed Celtics in the 2024 East Finals. After going 47-35 in the regular season and narrowly avoiding the play-in tournament, the Pacers defeated the third-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and cruised to a 130-109 victory at Madison Square Garden in Game 7 on Sunday. to reach their first East Final since 2014.

Boston enters as a big favorite after dispatching the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers in five games each in rounds 2 to 3, respectively. The Celtics have the best net rating in the postseason (12.8) and could bring big man Kristaps Porzingis back at some point in the series, although he is expected to lose at least games 1 and 2.

Don’t sleep on the Pacers, though. Tyrese Haliburton and Co. have won two of their five meetings with the C’s this season, including a 10-point victory in the quarterfinals of the first tournament of the season, and currently leads the playoffs with 114.2 points per game. They will enter the series eager to deny the Celtics another trip to the NBA Finals after Boston lost to the 8th-seeded Heat in last year’s ECF.

Celtics-Pacers Game 1 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21 at 8 p.m. ET at TD Garden. NBC Sports Boston will have coverage starting one hour before each game with Celtics pregame liveas well as range coverage with Celtics halftime live and post-game coverage with Celtics postgame live.

Check out the complete series schedule below.

Eastern Conference Finals Schedule

• Game 1: Pacers x Celtics; Tuesday, May 21 – 8pm ET (ESPN)

• Game 2: Pacers x Celtics; Thursday, May 23 – 8pm ET (ESPN)

• Game 3: Celtics at Pacers; Saturday, May 25 – 8:30 pm ET (ABC)

• Game 4: Celtics at Pacers; Monday, May 27th – 8pm ET (ESPN)

• Game 5:* Pacers vs. Celtics, Wednesday, May 29 – 8pm ET (ESPN)

• Game 6:* Celtics at Pacers; Friday, May 31 – 8pm ET (ESPN)

• Game 7:* Pacers x Celtics; Sunday, June 2nd – 8pm ET (ESPN)

*If necessary

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