BOSTON – Everyone wanted to know how the Celtics would respond to their first real test in the NBA playoffs. Tuesday’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals provided the answer: Chaotically.
“That’s a great word,” said Jayson Tatum of Boston, “because that shit was chaos.
Jaylen Brown’s crazy 3-pointer with six seconds remaining in the fourth quarter sent the game into an extra period, and Tatum’s back-to-back three-point plays in the final 75 seconds of overtime put a 133-128 victory away. reach of the aggressive Indiana Pacers. Yet somehow we are left wondering whether they are attached or not.
This will be the point of contention on sports talk shows on Wednesday. Brown said something else to himself.
“Before the entry, I was talking to myself, ‘If I get this shot, she’s going in,’” said Brown, who posted a 26-7-5 in 44:25. , ‘If you can get it, he’s going up and in.’”
You will be decisive if you are victorious, I think, but there have been many occasions when Boston has felt anything but.
Brown’s turnover with 4:39 left in regulation of a two-point game was Exhibit A. He telegraphed a pass that he threw directly to Pascal Siakam, whose dunk on the other end gave Indiana a 108-104 lead.
That malfunction was overcome by Tatum’s pass to no one with 1:48 left in overtime. When Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton corralled the sloppy turnover, Boston’s Derrick White fouled him on a 3-point attempt in transition, giving Indiana a trio of free throws. Haliburton made all three for a 123-121 lead.
“I’m really happy we won the game,” Tatum said, “because I would have gotten sick.”
The only one who played with poise all night, it seemed, was Boston’s Jrue Holiday, who scored 20 of his season-high 28 points after halftime, adding eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals. .
“Jrue came out and nailed it, man,” Brown said. “He’s the reason we won this game.”
There were more collapses. The Celtics took a 13-point lead in the final minutes of the third quarter. The fourth-quarter offense was stuck in a murky mix of isolation, 3-pointers and 3-point isolation. They missed the three open ones they made – until Brown made his on Siakam’s gridiron.
“We didn’t necessarily play well enough where we deserved to win,” said Tatum, whose night had 36 points, 12 rebounds and a plus-20 rating. “JB gave us a second chance by hitting that shot, and we just talked about it in the meeting. ‘We have a second chance. Let’s enjoy this.’”
The Celtics had more lives than Kenny from “South Park,” and Indiana conceded most of them. With his team leading 117-114 with 30 seconds left in regulation, Haliburton inexplicably dribbled out of bounds. Instead of trying to tie the game at 3, White missed a layup and Tatum missed the follow-up – a fadeaway shot – and again the Pacers had the ball, a three-point lead and the game in their hands.
And again they revived Boston, taking the pass into Siakam’s hands. Celtics ball. Eight seconds left. Holiday feeds Brown in the corner. “Bang!” shouted ESPN’s Mike Breen. “Bang!”
“Man, that was a tough shot,” said Celtics veteran Al Horford.
“It’s simple: great players make great plays,” Tatum added.
“This loss is completely mine,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said offhandedly. “With 10 seconds left in regulation, we should have just called timeout, advanced the ball, found a way in, made a free throw or two and ended the game, but that didn’t happen, and we made a few other mistakes, but wow. Guys just need to focus on fighting the way they fought in this game from start to finish, and we’ll be back on Thursday.
The Pacers also had their positives. They recovered from a 12-0 deficit in the opening minutes. Haliburton’s last-second 35-foot jump shot tied the game at halftime 64-64. He scored another 3-pointer to pull Indiana within 94-93 at the third quarter buzzer. The Pacers scored five times on six possessions in the first three minutes of the deciding period, taking a 115-110 lead with two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Then everything went to hell. Or elsewhere, depending on your perspective.
“A lot of things had to go wrong for us and right for them,” Carlisle said, “and they did.”
The majority of both teams were far from right. Some were extremely clutch. Did the Pacers mess up the bag? The Celtics took away one of their you-know-what? This game was all in the eye of the beholder.
And this observer thinks that kind of performance won’t be enough against any Western Conference opponent that awaits him in the NBA Finals. A better team would have extinguished Boston. it would have being the operative phrase. We have no idea what will happen next, as Tuesday made abundantly clear.
What we know: Boston has played 11 postseason games, won nine of them and needs seven more to win the franchise’s 18th championship. It was quite a basketball contest, the Celtics’ first real test and one they passed – barely, but no one will remember the grade we gave them at this point.
Let’s just remember the chaos. As Brown said, “Welcome to the NBA playoffs.”
