The Indiana Pacers had a game one win over the heavily favored Boston Celtics in the palm of their hand. All they had to do was hold on to it but instead they let it slip and fall out of bounds, giving the Boston Celtics chance after chance to tie the game in regulation before they finally did on a Jaylen Brown corner 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left and lost in overtime. Everything that could have went wrong down the stretch did.
With 1:57 left in the game, the Pacers went up by five on an Andrew Nembhard pull-up two. 115-110. Jrue Holiday answered with a layup and then the Pacers just got a little frenzied, a little too amped at the potential of stealing a victory to start the conference finals in a game where they had taken just three free throws and had turned the ball over 18 times in ways that made them look more like a middle school team than one of the final four teams in the NBA playoffs. They choked. There’s no other way to put it. After wearing the Reggie Miller choke hoodie after Game 7 against the Knicks, they can give the choke sign to themselves in this game in addition to valid gripes with officiating yet again. Multiple people have the blame for this one getting away.
This was the sequence the rest of the way:
- Pascal Siakam, who was awesome throughout with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists, badly misses a mid-range jumper that clangs off the backboard. He and Haliburton both end up on the ground as Celtics race up the floor.
- Haliburton, who solved his game one playoff woes for the most part with 25 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals, scrambles back in the ensuing transition possession to block Derrick White from behind and the Pacers get the rebound with 1:09 left.
- Haliburton takes a step-back 3 that felt like he rushed it slightly and missed badly, almost banking it in after only 11 seconds had gone from the shot clock. Pascal Siakam gets called for a foul on the rebound.
- Rick Carlisle challenges the call to try and prevent free throws for Boston. While both players are locked up with each other, Siakam releases Brown as the ball goes up but Brown never lets go of Siakam’s jersey. Yet, the call is not overturned and Brown makes both free throws. Pacers up 1.
- Andrew Nembhard again comes up clutch with a mid-range pull-up over Al Horford to put them back up 3. Celtics timeout with 39 seconds left.
- The Celtics throw a dangerous pass on the in-bounds pass that is nearly stolen by Aaron Nesmith but he doesn’t get it and leaves Jayson Tatum open for 3. He misses it and the Pacers get the rebound with 34.1 seconds left.
- But somehow as Tyrese Haliburton is dribbling the ball up the floor near the sideline, he loses his dribble with no defenders really near him. Aaron Nesmith tries to dive for the ball but lands out of bounds. Inexcusable, unexplainable turnover for Haliburton with 27 seconds left.
- The Celtics opt for a quick two but miss two attempts. The Pacers get the rebound and get fouled with 10 seconds left. Only problem is the Celtics had a foul to give because they were rarely called for a foul in this game (12 total in regulation and only 3 Pacers free throws).
- The Pacers were in an awkward spot to in-bound the ball on the Celtics side of the floor. Rick Carlisle could have taken a timeout to advance the ball to a more favorable position either immediately or as Nembhard looked around for a couple seconds, unable to get the ball to Haliburton. But he never called a timeout.
- Nembhard eventually attempted a pass to Siakam cutting towards the Celtics basket down the middle of the floor. Jaylen Brown once again getting away with grabbing and pulling Siakam’s jersey as he initially made his cut did enough to force the ball off of Siakam’s hands and the Celtics had the ball on the baseline with 8.1 seconds left. Timeout Celtics.
- The Pacers take Myles Turner out of the game and insert TJ McConnell with the intended plan to foul up 3 points. For some odd reason, the Pacers decide against switching everything despite having the plan of fouling on the catch to avoid giving them the chance to tie the game on the shot. So Siakam is then forced to chase around a screen and can’t stay close enough to Brown as he gets open and goes up with his shot before Siakam is able to foul so he backs off to avoid it. Brown hits an impressive shot to tie the game.
- Not switching there and not leaving the length of Turner in the game both feel like mistakes when the Celtics had to have a 3-pointer on the play. An unfortunate reminder of Game 1 of the 2013 ECFs when Roy Hibbert was removed for the play that resulted in a LeBron James layup for the win. Turner was poor at getting a foul on a couple of possessions in the crazy Khris Middleton game in round one and that may have something to do with Carlisle’s decision but simply switching everything no matter the personnel prevents Brown from being open enough off the screen to get the shot off.
- Haliburton briefly has a look at a deep three but opts against taking the quick look with the game being tied. He said after the game that he wishes he would have taken the deep 3. Haliburton is unable to get a good look at the buzzer. The game goes to overtime. They would get the lead twice on Haliburton 3 early in OT and 3 rare free throws with under 2 minutes left but Nesmith fouling out was eventually there downfall as they did not guard Tatum with Siakam and Tatum feasted late in the game to finish off an improbable win for the Celtics. McConnell came in once Nesmith fouled out but a little more size from rookie Ben Sheppard may have been helpful though it’s hard to put a rookie in the game in an overtime playoff stretch run.
The Pacers had every opportunity to win a game in the final moments in what was a game they felt like they had no business winning with how they started both halves with prolonged stretches of ineptitude to the highest degree in terms of being able to take care of the ball.
In the end, the Pacers couldn’t overcome the deadly combination of giving up 32 points off of 22 turnovers and their opponents shooting triple the number of free throws (30-10). They could have been victorious despite one of these things but in the end both together were the death knell. You can have your gripes with the referees in this game with the calls being one-sided and Boston getting regular season whistles on one end that never cane for the Pacers on the other but they lost this game themselves. They could have erased away any official complaints by simply taking care of the basketball or calling a timeout before that final in-bounds play.
The Pacers showed they belong, that they can compete at this level but also showed their inexperience against a Celtics team that is playing in their sixth conference finals in the last eight years with a plethora of NBA veterans. To summarize the last 30 seconds alone, Haliburton had an unforced turnover, the Celtics still had a foul to give forcing the in-bounds pass, Carlisle doesn’t call a timeout to advance the ball, Brown gets away with his second untucking of Siakam’s jersey, Pacers don’t switch everything on the BLOB play which allows Brown to get open and the Pacers are unable to foul before the shot. All of those things had to go wrong for them to lose this game but they have no one to blame but themselves for many of them.
How the Pacers respond in Game 2 will be fascinating as the Celtics will surely be extra motivated to avoid a letdown Game 2 loss at home for the third consecutive series in these playoffs but Indiana should come out with confidence knowing they could have won this one by fixing some simple things.
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[…] and we’ve seen lower odds overcome already in this series after game one’s debacle that was partially due to poor decisions from him late in addition to blunders by the players on the floor. It would be one thing to do this on the second […]
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