Derek Kramer

Locked on Pacers: Indiana blows another game late in Game 3 against Boston Celtics

The Indiana Pacers had this game in hand but let it slip away. It’s an all-too-familiar story for them in this playoff series against the 1-seed Boston Celtics.

After being up 8 with 2:38 remaining, the Pacers were unable to get enough stops and unable to get the ball in the basket and ended up losing by a final score of 114-111.

Change one or two plays in the series and the Indiana Pacers are up 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals but instead they are facing a hole in which no team in NBA history has been able to dig themselves out.

I joined Locked on Pacers with SI.com’s Tony East to discuss the latest brutal defeat for the blue and gold. You can watch the podcast below or listen via any of your typical podcast providers.

We touch on a multitude of topics in this one including the following:

  • How close the Pacers are to having a lead in this series. The inexperience for this team showing up repeatedly in the clutch.
  • Carlisle’s frustrations and whether or not he should have called a timeout before the Jrue Holiday game-sealing steal. The creative final play to give Aaron Nesmith a chance to to hit a game-tying jumper.
  • Referencing Dark Matter, a sci-fi show on AppleTV+ that maybe 12 people will appreciate, and having a wish to be able to examine the roads not taken with Carlisle seeing what the future would have held with a pair of timeouts made late in two of these losses.
This gif is not from Dark Matter
  • The best game of Andrew Nembhard’s career, him being visibly down during his press conference. 32 points and 9 assists for the second-year guard having a Jalen Brunson without Luka Doncic type of breakout playoff performance.
  • The quartet of Nembhard, McConnell, Turner, and Siakam all playing well with over 20+ points but the Pacers couldn’t find a 5th guy to contribute with every other player with 4 points or less.
  • How the loss of Haliburton was still felt despite the superb performances from McConnell and Nembhard.
  • Doug McDermott having a positive impact on the game with the highest plus/minus on the team, added a big tip in basket to end the third quarter and a one possession stop on Jayson Tatum on a play where for some reason he ended up on Tatum. Proving once again that I know nothing.
  • The five stages of grief all getting their runtime over the course of this series.
  • Credit to some amazing plays by the Boston Celtics down the stretch.
  • The usual banter and thinking out loud.

I’ll have more written coverage on Nembhard and others before Game 4. Update: Now available here. You can also watch/listen to a preview for Game 4 with me on Setting the Pace with Alex Golden here.

5 comments

  1. Wtf of not calling a timeout!?! And letting the players decide the outcome of the game not to speak its an eastern finals? What happened to game 1? Being inexperience and young is not an excuse of blaming the loss to the players. Its the incompetency of the coach and their coaching staffs is the real culprit here. Get them out of Indiana asap!!!

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    • The inexperience is definitely another reason that Carlisle should have called timeout. We both agreed on that podcast that he needed to call one in that moment.

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