By Eric Nehm, James Boyd, Jay King, Jared Weiss and Mark Puleo
The Boston Celtics erased an eight-point deficit in the final three minutes to come back and win Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals 114-111 against the Indiana Pacers.
The Celtics take a 3-0 series lead with the win. No team has ever come back from 3-0 down in a series to win.
Jayson Tatum dominated Boston’s efforts all night, finishing with 36 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. His biggest dime was a laser behind Al Horford’s back in the corner, who buried the 3 to cut the lead to two points with just over a minute to play. The 3 was Horford’s seventh of the game as the 36-year-old finished with 23 points, five rebounds and three blocks.
However, a missed layup by Tatum with less than 10 seconds left gave the Pacers one last chance to score the winner. Until Jrue Holiday stripped Andrew Nembhard.
Holiday, who made the free throw with 38 seconds left, cleared Nembhard’s pocket then fouled on the other end to seal the victory. Holiday finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and a game-high three steals.
Nembhard played for Indiana in the absence of Pacers All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton, scoring 32 points and dishing out nine assists.
Game 4 will take place in Indiana on Monday.
What woke Boston up?
For much of this game, it seemed like the Pacers had stolen the Celtics’ identity as they searched for an answer without Haliburton. They spammed post mismatches, cleaning up every time a Celtics guard passed over Myles Turner or Pascal Siakam. Celtics defensive guards Holiday and Derrick White were getting torched everywhere.
But Boston continued to take 3s all night and steadily clawed their way back. Then, with the game on the line, White and Holiday made massive defensive plays to steal the win and, quite possibly, this series.
With Haliburton potentially missing a Game 4 playoff, the Celtics are in excellent position to advance to the NBA Finals. It is not a surprise. This game showed that Boston’s high-volume 3-point approach can survive top shooting teams and that the Celtics’ defenders can step up to secure these kinds of matchups. The path through the East continues to open for them as their opponent’s best player continues to go downhill. But they face major tests anyway and do well in them. — Jared Weiss, Celtics beat writer
TJ McConnell and the Pacers bench aren’t enough to get excited about
Giving up is not in TJ McConnell’s DNA.
Undrafted out of Arizona in 2015, the Pacers’ backup point guard is having the best season of his career and it continued when Indiana needed him the most. Although Haliburton is sidelined, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle made the right call Saturday by continuing to bring McConnell off the bench.
The veteran provided his usual spark with buckets and timely saves, all while exciting the crowd. After committing an offensive foul on Horford and being knocked to the ground midway through the third quarter, McConnell returned and simply looked at the sea of Pacers fans in front of him as if to say, “Go for it.”
McConnell’s valiant effort spearheaded a lopsided performance off the bench for the Pacers. Indiana’s reserves outscored Boston’s 31-4, with McConnell leading the way with 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 29 minutes. He scored seven points in the fourth quarter, but it still wasn’t enough to overcome the Celtics, who erased a nine-point deficit in the final quarter to remain undefeated on the road in the playoffs.
Needless to say, Indiana’s season is all but over after falling into an 0-3 hole, from which no team in NBA history has ever come back. — James Boyd, Indiana writer
The Celtics must improve
Without Haliburton, the Pacers still played with their usual freedom. They adopted a new mentality, though, especially because all of their other guards were chasing their offense inside the arc. Haliburton usually shoots primarily from 3-point range. Nembhard, McConnell and Siakam did their jobs much closer to the bucket. The Pacers didn’t make their first 3 until midway through the second quarter, but still dominated the Celtics defense by possessing the paint.
Boston gave up 42 points in the paint in the first half, a huge number. The Celtics’ most turnovers during the regular season was 70. Interestingly, this happened in early November to a Pacers team that was missing Haliburton. Boston still won that game 155-104, but had a much tougher time Saturday night.
Turner made six shots in the first half, all in the paint. Nembhard, McConnell and Siakam combined to make 14 of 20 from inside the paint before halftime. It was not until the third quarter that the Celtics found the necessary intensity.
They still won. They made a big comeback. But if they win one more game to close out this series, they will need to be much sharper in the upcoming finals. They won’t be able to get away with such a mediocre effort, as they have done so far in each of their three series. The Celtics need to tighten up moving forward, but made enough plays late to steal this one on the road. Holiday, playing despite an illness, was incredibly late. — Jay King, Celtics beat writer
Pacers’ best efforts aren’t enough
Without Haliburton, the Pacers were going to have to muster their best team effort of the playoffs and they made that effort Saturday, but it just wasn’t enough as the Celtics overcame a 12-point halftime deficit and stole Game 3 to put the Pacers back. ‘, their first loss at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the postseason. And now, the Pacers have their backs against the wall in Game 4, Monday in Indianapolis.
The Pacers started the game playing strong. They took a 69-57 halftime lead behind 42 points in the paint on 21-of-30 shooting from the lane. After struggling to figure out how to get to dangerous spots on the court against the Celtics in their first two games, the Pacers kept it simple and simply placed their biggest players near the rim. But the Celtics took over in the second half with blocked shots and steals and outscored the Pacers, 48-27, in the final 18 minutes of the game.
The Pacers had four players — McConnell, Nembhard, Siakam, Turner — who scored 20-plus points Saturday night, but it wasn’t enough. — Eric Nehm, NBA writer
Required reading
(Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)