Eric Nehm, James Boyd, Jay King, Jared Weiss, Mark Puleo
The Boston Celtics overcame an eight-point deficit with three minutes left to win Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers, 114-111.
With the win, the Celtics took a 3-0 series lead, the first time any team had ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.
Jayson Tatum was a key player throughout the game for Boston, finishing with 36 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists. His most important assist was a behind-the-scenes laser pass to Al Horford in the corner, who drilled a 3-pointer with just over a minute left to cut the lead to 2. The 3-pointer was Horford’s seventh of the game and the 36-year-old finished with 23 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks.
But a missed Tatum layup with under 10 seconds left gave the Pacers one final chance to score the winning points — until Jrue Holiday stripped Andrew Nembard’s pass.
Holiday made the game-winning free throw with 38 seconds left, neatly cut off Nembard’s pocket and drew a foul on the other side to seal the win. Holiday finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and a game-high three steals.
Nembard starred for Indiana in the absence of Pacers All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton, finishing with 32 points and nine assists.
Game 4 will be Monday at Indiana.
What woke Boston up?
For much of the game, it seemed as though the Pacers had stolen the Celtics’ identity as they searched for answers without Haliburton. They made a string of post mismatches, cleaning up after Celtics guards switched to Myles Turner or Pascal Siakam. Celtics All-Defensive guards Holiday and Derrick White were under attack at every turn.
But Boston kept hitting 3-pointers all night, steadily surging back, and then, once the game was on the line, White and Holiday played some great defense to secure the win, and maybe the series.
With Haliburton potentially missing Game 4, the Celtics are in great position to make the NBA Finals. That’s not surprising. The game showed that Boston’s 3-point-heavy approach can outlast the best shooting teams, and that the Celtics’ defense can step up to make sure they win those games. With injuries to their opponents’ top players, the door to the East is opening up for the Celtics. But either way, the Celtics still face big challenges, and they’re overcoming them well. — Jared Weiss, Celtics reporter
TJ McConnell couldn’t pull off the upset with Pacers bench
Giving up isn’t in TJ McConnell’s DNA.
The Pacers backup point guard, who went undrafted out of Arizona in 2015, is having the best season of his career and it continued when Indiana needed him most. Despite Haliburton being sidelined, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle made the right call Saturday by continuing to use McConnell off the bench.
The veteran showed his usual brilliance with timely points and stops while pumping up the crowd. After falling to the ground after drawing an offensive foul on Horford midway through the third quarter, McConnell got back up 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 one-sided performance from the Pacers’ bench. Indiana’s reserves outshot Boston 31-4, with McConnell leading the team with 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 29 minutes. He scored seven points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Celtics, who overcame a nine-point deficit in the final quarter to remain unbeaten on the road in the playoffs.
Needless to say, Indiana’s season was all but over as they fell to an 0-3 record, a record that no team in NBA history has ever come back from. Indiana author James Boyd
The Celtics need to get sharper.
Without Haliburton, the Pacers played as freely as ever. But with the other guards all hounding the offense inside the arc, they adopted a new mentality. Haliburton typically shoots 3-pointers primarily. Nembard, McConnell and Siakam worked closer to the basket. The Pacers didn’t make their first 3-pointer until the middle of the second quarter, but they still dominated the paint and overwhelmed the Celtics defense.
Boston allowed 42 points in the paint in the first half. That’s a huge number. The most points the Celtics allowed in the regular season was 70. Interestingly, that came in early November against a Haliburton-less Pacers team. Boston won that game, 155-104, but had a tougher time on Saturday night.
Turner took six shots in the first half, all from inside the paint. Nembard, McConnell and Siakam combined to make 14 of 20 shots from inside the paint by halftime. It took the Celtics until the third quarter to regain some much-needed intensity.
But the Celtics won. They made a great comeback. But if they win one more game to close out this series, they’ll need to be sharper in the Finals. They can’t get away with being subpar like they have been in the past three series. The Celtics will have to improve going forward, but they played well enough down the stretch to secure the win on the road. Holiday, who played through an illness, played well down the stretch. — Jay King, Celtics reporter
The Pacers’ best efforts fall short
Without Haliburton, the Pacers needed to perform at their best as a team in the postseason, and they did so Saturday. But it wasn’t enough, as the Celtics overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to win Game 3 and hand the Pacers their first loss at Gainbridge Fieldhouse this postseason. Now the Pacers find themselves in a bind with Game 4 on Monday in Indianapolis.
The Pacers started the game strong, scoring 42 points in the paint and making 21 of 30 shots from the lane to finish the first half up 69-57. After struggling to get into dangerous spots in their first two games against the Celtics, the Pacers decided to take it easy and place their biggest players near the rim, but the Celtics made do with their lead in the second half with blocks and steals, outshooting the Pacers 48-27 with 18 minutes to play.
The Pacers had four players score 20 or more points on Saturday night – McConnell, Nembard, Siakam and Turner – but it wasn’t enough. Eric Nehm, NBA writer
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(Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
