The Boston Celtics on Tuesday needed a late rally to force overtime against the Indiana Pacers before emerging with a 133-128 win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Boston’s Jaylen Brown sank a three-pointer from the corner with 6.1 seconds remaining to tie the scores at 117-117 and take it to overtime. Then Jayson Tatum made a crucial late three-pointer to push the Celtics to victory and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Tatum top scored for Boston with 36 points, 10 of them in overtime, collecting 12 rebounds and four assists with Brown putting up 26 and Jrue Holiday 28.
Photo: AP
Indiana, who fought back from large deficits several times in the game, were led by Tyrese Haliburton’s 25 points, 10 assists and three rebounds with Pascal Siakam making 24 points, seven assists and 12 rebounds.
“Welcome to the NBA playoffs. You’ve just got to manage your emotions. Anything can happen,” Brown said of his tying three-pointer. “It’s not over until the final buzzer sounds... It’s not over until it’s over. We found a way to win the game at the very end.”
Still, Brown was far from happy with the performance from Boston, who had almost a week off after their 4-1 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“A lot of ups and downs, I don’t think we played our best,” the three-time All-Star said.
“We almost dropped the game on our own floor. So we have got to come out and be better,” he added.
Guarding against complacency was also on the mind of Tatum. The Celtics have lost Game 2 in each of their previous two series.
“It doesn’t prove anything,” Tatum said. “We won a big-time game. The series is far from over.”
The Pacers came into the game on the back of a grueling Game 7 win against the New York Knicks on Sunday and Boston were the fastest out of the traps.
With the loud home crowd sensing Indiana were struggling, Al Horford’s 26-foot three-pointer made it 12-0.
The Pacers got back into the game and leveled it 64-64 at halftime.
A 13-point run in the third put Boston 87-77 up, but again Indiana came back and with less than two minutes to go they led 115-100.
Indiana turned the ball over twice in the final 30 seconds of regulation before Brown’s crucial three-pointer, over the top of Siakam.
When Haliburton was unable to get off a last-gasp shot the game went to overtime.
A step back three-pointer from Tatum with 43 seconds left put Boston four points up.
After Derrick White’s layup extended the advantage to six with 25 seconds left, the game was beyond the Pacers.
“We were able to make some plays at the end, but we have got to be better to be honest, but I’ll take the win,” Brown said.
Additional reporting by AP
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