Comeback falls short, Celtics lose 135-132 to Pacers in overtime

After a quick stop back at home resulting in a big win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, the Celtics (4-0) go back on the road, riding a 4 game winning streak to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to face off against the Indiana Pacers (1-3) in an Eastern Conference Finals rematch. This is the first time the Celtics are playing in Indiana since Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals where they defeated the Pacers in a four game sweep to advance to the NBA Finals. The Pacers would get their revenge however, defeating the Celtics 135-132 in an overtime thriller.

While the Pacers would be without their big man Myles Turner in this game, the Celtics got back Sam Hauser after missing the last three games with a back injury. Isaiah Jackson replaced Turner in the starting lineup for the Pacers alongside star players in Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, Celtics killer Andrew Nembhard, and former Celtic Aaron Nesmith.

1st Quarter

It wasn’t an ideal start for the Celtics as off the opening tip, Andrew Nembhard beat Derrick White to the ball and scored a layup. Jaylen Brown opened the scoring for the Celtics with a dunk on an impressive pass from Jrue Holiday on the fast break. Brown was on fire to start, getting to the basket at will and scoring 8 points in the first 6 minutes.

There was a scary moment for the Celtics as Jayson Tatum was hit in the face by Andrew Nembhard’s chest as he was trying to catch a pass under the basket. Tatum was shaken up a little bit but stayed in the game.

The Pacers got out to a 7 point lead early, making a concerted effort to attack Boston at the rim on the offensive side of the ball. Meanwhile, the Celtics were sloppy, turning the ball over 4 times and missing at least 4 wide open layups. The Celtics were struggling to generate three pointers as the normally porous Indiana defense, held them to only 3-10 shooting from beyond the arc.

Derrick White would do his best Payton Pritchard impression, hitting a buzzer beater of a Pacers layup to end the quarter, but Indiana held a 35-31 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. The Celtics finished the quarter shooting 11-26 (42.3%) from the field as Brown finished as the leading scorer and Pascal Siakam had 9 points, leading the Pacers.

2nd Quarter

The Celtics bench really kept Boston in the game to begin the 2nd Quarter as we got a Slam Hauser appearance in his first game back from injury and Payton Pritchard continuing his hot shooting start with two threes that resulted in a Pacers timeout.

Boston’s sloppy play continued however, as the Pacers got out to a 13 point lead including a 16-4 run off of more missed layups, bad turnovers and zero rim protection. Pascal Siakam continued to cook, scoring 8 points, hitting 2 threes and setting up his teammates for easy baskets. The Pacers were doing anything they wanted on offense. Every missed shot from the Celtics ended with someone from Indiana immediately running out and getting an easy shot in transition.

The Celtics continued to struggle from beyond the arc, missing 6 straight threes. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were the main catalysts of these struggles, going a combined 2-13 from three in the half. Tyrese Haliburton wasn’t much better as he scored only 3 points on 1-6 shooting in the first half. On a positive note, Luke Kornet was dominating on the offensive glass with 6 of his 7 rebounds in the first half coming on that side of the ball. Derrick White made another great play at the end of the half, blocking a half court shot from Tyrese Haliburton at the buzzer, but that was maybe the best highlight for Boston in the quarter as the Pacers took a 67-57 lead into halftime.

Overall, this was the worst first half of the season by far for the Celtics. The Pacers were put up 40 points IN THE PAINT against Boston, only the third time that has ever happened under Joe Mazzulla. Indiana shot 27-50 (54%) from the field and there was no effort on the defensive end for the Celtics.

Not only was the defense bad, Boston had terrible execution on offense, finishing the half shooting 19-51 (37.3%) from the field and 8-24 (33.3%) from three. Tatum struggled but still led the Celtics with 15 points on 5-12 shooting from the field and 2-8 from three. Siakam continued to be the leading scorer for the Pacers with 17.

3rd Quarter

Pascal Siakam would not go away, hitting back to back threes for the Pacers to open the second half. Bennedict Mathurin also started to heat up, scoring 11 straight points for Indiana on, you guessed it, more easy layups. Jrue Holiday scored 7 points to start the quarter, but Mathurin’s 14 points and a 12-4 run pushed the Pacers lead up to 22 points (90-68), their biggest lead of the night.

Payton Pritchard would end a 13-0 Pacers run with a three but the Celtics effort was at all time low. Holiday smoked another easy layup and Brown would get a steal but immediately turn it over in just an embarrassing play overall. Sam Hauser hit an impressive shot with a 26 foot three on the fast break and it was good to see him looking like himself in his first game back.

The Celtics were finally starting to attack the basket when the lineup of Jayson Tatum and the bench were together, resulting in a 14-4 run for the Celtics in the final 3:35 of the quarter. Tatum was driving to the rim with aggression, resulting in a tough put back two and a buzzer beating layup to cut the Celtics deficit to 100-86 at the end of the 3rd.

After three quarters, the Celtics finished shooting 30-77 (39%) from the field and 12-37 (32.4%) from three. Tatum had 24 points to lead the Celtics as Siakam and Mathurin had 23 to lead the Pacers.

4th Quarter

TJ McConnell essentially ended the game for the Celtics, dimeing up Mathurin for runs at the rim and capped off by an Obi Toppin dunk that sent the Indiana crowd into a frenzy. McConnell was gesturing towards the crowd and dapped up Tyrese Haliburton’s dad as the Celtics called a timeout with 8:55 to go, down 112-91.

The Celtics put in a lineup of Jaylen Brown and the bench out of the timout. Neemias Queta immediately caught an alley-oop and Brown would hit a three, leading to a Pacers timeout after only 40 seconds of game time and Celtics being down 16 with a sliver of hope for a comeback.

Down 15 with 5:17 to go, the Celtics put in Tatum and White to go along with Pritchard and Queta. After a Nesmith three, White would hit a three and Brown would get a dunk to cut the deficit to 11. Tatum hit a nasty step back three over Nesmith to cut it 10, Isaiah Jackson made 2 free throws, then White hit a three to cut it to 9. After a Siakam traveled, White would hit a layup, get a steal off the inbound pass and Tatum hit 2 free throws to cut the deficit to 5. Jaylen Brown would steal the ball from Mathurin in the next possession to make it a 3 point game with 1:04 to go.

Out of the Pacers timeout, Queta made an incredible block on a Sheppard layup and Haliburton would miss a three that lead to a Tatum fast break drive and get fouled, made two free throws, and cut it to a 1 point deficit with 34.3 left. Haliburton hit a floater with 20.8 to go back up 3 but Jayson Tatum stepped up and splashed an insane three in between the eyes of Haliburton to tie the game with 14.4 to go. Haliburton missed the last shot of regulation and the Celtics, down 24 in the game, came all the way back to force overtime. An absolutely incredible 14-2 run to end the quarter. What a comeback.

Overtime

At 4:23, Haliburton scored the first points of overtime with a three but Tatum missed a three to answer. Mathurin missed a wide open three, Tatum missed another three but Queta tipped it to Brown who got fouled. Brown would proceed to miss BOTH free throws but Siakam couldn’t captilaze, missing a three.