The Boston Celtics struck first in their playoff series against the Indiana Pacers with a superb win at TD Garden. There was a pulsating finish to the clash after Jaylen Brown tied the match with a 3-pointer to take the contest into overtime. The Massachusetts outfit showed impressive resilience on the night, while the Pacers were left to rue what might have been before the next match on Thursday.
Jayson Tatum led the way for Boston Celtics in a scintillating 133-128 playoff victory over the Indiana Pacers to draw first blood in the series.
Tatum claimed 36 points on the night and Jaylen Brown took the game into overtime with a mere 6.1 seconds of regulation time left to give the Celtics the best-possible start to the series.
Tyrese Haliburton top-scored for the Pacers with 25 points and 10 assists on the night, but Boston appeared to have an answer for the Indiana attack after Brown, Tatum and Jrue Holiday ensured the Massachusetts side became the first team in NBA history to have three players each claiming 25 points and three steals in a match.
Reflecting on the match as a whole, Brown said: “Welcome to the NBA playoffs. You’ve just got to manage your emotions. Anything can happen,” in quotes published by nba.com.
“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.”
Despite another memorable night for the No. 1 ranked side in the Eastern Conference playoffs, Taytum is refusing to get carried away and added: “It doesn’t prove anything.
“We won a big-time game. The series is far from over.”
However, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle believes his side were the architects of their own downfall and said it was “totally on me” for not calling a timeout before the turnover that led to Brown’s effort, taking the match into overtime.
He said: “I think it’s more on us. I just felt like more of them were probably on us than them forcing turnovers.
“It’s unfortunate we did so many good things in this game that it came down to a couple of mistakes at the end, but it’s the NBA playoffs.
“We’ve got to learn from it and we’ve got to bounce back.”