BOSTON — With the Celtics nursing a one-point lead in overtime, they were finally in a spot to potentially grab some momentum against the Pacers. Jayson Tatum had the ball, and after Jrue Holiday set a pick, Tatum thought his teammate was going to be there for a lofty pass.
But Tatum passed it to none of his teammates, instead finding Tyrese Haliburton in the process. As they raced down the floor in transition, Haliburton pulled up for the wide-open 3-pointer. Then Derrick White came soaring in from behind, fouling Haliburton on the attempt leading to three free throws. It ended up being a disastrous few seconds for the Celtics in the process.
Fortunately, on the ensuing possession as the C’s got multiple chances, Tatum converted on the and-1 layup. Then Tatum hit a 3-pointer on the Celtics’ next possession for a personal 6-0 run when they needed it most. So after some Jaylen Brown heroics to force overtime, Tatum finished off the win after some struggles earlier in the overtime period. And the end result: a dramatic Celtics overtime victory to take the 1-0 series lead on the Pacers.
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“I’m so glad we won the game because I would have been sick,” Tatum said. “That play was some miscommunication. We just talked about afterwards and thought that I was going to come off the screen. I thought that they would corral him and double him. I thought he was going to slip. He was still (able to) jump and pass the ball, so that was on me.”
There was plenty of back-and-forth throughout the game as the Pacers came ready to scrap. The C’s built up an early 12-point lead, but the Pacers quickly battled back. It was actually the young Indiana squad that led for the majority of the fourth quarter. Whenever the C’s looked like they were going to blow the game open, the Pacers played resilient ball to keep themselves in Game 1 of the East Finals.
All the Pacers can do now is flip the page to Game 2, set for 8 p.m. Thursday at TD Garden. On the flip side, the C’s are looking to fix some of their areas as they allowed the Pacers some efficient offense. But all that matters is the C’s protected home court to start the series. And now, they’ll look to replicate that success.
“That (expletive) was chaos; that (expletive) was wild,” Tatum said. “But just stay present, stay in the moment. As long as there’s time still on the clock and the game is within reach, we feel like we have a chance. This core group has been in so many big-time games, big-time moments. We’ve had a lead and lost it and still won. We’ve been down a lot and figured out a way to win.”
