Celtics Complete Sweep of Pacers in Eastern Conference Finals, Secure Spot in NBA Championship
Indianapolis - The Boston Celtics have swept the Indiana Pacers in four games to advance to the NBA Finals. Credit to the Indiana Pacers who have played their hearts out this series and competed until the very end. Jayson Tatum had another spectacular performance, but it was ultimately Jaylen Brown who won the Larry Bird Most Valuable Player trophy in the Eastern Conference Finals. This team is destined to win it all and will await the victor from the Mavericks and Timberwolves series.
This was not quite the high-scoring thrilling opening quarter that we were used to seeing in the first three games. The Celtics defense came to play, led by Derrick White's ability to guard every position on the floor. While everyone else got off to a slow start, Jrue Holiday remained in form. He sank his first two three-pointers to give the Celtics a six-point lead right as the first media timeout was assessed. Then there was T.J. McConnell, who came to the rescue once again. The crafty, witty Pacers point guard always brings a spark off the bench. Whosoever on the floor with McConnell always seems to play better, starting with Doug McDermott. McDermott, who has played very little this postseason, swished a deep three-pointer off an assist from McConnell. The Indiana bench was extremely impactful, outscoring the starting five 16-11. Led by Holiday’s opening eight points, the Celtics held a 29-27 advantage over the Pacers at the end of the opening quarter of Game Four.
Pascal Siakam kicked the second quarter off with another one of his prestigious mid-range jumpers. Siakam has been practically unguardable from the mid-range this series, shooting over 60% from this area. Along with Siakam, Andrew Nembhard got active early. He was already in double digits by the 9:38 mark in the second quarter after nailing a couple of threes to give the Pacers the lead. Without having Tatum on the floor for the Celtics, these minutes were crucial to not give up anything easy. As soon as Tatum was substituted back into the game, the tide shifted back in favor of the Celtics. All the negative media he has received this postseason is unjust and not warranted.
Jaylen Brown really struggled in the first half, shooting four of 11 from the floor and one for four from the free-throw line. Regardless, the Celtics still managed to keep the lead by playing team basketball, having 13 team assists and four turnovers. Brown picked up his second foul with just over four minutes to go after trying to jump over/around Aaron Nemsith on a layup attempt. This could have been overturned if challenged but the Celtics bench decided it was too close of a call. Jayson Tatum picked up some of the offensive slack by aggressively attacking the rim. His three-point shot hasn’t been falling consistently and he has been doing a good job at not forcing it. At the buzzer, Nembhard finished a tough runner from the free-throw line to get the Pacers within one point at halftime.
The Pacers came out on fire, Myles Turner made back-to-back deep three points to give the Pacers their biggest lead of the game. In the opening three minutes of the third quarter, the Pacers outscored the Celtics 11-4 which forced Joe Mazzulla to call an early timeout to slow down the Pacers hot shooting. Immediately after, Jayson Tatum hit a three, and then Derrick White got a steal and finished in transition. With things getting chippy, Myles Turner and Jaylen Brown both received Technical Fouls for getting in a little scuffle. What started this was Turner being called for an offensive foul for running over Derrick White while trying to post up. On the very next Pacer possession, Turner picked up another foul for setting an illegal screen and he was obviously frustrated and was lucky he didn’t receive another technical for his reaction.
The rest of the game remained intense. With the crowd getting involved, this was the playoff atmosphere that is loved by all. There were no more easy buckets, everything had to be finished with some sort of contest. The Pacers seemed to harness the energy that the crowd was giving off as they took the lead with just minutes to go in the third quarter. Since the first quarter, Boston is 4-18 from long range. Known for shooting the long ball, the Celtics struggled mightily from beyond range, and this did not help their comeback efforts. At the end of three, the Pacers had outscored the Celtics 26-22 in the quarter to take the lead heading into the fourth.
