NBA Playoffs – playoffs – working day 39
The Pacers lost the first game of the NBA Eastern Conference final after wasting a three-point and possession lead with just 10 seconds remaining. The Celtics then made a statement in the second game with a stellar performance by Jaylen Brown. After the two losses in Boston, the Eastern Conference final traveled this Saturday to Indianapolis, where the Pacers had won all three games against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and all three against the New York Knicks in the conference semifinal. The Celtics, however, broke the streak this Saturday and left the Eastern final almost sealed after overcoming an 18-point difference.
Those from Boston imposed their talent and experience at the moment of truth, in the fourth quarter, when those from Indiana ruined all their previous work. The Pacers were without Tyrese Haliburton, their starting point guard, who was injured, but Andrew Nembhard, the 24-year-old Canadian, took over and managed to make the absent star forget for almost the entire game. Nembhard’s first half, with a series of 8 of 10 field goals, including two of two triples, and a total of 22 points, was to frame. The Canadian finished the game with 32 points, the highest score of his two seasons in the NBA, but a missed shot and a turnover at the end of the game prevented him from remembering the matchup against the Celtics as the game of his life. .
Without Haliburton and with a 15-24 in the initial stretch, things were getting very ugly for Indiana. There emerged Nembhard, who, together with the superiority in the zone of Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam, boosted the Indiana team. The first quarter still ended with the Celtics ahead (31-32), but the Pacers distanced themselves in the second quarter and reached halftime with a lead of 12 points, which had reached 18 a few minutes before.
A first attempt at a comeback by the Celtics was frustrated by the reaction of the home team, who entered the final quarter still with a nine-point lead. Boston gritted their teeth on defense and closed the zone, which had been a drain during the first half of the game. Meanwhile, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford scored from the three-point line. With only a minute and a half left, the Pacers still had a five-point lead, but a triple by Al Horford and a basket with an additional shot by Jrue Holiday turned the score around. The Celtics, who had not led since 31-32 at the end of the first quarter, took a 111-112 lead with 38.9 seconds left.
That’s where Nembhard ruined his brilliant match. He missed a two-pointer after poor shot selection. The Celtics failed in their attack and the Indiana point guard captured the rebound, but when he advanced with a few seconds remaining in search of the comeback basket, Jrue Holiday stole his wallet. The Celtics signing is one of the best defenders in the NBA and that steal of the ball could be worth access to the final. The Pacers fouled him, but Holiday made both free throws and the Indiana team desperately missed the three-pointer on the last possession, in which they only had 1.7 seconds.
Jayson Tatum was the Celtics’ and the game’s top scorer, with 36 points, to which he added 10 rebounds and 8 assists. Much of the credit for the comeback went to Al Horford, who finished with 23 points, including 7 of the 13 three-pointers he attempted. Jaylen Brown added another 24 points. On the Pacers’ part, Nembhard’s 32 points were joined by TJ MacConnell’s 23 and Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner’s 22.
The Celtics shot non-stop from the three-point line, as their coach, Joe Mazulla, likes. They made 16 of their 46 attempts, while the Pacers only made 5 of the 22 three-pointers they attempted. Indiana’s superiority in the zone in the absence of the injured Kristaps Porziņģis, the Celtics’ starting center, was not enough to achieve victory.
Those from Boston, favorites since the beginning of the season, need only one victory in the four remaining games to win the East title and access the NBA final. Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, the Dallas Mavericks have achieved an important advantage by winning the first two games of the series at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The second loss was especially tough, as the Minnesota team gained a wide lead that was reduced until a triple by Slovenian Luka Dončić with three seconds left gave the Mavericks the victory. The Wolves have missed the best version of Anthony Edwards, their young superstar, in these first two games of the Western final. In addition, they have had more problems stopping Doncic and Kyrie Irving than facing Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, of the champion Denver Nuggets, whom they eliminated.
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