The Boston Celtics, fueled by 36 factors from Jayson Tatum, erased an 18-point deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 114-111 on Saturday and take a commanding 3-0 lead within the NBA Eastern Conference finals.
Tatum added 10 rebounds and eight assists, Jaylen Brown scored 24 factors and the Celtics discovered a solution to decelerate Indiana’s high-octane offense within the second half to grab the win in Indianapolis, the place they’re going to attempt to shut out the collection on Monday.
“Closeout games are the hardest,” Tatum mentioned, cautioning that the Celtics cannot afford to calm down even though no NBA group has rallied from 0-3 all the way down to win a playoff collection.
Indiana, who have been unbeaten in six prior house video games this post-season, got here out decided to keep away from the 0-3 gap regardless of the absence of All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who aggravated the left hamstring pressure that troubled him this season in recreation two.
Andrew Nembhard, taking on at level guard, scored 32 factors and handed out 9 assists and Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner scored 22 apiece for the Pacers, who pushed their result in 18 within the second quarter and once more within the third.
But a three-point play by Jrue Holiday, who was fouled on a driving layup and made the free throw, put the Celtics up 112-111 with 38.9 seconds to play.
It was their first lead because the first moments of the second quarter and so they made it get up, Holiday arising with a decisive steal from Nembhard and making a pair of free throws to seal it.
Despite the absence of Haliburton, the Pacers bought their offense firing and erased an early nine-point deficit, exploding within the second quarter to construct their first 18-point lead of the competition.
Nembhard scored 17 factors within the second quarter and the Pacers related on 15 of their 22 shot makes an attempt to surge previous the Celtics.
With 21 factors by halftime, Nembhard had already surpassed his profession playoff excessive.
He drilled an extended three-pointer with lower than 5 seconds left within the first half to provide the Pacers a 69-57 lead on the break.
Indiana have been up by 18 once more halfway by means of the third, however Boston bore down defensively and reeled them in.
It stays to be seen if Haliburton can be accessible for recreation 4 on Monday.
“It was determined that tonight was not an option,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle mentioned earlier than the sport, saying Haliburton could be reassessed earlier than recreation 4.
Source: www.anews.com.tr
