Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers on Tuesday had a bit of an incident.
There was an attack on a historic level. Both teams combined for 261 points, the highest-scoring game so far this postseason and the highest total in a conference finals game since 1987.
There was significant turnover. The Pacers gave up 22 runs, the second most of the season, but that didn't stop an underdog team from overcoming double-digit deficits multiple times, including a 12-0 run by the Celtics.
There were also shots from long range that changed the momentum. Pacers All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton made two of those shots, one from 35 feet just before halftime and another that hit the backboard twice before beating the third-quarter buzzer. Banked off.
All of this led to a flurry of final moments in regulation that featured a number of mistakes by the Pacers, including a contested 3-pointer from the corner by Celtics wing Jaylen Brown to send the game into overtime. He helped Boston to a miraculous 133-128 victory.
Now that we have the latest on one of the most intense games of the 2024 postseason, NBA insiders share the biggest moments from Game 1 and what's next for Thursday's Game 2 (8 p.m. ET on ESPN) , and analyzes how to portray that intense final sequence inside Boston's TD Garden.
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Jaylen Brown scores three goals in the final seconds to tie the game against the Pacers
After a Pascal Siakam fumble, the Celtics got the ball back and raced through Jaylen Brown's corner heave to tie the game with 5.7 points left in the fourth quarter.
What was your biggest takeaway from Game 1?
Tim Bontemps: The Celtics escaped. Boston has fallen to 15-15 at home over the past three postseasons, a puzzling statistic for a team that lost just four times at TD Garden during the 2023-24 regular season, but with just seconds left, a massive We almost missed the playoffs. Loser. Still, Boston found a way to survive with Brown's tying three points and guard Jrue Holiday's poise and presence. In many ways, this is the first true playoff game Boston has played this postseason, and Holiday has been everything the Celtics hoped for when they acquired him on the eve of training camp in September. .
Jamal Collier: The Pacers showed they can go toe-to-toe with the Celtics. After Boston raced out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter, Game 1 looked like it was headed for a blowout loss. But Indiana responded as it has all season, overcoming two double-digit deficits to take the lead both times. The Pacers showed they have a blueprint for a competitive series against the top-seeded Celtics, especially if Haliburton can continue to shoot this well. In Game 1, he hit six 3-point shots in the second and third quarters, including consecutive buzzer beaters.
Chris Herring: Playoff or not, this series will be extremely fast-paced down the stretch and can and should be more chaotic than it has been in the past.
More importantly, we already know that Indiana is likely to lose the free throw contest by a pretty wide margin in each game. During the regular season, on a per shot attempt basis, the Pacers sent opponents to the line at the highest rate in the league, while the Celtics had the lowest rate in the NBA. This dichotomy played out in the first game as well. Boston made 30 free throws, Indiana made 10, and Jayson Tatum attempted 12 free throws alone.
What are the big adjustments we might see in Game 2?
Bontang: Boston needs to improve its defense inside the 3-point line. Indiana shot 62.5% from two-point range in Game 1, but only 66.1% at the end of regulation as the Celtics felt 7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis lost paint protection. Brown said after the game that Boston will need to adapt to Indiana's pace as the game progresses, even though the Pacers have to get through a grueling seven-game series against the New York Knicks that ended just two days ago.
Collier: The Pacers have to take care of the ball. That hasn't been a problem for Indy for most of this season (Indy averaged the second fewest turnovers per game of any playoff team that reached the conference finals), but the Pacers' He was careless with the ball in important situations. Game 1. Indiana center Myles Turner said it was the first time during the playoffs that he thought his team was showing its age with such uncharacteristic mistakes. Whatever the cause, the Pacers need to hold onto the ball in Game 2 and keep Boston from getting anywhere near the 32 points off turnovers they scored on Tuesday.
herring: After the Pacers took the lead late in Game 1, I wouldn't be surprised if the Celtics looked for a way to tighten up their defense in clutch time — whether it was with a different switch pattern or simply This area is a little more vulnerable, especially considering how rarely Indiana got to the free throw line.
Specifically, the Pacers slashed 37-year-old big man Al Horford from midrange in the fourth quarter and overtime, converting six of nine attempts during that time when Horford was the primary defender. I made it a success. This is not surprising. The Pacers were the most efficient mid-range shooting team in the league during the regular season.
The final moments of regulation and overtime were ___.
Bontemps: It was chaos. There were wild passes, inexplicable turnovers, shots that missed wide. It was all that comes with the crucible of the final moments of a close playoff game. But Brown and Holiday said essentially the same thing after the game: Boston never thought the game was over until it actually was. The Celtics may have been the only ones inside TD Garden who believed that, but they turned out to be right.
Collier: An unexpected development. This game went from “It was close, but Boston wasn't really a threat,” to “Wait a minute, the Pacers look like they're going to steal this game,” to “Oh, how did the Pacers ruin this game? ”. Losing the playoffs despite taking a three-point lead on an inbound ball with 10 seconds left put the Pacers in a historically unthinkable category of losers. It was the first team to lose in the playoffs in this way since the 1997-98 season.
herring: terrible. Indiana made a lot of mistakes, saying, “I've never done something like this before.'' Haliburton lost the ball too many times and waited too long to take a shot at the end of regulation. The Pacers forced a terrible inbounds pass late in the game even though they had the luxury of a timeout. And none of this even mentions that Haliburton appeared to be intentionally trying to commit a foul in transition. That would have given Boston two crucial free throws.
Boston also made a lot of mistakes. But as a championship favorite and a club with home court advantage, the Celtics can afford it. The Pacers can't do that.
ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this article.
