Jay King, Jared Weiss, Eric Name, James Boyd, Hunter Patterson
The Boston Celtics are back in the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons after sweeping the Indiana Pacers, winning 105-102 in Game 4 on Monday in Indianapolis.
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with a game-high 29 points, along with six rebounds, three steals and four 3-pointers. Jayson Tatum added 26 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for a near triple-double. Boston's starting five combined for 95 of the team's 105 points.
Andrew Nembard continued his offensive momentum to lead the Pacers, finishing with a team-high 24 points and 10 assists while also grabbing six rebounds on 10-of-16 shooting.
With All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton out with a left hamstring injury, the second-year guard is averaging 28 points, 9.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds over the past two games.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals will be played in Boston on June 6th, facing either the Dallas Mavericks or the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Celtics perform well late in the game
A long-standing question about the Celtics is how they fare late in close games. It remains a concern because of their tendency to, for goodness' sake, go wild late in games. They dominated key moments throughout the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Celtics were in trouble again in the fourth quarter, trailing by as many as nine points. TJ McConnell had a golden opportunity to put the Pacers up by 11 three minutes into the quarter, but his layup missed, setting up a three-pointer by Brown at the other end of the court.
Indiana didn't lose, but Boston did enough offensively, racking up steals and blocks, to dominate the rest of the fourth quarter. They missed a couple of chances after tying the score, but Brown found Derrick White in the corner for a game-winning 3-pointer.
On Boston's next drive, July Holiday scored an offensive rebound to seal the game.
The Celtics have won two straight games in this series after getting into serious fourth-quarter trouble: Brown's late corner 3-pointer in Game 1 sent the game into overtime, and Boston trailed by 18 points in the second half before surviving a huge comeback in Game 3.
Despite the sweep, the series was hard-fought from start to finish, but the Celtics found ways to win close games, and they'll need that same crunch time composure in the Finals, but it will be tougher against Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the Mavericks. — Jay King, Celtics reporter
Boston pulls off tough sweep
The Celtics are heading into the Finals after another frantic finish to complete the toughest sweep in franchise history. The Pacers raised their game in every facet after losing Haliburton, forcing Boston to refine their late play and defensive effort.
Brown's scoring helped bolster a struggling Celtics offense, something he did repeatedly in the second half, but what defined his performance in the series was his big save on Nembard in the final seconds of the game and then his run through traffic to find White for the game-winning point.
Barring an unprecedented comeback, the Celtics will face the Mavericks, who play a different style of basketball but are even tougher late in games, and that's the only thing that destroyed Indiana, while Boston's defense and playmaking are what won and lost this series.
The Celtics know what to do when games decide, they've proven they can step up defensively in those moments, and now they're four wins away from a title. — Jared Weiss, Celtics reporter
Indiana will fight until the very end
No one could blame the Pacers for bowing out in Game 4. Down 3-0 in the series and without Haliburton, the game could have easily ended in a big win, with the Celtics handily winning the NBA Finals.
Instead, they competed and fought until the final seconds of a 105-102 loss in Game 4 on Monday.
Nembard was great again, but it wasn't enough as the Pacers would end their season in Indianapolis. Pascal Siakam added 19 points and 10 rebounds as the team tried to keep their season alive, and McConnell was great again off the bench, but it wasn't enough.
Throughout the postseason, the Pacers have been defined by their willingness to compete every second of every game, and that was no different in the Eastern Conference Finals. — Eric Nehm, NBA Senior Writer
The Pacers shoot well, but can't stand the Dagger 3.
The Pacers were hot on 3-pointers throughout the third quarter, mirroring the Celtics' playbook. Indiana entered Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals trailing Boston 46-29 in 3-pointers, but made 10 3-pointers in the first 36 minutes, matching the Celtics, to take a three-point lead entering the final quarter.
Six Pacers players made 3-pointers through the third quarter, including Myles Turner, who made two 3-pointers early in the second half to give Indiana a five-point lead.
But the Celtics dominated in the fourth quarter, and White scored the winning three-pointer from a corner kick with 45 seconds left.
Boston's timely 3-point shooting is not surprising for a team that ranked first in the NBA with 16.5 3-pointers made per game during the regular season. The Celtics ranked second in the league with 38.8 percent 3-point shooting during the regular season.
After hitting just 2 of 12 3-pointers in the third quarter, Brown hit two 3-pointers to get the Celtics back on track in the fourth, and Tatum made another to stop the Pacers from taking a lead, after which Boston did what it had done all series: win when it mattered.
White's deadly 3-pointer tore at the heartstrings of a Pacers team that was fighting desperately to extend its season after reaching its first conference finals in a decade. — James Boyd, Staff Writer
This story will be updated.
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(Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
