Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals was a mess.
“That s#!& was chaos,” said Jayson Tatum. “That s#!& was wild.”
The Boston Celtics’ crunch-time offense showed flashes of brilliance in regulation: Jayson Tatum drew two defenders and swung the ball to Al Horford who found Derrick White in the corner for a three. Simple plays lead to quality results.
It also dissolved in a puddle of isolation: Tatum and Jaylen Brown settling for ugly pull-up threes after possessions filled with a lack of movement on or off the ball.
Defensively, the same up-and-down description can be used for their crunch-time defense. There were plays where Boston’s defensive pressure forced the Indiana Pacers into timely turnovers. Simultaneously, they allowed Pascal Siakam to torch them from the mid-range, while Tyrese Haliburton was left to take open threes thanks to questionable drop coverage.
But two sloppy Pacers turnovers in the final 30 seconds put the Celtics in a position to send the game to overtime. And that’s exactly what they did.
Brown got the ball in the corner, baited Siakam into an early contest, rose up, and nailed a tough three.
“It was just a momentum play that we [were] able to turn them over and get an extra possession, and that led to a great drive,” Brown said, describing the lead-up to the bucket. “Jrue [Holiday] made a great pass, D-White [Derrick White] set a good screen, and the rest was history.”
All season long, clutch games have been an issue for the Celtics. From their two losses to the Denver Nuggets to their two losses to the Atlanta Hawks, they just haven’t been able to find their rhythm late in close games.
For stretches of Game 1, that trend held true. But those poor stretches were outmatched by big-time buckets and solid defensive possessions.
“Obviously, we weren’t perfect. We can get better. But I thought we maintained a level of poise, a level of mental toughness, and just continued to work through some of the mistakes,” said Joe Mazzulla. “That’s the bind that they put you in because of the way they play. So, we handled it well, and we gotta get better.”
Photo by David L. Nemec/NBAE via Getty Images
The final five minutes of regulation were a basketball roller coaster. From rushed threes to beautiful ball movement, porous defense to forced turnovers, the Celtics battled through it and got themselves to overtime.
From there, it was gravy.
“It really just felt like we had a second chance,” said Tatum. “We didn’t, the end of the third and fourth quarter, we didn’t necessarily play well enough where we may have deserved the win. And obviously made some plays at the end. JB gave us a second chance by hitting that shot.
‘And we just talked about it in the huddle. ‘We got a second chance. Let’s take advantage of it. Let’s not mess around. And let’s figure out a way to win this game.’”
That’s exactly what they did.
Overtime wasn’t perfect either. Boston missed some shots and was loose with the ball. And when Tatum turned it over due with a sloppy pass with just under three minutes to go, Haliburton got to the line and sunk three free throws. White fouled him in transition, and the Pacers went up by two points with 1:46 remaining.
Boston outscored them 12-5 from that point on.
“I’m so glad we won that game because I would have been sick,” Tatum said, reflecting on his overtime turnover. “That play, it was a miscommunication. And we just talked about it afterward. He thought that I was going to come off the screen. I thought that they were corralling or doubling. I thought he was going to slip. Even still, you don’t jump and pass the ball. So, that was on me.
“But we just talked about it for a quick second, and there was still a lot of time left to figure out how to win the game.”
Following Halibutron’s free throw parade, the Celtics were still struggling to get shots to fall, but offensive rebounding kept the ball in their hands. And finally, at the 1:12 mark in overtime, Tatum got past Andrew Nembhard in the post and finished an and-one through TJ McConnell.
With the bucket, it felt like the tides changed. Indiana still made some shots after that, but the Celtics had gained some momentum, and they were ready to parlay it into something more.
And if Tatum’s and-1 was the brief moment of anticipation when the roller coaster stops at its highest point, his three just one possession later was the rapid descent that brings an elation over all its passengers.
“He just plays with a level of poise and a level of comfort, knowing that the next one’s got a chance to go,” Mazzulla said. “And so, he got the exact same shot that he got down three, and then he made that one.”
After missing a wide-open three in regulation, Tatum nailed the same exact shot in overtime to give the Celtics a four-point cushion with 43 seconds left in the game. A Siakam turnover and a White layup sent the contest into the free-throw game, and all was said and done.
Boston looked dead in the water in the fourth quarter. A stalling offense and inconsistent defense had the Pacers ahead, yet the Celtics still managed to find a way to win.
“Close games I don’t think have ever bothered us,” said Holiday. “I think that we’ve always stayed poise, no matter if it’s a win or a loss, we knew that we’d always give ourselves a chance. Even today, down 3 with some seconds left, making a big shot, making big plays after that. We knew we had it in us.”
At times, the Celtics’ execution left much to be desired. At times, they buckled in and got the job done. In the end, it all came out in the wash, and the final product was a victory.
And in the playoffs, that’s all that matters.
