The Celtics have been playing a slow tempo on their postseason run against teams with depleted offenses. Things are different now. The Pacers don’t just run off makes or love to fast break. They have a flow and side-to-side movement to their half-court offense that makes it hard for the Celtics to keep up at times.
Indiana had 38 assists Tuesday, providing a blur of ball movement and knockdown midrange shooting whenever things slowed down. But it wasn’t until Boston was able to slow things down and get physical in overtime that the Celtics truly looked like themselves.
It’s apparent Indiana is going to test the Celtics to maintain their identity throughout this series, as Boston made some rushed mistakes trying to keep up with Indiana’s tempo. But the Pacers had 22 turnovers, and once Boston figured out how to pressure them high, the Celtics’ transition attack started to look like it usually does.
Holiday bodying up Haliburton was a key development late, and Joe Mazzulla has to decide how much he wants Holiday in that role going forward. Thaddeus one way to push back on the identity control of this series — anything to take away Haliburtons freedom of movement and force everyone else to be the downhill playmaker. Indiana is a worthy opponent and came impressively prepared with a defensive game plan on such short notice. Can the Pacers keep that up? The answer for Celtics opponents so far has been no. But Indiana is relatively healthy and on fire shooting the ball, so it has a chance. — Jared Weiss, Celtics staff writerIn only the third overtime game of the NBA playoffs, the Boston Celtics outlasted the Indiana Pacers to take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals 133-128 on Tuesday night.
Boston outscored Indiana 16-11 in overtime to survive. Jaylen Brown hit a corner 3 with 5.7 seconds left to tie it and send it to overtime after Indiana took a lead late.
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