The Boston Celtics put together a thrilling overtime victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday night, thanks much in part to a huge Jaylen Brown three-pointer at the end of regulation. However, some Celtics fans left TD Garden before the shot was even made.
Boston fans are known as some of the fiercest and most dedicated in all of sports, but some of the Beantown faithful ended up looking pretty silly this time around.
Now, to be fair, it wasn't that many C's fans, and the arena was still full for the overtime session. But still, leaving in a close playoff game like that is crazy. It would have been one thing if the Celtics were down double digits with two minutes left, but the Pacers were up by just five points with 1:57 remaining. Yes, they were also up three with the ball with 10 seconds left, but Andrew Nembhard turned the ball over with an errant inbounds pass.
Brown then sunk the game-tying triple with six seconds left on the clock, and the Celtics got a stop to force overtime.
Did the Celtics absorb the Pacers' best shot in Game 1?
This was nearly a disastrous loss for the Celtics, even with how shaky they have been at home in the playoffs the last few years. Dropping Game 1 of the conference finals in your own building to a largely inferior opponent? Where have we seen that before?
Anyway, Boston was able to get the job done by making clutch plays on both ends, which is something the C's have been widely criticized for not consistently doing throughout the season. Perhaps the Celtics needed a close game like this to build some mettle.
This may also end up being one of the closest games Boston may play in this series.
The Pacers shot a blistering 53.5 percent from the floor and were absolutely making some unbelievable shots. Many of the three-pointers that Tyrese Haliburton and Co. sunk were very contested, but they just happened to fall.
Indiana is a very good three-point shooting team, ranking eighth in percentage and ninth in makes this year. But some of the shots the Pacers were draining in Game 1 will probably not be falling very much for the remainder of the series (if it continues, the Celtics may be in some trouble).
You kind of get the feeling that this may have been the best offensive performance Indy will put forth in this set, at least on the road. The Pacers just scored 128 points (117 in regulation) in Boston. Against one of the best defensive teams in the league.
Maybe the Pacers will be able to have another hot shooting night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, but it seems kind of hard to imagine Indiana doing this again in Beantown.
Indiana also got over 20 points from each of Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner and still lost. When your three best players perform that well and you still lose, it's tough. On the flip side, though, one can argue that the Celtics got 90 combined points from Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Brown, and the Pacers managed to hang in there.
We'll see if Boston can take a commanding 2-0 lead on Thursday night, something the C's were unable to do in their previous two playoff series this spring.
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