After approaching the apex of basketball and falling short, there's no guarantee a team will ever get back. Yet, despite losing in the championship round in 2022 and disappointing in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics are heading back to the NBA Finals following their 105-102 win over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.
Although Boston's series sweep suggests that the Pacers didn't put up much of a fight, that wasn't the case. Indiana held a fourth-quarter lead in three of the four contests and in Game 4, the Pacers led 102-100 with only three minutes remaining.
The Celtics, like they had been all series, were undaunted. They held Indiana scoreless for the last three minutes and 32 seconds of the game before punching their ticket to their 23rd Finals in franchise history.
Now, all that's left for the C's to do is to shake off past failures and raise Banner No. 18. The Finals won't start for a bit though, so, in the meantime, let's look at three takeaways from Boston's Game 4 comeback victory versus the Pacers.
Jaylen Brown earned the Eastern Conference Finals MVP
In spite of earning the richest contract in NBA history this past offseason, Jaylen Brown is one of the most underrated players in the league.
In fact, after the Celtics star became the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, he was shocked:
“I wasn't expecting that at all,” Brown admitted in his postgame remarks. “I don't ever win shit, so. I was just happy that we won.”
The three-time All-Star finished with 29 points, six rebounds, and three steals in 44 minutes of play. He was just 4-for-11 with four points at the end of the first quarter, yet he bounced back from his slow start and delivered in the clutch.
Brown had a game-high 10 points in the fourth quarter and made big play after big play. He tied the game with a sweet floater with 2:40 left in regulation and then came up with a steal on Indiana's next possession.
After that, he blocked a potential go-ahead bucket from Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard and then had the game-winning assist to guard Derrick White, putting the Celtics up 105-102 with 45 ticks to go.
These kinds of winning plays might surprise league voters, who didn't name Brown to an All-NBA Team this season. Yet, Brown's teammates expect excellence from him.
“He is unreal,” White said during his postgame press conference. “I know he was unreal when I got here, but the great thing about JB is he's gotten better every single year that he's been in this league, which, is a testament to his hard work and dedication. He was unreal this whole series, just on both sides of the ball, a complete player that you don't really see much these days.”
Brown averaged 29.8 points, five rebounds, and three assists over the course of the Eastern Conference Finals. Best of all, he shot a blistering 51.7% from the field while averaging around 22 attempts per game.
“He’s impacting the game not only on offense but on defense,” veteran center Al Horford said. “And he’s doing it at a very high level.”
Derrick White and Jrue Holiday made winning plays
It's easy to get lost in the star power the Celtics boast. However, the real depth of this team lies with a pair of two-way guards: Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.
The two 2024 All-Defensive Team members do it all for the C's, and that was apparent in Game 4. Holiday put up 17 points and nine rebounds while White notched 16 points, five steals, and three blocks.
Putting into words how much these two mean for the Celtics is difficult. But, the final sixty seconds of Game 4 do an amazing job of demonstrating how they lift the Green Team up.
When Brown found White all alone in the corner with the game tied, he didn't hesitate. The 29-year-old splashed the triple with confidence despite being 1-for-8 from deep at that point.
“D-White is the type of player that's meant for those type of moments,” Horford said. “He really relishes that. It was a great play and he just finished it.”
That go-ahead triple put the Celtics in a great position to seal the series win, and Holiday closed it out on the other end of the floor. Following a long miss from Celtics star Jayson Tatum, the ball was still up for grabs with eight seconds remaining.
Instead of letting the Pacers regain possession—who had a timeout and could've advanced the ball down three points—Holiday swooped in for the offensive board and dished it to Brown before he could be fouled. This allowed the Celtics to bleed the clock for good.
The Celtics obviously need Tatum and Brown to lead the way, yet Holiday and White are complimentary guys who have shown their worth nearly every night this postseason.
“We got a lot of great players in that locker room that made big-time plays, Brown stated. “Jrue was one game. D-White was this game … We've all been able to take turns just being able to make impactful winning plays, and that's what it's about.”
Celtics won with their defense
Boston had the best offensive rating in the league this regular season, and it used that high-powered offense to bludgeon opponents all year.
However, against the offensively-gifted Pacers, defense won out. In Game 4, the Celtics held Indiana to its worst shooting percentage of the series. What's more, the C's let up just 19 points in the fourth quarter, which was Indiana's lowest-scoring output in any quarter of the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Pacers had an elite offense this season and they still managed to facilitate well without star point guard Tyrese Haliburton in Games 3 and 4. But, Indiana ran into trouble in the final 12 minutes of nearly every contest, as that's when Boston locked in defensively and forced turnovers, disrupted passing lanes, and had incredible shot-blocking.
“It was really hard throughout the game because I felt like we were making them take tough, tough shots and the guys just stuck with it and did a great job … Just upped our ball pressure and our individual defense,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said when asked how the Celtics held Indiana scoreless for over three minutes. “And, we got stops. Held them to a 19-point quarter.”
The C's will need the same defensive intensity they had against the Pacers in the 2024 NBA Finals. The Western Conference champion hasn't been crowned yet, but whoever advances will provide the Celtics with the biggest challenge they've encountered thus far.
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