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Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics completed a four-game sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night, coming away with a 105-102 victory.
Afterward, Brown gave a whole of credit to the Pacers for the fight they showed throughout the series in spite of being massive underdogs.
“I know people think that Indiana wasn’t a good team or whatever the case may be, but I thought they were as tough as anybody we played all season,” Brown said, via Jay King of The Athletic. “They were physical, they were fast, they put a lot of pressure on us. So shout out to them and respect to them.”
This was far from a dominant sweep on the part of Boston.
Indiana had late leads in three of the four games, including Games 3 and 4. The Pacers even had an 18-point lead in the second half of Game 3. The team's toughness was not lost on a whole lot of people who watch the NBA regularly.
Andrew Nembhard's performance in particular stuck out.
Great game. I really respect the Pacers. They just keep coming and coming. Nembhard has been unbelievable – major 2022 Brunson vibes.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 28, 2024
The young Indiana squad can also use this series loss as a springboard moving forward.
This will be a good learning experience for a young team. This Pacers team is only going to get better moving forward. They have a great foundation. Now it’s time to build on that.
— 8 Points, 9 Seconds (@8pts9secs) May 28, 2024
It was also impressive seeing the Pacers never give in, even their best scorer in Tyrese Haliburton was knocked out of Game 2 with a hamstring injury and did not play in the final two contests of the set.
Respect the hell out of the Pacers, they really made us work for it. Fun to watch. pic.twitter.com/psOPYbo88E
— Boston Diehards (@Boston_Diehards) May 28, 2024
The Pacers will surely be legitimate threats in the East next season.
Jaylen Brown may have had the best series of his career for the Celtics
Brown was named Eastern Conference Finals MVP after dropping 29 point, six rebounds and three steals off 11-of-22 shooting in Game 4. For the series overall, he averaged 29.8 points, five boards, three assists and two steals over 40.9 minutes per game on 51.7/37/65.5 shooting splits.
The 27-year-old made countless big plays throughout the series, including hitting a game-tying three-pointer to send Game 1 into overtime. He was humongous down the stretch for the Celtics in Game 4, making big play on both ends of the floor as Boston rallied from nine points down in the fourth quarter.
Brown was snubbed from an All-NBA team and appeared to take his frustrations out on the Pacers, particularly in Game 2 when he rattled off 40 points to tie a playoff career high.
During the regular season, Brown logged 23 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.2 steals across 33.5 minutes a night while making 49.9 percent of his field-goal attempts, 35.4 percent of his three-point tries and 70.3 percent of his free throws. That was good for his third All-Star appearance.
However, it apparently wasn't enough for Brown to earn an All-NBA team selection. Haliburton actually ended up making the All-NBA Third Team over Brown, which was one of the more controversial selections in the voting.
Regardless, Brown will now be headed to his second NBA Finals over the last three seasons. The last time the Celtics were there, they blew a 2-1 series lead in a six-game loss to the Golden State Warriors. They are obviously hoping for very different results this time around.
Boston will face either the Dallas Mavericks or Minnesota Timberwolves. Considering the Mavericks are up 3-0 in the Western Conference Finals, it will probably be Dallas.
