The Indiana Pacers fell in a sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics, but it was not without some controversial calls and close games. In Game 4, in particular, there was a foul by Jaylen Brown on Pacers guard TJ McConnell that many at home and certainly in the arena in Indianapolis felt was worth a flagrant.

With seven and a half minutes remaining in the game and the Pacers ahead by six points, Andrew Nembhard attempted a three, which bounced off of the front end of the rim right into the hands of McConnell. Just as he corralled the offensive rebound, however, McConnell was forcibly struck in the face by Brown. The hit visibly knocked McConnell's head to snap back and caused him to fall out of the air and fall squarely on his back.

The foul seemed plainly obvious to be a flagrant foul considering the level of force Brown hit McConnell with, even if it was accidental. That was not how the game's officials saw it, however, as the referees ruled after the review that it was a common foul and was not upgraded to a flagrant.

After the game, the Indianapolis Star's Dustin Dopirak asked Zach Zarba, the game's crew chief, why the foul was not deemed worthy of a flagrant.

“After review, Brown is following the arch of the ball, making a play on the basketball during the rebounding action,” Zarba said. “There is no wind up and there is no follow through with the contact to McConnell. We feel that it was unfortunate, but it did not rise to the level of a flagrant foul.”

Pacers lose oddly close series to Celtics

Indiana Pacers player TJ McConnell

The Indiana Pacers were so close yet so very far away from beating the Boston Celtics. Despite dealing with injuries and having not been to the playoffs at all with this core of players before, the Pacers gave the Celtics nearly everything they could handle. That might not seem like a great consolation prize for Indiana fans, however, especially with how this series could have went.

While the Pacers were swept by the Celtics, every contest aside from Game 2, a 126-110 Celtics home victory, in this Eastern Conference Finals series was incredibly winnable for Indiana. Games 1, 3, and 4 were decided by 11 total points, and to make matters worse, the Pacers held advantageous positions late in each of those games.

Game 1 hinged on late turnovers by the Pacers that allowed Jaylen Brown and the Celtics to not only force overtime but win a game that they had no business winning after trailing by three with less than 10 seconds remaining. In Game 3, the Pacers led by as many as 18 and even had an eight-point advantage with under three minutes to go at home but could not close the game out. And last night, Indiana's offense went ice cold and did not score at all in the final 3:33 as the Celtics scored seven unanswered and closed the series out.

There will be plenty of questions this offseason for the Pacers, but it's undoubtedly true that the fight that Tyrese Haliburton (who missed Games 3 and 4), Pascal Siakam, and the rest of a relatively underrated Pacers rotation displayed should be viewed as a positive sign for the team's future.