Indiana Pacers Squander Another Opportunity in Game Three Loss

1. First Quarter

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With the way game two ended with Tyrese Haliburton injuring his left hamstring again, there was some question marks surrounding how the Indiana Pacers would start tonight’s game. Boston scored the first five points of the game with a Jaylen Brown layup and an Al Horford three in the first forty-eight seconds. Indiana’s first basket was scored by Andrew Nembhard on a floater. Both teams started red hot by combining to make nine of their first ten shots. Following Horford’s basket, Jayson Tatum scored eight consecutive points for the Celtics that put his team ahead 11-4 with 10:13 left in the period. Indiana trimmed its deficit down to three following a hook shot from Pascal Siakam that made it 18-15. Boston hit Indiana with back-to-back threes from Tatum and Horford with 5:58 remaining in the first. It took nearly five minutes for the Pacers to make it a one-point game after Aaron Nesmith made his only field goal in the first quarter to make it 30-29. Myles Turner ended the quarter with a dunk to bring Indiana within one again with 26 seconds left. After one, Boston’s lead was 32-31. Tatum led all scorers in the first quarter with 15 points followed by 11 points from Siakam. Indiana shots 59% from the field compared to 57% for Boston.

2. Second Quarter

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Indiana did not possess the lead at all in the first quarter and would rectify that in the second with Turner banking in a hook shot to give his team its first lead. The Pacers opened the second quarter with an 8-2 run to take a 39-34 lead after a Siakam field goal. Boston got another three from Horford in the first half to bring the Celtics within a field goal. With 7:51 remaining in the half, Tatum drilled another three in the first half to make it 44-40 game. Indiana’s offense caught fire after that. The Pacers went on an 15-4 run to take a 59-44 lead following a T.J. McConnell two-point shot. Nembhard was a big part of Indiana’s success during that stretch scoring five points and dishing out a pair of assists. McConnell was the heartbeat for Indiana scoring six points and dishing out four assists. Nembhard eventually gave Indiana its largest lead of the game with a triple with 2:43 left in the half. Boston went from trailing 64-46 to 66-57 in two minutes. Nembhard finished off the best quarter of his career with his third triple that made it 69-57 at the break. Nembhard’s 17 points in the quarter propelled him to the leading scorer in the first half with 21 points. Boston’s leading scorer was Tatum with 20 points. Indiana also got 15 points from Siakam and Turner in the first half. The Celtics got 14 points from Brown and 12 points from Horford in the half. Indiana shot 63.6% from the field in the first half and went 10/10 at the free-throw line.

3. Third Quarter

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The halftime break really let Boston go to work on how to take Nembhard out of the game in the second half. Indiana opened the second half with four points to take a 16 point lead after field goals from Siakam and Turner. With 6:04 remaining in the third quarter, McConnell’s pullup jump shot put Indiana ahead 84-66 and then Boston went to work the next 18:04. The Celtics outscored the Pacers the final six minutes of the third quarter 15-6 to make it a 90-81 game after three quarters of play. It was nearly a seven-point game after thirty-six minutes of play, but Doug McDermott tipped in a shot following a miss from Nembhard with 0.6 seconds left in the third quarter. Neither team shot it well in the third, Indiana shot 38.5% and Boston shot 31.8%. However, Boston outscored Indiana 24-21 in the quarter simply because they got to the foul line nine times compared to one for Indiana. Additionally, the Pacers went 0/9 on threes. Indiana was +2 on the glass in the quarter, and only surrendered three offensive rebounds to Boston in the period.  Tatum led all scorers after the third quarter with 29 points followed by Nembhard with 23 points.

4. Fourth Quarter

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After scoring 21 points in the third quarter, Indiana’s offense only managed to score 21 points again in the fourth quarter. The Celtics scored the first four points of the final quarter to make it a two-possession game after a Derrick White layup. Indiana responded with a three-point play from Turner to go back up eight points. Less than a minute later, Horford knocked down another three ball that brought Boston within three points. Indiana would do a good job at responding to the Boston punches, but the offense struggled without its all-star point guard in crunch time. With 5:41 left, it was a 99-95 game. After each team missed a field goal, they combined to make eight consecutive shots. Indiana was able to push its lead to eight points because they nailed back-to-back threes from Nembhard and McConnell. Boston got field goals from Brown, Horford, and Jrue Holiday. Boston was down 109-101 with 2:38 left in the game and then Indiana only scored two points the rest of the way. Tatum converted a his fifth three of the game to make it 109-106 with 1:41 to go. Indiana got two free throws from Nembhard to go ahead 111-105 with 1:26 left. Horford responded with his seventh three of the game and then Siakam missed a layup with 49 seconds remaining. Holiday was silent through the first three quarters and then won the game for Boston in the final 39 seconds. He converted a layup and a free throw because of Siakam fouling him attempting to block the shot. Boston took its first lead since the first quarter. Indiana got a shot up quickly from Nembhard that drew iron in aspirations of getting the last possession. Turner contested Tatum’s attempted layup with ten seconds remaining to force a miss. Nembhard got the rebound and dribbled it up the floor quickly with Holiday guarding him. Boston’s best defender took the ball from Nembhard and then went to the foul line with 1.7 seconds left and made both free throws. Indiana’s final shot of the night fell off the front of the rim on a three-point attempt from Nesmith. Boston defeats Indiana 114-111.

5. Top Performers

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Jayson Tatum (36p, 10r, 8a, 5 threes), Jaylen Brown (24p, 3a, 2r), Al Horford (23p, 5r, 7 threes), Jrue Holiday (14p, 9r, 3a, 3s), and Derrick White (13p, 7a, 5r, 4b). For Indiana, Andrew Nembhard (32p, 9a, 4r, 4 threes), T.J. McConnell (23p, 9r, 6a), Pascal Siakam (22p, 6a, 3r), and Myles Turner (22p, 10r). For tonight’s full box score, click here.

6. Notes

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• Indiana Pacers look to become first team in NBA history to win a series trailing 3-0
• Indiana Pacers lost first home playoff game this postseason
• Boston Celtics are now 5-0 on the road in the playoffs
• Boston’s starters scored 110 of 114 points
• Indiana shot 38% from the field in the second half
  • Only went 2/14 from three-point range in the second half
• Jayson Tatum scored 30+ points for the 4th time in the last six games
  • Tatum recorded a double-double for the 10th time this postseason
  • Tatum’s 5 threes are the most he’s made this postseason in a game
• Al Horford’s 7 threes are a career high for any game in his career
• Andrew Nembhard’s 32 points are a career high for points scored in a game in his career
• Pascal Siakam has now scored 22+ points in five of his last six games
• Myles Turner logged his third double-double of this postseason in the loss
  • Turner scored 20+ points for the 7th time this postseason
• T.J. McConnell’s 23 points are a playoff career high
  • Second time this postseason McConnell has scored 20+ points

7. Next Up

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Every game this series will only feature a day off between games. Game four between the Pacers and Celtics will be on Monday night from Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Pat Boylan will get things started with the Kroger Pregame Show at 7:30pm. Mark Boyle and Eddie Gill will have the play-by-play starting at 8pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan. The series schedule:

• Game 1 – Tuesday, May 21st, 2024, at TD Garden – BOS 133 – 128 (OT)
• Game 2 – Thursday, May 23rd, 2024, at TD Garden – BOS 126 – 110
• Game 3 – Saturday, May 25th, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse – BOS 114 – 111
• Game 4 – Monday, May 27th, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse – 8pm (ESPN)
• Game 5 (if necessary) – Wednesday, May 29th, 2024, at TD Garden – 8pm (ESPN)
• Game 6 (if necessary) – Friday, May 31st, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse – 8pm (ESPN)
• Game 7 (if necessary) – Sunday, June 2nd, 2024, at TD Garden – 8pm (ESPN)