Boston, May 22
The Boston Celtics have taken game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals over the Indiana Pacers after a hard fought battle which resulted in a 128-133 overtime victory in favor of the home team. Following the game, Pacers head coach took the blame for the loss.
"This loss is totally on me, We should've just taken the timeout, advanced the ball and found a way to get it in and made a free throw or two and ended the game But it didn't happen, and we made some other mistakes," said Indiana coach Rick Carlisle to reporters after the game.
The Pacers held a five point lead heading into the final minutes of the game and will be rueing the missed golden opportunity to have taken the win at Boston. The Pacers held a three point lead with ten seconds to go and had it not been for a turnover by the Pacers, the Celtics would have been forced to foul and send their opposition to the line.
This gave Boston a way back in as an inbounding pass with 8.5 seconds to go was hit for three by Brown, who made no mistake in drowning the corner three point attempt to tie the game 117-117.
Celtics outscored their opponents 11-16 in over-time to pick up the victory.
Brief Scores:
Indiana Pacers 128 (Tyrese Haliburton 25 pts, 10 ast; Pascal Siakam 24 pts, 12 reb, 7 ast)
Boston Celtics 133 ( Jayson Tatum 36 pts, 12 reb; Jrue Holiday 28 pts. 7 reb, 8 ast)