The task was much tougher than expected, but the Boston Celtics walked out of Game 4 Saturday night with a 3-0 lead over the shorthanded Indiana Pacers.
Led by Jayson Tatum with 36 points, the East’s top seed erased an 18-point deficit to break the Pacers’ hearts with a 114-111 win in the Eastern Conference finals. Game 4 is scheduled for Monday at 8 p.m. ET.
No team has come back from being down 3-0 in a series in NBA history.
The Pacers entered the game without Tyrese Haliburton, who exited Game 3 with a hamstring injury and was ruled out hours before Game 4. He was capably replaced by Andrew Nembhard, who posted a Haliburton-esque night with a career-high 32 points on 12-of-21 shooting and nine assists.
That, combined with 20-plus points from Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner and bench hero T.J. McConnell, looked like it would be enough.
Instead, the Celtics steadily chipped away throughout the second half. Tatum took over, hitting 12-of-23 shots to go along with 10 rebounds, eight assists, two blocks and zero turnovers. They had the lead down to five points early in the fourth quarter, down to three not long after that and down to two with 1:12 left.
Jrue Holiday finally put them over the top with an and-1 in the final minute, finishing through contact by Siakam.
Holiday, who was questionable for the game due to an illness, haunted the Pacers again on what could have been a game-winning possession, stripping Nembhard for a steal with four seconds left.
The Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which had been exuberant for much of the game, was silent as officials reviewed whether a clear path foul was committed against Holiday after the steal. The review went the Pacers’ way, but Holiday still got two free throws, which he made to put the Celtics up three points with 1.7 seconds left.
That still gave Indiana one last chance to tie a game they led by double digits for much of two quarters. It opted to run what looked like a football play, which succeeded in getting a running Nembhard the ball at the perimeter, but his buzzer-beating attempt clanked away to end the game.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle was irate as the Celtics celebrated due to some contact on Nembhard, but no whistle came.
Al Horford makes personal and NBA playoff history
As much as the Pacers can lament the loss of Haliburton, the Celtic
