Pacers 128 - 133 Celtics summary, stats, scores and highlights | NBA Conference Finals Game 1

Once the Celitcs got another breath of life and sent the game into overtime, the Pacers tried to hang on, but Jayson Tatum was too much to handle. He finished the game with 36 points, and had 8 of those in the overtime session. The Pacers battled to the end, but Tatum dropped the dagger to give his team the 1-0 lead heading into Game 2 on Thursday night from the Garden. 

The Pacers looked to have the game in the bag, but their youth and inexperience started to kick in during the most pivotal moments of the game. Haliburton just dribbled it out of bounds with under a minute left and then Andrew Nembhards inbound right before this Jaylen Brown three was deflected and Pascal Siakam was the last to touch it. 

Up by 3 with more than 8 seconds to go, the Pacers elected not to foul and Brown drilled the three in the corner to send the game to overtime. 

Brown got off to a quick start with 10 points in the first quarter, but took a back seat to Tatum for the remaining three quarters. The Celtics would go back up 13 in the third quarter, but Haliburton, who had 25 sank a three from the Celtics logo to cut the lead back to one heading into the fourth quarter. 

Tatum looked dominant in the first quarter and the third quarter, but he was saving the best for last. He had 28 in regulation but would bury the Pacers in the overtime session. This was he first Tatum-esque playoff performance we have seen in this postseason. The Celtics haven't had to be great before this series, but tonight they needed Tatum to be great. 

The Boston Celtics needed more than four quarters to drop the Indiana Pacers and hold on to home court advantage after Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. It was the triple J combo of Jaylen, Jayson and Jrue who got hot and led his team to the 133-128 win. 

The Celtics took a 12-0 lead to start the first quarter as Brown and Tatum both got hot, but this young Pacers was not intimidated on Tuesday night. They fough their way back and would tie the game up by halftime thanks to some brilliant play from Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner who all had more than 24 points. 

IT'S ALL OVER!!!

The Celtics take the series opener in a tight one that needed more than 60 minutes. 

Tatum to the line after the foul on Siakam and he hits both FTs. 

Topin hits both FTs. and we have a one possesion game. 

BOS is going to challenge the call with 12.4 on the clock. 

McConnell to the line after the foul on White and he hits one and misses the second on purpose and a foul is called on Tatum who was fighting for the rebound. Topin will shoot two FTs. 

Holiday to the line after the foul on Haliburton and he hits bot FTs. 

Siakam down low and he gets the jump hook to fall. 

White slashes to the rack and he lays it up and in quickly. 

Siakam driving to the bucket, but he was stripped by Brown down low!

Timeout Celtics with 31 to go. 

Tatum with a pump fake, step back and three ball from the top of the key!!! He's got 8 in the OT session!

Timeout Pacers with 42.8 to go. 

Haliburton lost his dribble again and the C's get it back with 1:00 to go. 

Tatum fighting for position down low, and McConnell was late with the help. Tatum lays it up and gets the foul! FT is good. 

1:30 to go in the OT session. 

Tatum threw it away, and Haliburton was fouled by White after pulling up for a three in transition. He hits all three FTs. 

Tatum sent to the line after Nesmith prevented a dunk on the break. Both FTs are good and Nesmith has fouled out. 

Brown down the lane and he lays it off the windown in traffic. 

Haliburton sinks the step back three ball and he hits it over Horford!

The C's needed it and Brown delivers from the corner!

Haliburton was blanketed by Tatum and threw up a prayer that wasn't answered. 

We are headed to overtime from Boston!

Brown in the corner with Siakam all over him and he drills it with 5.7 to go!!!

Timout Pacers who have the ball and a chance to win the game. 

Nembhard's pass to Siakam was deflected and Siakam went to save it but couldn't get a hold on the ball. BOS ball with 8.7 from under the basket. 

White missed the lay up, Tatum got the rebound but missed the short shot from the paint. IND ball with 10 seconds left. 

Tatum missed the three, and IND rebounded it but Halburton lost it on the way up! C's ball with 30 on the clock. 

Timeout Celtics with 39.1 to go. 

Step back at the elbow from Nembhard and he drills the mid range jumper. 

The call stands and Brown goes to the line where he hits both FTs. 

Siakam was called for a foul fighting for a rebound off the missed three ball from Haliburton and the Pacers are going to challenge the call with 57.4 to go. 

1:00 TO GO!

White drives down the lane and slips it off to Holiday for the lay up down low. 

Nembhard off the dribble and he pulls up from the elbow. 

2:30 TO GO. 

Siakam spots up from the FT line and hits it again over Horford. 

Horford with another huge three ball, this one from the wing off the feed from White. 

Nesmith down the lane, takes the bump and gets the bucket on the lay up in traffic. FT is good after the foul on White. 

Extra pass from Horford to White in the corner and he drllls the deep ball. 

Siakam picked off Brown, hit Haliburton who returned the favor as he streaked down the lane for the transition jam!

Timeout Celtics with 4:33 to go. 

Siakam at the FT line and he hits it over the hand of Horford. 

Turner ties it up with a deep three ball from the top of the key!

5:30 to go in the 4th. 

Holiday missed the floater, but followed it up for the tip in on the left side. 

McConnell spins off the dribble and opens up the defense for a lay up from the right side. 

Timeout Celtics with 7:54 to go in the 4th quarter. 

Holiday saw a pocket of space and raced down the lane for the lay up. 

Holiday backs down Sheppard and fades away from inside the paint. 

Siakam pulls the trigger from the paint and we have a one point game again. 

Sheppard follows up the missed three from Nembard and tips it in. 

Tatum follows up his own missed three and lays it up and in on the follow. He's got 26. 

Tatum fades away from outside the lane and hits the pull up mid range jumper. 

Siakam with a jumper in the paint to give the Pacers the lead. 

WE ARE AT THE END OF THE THIRD QUARTER!!!

BOS led by as many as 13 in the quarter, but the Pacers came roaring back. We have 12 to play from TD Garden in Game 1 of the ECF. 

McConnell with a tough fader over Hauser from right outside the lane. 

Brown to the line after the foul on Nesmith and he hits one of two FTs. 

Brown to the line after the foul on Siakam and he hits one of two FTs. 

Neismith from the top of the key and he gets it to fall off the McConnell lay off. 

Siakam got a step on Horford off the dribble and he lunges to the bucket for the lay up. 

McConnell goes around the horn off the dribble and he lays it up and in down the lane. 

Topin finds Siakam streaking to the bucket and he smashes it home for the slam!

Timeout Celtics with 2:38 to go in the quarter. 

Holiday back down low and he takes his defender to the iron for the lay up. 

McConnell gets the third or fourth offensive rebound on that possession and he finally gets the short shot off the glass to go. 

Kick out from Brown to Holiday in the corner for three!

Topin back on the board with a tough lay up over Kornet after the roll to the bucket. 

Tatum hits the FT out of the timeout and the lead is back up to 12. 

Tatum down the lane, and he gets the lay up to fall and the foul on Nesmith. He'll be at the line after the timeout with 4:50 to go in the 3rd quarter. 

Sheppard sends Kornet to the line and he hits one of two. 

Tatum off the handoff from Kornet and he strokes the three from the top of the key. 

Nesmith called for a defensive three seconds but Tatum misses the FT. 

Brown to the line after the foul on McConnell and he hits one of two FTs. 

Holiday to the line after the foul on Haliburton and he hits both FTs. 

Tatum to the line after the foul on Nembhard and he hits one of two FTs. 

Tatum with his back to Nembard and he spots up over the defender from the elbow. 

Turner turns on White down low and shoots it over the smaller defender from the block. 

Siakam off the dribble and he soars for the slam on the baseline. 

Holiday drills a three ball from the top of the key!

Haliburton finds Nembhard on the baseline and he hits the mid range jumper. 

Bad pass from Turner who threw it right to Holiday at mid court and Tatum broke to the bucket for the lay up. 

Timeout Pacers with 9:53 to go in the third quarter. 

Brown swivels past one defender and he lays it up in traffic. 

Horford was left alone and he hits the three ball to keep the defense honest. 

Haliburton sticks a long three ball and the Celtics don't want to see him get hot. He's got 16, and 11 of those have come in the last few minutes of game play. 

Haliburton sees the seas part and he takes it down the left side for the lay up off the glass. IND lead for the first time tonight. 

WE ARE BACK IN BOSTON FOR THE SECOND HALF OF ACTION. 

Haliburton hit a three just before this long range effort. He just needs to see the ball go in once to catch fire, and he showed that with this logo three at the end of the first half to tie the game up. 

Turner is 7/10 from downtown and 2/3 from downtown. He's going to be a tough match up for Horford and Kornet in this game and throughout the series. Porzingis has the size and speed maybe do a better job, but he is currently not available. 

Myles Turner can do a little bit of everything. He can post up, he can run the floor, he can throw it down, and he can hit the three. The Pacers big man gave us a taste of everything as he dropped 18 points and had 4 rebounds and 4 assists. 

The Pacers offense showed just how good and tough they can be to cover. They had 22 assists in the first half, and Obi Topin led all scorers after one quarter with 11 points. 

Haliburton got off to a slow start, hitting just one shot in the first quarter, but he got hot in the second quarter, especially at the end. 

The Celtics got out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter as Brown and Tatum came out of the gate swinging. The Pacers absorbed the punch and would take a little while, but they would eventually tie it up. 

WE ARE HEADED TO HALFTIME HERE FROM BOSTON!!! 

The Celtics led 12-0 to start the game, but the Pacers battled back on the heels of Turner, Haliburton and 22 assists in the first 24 minutes. 

Halliburton pull up from the Celtics logo and ties the game with 2.2 on the clock!!!

White with the step back from the top of the key and he hits the three ball as the shot clock was winding down!

Haliburton pulls up from the mid range and he hits it over Horford from the elbow. 

White to the line after the foul on Nembhard and he hits both FTs. 

Neismith turns on the jets and blows past his defender for the lay up down the lane. 

Brown puts the C's back up front with a short jumper from in the lane. 

Great hustle play from Siakam to chase down the loose ball and keep the play alive for Neismith who finishes with a flush in transition. 

Nembhard was open for three and Turner found him on the wing!

Brown couldn't get the lay up in traffic to go but Kornet was there for the wide open tip in. 

Haliburton with the pump fake to send Pritchard flying and he drills the three from the wing. 

Siakam follows up his own miss and tips it up and in. 

Brown finds Holiday who hits the corner three out of the timeout. 

Turner with a three ball, his second in a matter of minutes and the Celtics are going to take a timeout with under 5:00 to go in the 2nd quarter. 

Kornet got an open lane to the bucket and he throws it down with two hands. 

Turner down the lane and he explodes tot he bucket for a two handed slam. 

Tatum spins on Topin from the baseline and he raised up to throw it down AND 1! FT is good. 

Turner tried to dunk it over Kornet but ended up throwing it in off the glass after Kornet got a piece. 

Quick entry pass into Holiday from White and he lays it up and in over his defender. 

TImeout Pacers with 8:01 to go in the 2nd quarter. 

Brown pulls up from inside the lane and he leads all scorers with 12 after getting the roll of the front of the rim. 

Turner slashing down the paint in transition and Neismith hit him in stride for the one handed cock back slam. 

Horford backing down Smith on the block and he drops steps and hits it off the glass and gets the foul! FT is no good. 

Neismith drives hard to the iron and lays it up while taking the contact fro the left side. 

Horford sent to the line after the foul on Sheppard and he hits both FTs. 

Nesmith pulls up from outside the lane and he hits in the mid range jumper from behind the block. 

Pritchard stop in the lane, turns and hits the fader over the defender. 

Pritchard starts the quarter with a three ball, and he's already got a couple of those. 

WE ARE AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER!!!

Topin leads the Pacers with 11 off the bench, while Turner got started early with 6 points. 

BOS got out to a 12-0 lead but slowly gave away. Brown has 10 while Tatum got 8 in the first quarter and Horford chipped in another 5. 

Topin back to the rack and lays it up and in to end the first quarter with 11 points. 

Topin showing some range hitting the three ball from the wing!

Topin pulls up and his a mid range jumper and he's got the hot hand for the Pacers in the first quarter. 

Pritchard drills a three ball from the top of the key and he's off to a good start off the bench. 

Brown attacking the rack and gets the lay up to go to become the first in double digits in this Game 1. 

Topin on the runner and he banks it home from outside the lane.

McConnell out of the timeout and he goes right to the rim for the lay up off the designed play

Brown hits a floater down the lane and he's got a quick 8 points, the same as Tatum. 

Timeout Pacers with 2:44 to go in the first quarter. 

Brown rolls to the bucket and Tatum hit him for the lay up in traffic. 

High low from Turner to Toping down low and he lays it up off the mismatch over Pritchard. 

Topin's floater didn't go but Turner was waiting underneath to tip it in. 

Tatum gets to the bucket and he finger rolls it after splitting the defense. 

Turner going back to the rack and he lays it up and in down the middle of the lane. 

Tatum to the line after the foul on Sheppard and he hits both FTs. 

Turner to the line after the foul on Horford and he hits both FTs. 

Horford gets the jump hook to go from the middle of the lane. 

McConnell driving baseline and he reverses it up off the glass. 

White answers back with a three ball of his own, and thats three triples for Boston already. 

Haliburton pulls the trigger and he drills it from way downtown. 

Tatum off the inbounds and he floats it up from outside the lane. 

Nembhard drops a three ball from the top of the key off the dish from Haliburton. 

Siakam drives to the basket and he lays it up and in off the glass. 

Quick bucket off the made IND basket as Tatum raced down the court and beat the Pacers back for a lay up. 

Siamkam with the turn around from the block and he uses the glass to get it to fall. 

Horford on the pick and pop with White on the wing and he strokes the open three!

Timeout Pacers with 9:16 to go in the first quarter. So much for the Celtics coming out of the gate rusty. 

Holiday running in transition, and he dumps it down for White on the baseline for the lay up. 

White picks off Neismith and Tatum hits Brown who finishes with a spectacular one handed double clutch lay up on the break. 

Holiday drills a three ball in the corner after the tipped offensive rebound from Horford!

After review, Horford got to the ball before it hit off the glass and the bucket will be taken off the board. 

Siakam lays it up off the glass, but Horford was there and got the block but Boston is going to challenge the call just 35 seconds into this game!

Brown starts the series with a big jam off the Tatum dish after he picked off Haliburton. 

WE ARE UNDERWAY FROM BOSTON!!!

C's starters

With no Porzingis in the starting five for the sixth straight game, it's Al Horford who gets the start again tonight. He had a brilliant Game 5 against Cleveland, but how long can the veteran keep that kind of play up? Luckily he's got plenty of help in Joe Mazzulla's starting five. Horford is joined by Holiday, White, Tatum and Brown to start Game 1. 

Pacers starters

This is the new look Pacers. The Pacers that went from a middle of the table team to one of two the remaining teams in the Eastern Conference. Their starting five has gone through a few make overs throughout the season, but this is Rick Carlisle's best five. Haliburton is joined by Nembhard, Heismith,  Turner and Siakam. 

NBA

Why isn’t Kristaps Porzingis playing against the Pacers in game 1 today?

Porzingis pending

It was the offseason signing that was going to take this team from a contender to the favorite to win the NBA title. Kristaps Porzingis came to Boston in the summer time, and for the entire regular season things were going exactly according to plan. The Celtics were rolling over the competition, they got the one seed in the East and the Latvian was playing some of the best basketball of his life. Then disaster struck. In Game 4 against Miami, Kristaps limped off the court and went right to the locker room. He hasn’t returned to the court since. A calf straight kept him out of Game 5 against Miami and all five games against the Cavs. He is still on the mend, and will be out tonight. When will Porzingis be back? Our Roddy Cons has more. 

Season series

These two teams met five times during the course of the regular season, and the Celtics won three of those five matchups. They took the opening game against the Pacers in a blow out win at the very beginning of the season, downing the Pacers by 51! Indiana would get revenge winning two of the next three games which were at Gainbridge Field House, but their wins came in much tighter games. They won by 10, and then by two points before heading back to Boston for the regular season finale. With the season series tied at 2-2 the Celtics outlasted the Pacers from TD Garden and won the game by five. We start from scratch tonight in Boston. 

Tyrese is ready for ECF

Indiana is a team that pushes the pace of the game, and try to run and gun any chance they get. At the center of all that is Tyrese Haliburton who has been the leader on and off the court for the Pacers this season, but he has gone through ups and downs in the postseason. He had games of 34 and 35 early in the Knicks series, but averaged 21.3 points a game which isn’t bad at all but that means when he had bad games, he had really bad games. He is best when he is pulling the strings in transition and Haliburton failed to reach double digit assists in any of the games against the Knicks. 

J&J Enterprises

While there were moves made to amplify the Celtics chances to bring a title to Boston this year, it was and always has been up to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to return title glory to Beantown. Brown signed the richest contract in NBA history, while Tatum was floating around the MVP conversation for much of the year. Neither of them have been sensational in the playoffs, because they haven’t needed to be. The Celtics have breezed past the competition, and would like to do the same in this series, but if they are finally made to sweat Tatum and Brown will be waiting to deliver. 

How they got here: Pacers

The Pacers came into the season with a young crop of talent, centered around Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner. Everything started to change when Indiana brought in a former NBA Champion in Pascal Siakam from Toronto. Siakam has fit in perfectly on this young team that loves to run and gun. The former Rapton is the top scorer on the team, and helped them climb up the standings and get the 6 seed in the East. That set up a first round match up against a banged up Milwaukee Bucks team. Indiana got past the Giannis-less Bucks in six games and then met the Knicks in the Conference Semis. That series took all seven games to decide, but in the end it was the Pacers who took Game 7 on the road and earned a spot in the Conference Finals for the first time since 2014. 

How they got here: Celtics

After losing to the Heat in last year’s Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics hit the trade market and brought in some heavy hitters to ensure they would get back to the Conference Finals, if not farther. The addition of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis turned this team into the top team in the league. They finished with the best record of any team, got the one seed in the East and secured home court throughout the playoffs. In round one the C’s had a chance at revenge against the Heat, and took care of them in five games. They did the same with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round, advancing in five games and setting up the match up with the Pacers. They have barley had to break a sweat in the playoffs 

We are live from the Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to Boston where the top seed in the Eastern Conference and the team with the best record in the league are back home and looking to protect their home court advantage in the next to games before heading to Indiana. They have been had a few extra days of rest after downing the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the playoffs, while the Pacers are fresh off their Game 7 win over the Knicks in New York. The Pacers surprised a lot of people by making it this far into the postseason, and they will be hoping to continue shocking the world in this series. They can start off on the right foot if they steal a game from Boston tonight. 

Pacers vs. Celtics Game 1

The Eastern Conference Finals start tonight from Boston as we get set from Game 1 from the Garden. The top seed in the East were expected to be in this spot and have arrived with relative ease while their opponents splashed on to the scene this year and are hoping to continue their surprise playoff run. It’s the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers squaring off in the series opener and AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, stats, highlights and analysis from Game 1 from TD Garden.