Celtics use furious rally to win Game 3 and push Pacers to the brink

INDIANAPOLIS — As Andrew Nembhard raced down the left side of the field in the final moments of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, with his Indiana Pacers down a point and looking, somehow ‘another, to come back in this series. with All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton watching in street clothes, Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was with him step for step.

But then, as Nembhard attempted to drive into the middle of the field — where he and the Pacers had feasted on Boston’s defense for most of the night — Holiday knew what was coming.

“He’s a right-hand driver,” Holiday would later say, “and he was very, very aggressive all night.”

And, as Nembhard headed for that right hand, Holiday stole the ball from him and raced to the other end of the court, where he ultimately made a pair of free throws that provided the final scoring margin in this match:

That score — Celtics 114, Pacers 111 — gave Boston a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven series and brought the Celtics just one win away from advancing to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years. And, after the Celtics spent much of this game watching Indiana get what it wanted defensively, it was fitting that, after Boston completely flipped that script in the final minutes of the game, it was a Defensive play from Holiday, long considered one of the league’s elite perimeter defenders, became the final nail in Indiana’s coffin.

“It’s a trademark steal that he always gets with the inside hand,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “He gets that a lot when a guy gets to the sideline, but he got it in transition.

“He made a great play.”

It was exactly the kind of play the Celtics acquired Holiday for when they made a blockbuster deal with the Portland Trail Blazers on the eve of training camp – after Portland had landed Holiday from the Milwaukee Bucks in part of a package for Damian Lillard. a few days earlier – to pair him with Derrick White and form the best defensive backcourt in the NBA.

However, just moments before his defensive play, Holiday had worked his way to the rim and put Boston ahead by converting a layup against Pacers forward Pascal Siakam – another example of the kind of game than Holiday, who finished this game. with 14 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and a block in 38 minutes, was brought to Boston to achieve this as he hopes to follow up his championship title with the Bucks from three seasons ago with another one. next month.

And that layup set the stage for Holiday to then pick Nembhard’s pocket in the game’s biggest moment.

“I was trying to shoot,” said Nembhard, who otherwise played a fabulous game, finishing with 32 points and 9 assists in 39 minutes while handling most of the point guard duties in place of Haliburton, which aggravated the left hamstring. injury that has hampered him in recent months during the second match. “He got in front of me. I lost the ball, I slipped. Turnover.”

When Nembhard entered the frontcourt against Holiday, he had no advantage, as Boston was quick to get back on defense after a Jayson Tatum drive to the basket resulted in a missed layup – exactly the kind of situation that usually leads to an odd man advantage for the defending team.

As a result, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was asked after the game why he chose to let things play out rather than call a timeout.

“With 8 or 9 seconds left, and you’re in transition after a miss…I trust our players to be able to create better shots than calling a timeout and letting them define their defense,” Carlisle said. “It’s more of a basketball-type situation, and we’ve done well this year by trusting our players.”

The Celtics also implicitly trust Holiday to make the right play, and not foul, in this kind of situation – just as they trusted him to make the play despite the fact that he was questionable to play all day and that he was missing shots after dealing with a non-COVID-related illness. .

“I can’t talk enough about Jrue,” said Jayson Tatum, who had a tremendous game for the Celtics, finishing with 36 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and no turnovers in 44 minutes. “His teammate’s ultimate competitor, obviously a champion, wasn’t at shootaround today, he was sick. He was dealing with chills and stuff like that. And we’ve all been there, how bad is that? is tough, to fight, and for him to come out there and put everything on the line for us, basically make the winning play, especially on the defensive end.

“Jrue is just a great player, and he made a great play.”

It was a piece that ultimately helped cover up what was a scattered performance for most of the evening. Indiana led by 18 points in this game despite missing its talisman in Haliburton. Tatum’s offense, including 15 points in the first quarter, was largely responsible for keeping the Celtics in the game before Boston finally began to chip away at Indiana’s lead late in the third quarter.

Then the Celtics closed out the game with a 13-2 run in the final 2:38 of play, following a TJ McConnell bucket that gave Indiana a 109-101 lead with a bucket of midrange from Jaylen Brown; a Tatum 3-pointer; a corner 3-pointer from Al Horford on a terrific no-look pass from Tatum; then Holiday’s and-1 layup.

All of this, however, only set the stage for Holiday to steal the show with his defense — and put Boston on the brink of a return to the league championship round.

“Jrue is different,” Brown said. “Nothing else to say. Jrue is just different.”