BOSTON — The Celtics entered the playoffs hoping for everyone’s best shot.
The East’s top seed barely survived a tough battle to open the Eastern Conference Finals.
Jayson Tatum scored 36 points, including 10 in overtime on Jaylen Brown’s game-tying 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left in regulation, and Boston defeated the Indiana Pacers 133-128 on Tuesday night. He came within a hair’s breadth of winning.
Jrue Holiday added a season-high 28 points, and Brown finished with 26 points.
“Welcome to the NBA Playoffs. You just have to control your emotions. Anything can happen,” Brown said of the tying three points. “It’s not over until the final buzzer goes off. … It’s not over until it’s over. We found a way to win the game at the very end.”
It gave his team new life and helped it maintain home-court advantage in Game 2, scheduled for Thursday in Boston.
Tyrese Haliburton had 25 points and 10 assists for the Pacers, who finished with 56 points and 13 3-pointers in the paint against a Celtics team that was missing 7-foot Kristaps Porzingis.
But Boston stepped up its defense, posting 11 steals with Brown, Tatum and Holiday each recording three steals. The Celtics became the first team in NBA playoff history to have three players score 25 points and three steals in a game.
The Celtics were called on 3-pointers for much of the game, but finished the night with 15 of 45 games from beyond the basket.
“We keep talking about protecting home court,” Celtics forward Al Horford said. “It’s whatever it takes.”
Pascal Siakam added 24 points and 12 rebounds. Myles Turner finished the game with 23 points and 10 rebounds for the No. 6 seeded Pacers, but the Pacers committed two turnovers with 30 seconds left in regular time even though they had a three-point lead.
Brown hit a 3 from the corner to Siakam’s face to tie the score at 117 and then made his second.
“Juru made a good pass, (Derrick White) set a great screen, and the rest is history,” Brown said.
Celtics manager Joe Mazzula echoed the poise Brown displayed.
“Jalen had great balance,” he said. “Great pass, great shot.”
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said he took “full responsibility” for not moving the ball forward by taking a timeout before the turnover that set up Brown’s shot.
When asked about Indiana’s 21 turnovers, Haliburton said many of them were preventable.
“I think it’s our responsibility,” he said. “I felt like they were probably coming at us more than they were forcing turnovers.”
The Celtics win 2 and lose 2 if their opponent scores 100 or more points.
Holiday said the Celtics never panicked after falling behind late in regulation.
“I think we always knew there was a chance. We saw crazy things happen all the time,” Holiday said. “I don’t think we thought we lost the game until we actually lost the game. That’s one of the reasons we were able to bounce back so well.”
After Haliburton was fouled with 1:46 remaining, he made all three free throws to give Indiana a 123-121 lead. Tatum then powered in a layup but was fouled by TJ McConnell. He made a three-point play to give Boston the lead for good.
The Pacers came back from behind again, this time thanks to Haliburton. The ball went to Tatum at the top of the key. He pumped his way past defenders and sank a 3-pointer to make it 127-123 with 43 seconds left.
White and Siakam traded layups, then Holiday was fouled and hit two free throws to give Boston a 131-125 cushion.
“It’s unfortunate that we made a lot of good plays in this game and we ended up losing because of some mistakes, but this is the NBA playoffs,” Carlisle said. “We have to learn from this game and bounce back.”
