The Pacers wanted to foul.
But the perfect opportunity never came.
Then disaster struck, when Celtics wing Jaylen Brown hit a game-tying 3-pointer with six seconds left in the fourth quarter of Boston’s eventual 133-128 overtime win over the Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night in Boston.
“Yeah, he wanted to (foul), but he caught the ball and was face up, so Pascal (Siakam) decided to stop the pass. I think that was probably the right decision. Four points. I didn’t want to give up playing.” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.. “A lot of things went wrong for us and had to go right for them, and they did it.
“We have to own it and be ready for Thursday.”
As Carlisle noted, the Pacers made two crucial mistakes with 10 seconds left, turning a possible and decisive Game 1 victory into a devastating setback that could have swayed the series.
Indiana was leading 117-114 with under 10 seconds left and had the ball, but lost it on the inbounds pass.
Andrew Nembard attempted to send a pass to Siakam as he ran towards the Indiana basket, but the contested pass missed Siakam’s hands, giving the ball to Boston with 8.5 seconds left.
“This loss is completely my fault,” Carlisle said. “We should have taken a timeout with 10 seconds left and found a way to move the ball forward and get it to the basket, make a free throw or two and close out the game. I made a mistake too.”
The turnover was one of 21 by the Pacers, giving Boston possession on Indiana’s baseline.
A Derrick White screen blocked Brown’s space in the corner, foiling the planned foul: Siakam broke the screen and ran toward Brown, not taking his feet off the field or fouling him blindly, which would have led to a shooting foul and a chance for four points.
However, this decision gave Brown a chance to hit a jumper despite Siakam standing in front of him, and Brown rattled off a clutch 3 to tie the game.
LeBron James criticized Indiana in the X-post for not committing a foul on the play, but the clutch 3 only triggered a seventh double “bang” call from announcer Mike Breen.
“Juru (Holiday) made a great pass, D. White set a good screen, and the rest was history.” brown said.
Meanwhile, Indiana was unable to score and Tyrese Haliburton missed a contested 3-point shot, sending the game into overtime.
Indiana led 123-121 with less than two minutes left, but allowed Jayson Tatum to score six straight points.
The Pacers missed a golden opportunity to win the series opener, but they suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Knicks in Game 1 before clinching the series championship.
