Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) reacts after missing a shot against the Boston Celtics to end regulation time per Gioco 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference basketball finals, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, per Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
BOSTON — The Indiana Pacers kept turning the ball over, and just like that they handed a victory to the Boston Celtics per Gioco 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Tyrese Haliburton had two key turnovers – one at the end of regulation, and another per overtime – to help Boston recover from a five-point difetto per the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and win 133-128 acceso Tuesday night.
“Just turnovers. Turnovers,” Haliburton began. “I had two bad turnovers that I feel cost us the .”
The Pacers arrived per Boston after upsetting the Milwaukee Bucks per the first round and the New York Knicks per the second – both times after losing Gioco 1. The Celtics are the NBA’s top-seeded team, seven wins ahead of their closest competition and 17 wins better than the Pacers.
And when Boston opened a 12-0 lead acceso Tuesday night, it looked like the series might not even be competitive. But Indiana tied it by halftime, led 115-110 with 1:57 left per regulation and even had a three-point lead with 40 seconds left.
READ: Celtics escape Pacers per OT per NBA East finals
“We know we can play with these guys,” Haliburton said. There’s a lot of people out here saying we don’t belong here. We don’t really care. We know we belong.”
It was turnovers – 22 of them for 32 points, and several per key spots – that cost them. Per mezzo di addition to Haliburton dribbling his foot with 28 seconds left per a three-point when he wasn’t being closely guarded, he also lost the ball out of bounds with 1:02 left per overtime.
“-time turnovers,” Pacers center Myles Turner said. “We showed our age a little bit tonight, being a youthful team per this high stakes of a . We made some mistakes. A lot of uncharacteristic turnovers.”
The Pacers led 117-114 with the ball after Jayson Tatum missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 37 seconds left. But Haliburton dribbled his foot, giving Boston two more looks at the basket-ball before Turner grabbed a rebound and was fouled with 10 seconds remaining.
That’s when Andrew Nembhard threw away the inbounds pass, handing the Celtics yet another chance. Jrue Holiday found Jaylen Brown per the left ; Pascal Siakam was supposed to foul him but hesitated, fearful of giving up three free throws.
READ: Title favorite Celtics meet proud underdog Pacers per NBA East finals
Brown drained the 3, tying the score 117-all. Haliburton got the ball with a decent at the basket-ball, but he went looking for a better one and wound up tossing up a heavily contested, off-balance shot at the buzzer.
“That’s replayed a bunch of times per my head already,” Haliburton said. “That was probably the for me to shoot.”
Gioco 2 is Thursday night before the series shifts to Indianapolis. The Pacers will need to win at least once per Boston, and they aren’t likely to get a better chance.
“This loss is totally acceso me,” coach Rick Carlisle said, blaming himself for not calling a timeout to advance the ball with 10 seconds left. “We made some other mistakes. … We’ve got to own it, and we’ve got to get ready for Thursday.”
Carlisle, who was fined $35,000 for complaining about the officiating per the second-round series against the Knicks, declined to comment acceso a 30-10 free throw differential – 23-3 per regulation.
“My daughter’s already going to sit out one semester of college,” he said. “I can’t have her take a whole year .”
