Jay King, Jared Weiss, Eric Name, James Boyd, Hunter Patterson
INDIANAPOLIS — The Boston Celtics swept the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 on Monday, winning 105-102, to return to the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons.
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with a game-high 29 points, along with six rebounds, three steals and four 3-pointers. Jayson Tatum added 26 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for a near triple-double. Boston’s starting five combined for 95 of the team’s 105 points.
Andrew Nembard continued the offensive momentum to lead the Pacers, scoring a team-high 24 points and dishing out 10 assists while also adding six rebounds on 10-of-16 shooting.
With All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton out with a left hamstring injury, the second-year guard is averaging 28 points, 9.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds over the past two games.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals will be played in Boston on June 6th, featuring the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Celtics perform well late in the game
A perennial question for the Celtics is how they do at the end of close games. In other words, late scrambles are always a concern. Throughout the Eastern Conference Finals, they dominated close games.
The Celtics were in trouble again in the fourth quarter, trailing by as many as nine points. TJ McConnell had a golden opportunity to put the Pacers up by 11 three minutes into the quarter, but his layup missed, setting up a three-pointer by Brown at the other end of the court.
Indiana didn’t lose, but Boston got steals and blocks and did enough offensively to dominate the rest of the fourth quarter. They missed a few chances after tying the score, but Brown found Derrick White in the corner for a game-winning 3-pointer.
On Boston’s next drive, July Holiday scored an offensive rebound to seal the game.
The Celtics have won two straight games in this series after getting into serious fourth-quarter trouble: Brown’s late corner 3-pointer in Game 1 sent the game into overtime, and Boston trailed by 18 points in the second half before surviving a huge comeback in Game 3.
Despite the sweep, the series was hard-fought from start to finish, but the Celtics found ways to win close games, and they’ll need that same crunch time composure in the Finals, but it will be tougher against Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the Mavericks. — Jay King, Celtics reporter
Boston pulls off tough sweep
The Celtics are heading into the Finals after another frantic finish to complete the toughest sweep in franchise history. The Pacers raised their game in every facet after losing Haliburton, forcing Boston to refine their late play and defensive effort.
Brown’s scoring helped bolster a struggling Celtics offense, something he did repeatedly in the second half, but what defined his performance in the series was his big save on Nembard in the final seconds of the game and then his run through traffic to find White for the game-winning point.
Unless the Minnesota Timberwolves pull off an unprecedented comeback, the Celtics will face the Dallas Mavericks, who play a different style of basketball but are even tougher down the stretch, and this was Indiana’s only loss in the series, as Boston’s defense and playmaking made the difference between victory and defeat.
The Celtics have proven they know what to do when games decide, and can step up defensively in those moments, and they’re now four wins away from their 18th NBA championship. — Jared Weiss, Celtics reporter
Indiana will fight until the very end
No one could blame the Pacers for bowing out in Game 4. Down 3-0 in the series and without Haliburton, the game could have easily ended in a smash and the Celtics could have easily won the NBA Finals.
Instead, the Pacers competed and fought until the final seconds of a 105-102 loss in Game 4 on Monday.
Nembard was outstanding again as the Pacers finished the season on their home court, Pascal Siakam added 19 points and 10 rebounds to help keep their season going, and McConnell was outstanding again off the bench.
Throughout the postseason, the Pacers have been defined by their willingness to compete every second of every game, and that was no different in the Eastern Conference Finals. — Eric Nehm, Senior NBA Writer
The Pacers shoot well, but can’t stand the Dagger 3.
The Pacers were hot on 3-pointers throughout the third quarter, mirroring the Celtics’ playbook. Indiana entered Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals trailing Boston 46-29 in 3-pointers, but made 10 3-pointers in the first 36 minutes, matching the Celtics, to take a three-point lead entering the final quarter.
Six Pacers players made 3-pointers through the third quarter, including Myles Turner, who made two 3-pointers early in the second half to give Indiana a five-point lead.
But the Celtics dominated in the fourth quarter, and White scored the winning three-pointer from a corner kick with 45 seconds left.
Boston’s timely 3-point shooting is not surprising for a team that ranked first in the NBA with 16.5 3-pointers made per game during the regular season. The Celtics ranked second in the league with 38.8 percent 3-point shooting during the regular season.
After hitting just 2 of 12 3-pointers in the third quarter, Brown hit two 3-pointers in the fourth to get the Celtics back on track, and Tatum made another to stop the Pacers from taking a lead, and then Boston, as they had done all series, came out victorious in key moments.
White’s deadly 3-pointer tore at the heartstrings of a Pacers team that was fighting desperately to extend its season after reaching its first conference finals in a decade. — James Boyd, Staff Writer
This story will be updated.
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(Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
