In the conference finals, the teams that win Game 1 go on to win the series 77.4% of the time.
So, with 10 seconds to play in the game, the Celtics trailing by three, and the Pacers with the ball, it looked like the Celtics were wading into dangerous territory.
Then, Jaylen Brown saved the day.
It started with an enormous play on the defensive end. All the Pacers had to do was cleanly inbounds the ball and hit a free throw, and it’d be a two-possession game. Instead, Brown deflected the inbounds pass off of Pascal Siakam, giving the Celtics possession of the ball, pulling off a rare defensive play.
Then, just moments later, he took a game-tying corner three-pointer over Siakam. It didn’t matter that Brown was 0 for 3 from beyond the arc at that point, or that he shot just 35.4% from three in the regular season — worst among the team’s seven rotation players who shoot threes. Jaylen Brown was locked in and focused on making just one more play.
“I was just talking to myself, ‘if I get this shot, it’s going in’,” Brown said. “I was telling myself the whole time, ‘if you get it, it’s going up, and it’s going in.’”
Swish.
Tyrese Haliburton said the team had intended to foul on the inbounds pass to prevent the Celtics from even attempting the three, but that the play made it challenging. Jayson Tatum also noted that the pass coming from the baseline made fouling more difficult for Indiana.
“We were going to foul, but the way Jaylen caught it, it was like he was going to shoot it right away,” Haliburton said.
Joe Mazzulla praised the team as a whole for their execution, calling out Derrick White’s screen that helped get Brown open and Jrue Holiday’s inbounds pass.
“Just a well-executed play by the guys,” Mazzulla said. “Good situational awareness, situational execution.”
Suddenly, the Celtics — who were right on the precipice of a 0-1 series hole — had five more minutes to make it right.
“JB gave us a second chance by hitting that shot,” Tatum said. “And we just talked about it in the huddle: ‘We got a second chance. Let’s take advantage of it. Let’s not mess around. And let’s figure out a way to win this game.’”
In overtime, it was Tatum who exploded for a 10-point extra period to help put the game away for good, and allow the Celtics to pull out an unlikely 133-128 win.
It wasn’t a perfect game from Jaylen Brown, but when it mattered most, he saved the day. Brown finished the night with 26 points on 10-20 shooting, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block. It was another well-rounded effort for the three-time All Star who is shooting 54.8% from the field this postseason.
Brown didn’t celebrate much after the win. He noted that there’s a lot of things the Celtics should have done better, emphasizing transition defense as win. He lauded the Pacers for their intensity and pace, noting that Indiana “played extremely well.”
“We gotta be better,” Brown said. “We gotta match their intensity if we want to win this series.”
But he also acknowledged that his shot gave them life and the opportunity to pull this off. Thanks to a series of big plays with 10 seconds to play, instead of dropping their home opener and trailing in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics out a clutch-time win
“Welcome to the NBA Playoffs,” Brown said. “You just got to manage your emotions, in the game anything can happen. The game is not over until the final whistle – the final buzzer sounds.”
