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    • Pacers show maturity in OT after collapse
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    Pacers show maturity in OT after collapse

    Kathleen William Posted on

    INDIANAPOLIS – Derrick White knew as soon as the ball hit his back and he turned to see Tyrese Haliburton catch it out of the corner of his eye. The Celtics' two-time All-League defenseman had the back of his head turned toward the baseline so he could more quickly find someone to foul or foul out and somehow extend the game, and Haliburton immediately saw what was possible and dumped the ball off White as soon as that Once he had enough, he ran down the sideline untouched as the clock ran out.

    Haliburton didn't run away laughing in joy after pulling off the audacious maneuver, but it seemed like he should have. It was a fitting way to cap off a win that was both an eye-opening early-season upset and a daring escape, a game the Pacers controlled, dominated, squandered and then won again.

    The Pacers led by as many as 24 points in the third quarter and were still ahead by 19 points at the 7:27 mark of the fourth quarter, but they saw that lead evaporate in a flurry of turnovers and 3-pointers from the Celtics , including a complete collapse by All-NBA winger Jayson Tatum with 14.1 seconds left to force overtime. But the Pacers somehow held themselves together after that painful collapse and rallied in overtime with a 3-pointer from Pascal Siakam with 6.1 seconds left that delivered the decisive blow for a 135-132 victory.

    Beating the reigning NBA champions and getting some revenge in the second leg of last year's Eastern Conference finals after three straight losses during a shaky 1-3 start to the season fits the Pacers' agenda. Procedure in recent years, as they have had a knack for pulling off stunning victories against the league's strongest players after confusing defeats. But they were particularly proud of this game because in recent seasons — including three games in the Eastern Conference finals in which they had significant leads — they have struggled to get up from the screen after collapsing in many cases. This time they suffered a severe blow and recovered.

    “I can’t say we were really able to do that last year,” Haliburton said. “If we go into overtime I think the majority of people would say the game is probably over and we have no chance of winning the game. It was important that we finally figured this out. … That's part of it.'' The maturation of this group, the talk of the game not being over, it's pretty negative because you feel like we won the game for the most part, you know? included Exactly Same position with it Exactly same team. It’s a big win for us.”

    After the way they played in the first four games of the season, it was important for the Pacers to have as big a lead as they did at the start. Their once-historic offense seemed completely out of sync, their already struggling defense didn't seem to have improved, and they struggled on the glass, leading to a narrower-than-expected win over Detroit and a blown loss to the Knicks in New York and a troubling loss to the undermanned 76ers in the home opener. They showed signs of progress against the Magic on Monday in Orlando, but lost that game thanks to a 50-point explosion from Paolo Banchero.

    On Wednesday, they were missing two starters for all or most of the game – center Myles Turner with a sprained ankle and guard Andrew Nembhard with knee tendonitis that flared up before the game and ended his night after five minutes of action – but still took off It was the most talented team in the league on both sides for more than three quarters. They shot at 50% or more in each of the first three periods, scored 1.20 points per possession or more in each of the first three periods and also held Boston under 50% in all three periods. Despite the collapse, they won the rebounding battle 57-51 and shot 48.1% from the floor while the Celtics shot 40.4% and outscored them in the paint 62-44.

    “There was a different attitude, a different vibe,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We did rebounding and loose ball drills in our preparation this afternoon. Nobody does that, but we live in the world where rebounding from missed 3s has become the ultimate Achilles heel for us. We were the last ones in the league to get those rebounds, so we had to do something.

    Individually, the Pacers had great performances from players they needed. Siakam continued to emerge as arguably the Pacers' most reliable offensive weapon, although Haliburton admittedly struggled with his outside shot. The two-time All-NBA power forward scored 29 points on 11 of 20 shooting, made 6 of 8 3-pointers, also grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out five assists. After struggling with Banchero in the first half on Monday, he was among the rotating players who faced off against Tatum and Jaylen Brown on Wednesday. Tatum scored 37 points and Brown 25, but overall they were 21 of 55 (38.2%) from the floor.

    “Just being cool, calm and collected was really important for us, especially with the way I'm playing right now, we really need him to steady the ship,” Haliburton said. “He does it brilliantly.”

    Third-grader Bennedict Mathurin's reaction to the shortened playing time earlier this week was also great. The former first-team all-rookie pick played just 14 minutes and made just a single field goal attempt in Monday's loss to Orlando after struggling for 21 minutes against Philadelphia and posting a plus-minus rating of – 14 scored. On Wednesday, he scored 30 points on 9 of 17 shooting, but also grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out four assists in 42:38, with Nembhard and the shelf and others struggling with foul trouble.

    “I know I can recover,” Mathurin said. “Defensively, I think I’ve made a lot of progress and I feel like I can do better.

    When things went wrong in the fourth quarter, things went bad across the board. They were outscored 38-24 in that period, 28-9 in the final game, 7-27 and 17-4 in the final four minutes of the game. They made just 7 of 22 field goals in the fourth quarter while turning the ball over six times, with Mathurin and Siakam each committing two painful losses. The Celtics made 6 of 14 3-point shots, with Tatum, White and Brown combining for five of them and each scoring their final 24 points.

    Carlisle took it as a sign that the Pacers aren't destined to conform to conventional wisdom when it comes to finishing games. They tried to extend possession and run the clock – they even rolled the ball from the baseline to near the midfield line and started the game clock but not the shot clock to bleed the clock. Carlisle acknowledged that this may be the wrong approach.

    “The warning in this game is that we can’t lose our pace,” Carlisle said. “We can’t lose our ball movement. We must not lose our aggressiveness. We are not an iso team. We are not suited or equipped to do this. If you slow down against Boston, that's what they're capable of. “We saw it last year. Ironically, it's a little counter-intuitive since the game ends up being shorter. The game needs to be slower. But the truth is that with some teams you have to continue to play fast or even faster.

    Still, the Pacers made just enough plays to keep the game from ending in regulation. Haliburton hit a big mid-range shot with 21 seconds left to extend the lead to three points before Tatum tied it and the Pacers had a chance to regroup.

    Life wasn't easy once they got there, but the Pacers pulled off a stop in overtime, holding the Celtics to eight points on 2 of 9 shooting in the extra frame. They didn't turn the ball over, starting with a 3-pointer from Haliburton to start the period and getting big plays when they needed them.

    Siakam hit a turnaround jumper that tied the game at 132 with 37 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, second-year guard Ben Sheppard grabbed a rebound after a miss by Tatum and had to fight with the Celtics to keep the ball. He eventually got tied up, but won a jump ball with the Celtics' Payton Pritchard to give the Pacers the ball and set up Siakam's go-ahead 3-pointer. Brown hit a 3-pointer in the air on the next possession before Haliburton passed the ball off White's back to himself to tie the game.

    “I just thought the guys stayed together,” Siakam said. “We had four games against these guys (in the playoffs) where we felt like three of them were in the same situation as we are now. I think it was just a good learning and growth experience for us to put ourselves in that situation again with that.” Losing the ball, not taking care of the ball and being able to come out of it with a win is great.

    And it shows the Pacers don't plan on letting a difficult early schedule and a shaky start sideline them, as they became the first team in the 2024-25 season to beat the defending champions.

    “We really had to survive a tornado out there,” Carlisle said. “But the boys showed a lot of character, a lot of courage.”

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    Kathleen William
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