The Indiana Pacers kept losing the ball, and just like that, they gave a win to the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Tyrese Haliburton had two crucial turnovers – one at the end of regulation, and another in overtime – which helped Boston come back from a five-point deficit in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter and win 133-128 on Tuesday night.
“Just turnovers. Turnovers,” Haliburton began. “I had two bad turnovers that I feel cost us the game.”
The Pacers arrived in Boston after upsetting the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and the New York Knicks in the second – both times after losing Game 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 started with a 12-0 lead on 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 in regulation, and even had a three-point lead with 40 seconds left.
“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 in key moments – that cost them. In addition to Haliburton dribbling off his foot with 28 seconds left in a three-point game when he wasn’t being closely guarded, he also lost the ball out of bounds with 1:02 left in overtime.
“Big-time turnovers,” Pacers center Myles Turner said. “We showed our age a little bit tonight, being a youthful team in this high stakes of a game. 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 off his foot, giving Boston two more chances at the basket before Turner grabbed a rebound and was fouled with 10 seconds remaining.
