The Pacers wanted to foul.
But a clean opportunity didn’t present itself.
Disaster then struck, with Celtics wing Jaylen Brown hitting a game-tying 3-pointer with six seconds left in the fourth quarter of Boston’s eventual 133-128 overtime win over the Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night in Boston.
“Yes (we wanted to foul), but he caught the ball, and he was face-up, Pascal (Siakam) decided to lay off — which was, I understand, that’s probably the right decision, you don’t want to give up a four-point play,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “A lot of things had to go wrong for us and right for them and they did.
“We have to own it and get ready for Thursday.”
As Carlisle mentioned, the Pacers made two critical errors in the final 10 seconds that turned a potential — and crucial — Game 1 win into a devastating setback that could swing the series.
Indiana led 117-114 and had the ball with less than 10 seconds left when it turned the ball over on an inbounds pass.
Andrew Nembhard tried to hit Siakam while he ran toward Indiana’s basket, but a contested pass went off Siakam’s hands to give Boston possession with 8.5 seconds remaining.
“This loss is totally on me,” Carlisle said. “With 10 seconds in regulation, we should have just taken the timeout, advanced the ball and found a way to get it in and made a free throw or two and ended the game. It didn’t happen and we made some other mistakes.”
That turnover — one of 21 by the Pacers — gave Boston possession of the ball on the Indiana baseline.
A screen from Derrick White sprung open Brown in the corner and that’s when any plans to foul went awry. Siakam, fighting through the screen, ran toward Brown and did not leave his feet or blindly foul him since that would have risked a shooting foul or a potential four-point play.
However, that decision gave Brown the chance to shoot a jumper over him, even with Siakam standing right in his way, and Brown rattled in the clutch 3 to tie the game.
LeBron James criticized Indiana in an X post for not fouling on the play, while the clutch 3 invoked just the seventh double “Bang” call from announcer Mike Breen.
“Jrue (Holiday) made a great pass, D White set a good screen and the rest was history,” Brown said.
Indiana did not score on the other end with Tyrese Haliburton missing a contested 3-pointer to send the game to overtime.
Indiana still held a 123-121 lead with less than two minutes left before allowing six straight points to Jayson Tatum.
While the Pacers missed a golden chance to steal this series opener, they also lost Game 1 to the Knicks in heartbreaking fashion before rallying to win the series.
