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Pacers show maturity in OT after collapse

INDIANAPOLIS – When the ball hit his back and he turned to see Tyrese Haliburton catching it, Derrick White knew he had been let down. The Celtics' two-time All-League defenseman had turned his back to the baseline so he could more quickly find someone to foul or foul and somehow extend the game, but Haliburton immediately saw what was possible and immediately threw the ball away from White Officials handed it to him and then stormed down the sideline untouched as the clock ticked down in overtime.

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, but they saw that lead eroded in a flurry of turnovers and Celtics 3-pointers, 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 in a shaky 1-3 start to the season fits the Pacers' vision. Procedure in recent years. They had a knack for combining confusing defeats with impressive victories over the league's strongest teams. 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 in many cases struggled to get up from the screen when they collapsed..

“I can’t say we were really able to do that last year,” Haliburton said. “Going into overtime, I think the majority of people would say we had no chance of winning the game. The fact that we finally figured that out was great. … It's part of the maturation of this group. “It's easy to go into overtime feeling pretty negative because it felt like we won the game for the most part, you know? 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 in Orlando on Monday, 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 an ankle sprain and guard Andrew Nembhard with knee tendonitis that flared up before the game and ended his night after five minutes – but they have it Still managed the most talented team in the league on both sides for more than three quarters. They shot at 50% or better in each of the first three periods and also held Boston under 50% in all three periods. Despite the collapse, the Pacers won the rebounding battle 57-51 and shot 48.1% from the floor, while the Celtics shot 40.4%, outscoring 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 a world where rebounding from missed threes 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, while Haliburton 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 facing 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.

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 in Monday's loss to Orlando and took one shot after struggling in 21 minutes against Philadelphia, where he posted a plus-minus number of -14 . 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. The Pacers 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 the 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 about 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. Slowing down against Boston is what they are capable of. We have to go full throttle. Ironically: Maybe it's a little counterintuitive, because as the game ends up getting shorter, a lot of people feel like the game needs to be slower. But the truth is that with some teams you have to continue to play fast or even faster if you can.”

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, but the Pacers managed to hold the Celtics to eight points on 2 of 9 shooting in overtime. They didn't turn the ball over and started off with a three-pointer from Haliburton to start the quarter, giving them 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 Tatum miss and had to fight with the Celtics to retain possession. 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.

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