INDIANAPOLIS — The Boston Celtics had played 12 playoff games prior to Saturday. And in those 12 games, teams with double-digit leads (Boston 10 times, its opponent twice) were 12-0.
Midway through the third quarter of Game 3 of Eastern Conference Finals, the Indiana Pacers, playing without Tyrese Haliburton, were up 18. The Celtics, up 2-0 in the series, didn’t need this game and certainly weren’t the desperate team.
But this time, they came back. They shut down the high-powered Pacers’ offense (27 points on 35 possessions) over the last 18 minutes, and Jrue Holiday made big plays on both ends of the floor down the stretch to secure a 114-11 victory that put them one win from the NBA Finals.
Both Holiday and Derrick White were named to the All-Defensive Second Team earlier this week, and their prowess was on display throughout Game 3.
While they’re both 6-foot-4 guards, both can defend inside. The Pacers often had size advantages in the post on Saturday night, but they weren’t often able to score with those advantages.
Early on, it was 6-foot-11 Myles Turner vs. White, who swatted Turner’s turnaround jumper …
A few possessions later, White got a post stop against Isaiah Jackson. Late in the first quarter, Holiday forced Turner into a double-dribble.
The Pacers still scored efficiently through the first 30 minutes, but the Celtics guards made more big plays late. On Indiana’s first possession of the fourth quarter, Turner rolled to the rim and seemingly had a layup, only for White to veer off his man and pick up his fourth block of the night.
Holiday had just one block, but three steals, with the last being the biggest defensive play of Game 3. With the Celtics up one, Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard had the ball in transition, tearing up the left side of the floor.
Holiday cut him off, but lost his balance. Nembhard dribbled behind his back, but took an extra beat to get his dribble going forward again, allowing Holiday to recover and cut him off again, this time going right toward the middle of the paint. As he stopped Nembhard’s forward momentum, Holiday reached and took the ball .
