By Darryl Harding Sr –
The last time the Celtics played the Pacers without Tyrese Halliburton they won by 50 points. This was not the case in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Even without Halliburton, the Pacers proved to be a very high scoring team and shot over 63% in the first half.
Continuously maintaining the lead the Pacers constantly showed that even without the League assist leader they were not a team to be overlooked. A surprising output from Andrew Nembhard, who replaced Halliburton, finishing with 32 points and nine assists.
Outscoring the Celtics in the second quarter by 13 the Pacers managed to maintain the lead and with six minutes left in the third quarter they were up by 18 . This is where the Celtics began to chip away at the lead, dropping the margin to 9 points by the end of the third quarter.
With all starters in double figures and a surprising 23 points from Al Horford, going 7-12 from the 3-point line, the Celtics managed to come back and finally tied it up at 111 – 111 with 38.2 seconds left. It has always been said that defense wins championships, if that’s the case then Jrue Holiday is truly a champion.
Hitting three foul shots down the stretch, Holiday also stole the ball from Nembhard and with a missed three point attempt to tie, the Celtics stole Game 3, 114 – 111. Never in the history of the NBA has any team come back from a 3-0 deficit although last year in the same position the Celtics brought it to a game 7, then losing to the Heat.
With an opportunity to close out the series Jason Tatum said the classic line,” it’s not over until it’s over.” Indiana attempts to bring the series back to Boston by winning game 4, Monday night at 8:00. With one win left to advance the NBA finals Celtics have their eyes on Banner 18.