How the Indiana Pacers stumbled late to lose Game 3 to the Boston Celtics without Tyrese Haliburton

How the Indiana Pacers stumbled late to lose Game 3 to the Boston Celtics without Tyrese Haliburton

man oh man the margins between winning and losing in this series have been very narrow for the Pacers twice and they’ve ended up on the wrong and both times Pacers Dro game three 114 111 heartbreak at the end another big Celtics run that changes the game guys step up with Halburn out but it wasn’t enough what went wrong what can go better is this over after three 0 Derek Kramer I Pacers blogs joining us to break it all down today on the lock down Pacers podcast you are locked on Pacers your daily Indiana Pacers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day happy Sunday y’all hope you enjoy your Indie 500 day if you go and welcome into another edition of the lockon Pacers podcast where we of course talk about the Indiana Pacers as always my name’s Tony East I cover the team for Forbes and Si and today talking about another narrow painful at the horn Pacers loss in this Eastern Conference Finals are now down 03 in the series they lose game three 114 111 they were up eight with two and a half minutes to go they were up 18 in the middle of the third quarter and could not get across the Finish Line tyes halberton was out that changed to what they could get what shots they could get how they could play yet their stars that were available stepped up they gave themselves a chance and couldn’t quite get it done what went wrong at the end who did and didn’t step up what can they do better where is the series going next at 03 Derek Kramer from my Pacers blog both of us were in the building for game three we’re GNA break it all down today on the lockdown Pacers podcast let’s just get right to it another epic playoff game three in gamebridge Fieldhouse this time the epic game did not go the Pacers way they were up eight in the final two and a half minutes they were up 18 in the middle of the third quarter what felt like a good resilient bounceback Pacers that we’ve seen all postseason Canada Ends With Disaster as the game tips against them in the final minutes to break it all down the Halle burtless Pacers fighting making a lot of twos not making hardly any threes somehow pushing the Celtics to the brink is Derrik Kramer who was also there in the building these game threes Derek they’re taking minutes off my life I thought for sure given what we’ve seen from nard from n Smith from also nard again from halberton in previous serieses in game three in that building that the N Smith 3 at the buzz was going to drop alas it was not to be and the stat I reminded you of before the game couple teams have come back from down 3-1 in the postseason no one has come back from O3 Pacers not in a good spot yeah you have to think at at some point an NBA team is gonna come back from 03 uh it does not feel like this is the most likely of those to happen uh like it’s just like if the Pacers were to win this series they would have really essentially won six out of seven games against a 64- win Celtic team like you were talking about like just like razor thin margin between being up two to one instead of down zero to three like this game I just it’s almost like I’m just numb to just Insanity of losing another game like that it’s just it’s heartbreaking and you could see it and especially Andrew NIMH hard and the postgame presser like he just looked despondent and just just a brutal brutal brutal loss gutting for him and I’ll I’ll actually start with a couple of the guys who had good games just to just to set a scene but the big story is going to be the last couple minutes and we’ll get there pretty early so the game before it even starts no tyres halberton has announced his out earlier in the day so it’s already like oh boy you know how’s this going to go and if you if you knew a day early right that hurn was not GNA play the cast of characters you would say need to be better in his absence would have been T.J McConnell Andrew nard Pascal cako M Turner and there would have been a spirited debate among who should who needs to tip up the most out of cakam a lot of people would have said McConnell whatever they were all awesome like all four of those players were very good in this game and gave the P Pacers a chance like there’s not a lot to nitpick with any of them I mean turn turnovers I guess nard had the biggest moment turnover but he was Sensational like SE yakum was really good in this game as well McConnell played a bunch of minutes and almost had a triple double like they were all great but when the game got to the point where they needed just one basket or stop to put it away no one could do it not even the other guys on the team who all had four points or fewer so this game to me and why namard was so crushed should have been a story of like incredible playoff Triumph from a banged up team against the best team in the NBA and instead now becomes a team that like no no one gives up in the NBA right that’s why gentleman sweeps are of thing teams T can win these game fours a lot but like a team that knows the situation they’re in in the history of being down three 0 in a series like even even the Pacers against a 20 win team winning for a row is hard against anybody right so it’s it’s just the reality that hits you all of a sudden in that moment and so n hard having the Expressions he did I mean he was unbelievable 32 points that might be including the regular season his best scoring game this season he was so good and it was for not because the Pacers just could not get over these razor thin margins that have held them back in the series yeah like I want to say career high like 31 was what he had against Golden State as a rookie right uh Google exist so keep talking while I answer the question yeah so either way like it’s his best career game easily like just unbelievable awesome performance like we were talking before the game like who you start and you were concerned about whether like if you don’t start TJ like where does all the offensive creation come from like that’s a lot like he’s been awesome in the playoffs as kind of the secondary guy when they put pressure on halberton but this is like like this is your show if if you’re the the only point guard and starting and he rose to the moment just unbelievably well like we talked about a halftime um just kind of like the they faced Jaylen Brunson in the last round Brunson had a very similar performance with Luca out when he was still with the Mavs and I think he had like a 40-point game and it’s just like like that was this was his moment and then just the the game just ended in the worst possible way for him so let’s let’s get to the end first because that was the disgusting and it it should be right a game is played to set up a moment to win it and like they ran a beautiful play to tie it but they shouldn’t have had to tie it so there is two minutes and 30 seconds left in this game and ala I’ll be more specific I believe it’s 224 which is me stalling to get to that point scrolling through the play bypl to be exact there was two minutes and 38 seconds when T.J McConnell hit a driving finger old layup now to set the scene of what’s really happened here with 427 to go them hard scored and then Jaylen Brown dunked on the next Celtics possession it was a four-point game at that point and the Pacers had been awful from three all game they were three for 19 from three at this point and it felt like the game was slipping from their grasp they went from up 18 to up four and then McConnell and nard on consecutive possessions hit huge threes nard gets him to 30 McConnell gets him to 21 it’s assisted bying him hard and they’re up eight at the time Drew holiday scores then TJ McConnell has a huge finger roll two minutes to go it’s 109 108 your probability of winning the game at that point is pretty dang high right so here’s what happened down the stretch Drew Jaylen Brown 11 foot turn around Fade Away tough shot he made it uh Pacers stall on the inbound then run down their entire 24 seconds they should be they should be deflating the ball at that point but they don’t get a good shot Turner turns around step back 18 footer missed it Celtics on their trip down the floor Jason Tatum right away it three three-point game that quickly and then the Pacers score Andrew deard gets two from the F now they’re up five in the final 90 seconds where have we seen this before game one of this exact series is the last time that this similar situation happened Al Horford it’s a three he was ridiculous SE yakum gets a goodish driving L but not good enough can’t make it drew holiday scores now it’s tied he’s fouled he hits a free throw so the Pacers have the ball with a Chance down one uh they don’t get a great look in M hard shoots quick in the clock doesn’t score so now what has has happened is since that two and a half minute Mark it’s been two minutes the Celtics have scored on every possession including three three-point plays so they have scored uh 11 points in in two minutes the Pacers have scored two it was just such a dramatic downfall and then the Pacers get a stop they forced Tatum to miss they have a chance the most controversial moment of the game at least on the internet they come down in transition Andrew neard is pushing the rest of his team has not yet reached half court he gets Drew holiday to kind of stand up so he attacks him Drew holiday stands him up great defense for me a lot of people said they think it was a foul he gets a steal he gets fouled that puts the game away at the free throw line before the nice Smith Miracle shot did not drop and that was the moment that got everybody in in a in a I don’t know mad is normally in those moments Rick Carlile has not called timeout all season right and there are a couple reasons this one is different than normal so so actually Derek before we talk about that exact play what’s stood out to you about the the two minutes prior to that as the Celtics scored on every possession the Pacers did not outside of two free throws well first I just want to say I said I was numb like listening to you go through it all no I’m that was I’m in pain so it was tough to you were there you see the emotions on these guy’s face like it just hurts to see people like that anyway yeah um I think the the Tatum pass to Horford great pass insane just an insane pass I think the one thing that we kind of skipped over like NIMH hard had the shot the pull-up shot before they got the stop before the turnover it’s like that’s been his bread and butter All Season all postseason especially like he’s nailed that little mid-range kind of step back or whatever you want to call it and he just didn’t make that one and like the night of his life and I think that probably even more than a turnover I think probably will haunt him just missing that shot because it was open yeah like the the Tatum three and the Horford 3 were just good shots so was the Jaylen Brown turn around like they’re star players they do that right whatever the two things that would be haunting to me one the the N hard miss you just talked about and he made that shot a lot in this very game and the other one is the Drew holiday and one this happened in game one also they did they foul him hard and then they like give up halfway through the continuation and they just burp up a layup Tatum had one in game one so seaka if he just clubs him they’re tied at worst instead of down one in that situation which changes the Dynamics quite a bit and like it’s hard to think that way I get it so here’s the play that happened let and I have to talk about myself because everybody is everybody was preemptively annoyed at me and I’m on your side this time everybody nard comes down and sees a wall of of Celtics before his turnover so normally I am team no timeout and there’s a couple things that go into that one is transition is high opportunities to score especially for the Pacers um you know for for example what coaches say is it’s a transition opportunity we don’t want them to set their defense it doesn’t matter who’s in the game that’s not what that’s about to me my example to give you and of course it’s easy to give an example where the player scored but the Jamal Murray gamewinner in the first round no timeout from the Nuggets Jamal Murray hit a shot over Anthony Davis an amazing Defender but because there wasn’t a set defense they could just run flow right into a pick and roll and get a good shot that they like right like that is what you’re hoping happens when you don’t call a timeout so the P are down one nard crosses half court and there’s a wall of four Celtics Defenders that is when the timeout should come so normally I am team no timeout and I have defended that stance all season from the Pacers but one normally tyres Hal’s playing and he’s the guy with the ball and two in this instance they did not have a transition advantage it was nart against four guys and his teammates there’s a screenshot that I dm’ Dereck to remind myself to bring it up like no one else on the Pacers has crossed half court yet when nard starts his move with six seconds left on Drew holiday that this time I think a timeout would have made sense because the Celtics were already set on defense they were already back so this time I think the timeout would have been the right play it’s very easy to say that with hindsight obviously but they did not call one uh and Rick said the same thing he always says which again normally I think he is right to say this it’s transition opportunity I trust our guys nmart had a great game that’s all accurate they didn’t score and you know it’s a pivotal play a big game so it’s GNA be talked about a lot and again normally I think it’s right but not this time like personally I think like I think part of the reason the no timeout uh can be effective is when teams don’t expect it and if that’s what you always do I feel like the Celtics like no that the Pacers aren’t going to call timeout here even if we miss a shot and they get a stop we got to get back on defense immediately do not let this be a transition opportunity and they were all back so I think my issue with it all year has been like I think it works better as a change up then uh this is the only thing that we’re going to do and it’s easy to say that now like they they just like they get the one where Anthony Edwards has the just block of the Year literally when he hits his head on the rim like that’s another like they got a good shot they just an amazing player made an amazing play um so they had like you count that one as like that proof that it is it can work I don’t know um but it hasn’t worked like this season they I don’t know if they’ve had any success in like a situation where they didn’t call timeout but you have you have the halberton game winner in game three of round one that came after a timeout so I don’t know it’s it’s tough um I I completely understand car’s point of view um not wanting to face the set defense but then you look at the play they ran with only 1.7 seconds left and like this coaching staff has amazing plays that they can run out of a timeout like that was incredibly creative um football play really with the basically a rub screen Crossing route with McDermot and N Smith kind of run running crossing routes and N Smith got an open shot like that’s all you can possibly ask for to get a decent look at the end there to tie I have to look through a lot of clutch situations like were were there any in the Bucks game three that came off of no time I can’t remember with the like the the Nim hard one that was a non- timeout yeah but that wasn’t transition I don’t remember what there’s a lot of time left because Alberton took the three really quick and they got the rebound so this is this is not worth going through all of them either way in this specific situation I would have understood a timeout way more than I have before um I had another point oh yeah like in and again this discussion always becomes so results based by fans like there’s a reality where Mard doesn’t get stripped and then a trailing Miles Turner is wide open from three because like the whole defense is just looking right at Andre hard like there’s a screenshot at 5.4 seconds where nce Smith and McConnell and Turner are all Crossing half court and like only Jaylen Brown is on that side of the floor like that you know but again hindsight is the is the name of the game here I just think in that it’s so easy in a screenshot to make that decision but I think this would have been a timeout situation either way they lost and the margins you said it between up to one and where they are are so insanely thin let’s talk about unless you have something else to add about the end of the game let’s talk about to me a big story of this game is biggest they lost without Tyrese halberton so I just wanna I just want to make a reference I don’t know I just popped into my head but I’ve been watching uh Dark Matter on Apple TV um I read the book a while ago but it’s about this guy basically get kidnapped from his life by another version of himself who built this box that can take you into a parallel worlds so I just I really want to go in this box with Rick Carlile just to see what the world looks like where they’re up to one in this series and uh see the path not taken in terms of what happens if he calls a Time out in the first game when he could have advanced the ball what happens in this game if he calls a timeout and sees what kind of play he gets um but yeah just wanted to shout out that show I’ve enjoyed this is okay I just typed Pacers clutch on Twitter um to see examples so like halime of game one um no this is game two like the Pacers get a transition opportunity with 10 seconds to go they have a bunch of timeouts obviously because not even have time yet and Pascal cakam just attacks Jaylen Brown and drives R to the basket and dunks like you know like that’s not the end of the game like the intensity is different but like that that what should they called time you know it’s just so reaction in the moment based so obviously I’m doing that now too but I think time out would have been the move in this one hey guys short little break here we could talk about eBay Motors Pass and driving patience the winning formula for championships is also what keeps your rer die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and leveled up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one Rider die you will always find exactly what you’re looking for plus with eBay’s guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you’re bringing rubber not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or eye live at ebaymotors.com eligible Adams only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers tyres halber didn’t play obviously a huge deal um and here’s the thing we you and I were talking about this in The Press Room Before the press conferences start the Pacers in this game took 22 threes they made that many in a playoff game this year right in game four against the Bucks I can’t remember exactly what they ended at but it was a lot I think it was 22 they took 22 in this game they made five for reference Al Horford made seven and Jason Tatum made five the Pacers made five right like that’s not enough and the whole game they did a lot of stuff well to keep up they were dominating in the paint Andre nart was hitting that fall away too stak’s been unbelievable in the mid-range all series Pacers 68 points in the paint that’s insane McConnell was getting to his spots Turner was punishing Smalls like lots of stuff that has been talked about as key adjustments or like key things to happen in the series they could not make or create nearly as many good threes how many threes got blocked in this game from them three or four right like that is what Tyrese halberton helps with and the Celtics are a math battle they get up a ton and make a ton and they didn’t even shoot they have an all series shot that well 35% in this game 16 for 46 but that’s that is 11 more threes like that is so hard to overcome and the Pacers did not miss a free throw in this game and they dominated in the paint and they took care of the ball way better and they have all series and they didn’t get crushed on the class and they just that’s it that is such an insurmountable difference and it’s really hard to overcome that with the Personnel they had available yeah the the Celtics defense in the second half just the amount of Threes in the third quarter that they just closed out and blocked was just Insanity like you um like you’ve seen the tweets probably from NBA University or whoever that tweeted out the stat of the like crazy amount of wide open shots that the offense creates and yeah like that’s that’s halberton like that’s even in the games where you feel like he’s not being aggressive looking for his shot like he’s they’re moving the ball because of him and finding all these crazy amount of of open looks and they just were not getting those in the second half they went from was it 69 points in the first half to 42 total 21 in both quarters in the second half um like the Celtics UPS the physicality um I I can’t make any comments about uh referees sitting where I was sitting but uh you can the P I can but the Pacers are were clearly frustrated I’ll just say that yes they were um but like it is didn’t me towards other guys did he shakum went right at it right so yeah and you like they block those like even if you like you have your issues like they made some incredible plays defensively like the amount of Derek white is incredible like the amount of plays where it feels like he’s out of the play and he just hustles and gets to the right spot at exactly the right time and makes huge blocks like Turner miles was awesome in this game taking advantage of those mismatches and just immediately shooting over in the first half even and then like he hits two of those right away and Dereck White’s like okay he’s gonna shoot right away and just like swats a seven-footers jumper where he has a high release Point like it’s just insanity the the stuff that he and and Drew both can do on the defensive end yeah they’re insanely good Drew almost didn’t play right game time decision although we saw him walking around before he warmed up uh I was pretty sure he was going to play I saw him walking around so just for some numbers to throw at you in the regular season the Pacers three-point attempt rate with tyus hbr on the floor was 41.6% with him off the floor it was 33.4% it’s about an 8% difference for reference the Pacers at their pace which is basically 100 it’s like eight threes in a game right like that’s in that’s huge in this game they took 22 getting to 30 would have been very important even at their accuracy level because he himself can make them and again that’s the regular season uh in the playoffs I hope it’s about the same so my argument stand oh it’s even higher in the playoffs 41.5% three-point attempt rate with alberon almost exactly the same as the regular season with them off it’s 30.1 11% difference imagine 11 more three-point attempts for the Pacers in this game and he either taking them as a good shot or creating them for someone else is a good shot like you’ve seen all playoffs teams are doing a lot better to cut off the immediate pass he can make whether that’s the pick and roll and the pick and pop because they know he’s a great passer but when he gets his two feet in the lane and that’s what he likes to play and he calls it being aggressive that creates a good shot for someone else a lot of the time and so that wasn’t there and so obviously he’s incredible like even last game when he had 10 and eight they won his minutes because he has draw so much attention and is so vile to their offensive identity and so I’m not trying to say that nard and Connell weren’t good they were awesome running the show like they got great point guard play it’s just the math problem it was there was a huge issue in this game and tyres Halburn is the math a lot of the time and they didn’t have him and we’ll see what he can do uh if he’s available for game four it sounds like he really wanted to play in game three and I think the result of this game maybe influences how you think about that I don’t know I probably would play him if he’s available if I’m the Pacers but I mean that that was huge losing that part of the math equation shrunk their margin for error had a lot of Errors late in the third quarter late in the fourth and they lost that’s the game yeah the the point guard play is just unbelievable how good all three these guys are like I made the I made a point God shirt for Tyrese and like I’m I’m polytheistic now like they have three point go like just wow wow did you think of that a while ago yeah I thought about it earlier today I never tweeted it out so I got it in the pod I was gonna say there’s no way you just thought of that yeah continue not that I’m not that quick on my feet not that quick on my feet Yes I don’t even know um what else we were talking about there the oh the the three-pointer three-point like they only hit five nimart hit four of those yeah no other starter hit a three like miles was really good inside the arc today but everyone of his threes just felt a little rushed and way off compared to like obviously he’s been shooting insane percentages from three in the entire playoff run um they just like couldn’t buy a bucket from late and like we said like so many of them just got stuffed by awesome Closeouts uh TJ was the only other person who had a three like only the point guards were able to get one to go down yeah yakum is great from the corners not so great above the break so his percentage doesn’t surprise me like Turner been hitting him in the postseason he missed all his n Smith was before the series but has not in the series Ben Shepard does not ever take a bad three he missed all his he has not shot well this series either so Z zero for nine now I think in the whole series yeah that checks out so guys that in some cases have been reliable in some cases have been either way like what would that be 0 for 11 like you expect one to go in if you’re the Pacers right even if they’re not great shot quality you expect one to go in Miles Turner made that shot clock buzzer be or three against the Knicks like maybe they just used all their superpowers to win that series but that’s an insurmountable math problem and I I’m going to find a stat now here’s something else that SS out about this game this is not halber lighted I’m trying to transition away from that now uh Tim Reynolds had it but Dustin doir really shared it so the Pacers had four players scored 22 or more points and none of the rest of their guys had more than four which is crazy that’s the first time that’s ever happened in Pacers history so seak Turner nard McConnell all fantastic the rest of the team combined for 12 points like it was a very strange imbalance and I didn’t think any of those guys who had four or less were like so awful or damaging offensively like I guess Shepard was 0 for four but they weren’t shooting that much at all like in general it wasn’t so problematic for anybody but that that is kind of reflective of the game that we saw where they were really reliant on certain guys yeah you you look at the box score and Doug mcdermitt’s got the highest plus minus for the team I got to take an L on that huge L for me like I I wrote about like I just he was good he was good he didn’t like he didn’t he didn’t take any threes like his bucket was an offensive Rebound tibb in because of course it was um and he got to stop against Jason Tatum at the end of the first quarter when for some assists he’s guarding him on purpose at the end end of that quarter um it worked I still wish we could have experimented a little bit more with jarus in the in the game two just to see if that could have been an option I think that would have maybe been helpful uh when n Smith got five fouls in the fourth quarter um but yeah obviously can’t F play Doug in this game like the minutes went incredibly well M matching him with Hower uh worked very well he just kind of face guarded him and then didn’t have the Doug issues on defense though they didn’t really hunt him either which was a little surprising well when he like look we don’t have to rehash what Doug mcdermid is and why we were both like surprised he played in the game at all but when he’s in O’Shea Bret and Sam Hower are glued to him his reputation still matters like it it you could see it in this game I again I I would understand Jer playing we we talked about that before the game um and we’re not his four minutes were not the deciding factor in this game it’s just a thing that happened now what happens right it’s 3 halberton is banged up like there they’re almost certainly not going to win the series Rick Carlile is ready to fight right like he he’s ready to battle in the series he made that very clear the players are no one wants to get swept there’s a lot of Pride at stake on Monday and the Pacers again have proven they are very close to two wins in this series they’re not gonna fold over and die they’re gonna hope they get their star back and can fight in the series last year this Boston Celtics team which was a little different looking but they were as close as a team can get to coming back from down three they were the home team in that series at 28 against the Heat they got it to the seventh game they might have wanted if Tatum didn’t get hurt like it’s hard to do we’ve seen it be close to plausible so what what does this take like what happens next in this series is it halberton comes back and is just unbelievable for four games is it you keep trying to fight with what you have and hope you can get over your late game flubs like where does this series go now and to me the the a bigger Factor too is like the mental hurdle of being down three is really really big like even though it’s the Conference Finals like that is that is now a factor the Pacers are going to be running into yeah and just the I know cares said so many times like we’re gonna come in Monday and like hit them even harder and you wonder like if they really up the physicality like if it just ends up being just foul trouble everywhere like I it would not Shock me if just like they they’d be more physical but they’re not subtle about it and they get in some foul trouble early and it might get away from them I don’t know like it’s it’s just the Boston’s an incredible challenge they’ve been like they’ve play outplayed them for 94 minutes out of 144 in the series and they I yeah I think like I think I think ratio is too low I wrote about this after game two they were better in game one for what 42 out of 48 regulation minutes probably even more than that it was two runs in game two a 20 run and then I I I forget what happened in the third quarter what the numbers were but like they are better for the rest of that game and then this game outside of the late third and late fourth they were better like I think your ratio is too low I this is stupid to say because those stretches for the Celtics this is what I wrote were so dominant that it doesn’t matter like it doesn’t look like they’re playing the same sport like they just they they in a Flash are up 2 because they’re so good on both ends this I’m not saying the Pacers have been better for or or even with them for 80% of the series to degrade the Celtics those 20% minutes are insane but I think that’s a very interesting reality of the series is for so much of it the Pacers are are right there better or even they just they cut out those yucky runs for so long in this game but they not long enough they were like two minutes away anyway sorry I wrote about that so I wanted to interject oh yeah you’re good and I think that’s maybe that speaks to the just the inexperience of this group compared to how often these Celtics have been here and they have guys like Drew holiday who have won a championship um yeah just like maybe that’s just as simple as that that’s the difference where like they can be being outplayed for 46 out of the 48 minutes and they still find a way to win like I feel like game one it was like it was almost like they got a little too amped in the last couple minutes like you could just kind of feel it like they were a little too excited about stealing that first game one and then we had they had those couple like halberton dribbled it off his knee just seemed like he was a little rushed on the shot that he took before that yeah it’s just like they just like they were ready for the moment until it got to the final moment twice twice okay so I’m doing math now so the 120 run in the start of game one was three minutes and like so so here was my thesis of what I wrote like 12 points in three minutes is four points a minute that’s not that crazy in the NBA right the 130 run in the third quarter was three minutes and 5 Seconds that’s basically the same thing right the 20 run was from like late in the first like the middle of the second again it wasn’t like an avalanche of offense like to me when the Celtics are just really flexing on the Pacers and having these runs their defense is impenetrable like the Pacers just cannot score and that happened late in the third quarter again in this third game and so that’s what they have to somehow hold off and the thing that’s that’s been stunning to me is like when I was doing the series preview with John is we both said these teams with the way they play offense there’s going to be variance games right where just like one team or the other shoots so good they just win by default that hasn’t happened at all like in any of these which has been bizarre right game one the Pacers shot 37.1% from three game two 37.9 that’s fine that’s not good or bad the Celtics went 33 and then 40 like 40 maybe I guess but not really they’re a great shooting team and then in this one the variance was bad for the Pacers but we talked about Halbert being aor there and the Celtics were at 35 that hasn’t happened their defense is just that good that it hasn’t happened and so that’s why I look ahead to game four and I think Celtics with all these defensive weapons they have unless the Pacers can finally have a variance game and the Celtics could have their own they could shoot 48 to 50% from three and it’s just over Monday that’s why this series is such a hard challenge for the Pacers regardless of halberton status going forward but the Pacers haven’t had one of those yet neither team really has the Pacers have had a negative one I suppose you could say for game three but that is something fascinating to me going forward and a fascinating reality is even when the Pacers play so good the Celtics defense Just Hits this gear for eight minutes a game where they just can’t score and that’s how they lose yeah like they they’ve been shut down in key stretches in each of these games and it’s ended up being the difference um like I think maybe the game four like I don’t want to see the Celtics celebrating going to the NBA finals at game at gamebridge Fieldhouse um so I think that’s you know who else doesn’t the Pacers right the biggest motivation for the Pacers is to not let that happen at their on their home floor where they hadn’t lost until tonight since March 18th like known enough that like Jason Tatum mentioned that during his presser today like they knew how hard it is uh to play in this arena with how amazing the fans have been um like McConnell saying like he feels Invincible when he’s playing at game Bridge was is just a great quote he always says good quotes about the fans um yeah just like game four here we go is the season going to be done you g to let it in now or push it back to Boston we’ll see well I I wonder how much because the other fact we we didn’t even talk about the other Factor we can talk about halber coming back or not if Chris porzingis comes back and he looks good that impenetrable defense gets better so that’ll be a a new wrinkle for the Pacers to deal with and he’s fantastic on offense too although his tag against the Pacers this year were not anything to write home about so that’s another factor of game four is the injury report of course I love talking about injuries in the playoffs it’s been crazy you and I joked about doing this so I think we should just do it uh the five stages Pacer down three 0 uh we were joking about running through the stages of grief as it comes to this series because the we both had like one point that fit in well to one of these boxes when it get to mine would be if you are a person who is seeing the Pacers down 3 I guess I don’t really know what stage this fits in probably bargaining right P are in the freaking finals the team they played in the first round was a 49- win team the P won 47 like winning that series that that makes sense you know 47 win team beating a 50- win team in the second round that makes sense the the Celtics won 64 games like that that’s the difference between the Pacers playing a 30- win team like it’s it’s it’s a huge gap like I don’t know what stage that that comes in but if you are looking uh as a fan at internally and going oh this hurts so bad just know that it would have been an in a very impressive UPS set for the Pacers to win at full strength given the uh quality difference between these teams and the Pacers are better than 47 win team to me but that’s how good the Celtics are yeah and it’s just it’s another reason why it’s so painful that they could be up two one like that they’ve they’ve had their chances like it’s just yeah I don’t know where I’m at in the stages of grief uh still what’s the what’s the first stage denal is first denal would be saying what just said oh they could be up to that’s yeah I’m in all of this I’m still in denial apparently they’re not up to3 uh anger is anger is the the team going through what they went through postgame today yeah I think denial and anger there’s a lot of that in game one anger is nitpicking which individual either coach or player you think is responsible for them losing the games Carl getting a lot of blame or the referees if you’re going that way the bargaining is what I went through well it’s okay they’re just playing a way better team depression or it’s me wishing for uh the Dark Matter box be a real thing so I can kidnap myself out of the world where the Pacers won the how is this the thing you’re talking about I don’t even know what you’re saying nobody does nobody knows what I’m saying it’s he builds a box I’m not gonna explain it anymore watch dark matter if you if you want it’s a this is D’s last appearance on this podcast everybody just that’s not true uh stage stage four is depression uh I guess I I’m already there I’m there too can’t relate to fans but I also think after game three’ll you could you could see it you could see n hard feeling it yes I’m just brutal just brutal stage stage five is acceptance which will be everybody going well great season they made the Conference Finals in a great season which is also true which is also factual right like who like some some eras of teams peak in this at this right including the Paul George Pacers right like most Pacers teams that’s yes like that that’s a very impressive season result even though it never feels that way right it just it’s hard to think like that yeah it’s and it’s part of it like as a Pacers fan like we’ve we’ve seen the Pacers get to the Conference Finals a lot and nine times and only get out of it once and it’s just it shows how incredibly difficult it is this is the first time where they’ve gotten there and it’s not been com what like it’s been competitive but they haven’t been able to win any games uh hold on is this the first time without Reggie or Paul ever I think so right yeah like they the the Heat series they that they went to six in like it was 31 and they won one to send it six so like but they won game three I want to say something like that um I don’t I don’t remember maybe they won no they won one of the two at home and I’ve never gone through the history of their nine Conference Final series but they all of them have gone at least six games I want to say except the one that they maybe they won against the Knicks maybe they won in five I don’t I don’t remember but either way like this is the one where it like they could be they could have had two wins but this is the only one where they’ve ever been down zero to three they had the one against the Bulls where they were down zero2 and then every team won all their home games in the entire series um but like this is the only one that hasn’t been like back and forth matching wins for wins all of that stuff yeah they’ve never even been down 3-1 before Oh yes they have you 2014 they were down 3-1 yeah all the rest they got at least one of the first two uh but they also had a lot better records Seasons than this one so anyway uh that exercise was mostly just because we thought about doing it before we did this real GM has just laid out really well yeah they beat the Knicks in six and they lost the year before that to the Sixers in six and all the rest oh no and4 went six with the Pistons all the rests are longer so yeah that this could be uh in fact they have two chances to avoid it their shortest Conference Final series ever and yet they made it to the Conference Finals uh ask the like like whatever we can do this after the series it’s over uh whenever that may be tomorrow actually do you have anything else on game three Derek or an extra stage of grief you’d like to add or something I don’t know I’m putting you through it an extra stage of grief the Dark Matter stage of grief the oh my God the extra stage of grief is my insomnia uh during this entire playoff run um that’s why I’m able to do uh this podcast at 2 A.M because I’m going to be awake anyway I’m not going to be able to fall asleep for another two hours probably Derek has set some records this postseason so the latest anyone has ever said before this plays I you know I ask guests say when are you free when can the latest anyone’s ever said like 11 10:30 you know and I I do these really late anyway so I don’t care so after last round when we did it after game three you said 12:30 right and then this time the game started later and we were there later because the Celtics media was later you said 1:30 but I also am up super late anyway so h no one cares no one cares what time of day we’re recording so anyway Derek has said two records broken broke his own 10day old record tonight congratulations the books just to talk about Dark Matter What other universe is where you where we do it at the arena and it’s not super late how about that that’s the that’s the dark idea tomorrow uh I don’t know John corales is in town but we were talking about the value of a cross over a 30 series maybe you’ll hear from me and John maybe you’ll hear from just me ahead of game four uh about and the P’s practice so there’ll be stuff to talk about how ber ninja updates so you’ll get a podcast of some kind about something uh it’s either going to be me and John or just me so that’s very helpful Derek thank you for the time where can people find you and your work covering the Pacers in their playoff run with for my money the best graphics of anyone covering the Pacers I appreciate you for that um find my work on I pacers.com uh recently uh made a couple new shirt designs uh in honor of the previous two uh game threes um so that’s something you’re interested in you can look those up uh yeah just it’s been a it’s been a fun ride I’ve been I’ve really enjoyed trying to dive in as much as possible uh providing content for this playoff run you can uh see how wrong I am uh with of my takes if you look at some of these things from before but good times if you have no takes that are wrong you’re not making enough takes that’s my Tony you stance I pacer.com credential for the Conference Finals very cool um yeah back tomorrow I have nothing else to add Derek’s on the Bird app at I Pacers blog and I’m there at Tony AR that’s a good place to yell at us for saying stupid stuff or if you must opine about dark matter and whatever the heck Derek is talking about I think wanyama talk to about dark matter and his rookie of the year pressor I’m not even joking so there we go talking about it I gotta talk about it right that’s the that’s the real Universe I need to go to the one where I grow a foot and a half and and I’m as tall as him no just the universe where they win the lottery one number away yeah that’s so whatever I always laugh about that because like four or five teams were one number away but just like it it’s still funny to say back tomorrow I don’t know what I’m talking about um certainly the Conference Finals end game four but with who and what about I’ll know more later take you take care y’all thanks for listening hope you’re enjoying your weekend see you tomorrow

The Indiana Pacers were ahead in the final minutes of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, but they ended up falling to the Boston Celtics. What went wrong for the Pacers? Where did they miss Tyrese Haliburton most? Is there any way they can respond while down 3-0? Host Tony East breaks it all down.

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