Coach Rick Carlisle expects the Indiana Pacers to bounce back on Monday night.
Pacers: Defying Odds for Eastern Conference Finals
Indianapolis: Coach Rick Carlisle expects the Indiana Pacers to bounce back on Monday night.
Yes, they know that no NBA team has ever managed to win a best-of-seven series after being down 3-0, and of course, their players understand that a Game 4 win is the only thing that guarantees them one thing. Meets: Another trip to Boston for another elimination game.
And yet, Carlisle believes his players are ready to keep fighting.
“We’re going to take even tougher action on these guys on Monday,” Carlisle said after losing his first home playoff game this season on Saturday. “Our fans have to come out and be louder than ever, and we have to take this series forward. We have to get back to that level for Game 5.”
Obviously, this may be easier said than done.
The Pacers missed several chances to win in the final minutes of Games 1 and 3, and were close to winning in Game 2—until a left hamstring injury sent All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton to the locker room in the third quarter. I didn’t have to go.
He did not return that night and remained sitting outside on Saturday against his will. Carlisle did not say Sunday whether Haliburton could play in Game 4. Still, the Pacers’ season depends on it—win or go home.
“There’s not a guy in this locker room that can pack it in,” Pacers guard TJ McConnell said. “We’ve got to get a guy here and take the series, then go back to Boston and try to make things difficult. But there’s no one in this locker room that’s going to give it up.”
The Celtics know how that works, too.
They have appeared in six of the last eight Eastern Conference Finals and are now just one win away from reaching the NBA Finals for the second time during that span. Five wins would give the franchise its first championship since 2008.
But a year ago, Boston found itself in an even more difficult situation after losing its first two games at home before losing in Miami. The Celtics responded to the 3-0 deficit by winning the next three games but suffered a rare loss in Game 7 at home.
It’s a lesson that could prove useful to them on Monday night as they try to take their playoff total to 6-0.
The Celtics know how that works, too.
“It’s a big deal,” All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum said after Boston’s sixth consecutive playoff win. “We’re in a very good position right now, one win away from the final. But we know we can’t relax for a second. A year ago, we were down 0-3 and had to force it to seven. ” We figured out a way, so we’re not looking beyond Monday.”
Tatum has been the catalyst for the Celtics in this series, scoring a playoff career-high 36 points twice in the first three games.
With this big lead, Boston has also got an opportunity to give injured players some rest.
Starting center Kristaps Porzingis has not played since April 29 because of a right calf strain. Backup center Luke Kornet sat out Saturday with a left wrist sprain, and coach Joe Mazzulla now has no reason to recall either.
Additionally, if the Celtics pull off their first series sweep since defeating Brooklyn 4-0 in the first round of the 2022 playoffs, they could get even more leeway depending on how the Dallas-Minnesota series plays out. The Mavericks take a 2-0 lead into Sunday night’s game in Dallas.
However, first and foremost, Boston is focused on stopping the Pacers.
“I think we’ve had some battles over the last few years, and I think our group, we’ve been through it, we understand it, we’ve played some grueling, tough series, and this is no different,” said the Celtics. said center Al Horford, who made seven 3-pointers in Game 3. “This team, it’s a very good team. They’re very dangerous; there’s a reason they’re here, and I know we’re up by three, but it could easily have been very different.”
The Pacers know it too, and that’s why they want to show the basketball world how much fight they still have left in them on Monday night.
“We have to give it our all,” said Pacers forward Pascal Siakam, who won an NBA crown with Toronto in 2018. “Obviously, our season has been unbelievable up to this point, and nobody wants to see it end. So we’ll fight to the end and I think we’ve got to get a win and give it everything we have to win that game.”
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