Tatum, Celtics show maturity in ‘chaos’ of Game 1 win over Pacers

Tatum, Celtics show maturity in ‘chaos’ of Game 1 win over Pacers originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

In a way, Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals was a Rorschach test for Boston Celtics fans and critics.

You can choose to see the Celtics again failing to separate from an overmatched opponent at home, needing a ghastly Indiana Pacers turnover, a head-scratching Rick Carlisle coaching decision and a miracle Jaylen Brown 3-pointer to force overtime and pull out a win they probably didn’t deserve. You can choose to see Jayson Tatum’s 2 for 7 shooting in the fourth quarter (0 for 3 from 3-point range) as another sign he can’t deliver in the clutch.

Or, you can choose to see Boston keeping its poise as things went sideways. You can choose to see Brown making an excellent defensive play to force Pascal Siakam’s turnover with eight seconds remaining in regulation, then springing free for that 3-pointer on a brilliant inbound play drawn up by head coach Joe Mazzulla.

You can choose to see Tatum bouncing back from that rough fourth quarter to score 10 of the Celtics’ 16 points in overtime — including a dagger 3-pointer with 42 seconds to go — to finish with 36 points in a hard-fought 133-128 victory.

However you view Boston’s Game 1 performance, the reality is this team emerged from a frenzied 65 minutes of basketball with a 1-0 series lead.

That s— was chaos; that s— was wild,” Tatum said when asked about his team’s mental resilience down the stretch. “But just stay present, stay in the moment. As long as there’s time still on the clock and the game is within reach, we feel like we have a chance.

“This core group has been in so many big-time games, big-time moments. We’ve had a lead and lost it and still won. We’ve been down a lot and figured out a way to win.”

This is Tatum and Brown’s 19th playoff series together over seven postseasons. They’ve been the plucky underdogs trying to take down Goliath (2018 East Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers), seen their lack of experience cost them against a squad of seasoned veterans (2022 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors) and been undone by…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/tatum-celtics-show-maturity-chaos-133212187.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-05-22 13:37:27

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.