2024 NBA Eastern Conference Finals
Boston Celtics vs The Pacers
BOSTON -- — So much about the journey the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers have taken to the Eastern Conference finals has been about what – or specifically who – they haven’t had to face to get to here.
Top-seeded Boston mostly coasted to a 4-1 first-round series win over a Miami Heat team that played without Jimmy Butler, the player who’d tormented and broken the heart of the Celtics in Game 7 of last season’s conference finals. They then posted another 4-1 series victory in the second round over an injury-ravished Cleveland Cavaliers team that didn’t have All-Star Donovan Mitchell for the final two games.
The route for sixth-seeded Indiana has also had some notable hurdles removed.
The Pacers needed six games to earn a first-round win over a Milwaukee team missing Giannis Antetokounmpo. They then outlasted a New York Knicks team that was leading the series 3-2 before tripping over a rash of injuries that included star Jalen Brunson breaking his hand in the Pacers’ lopsided Game 7 victory.
But neither Boston nor Indiana is focused on the narratives surrounding the paths they took to get to this point. They’re here. And beginning with Game 1 on Tuesday night in Boston, it’s now NBA Finals or bust for both.
For the Celtics, that means blocking out reminders of the championship expectations that have hovered over them throughout the season.
“You just got to focus on what matters most,” Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said. “That’s your team. That’s each possession in front of you. That’s whatever your job is. ... Just be able to focus the mind on what matters because it’s easy to get distracted or eluded from what the overall goal and what the target is when you start to entertain kind of everything that’s going around you.”
Indiana guard Tyrese Haliburton said the expectations they’ve had internally were always high.
“We had preseason camp in Nashville – just players, no coaches. That’s what we communicated from the jump. That we expected to be here. This ain’t a surprise to us,” he said. “It’s not a fluke. We expect this from our group. Once we added (Pascal Siakam) we knew we could really take off.”
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle is fully embracing the idea that his team is the “uninvited guest” among the NBA’s final four teams.
“We had some good fortune to get to this moment,” he said. “But our guys did the work to put us in a position to be here.”
OFFENSIVE SHOWDOWN
The Pacers reached their first conference finals since 2014 with an offense that has continued to put up historic numbers by pushing the pace.
Indiana topped the NBA with 123.3 points per game during the regular season, the sixth-highest average in league history. That was on top of it scoring 140 points a record 11 times.
The Pacers’ regular-season offensive rating of 120.5 was second only to the Celtics (122.5). That flipped during the playoffs, with Indiana’s ranking improving to No. 1 at 121.7, followed by Boston at 118.9.
Haliburton and Siakam drove the Pacers’ attack against the Knicks. Haliburton averaged 21.3 points, shot 53.8% from the field and 43.9% from 3 in the series. Siakam averaged 20 points, was 52.8% from the field and 40% from 3. It made them the first duo to average 20-plus points, shoot above 50% from the field and above 40% from the 3-point line in a conference finals.
While Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum has shown bouts of inconsistency this postseason, he’s still averaging 24.3 points and 10.4 rebounds. He’s also getting plenty of support from fellow All-Star Brown (23.1 points, 6.9 rebounds per game) and Derrick White, who’s seen both his scoring (18.2 points) and 3-point percentage (43.5%) jump this postseason.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” White said. “They get up and down and we like to as well. It’s going to be fun.”
INJURY UPDATE
Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis will be out for Game 1 on Tuesday as he continues to recover from a strained right calf.
The 7-footer sustained his injury in Game 5 of Boston’s first-round series with Miami. He then sat out the second-round matchup with Cleveland.
He has yet to participate in a full practice, but coach Joe Mazzulla said he is making progress.
“He’s out there studying, learning, film, doing everything he can to come back as fast as he can,” Mazzulla said
HISTORY LESSON
This will be the seventh playoff meeting between the Celtics and Pacers.
All six of the previous matchups (2019, 2005, 2004, 2003, 1992 and 1991) have been in the first round, with Boston winning four of the series.
The most recent matchup was in 2019, a 4-0 sweep by the Celtics.
Celtics vs CAvs
Game 5
Game 5
Game 5
Al Horford wanted to savor the moment.
With play stopped and the Celtics' victory no longer in doubt, Horford turned in the direction of the sideline, walked a few paces, stopped and extended his hands overhead, bringing an already raucous TD Garden crowd to its feet in applause.
The task was done.
Jayson Tatum had 25 points and 10 rebounds
Al Horford wanted to savor the moment.
With play stopped and the Celtics' victory no longer in doubt, Horford turned in the direction of the sideline, walked a few paces, stopped and extended his hands overhead, bringing an already raucous TD Garden crowd to its feet in applause.
The task was done.
Jayson Tatum had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Boston beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-98 on Wednesday night to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the third straight season.
Horford added 22 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and six of Boston’s 19 3-pointers to help the Celtics post their third consecutive win and wrap up the series in five games
Game 4
Game 5
Game 5
Even when it's supposed to be somewhat easy, the Boston Celtics have a weird way of making things hard.
On Monday night, they nearly stumbled against an overmatched Cleveland team.
Jayson Tatum scored 33 points with LeBron James watching from a courtside seat and the Celtics beat the severely short-handed Cavaliers 109-102 in Game 4 to tak
Even when it's supposed to be somewhat easy, the Boston Celtics have a weird way of making things hard.
On Monday night, they nearly stumbled against an overmatched Cleveland team.
Jayson Tatum scored 33 points with LeBron James watching from a courtside seat and the Celtics beat the severely short-handed Cavaliers 109-102 in Game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Jaylen Brown added 27 for the Celtics, who can close out Cleveland with a win in Game 5 on Wednesday night at home
TD arena is legendary across every sport
Boston's History
Boston's History
Boston's History
TD Garden is the home arena for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association and hosts the annual Hockey East Championships. The arena has also hosted many major national sporting events including various rounds of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA Divis
TD Garden is the home arena for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association and hosts the annual Hockey East Championships. The arena has also hosted many major national sporting events including various rounds of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, the 2014 United States Figure Skating Championships and the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships.
23 Championships
Boston's History
Boston's History
The arena is primarily the home venue for the NBA's Boston Celtics and the NHL's Boston Bruins. It has hosted the 1996 NHL All-Star Game, the 2008, 2010, and 2022 NBA Finals, and the 2011, 2013, and 2019 Stanley Cup Finals
55 Banners Hang
Boston's History
55 Banners Hang
Not only do the Celtics have 17 championship banners hung way up in the rafters, but they also have 22 retired numbers. The most in the NBA. Along with Celtics banners, the Bruins have their six Stanley Cup banners hanging up along with 10 retired numbers
Pistons almost pulled it off
BOSTON -- — The Pistons' 28th loss in a row was unlike any of the many, many other defeats that came before it in what is now tied for the longest losing streak in NBA history.
The result was the same.
Detroit opened a 21-point lead against the league-best Boston Celtics on Thursday night and then rallied from a six-point deficit in the final minutes to force overtime before the Celtics recovered to win 128-122. It was the first time all season the Pistons led by more than 20 points, and the first time they had gotten to overtime in the two months since their last win.
“I’m unbelievably proud of the group, the way they bring it,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said. “They’ve heard all the stuff about our team and they just keep bringing it. I know it’s going to pay off.”
Detroit fell to 2-29 and matched the “Trust the Process” Philadelphia 76ers with 28 consecutive losses; the Pistons need a victory at home against Toronto on Saturday night to avoid breaking the NBA record for longest losing streak.
In major North American sports, only the NFL's Chicago Cardinals, who lost 29 straight from 1942-45, have had a longer losing streak.
“I’m not interested in just winning one more game this year -- you know what I mean? To stop this. That would be soft, in my opinion,” said Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, who scored 22 points in the first half but missed a potential-winning 3-pointer with seven seconds left in regulation.
“Our goals are a lot higher than that. We have what it takes to win a game, that’s nothing. But to put games together, to find our system, find what’s clicking and allow us to sustain winning. That’s all we’re looking for.”
Boston erased a 66-45, second-quarter lead with a 19-5 run in the third that turned a 15-point deficit into a 77-76 game. Kristaps Porzingis had eight of his season-high 35 points in a 10-0 run that turned a four-point deficit into a 106-100 Boston lead in the final two minutes of regulation.
Jaden Ivey scored six straight points for Detroit to tie it and then, after Jayson Tatum was credited with a layup on a replay-confirmed goaltending call, Bojan Bogdanovic made a putback on Cunningham's missed 3 to send it to OT.
But Derrick White scored 10 of his 23 points in the extra period and Porzingis had six in the overtime — dunking after a full-court pass from Tatum and then sinking a pair of free throws to make it 125-117.
“As bad as they hurt right now, I hurt for them,” Williams said. “But I told them: `If we bring that kind of toughness and execution — minus the turnovers — we’re not just going to win one game. We’re going to put something together.”
Tatum had 31 points and 10 assists for Boston, which won its fourth straight and its ninth in the last 10 games. The Celtics, who were without Jaylen Brown, are 15-0 at home this season and have the league's best record, 24-6.
“We’re on the same level as all these teams were playing against,” said Cunningham, who had 31 points and nine assists. “There’s no team that I’ve ever come across in the NBA where I felt like I was going into a slaughterhouse. I’ve never felt like that in my life, going into a basketball game.
“So every game we should be able to fight teams and impose our will on them. We did that early on. We kind of let go of the rope a little bit in the third quarter. But there’s a lot of growth, and something we can learn from and definitely take to the next game.”
Ivey had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Jalen Duren had 15 points and 14 rebounds and Bogdanovich had 17 points and 12 boards.
The Pistons set the NBA record for most consecutive losses in a season Tuesday night with their 27th in a row, a 118-112 loss to Brooklyn. The Sixers’ streak stretched over two seasons, 2014-15 and 2015-16.