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It’s safe to say Celtics forward Jaylen Brown was impressed with the performance of the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night in a hard-fought Game 3 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
After the Celtics came out on top with a 114-111 win to put the Pacers on the brink of elimination from the Eastern Conference Finals, Brown told reporters he thought some of the Indiana players “turned into f–king Michael Jordan or whatever.”
Brown may not be wrong, either.
With Tyrese Haliburton sidelined due to a hamstring injury, Andrew Nembhard put together a career night, finishing with 32 points, four rebounds and nine assists to give the Pacers their best chance to win.
Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam had 22 points each, and T.J. McConnell finished with 23 points.
Brown was equally as impressed with teammate Jayson Tatum’s highlight pass late in the fourth quarter, saying it’s worthy of hanging in one of the world’s most famous museums in Paris, France.
Tatum drove to the hoop and drew in three Indiana Pacers defenders before delivering a no-look pass to Al Horford, who drained a three-point shot that cut the deficit to two points.
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JAYSON TATUM BEHIND THE BACK PASS FOR AN AL 3 pic.twitter.com/4L4mticQE1
The play came in the midst of a major comeback for the Celtics. Indiana had a 69-57 lead at halftime and led by eight points with under three minutes left in the game. Remarkable, Boston fought all the way back and took a lead it wouldn’t relinquish with 38.2 seconds remaining.
This helped Boston jump out to a 3-0 series lead and the team now has four opportunities to clinch a spot in the NBA Finals. This outlook is bleak for Indiana, who looked like it would defend home court well even without Tyrese Haliburton in the lineup.
Instead, Indiana will need to pull off an unprecedented comeback in order to reach the NBA Finals.
Brown, Tatum, Horford and the Celtics will look to complete the sweep Monday at 8 p.m. ET.
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