The Pacers could have made an impact tonight. Game 1 came too close for comfort for the Celtics and that was all thanks to Tyrese Haliburton and Co. Unfortunately for Indiana, the Cs aren’t too worried about uncomfortable positions. Despite the absence of defensive big, Kristaps Porzingis, Jayson Tatum and his squad moved like a well-oiled machine. On the other hand, Myles Turner believes the youthfulness of the team is to blame.

Talking to the press post-game, he admitted tonight’s loss could have been avoided. “We showed our age a little bit tonight. Being a youthful team and being in this high stakes of a game, those uncharacteristic mistakes just made their way out,” Myles Turner said. A crucial point in the game happened during the final 30 seconds of regulation. The Pacers could have easily ended the night without OT if it weren’t for the two turnovers in that short span.

Tyrese Haliburton also spoke in a similar stance to Turner. Referring to the 21 turnovers of the team tonight, Haliburton said, “I think it’s more on us. I just felt like more of them were probably on us than them forcing turnovers.” The second turnover in regulation proved especially costly for the ‘Hoosier State’.

Jaylen Brown took advantage of the chance and drained a three from the corner with Pascal Siakam failing to stop him. That shot tied the score at 117, forcing the OT. Not losing their confidence, the Pacers tried to get back on top again. And they almost did. The key word being, almost.

Indiana blew their final chance, Coach Carlisle promises a comeback

With just 1:46 remaining in the game, the ‘Railroad City’ took a 123-121 lead as Haliburton hit all his free throws. Unfortunately, T. J. McConnell’s foul on Jayson Tatum led to the Celtics superstar knocking down his threes. If that wasn’t enough, a turnover by Tyrese with 43 seconds left saw Tatum again with the ball and yet another triple. The score read 127-123. The Indiana Pacers did not recover from there.

Talking about the whole situation, Rick Carlisle admitted he was responsible for the loss. While his boys would say that the defeat was on all of them, the Pacers’ coach can’t help but shoulder the blame. He used the above Siakam-Brown situation as an example. Carlisle was sure that had he called a timeout before the turnover, the result would have been different.

In the end, as Myles Turner said, Coach Carlisle promised a better next outing. “It’s unfortunate we did so many good things in this game that it came down to a couple of mistakes at the end, but it’s the NBA playoffs. We’ve got to learn from it and we’ve got to bounce back,” he said.

What did you think of Game 1? Can the Pacers really get the better of a championship-ready team?