{"id":15550,"date":"2024-05-29T07:27:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T23:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/24hscore.org\/news\/?p=15550"},"modified":"2024-05-29T01:36:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T17:36:59","slug":"celtics-sweep-pacers-in-eastern-conference-to-reach-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/basketball\/celtics-sweep-pacers-in-eastern-conference-to-reach-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Sweep Pacers in Eastern Conference to Reach NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Boston Celtics secured the Eastern Conference championship on Monday with a narrow 105-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers, completing a 4-0 series sweep and earning a spot in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Celtics will now await the winner of the Western Conference Finals, where the Dallas Mavericks lead 3-0 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, with game four set for Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boston&#8217;s win in Indianapolis marked their seventh consecutive postseason victory, though they faced a strong challenge from a Pacers team missing their injured star guard, Tyrese Haliburton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/basketball\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Basketball Updates<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\">M-V-P <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gjvar8NbIm\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/gjvar8NbIm<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Boston Celtics (@celtics) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/celtics\/status\/1795316151767171203?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 28, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jaylen Brown played a pivotal role once again, scoring a step-through to tie the game at 102-102 with 2:40 left in the fourth quarter and making a crucial block on Andrew Nembhard. Brown then assisted Derrick White, who sank a three-pointer with 45 seconds remaining to secure the game and the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nembhard, who posted 24 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds for the Pacers, missed a potential game-tying three-pointer with 33 seconds left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brown led the Celtics with 29 points, while Jayson Tatum contributed 26 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Celtics return to the NBA Finals two years after their loss to the Golden State Warriors, aiming for their first championship since 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"qme\" dir=\"ltr\">? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VobosLrNlQ\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/VobosLrNlQ<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Boston Celtics (@celtics) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/celtics\/status\/1795295157904097632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 28, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It&#8217;s been a grind all season, but we haven&#8217;t skipped any steps,&#8221; said Brown, who was named the Eastern Conference Finals MVP after averaging nearly 30 points per game in the series. &#8220;We have a great group in the locker room, tough guys, and fantastic coaching and front office. Now we want to take the next step.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boston has an impressive 12-2 postseason record, having defeated the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Pacers to reach their 23rd NBA Finals in franchise history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla praised his team&#8217;s dedication and resilience. &#8220;Our players are incredibly talented and committed. They let us coach them, they listen, and they set the tone for our organization every day,&#8221; he said. &#8220;As a coach, the best gift is having players who trust you and allow you to lead them.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pacers Upbeat in Defeat<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pacers were competitive in all four games, losing three times after holding leads or being tied in the final minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite leading by nine points with 8:28 left in the fourth quarter, the Pacers struggled to close out the game without Haliburton&#8217;s influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;An amazing season, a magical season,&#8221; said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. &#8220;The level of fight was tremendous throughout. They were in it to win every possession and every game, and I have a lot of respect for how our players conducted themselves in this series.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carlisle added, &#8220;There are many accomplishments to be proud of this year, and expectations will be higher next year, which is a good thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Boston Celtics secured the Eastern Conference championship on Monday with a narrow 105-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers, completing a 4-0 series sweep and earning a spot in the NBA Finals. The Celtics will now await the winner of the Western Conference Finals, where the Dallas Mavericks lead 3-0 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":15556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","rank_math_description":"The Boston Celtics secured the Eastern Conference championship on Monday with a narrow 105-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers.","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[760,74,910,2870,46],"class_list":["post-15550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","tag-american-sports","tag-basketball","tag-boston-celtics","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-nba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15557,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15550\/revisions\/15557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}