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Tim BontempsESPN
BOSTON – In September, when the Boston Celtics gathered for the training camp, they had a great vision of where the 2018-19 NBA season could lead them. With LeBron James on the West Coast, and with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward once again in good health, the Eastern Conference felt like it was up to them to win – both this season and the years to come up.
Then the games started and the problems started. There was a regular season of 82 games full of seizures and starts, in which Boston would take a step forward – only to immediately take another back.
There were dramas – created, in various cases, by both the Celtics themselves and by others – that repeatedly enveloped the team like a thick fog. And, at every turn, there was a person – Irving – at the center of it all.
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Sometimes it would have been fair to wonder if it was worth it. Wednesday night, however, provided the answer to those who were not sure yet:
Of course that was.
For the first time in a Celtic uniform, Playoff Kyrie arrived at TD Garden. And 37 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 40 minutes later, the Celtics left the building with a 99-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers and a 2-0 lead in that first-round playoff series.
"It's pretty peaceful," said Irving about his first memorable playoff performance while playing for the Celtics. "I'm just happy to be part of a lineage of great players who have achieved incredible performances here, in the TD as well as in the old garden.
"But it was good to be here in this position.It was a long journey to undergo these two knee surgeries and look at the team last year." And finally, we had the chance to wear them for the Boston Celtics in the NBA Playoffs? There's nothing like it. "
There is also little like Irving in the playoffs. And in a match that the Celtics could easily have lost, Irving did everything in his power to make sure they did not have it.
While the Pacers were threatening to open the game in the third quarter – just as the Celtics had done for the first game Sunday afternoon – Irving scored 10 of the 16 Boston points in the frame, and said hit four of the Celtics' seven goals. shots, to keep them in the game.
Then, after Irving's teammates started an 8-0 run to reduce their deficit by 12 points to four as he rested to start the fourth quarter, Irving came in and scored nine straight points to put the Celtics in the foreground.
"Sit down and look," Jaylen Brown said of Irving. "Kyrie has the ability to take care of games, which is what makes him special."
Indiana was well aware of that too. And after watching him take control of the game, the Pacers were determined to make sure he was not beating them in the far right.
And, in a sense, they have achieved their goal. After Irving made a free kick while remaining 3 minutes and 12 seconds, he did not play the rest of the game all at once. But it's no coincidence that, at the end of the game, the rest of the Celtics found themselves with acres of space in which to operate.
The mere presence of Irving on the field, and the threat that he takes over, as has been done many times in his career, precisely in this type of moments – including a double win against those same Pacers here at the end of the regular season – – was enough to send the Indiana defense struggling, and his teammates were happy to enjoy it.
Suddenly, a team that had been designed to allow Irving to find the ball in the closest situations left Jayson Tatum and Hayward free for baskets at the last minute to seal the Celtics victory.
"Kyrie has been amazing coming back, and when he succeeds in such a race, he will draw even more attention than he draws already, which is as much as anybody else in Shoot in the league, "said Celtics coach Brad Stevens. "And so, in the last two minutes of the match, he just played the right game.
"I was very encouraged by the way we shared the ball and just played the right game. Then, Kyrie was special," added Stevens.
The Celtics needed him to be special – and, even though he was, they still lost almost. The Pacers could not tackle the offense in the first game, building an 11-point lead in the first half, but followed with a third quarter to eight points and a total of 74 points. Indiana made several strategic adjustments in the second game and was much more efficient.
At least that was the case until the fourth quarter. Indiana, to put it simply, melted after leading Boston 82-70 with 11:20 to play in Game 2. The Pacers fired 2-for-19 in the third quarter in Game 1, and they followed in shooting 4 -17 for -17 on the field in the fourth quarter of game 2. Indiana made two inexcusable turnovers in the last 30 seconds to not have a chance to tie the game, and watched the Celtics make a ping-ball around the field before Tatum dunk to put the game out of reach.
Overall, the Pacers missed 13 of their last 16 shots while the Celtics outscored them 29-9 in 11:20 to complete a second consecutive comeback after a double-digit deficit to start the series. The 2019 Celtics are the fifth team to overcome a double-digit deficit in the first two games of a playoff series in the last 20 games, and the first since the Celtics 2017 to have done the same against the Wizards of Washington in the semifinal of this year's Eastern Conference.
Find everything you need to know about the first round of the series here.
"We have to finish," said Pacers coach Nate McMillan. "We had to do a better job of finishing games and situations like this … I have to do a better job, we all have to do a better job."
It's an honor for Indiana not to have his own star, Victor Oladipo, nor a limited lineup in terms of offensive production, but the Pacers have been able to make these first two games as competitive as they are. could.
But it's exactly against this type of opponent, and in this kind of situation, that stars like Irving make all the difference. That's why the Celtics went in search of the fence. That's why the Celtics are hoping to convince him to stay when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, and then turn quickly to the barriers – using the many commercial assets they have – to trade for Anthony Davis and create what they think will be a title contender for years to come.
The way in which the next few weeks will dissipate could very well determine whether this reality will materialize. And, considering the state of the season's saddle of the Celtics, it's much more likely that unlikely, there will be a lot of bumps on the road before the end of the Boston playoffs.
Wednesday night, however, was a reminder that, as painful as in recent months, Irving's talent is finally worth it.
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