Cardiac Celtics Part IV: They Tried to Kill Me

I was hoping I wouldn’t be back, but I am back. It’s time for another “Cardiac Celtics” heart monitor recap, thanks to the sheer amount of chaos we all just witnessed.

The Boston Celtics were looking like they were about to drop their fourth-straight Game 1 in as many Eastern Conference Finals appearances until the perfect storm hit.

Boston escaped the jaws of defeat and stunned the Indiana Pacers with a 133-128 overtime victory.

It was an outcome so unlikely, that their obituaries had already been written on the timeline.

Here’s how it happened, and here’s how my heart took it.

The Celtics got off to a dream start in this one, much like they did in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Miami Heat. They ripped off a 12-0 run that had the TD Garden jumping in the opening minutes, while I relaxed at a rate of 58 beats per minute.

As the outcome of this game would tell you, Indiana did not stay down for long.

By the end of the first quarter, they had cut the Boston lead down to just three. Both teams battled back and forth until the half, which had me living in the high 50s and low 60s bpm. The opening 24 minutes concluded when the first of two Tyrese Haliburton heaves tied things up at the buzzer and sent me into the intermission at 63 bpm.

A long fifteen minutes of watching Chris Paul and the gang on ESPN’s halftime show was enough to shoot me up to 70 bpm by the time play got back underway.

Though they didn’t exactly start off on the right foot, the Cs managed to build a nice 13-point lead with a little over four minutes to play in the third quarter. I was back to being semi-relaxed but the excitement had me at a crisp 64 bpm.

This 13-point lead was the Game 1 equivalent to the bar being locked in when you’re strapping into your seat on a rollercoaster. From here, things got INTENSE.

Indiana all but erased the deficit by the end of the frame, capping it off with the second Haliburton bomb.

I mean, look at this. This is “spike your TV remote (if you still use one)” type stuff.

Anyway, the fourth got off to a pendulum start. Both sides exchanged runs as the minutes ticked away and my heart ticked up to 73 bpm. The Pacers were able to extend their lead to four points with 4:34 left and I was FEELING it. I hit a (tied for) game-high 90 bpm.

There was some more jockeying over the next minute or so. Derrick White sank a big three, Indiana matched, and then Al Horford hit a triple of his own. Indy responded by pushing the lead back to five behind a pair of mid-range jump shots from Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard.

It was here that I declared it to be “over” and reported a dejected 72 bpm.

It turns out that I’m an idiot and am often wrong.

Boston responded with a Jrue Holiday bucket, followed by a stop, and then a stone-cold 2-for-2 trip to the free-throw line from Jaylen Brown.

The newfound hope spiked me back to 82 bpm. Indiana came down and Nembhard sank his team’s final basket of regulation, bringing the score to 117-114.

This game was far from over. The Celtics had the ball and a chance to tie.

I looked on with my heart racing at 86 bpm and boy was I disappointed.

Boston created a great look as Jayson Tatum out-muscled Aaron Nesmith on an inbounds catch and found himself WIDE OPEN for the tie.

He missed.

Fortunately, the Cs got a second chance to even the score as the Pacers fumbled away possession with just under 30 seconds to play.

Their next try at putting points on the board came off of a White drive. His floater didn’t find the bottom of the net. It did, however, find Tatum’s hands for the offensive rebound, but he missed a rushed fadeaway in the lane.

I then began to think of how unbearable the “The Celtics can’t win close games” chatter would be in the time before Game 2 and clocked in at 86 bpm. As I was stewing, the Pacers turned it over AGAIN.

Despite their third chance to try and tie the game, I wasn’t buying into any false hope. I’d seen this movie before. The only Celtic to sink a big shot with less than 10 seconds left in a game this year was Xavier Tillman, who was inactive tonight. These guys were chalked.

Well, not really.

The Celtics did their version of “The Undertaker” sitting up, which was Brown sinking a TOUGH corner three for the tie and earning a “Double Bang” from ESPN’s Mike Breen.

The stress wasn’t over, though. The Pacers still had 5.7 seconds to rip my heart straight out of my chest.

It turns out, Haliburton had used up all of his heaves for the day and his end-of-regulation attempt bounced off of the rim, sealing the game’s overtime fate.

The extra period was pretty ugly. Indiana had managed to find their way out of “the zone” and finally missed some shots, making just two of their eight OT attempts.

Boston had some gross moments, too. Tatum and Holiday had a miscommunication on a pick play, resulting in an easy steal for the Pacers. The turnover shot me back up to 85 bpm.

JT wound up amending that mistake, as he scored six straight points to help seal the game, including this BOMB.

After weeks, months, maybe years, of “Celtics can’t win close playoff games” talk, they actually did it. They stole a game that they had no business winning (except they probably just shouldn’t have made it so hard on themselves in the first place) in a fashion that Larry Bird and the boys would routinely do back in the 1980s (so I’ve been told). This Game 1 victory over the Pacers certainly feels like something special and the rollercoaster path certainly has a big part in it.

I’ve been rolling with the heart monitor threads over on Twitter throughout the playoffs. So, if you thought this was funny, follow me over there @SamLaFranceNBA for the latest on my ticker.

Let’s hope I don’t see you all in one of these articles for a little while, though.