Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics pulled off another late-game thriller in Game 4 to hack out a 105-102 victory against the Indiana Pacers. Indiana played its second straight game of the series without All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton but showed no fear versus Boston. Rick Carlisle’s scrappy bunch nearly got the better of the No. 1 seed again minus its best player.
In the third quarter of the said showdown, tempers eventually flared as the end-to-end action and physicality were the theme. Pacers center Myles Turner, who was defended by 6-foot-5 guard Derrick White, muscled his way into the paint by bumping into White. The force of the collision sent Boston’s defensive ace sprawled on the floor.
Jaylen Brown promptly went over to the scene, shoved Turner and said:
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“Watch that s**t”
Turner was called for an offensive foul for the hit against White and also got a technical foul along with Jaylen Brown for the scuffle. The incident did not decrease the intensity of the game as both teams were only boosted to do even better. Indiana, however, took an 83-80 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Myles Turner and the Pacers looked like they were going to pull away following Andrew Nembhard’s two free throws to give Indiana a 94-85 lead. The arena, which was a sea of yellow, was rocking as the home team had control of the game.
The Boston Celtics did not even bother to call a timeout to stop the momentum. Jaylen Brown eventually answered with a 23-footer to prevent the Pacers from getting too far ahead.
Jaylen Brown found Derrick White for the game-winning 3-pointer
Jaylen Brown, who won the Eastern Conference finals MVP, made the right decision not to escalate his confrontation with Myles Turner. Had the brief scuffle turned ugly, he might have been ejected. The Boston Celtics were grateful he kept his cool and composure.
Late in the game, Brown made a handful of plays that allowed the Cs to walk away with their second straight late-game win. The biggest came with 45.0 seconds remaining in the game when he drove into the paint to collapse the defense. Once he got what he wanted, Brown sent a nifty time to Derrick White for a corner 3.
White, who hadn’t hit a shot from behind the arc during the game, finally nailed one to give the Boston Celtics a 105-102 advantage. Before the pass to “D-White,” Brown also had a game-changing block against Andrew Nembhard. He would not have made those two big plays had he been ejected.
Jaylen Brown, though, had nothing but nice words to say about Myles Turner after the game. He said “Myles is a good kid,” explaining that what happened was simply competition at its best.
