BOSTON — The Cleveland Cavaliers have been the best team in the Eastern Conference all season. But, just like the Celtics fell to the Knicks on Monday night, the Cavs dropped the first game of the playoffs at home to a lower-seeded opponent, falling to the Indiana Pacers, 121-112.
It appeared that the Cavs had effectively bounced back in Game 2 — they led by 14 entering the fourth quarter — but they collapsed down the stretch and dropped a second consecutive game to the Pacers.
Now, they find themselves down 0-2 with the second-round series headed back to Indiana.
The Celtics, who are just a few hours away from their own potential redemption game, discussed what happened in Tuesday’s game between the Pacers and the Cavs, and are using the late-game events as a cautionary tale.
“It’s a full 48-minute fight tonight,” Payton Pritchard said at Wednesday’s shootaround. “We let off the throttle last game, up 20. We let that one slip. We can’t let stuff like that happen.”
The Celtics discussed the Cavs late-game collapse ahead of Game 2
The Cavs led the Pacers by 7 points with 57 seconds to play when the game began to turn. Pacers guard Aaron Nesmith grabbed an offensive rebound on a Pascal Siakam missed free throw and dunked it home, then drew an offensive foul on Donovan Mitchell.
Andrew Nembhard then stole a Max Strus pass, and Tyrese Haliburton got fouled driving to the basket. Haliburton inadvertently missed the second free throw, but the Pacers recovered yet another offensive board, setting the stage for the night’s biggest moment: a Haliburton step-back game-winner over Ty Jerome.
Tyrese Haliburton got his own rebound off a missed free throw, hit the game winner, then hit the “big balls” celebration pic.twitter.com/hinZPqXNds
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) May 7, 2025
The Celtics are drawing some lessons from the Cavs’ poor late-game execution.
“The games never over until it’s over,” Pritchard said. “So you got to take care of the rock and even on a free throw box out — all the little things matter. We got to learn from that and take it into this game.”
It’s not uncommon for the Celtics to study key moments and plays from other games. But, the crazy finish in Cavs-Pacers proved particularly relevant considering the Celtics find themselves in what Pritchard described as a “must-win game” tonight.
“We always look at stuff across league — little plays, stuff that could come up in situations for us,” he said. “It’s just preparation at the end of the day. If we’re in a situation like they were in, we are already prepared.”
Nesmith’s key offensive rebound and putback reiterated the importance of crashing the glass on free throws, something that is especially relevant in this series considering the Knicks have one of the best offensive rebounders in the league in Josh Hart.
“A free throw box out, and if I’m not in the lane, I’m boxing outside the three-point line. I gotta hit a guy,” Pritchard said. “Josh Hart, he might crash hard, so I gotta be prepared to box him out in that situation. “It’s little things like that. You gotta just be a student of the game, and learn, and keep rolling.”
Game 2 between the Celtics and the Knicks tips off on Wednesday at 7pm ET.
