INDIANAPOLIS — While his Celtics teammates conducted their shootaround Saturday morning prior to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Pacers, point guard Jrue Holiday was back at the team hotel, resting and battling a fever. He was officially listed as questionable due to an illness, but Holiday could have told someone to amend that status report. “It’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals,” he said.
“I wasn’t going to miss this game.” Holiday ended up playing more than 38 minutes, second only to Jayson Tatum. But the final eight seconds are the ones that will be talked about years from now.
Advertisement After Jayson Tatum missed a layup with the Celtics leading by 1, Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard raced upcourt with a game-winner on his mind. But as he approached the rim, Holiday reached in with his left hand and came up with one of the biggest steals in franchise history, securing a 114-111 win that gave Boston a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven series. “Jrue is different,” Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said.
“Nothing really else to say. Jrue is just different.” Holiday was fouled with 1.
7 seconds left and hit both free throws. After a timeout, the Pacers ran a beautiful inbounds play in which all four players on the floor streaked in from the backcourt, creating indecision and confusion. But Aaron Nesmith’s open 3-pointer from the right corner was just short.
It was an example of the razor-thin margin between success and failure. In Ga.
