Celtics come up clutch again; into Finals after sweeping Pacers

INDIANAPOLIS -- Thanks to some late heroics from Jaylen Brown, the Boston Celtics have advanced to the NBA Finals for a second time in three years.

Brown, who finished with 29 points in Monday's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, had a block on Andrew Nembhard then hit Derrick White for a 3-pointer inside the final minute -- a shot that gave Boston its first lead since the opening moments of the second half.

It ended up being the difference in the Celtics' 105-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers, as Boston completed the sweep to reach the league's championship round.

Brown was named the Larry Bird Eastern Conference finals MVP after averaging nearly 30 points on 51.7% shooting from the field in the series.

With the win, the Celtics ensured themselves 10 days off to rest up for the start of the NBA Finals, which will begin -- regardless of what happens in the Western Conference finals that could end as soon as Tuesday night with a Dallas Mavericks victory -- on June 6 at Boston's TD Garden.

A final couple of minutes that featured a bunch of turnovers both ways was ultimately decided by Brown first blocking Nembhard then kicking the ball out to White in the corner. From there, the Celtics escaped, as Nembhard missed a potential tying 3-pointer at the other end and, after a missed 3 by Boston's Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday secured the offensive rebound to allow time to run out.

The White shot closed out a 20-8 run over the final few minutes of the contest.

After making it to the Eastern Conference finals for a sixth time in eight seasons, Boston dispatched Indiana in the minimum number of games, continuing a rare run through the postseason for the Celtics. And while it has included facing the Miami Heat without Jimmy Butler, the Cleveland Cavaliers without Jarrett Allen for the whole series and Donovan Mitchell for two games, and now the Pacers without Tyrese Haliburton for the final two-plus contests, Boston still went 12-2 and had several blowout victories along the way.

Boston is the 18th team since the playoffs expanded in 1984 to enter the NBA Finals with two or fewer losses, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The prior 17 teams went 12-5 in the Finals.

In keeping with how this entire series played out, Indiana made life as difficult on Boston as it could. Nembhard, coming off a 32-point, 9-assist performance in Game 3, lit up the scoreboard again in the first half, finishing with 16 points and 5 assists to keep Indiana within a point of the Celtics at the break.

He then put Indiana back out in front to start the second half with a nice pass to Myles Turner for a 3-pointer on the opening possession, before the two of them connected for another Turner trey a minute later.

The lead would eventually balloon to Indiana's biggest of the game at 68-62 with 8:57 to go in the third, when former Celtic Aaron Nesmith buried an elbow jumper to force a timeout from Joe Mazzulla.

Boston wouldn't tie the game again until the opening possession of the fourth quarter, when Brown splashed in a 3 from the left wing to tie the score at 83 -- only for T.J. McConnell, who spent these playoffs smack dab in the middle of most of the good things that happened for the Pacers, to make three straight buckets to keep Indiana in front.

During the ensuing timeout after McConnell's barrage, referee Zach Zarba announced to the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd that Brown's quarter-opening 3-pointer came after the shot clock expired, meaning Indiana had been given its biggest lead of the game at 89-82 with 10:13 remaining.

A short time later, Nembhard drove to the bucket and dropped in an and-1 layup to give Indiana a 94-85 lead. On the next trip down the court, McConnell cut to the basket for a completely wide-open layup but missed it, keeping Indiana's lead at nine points instead of expanding it to double digits.

That was followed by Boston going on a 13-6 run to cut the lead all the way down to 100-98 on an and-1 layup by Holiday with just under four minutes remaining, setting up the final frenetic finish in a series that featured several of them.

And just like the first three games, it was Boston that made just enough plays to escape -- and, as a result, booked a trip back to the NBA Finals.