Late 3-pointer sinks Celtics
INDIANAPOLIS — Victor Oladipo heard the final buzzer and pranced to the sideline, pointing both index fingers to the floor and mouthing, “My city.”
Oladipo’s 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds remaining Saturday night gave Indiana a 102-101 comeback victory over the Boston Celtics and was yet another example of his increasingly routine heroics at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The All-Star guard, who was battling bronchitis, finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds and said he envisions his heroics.
“Moments like this, yeah,” Oladipo said, “and moments like this down the line.”
The game was a tense affair with 10 ties and 18 lead changes and a compelling matchup between Indiana and Boston.
The Celtics led 101-97 when Kyrie Irving hit a 3 with 37.2 seconds to go, but Jaylen Brown fouled Oladipo at 29.2 seconds, and he made both free throws to set up the dramatic finish.
With 11 seconds left, Oladipo rebounded Irving ’s miss, dribbled across midcourt and pulled up from the right wing, launching over the outstretched arms of Boston center Al Horford. As the ball dropped through the net, Oladipo skipped toward the bench.
“We were really calm,” Oladipo said. “The crowd was excited, but we were calm. We knew we needed one more stop.”
After the Celtics used a timeout to advance the ball and draw up a final play, Gordon Hayward in- bounded but had his pass deflected and stolen by Oladipo, snapping a fourgame win streak for Boston, which reached the Eastern Conference finals last spring.
The Pacers, coming off a first-round playoff exit, passed an early-season test in large part by repeatedly earning free throws. While Boston attempted only nine, and made six, Indiana shot 19 of 25 from the line.
That came in handy on a night Boston shot 43 percent (38-for-88) and the Pacers 41 percent (36for-87).
“We’re living on the edge a little too much,” said Horford, who had 14 points and six rebounds. “Maybe this will wake us up.
Tyreke Evans had 17 points for the Pacers, Bojan Bogdanovic scored 16, and Domantas Sabonis added 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Indiana trailed 28-18 after the first quarter, and by as many as 13 in the first half, but forged a tie at 45 at halftime and knotted the score at 72 on Evans’ last-second 3 to close the third period. After scoring his 400th career goal, Eric Staal wants to keep on going.
Staal got his milestone less than five minutes in to lead the Wild to a 5-1 victory over the Blues on Saturday night.
The veteran forward, who skated in his 1,100th game on Oct. 19, became just the 96th player in NHL history to reach 400 goals. He joined Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau, Ilya Kovalchuk, Sidney Crosby, and Marian Gaborik as the only active players over the mark.
“It feels good,” Staal said. “I hope there’s a lot more yet. I feel like I’m still a young guy. I got a lot more time to play this game.”
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