As Andrew Nembhard came streaking down the left side of the court in the closing moments of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, with his Indiana Pacers down one and looking to, somehow, claw their way back into this series with All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton watching in street clothes, Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was with him step for step.
But then, as Nembhard tried to cut into the middle of the court — where he and the Pacers had feasted on Boston’s defense for most of the night — Holiday knew what was coming.
“He’s a right-hand driver,” Holiday would say later, “and he’d been very, very aggressive all night.”
And, as Nembhard went to that right hand, Holiday stole the ball from him and raced to the other end of the court, where he eventually hit a pair of free throws that provided the final scoring margin in this game:
That score — Celtics 114, Pacers 111 — gave Boston a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven series and moved the Celtics to within a single victory of advancing to the NBA Finals for a second time in three years.
And, after the Celtics spent so much of this game watching Indiana get whatever it wanted defensively, it was fitting that, after Boston completely flipped that script in the closing minutes of the game, it was a defensive play by Holiday, long considered one of the league’s elite perimeter defenders, that became the final nail in Indiana’s coffin.
“That’s a trademark steal that he always gets with the inside hand,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “He gets that a lot usually when a guy is coming down the sideline, but he got it in transition.
“He made a big-time play.”
Then, the Celtics closed the game with a 13-2 run over the final 2:38 of game action, following up a T.J. McConnell bucket that put Indiana up 109-101 with a Jaylen Brown midrange bucket; a Tatum 3-pointer; an Al Horford corner 3-pointer off a tremendous no-look pass by Tatum; and then Holiday’s and-1 layup.
All of that, however, just set the stage for Holiday to steal the show with his defense — and move Boston to the brink of a return to the league’s championship round.
