Jaylen Brown’s Miraculous Shot Saves Celtics In ‘Track Meet’ With Pacers

The Indiana Pacers nearly stunned the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night.

Boston started the game on a 12-0 run, though it was the Pacers that stormed back in the fourth quarter to lead with under a minute to go. The Celtics needed an out-of-the-ordinary play to have a chance at overtime. Luckily for Boston, Jaylen Brown hit the shot of the night, draining a corner three-pointer to tie the game at 117 and force overtime.

The shot sent the TD Garden crowd into a new level of energy and earned the rare “double bang” on the broadcast call from ESPN’s Mike Breen.

“It’s the playoffs,” Brown told ESPN’s Lisa Salters after the victory. “We drew up a play. It was perfectly executed. I told Jrue (Holiday) I was going to be open in the corner. I was, and I knocked it down. It went exactly how we planned it.”

The Celtics made enough plays, including a steal from Brown, in overtime to pull away to a critical Game 1 victory. Brown led the charge to a comeback effort, though he expects a better effort from Boston in Game 2.

“They play so fast and put pressure on you,” Brown added. “We gotta be better.”

The Celtics have had clutch plays in recent postseason runs, including a pair of buzzer-beaters around the rim of Jayson Tatum and Derrick White. Brown’s shot certainly joined that class on Tuesday night.