5 insights as Jrue Holiday steals the show in Game 3 of the Eastern Finals

INDIANAPOLIS — The Boston Celtics had already played 12 playoff games before Saturday. And in those 12 games, teams with double-digit leads (Boston 10 times, their opponent twice) had a record of 12-0.

Midway through the third quarter of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Indiana Pacers, playing without Tyrese Haliburton, were up by 18 points. The Celtics, leading 2-0 in the series, didn't need this play and were certainly not the desperate team.

But this time they came back. They stopped the Pacers' high-powered offense (27 points on 35 possessions) in the final 18 minutes, and Jrue Holiday made big plays on both ends of the court in the closing stages to secure a 114-11 victory that put them just one win away from the NBA Finals.

Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and footage from the Celtics' sixth straight win that brought the Pacers to the brink of elimination:

1. Celtics' All-Defense combo makes big defensive plays

Both Holiday and Derrick White were named to the All-Defensive Second Team earlier this week and were able to showcase their skills throughout Game 3.

Although they're both 6'4″, they can both defend at center back as well. The Pacers often had size advantages in the post on Saturday night, but weren't often able to use those advantages to score.

At the beginning there was a duel between the 2.00 meter tall Myles Turner and White, who fended off Turner's turnaround jump shot …

A few possessions later, White made a post stop on Isaiah Jackson. Late in the first quarter, Holiday forced Turner into a double dribble.

The Pacers scored efficiently in the first 30 minutes, but the Celtics guards made more big plays later on. On Indiana's first possession of the fourth quarter, Turner rolled to the basket and appeared to have a layup, but White evaded his opponent and made his fourth block of the night.

Holiday recorded just one block but recovered three possessions, the last of which was the most significant defensive play of Game 3. With the Celtics leading by one point, Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard had the ball in transition and stormed down the left side of the court.

Holiday cut him off but lost his balance. Nembhard dribbled behind his back but took a moment to dribble forward again, allowing Holiday to recover and cut him off again, this time right in the middle of the box. As he stopped Nembhard's forward momentum, Holiday reached out and took the ball away from him.

“I feel like he's a right-handed hitter,” Holiday said of Nembhard afterward. “He was very, very aggressive all night. A great player who played a great game. But I just made a play. I kind of jumped over his right hand and stole the ball.”

The Celtics have managed to out-score the Pacers in transition over the last two games, and the difference in Game 3 was one of the best examples of individual transition defense you'll ever see.

2. Celtics accept the deficit

Before Game 6 of the conference semifinal series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks (May 18), the team trailing by at least 15 points in these playoffs was 2-44. Since then, they are 4-2, including comebacks from 18-point deficits the last two nights.

For the Celtics, falling behind by 18 points on Saturday may have been a good thing. They haven't been tested often in the postseason, and the two previous times they've trailed (Game 2 against Miami and Game 2 against Cleveland), they were unable to respond.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla had seen other teams overcome double-digit deficits last week. Why not his own?

“Being ten points behind in an away playoff game,” he said afterwards, “should be nothing but normal.”

And perhaps this victory gave him more joy than the dominant 16-point victory two nights earlier.

“After we came to terms with being down by double digits in the third road game against Indiana,” he said, “I found it pretty funny.

“I love our approach. I love our attitude. I thought we played well on both ends of the court and made the plays we needed to win. That's how games go. You have to be able to win in different ways. You have to be able to get through certain things. And I thought our guys did a great job of that.”

In the first two rounds, the Celtics had played a total of just 79 seconds of clutch time, with the score as low as five points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. In this series, they played more than 12 minutes of clutch time, having to overcome an eight-point deficit with less than two and a half minutes left to play in Game 3.

3. Pacers change, Celtics get going late

Mazzulla said he liked his team's offensive strategy throughout the game and that it was on defense where they showed dramatic improvement in the final 18 minutes.

Statistically speaking, he is right. But in the end, the Celtics also played more purposefully offensively.

Without Haliburton, the Pacers switched blocks more often than they did in Games 1 and 2. That flattened the Celtics' offense a bit and forced them to play slower, play later in the shot clock, and make more difficult shots.

Indiana wasn't afraid to unleash TJ McConnell or Turner on the Boston stars…

Other defenders pushed toward the resulting isolation, but this sometimes led to difficult shots when there was little time left on the clock…

The Celtics, however, did not let that stop them and showed great intent as they scored on seven consecutive possessions in the final period.

Al Horford took advantage of a post-transition miscue against McConnell, then Holiday created some great possessions.

After handing the ball off to White, he quickly rolled to an open layup. He then attacked a gap in transition, creating an open 3-pointer for Jayson Tatum.

The Celtics were still two points down with less than a minute to go and the Pacers seemed to be getting into transition well after a Pascal Siakam miss. But Holiday took Tatum's pass on the right wing and didn't hesitate, attacking Siakam in the box, drawing a foul and finishing with his left hand…

He made the free throw, giving the Celtics their first lead since the first 10 seconds of the second quarter.

4. A big difference from beyond the arc

Another big play in this period was a completely open corner kick by Horford after an incredible behind-the-back pass from Tatum.

As the Pacers moved and shut out the Celtics, Tatum (36 points, eight assists, zero turnovers) was the only player able to break through the defense. And Horford was often the beneficiary, setting blocks and charging into the open court. The 37-year-old, still waiting for his first championship in his 17th season, scored 23 points and hit 7 of 12 three-pointers.

His seven 3-pointers were a career high (1,258 total games, regular season and playoffs combined) and two more than the Pacers made as a team in Game 3.

While the Celtics' 16-of-46 (35%) three-point shooting was worse than the league average, those 46 three-point attempts accounted for 55% of their total shots and were more than double the Pacers' attempts (5-of-22).

The Pacers were plus-28 from the basket in this game, but the Celtics were plus-33 from the three-point line. There have now been six games in these playoffs in which a team has made at least ten more three-point shots than its opponent. The Celtics have been involved in four of those six games (the first three were in the first round against Miami) and have won three of the four games.

The Pacers had some good chances. Rookie Ben Sheppard, who started in Haliburton's place, had some great chances. But after making 18 of 38 (47%) three-pointers in the first two rounds of the playoffs, he is 0 of 9 in this series.

5. Pacers go unconventional with the last game, but can't connect

The Pacers didn't have to challenge the Celtics from beyond the three-point line. They just needed three more points after the Celtics took a three-point lead following Holiday's steal and subsequent free throws.

And Pacers coach Rick Carlisle came up with something new during his timeout with 1.7 seconds left. He had four players line up in the backcourt, almost as if they were football receivers in a fourth-and-long situation.

Doug McDermott shielded Aaron Nesmith's defender so he could run freely into the near corner, but his fadeaway three-pointer as the final siren sounded missed the target.

Mazzulla had seen the formation before, but the attacking team can derive different patterns from it each time.

“It's a really good game,” he said. “It's unpredictable.

“That was definitely a tough one to defend. They made a good shot. Part of it was luck. If that shot goes in, we're having a whole different conversation.”

As things stand, the Celtics can end this series on Monday in Game 4 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).