Three keys to the Pacers bouncing back in Game 2 and evening the series

Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, the Indiana Pacers have found themselves down 1-0 for the third time these playoffs. This one is easily the most heartbreaking loss yet, as Indiana was up three points with ten seconds left before a costly turnover, a big Jaylen Brown three, and an overtime collapse cost them the game.

However, Indiana still made their mark in this series, coming back from an awful start of the game and nearly squeaking out the win before shooting themselves in the foot in the final seconds. Despite this, the Pacers should not hang their heads and give up for the rest of the series. They can very easily tie up the series in Game 2 if they fix some mistakes they made.

For one, the Pacers have to start off the game better, no questions asked. Indiana started Game 1 by giving up a 12-0 Boston run and not scoring their first points for three minutes and 25 seconds. While the Pacers eventually patched up their errors and made a run to erase the deficit, these types of starts are unacceptable in the playoffs, especially in the Conference Finals against the best team in the league.

Eventually, the Celtics will use these runs as stepping stones to even bigger runs and leads. The Pacers cannot be counted on to erase runs every game, as that will lead to blowouts sooner rather than later. A game is played from start to finish, and the Pacers shouldn't look to start a game down 12.

Secondly, Indiana needs to cool down on the turnovers. The Pacers' 21 turnovers on Tuesday was the second-most turnovers they had in a playoff game this year. Even worse, most of these turnovers were unforced, with a bad pass thrown here, a travel called there, and an avoidable out-of-bounds called to top it off.

It has been established that most of these Pacers are new to the scene and they are playing like such. However, it only took them one game per series to adjust to Milwaukee and New York, and that included limiting turnovers and free possessions for the other team. Especially in this series against Boston, they cannot afford to give the Celtics any free opportunities.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Pacers have to tighten up defensively. The Celtics took 45 threes in Game 1, with only 15 going in. While from the outside, this would tell you that Indiana defended well, this was not the case for anyone watching the game.

Countless times throughout, the Pacers left shooters open in a variety of ways, with the most shooters being left open due to the Pacers' tendancy to overcommit to players driving and ignoring anyone at the perimeter. In fact, this is how Indiana lost the game in overtime, as Derrick White's drive to the basket was flanked by three yellow jerseys which gave Jayson Tatum a prime opportunity for an open three, which he drained after one pump fake to put Boston up four points.

Boston will eventually hit their shots, as they were the only team in the regular season with a better offensive rating than the Pacers, so the least Indiana can do is respect their jumper and close out on shooters better.

The Pacers proved they belong here in Game 1, and even came close to snatching a win nobody had them snatching. Their job now is to look back at the film, study what went wrong, and improve on that in Game 2. This series is not over, and nobody should treat it like such.