Michael Felger is joined by Gary Washburn and Chris Gasper to look ahead to the surprising match-up between the Celtics and Pacers in the East Finals
The Boston Celtics will face a bottom-four seed in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight year. And this time, they'll hope for a different result.
The No. 6 seed Indiana Pacers completed their upset of the No. 2 seed New York Knicks in Game 7 of their second-round series Sunday to set up a date with the No. 1 seed Celtics in the 2024 East Finals. After going 47-35 in the regular season and barely avoiding the play-in tournament, the Pacers knocked off the No. 3 seed Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and cruised to a 130-109 blowout win at Madison Square Garden in Sunday's Game 7 to reach their first East Finals since 2014.
Boston enters as the heavy favorite after dispatching the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers in five games each in Rounds 2 through 3, respectively. The Celtics boast the best net rating in the postseason (12.8) and could get big man Kristaps Porzingis back at some point in the series, although he's expected to miss at least Games 1 and 2.
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Don't sleep on the Pacers, though. Tyrese Haliburton and Co. won two of their five meetings with the C's this season, including a 10-point win in the quarterfinals of the first-ever In-Season Tournament, and currently lead the playoffs in scoring at 114.2 per game. They'll enter the series hungry to deny the Celtics another trip to the NBA Finals after Boston lost to the No. 8 seed Heat in last year's ECF.
Game 1 of Celtics-Pacers is set for Tuesday, May 21 at 8 p.m. ET at TD Garden. NBC Sports Boston will have coverage beginning an hour before every game with Celtics Pregame Live, as well as halftime coverage with Celtics Halftime Live and postgame coverage with Celtics Postgame Live.
Check out the full series schedule below.
Eastern Conference Finals Schedule
- Game 1: Pacers vs. Celtics; Tuesday, May 21 -- 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- Game 2: Pacers vs. Celtics; Thursday, May 23 -- 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- Game 3: Celtics at Pacers; Saturday, May 25 -- 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
- Game 4: Celtics at Pacers; Monday, May 27 -- 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- Game 5:* Pacers vs. Celtics, Wednesday, May 29 -- 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- Game 6:* Celtics at Pacers; Friday, May 31 -- 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- Game 7:* Pacers vs. Celtics; Sunday, June 2 -- 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
*If necessary
