Pacers HC Rick Carlisle takes all the blame for gutting OT loss to Celtics in Game 1: 'Totally on me'

The Indiana Pacers were leading by three points with less than 30 seconds left. That’s when Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard made mistakes by committing turnovers.

This resulted in Jaylen Brown shooting a clutch three-pointer, which led the game to overtime and eventually a win for Boston. In the press conference, Carlisle took responsibility for the loss and for not calling a timeout during that time. 

"This loss is totally on me. With 10 seconds in regulation, we should have just taken the timeout, advance the ball and found a way to get it in and made a free throw or two, and ended the game. But it didn't happen," Rick Carlisle said.

The HC also acknowledged the team’s other mistakes during the stretch. Carlisle wanted the Pacers to focus on the way they fought throughout the thrilling game. The game was extremely close, as both teams did not give up any large leads during the entire regulation.

The Pacers had the game under control in the final seconds of regulation, but things changed in overtime. The Boston Celtics Jayson Tatum dominantly scored 10 of his 36 points in overtime to outscore the Pacers 16-11. Boston has ended up taking a 1-0 lead, as they will have the home-court advantage again in the next game.

Rick Carlisle acknowledged the ‘big task’ to defeat the Celtics

The Celtics have one of the most talented rosters in the NBA. In Game 1, all the starters of the team scored more than 15 points to contribute to the final score. Hence, it is certainly going to be difficult for the 6th-seeded Pacers to defeat the East table toppers in the conference finals.

During the press conference, HC Carlisle acknowledged the Celtics run in the regular season. The HC also admitted that the Pacers need to make the series as hard as possible to beat the ‘dominant’ team.

"These guys have been the clear favorite all year… they ran away with the Eastern Conference. They've been dominant. So, it's a big task, that's clear. We've just got to try and make it as hard as possible on them," Rick Carlisle said.

HC Carlisle received a ton of backlash from fans for the coaching mistakes. As the team had the game under control in the final moments, the Pacers needed to stay consistent until the end to secure the win. The team will get the chance to get back into the competition on Thursday for Game 2.