Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Boston, Massachusetts —The Indiana Pacers defeated the Boston Celtics 82-79 in the second game of the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Celtics trailed for most of the game. They briefly led 42-40 for 17 seconds just before the end of the second half, but in the last minute of the half, Reggie Miller scored 4 and James Jones hit a three pointer that went through the net just after the halftime buzzer sounded to send the Pacers to the locker room with a 5 point lead.
The Celtics slowly worked their way ahead of the Pacers during the third quarter; at the end of the third, the Celtics lead by 5. In the fourth quarter, the Pacers outscored the Celtics 18 to 10 to win by 3. Paul Pierce fired a 3 point shot to tie the game with 2 seconds left, but it bounced off the rim and was rebounded by the Pacers.
Former Celtic player Larry Bird, now the president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers, attended the game. Sitting 4 or 5 rows behind the Pacers’ bench, Mr. Bird was guarded by a Fleet Center security guard.
At one moment in the second half, Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft was shown on the Jumbotron. The crowd of 18,000 applauded for Kraft, presumably because of the Patriots’ recent Super Bowl victories.