Rick Carlisle Snaps At Reporter After Pacers’ Loss To Celtics

The Pacers had a golden opportunity to turn the tides in the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night, but they couldn’t finish the job.

Playing without star guard Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana shot the lights out of the arena at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and led Boston by as many as 18 points in Game 3. But the Celtics staged a miraculous late-game comeback and — quite literally — stole a 114-111 win to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Speaking with the media after the game, Rick Carlisle was reminded of his team blowing an eight-point lead with less than three minutes to play. The Pacers coach was in no mood to revisit his team’s collapse and didn’t let the reporter finish his question.

“I just watched the ending, so you don’t need to remind me,” Carlisle said, per an ESPN video. “I saw everything that happened — everything. Everything. Everything that happened, yeah. Anybody else?”

The Pacers, who entered the NBA playoffs as the East’s sixth seed, now are one loss away from their season ending. And to make the situation even tougher for Indiana, Haliburton could be sidelined again for Game 4 against the Celtics.

The sides will meet again Monday night, with tipoff set for 8 p.m. ET.