BOSTON CELTICS guard Jrue Holiday went the entire day feeling under the weather before spending Saturday night making the Indiana Pacers feel sick.

The 15-year NBA veteran was a thorn in the Pacers’ side during the final 38.9 seconds of Saturday’s 114-111 victory, as Boston took a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

Jrue Holiday was battling a fierce fever and spent much of the day sleeping. He wasn’t cleared to play until approximately 45 minutes before tipoff.

“I didn’t feel too well,” Mr. Holiday said. “I guess I just figured if I got a good day’s rest or tried to sleep through it, that would help me for tonight. But it’s Game 3 in the Eastern Conference finals, so I wasn’t going to miss this game.”

Mr. Holiday’s efforts present the Celtics with a chance to clinch the best-of-seven series on Monday in Indianapolis.

Mr. Holiday converted a go-ahead three-point play and added a key steal in the final seconds as Boston closed the game with a 13-2 run to hand the Pacers their first home loss in seven games this postseason.

Jayson Tatum recorded 36 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as Boston recovered from an 18-point, third-quarter deficit. Jaylen Brown scored 24 points and Al Horford drained a career-high seven 3-pointers while scoring 23 points for the top-seeded Celtics.

Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith had a 3-pointer bounce off the rim as time expired.

Andrew Nembhard scored a career-best 32 points and added nine assists for the sixth-seeded Pacers, who lost at home for the first time since March 18.

The Pacers played without All-NBA Third-Team selection Tyrese Haliburton, who injured his left hamstring in Game 2.

Mr. Holiday finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and three steals, with his biggest contributions coming late in the game.

Boston trailed by five before Horford drilled a trey with 1:12 left, and Holiday added his pivotal three-point play to give the Celtics a 112-111 edge with 38.9 seconds to go.

The Pacers were later looking for a go-ahead shot and eschewed a timeout. Nembhard was handling the ball and Holiday forced it away with 3.3 seconds remaining. Holiday was then fouled and made two free throws with 1.7 seconds to play.

“I think I just made a play,” Holiday said. “I felt he’s a right-hand driver and he’s been very aggressive all night. He’s a great player and had a great game but I kind of jumped his right hand and made the steal.”

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said the situation lent itself to letting one of his players make a play.

“With eight or nine seconds left and you’re in transition after a miss, I trust our players to be able to create a better shot than calling a timeout, having them set their defense,” Carlisle said.

Said Nembhard: “I was trying to get a shot, and he got in front of me and I lost the ball.”

While Nembhard’s turnover was the most glaring play, Indiana didn’t fare well after taking an eight-point lead with 2:38 left.

“They made timely baskets,” Siakam said. “At the end of the day, we just didn’t get the job done at the end.”

Derrick White scored 13 points for the Celtics, who shot 47 percent from the field and were 16 of 46 from 3-point range.

Indiana shot 50.5 percent from the field and was a porous 5 of 22 from 3-point range. The Pacers shot just 38.3 percent overall in the second half.

Boston trailed by 18 midway through the third quarter before moving within 93-90 on Horford’s 3-pointer with 8:31 remaining in the game.

McConnell and Nembhard answered with baskets to push the lead to seven. Indiana later led 109-101 after McConnell’s driving layup with 2:38 left before the Celtics responded with the closing charge.

“The biggest thing for us is we understood it was going to be very difficult here,” Horford said of his club overcoming Indiana’s 18-point lead. “We understood the challenge. … They kept bringing it. Let’s just keep playing and stay with it.”

Nembhard scored 17 of his 21 first-half points in the second quarter as the Pacers held a 69-57 lead at the break. Indiana shot a scorching 63.6 percent from the floor in the half.

Siakam and Turner scored 15 points apiece before intermission for the Pacers. Tatum had 20 through the first two quarters for Boston. — Reuters

THE MINNESOTA Timberwolves hope to get more from Anthony Edwards when they hit the road in search of a much-needed win against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals Sunday night.

The fifth-seeded Mavericks went to Minneapolis and stole Games 1 and 2 from the third seed by a total of four points, not only snatching the home-court advantage but throwing the door wide open to a potential sweep in the best-of-seven series.

Luka Doncic has outscored Edwards 65-40 in the first two games in a battle of All-NBA performers and has the signature moment of the matchup so far with a game-winning 3-pointer in Game 2.

The series is quite a turnaround from when Edwards made himself the face of a suddenly recognizable Minnesota franchise by dominating his matchup with 2023 postseason standout Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets in the recently completed Western Conference second round.

Edwards, who shot 50 percent from the field against the Nuggets, has gone just 11-for-33 (33.3 percent) from the floor against the Mavericks. He walked away from Friday’s 109-108 loss undeterred.

“We’ve been here before,” Edwards said. “I don’t think anyone in the locker room is panicking.”

At the same time, he gave some insight into what is expected to be an altered game plan at Dallas.

“I am turning down a lot of shots,” Edwards said. “I’m just making the right play. Sometimes, the right play may be to just shoot it.”

Timberwolves All-Star sidekick Karl-Anthony Towns has shared in the struggles. Towns shot 53.1 percent in Minnesota’s opening-round sweep of the Phoenix Suns, then 51.0 percent in the Denver series. But he has started the conference finals 10-for-36 (27.8 percent).

As Edwards noted, the Timberwolves have been here before. They lost three straight against the Nuggets, only to come up big in two potential season-ending scenarios, including Game 7 at Denver.

Minnesota has won five of six on the road in the postseason, with Edwards averaging 30.0 points on 48.9-percent shooting in those games, while Towns has gone for 23.2 points on 57.4-percent shooting.

Amid the accolades over his game-winning 3-pointer in the immediate aftermath of Game 2 came words of caution from the Mavericks hero himself.

“First to four. Nothing’s won,” Doncic said. “You’ve just got to think about the next game.”

The Mavericks failed to take advantage of early road success in their first two series. They earned a split on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers in Round 1, only to give the home-court advantage back after splitting Games 3 and 4 in Dallas.

Their second-round matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder followed the same pattern. — Reuters

PARIS — Fourteen-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal said there was still a chance this year’s tournament in Paris may not be his last, in comments ahead of his tough opener against fourth seed Alexander Zverev.

The Spaniard, who turns 38 next month, skipped last year’s tournament due to a hip injury that needed surgery and has said he expects to retire at the end of 2024. But he wasn’t ready to repeat those words on Saturday.

“If I have to tell you it’s 100 percent my last Roland Garros, sorry but I will not, because I cannot predict what’s going on. I hope you understand,” Mr. Nadal told a packed press conference.

“I don’t want to close 100 percent the door, because it’s a very simple thing. First, I’m enjoying playing tennis,” he said, adding that he was “more or less healthy .. and playing without limitation.”

“Maybe in one month and a half I’ll say ‘OK, it’s enough, I can’t keep going.’ But today I cannot guarantee that it’s going to be the last one.”

Mr. Nadal skipped the Australian Open in January with a muscle problem, and the 22-times Grand Slam champion had raised doubts about his fitness for the year’s second major with lingering issues in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome. “I’m feeling better. That’s the truth,” Mr. Nadal added, appearing more cheerful than he has in recent months.

Mr. Nadal turned his attention to Monday’s clash with Mr. Zverev, a rematch of the 2022 semifinal when the German retired after an ankle injury. 

“It’s a super-tough first round,” he said.

Maybe I go there and I repeat the disaster of Rome. It’s a possibility. I don’t want to hide that,” Nadal said, referring to a second-round defeat by Hubert Hurkacz in the Italian capital this month.

“But in my mind is something different, play much better and give myself a chance to be competitive… I didn’t play this level of opponents, being competitive since a super-long time.

“So all these questions I understand that you’re making to me I’m asking to myself too. But the answer is going to be on Monday, no? That’s it.

“The rest of the things are just talking and talking, and in the end don’t matter. It’s about my feelings and my feelings are better. I want to enjoy that match.” – Reuters