LOS ANGELES: The Boston Celtics needed a late rally to force overtime against the Indiana Pacers before emerging with a 133-128 win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday.

Boston’s Jaylen Brown sank a three-pointer from the corner with 6.1 seconds remaining to tie the scores at 117-117 and take it to overtime.

Then Jayson Tatum made a crucial late three-pointer to push the Celtics to victory and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Tatum top scored for Boston with 36 points, 10 of them in overtime, collecting 12 rebounds and four assists with Brown putting up 26 and Jrue Holiday 28.

Indiana, who fought back from large deficits several times in the game, were led by Tyrese Haliburton’s 25 points, 10 assists and three rebounds with Pascal Siakam making 24 points, seven assists and 12 rebounds.

Brown was far from happy with the performance from Boston, who had almost a week off after their 4-1 series win over Cleveland.

“A lot of ups and downs, I don’t think we played our best,” said three-time All Star Brown.

“We almost dropped the game on our own floor. So we have got to come out and be better,” he added.

The Pacers came into the game on the back of a gruelling Game 7 win against the New York Knicks on Sunday and Boston were the fastest out of the traps.

With the loud home crowd sensing Indiana were struggling, Al Horford’s 26-foot three pointer made it 12-0.

The Pacers got back into the game and levelled it 64-64 at half-time.

A 13-point run in the third put Boston 87-77 up but again Indiana came back and with less than two minutes to go they led 115-100.

Indiana turned the ball over twice in the final 30 seconds of regulation before Brown’s crucial three pointer, over the top of Siakam.

When Haliburton was unable to get off a last-gasp shot the game went to overtime.

A step back three-pointer from Tatum with 43 left put Boston four points up.

After Derrick White’s layup extended the advantage to six with 25 seconds left, the game was beyond the Pacers.

“We were able to make some plays at the end but we have got to be better to be honest, but I’ll take the win,” said Brown.

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said he was to blame for allowing the Celtics to take the game to overtime.

“The loss is totally on me,” he said.

“With 10 seconds left in regulation, we should have just taken the time out, advanced 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 and we made some other mistakes,” he added, referring to the team’s turnover problems.

“We know we made mistakes and that is an area we have got to clean up,” said Carlisle.

“We have been a tough-minded, resilient team for almost the entire second half of the year but we have to continue with that and come back here on Thursday night.”

PARIS: Rafael Nadal will bring down the curtain on his 19-year French Open career with the likelihood of adding to his 14 titles greatly diminished before he leaves behind a record and reputation unlikely ever to be matched.

The great Spaniard, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, won his first title at Roland Garros as a teenager in 2005. A week on Monday, he will celebrate his 38th birthday.

A former world No. 1, who is now at 276 in the world, Nadal has only played 15 matches since January last year as a hip injury and then a muscle tear were added to a depressing history of physical ailments which have forced him to miss 12 Grand Slam tournaments in his career.

Whether or not the 2024 French Open becomes No. 13 will soon become apparent as the draw for the event takes place on Thursday afternoon.

“I’m going to play the tournament thinking that I can give my all, 100 percent,” explained Nadal after a second round exit in Rome last week.

“And if 100 percent is not enough to win a match, I’ll accept that. But I don’t want to step onto court knowing that I have no chance. If there’s a 0.01 percent chance, I want to explore that and give it a go.”

As well as 14 titles in Paris, Nadal can boast a record of 112 wins and just three losses, two of which came against career-long rival Novak Djokovic.

He is also held in remarkably high esteem.

At his first training session on Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros on Monday an estimated 6,000 people turned up to watch, many chanting his name.

“We have to enjoy the time he has left on court, evaluate it, and be aware that it’s very unlikely that something like that will happen again,” said coach Carlos Moya during the recent Madrid Open.

“Personally, I’m never on court when he enters or leaves, but I am this year because I like seeing the love he gets from the people when he steps on court.

“He’s one of the great stars of this sport, he’s about to retire, and it’s really amazing to see that.”

Nadal isn’t the only A-list talent under a Paris cloud ahead of the tournament start on Sunday.

Defending champion and record 24-time Grand Slam title winner Djokovic, whose three titles in Paris put him alongside Gustavo Kuerten, Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl, is enduring a title dry spell unseen since 2018.

Back then, he also reached May without a trophy before crashing to a shock last-16 defeat at the French Open to unheralded Marco Cecchinato of Italy.

This season, Djokovic has lost his Australian Open title and has yet to make a final on tour.

Adding injury to insult, he was hit on the head by a falling water bottle in Rome, a freak accident which he claimed caused nausea and dizziness.

In an attempt to gather a degree of clay-court confidence ahead of the French Open, Djokovic, who turns 37 on Wednesday, grabbed a late wild card in the ongoing Geneva tournament.

Between them, Nadal and Djokovic have carved up the last eight French Open titles while 2009 was the last time a final at Roland Garros did not feature at least one of them.

World No. 2 Jannik Sinner, the man who succeeded Djokovic as Australian Open champion, has been laid low by a hip injury which caused him to skip the Rome Open.

The 22-year-old Italian reached the quarterfinals of the French Open on his debut in 2020 where he was defeated by Nadal in straight sets.

Sinner has an extra incentive to progress deep in Paris as he could depose Djokovic as world No. 1.

Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning Wimbledon champion, also skipped Rome to nurse an arm injury.

The world No. 3 took the first set off Djokovic in their semifinal last year before body cramps saw his slip to defeat.

The Spanish crowd-pleaser admitted that his sudden and dramatic diminished physical state was caused by the fear of facing Djokovic.