Playing with an edge

The incident, as well as the Celtics yelling at the officials from the bench for the remainder of the game, showed just how frustrated the Green have become with their play in the first round of the playoffs. The sixth-seeded Pacers now lead the best-of-seven series, 2-1, over the third-seeded Celtics. Still, despite losing consecutive games, Boston denied feeling added pressure.

"They played hard," said Gary Payton. "They did what they were supposed to do. They got a win. Everything went a little bit crazy. We've just got to play a little bit better. We ain't frustrated. We're going to come back and go to work [today]. It's not a life or death thing. We win [tomorrow] and we'll be just fine. We've got to do what we came out here to do, and that's win one game. We've got to put this out of our mind and see what we can do to beat this team."

The decisive blow came with 5:41 remaining, when Reggie Miller nailed a 3-pointer that pushed the Pacers ahead by 20 points and put an end to whatever comeback hopes the Celtics harbored. Fans at soldout Conseco Fieldhouse rose to their feet and started chanting, "Reggie, Reggie." And there was plenty of reasons to cheer. Led by Miller (33 points) and O'Neal (21 points, 11 rebounds), the Pacers shot 47 percent from the floor. They also held the Celtics to 40 percent.

"We don't want to get too high," said O'Neal. "We have to take what we did and bring that same effort [tomorrow]."