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The Indiana Pacers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics from the Eastern Conference Finals in four games despite playing three incredibly close games.

The Pacers had at least a 90 percent win probability in the fourth quarter of Games 1, 3 and 4, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. 

"For a young team like us, this experience in the playoffs is second to none," said Andrew Nembhard, who finished with a team-high 24 points in Game 4. "A lot of our first times. A lot of little things we maybe wanted to do better and we learned how these games go and what being in a series feels like."

"I can tell you like, yeah, we're going to learn from it and it's going to happen, but it's not guaranteed," Siakam said. "I know how hard it is to get to this point. It's unfortunate. You want to give credit to the other team because they took advantage of every mistake that we made. They did well.

"But for us, it's been hard, like heartbreaking losses after heartbreaking losses. Yeah, you're going to be encouraged by it and you hope to put the right amount of work to continue to get better. Because we need to be a lot better if you want to compete with those teams. And understand it doesn't matter how good we played, we didn't get it done."

Via Jamal Collier/ESPN

Pacers had a wonderful year overall and were probably the most fun to watch from a stylistic / offensive standpoint - hats off to them for taking the next step in growth.

Celtics are a championship level team : Pacers are striving to develop that - that was the difference - experience and youth.

Carlisle did an amazing job - but most impressive was the growth of the 2 young players :

* Nembhard - outstanding growth in the post season ( scoring, defense, running the offense )

* Nesmith - elite defense and improved scoring opportunities

With a health Tyrese and Mathurin coming back into the mix -- this team will be knocking the doors of the Eastern Conference for years to come. They just need to improve how the closeout games and while their defense isn't their mainstay, just learn to get key stops.

The Pacers didn't pay their best at the end of any of those 3 games but officiating played a role in losing all 3. Youth or not, you don't lose 3 straight games in which you have a 90%+ probability to win without the refs playing a role. These guys are all professionals and most have literally been playing the game since they were elementary age children. The better team advanced and I can acknowledge that but no one will ever convince me that the officiating wasn't a contributor in 3 straight losses in which the Pacers had a 90%+ winning probability very late in the game.

Lots of salt flowing with the Celtics win. Love to see it.

Everyone knew Pacers were going to get swept. They are not a ECF worthy team. Barely beat a team who had 3 starters injured and key bench players too lol.