Vintage Miller Carries Pacers

This wasn’t how Reggie Miller imagined his farewell playoffs.

Miller scored 33 points Thursday night, his most in the postseason in three years, and Indiana pulled away to a 99-76 victory over Boston and a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series.

“I’m trying to be aggressive. ... I’m getting great picks from our big guys,” said Miller, who made 10 of 16 shots. “This is somewhat of an out-of-body experience. I’m not supposed to be doing it.”

Celtic Coach Doc Rivers only wishes that were the case.

“I hate that guy,” Rivers said, quickly adding, “No, Reggie’s been great. He really has.

“We’ve got to come up with a better answer for him than we have.”

Rivers said earlier this week that Miller, who had 25 points on Monday, may be getting “sympathy calls” from the officials as he makes his final NBA tour before retiring. The 39-year-old Miller had his usual flops, trying to draw fouls as he went up for shots, but it wasn’t his theatrics or the officials’ kindly treatment that doomed the Celtics.

“We just got our tails kicked,” Rivers said. “They were more physical, they were the aggressor. They competed hard, got all the loose balls. This team has been here. If we try to play tit-for-tat and try to think our way through the series, we’re not going to do too well. We have the advantage of youth and athleticism, and we have to use that.”

Miller made a three-point basket that put Indiana in control in the first quarter and another three-pointer during a 17-3 run that broke the game open with less than six minutes to go.

Jermaine O’Neal, playing with a sore right shoulder, had 21 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots for Indiana. Paul Pierce led Boston with 19 points.

The Celtics’ Antoine Walker was ejected with two technical fouls, both after hard fouls on O’Neal.

The second time, with just over four minutes to go, O’Neal also received a technical for shoving Walker after a confrontation in which the players had to be separated.