The Indiana Pacers defeated the Boston Celtics at home to eliminate them from the In-Season Tournament in the East Quarterfinal 122-112.
The C’s led at halftime by seven, and both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown seemed to be having one of their dominant outings together, but Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers created a major momentum swing. Tatum and Brown did combine for 62, with Tatum being in control for a lot of the final quarter, but Haliburton’s flashy, jaw-dropping play, hitting multiple dagger threes from distance to give him a 26-point triple-double, would not let Indiana fall.
Boston had a terrible third quarter, letting the Pacers eventually get out to a 17-3 run with Haliburton taking over the show. Indiana was still a plus to end the third, even with their All-NBA-caliber point guard; they were 14-30 from three, while the Celtics were just 9-33. Buddy Hield, T.J. McConnell, and former Celtic Aaron Nesmith all hit big shots and made game-winning plays. Joe Mazzulla talked about how Boston began to fall apart in the third quarter postgame.
“Our turnovers,” Mazzulla said. “It’s hard to withstand 18 turnovers and six turnovers, and so when you turn the ball over, you just let them get out in transition. And I just thought we lost on our offensive purpose; we didn’t take care of the ball, and I think we had seven turnovers in the third quarter. And so when you do that against that team, they make you pay.
Mazzulla explained the process of how things escalated and the game began to take a turn. “Well, I mean, it goes back to your offense and defense are connected, and so if you turn the ball over, your defense isn’t gonna be as good,” he added.
“And so I thought our turnovers led to their transition, and I thought we lost our angles as far as our individual defense and gave them some driving lanes, and opened up the ability for them to get to the paint. Those two things kind of got us in the third quarter.”
The Celtics will play the loser of the New York Knicks-Milwaukee Bucks Quarterfinal matchup in Boston on Friday night, where they hope to get back Kristaps Porzingis from his calf injury.
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