ROUND #1 PLAYOFF > POST GAME INDY - HOME - IND 74, BOS 84 Final

Celtics Wrap: Stellar Third Quarter Leads To 84-74 Win Vs. Pacers In Game 1

NESN by Logan Mullen on Sun, Apr 14, 2019 at 3:28PM

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics’ second season is off to a good start.

With a tumultuous regular season behind them, the fourth-seeded Celtics kicked off their NBA Playoff run with a convincing 84-74 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1.

Trailing by seven at the half, the Celtics outscored the Pacers by 18 points in the third quarter, and that was all the cushion they needed.

Marcus Morris and Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 20 points each. Jayson Tatum (15 points), Al Horford (10) and Gordon Hayward (10) also tallied double figures.

Cory Joseph led the Pacers with 14 points. Bojan Bogdanovic (12 points) was the only other Pacer to post double-digit scoring.

The Celtics lead the best-of-seven series 1-0.

Here’s how it all went down.

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Al Horford
C: Aron Baynes

ALL SQUARE
The Celtics got off to a somewhat slow start in the opening period, allowing the Pacers to lead by as many as eight. But sound play in the closing stages of the stanza resulted in the first finishing level at 20.

Early struggles with turnovers for the Celtics allowed Indiana to take a 12-6 lead over the first 5:40. Boston turned the ball over four times in that stretch.

In the back half of the stanza the Celtics took better care of the ball, and they clawed back in as a result.

Boston did come out with some energy early, thanks largely to Irving.

It also was a good quarter for Morris, who led all players with 12 points in the first quarter.

PACERS TAKE CONTROL
After an even first period, Indiana built a bit of a cushion out of the chute and made sure to maintain it. The Pacers outscored the hosts 25-18 in the second to take a 45-38 lead into the half.

A quick 9-2 run for Indiana to open up the second forced Stevens into a timeout with 9:08 left and the Pacers leading 29-22. For much the rest of the period the Pacers kept the Celtics at arm’s reach, at times extending their advantage to as many as 11.

Trailing by 10 with 1:32 left, the Celtics scored five of the period’s last seven points to go into the break with a fairly manageable deficit. Horford missed a triple at the buzzer that would’ve brought the Celtics within four.

Morris was the only player for either side in double-figure scoring at the half, pouring in 15.

C’S START SURGING
Though they finished the first half in underwhelming fashion, the Celtics showed quite a bit of life in the third quarter. They outscored the Pacers a stunning 26-8 to head into the fourth ahead 64-53.

Whatever Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said at halftime, it worked. Boston came out firing to begin the second half, evening the score at 45 just 3:21 into the half. The C’s 7-0 run to kick off the half was capped by an old-fashioned 3-pointer by Horford.

The Pacers didn’t score their first point of the second half until a Myles Turner free throw at the 7:02 mark. The Celtics had scored 11 points during that time frame.

Indiana fought back a little bit in the final minutes of the frame, but Terry Rozier put the Celts’ lead at 11 just before the buzzer with an impressive 3-pointer.

BOSTON CLOSES DOOR
It was clear that the Celtics’ dominant third quarter had taken the wind out of the Pacers’ sails, as Indiana wasn’t able to muster up any sort of convincing comeback in the final period to make things interesting. By the time there was two minutes left in the game, Stevens had mostly reserves on the floor.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Not a bad way to get your first points of the game.

UP NEXT
The Celtics and Pacers will meet for Game 2 of the series Wednesday. Tip from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET.

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Ugly ugly game, guess we can use this series as practice to get team ready for next round....I don’t know if our defense was that good or their offense really bad...???

Patience. Is. Paying Off.

Morris is one tough hombre. Good scorer too. GH played well. Jayson, Kyrie, Aron, Al - hell they all played good...even Jaylen whose D offset his weak offense.

worcester wrote:Morris is one tough hombre. Good scorer too. GH played well. Jayson, Kyrie, Aron, Al - hell they all played good...even Jaylen whose D offset his weak offense.

I'm with you, worcester. I have my opinions, but mostly I am a fan------of OUR guys. It always perplexes me that a guy like Morris gets so little respect around here.Everybody seems to be presuming ( more or less wishing) that he is gone next year. Let me know when we have 13 all-stars lined up.Then we can get rid of guys like Morris and Rozier. It seems to me that MM, who contributes way more, gets far less respect than a guy like P J Brown, who made a couple big shots in a championship run. Yes , he may be gone next year, and if he is, I will miss his presence. Terry will probably be gone . Somebody will pay more than Ainge is willing to, and that's fine, but I doubt that anybody is rolling up the Brinks truck for Morris, and if he's back, playing 20 to 25 minutes off the bench, I' ll be happy as a clam. Does anybody actually think we would have even been IN this game without him?

Danny will resign Morris for the right price unless he signs and trades him as part of the AD deal. Let's see how the post season plays out. We have 15 more games to win. MM definitely was key to winning #1.

jrleftfoot wrote: It always perplexes me that a guy like Morris gets so little respect around here.

Perpetual whipping boy for two years running out here.

mrkleen09 wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote: It always perplexes me that a guy like Morris gets so little respect around here.

Perpetual whipping boy for two years running out here.  

He earned it

Glimmers: Tatum’s 3 point shooting, Jaylen’s blanketing defense, Morris’s timely shooting, Al’s second half.

Not so good: Turnovers galore, Al’s first half, Kyrie and Jaylen’s fg%, Rozier’s continued doesn’t know what he’s doing, but hit a lucky 3.

All true Cow.

If you told me the Celtics only scored 84 games in a playoff game, especially in this league where scoring is prioritized, I would not be a happy camper.  Tell me the Celtics won that same game while only shooting 36%, taking only 77 fgas and having 20 turnovers (17 individual, 3 team) and I'd have to pick myself up off the floor.  Well, I'm happy to report I have dusted myself off and am enjoying the great outdoors.  If Adam Silver wants to transform the league from a physically punishing game to a game "of skill" (aka no defense, no touching, no mean looks, no muscling for position), and he does, then this is not going to be used as a "how to" lesson.


Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
Horford: “84-74, that’s old school right there.”

Some of it was our defense finally picked up and got much more active and aggressive, and a lot of it was they were just missing open jumpers and stopped driving to the rim.  That 3rd quarter of theirs was about as bad as I have ever seen.  They were 0-6 and 3 turnovers until 5 minutes were gone, and they got a frito.  Then they went 0-2 until they got another 2 points from fritos a minute and a half later.  It was another 1 1/2 minutes after that they took their next fga, which they missed of course.  1 1/2 minutes with even a fga.  It wasn't until there was just 3:28 left in the quarter the Pacers hit a shot.  8 1/2 minutes without a fgm.  Is that an NBA record?

Not that we were doing so well either.  We were sending up more than our share of bricks and turning the ball over too.  The 3rd quarter was the Kyrie Irving (8 points, 4 ftm), Al Horford (5 points) and the Marcus Morris (5 points), show.  Morris hitting shots.  20 points on a respectable 5-12 (41.7%, which is better than the team 36%) and 7 rebounds.  Playoff Mook.

To their credit their defense was outstanding all game.  We shot 36% because of their defense.  They shot 33% in part because of our defense but just missing shots.  Their defense starting the game, in particular, really threw us off.  They were not letting any pass go unchallenged, not letting any Celtic catch a pass without having a Pacer right there in his shirt before he even brings the ball down.

On offense, they were pnring us like crazy.  Bogie coming around curls, Turner rolling.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Stevens said he emphasized taking away the roll man at half time because he was frustrated they let the roll man get through to the rim 4-5 times in the first half.

Brad was NOT going to allow Bogdanovich to beat them this game.  He threw Brown, Hayward and Tatum at him to give him different looks on defense.  Without Oladipo, Bogie is perhaps the only player the Pacers have that can go for 30 and single-handedly keep them in a game where  none of his teammates are helping.  Bogie 2-7 in the first half, coming off of curls and getting into the paint, but ended with 4-11.

Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
2 hours ago
Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum combined to defend Bojan Bogdanovic on 58 possessions, allowing 2 points on 1-of-7 shooting. The breakdown (per NBA tracking): Brown: 31 poss, 2 pts, 1-4 FG Hayward: 17 poss, 0 pts, 0-2 FG Tatum: 10 poss, 0 pts, 0-1 FG

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I thought we were in big trouble when Baynes went to the bench hobbling and yelled when they worked on his lower leg.  Here's what he said after the game.  Man, he is a real old-school tough guy, not a faux tough guy.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Aron Baynes was asked about screaming in pain when he hurt his left leg. “Looks can be deceiving, for sure. I must have been breathing harder than normal.”

Kyrie with his first taste of playoffs in Boston.  This had to leave a nice taste in his mouth.  Not good shooting (6-17) but 6-6 from the line and 5 rebounds and 7 assists.  He also had 2 steals.  He's not that strong a man-to-man defender but he is quick and a clever help defender.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Asked Kyrie about fighting over screens: "I just want to stay aggressive & really be the head of the snake & stay aggressive on the ball. Defensively, I know that’s where we make our mark. When we’re going out in transition & getting stops, that’s when we’re at our best.”

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Kyrie Irving: “Did we score 90 points? No. ... That’s where the really gritty individuals make their mark.”

Indy has more lefties on their team than I think I've ever seen.  Turner, Sabonis, Young; all lefties.  And all of them, ESPECIALLY Sabonis and Young, ALWAYS end up going to their left no matter how many fakes to their right they give you.  Thaddeus Young with 5 of Indy's 8 steals.  He got robbed of another one on a bad whistle.

Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Stevens: "This is not a series for the timid, and we’ve known that going in."

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This is going to be a brutally physical series.  My kind of series.

1 down, 15 more to go.


http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401126858




bob


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Dbrown we gotta play offense alot better, but hey even Toronto lost....I’ll take it

Indy has one of the top defenses in the NBA.
No shame in 84 points. We will score more. Hoping for a sweep. Blake may be gone for all the playoffs so the Bucks will probably go 4-0. We could use a break to practice before a series against them.

Really won this game with quality defense-individual and team. Quality defense also usually results in good rebounding as well.

Boston will need to clean up a few things on offense otherwise they will be fine.

Hey Aron, the refs are targeting you! just set the pick dude.

Apparently Brad has decided to go with an 8 man rotation.

Smart = 2 men

cowens/oldschool wrote:
He earned it

Did I miss where you gave him credit for turning around the game last night?

I haven't liked MM. He's not a good enough defender, rebounder or scorer to be All Pro. But he is tough. He is a fighter, and this season he really has been our single most consistent player all around: scoring, defending, and rebounding. Hard to admit, but the guy is a true Celtic. A proud Celtic.