2022-2023 POST GAME INDY PACERS - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Boston Holds Off Feisty Pacers In OT In First Game After Break
There was no easing into the post-break slate of games


NESN by Greg Dudek

The Boston Celtics were pushed to the limit by the Indiana Pacers in their first game after the All-Star break, but the Green still prevailed with a 142-138 overtime win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday night.

The Celtics, who have won six of their last seven games, improve their NBA-best record to 43-17 while the Pacers fell to 26-35.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
There certainly was no easing into the final stretch of games for the Boston Celtics.

Rick Carlisle’s team proved to be a feisty, chippy and far from an easy opponent leading to the Celtics sweating things out in their first game in over a week.

The Celtics stood tall and showed some fight of their own — Marcus Smart got into it with Tyrese Haliburton — after getting blitzed by the Pacers in the third quarter when Indiana scored 39 points in the stanza.

The Celtics had some mind-numbing moments, including in the final minute of regulation when both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum turned the ball over, but even when not playing their best, they mustered up response after response to erase any of their wrongdoings. Maybe the biggest contributing factor to the Celtics holding off the Pacers was grabbing 20 offensive rebounds.

It was far from an easy win, but the Celtics showed they know how to come through in these close games while the young Pacers are still learning in these moments.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Tatum got off to a slow start, but delivered Celtics a double-double. The All-Star guard poured in a team-high 31 points and corralled 12 rebounds while also notching seven assists.

— Malcolm Brogdon exacted some revenge against his former team. Brogdon netted 24 points off the bench on 9-of-12 shooting while dishing out seven assists and coming up with five rebounds.

— Myles Turner was a catalyst for the Pacers and finished with a game-high 40 points, including knocking down a career high eight 3-pointers. He also grabbed 10 rebounds.

WAGER WATCH
Robert Williams quickly cashed a wager for some bettors. DraftKings Sportsbook set the odds of the Celtics big man scoring the first basket at +700, which he did with a layup on Boston’s second offensive possession of the game. A $100 bet would have netted a total on $800.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will travel to Philadelphia next for a primetime showdown with the 76ers on Saturday. Tipoff from Wells Fargo Center is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.

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I woke up early for this 7am start and then, without caffeine, forgot I woke up for a 7am start.  Caught up at halftime but my links were f'd.

OT vs a 26-34 team?  Ugh.  Everybody got 9 days off except for the Js.

Jayson with a nice high-level boxscore, 31/12/7, but he was 9-25 and 3-12 from 3.  I guess he used up all his 3s at the ASG.   Just one more reason to hate the ASG.  I think it is clear by now that Jayson Tatum plays much better when he's hungry.  Perhaps winning the Kobe Bryant Award satiated him a bit.  Time to starve him of accolades through the playoffs.

Jaylen with a more efficient 30 @ 30/11 on 11-24 and 3-5 from 3.  Jayson was a -8, Jaylen was a +10.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
about 13 minutes ago
Jaylen Brown says he has to wear the mask for 4-6 weeks, but a week already elapsed on that timeline during the break. Said he felt protected and didn't have to shy away from contact, though it's a big adjustment losing a lot of peripheral vision while it's on & it getting hot.


Sam the Show with 3 blocks.  WTF?  2-2 from 3, his season 3pt fg% is now up to 41.9% AND it looks like the time off worked for him.  He's no doubt heard the talk about how we need depth at wing behind Jayson.  He's trying to make that a non-issue.  

Grant with 6 minutes?  WTF again?!

Smart with 7 of his 15 in OT.  2-2 from the field, 3-3 from the line and a big offensive rebound, with 12 seconds left in OT and the Celts up 2, that produced the Tatum tip in that sealed the win.  His defense on Halliburton at the end of regulation, with the score tied to get us to OT, was magnificent.  We've missed you, Marcus.

Brogdon and White going crazy.  A combined 41 points on 15-24 shooting, 8-12 from 3.  Brogdon with 7 assists and only 1 turnover.


Turner and Halliburton went wild.

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
about 1 hour ago
Maybe the Celtics should have traded Gordon Hayward for Myles Turner.

Yeah, but what impact would have had on our salary cap, on resigning Al, on RWill's development?  We know Luke would never get off the bench.  I'd rather have Turner than Luke despite all the progress we've seen from Luke, don't get me wrong, I'm just pointing out there'd be a ripple effect spreading out in multiple directions.

49 3pt fgas for them vs 39 3pt fgas for us.  Mark this day down, a team took more 3s than a Joe Mazzulla-coached team.

Souichi Terada @SouichiTerada
about 1 hour ago
Celtics improve to 19-8 in clutch games with OT win over the Pacers. 4-5 in OT games now, too.

.703 record in clutch games, defined as games with 5 minutes or less left and the score difference is 5 points or less.  This is a winning basketball metric because it shows grit and successful execution during 5 minutes worth of high stress possessions on both sides of the ball.  I would love to see how we match up against our peers.




https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469042


Bob


.

I'm starting to back off my opinion that Hauser is a one trick pony.His defense is vastly improved. He's limited by a lack of foot speed, but seems more agile than I thought, and he's getting some off the ball blocks a/l/a DW. Brogdon's flat three pointers are going in at a near 47% rate. Phenomenal! IMO Joe going small saved the day. Horford was being eaten alive.Hauser ate up some of Grant's minutes. It seems to me that we have a tough time with young, athletic teams that push the pace. Thus, the small lineups. Fortunately, our guards are excellent rebounders. A win is a win and Indiana has a lot of talent, despite their record. Halliburton is a game changer.

Depth pulled this one out against a hungry young Pacers team.

Brogdon and White may be the best pair of reserve guards around.

They would make a strong starting backcourt on a lot of other clubs.

NYCelt wrote:Depth pulled this one out against a hungry young Pacers team.

Brogdon and White may be the best pair of reserve guards around.

They would make a strong starting backcourt on a lot of other clubs.

NYCelt

No doubt about it.  Our PG/SG depth is impressive.

a couple of observations:

The Jays both hit the 30  point mark and that usually means a win.  They also rebounded the ball at a high level.

Those Pacers are a pesky bunch.  When they heat up it is really hard to cool them down.  Last night they outshot us by going 22-49 from deep.  We were more than respectable at 18-39.

Last night the Celtics had a full complement of players and CJ had all options available.  Kornet only played 5 minutes off the bench.  Griffin and Muscala did not get in the game.  The now infamous Kornet contest provided a light hearted moment when TJ McConnell made a shot over him and went into the Kornent contest motion.  

Grant Williams only played 6 uneventful minutes.

Too many overtime games makes it hard to bring down minutes played by our key guys.

Agreed offensively both are superior to Smart. Smart and Brogdon are injury prone, glad we have all 3 and Jaylen eats alot of minutes at the 2. Add Jaylen that’s got to be best foursome in the backcourt in the league!!

I am watching closely at the progress of Rob Williams. He needs to get back to being the force he was last year when they went on their run in the second half. It is worrysome to me that we have only seen the "rea;" Rob sporadically. He needs to be out there every night from here on getting in synch with his teammates. They wanted us to think it was just not a good matchup for Grant last night. I have not seen him play so few minutes in a long time.

Hauser with another solid game to add to  what has been a very productive Feb. He looks better on defense.