Despite losing Kristaps Porzingis due to an eye injury, the Celtics defeat the Pacers.
The Celtics were in for some difficulty when Kristaps Porzingis left the game early on Saturday night in Indianapolis due to an eye issue. The new key to Boston’s engine is Porzingis, and they fell to the Pacers in the In-Season Tournament last month, which shows how much they missed him.
However, the Celtics still have Jayson Tatum, and their strengths stem from their depth as well as their capacity to adjust and overcome unforeseen obstacles when things don’t go according to plan.
Playing with fire on Saturday night was the Celtics. Although they had a commanding lead from start to finish, they allowed the Pacers to stay in the game due to excessive turnovers (18 in total) and some strange free-throw shooting. They maintained control, though. Every Pacers run was met with an equal response from them, and they crushed them in the closing minutes to win 118-101.
In addition to Tatum’s 38 points—which included eight 3-pointers and 15 points in the fourth quarter—Jaylen Brown added 31 points, and the Celtics also benefited greatly from the late-game efforts of Al Horford and Oshae Brissett, who both missed significant time due to injury. The fourth quarter saw Boston’s defense come into its own, shutting down the greatest offense in the league and Tyrese Haliburton. The Celtics limited the Pacers to a season-low 101 points the night after they had an absurd 50 assists for 150 points.
They managed it without Porzingis, who only played for six minutes after Aaron Nesmith hurt himself writing on the court in the first quarter after unintentionally swiping his right eye. A few minutes later, he was back in the game for a short while before leaving once more and making his way straight to the locker room.
Porzingis’s official return status was rated as uncertain due to inflammation in his right eye. He made an effort to warm up for the second half, but he eventually left. C’s coach Joe Mazzulla was pleased of his team’s tenacity without him even though he had no news on him following the game.
think that even with a strong team, you still need to earn victories,” Mazzulla said to reporters in Indiana. “I believe that, as a strong team, there are instances when you may find yourself in a scenario where you’re just playing and not necessarily thinking about winning. There’s a difference between playing and having to work for this victory. Tonight, I thought we were in a position where we had to prove ourselves. We have to exert more effort on defense and play tougher offense, and I believe that’s what I learnt today—we deserved to win.
It may sound a little corny, but you guys will definitely take it literally in terms of how we play. However, I believe that we play hard in every game, and tonight was one of the 20–25 that you have to like, really work at to win, in my opinion.
Although the Pacers went 8-for-42 from beyond the arc, the Celtics were lucky not to allow the home team establish a consistent rhythm other than a few runs. After destroying the C’s last month, Haliburton only managed 17 points and seven assists.
The Pacers were able to pull within two points early in the third quarter against the C’s, who had led by as much as 16 points in the first half. Despite not making any free throw attempts in the first half, the Celtics managed to miss three of their first 11 trips to the line in the third quarter, including two misses from Tatum, Brown, and Horford.
In the first minute of the third, White was flagged for the fourth time; Tatum followed him to the sidelines halfway through the frame. The Celtics’ odd free-throw shooting exhibition gave the Pacers a boost, and in the last minute of the third, Buddy Hield’s 3-pointer brought Boston’s lead down to one.
However, the C’s never let up and kept holding the lead despite the Pacers’ constant runs. In the fourth, they stepped up their defense once more, and Tatum took over.
A rejuvenated Horford, who rested in Friday night’s victory against the Jazz, assisted in leading the Celtics to victory in Porzingis’ absence. Haliburton was stopped by him at the rim. Shortly after, he accurately read a pass from Haliburton and deflected it for a steal. Haliburton appeared frustrated as he halted, but Horford initiated a break and hit Brown for an alley-oop. With four minutes left, Horford found Brissett for a 3-pointer, his eighth assist of the game, putting the Celtics up 16 and all but sealing the victory.
Even though they had the upper hand in the first half, the Celtics gave up 12 turnovers before the break, which gave the Pacers 20 points. However, they answered in the second half, forcing six turnovers that resulted in four baskets as they prevented the Pacers from doing what they do best—get out in transition. The Celtics ran away from them in the fourth quarter when it sparked them.
It all stems from Will’s (Hardy) statement that the game is related, Mazzulla informed reporters. “You have to play strong offense if we want to defend this team as effectively as possible. We were able to contain them on the half-court (during the second half). Whether we are playing at a rapid pace or in the half-court, we perform better when we play connected basketball with physical half-court defense and deliberate, calm attack. And we kind of carried out that tonight.
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