BOSTON — The Celtics hosted the Indiana Pacers for the first time since their Eastern Conference finals duel, fresh off two straight losses, a 5-5 cold stretch, and without starters Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.
Not the ideal situation when looking to avoid three consecutive defeats.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, on the other hand, welcomed the challenge. Mazzulla stressed normalizing the inevitable and inherent challenges of an 82-game regular season and claimed he was “excited” heading into the Boston-Indiana clash. Mazzulla’s excitement spread across the Celtics locker room and spilled out on the floor quickly.
Boston turned its red-hot 39-point first quarter into a 67-point first half and maintained the momentum to get the Celtics right back in the win column with an improved 23-8 record on the campaign.
Here are three studs and three duds from Boston’s 142-105 Gino Time win over Indiana:
STUDS
Jaylen Brown
The Celtics were in dire need of a response and Brown got started rather quickly and delivered 15 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the floor in the first quarter. Brown’s scoring motor never took a breather as the 28-year-old continued to punish Indiana’s defense throughout the night, finishing with a season-high 44 points on 16-of-24 shooting while knocking down six 3-pointers, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists.
Mazzzulla pulled Brown with 8:23 minutes left in the fourth quarter, giving the three-time All-Star a well-earned early clock-out.
Jayson Tatum
Tatum’s 10 points and 10 rebounds secured the five-time All-Star’s 16th double-double by halftime and solidified Boston’s ball movement and rim protection. Tatum followed Brown’s lead, scoring 22 points while collecting a game-high 13 rebounds.
The 26-year-old also earned an early exit and sat out the entirety of the fourth quarter.
Payton Pritchard
Boston’s sixth man, too, was in a recent cold skit of his own but Pritchard shook it off by getting involved on both ends of the floor. Pritchard pitched in flirting with a triple-double by scoring a bench-leading 16 points alongside eight rebounds and 10 assists, draining four from beyond the arc while also recording a block and a steal.
DUDS
Tyrese Haliburton
The Pacers weren’t able to turn to their franchise star as Haliburton struggled to find his groove. He finished with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting, went 3-for-8 from three, tallied nine assists and registered a minus-27 rating, the worst of anyone on the floor. Haliburton’s scoring total made him Indiana’s leader in that department but it also spoke volumes of the team’s inefficient performance on that end of the floor.
Indiana’s 3-point shooting
It’s hard to compete with some of the league’s best when the three-ball isn’t falling.
Indiana found out the hard way as the team was out-performed from 3-point range, going 11-for-39 (28.2%) to Boston’s 23-for-57 (40.4%) showing. The Pacers had plenty of quality openings from deep but failed to cash in time after time again, keeping their scoreboard stagnant and playing right into the Celtics’ momentum.
Myles Turner
Indiana’s front-court force wasn’t on from the jump and nothing changed.
Turner finished with a modest eight points in 23 minutes, shooting 3-of-7 from the field with five rebounds, zero blocks and a game-high three turnovers. The 28-year-old, typically leaned on for shot-blocking and rebounding, gave the Pacers little to nothing on that front and Indiana paid the ultimate price.
