Key Moment
The NBA’s very first In-Season Tournament knockout game delivered everything the NBA could have hoped for, and then a whole lot more.
Boston and Indiana volleyed back and forth for the first 46 minutes of the night and were knotted up at 105-105 with less than two minutes to go. Then the Pacers went off, as their crowd went berserk, to secure a 122-112 win.
Indiana broke the tie in resounding fashion, by scoring nine straight points in just 49 seconds of action to put the game away.
It all began with a dagger, four-point play from Tyrese Haliburton, who was exceptional all night long. Haliburton, who had already notched his first triple-double with 22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds to that point, added four more notches to his point tally when he drained a 3-pointer from straight away as Jaylen Brown made contact with his body. Indiana’s All-Star guard made the free throw to make it a 109-105 game.
Just 38 seconds later, after Jayson Tatum missed a 3-pointer at the other end, Buddy Hield drilled triple of his own off an inbound pass from the baseline from Haliburton. Then, following a turnover by Boston, Haliburton notched yet another assist, this time on a dish to Aaron Nesmith for a transition dunk.
That’s all Indiana needed to punch its ticket to Vegas. Boston had run out of time after Nesmith’s dunk, as it was nearly impossible to make up nine points in only 44 seconds of play. The closest the C’s got was within four, at 116-112, before the Pacers scored the final six points of the night from the free-throw line and on a junk-time 3 at the buzzer from Hield.
Key Player
Sam Hauser was the only member of the Celtics who finished with a positive plus/minus rating Monday night. And it wasn’t a plus-1 or a plus-2. Instead, it was a plus-nine.
That’s saying something.
Boston outscored Indiana by nine points during his nearly 23 minutes of action thanks in large part to his electric 3-point shooting. Hauser connected on five of his seven attempts from long distance to account for all 15 of his points.
Hauser tied Tyrese Haliburton for the most 3-point makes in the game (five). The difference is that Hauser needed four fewer attempts (seven) to get there than did Haliburton (11).
Hauser also contributed six rebounds and an assist to give the Celtics a boost throughout the contest.
Box Score Nuggets
Boston committed 12 more turnovers (18) than Indiana (six).
Jayson Tatum (32 points) and Jaylen Brown (30 points) were the only players in the game to break the 30-point barrier.
Bennedict Mathurin led all reserves with 16 points.
Sam Hauser was right behind him with 15 points.
Luke Kornet totaled six points, four rebounds, four blocked shots, two assists and a steal in just 16-plus minutes of action.
Tyrese Haliburton logged his first career triple-double with 26 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.
Indiana shot 47.5 percent from long range, while the Celtics shot just 29.3 percent.
The Pacers scored 37 points during both the third and the fourth quarters.
Derrick White led the Celtics with eight assists.
Tatum led the game with 12 rebounds.
The game featured 16 lead changes and 15 ties.
Quote of the Night
“Those 36-, 37-point quarters, we usually give up one a game, and so we gotta really work on those and get better at those through our offensive execution.”
– Joe Mazzulla on Boston’s defense giving up back-to-back 37-point quarters during the second half
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