The Boston Celtics traveled to Indiana Monday night to face the Pacers. The C’s came into the game with injuries to Josh Minott and Jaylen Brown and dropped a tough game 98-96. Boston struggled to the shoot the ball throughout the game going just 25 percent from downtown and 45 percent from the field overall. Payton Pritchard led the team with 23 points, and Anfernee Simons had 16 points.
Baylor Scheierman started alongside Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard. Cedric Maxwell joined the TV booth for the first time of the season alongside Drew, with Scalabrine adding comments on the Peacock stream.
The Pacers got off to an early lead in the first quarter with Pascal Siakam hitting his first two shots of the game as they got off to an early 6-2 lead. Boston steadied, with Sam Hauser hitting his first two three-pointers. Baylor Scheierman had some positive early contributions, assisting on two early buckets for the Celtics in the white City Edition uniforms.
Luka Garza, Jordan Walsh, and Anfernee Simons were the first 3 players off the bench for Boston, and Garza hit on his first shot on the low block with a nifty hook. Boston had an 18-17 lead with four minutes to go in the first quarter. White returned to action for Boston after a scoreless opening few minutes and scored a high floater off glass with Furphy draped all over him.
White was looking aggressive as he drove on Aaron Nesmith and got the whistle, converting a pair of free throws to take a 24-17 lead. Potter had a putback layup to end the quarter for Indy; the road Celtics would take a 5-point lead at the quarter, 24-19.
Neemias Queta cut through the key and hit his eighth point of the game; Derrick White hit on a pull-up 2-pointer and then drained a triple as he continued to impact things for Boston. White assisted Anfernee Simons for a pull-up jumper. Derrick White chased down a long missed shot attempt and sprayed it to the corner; Anfernee Simons drilled the corner three for his seventh point of the game.
Indy was pushing on every play, the bench Pacers cutting Boston’s lead to just 4 points, 36-32. Jay Huff stepped back and shot a deep three-pointer over Queta, putting the Pacers in the middle of an 8-0 run. Anfernee Simons stopped the bleeding for Boston with a layup and his own step-back three over Nembhard. Jay Huff’s second three of the night got the Pacers even at 41 apiece.
The third-placed Celtics found themselves in a contest as Jay Huff skied for multiple reverse dunks, the Pacers on a heater in the second quarter going 27-19 with a full 5 minutes to go. Pritchard finally hit his first triple of the game, Boston struggling to keep pace with the Pacers hitting a perfect 7-7 from downtown in the quarter. Derrick White’s 14-foot pull-up jumper gave Boston the lead back, 52-51.
Pritchard had Potter on skates as he danced and hit a step-back floater over the Pacer big man. Pritchard then broke free of Sheppard for an uncontested layup off a slick Derrick White assist. Boston regained the lead late, 56-53, in an entertaining game, after a nice Indiana quarter.
Both teams went scoreless in the first one and a half minutes of the second half, and Jay Huff drilled a triple to break the deadlock. Boston went 0-6 to start the third quarter as Indy raced out to a 5-point lead, forcing Joe Mazzulla to call a timeout after 4 minutes of play in the quarter. Pritchard drove baseline and flicked it to Queta, who finally slammed home Boston’s first points of the quarter after 5 minutes of play.
Siakam stole the ball from González as he and Ben Sheppard ran the break, and with Siakam scoring his 13th point and the Pacers taking a 10-point lead, 68-58. Boston was losing the physicality matchup all quarter; if the intensity stays at this level, it will be a third defeat in a week for the C’s.
Anfernee Simons drove the ball and hit just the team’s eighth point of the quarter with three minutes remaining in the third. Simons was solid for Boston, leading the team with 16 points. Garza had a huge offensive rebound, saving it on the baseline, and swung the ball to Pritchard, who hit a 27-foot three-pointer.
Payton Pritchard got into the lane on three straight plays, scoring 6 quick points for the C’s. Walsh had a big steal and cruised through the key for the tough layup as Boston raced back into the contest. A Garza push shot in the key cut it to two points at the end of three quarters, 77-79.
Indy hit the first four points of the fourth quarter before Queta dropped the hammer over Jackson with a one-handed tomahawk. McConnell and Jackson kept the Pacers ticking along in the fourth quarter as Boston tried to keep pace.
Queta battled three Pacers in the key, hitting on a hook shot, his fourteenth point of the night. Walsh went beast mode off the glass over the lengthy Jay Huff, bringing Boston back to within four points, 85-89. White finally got going on a three-pointer; he was shooting just 6-18 for the night, and Boston was in the midst of a 9-0 run. Queta hit 1 of 2 from the stripe, denying the Indy fans of fried chicken as they cut the lead to three points with 3 minutes to go.
Pritchard’s wide-open three-pointer was timely, as the road team was shooting a poor 26 percent from beyond the arc. White missed a floating shot in the key, with Boston down by 2 points and a minute to play. Indy blew an open three as Joe Mazzulla drew up a late game play heading into the huddle. White tied the game off the inbounds play, giving the C’s a two-for-one opportunity to win the game.
Siakam banked home a tough shot to give the Pacers a two-point lead, Boston had 6 seconds left on the clock to get the dub. Unfortunately White missed a three a the buzzer to hand Indiana the win.
Boston next face the Miami Heat on the road on Thursday 15th of January.
