Everything you need to know about the Celtics' 116-111 win against the Pacers with BSJ insight and analysis
Box Score
HEADLINES
Celtics rally from 17-point second-half deficit to squeak out win: The Celtics were in grave danger of falling to 1-3 on the season before Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard came to the rescue in the fourth quarter. Tatum led a second unit that erased a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter thanks to a 26-6 run to start the frame, allowing Boston to fight back for a 116-111 win against the previously undefeated Pacers. Tatum had a game-high 27 points and 11 rebounds while Jaylen Brown added 20 points but a key catalyst in the final frame was Pritchard who posted 10 points along with a career-high 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the win. Tristan Thompson also posted his first double-double as a member of the Celtic (14 points, 10 rebounds) to help Boston overcome another hot shooting night by the Pacers over the first three quarters (Indiana shot 51 percent from the field in the game). Malcolm Brogdon had a team-high 24 points for the Pacers who had six players finish in double figures and fell to 3-1 on the year.
The Celtics improved to 2-2 with the victory with a back-to-back looming in Boston on Wednesday against a Grizzlies team missing Ja Morant (sprained ankle).
Tatum puts on a show in the fourth quarter: The All-Star played the entire fourth quarter and showed himself to be the best player on the floor against a Pacers team that had no answer for him. He scored 14 of Boston’s 33 points in the frame, getting to the free-throw line seven times in the period, which nearly doubled his season attempts from the line entering Tuesday night. After such a disappointing effort in crunch time on Sunday night, this was exactly the response the C’s were looking for as he helped carry (with Pritchard) a mismatched second unit that had plenty of energy (Rob Williams, Javonte Green, Jeff Teague) to an exceptional stretch of basketball all the while the C’s starters got some critical rest for crunch time.
TURNING POINT
The Celtics were in danger of coughing up a nine-point lead in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter but Jaylen Brown came up with a clutch steal and breakaway layup with 21 seconds left in a one-possession game to put the Celtics up by four. The Pacers never got a chance to tie the game after the runout.
THREE UP
Tristan Thompson: The big man almost had a double-double by himself in the first half, tallying up 10 points and eight rebounds, including five on the offensive glass in his 15 minutes of action. With his minutes limit lifted, he hit those double-double numbers in the second half (14 points, 10 rebounds) and helped limit Domantas Sabonis to just 14 points on 12 shots.
Javonte Green: The second-year swingman got the matchup assignment against Doug McDermott after being a DNP-CD on Sunday night. He responded with a strong night defensively, limiting McDermott to just two points on the night while adding seven of his own on 3-of-5 shooting.
Payton Pritchard: The rookie continues to look like the most consistent player on Boston’s second unit for the moment. He was the engine to the comeback in the pick-and-roll for much of the second half for Boston, posting a career-high five rebounds and five assists to go along with 10 points (4-of-8 FG).
TWO DOWN
Defense for first three quarters: The Celtics let the Pacers find a healthy number of open 3-point looks all night and it showed in the numbers. Indiana hit 47 percent of their 3s on 9-of-19 shooting to begin the game before going cold late when Boston stepped up the defense. The Celtics rank 30th in the NBA in FG defense this year.
Jeff Teague: The veteran had his third straight nightmare shooting performance in the first half, missing four of his five shot attempts, including all four from inside the arc. He’s shooting 3-of-26 from 2-point range on the season through four games.
TOP PLAY
In the right place at the right time. 4 steals and tonight’s @JetBlue Play of the Game. pic.twitter.com/fwh89q5Drw
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 30, 2020
TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
Payton Pritchard eventually plays his way into the starting five before Kemba Walker returns: This is may seem like an overreaction but the Celtics double big unit won’t have an easy time chasing around small power forwards in games to come. There will be matchups when it makes sense for the C’s to go small and Pritchard’s is a versatile weapon that should help bring the best out of the offensive firepower in that group until Walker returns. He played great in the pick-and-roll this evening during the fourth quarter comeback alongside Tatum but his defense is far enough along where he can hold his own as long as he’s not guarding a top scorer. The C’s spacing issues are going to continue in the starting group as long as Theis doesn’t continue to hit 3s so it’s going to be a situational choice for Stevens. Against small-ball starting units, Pritchard looks ready to provide the maximum offensive upside in his hybrid unit and that could be the boost this team needs to weather the storm until Walker gets healthy.
Brad Stevens is still figuring things out with this flawed roster but made strides tonight: A lot of this is not on the head coach, it’s simply a flawed and undermanned roster right now that Danny Ainge put together. Some of those issues will be fixed when guys get healthy but others will need trades to be addressed with Aaron Nesmith not ready for primetime yet. After a rough Sunday night, Stevens made some smarter adjustments tonight. He actually used a wing player to take a scoring wing out of the game in Javonte Green rather than relying on bad matchups (Grant Williams, Jeff Teague) to try to slow down the sharpshooter. He’s going to have to put together a puzzle every night right now depending on the opponent and that may involve a quick leash with some veterans like Jeff Teague, especially when they aren’t hitting shots. The C’s will get a little bit of breathing room against inferior opponents in the next few days (Memphis, Detroit x 2) before the road gets more treacherous. This group has a long way to go on the defensive end of the floor but Stevens got a little bit closer tonight to finding the parts that work together.