Final: Pacers 133, Celtics 131 - C's nearly force overtime in frantic finish

BOSTON CELTICS at INDIANA PACERS

7:00 p.m. - NBC Sports Boston

Line: Boston -3.5

INJURIES

Boston: Jayson Tatum (OUT, ankle injury management), Sam Hauser (OUT, right shoulder impingement)

Indiana: Bruce Brown (QUESTIONABLE, knee), Andrew Nembhard (QUESTIONABLE, back)

NOTES

• The Celtics are currently top 2 in both offensive and defensive rating, which has only been done five other times in the last 40 years, including Boston last season, the Warriors (2017;2015), and Bulls (1996).
• Jrue Holiday is one of only two NBA players averaging at least 12.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and shooting 41.0 percent from three (Kevin Durant)
• Derrick White owns the best plus/minus per game in the league at 10.9 followed by Tatum in second (9.5) and Kristaps Porzingis ranks sixth (8.6)
• White has the best net rating in the NBA (15.7) and is the only NBA player with at least 150 assists, 80 made 3FG, 30 blocks, and 30 steals this season.
• Tyrese Haliburton leads the NBA with an average of 12.7 assists this season. That mark would be the most in a season since John Stockton in 1991-92 (13.7). 
• Haliburton has recorded double-doubles in 26 games - most among NBA guards. He has 10 games with at least 15 assists, the most in a season in franchise history and most by any player since Russell Westbrook in 2020-21 (14).  

THINGS I’M LOOKING FOR

1. Group effort: Without Tatum and Hauser, the Celtics are without their Saturday night closer and a key floor-spacer and key bench player. We’ll certainly see more Oshae Brissett, who made a big impact with his spacing. I’m betting Svi Mykhailiuk gets some run as the bench shooter who will hold corners and provide Jaylen Brown some driving lanes. Overall, this Celtics offense is going to have to rely on that spacing and ball movement to really put the Pacers on their heels. 

2. Indiana’s shooting: Give Boston some credit for Indiana’s poor shooting, but 8-42 from 3 doesn’t just happen because of good rotations and closeouts. That's some bad shooting luck as well, and I expect that luck to change. Boston has to have the discipline to not overreact to some hot shooting because the worst thing they’ll do is fly past shooters on pump fakes and put the rest of their teammates at a disadvantage. If the Pacers get those opportunities and turn them into dunks, they’ll get a TON of confidence and put up 150 points. 

3. Brown’s leadership: He has been great lately at not trying to do too much. Some of this might depend on whether Brown and/or Nembhard play because those guys are better defenders than Haliburton, who might still smell like aloe after getting treated for all the times he was burned by Brown on Saturday night. The key here is to be selective with his attacks, maintaining his aggressiveness while also making the right reads and plays for others. 

“There's like five possessions where Jaylen had the ball in his hands, and he loves playing fast, but he's also learning how to be efficient in the half court, and so we slowed the game down,” Joe Mazzulla said Saturday night. “We got to our spacing and he made the right play. That comes back to the offensive poise. We have to play fast but we have to be able to execute and I think Jaylen’s poise has really gotten better in half court and understanding how the game is being played and finding where his advantages are.”

Follow along with my thoughts as the game goes on. They’ll show up below and in the comments section, so hop in and share your opinion as well.