I cracked the laptop at the start of the 4th quarter and set off to write a glowing recap about Jayson Tatum’s ferocious play in a Celtics half-ass win over the Pacers.
One might say I was a bit premature…
I then reversed course and started to write how the Celtics had blown a 19-point 3rd quarter lead and suffered another agonizing loss.
Still premature…
A white-hot Victor Oladipo (38 points) carried Indiana to a 107-102 with 31 seconds remaining. Two ridiculous Kyrie Irving (30 points, 12-23 FG) triples and a Marcus Smart floater later and the Celtics were down 111-110 with 9 seconds left. All Indiana had to do was HOLD THE BALL and get to the line. Instead, Bojan Roethlisberger Bogdanovic threw a terrible floating pass at mid-court that was picked off by Terry Rozier and jammed thru the rim with one second remaining.
BALL GAME!
In the immortal words of Clark Griswold, “Hallelujah. Holy shit. Where’s the Tylenol?”
Game Flow
The Celtics jumped out to a 17-4 lead because they couldn’t miss. In fact, they made their first ten shots of the game. Led by Jaylen Brown’s 10-spot, they dropped 38 in the opening quarter and led by 17. As usual, there was some regression in the 2nd. The C’s got sloppy (I believe they had 6 TOs) and the officiating didn’t help (Indy had a 19-4 FT advantage) but Boston’s hot shooting kept the lead in double-digits. Boston’s sloppy play continued but this time the shots stopped falling and Oladipo started making his. The rest is a blur…
Hot and Not
Al Horford was one assist shy of a triple-double: 14 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists.
How’s this for a Marcus Smart line: 15 points, 4-4 3 FG and 7 TOs.
The referees whistled Boston for 31 fouls. Indiana shot 38 free throws.
Highlights
TERRY. ROZIER. MY GOODNESS. https://t.co/hFlUlM5fKJ
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 19, 2017
How about the Pacers call?
Oh no, Pacers….😬 pic.twitter.com/3mnLKDdpZY
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 19, 2017
Now… let’s just enjoy Jayson Tatum
https://twitter.com/JonesyNBA/status/942919080465625088
THERE HE GOES AGAIN https://t.co/Rtlt2PadQF
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 19, 2017
And some defense
What did the Pacers do to Jayson Tatum? @HoudiniCeltics pic.twitter.com/UwuvvePjvu
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) December 19, 2017
“This was the ultimate screw job and they unscrewed it,” Tommy Heinsohn on the officiating.
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