The question of playoffs or lottery has been answered: playoffs all the way. The Celtics settled the issue with a solid 93-89 road win over the Indiana Pacers, until tonight the hottest team in the NBA.
After taking an 18-16 lead with 2 minutes to play in the 1st quarter, the Cs held off the Pacers for the rest of the game. Boston’s largest margin was 15. The Pacers cut it to 1 in the 3rd quarter and to 2 points in the final seconds, but never regained the lead as the Celtics hung tough with strong contributions from multiple players. All 5 Celtics on the floor scored in the final 2 minutes to provide enough cushion for the win.
Boston was led by Tyler Zeller, who scored 18 points on 8-10 shooting, while Brandon Bass, Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder had 16 each. George Hill led the Pacers with 30 points, 24 of them in the 2nd half.
This game was crucial to both teams’ playoff hopes. The Celtics are now 29-36 and tied with Miami, just one-half game behind Charlotte for the Eastern Conference 8th playoff seed. The win also moved Boston to within one game of the Pacers (30-35) for 7th place.
The Celts have now won 6 of 7 and secured their first 4-game winning streak since November 2013. Indiana had won 7 straight and before tonight was a league-best 13-2 since Feb. 1.
Slow start to the game as both teams were 4-12 shooting at the first timeout with 5:43 left in the quarter. Celts took a 15-14 lead by the 2nd timeout with a highlight play: Crowder blocked a layup, saved it back to Bass, who ran the fast break and dished to Bradley for a layup. The quarter ended with the Celts on top, 20-18, behind 6 points by Zeller.
In the 2nd, the bench plus Zeller extended the lead to 28-18, sparked by good defense and treys by both Jonas Jerebko and Gigi Datome. Crowder followed with two layups, one off a sweet assist by Gigi, the other after Jae’s steal and fastbreak. The lead peaked at 41-26 after a 3-ball by Marcus Smart and jumper by Zeller (6-6 shooting at this point), but Indy closed the half on an 11-4 run to draw to 45-37 at the half.
The now-aggressive Pacers opened the 3rd with yet another 11-4 burst, cutting the lead to 1 point. Hill put up 11 points and 3 assists in the quarter, but Bass and Bradley combined for 15 points and the Celts were able to stay afloat, 67-60, after 3.
Early 4th, Phil Pressey – continuing his strong play while Isaiah Thomas is injured – restored the 10-point lead with a super aggressive drive and-1. Back-to-back 3s by Smart and Crowder extended the lead to 80-68 with 7:30 left. Indiana answered with a 2nd-chance 3 by C.J. Watson, a layup by Hill, and another Watson trey in transition. The 8-0 run was broken by a Zeller layup after Boston had gone scoreless for 4:30.
A hustling offensive rebound by Zeller led to 2 FTs, and when he missed both, Crowder knocked it out off Indy to retain possession. Zeller got free for an easy 2 on the inbounds, Boston up 8. Under 2 minutes, Bradley missed a jumper but countered with a tough steal that led to a Bass jumper. Two Hill FTs made it 86-81 Boston, but after a Bass miss, Hill lost it out of bounds with 46 ticks remaining. After a couple of deflections by Indy, Crowder’s inbounds pass found a cutting Bradley for a 7-point lead with 28 seconds left.
Hill calmly bombed a 3 to cut it to 4 with 23 seconds left, then Crowder was fouled and sank both for a 90-84 lead with 22 seconds. Hill’s layup cut it again to 4, and Turner made just 1 of 2 FTs after being fouled. Down by 5 with 17 seconds left, Indy called its last timeout.
The Pacers fumbled the ball twice on the ensuing possession, but somehow kept it inbounds and got it to Stuckey, who hit a 3 with 5.6 seconds to play. Replay appeared to show the loose ball hit the baseline, but there was no official review. (Let’s see what the 2-minute report says about this play.)
It all became moot when Bass swished 2 clutch FTs to ice it, 93-89.
The Green:
Smart blocked a runner by the bigger Luis Scola in the 1st quarter, a play so aggressive that Cedric Maxwell described the rookie as “vicious.” Max later said Smart’s game reminds him of the great Dennis Johnson.
After having his shot blocked underneath, Crowder got the rebound while sitting on the floor in a crowd.
Celts held Roy Hibbert to 5 points on 2-6 shooting. Hibbert had scored 19 with 11 boards the last time the Celtics visited the Pacers.
Boston had more rebounds and assists than Indiana while committing fewer turnovers and fouls.
The Gross:
Kelly Olynyk was just 1-6 for 2 points and Evan Turner was 1-7 for 4 points.
The Greenlights:
Crowder nice block & save leads to Bass/AB in transition:
Good look by Gigi:
Marcus Smart, pickpocket:
Scrappy Crowder:
Nice take, Phil:
Big defensive play by AB:
The Grid:
- At the half, Celts had 18 assists on 19 baskets; finished with 28 assists on 35 makes.
- Boston’s 5 bench players were +52 while combining for 31 points, 17 rebounds and 15 assists.
- Celtics now 7-1 in their last 8 games on the 2nd night of back-to-backs.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
