First Thoughts: Boston 83, Indiana 81
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
Let’s take a quick look at how the Boston Celtics came back for an 83-81 win over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
WHY IT HAPPENED: Jeff Green scored the game-winning basket with 0.5 seconds left to play. Kevin Garnett finished with 18 points, including six in the fourth quarter. The Celtics were lucky to snatch this win considering they were in a 14-point hole in the third quarter and looked overmatched throughout most of the game. Indiana’s bench struggled to provide solid minutes, and coach Frank Vogel trusted them for just 53, as opposed to the 90 minutes Doc Rivers coaxed from Celtic reserves. Paul George led Indy with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Lance Stephenson had 12 points and five steals. The Pacers (38-23) could face Boston (33-27) in the playoffs and have lost both meetings this season.
WHAT WE LEARNED: Playing without Rajon Rondo, their star point guard who is out for the season with a serious knee injury, the Celtics continue to make a move in the Eastern Conference on the basis of a suffocating defense. That bit the Pacers late, and Indy shot 36 percent for the game. Such bad offense, though, is a reminder that not all of Indiana’s issues on that end of the floor are solved. Orlando Johnson’s seven points and five rebounds helped off the bench, but finding a consistent scorer, especially with Danny Granger shelved for the next week with knee trouble that might last all season, will be critical to the success of the second unit in the playoffs. This was the third late-game meltdown at home for the Pacers in the last month, which is troubling. Garnett made the game-winning pass to Green, and the play was a masterpiece in terms of design by Rivers, but for the Celtics to survive bad games from Paul Pierce, Brandon Bass and Courtney Lee and still dominate the fourth quarter has to raise a red flag.
KEY NUMBER: Indiana shot 6 for 27 (22.2 percent) from behind the 3-point line. That’s about eight more attempts than usual, and a conversion rate far below their typical 40 percent clip at Bankers Life Fieldhouse this season.
TURNING POINT: George made a 3 with 4:35 left in the game that pushed Indiana ahead 81-72. From that point on, the Pacers went scoreless, missing all seven shots they attempted in the final four minutes to go along with three killer turnovers.
NEXT: The Pacers visit Orlando on Friday night. The Magic are just 5-32 in their last 37 games.
