By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
It looked like the second meeting between the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers was just going to be a repeat of their first after Boston fell behind by 17 points late in the 3rd quarter.
After taking a beating in the third quarter just like in their first meeting, the Boston Celtics made sure to apply the right adjustments once the fourth quarter began to quickly turn things around and erase a 17-point lead by the Pacers.
Boston was able to trim the deficit down to single digits after a basket by Jayson Tatum with 11:40 to go in the fourth quarter.
With Kemba Walker still absent due to an injury, Tatum had to carry most of the load on offense. Luckily for the Celtics, Tatum was more than willing to take on the challenge and scored 14 of his 27 points in the final quarter.
“We knew we had to pick up the intensity. And we knew we had to get some defensive stops. We got on a roll and kept on going,” said Tatum.
The collective effort of the Pacers was on full display after six of their players scored in double figures and continued to execute their plays perfectly to edge Boston in the assists department, 27-21.
Jaylen Brown continued his consistent scoring for Boston after contributing 20 points to form one of the best swingmen duos in the game with Tatum.
“We’re not where we want to be. But sometimes you’ve got to find a way to win. We’ve got a long way to go to get to as good as we need to be,” Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said.
