Celtics
Tyrese Haliburton continued his impressive tournament run.
The Celtics were bounced from the In-Season Tournament on Monday, falling to the Indiana Pacers 122-112.
Here are the takeaways.
1. The first takeaway here, of course, is that the In-Season Tournament is doing exactly what Adam Silver hoped it would do. Last week, it generated a ton of interest and conversation about point differential and the importance of respecting the game.
This week, it ratcheted the intensity of a Monday in December up several notches. Whether that was because of the money (almost certainly part of it) or because of their competitive nature (almost certainly another part of it) or because they were hoping to go on a work trip to Las Vegas in the middle of the season (almost certainly a third part of it) or some other reason, the players really wanted to win, and the end result was a fun game in a fun environment. Both teams treated Monday’s contest like the elimination game it was rather than the regular-season game that it also was.
But the Pacers were especially amped by the atmosphere, playing on their home floor in front of fans who understood the gravity of the situation. Monday’s game had a frenetic feel, and the Pacers love to play frenetic basketball.
“I really wanted to f—ing go to Vegas,” Tatum told reporters afterward.
That might be true, but after Monday’s game, it looked pretty clear which team wanted to go more.
2. The Celtics shot 12-for-41 from 3-point range (29.3 percent), and the Pacers were 19-for-40 (47.5 percent), which tells roughly half the story of why the Celtics lost. Aside from Sam Hauser, who finished 5-for-7 from deep, the Celtics were a horrific 7-for-34 (20.6 percent) from behind the arc.
The other half of the statistical story: The Celtics turned the ball over 18 times, while the Pacers turned it over six times. Facing the league’s best offense and one of the league’s worst defenses, the Celtics lost the turnover battle badly.
3. The Celtics flirted with giving the game away on several occasions before they finally did late in the fourth quarter on a 3-point play by Tyrese Haliburton. With 1:33 remaining, Haliburton elevated for a 3-pointer with zero air space and buried the shot as Jaylen Brown closed out too hard and committed a foul. Trailing by four, Jayson Tatum forced and missed a 3-pointer, the Pacers got a triple from Buddy Hield, followed by a Celtics turnovers and a dunk by Aaron Nesmith that pushed the lead to nine.
Haliburton was spectacular, recording a 26-point, 10-rebound, 13-assist triple-double and burying confident triples 30 feet from the hoop. The MVP chants he received from Pacers fans were aspirational but not inappropriate within the context of the game.
4. A lot of blame will be pinned to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, which is the price you pay for superstardom, but both players were pretty solid for lengthy stretches. Brown was excellent in the first half, hurting the Pacers with hard drives to the basket and a couple of tough mid-range jumpers. Tatum came alive in the second half and helped the Celtics pull themselves out of a hole in the fourth quarter. Tatum and Brown finished with 32 and 30 points respectively.
Outside of Tatum and Brown, there were plenty of disappointing performances. Jrue Holiday shot just 3-for-9. Derrick White scored 18 points, but he turned the ball over five times including one that led to Nesmith’s exclamation point dunk in the final minute. Payton Pritchard came off the bench and contributed five missed shots. After several good games in a row, Al Horford played 31 minutes, but you’d be excused if you missed them and thought he sat out too (1-for-3 with two points, although he did grab seven boards and dish out four assists).
5. Aaron Nesmith really wants to beat the Celtics. He has always flown around the court with little regard for his own body, but he rocketed around with a little extra jet fuel on Monday. He roared when he picked up a charge. He held his hand about an inch from the ground after scoring over Derrick White to inform the Celtics guard that he was too small. He yapped back and forth with the Celtics bench mob who took over his role in Boston after he was dealt to the Pacers in exchange for Malcolm Brogdon.
Nesmith is in a great situation in Indiana where he gets a chance to play 31 minutes in an important In-Season Tournament game, which certainly wouldn’t have been the case in Boston. Still, that doesn’t seem to have changed how he feels about his original franchise.
6. After the Celtics made it out of the group stage in dramatic fashion, Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday in particular spoke openly about how they felt they were forced to disrespect their opponent and the game by trying to run up the score in a contest that was already decided.
On Monday, as the clock expired, Buddy Hield fired up a 3-pointer at the buzzer and buried it, giving the Pacers a 10-point lead in a game the Celtics already conceded.
Maybe the In-Season Tournament is the death of unwritten rules.
7. Kristaps Porzingis is reportedly expected to be back this week, which will be a big boost. The Celtics’ offense has looked somewhat inconsistent without its new addition, and Porzingis now has three days off to rest and rehab before the Celtics return to the floor on Friday.
8. The Celtics are in a strange position of not knowing their next opponent. Whoever it is will travel to Boston, and the game will tip off at 7:30 p.m.
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