After falling into a deep, dark hole the last few weeks-the product of going 3-8 and losing in a variety of excruciating ways-you better believe that tonight's 118-112 win by the Celtics (16-17 overall, 9-5 home) against the Pacers (15-16 overall, 8-6 away) at TD Garden meant something to them. Whatever you think of the players, their head coach and GM, we can all agree that they should still have a better record than they currently do since they have two All-Stars (did you hear about this?) and the Eastern Conference looks very mediocre behind the top three teams of Philadelphia (22-11), Brooklyn (22-12) and Milwaukee (20-13). One game in the standings separates the No. 4 team in the East (Toronto) from the No. 10 team (Charlotte) so yeah, it's going to be a wild race for the playoffs. A rested Kemba Walker (game-high 32 points, 6 assists) was sensational in his best game of 2020-21-granted that's not saying much-and he needed to be since those aforementioned stars-swingmen Jaylen Brown (15 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) and Jayson Tatum (9 points, 9 rebounds)-look physically, emotionally and mentally drained.
Things certainly got off to a rough start for the home team as Indiana led 18-4 less than five minutes into the contest. Thankfully, the skittish Celtics settled down and actually outscored the Pacers 32-31 in that opening frame. Each club had 29 points in the second quarter so Boston took the slimmest of leads (61-60) into halftime. For once, the C's were ready to roll right away in the third quarter and that propelled them the rest of the night as they took those 12 minutes 31-24. Indiana got one more bucket than them in the fourth quarter (28-26) but the Celts did just enough to hang on for perhaps their most important victory of this campaign.
Center Daniel Theis' days in the starting lineup are probably numbered but he played well in this one with 17 points and three blocks. The guy that should eventually replace him-Robert Williams-continued his strong play with a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds) and three blocks off the bench in only 22 minutes. It was bumpy for awhile but in his third NBA season, he appears (fingers and toes all crossed) to have made a huge step in his development both on and off the court. With his nearly limitless potential, it's not crazy to think that he's a key part of this group ever getting back to the high level of play that they've been at in the last few years. After basically being in a coma for weeks, veteran point guard Jeff Teague has now scored 14 points in back-to-back games which doesn't sound like much but a few days ago, we were thinking that this could be it for his professional career.
Pacers power forward Domantas Sabonis celebrated getting named to his first NBA All-Star Game (as an injury replacement for Kevin Durant but he should have been on it in the first place) by dropping a team-high 24 points along with nine assists and six rebounds. Shooting guard Justin Holiday (19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks), center Myles Turner (17 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks) and point guard Malcolm Brogdon (12 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) all scored in double-figures. The other Holiday brother on the Pacers-Aaron-also added 15 points and two steals off the bench. At some point, they'll have to reunite with their older brother Jrue (currently on the Bucks) and all play on the same NBA team at the same time. Wouldn't that be something?
As a team, Boston shot nearly 12% better from the field (51.2%-39.3%) and they scored 16 more points in the paint. Allowing 112 points in regulation on your home court isn't exactly a defensive masterpiece but at least they made Indiana work for their points after that absurd start. It sounds silly to say it but the Celtics get another chance to beat the Wizards (12-18 overall, 7-9) on Sunday night (7, NBC Sports Boston) at the Garden. The C's had that embarrassing loss in DC on Valentine's Day (104-91) which surprisingly has turned Washington into one of the hotter teams in the league: 7-3 in their last 10 games. The Wizards are only 2.5 games out of a playoff spot and Tatum's main man Bradley Beal is an All-Star as well so the Celts need to take them seriously this time or else they'll lose again.
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