Jaylen Brown erupts for 40 points, leading the Celtics past the Pacers 126-110 to open a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.
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• Game detail: BOS 126, IND 110
BOSTON — The only thing worse than being down 2-0 after two games of an NBA playoff series, as Pascal Siakam sees it, is not being involved at all.
The Indiana forward doesn’t like the spot his Pacers find themselves. He acknowledged how drained he and his teammates were after their Game 2 loss to the Celtics at TD Garden Thursday. It’s been a tough, exhilarating, emotional week.
But a year ago, when Siakam was still with also-ran Toronto, life was worse.
“For me personally, last year I was sitting here watching this and being [mad],” he said. “I wanted to be a part of this. It’s a blessing. No matter how tired you are, this is the stage you want to be on.”
The Eastern Conference Finals shift to Indianapolis for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday.
Here are five takeaways from the 126-110 victory that boosted Boston to its 2-0 lead:
1. Brown makes his point — 40 of them, to be exact
Jaylen Brown wouldn’t fully admit to being motivated by the All-NBA snub he learned about Wednesday. But teammates and his coach Joe Mazzulla spoke of it and didn’t even blink. It wasn’t as if Brown’s agenda got in the way of any team goal. The Celtics’ eighth-year wing appeared to channel his angst in the most productive way possible.
Brown scored 40 points, 24 in the first half because that’s the first chance he got to prove to media voters he deserved a spot on one of the All-NBA squads.
Brown is a three-time All-Star and a guy who was named All-NBA a year ago. That one mattered most — it pushed his potential earnings to the “super max” level and the $300 million contract extension he signed. The current omission mattered, though, because it was now. And it stung.
“We’re two [victories] away from the Finals,” Brown said afterward, “so honestly I don’t have the time to give a [f—].”
Brown let his performance speak for him and left it to other Celtics to have his back.
“One hundred percent got snubbed,” guard Derrick White said. “Big-time snub. I don’t get it.”
Brown’s scoring and rebounding dipped a bit this season (23 ppg and 5.5 rpg in 2023-24, 26.6 ppg and 6.9 rpg in 2022-23), but Boston did run away in the East standings. All-NBA recognition often syncs up with top contenders’ win-loss records.
But Jayson Tatum was the Celtics’ lone All-NBA choice. Two teams that got bounced in the first round — the Lakers (LeBron James, Anthony Davis) and the Suns (Devin Booker, Kevin Durant) — were the only teams with two.
Even no-nonsense coach Joe Mazzulla addressed Brown’s lost individual acclaim.
“I think he cares about it in a way that motivates him,” Mazzulla said, “and I think he doesn’t really care about it at all because he understands that … winning is the most important thing.”
2. Haliburton vs. hamstring, Part II
When Haliburton suffered his left hamstring injury in early January, the Pacers faced the Celtics. He slipped and did the splits on Jan. 8 in Indianapolis, and just like that one of the season’s early stars was lost for 10 games, then hobbled by a minutes restriction.
This time it happened on Boston’s court. Same hamstring, though. Same pained, frustrated look on Haliburton’s face in the third quarter when he stepped/slipped awkwardly and knew immediately it was bad. Information was limited after the game, but the Pacers were steeling themselves for a downer medical update Friday.
The Pacers’ playmaking duties may fall to Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell as the series shifts to Indianapolis. What already was difficult now could be much harder.
“He does so many things for our team,” McConnell said. “I think everyone has to move the ball more, get in the paint more. The ball movement has to be at another level. He gets 10 assists in his sleep, so it’s hard for another person on our team to replicate that. It’s a group effort when he goes down.”
A tough test becomes even tougher for the Pacers if Tyrese Haliburton is forced to miss Game 3 against the Celtics.
3. Acing Mazzulla’s defensive tests
Boston didn’t jump out to any 12-0 lead this time. It kept Indiana bottled up the grittier way, attending responsibly to transition defense and, frankly, by thwarting a bunch of Pacers’ transition opportunities by owning the glass.
The Celtics reeled off 20 unanswered points to take a 42-27 lead with seven minutes left in the first half. By that point, they had a 22-9 rebounding advantage, with nine on the offensive boards. That got them 30 shots to Indiana’s 22.
“They test our discipline, they test our communication,” Mazzulla said. “I think we handled it better in Game 2.”
Another tweak after Game 1: Mazzulla went with a smaller lineup a couple of times while giving center Al Horford a breather. That tactic, with former Pacer Oshae Brissett getting minutes, enabled Boston to switch every matchup.
Said veteran Jrue Holiday: “They do a great job of having controlled chaos. They move the ball, they move bodies, they play fast. We can also do that. We can go small, we go big. We can play fast, we can slow down and execute.”
4. Loose-ball foul reassigned as turning point
Carried by Siakam at the end of the first half (10 straight points) and early in the second (10 of 14), the Pacers got as close as 68-66 with 7:55 to go in the third quarter. Boston’s lead was back to four moments later when Tatum was whistled for a loose-ball foul against Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith.
Except Mazzulla challenged it. When the refs reviewed the tape, they shifted the foul to Nesmith for initiating contact before Tatum’s contact.
Boston outscored the Pacers 12-5 over the next few minutes. Nesmith appeared so frustrated he soon intentionally ran into Tatum for another foul. And Indiana was out of runs. Heck, coach Rick Carlisle yanked his starters for all or most of the fourth quarter, throwing in the towel unusually early.
5. Pacers need to get home
After four intense games in a week, spread across three cities and played at a fever pitch, it’s no wonder Indiana is looking forward to Games 3 and 4 back at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
There was the elimination Game 6 last Friday against New York in Indy. Then the emotions of Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, Sunday. Barely 48 hours later, the Pacers were in Boston, narrowly missing a chance to grab hold of this series. Then Game 2’s disappointment with the outcome and with Haliburton’s injury.
A pair of home games never looked so good. Indiana is unbeaten in the playoffs at home, going 6-0 against the Bucks and Knicks. It has an 11-game winning streak at the Fieldhouse, dating back to March 18.
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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