With the shot clock winding down and overtime closing as the Celtics barely held on to a two-point lead, Jayson Tatum air-balled a 3-pointer, but didn’t quit on the play. Marcus Smart corralled the rebound, missed a shot, but there was Tatum, crashing the glass and tossing in the dagger tip-in.
As the Pacers called a timeout, the Celtics star jogged back towards his bench, closed his eyes and shook his head. The winning play encapsulated his night, but also the Celtics’ resolve in a wild 142-138 overtime victory that required it.
In their return from the All-Star break, Tatum — the All-Star Game MVP on Sunday — seemed to suffer from a All-Star hangover on a 9-for-25 shooting night for 31 points. The Celtics coughed up a 16-point first-half lead and another nine-point cushion in the fourth as they got all they could handle from the pesky Pacers, Myles Turner’s 40 points and All-Star Tyrese Haliburton’s 22 points and 14 assists. Turnovers mounted on a sloppy night. But the C’s found a way.
On a rare night when the Celtics found themselves fully healthy, they started their preferred five of Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Al Horford and Robert Williams. A masked Brown scored 30 points in his return from a facial fracture, but the Celtics received another championship-level effort from their bench as Malcolm Brogdon scored 24 points, including five 3-pointers, in his return to Indiana and Derrick White added 17. Even Sam Hauser made a big difference, with three blocks and some big shots.
The Celtics survived a game that featured 22 lead changes — including 12 in a wild third quarter — as some emotions boiled over, with Smart getting a technical foul for flexing on Haliburton. They were far from perfect, especially defensively as they let the Pacers run free for easy points and a hot shooting night. But the C’s persevered and overcame some rust. They pulled down a season-high 20 offensive rebounds, which included Tatum’s game-clinching tip-in.
