The Boston Celtics took care of business at home and will head to Indiana up 2-0 on the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs after defeating the Pacers 99-91 in Game 2. Boston would go down early at the half and need to mount a late game comeback to emerge victorious but led by Kyrie Irving (37 points, seven assists) and Jayson Tatum (26 points) the Celtics were able to escape with a win.
It was a much closer game than Boston’s prior contest, which saw both teams struggling to shoot from the field. However, the third quarter that the Celtics would dominate in Game 1 would be dominated by the Pacers in Game 2, with Boston only mustering 16 points in the prior to Indiana’s 29.
Though Pacers forward Bojan Bogdanovic (23 points) would do all he could to keep Indiana in the game during Irving’s late game assault, the Pacers’ late game execution — or a lack thereof — would doom their chances of tying up the series.
Pacers swingman Wesley Matthews had the most memorable gaffe, throwing an inbounds pass across the court to the Celtics’ bench with Indiana down three points and just 8.8 seconds remaining on the clock.
A turnover that virtually sealed the game for Boston even before they surrendered a three-point play to Tatum on a possession that they would have been wiser to foul (and early) on.
