The Boston Celtics take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals with a 126-110 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 on Thursday night. Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 40 points and Boston led for much of the game after a flurry early in the second quarter. Jayson Tatum came into his own in the second half, adding 23 points for Boston. The Pacers return to Indiana down 2-0 in the series and with an injured point guard.
Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton was sidelined for the second half of Game 2. Dealing with hamstring injuriesHaliburton finished with 10 points and eight assists in 27 minutes before being ejected. Pacers forward Pascal Siakam finished with a team-high 28 points on 13-of-17 shooting. Indiana led after the first quarter but struggled to score any more points after that as the Celtics scored 20 straight points.
The Celtics need two more wins to reach their second NBA Finals in three seasons, but the Pacers are on familiar ground. Indiana lost two games on the road to the Knicks in the second round of this season's playoffs, but won four of their final five games to beat New York. Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the Pacers are undefeated this playoff season.
Here are some key takeaways from the game:
Brown says he's not thrilled about missing out on All-NBA selection
Jaylen Brown saved the Celtics with the biggest shot of his career in Game 1 and then had his best playoff performance of the season, the day after he missed out on a spot in the Finals. All-NBA TeamBoston guard Derrick White called it a “big disregard.”
But Brown said the results of the vote didn't motivate him much: “We're two games away from the finals so I honestly don't have time to worry about that,” he said after the game.
Less than a minute into the game, Brown drained a three-pointer on a Celtics offensive rebound and never looked back after that, hitting 14 of 27 field goals for 40 points, his highest total in a playoff game and the second-highest total in Eastern Conference Finals history for the Celtics.
While playing against a porous Pacers certainly helps, this is a big bounce back for Brown, who had a terrible performance in this round against the Miami Heat last season, averaging just 19 points per game and shooting 41.8% from the field, which was a major reason the Celtics lost to the No. 8 seed. In the two games of this series, Brown had 66 points and shot 51.1% from the field, half of his point totals for the entire series against Miami.
Celtics offense gets on track in second half
The Celtics have been one of the league's best offensive teams all season, and they proved why in a dominant 24-minute second half that took advantage of the Pacers' poor rim protection, getting to the free throw line and making shots behind the arc.
The Celtics made 26 of 40 field goals, including 9 of 19 three-pointers, and committed just three turnovers. The Celtics are prone to being sloppy with the ball, but that didn't show in the second half. The first two minutes of the fourth quarter were their slowest scoring period of the first half, even though they had already built a 17-point lead.
The Pacers scored 59 points in the second half on 53.5 percent shooting, but were trailing by 10 points during that stretch.
Haliburton out with hamstring injury
No one paid much attention when Tyrese Haliburton left the game late in the third quarter, but when he still hadn't returned midway through the fourth quarter, people started to wonder. After all, he left the game with a sore left hamstring, the same hamstring that had been bothering him since January.
He apparently strained his hamstring on an innocuous play while trying to guard Jayson Tatum in the third quarter.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Haliburton was experiencing hamstring soreness at halftime but that the star point guard was keen to try in the second half.
“He tried his hardest,” Carlisle said, “and it didn't work out, so the trainer decided he needed to move him back down and train.”
It remains to be seen how Haliburton will be in Game 3 on Saturday in Indianapolis, but even if he does play, it's bad news for the Pacers. Haliburton tried to play through an injury late in the regular season, but he was far less effective than he was at the start of the season. The Pacers are already struggling 2-0 down and will be extremely hard-pressed to come back unless Haliburton is in top condition.
