Indiana snaps Boston's two-game "winning streak," beat Celtics 94-83
Despite their best efforts, the Pacers couldn't give this game away, beating the Celtics 94-83. Even though the Pacers won by double digits, the final score doesn't tell the whole story.
For as much talent as Indiana has, they certainly didn't show it Tuesday. The most telling example was on the boards. The Pacers are now one of the bigger teams in the league with Roy Hibbert, David West, Luis Scola and Andrew Bynum making his return against the Celtics. Given all of that, Boston, a team without a center, scooped up 20 offensive rebounds. Twenty! Boston almost had as many offensive rebounds as defensive ones.
Boston also got to the line more than the Pacers, 19 compared to 13 and just seemed to want the game more, despite the loss. At one point, the Celtics were only down by one point in the fourth quarter, before Indiana shut the door. The Pacers just didn't look into the game and maybe they were playing down to a team that's more likely to get a top-5 pick than make the playoffs.
For the Celtics, Rajon Rondo had a less-than-stellar shooting night, shooting 4-15 finishing with eight points and eight assists, and Jeff Green was right there with him, shooting 3-14 and finishing with 12 points. Jared Sullinger had 17 points and nine rebounds, Kris Humphries had 15 points and nine rebounds and Chris Johnson had 14 points.
For the Pacers, in another telling stat, Paul George had 12 points, West had 24 points as the only guy to score over 20 and Bynum had eight points and 10 rebounds in just 15 minutes in his debut for Indiana.
The Celtics (22-42) next face the dysfunctional New York Knicks on Wednesday.
Follow Eric
@ericblaisdell13
