Recap: Celtics edge out Pacers at the Garden 101-98
The Celtics picked up their second win of the young season beating the Indiana Pacers 101-98 at home.
However, the big story of the night was that Marcus Smart had to leave the game on a stretcher early in the fourth quarter. He appeared to sprain his left ankle pretty bad. He won't be making the flight tonight to Chicago for tomorrow night's contest.
The Celtics were lucky to come out of this game with the W. Although they started the game well, controlling the ball & knocking down shots, they struggled to contain the Pacers in the paint and on the glass.
They seemed to had fixed the turnover issues early as well seeing as they didn't give up a turnover till late in the second quarter. However the turnover bug came back in the second half as they finished with 12 turnovers on the night.
Sullinger led the way with 17 points, 6 rebounds & 5 assists. He took advantage of Roy Hibbert guarding him by knocking the mid and outside shots but struggled at times to score on the big fella inside.
Hibbert got the best of Sullinger on the glass however totalling 11 rebounds and notching 22 points as well. At times it seemed that Hibbert could do whatever he pleased on the offensive end knocking down some tough shots and grabbing almost all his misses.
The Celts struggled all night with guarding in the paint and picking up the defensive rebounds. The Pacers finished with 23 second chance points & 14 offensive rebounds.
Although the Pacers only had nine players in the game the starting five more than picked up the slack having all five scoring in double digits.
Smart again looked fierce on the defensive end tonight even adding two blocks, one of which a stellar block in the first half.
Rondo had an effectively quiet night totalling 8 points and 6 rebounds.
Jeff Green also had another good night with 15 points and 7 rebounds. He also pulled down a clutch offence rebound in the final seconds forcing the Pacers to foul him. He followed up the offensive board by knocking down both his free throws (his only two of the game).
Gerald Wallace & Phil Pressey got their first big minutes of the season late in the game and both played a key role in the win.
The Celtics get right back at it tomorrow facing off against the Bulls in Chicago tomorrow at 8pm on CSNNE.
Photo credit: Brian Babineau, Getty Images
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