Jeff Green removed from tonight's lineup for impending trade, Celtics fall to Pacers 107-103 in OT
With the news of his seemingly impending trade to the Memphis Grizzlies, Jeff Green was replaced by Jae Crowder in the starting lineup. Crowder failed to make much of an impact in the first quarter. However, the same could be said about the rest of the team as well, the Celtics shot only 37% and turned the ball over six times in the period. As a result, they failed to score 20 points in the quarter and quickly saw themselves in an 8 point deficit.
The uninspired play continued in the second quarter. With the other trade being made tonight (Brandan Wright to the Phoenix Suns), a roster spot opened up for James Young (sorry, Jameer). While the rookie failed to score a point in the half he did eclipse his floor time from all but one of his appearances this season putting in over 7 minutes in the quarter (however he didn't see the court again in the game). Unlike the first quarter the Celts managed to put 20 points on the board this time around even though their shooting woes continued. Ultimately, the Celtics lost the quarter 21-20 and added to their overall deficit and went in to the half down nine.
The Pacers came out of the half missing their first eight shots of the second half and allowed the Celtics to get within 2 points of their lead. After Frank Vogel called a timeout the Pacers got back into form and rebuilt their lead by securing rebounds and not turning over the ball after the bench break. The C's poor shooting outing continued after the break preventing them from taking advantage of Indiana's equally bad shooting percentage.
The Celtics started to knock down their shots in the fourth quarter to help close the gap. Marcus Smart showed grit and hustle in the quarter knocking down key three pointers and showing constant effort on the defensive end of the court. The Celtics continued to chip away at the Pacers' lead and played the foul game right late in the quarter. Ultimately Avery Bradley knocked down a three pointer to tie the game with under 10 seconds to go in the game.
The Celtics rode the hot hand of Avery Bradley in overtime even holding a one point lead with under one minute to play. But after two bad calls from the officials, one out of bounds call, & a questionable reach-in foul, and with the C's missing their last seven shots in OT they could not complete the comeback.
Mike Gorman put it perfectly: "The Celtics keep climbing the hill and keep sliding down."
From Celtics.com:
The Celtics wrap up their road back-to-back tomorrow in Toronto to take on the Atlantic division leading Raptors on CSNNE.
Photo credit: R Brent Smith, AP Photo
Follow Cedric on Twitter: @junor39
Read more of my work at CelticsLife here
