Celtics fend off Paul George and the Indiana Pacers, 109-100


The Boston Celtics swept the three-game series against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night with a 109-100 win. It was a solid team effort for the Celts, who fended off Paul George's 37 points.

Al Horford was active early on for the C's. This summer's signee had three points, three boards, and a pair of dimes. Brad Stevens pulled him out after just seven minutes in an attempt to stagger his and Isaiah Thomas' minutes.

Meanwhile, Jeff Teague had his fingerprints all over the game in the first quarter. The guard scored seven of his team's 17 first quarter points to go along with two assists and a steal. The Pacers' offense became stagnant once Teague was brought to the bench.

Boston overcame six first quarter turnovers by shooting 47% from the field to take a two-point lead into the second. This shooting was well spread out, though, as Jae Crowder was the only Celtic to score more than four points. In fact, the rest of Boston's starters combined for a mere eight points (Isaiah was held to three).



Team passing was abnormally bad for the Celtics in the second frame. Indiana got in the passing lanes and bothered the C's to pick up another eight turnovers (14 for the half). That's more than their season avergae for an entire game. The Pacers took advantage of the takeaways, too:



Celtics fans at TD Garden were remembered why the Paul George trade talk last month were so enticing when George drilled back-to-back threes off of Celtic turnovers. He scored 14 in the half.

Luckily the C's were solid in every other department, including rebounding. They outrebounded Myles Turner and the Pacers 28-18 after the first 24 minutes were in the books. Isaiah was unusually quiet but still managed to get into double figures with 10.

Avery Bradley capped off an ugly first half for the Celtics by beating the buzzer with a three to give Boston a 49-42 lead:



Boston had a successful and eventful third quarter. Isaiah got out of his funk instantly after the break, hitting two quick threes to bring his scoring total up to 16:



Everyone played a part in Boston's 39-point quarter. All of the starters played great, while Kelly Olynyk and Marcus Smart provided their usual services off the bench. Even Tyler Zeller made good use of his extended role off the bench.

This beautiful play shows how things were going for the Celtics in the third quarter:



How about that Larry Bird-like hockey assist by Isaiah? So nice. And then, when Smart had the ball in the closing seconds of the quarter (cause who else would be taking the last-second shot?) he got this and-1 runner to fall:



Great finish to a great quarter for Boston, who found themselves with a comfortable 14-point advantage over the Pacers.



Strong defense preserved Boston's lead for the first five minutes of the final quarter until George and Teague heated up and added eight points onto the board in a hurry. This helped Indy go on a 10-0 run and cut their deficit to just seven.

As George continued his scoring to get up to 34 points, Isaiah, Horford, and Olynyk had some big buckets and stops for Boston. That trio scored the last four Celtic field goals and 10 of their last 12 points of the night. This helped seal a Celtics victory.

Other than Isaiah's 25, Bradley, Crowder, and Horford had 18, 15, and 15, respectively. Al also added eight assists. The rebounding load was divided between a handful of Celtic players yet again:






The Phoenix Suns will be making their way into town for a matchup with the Celtics on Friday.



Follow Erik Johnson on Twitter: @erikjohnson32

Photo by @Celtics