Pacers (45-30) at Celtics (44-31) Game #76 3/29/19

[FLCeltsFan]

at
Indiana Pacers (45-30) at Boston Celtics (44-31)
Friday, March 29, 2019
7:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game [HASH]76, Home Game [HASH]39
TV: NBA-TV, NBCSB, FSInd,
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 1070 The Fan
TD Garden


Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Kyrie Irving vs Darren Collison

Shooting Guard
vs
Marcus Smart vs Wesley Matthews

Small Forward
vs
Jayson Tatum vs Bojan Bogdanovic

Power Forward
vs
Al Horford vs Thaddeus Young

Center
vs
Aron Baynes vs Miles Turner


Celtics Reserves
Semi Ojeleye
Daniel Theis
Brad Wanamaker
Guerschon Yabusele
Gordon Hayward
Jaylen Brown
Robert Williams
Marcus Morris
Greg Monroe
Terry Rozier

Injuries
Robert Williams III (back) probable

Two Way Players
PJ Dozier
RJ Hunter

Head Coach
Brad Stevens




Pacers Reserves
Tyreke Evans
Aaron Holiday
Alize Johnson
Cory Joseph
TJ Leaf
Doug McDermott
Kyle O'Quinn
Domantas Sabonis

Two Way Players
Edmund Sumner
Davon Reed

Injuries
Victor Olidipo (knee) out

Head Coach
Nate McMillan

Game Notes
The Indiana Pacers come to Boston for the 3rd of 4 meetings between these two teams this season. The Pacers beat the Celtics 102-101 on November 3 in Indiana. In that game, Victor Oladipo hit a 3 pointer to put the Pacers up one and then stole the inbounds pass from Gordon Hayward to seal their win. On January 9th, the Celtics beat the Pacers 135-108 in Boston. They will face each other one more time in exactly 1 week on April 5.

This game means a lot more than just one of 82. The Pacers are 1 game ahead of the Celtics in the standings. Home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs is at stake. If the Celtics win, they will tie the Pacers and own the tie breaker to move up to 4th in the East. If the Pacers win, that puts the Celtics 2 behind the Pacers and gives Indiana a big advantage to keep the 4th spot.

The Celtics are now 1 game behind Indiana, who have lost 5 of their last 6 and 9 straight on the road. They are 3.5 games behind 3rd place Philadelphia, who has lost their last 2 games. The Celtics are 5-5 in their last 10 games and 26-12 at home. The Pacers are 3-7 in their last 10 games and are 17-21 on the road.

Both teams are close to full strength. The Celtics have been plagued with injuries lately but with Al Horford (knee) and Jayson Tatum (back) returning to the starting lineup on Wednesday and Robert Williams III listed as probable for this game, they are back to full strength. Gordon Hayward getting closer to 100% is also a big plus for the Celtics. The only player out for the Pacers is Victor Oladipo (knee), who is out for the season.

Key Matchups
vs
Jayson Tatum vs Bojan Bogdanovic
Bogdanovic is averaging 17.9points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists. He is shooting 49.8% from the field and 42.3% from beyond the arc and if not defended closely, he can put up big numbers. Tatum needs to stay with him both in the paint and on the perimeter.

vs
Aron Baynes vs Miles Turner
Turner is averaging 13.2 points, 7.0 rebounds 1.6 assists and 2.7 blocks. The Celtics always need to be aware of where he is when they go to the basket or he will swat their shots away. Baynes needs to box him out to keep him away from the rim. He also shoots 37% from beyond the arc and so the Celtics need to stay with him on the perimeter as well.

Honorable Mention
Jaylen Brown vs Domantas Sabonis
Sabonis is averaging 14.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. He is shooting 58.8% from the field and 53.3% from beyond the arc. In the last game against the Celtics he had 20 points and 5 assists. He can have a big game if the Celtics don't defend him well.

Keys to the Game
Play Defense - Defense wins games. The Pacers average 107.7 points per game while the Celtics average 112.6 points per game. The Pacers have a defensive rating of 105.2, good for 3rd in the league while the Celtics have a defensive rating of 107.0, 5th in the league. The Celtics have let their defense slip in recent games, dropping to 25th in the last 5 games. Indiana is 28-2 when they score 110 or more points or more because their defense holds opponents to a league best 103.9 points per game. The Celtics had a practice on Thursday to stress defense and try to fix what has been going wrong recently so hopefully they will get back to playing the tough defense in this game that has made them so hard to beat in the past.

Rebound - The Celtics must box out and crash the boards. They can't score without the ball and it will take extra effort on their part to grab the rebounds. The Celtics must crash the boards as a team to beat the Pacers to rebounds. Rebounding takes effort and when the Celtics put out that extra effort on the boards, it usually follows through to the rest of their game.

Move the Ball Carefully - Both teams depend on ball movement for their offense. The Celtics need to move the ball and find the open man but they have to make careful passes and not get careless. The Pacers are 3rd in the league with 19.3 points off turnovers per game and so the Celtics must focus on making good passes and be aware of the Pacers ability to close out the passing lanes. If the Celtics get careless, the Pacers will make them pay.

Play 48 Minutes - We see it in almost every game, the Celtics either start strong and get a big lead and then let up or start slow and then have to play catch up the rest of the game. They seem to let up for a time during almost every game and they can't afford to do that in this game. They have to play hard for 48 minutes. Start strong and play hard all the way to the final buzzer.

X-Factors
Home Game - The Celtics are playing at home and they need to draw strength and motivation from the home crowd. The Pacers have struggled on the road recently, losing their last 9 road games. The crowd will hopefully throw the Pacers off a bit and give the Celtics an advantage in their building.

Bench Play - The Pacers reserves have scored at least 53 points in their last 3 games. The Pacers are 12-2 when their bench scores 50 or more and so the Celtics reserves have to play tough defense along with keeping the offense going when the starters get a rest.

Big Game - Just as the Celtics always seem to play down to opponents, they also seem to play their best when there is a lot at stake in a game and there is definitely a lot at stake in this game. They beat the Sixers big on Christmas. They beat the Warriors out in Oakland by 33 points. They need to have a sense of urgency in this game and the Big Game Celtics need to come to play. Not only is home court advantage in the playoffs on the line, this is the team they will likely face in the first round and they don't want to give a mental edge or any momentum to them going into the playoffs.

[jmost]

If we win this we're tied with Indy in the race for home court advantage in the first round. You'd think we could rise to the occasion and win this home game. If we lose this one I'm afraid we have no chance in the playoffs.

[DERRENMATTS]

Mar 28, 2019 21:40:18 GMT -5 jmost said:

If we win this we're tied with Indy in the race for home court advantage in the first round. You'd think we could rise to the occasion and win this home game. If we lose this one I'm afraid we have no chance in the playoffs.

In practice, Brad had the players focusing on tightening up the defense. That’s exactly where we need to improve. I’d like to see a marked improvement on defense in this game. As FL always says, defense wins championships.

[afceltic]

We will see how much they care about home court as we wikl also have the tie breaker with a win plus one more gane before the end if the season but guaranteeing a split we have the better conference record.

So if they can't get motivated for this one then idk what they can get motivated about as this is really a playoff game.

[runrondo]

I agree with both of you. This is the team we will be playing in the playoffs. They can shrug this off and say they don't care if they have home court, but I don't believe it. Pacers at least give it their all consistently.

[DERRENMATTS]

Gotta give credit to Nate McMillan for the coaching job he's done with Indy. Even without their star player Oladipo, they're still competing.

[eja117]

Sometimes I think 90% of the reason I watch these games is Tommy. If I turn on the game and Tommy is on I won't turn it off

[eja117]

Celts getting absolutely hosed by refs right now. It's almost like Joey Crawford is down there.

[DERRENMATTS]

Mar 29, 2019 18:14:53 GMT -5 eja117 said:

Sometimes I think 90% of the reason I watch these games is Tommy. If I turn on the game and Tommy is on I won't turn it off

Doesn't Maxwell come up with some pretty interesting comments too?

Gorman is a good one.

[eja117]

Mar 29, 2019 18:31:16 GMT -5 DERRENMATTS said:

Mar 29, 2019 18:14:53 GMT -5 eja117 said:

Sometimes I think 90% of the reason I watch these games is Tommy. If I turn on the game and Tommy is on I won't turn it off

Doesn't Maxwell come up with some pretty interesting comments too?

Gorman is a good one.

Well yeah, but Max is on radio. I hear him on the commute home

[eja117]

Nice to see Gordan Hayward and his wife landed a local endorsement. I grade Tatum as the slightly better actor on the Dunkin commercials

[DERRENMATTS]

Glad to see one of my draft binkies, TJ Leaf, doing well. Just hope he doesn't give us a loss by having a monster game.

[DERRENMATTS]

We've got to learn how to get more defensive stops. Seems we can easily build a 10pt lead, but watch it evaporate just as quickly. Limiting a team's run is what we need to do.

[DERRENMATTS]

Eeked out this win. Indy is not a good road team, but a win is a win, especially against a quality team.

[afceltic]

I still don't understand why Brad keeps Smart in the game at the end of games when it is close and we need offense.

For example tie game with 27 seconds left and we come out of a timeout needing points and he turns it over. I understand if we are on the defensive side after a time out but Brad should be fined for putting Smart in the game in those situations.