2 Studs, 1 dud from Indiana Pacers In-Season Tournament win over Boston Celtics
By Jack Simone
Dud - None?
Is this cheating? Maybe this is cheating? But I make the rules, so let’s rock with it.
As noted, this might have been the most impressive win of the Indiana Pacers’ season so far. Not only was it a huge win for In-Season Tournament purposes, but it was against one of the best teams in the league.
The Celtics missed a bunch of fairly open threes, but overall, it was a solid outing for the Pacers, especially considering the number of times Boston turned it over (18).
As far as poor performers, Andrew Nembhard may have been the closest thing, but he played fewer than five minutes. Myles Turner was relatively quiet, and the same can be said for Obi Toppin, but neither was necessarily bad.
Tyrese Haliburton’s defense on Jayson Tatum was questionable, as the Celtics kept attacking that matchup, but he more than made up for that on the other end of the floor.
There wasn’t much to complain about in this game. Indiana’s defense wasn’t ideal, but it didn’t end up costing them, and the Celtics only put up 112 on the night.
After such a huge win, it feels wrong to pick a dud, so we’ll just say the dud was the Celtics (and the Pacers' defense at times, I suppose).
Grade: C(lamps?)