Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 38 points and Jaylen Brown finished with 31 to help the Boston Celtics end the Indiana Pacers’ six-game winning streak with a 118-101 victory in Indianapolis on Saturday night.
Tatum also had 13 rebounds and six assists. He made eight of his 13 3-point attempts.
Boston led 29-17 after one quarter, 58-49 at halftime and 84-81 at the end of three quarters. A Tatum 3-pointer capped a 14-2 run that gave Boston a 100-85 lead with 7:30 to play in the fourth, and the Celtics had their largest lead after a Tatum trey made it 116-97 with 1:17 remaining.
Al Horford added 10 points, seven rebounds and eight assists for the Celtics, who won despite going 10-for-19 from the free-throw line.
Tyrese Haliburton had 17 points and seven assists for Indiana, which made just eight of its 42 3-point attempts (19 percent). Bennedict Mathurin scored a team-high 20 points for the Pacers, who received 15 points from Buddy Hield and 12 from Myles Turner.
The Celtics didn’t have center Kristaps Porzingis for most of the game. He went to the locker room with 7:06 remaining in the first quarter shortly after Aaron Nesmith scratched him in his right eye. Porzingis ended up returning later in the period, but he played for just over a minute before leaving for good.
Indiana had a 19-10 advantage in fastbreak points, but it was outrebounded 56-38.
Boston failed to score 120 points for the first time in 10 games.
Indiana was without guard/forward Bruce Brown and guard Andrew Nembhard. Brown played in the Pacers’ past two games but sat out because of a right knee injury that caused him to miss five games last month. Nembhard missed his third straight game with a back sprain.
It was the third game between the teams this season. Boston won 155-104 on Nov. 1, and Indiana prevailed 122-112 on Dec. 4. The teams will also meet in Indianapolis on Monday.
Boston has won 13 of its past 15 games.
–Field Level Media
