Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics will attempt to beat the visiting Indiana Pacers at home for the second time in three nights when the teams meet Sunday.
Brown scored a season-high 44 points in Boston’s 142-105 victory over Indiana on Friday.
Brown also had four steals in the win and became the fourth player in franchise history to have at least 40 points and at least four steals in a regular-season game. The others are Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, Dee Brown and Antoine Walker.
“People don’t pay enough attention to (defense), but I feel like I’m one of the best two-way players in the world,” Brown said. “I try to hang my hat on that side by doing different assignments, like picking up guys full court, chasing guys off screens, switching onto bigs. That takes a lot of energy.”
Brown’s effort helped the Celtics end a two-game losing streak — the first time they lost consecutive games this season.
“What he is capable of doing, and at his size, you don’t see many people picking up full-court like that, guarding the best guards in the world,” Boston’s Payton Pritchard said. “Usually somebody his size would guard a wing, but he’s picking up the best point guards in the world full-court and then, like he said, scoring 25 (per game).
“People don’t really understand how difficult that really is. They overestimate what that takes. He should definitely be in the All-Defensive Team category because we give him the hardest assignments. It’s an exhausting thing, and he’s creating havoc and making things tough every night. So they definitely need to take notice.”
Defense was lacking from Indiana on Friday. The 142 points the Celtics scored are the most given up by the Pacers in a game this season. Boston shot 51.1 percent from the field, including 23 of 56 (41.1 percent) from 3-point range.
The Pacers were also outrebounded 52-39.
“I mean we didn’t get any stops the whole night, and then offensively we didn’t shoot the ball well,” Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton said. “You give up (18) offensive rebounds and you don’t shoot the ball well against Boston, that’s what it’s going to look like. We get to see them again Sunday. That’s the best part about the NBA.”
The Pacers shot 41.8 percent from the floor and were 11 of 39 (28.2 percent) from 3-point range (28.2 percent). Haliburton led the way with 19 points and nine assists. Bennedict Mathurin added 18 points.
Indiana was coming off Thursday’s 120-114 loss to Oklahoma City that ended the team’s five-game winning streak.
“It’s a tough situation coming in back-to-back, but it’s the NBA schedule,” Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle said. “There were so many problems out there (Friday). They cause major problems with their star players and shooting ability.
“In the first half, the offensive rebounding was the biggest problem. Untimely, turnovers were a problem as well. They have a lot of underrated guys over there. This is not about excuses. We just have to play better. … We’re going to, obviously, have to be a lot better with everything on Sunday.”
Sunday’s matchup will be the third and final game between the teams during the regular season. Indiana won the first meeting 135-132 in overtime on Oct. 30.
–Field Level Media
