BSJ Game Report: Pacers 98, Celtics 96 - C's go cold, can't come all the way back

Everything you need to know about the Celtics' loss to the Pacers, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics' defense held the Pacers in check early, going into the second up five. The Pacers were nearly perfect from 3 in the second, but Anfernee Simons had 12 to help Boston keep a three-point lead. The Celtics imploded early in the third, but recovered to head into the fourth down two. It grew to eight, but the Celtics were able to tie the game in the final minute, but Pascal Siakam made his last shot for Boston while White missed his.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Another clutch loss: They're now 8-12 in clutch games. We can put an asterisk next to this one if we want because there was no Jaylen Brown, but this game was very winnable. The Celtics had plenty of looks that should have fallen, but didn’t. 

- Tough shooting: The Celtics won most of the margins that normally lead to wins. They took and made more shots overall, they took and made more free throws, they had more second chance points, and more points off turnovers. But they shot 9-35 from 3 while Indiana was 16-37. That's too much of a difference to make up without dominating the other margins. 

- “Illegal Screen”: Joe Mazzulla’s postgame press conference was about 40 seconds long, and it consisted of him saying the words “illegal screen” six different times. He was complaining about Siakam setting a screen on Derrick White on the final possession that ultimately resulted in Siakam’s game-winning shot. We’ll take a look later on. 

TURNING POINT 

The Celtics went scoreless from the 1:29 mark of the 2nd quarter, when they led 56-51, to the 7:32 mark of the third, when they made it 61-58 Pacers. The Indiana lead got up to 13, 73-60, before Boston made a run. And though they tied it late, they never retook the lead. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Payton Pritchard: It wasn’t the 30 I thought he might have, but it was a decent 23-point, eight-assist, four-rebound performance. He was basically the reason why the Celtics recovered from their third-quarter malaise to give themselves a chance. He also had two steals. 

- Neemias Queta: He was huge in the fourth when things were getting dicey again for Boston. He ha 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block. One of those steals was what finally helped break the third-quarter drought. 

- Luka Garza: He continues to do what he does. He had a nice impact in the second quarter. He finished with six points and six rebounds but also a team-high +10.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Sloppy play: The Celtics got so loose with the ball in the third that I was concerned that they’d all been struck in the head at halftime. They spent long stretches of the game looking lost or unfocused. 

- Derrick White: I don’t often land here on White, who finished with 18/4/5, but he didn’t shoot well, he didn’t make the best decisions on shots down the stretch, and he got lost a couple of times, giving up offensive rebounds. 

- Jay Huff going off: He was two points off his career high, going 8-12 from the field and 4-7 from 3. He scored 20, and was +20 in a two-point win. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Joe Mazzulla has a point about the illegal screen. It also shouldn’t have mattered. 

Okay, let’s take a look here: 

That looks pretty illegal to me. Feet outside the shoulders and a lean into the defender with leg-to-leg contact is the definition of an offensive foul. It’s laid out plainly in this video on the NBA’s video rulebook. The description of the play includes, “a screener must have his legs no wider than shoulder width apart, and he may not extend his legs outside the vertical plane of his body when setting a screen.”

So Mazzulla’s 40-second repetition of “illegal screen” is, undoubtedly, based on a call that should have gone his team’s way. The Celtics should have had the ball in a tie game with :16 seconds on the clock. 

HOWEVER … 

It doesn’t guarantee Boston would have hit the next shot, and it doesn’t guarantee anything good would have happened in overtime if they missed.

Also, Siakam got the ball back and was face-to-face with White, so while the illegal screen should have been called, the Celtics still had (a) an opportunity to stop Siakam and (b) an opportunity to score after that. 

Further, I’ll add that (c) the Celtics had plenty of chances throughout this game to avoid that situation. I’ll call back the quote I used in my column on clutch play. 

“There's the 10-15 possessions that can cost you regardless of (whether) you win or lose,” Mazzulla said earlier in the season. “We have to win close games, but it's a combination of ending quarters, it’s a combination of those 10-15 possessions that we have to get better at that are really game plan specific discipline.”

Guard Huff better. Make better decisions in the third and fourth quarters. Make a few more shots. 

Illegal screen? Yes. But this game was lost well before that mattered. 

Next Up: The Celtics begin visit Miami on Thursday.