2019 ScheduleAll times ET

2019 Schedule
48-34, 2nd in Central

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Pacers coach Nate McMillan sums up what happened to his team in the fourth quarter with one sentence: "We have to finish."

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

After Boston went on an 8-0 run with Kyrie Irving on the bench to pull within 4, he's come in and hit back to back 3s to put Boston ahead 84-82 with 5:25 to go. The Pacers have hit another cold spell - 8 straight misses, several of which bounced around the rim before falling off.

Turner rejects Tatum (0:22)

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum have a combined 48 points on 21-36 shooting. The rest of the Celtics have scored 30 combined, and are shooting 12-33.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Al Horford is trying to make his presence felt here in the fourth quarter. Already has two quick buckets - his first of the game. Boston has pulled back to within six.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

After making his first three shots of this series, Marcus Morris has missed 15 of his 17 shot attempts since then. Morris has tailed off over the second half of the season, but Boston needs production from him with Marcus Smart sidelined indefinitely.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

The Pacers have a 79-68 lead after three quarters here in Boston. After Indiana scored eight points in the third quarter in Game 1, the Celtics have dug themselves a hole in Game 2 with a 16-point third quarter of their own.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Al Horford is playing tonight, but he's clearly not right. In 21 minutes he's only taken two shots, and he hasn't scored. Understandably looks a step or two slow, too, after being questionable to play with an illness.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Celtics worked hard to get Bojan Bogdanovic onto Kyrie Irving for the final possession, and it went as Boston expected it would — with Irving driving and hitting a runner off the glass to make it Celtics 52, Pacers 50 at halftime.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Thaddeus Young has already taken more shots (10) than he did all of Game 1 (8). And after not taking a single 3 in Game 1, he's already taken 4. Pacers have made a bunch of concerted decisions to try to create more offense, and so far they are working.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Couple notable adjustments from the Pacers: trying to get shots off earlier, and inserting Aaron Holiday into the rotation in place of TJ Leaf. Really like the idea of Holiday playing over Leaf, as Indiana needs as many shot creators as it can get.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

After making four shots in all of Game 1, Bojan Bogdanovic has made four of his first five shots in Game 2 for Indiana. The Pacers need Bogdanovic to have big games to have a chance in this series.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Al Horford has been officially upgraded to available for tonight's game, as expected.

Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
19h

Celtics say Horford available to play vs. Pacers

Celtics forward Al Horford, who missed shootaround with an illness, will "try to give it a go" for Wednesday night's game against the Pacers in Boston, Brad Stevens said.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Stevens follows up by saying that Horford felt very sick last night, but woke up this morning feeling much better, though he stayed home from shootaround. Based on how Stevens talked about it, would be very surprised if Horford can't play tonight.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Brad Stevens says Al Horford is going to "try to give it a go" tonight. He will go through warmups and see where things are after that. Horford was listed as questionable with an illness.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Final: Celtics 84, Pacers 74, as Boston takes a 1-0 lead in this series. The Celtics shoot 36.7% and commit 20 turnovers, yet win thanks to the Pacers shooting 33.3% overall, and a wretched 6-27 from 3. Indiana scored 29 points in the second half.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

Indiana sets a new franchise record for fewest points in a quarter thanks to its 8-point dud in the third. Pacers are lucky they even still have a shot after that, but given how rough their offense has been, hard to see them making up an 11-point deficit.

Tim Bontemps ESPN 

The Pacers offense has been wretched. 1-12 from the field (with the one basket not even actually going in) plus five turnovers that have led to four Celtics points. Boston's defense has been better, yes, but not that good. Indiana simply can't score.

Team Stats

Points Per Game108.022nd
Rebounds Per Game43.024th
Assists Per Game26.09th
Points Allowed104.71st

Team History

YEARWLPCT
2018-194834.585
2017-184834.585
2016-174240.512
2015-164537.549
2014-153844.463