The Morning After Recap: Boston Celtics fall to Pacers in final seconds

The Boston Celtics lost to the Indiana Pacers in the final seconds by a score of 108-107. Let’s look at how it all happened.

The Boston Celtics lost their second game of the year by a score of 108-107 to the Indiana Pacers.

All-Star Domantas Sabonis hit the game-winner with under 10 seconds left to put his team up by one. On the other end, Jayson Tatum failed to respond, missing a stepback three over Malcolm Brogdon.

After the game, Robert Williams stated he messed up the defensive coverage on Sabonis’ basket, allowing him to have an easy path to the rim.

Although Williams made the crucial error, he kept the Cs in the game as well. Finally getting some crunch-time minutes, Timelord finished with 12 points, four rebounds, two blocks, and four steals.

He forced a key steal off the inbound play with 18.2 seconds left when the Celtics were down one, allowing Marcus Smart to get an easy transition basket.

The Boston Celtics would never regain the lead, but Williams made his impact nonetheless.

Coach Brad Stevens thought Rob was the best big man tonight, earning the closing minutes over the likes of Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson. With this, the crunch time lineups included both Timelord and Grant Williams more often than not.

G. Will had one of his worst games as a Celtic.

Although he hit a stepback three, which shows promise in his shooting ability, his usual solid switching defense struggled against the crafty Pacers. Sure, his stat line looked fine — 23 minutes, six points on 2 -4 from the field, and four rebounds — but he often found himself matched up against Brogdon after a switching action, and simply did not have the speed to keep up with him.

The former NBA Rookie of the Year repeatedly got the rim and finished with either hand, leading to his team-high 25 points.

He probably should have not been on the floor in the closing minutes, as he was getting exploited on both sides of the ball. Along with the Celtics’ core players, either Theis, Jeff Teague, or rookie Payton Pritchard would have been better options.

Pritchard showcased his skillset in the best game of his young career.

Shooting perfect from the field (5 – 5) for 13 points in 23 minutes, the Oregon product has translated his shooting range to the NBA quite nicely. As teams are only starting to learn the scouting report on him, he will get open looks from beyond the arc and continue to hit them as he did tonight.

On the defensive end, he is not as much of a liability as his size would suggest, possessing quick hands to disrupt passes.

Jaylen Brown had an extremely efficient game, shooting 8 – 13 in 34 minutes for 18 points. He got much less offensive touches than in the previous two games, shooting 24 times against Brooklyn, but he made the most of them.

As a whole, this game was much slower paced, only putting up 79 shots in 48 minutes. Another reason for this is turnovers, with Boston giving the ball away 18 times — surely coach Stevens will put an emphasis on that heading into the rematch on Tuesday.

With Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson both starting, the spacing gets a little troubling.

You’re comfortable with Brown, Tatum, and Smart shooting the ball, but in the pick-and-roll action, often Theis is left wide open from downtown. If he is able to hit that shot more consistently than he did in the bubble, this lineup can become effective. If not, there might not be enough shooting to compete with the best of the best.

The Boston Celtics continued their third-quarter woes once again, getting outscored 39-28 in the period.

After going into halftime with a six-point lead, the Pacers came out on a 10-0 run to begin the second half, and never looked back.

Teams are going to make runs, but it almost always seems that it happens against the Celtics in the third, which questions what adjustments can be made to alter the trend.

In this particular game, the Pacers shot 58.5 percent from the field in the second half and 75 percent in the third quarter alone. Those types of numbers cannot continue if the Cs want to become a successful defensive team.

Besides Brogdon’s 25, Sabonis and T.J. Warren combined for 36, while Doug McDermott and Justin Holiday contributed 16 and 13 off the bench, respectively.

Jayson Tatum played a team-high 36 minutes and finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists on 9 – 21 shooting from the field. He was a little sloppier with the ball on Sunday night than usual, recording five turnovers, but he was more aggressive than in previous games.

Tatum finally shot free throws late in the first half, going 4 – 4 from the line.

For the last shot, it would have been more encouraging to see Tatum drive on Brogdon to either draw a foul or shoot a mid-range fadeaway, something that both he and Jaylen have become so proficient at.

In that situation, you don’t need to shoot a three.

But he did, and although he may have been fouled on the play, no whistle was blown, and the Boston Celtics fell to 1-2 on the season.

They’ll get another shot come Tuesday.