The Celtics returned to TD Garden Wednesday and took care of business against the Indiana Pacers. Boston dominated most of the night en route to a 199-104 victory.
Here's what stood out:
This was one of the better games the Celtics played over the past two weeks
Aside from Saturday’s absolute beatdown of the Atlanta Hawks, Wednesday’s outing was one of the more impressive games from the Celtics lately. They took control of the game early and mostly held on throughout the night.
Boston enforced their will in the first quarter and consistently got the ball to the rim. Whether or not they were super efficient was another story, but getting that rim pressure opened up their offense for the remainder of the game.
Eventually, the Pacers had to start collapsing, which enabled the Celtics to create some great looks from three.
The rim pressure also resulted in Boston’s players finding their way to the free-throw line 25 times -- something that’s evaded them over these past few weeks.
What a few weeks it’s been for Sam Hauser
Sam Hauser has been one of the Celtics' more consistent scoring options since they returned home from their West Coast road trip. The sharpshooting forward has been the fourth-leading scorer over the past eight games, averaging 15 points per outing on 50% from the field and 46% from beyond the arc.
Boston’s pit stop at TD Garden was no different for the Wisconsin native. He carried over his momentum and turned it into six early points thanks to a pair of first-quarter triples -- a good sign for one of the NBA’s elite shooters.
Hauser remained hot throughout the night, eventually pouring in 17 points on an efficient 6-8 from the field, including five threes.
Not only was he a perimeter threat, but he made his presence felt on the glass, too, with six rebounds.
All of the bench wings showed up in their own ways
For the first time in what felt like forever, the Celtics got impressive showings from Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, and Jordan Walsh on the same night. Usually one or two of them will have a nice outing, while the third struggles, or simply doesn’t play. None of the three had a crazy scoring night, but they did what they do best: made things difficult, or at least annoying for the Pacers.
Gonzalez was the first to make an impact. He hustled to recover a loose ball under Boston’s basket, successfully saved it for Jaylen Brown, who kicked back to the young Spaniard for an open three. The sequence put a nice burst of energy into the TD Garden crowd, which clearly appreciated the rookie’s hustle.
Scheierman continued his sustained stretch of good defense, too. He moved his feet well throughout the night, stayed out of foul trouble, and even got a chance to share some words with Indiana’s bench. The former Creighton star sank a no-dip three and then blew a kiss to the Pacers’ reserves.
Walsh connected from distance as well, but looked particularly locked in on defense. There were a few times throughout the night when he cut his man off on a drive. There aren’t any stats to back it up, but he brought a different level of energy to this game.