Celtics Flip the Script And The Scoreboard in Indy: A Rollercoaster 140-122 Win
If you turned off the TV in the first quarter of Friday night’s Celtics-Pacer’s game, nobody would blame you. Actually, scratch that we absolutely would blame you, because you missed one of the most bizarre, explosive, and downright entertaining turnarounds of the season.
For the first 12 minutes, the Indiana Pacers a team currently tanking so hard they might as well be driving a literal tank down Pennsylvania Street looked like the 1996 Bulls.They hit their first six 3-pointers.
They built a 15-point lead. They looked unstoppable. But as any seasoned NBA watcher knows, the basketball gods have a funny way of balancing the ledger. And boy, did they balance it in the second quarter.
A Second Quarter for the History Books
Let’s talk about that second frame, because “dominant” doesn’t quite do it justice. The Celtics didn’t just beat the Pacers in the second quarter; they dismantled them, folded them up, and mailed them to a different zip code.
Boston hung 47 points on the board in 12 minutes. Forty-seven. That’s a stat line you usually see in NBA 2K on rookie mode, not in a professional basketball game. They outscored Indiana 47-22 in the period, flipping the entire script and turning a double-digit deficit into a laugher by halftime.
It was a masterclass in offensive efficiency, fueled by a collective realization that, “Oh wait, we are the best team in the league, and they have lost six straight games.”The +25-point differential in the quarter tied a franchise record. When the Celtics lock in like that, it’s not just effective; it’s terrifying.
Bad Blood, Bloody Mouths, and “Psycho Joe”
It wouldn’t be a Celtics-Pacers game without a little extracurricular activity, would it? Despite Indiana’s record, these two squads legitimately do not like each other. The ghost of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals and the In-Season Tournament loss still linger in the air.The game got chippy fast.
Derrick White ended up with a bloody mouth. The man sacrifices his face for this team on a weekly basis). Neemias Queta got leveled on a questionable screen. But the highlight of the hostility came late in the third quarter when Jordan Walsh and Indiana’s resident pest, T.J. McConnell, got into a shoving match.
Most coaches would try to calm their young player down. Not Joe Mazzulla. The Celtics’ head coach looked like he was ready to jump into the fray himself, screaming his approval of Walsh’s aggression.
Mazzulla basically treats basketball games like glorious combat and watching him thrive on the chaos is arguably more entertaining than the game itself. He called the Pacers “one of the toughest teams in the league” post-game, and you could tell he meant it as the highest compliment. He loves a street fight, even if it’s against a 6-25 team.
Sam Hauser and the Bench Mob Take Over
While Jaylen Brown was his usual All-NBA self (30 points, casually dominant), the real story was the “Stay Ready” crew.Sam Hauser, who has been stuck in a shooting slump that felt like it lasted a decade, finally snapped out of it in spectacular fashion.
He didn’t just make shots; he was a flamethrower. Hauser dropped a season-high 23 points in just 16 minutes, draining his first seven attempts from deep. When Hauser is hitting shots maneuvering around screens like that, the Celtics’ offense becomes mathematically unfair.And we can’t ignore Payton Pritchard.
The man is a walking energy boost. He finished with 27 points and nine rebounds, bullying the Pacers’ backcourt and proving once again why he’s in the Sixth Man of the Year conversation. With Hauser and Pritchard combining for 50 points, the starters got to enjoy the fourth quarter from the comfort of the bench exactly where you want them at the start of a long road trip.
Looking Ahead: The West Coast Swing
This win marked Boston’s fourth straight W and a sweep of the home-and-home series with Indy. Now, the real test begins (sort of). The Celtics are heading out for a five-game road trip, starting with a matinee against the Blazers on Sunday.
The upcoming slate features four sub-.500 teams, which is exactly the kind of trap the Celtics need to avoid falling into. But if Friday night showed us anything, it’s that this team has the firepower to erase mistakes in the blink of an eye. They took Indiana’s best punch, laughed it off, and delivered a knockout blow before halftime.
Keeping The Focus
If they keep playing with this kind of focused aggression and if Joe Mazzulla keeps encouraging mid-game skirmishes this winning streak might just stretch all the way through the New Year.
