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Key Moment
The Indiana Pacers had a 19-point comeback win all but locked up against the Boston Celtics Monday night, but Terry Rozier stole their dreams away right before the final buzzer.
Indiana was ahead 111-110 and had possession of the ball with 9.3 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Brad Stevens was hoping that one of his players would foul on Indiana’s inbound pass, but what happened next was a much better result.
Bojan Bogdanovic inbounded to Cory Joseph, who quickly passed it back to Bogdanovic near center court. Shane Larkin then rushed over to Bogdanavic and forced him to make a risky lob-pass toward Victor Oladipo, who was standing on the Pacers’ logo.
However, Rozier used every ounce of athleticism in his body to leap and tip the pass to himself, before racing up-court for an uncontested slam dunk with 1.6 seconds on the game clock.
Bogdanovic then dished an inbounds pass to Darren Collison, who rose up from half-court, but clanked the game-winning attempt off the back-rim, allowing the Celtics to walk away with a stunning, 112-111 win.
Key Player
The amount of near-triple-doubles that Al Horford has had during his short Celtics career is absurd. He came oh-so-close yet to achieving one yet again Monday night, as he logged 14 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The veteran big man’s rebound and assist totals were both game-highs, as was his plus-13 rating. He added one block, one steal and turned the ball over just once to his nine assists.
Just one more dime would've put Horford over that triple-double hump, but he had an incredibly impactful, stat-sheet-stuffing effort nonetheless.
Box Score Nuggets
- Victor Oladipo scored a game-high 38 points, while Kyrie Irving led the C's with 30 points.
- Al Horford logged the game's only double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
- Horford also dished out a game-high nine assists, while turning the ball over just once.
- The Celtics led by as many as 19 points.
- The Pacers snagged twice as many steals (12) as the Celtics (six).
- Indiana (38 free-throw attempts) made it to the free-throw line nearly three times as much as Boston (14 attempts).
- The Celtics shot 16-of-26 (61.5 percent) from 3-point range.
- Marcus Smart shot 4-for-4 from long range and finished with 15 points off the bench.
- The Pacers logged 11 second-chance points, while the Celtics only had one.
- Boston dished out 26 assists to Indiana's 14 dimes.
- Both benches contributed heavily, with Boston's scoring 37 and Indiana's scoring 33.
Quote of the Night
Brad Stevens on the C's forcing the game-winning turnover.