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Key Moment
Boston’s offense has been sizzling of late, and it was as hot as ever during the final minutes of the second quarter of Wednesday night’s win over Indiana.
The C’s dropped 39 points during the second period, which marked their highest-scoring quarter of the night. Twenty of those points were scored during the final 4:43 of the quarter, while Boston turned a five-point lead into a 15-point lead at the break.
As you might expect, misses were few and far between while Boston went on its run. The Celtics canned seven of their 11 shots during the 20-10 run, including a 3-for-4 effort from long distance. Marcus Morris, Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving each canned 3s, while Daniel Theis scored a three-point play the old-fashioned way via a bucket and a foul. All told, five different Celtics scored during the run.
Boston controlled the game from there on out as it cruised to a 135-108 victory. Its lead remained at 13 points or more for the entire second half while maxing out at 31.
Key Player
We gotta go with Marcus Morris here. Nights can’t be much more efficient than the one he had Wednesday.
Morris finished the contest with 22 points to lead all scorers. That fact is impressive in and of itself, but what’s even more impressive is the fact that he tallied those points on only eight shot attempts.
The swingman, who’s in his second season with Boston, made six of those eight shots, including all three of his attempts from long distance. Morris also converted all seven of his free throw attempts.
During 23-plus minutes of action (yes, that’s nearly a point per minute for the duration of his playing time), Morris also managed to tie for the game’s top rebounding total with eight boards.
As we said: efficient – about as efficient as efficient can get.
Box Score Nuggets
- Seven different Celtics scored in double-figures, led by 22 from both Marcus Morris and Jaylen Brown.
- Boston led from start to finish and pulled ahead by as many as 31 points.
- Eight Celtics finished with a plus/minus rating of at least plus-13, led by a plus-19 for Al Horford.
- Domantas Sabonis led Indiana with 20 points.
- Morris and Thaddeus Young tied for the game high in rebounds with eight apiece.
- Boston shot 56.8 percent from the field and made 14 3-pointers.
- Four Pacers starters finished with plus/minus ratings of minus-20 or worse.
- The C's tallied 32 assists, marking their fifth straight game with at least 30 helpers.
- Boston's bench scored 73 points.
- Al Horford tallied a game-high eight assists during just 18-plus minutes of action.
- Brown led all reserves with his 22 points.
- Terry Rozier stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Quote of the Night
Brad Stevens on the Celtics hosting Pride Night at TD Garden.