Game Rewind: Pacers 89, Celtics 93

The Celtics' stifling defense put an end to the Pacers' seven-game win streak. Boston (29-36) gutted out a 93-89 victory over Indiana (30-35) on Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

With the win, the Celtics have now won four straight games and nine of their last 12 to remain hot on the Pacers' tails in the race for the final few playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.

After a back-and-forth first quarter that featured six lead changes and two ties, Boston took the lead for good on a 3-pointer from Jae Crowder with 1:57 to play in the first and seized control in the second. The Celtics started the period with a 12-2 run and stretched their lead to as many as 15 points before the Blue & Gold closed the half with an 8-2 run to trim their deficit to single digits.

Indiana hung around for much of the second half, thanks in large part to the efforts of George Hill, who repeatedly attacked the basket and either scored or found open teammates in the final two quarters. But Boston extended its lead back to 12 after another 3-pointer from Crowder with 7:30 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Pacers, though, mounted a rally. C.J. Watson hit two 3-pointers during an 8-0 run that made the score 80-76 with 4:41 to play. After a couple baskets by Tyler Zeller doubled the Celtics' lead, David West converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:58 remaining, but Brandon Bass' jumper 43 seconds later gave the Celtics enough breathing room to grind out the victory.

Indiana managed to get within one possession of the lead after Rodney Stuckey's 3-pointer with 5.8 seconds to play, but Bass hit two free throws on the other end to seal the win.

"It was just a tough game for us," West said after the loss. "We couldn’t get a good rhythm or flow. We cut the game close a couple times. We weren’t able to execute well enough to get a win."

Despite a late surge, the Pacers shot just 40 percent from the field on the night. Boston's defense forced Indiana into 17 turnovers, leading to 19 points on the other end.

"(Celtics) Coach (Brad) Stevens got them in a great defensive plan," George Hill said. "They play extremely hard and they make it tough for us on the offensive end."

Hill led the Pacers with a season-high 30 points, five rebounds, and eight assists. The Pacers point guard made 11-of-18 shots and had 24 points and five assists in the final two quarters.

C.J. Miles added 13 points for Indiana, while Watson and Stuckey both chipped in 12 off the bench. West added 11 points and four rebounds.

Zeller led Boston with 18 points. The Washington, Ind. native was 8-for-10 from the field and also collected seven rebounds. Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley each added 16 points for the visitors. Brandon Bass finished with 16 points and five boards.

The Pacers close out a four-game homestand on Monday night, when they host Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors at 7:00 PM ET. After Saturday's loss, Indiana remains in seventh place in the East, but they are now just a half-game ahead of Charlotte and a game ahead of both Miami and Boston.

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"(Our confidence) is still high," Watson said. "We still think we're one of the best teams in the NBA. We've just got to take it one game at a time."

Hill's 30 points were the most he has scored since he had a career-high 38 in an overtime victory over Portland on Feb. 7, 2014. Saturday was the Pacers' first loss in six games this year when Hill leads the team in scoring and just their second loss in 11 games when Hill leads the team in assists.

The loss snapped the Pacers' franchise-record streak of seven straight games holding their opponents under 40-percent shooting. Boston made 45-of-83 shots on Saturday (42.2 percent).

The Pacers' 17 turnovers came two nights after they committed 20 in an overtime win over Milwaukee. Before that, Indiana had had less than 15 turnovers in 18 consecutive games.

After recording double-doubles in back-to-back games, Pacers forward Luis Scola finished with just four points (on 2-of-7 shooting) and six rebounds in 19:27.

Boston has now won seven of its last eight games on the second night of a back-to-back.

"(The Celtics had) great defense. We tried to show our guys a lot of video today on their ball pressure. We didn’t handle it very well." -Pacers head coach Frank Vogel

"I just don’t think we were precise. We were second guessing ourselves a bit." -West on the Pacers' lack of offensive execution

"I don’t think we moved the ball like we have been moving it. It’s not that we didn’t look for open guys. I don’t think we had the rhythm today. Lately everybody has been getting into a rhythm and we’ve had a lot of double digit scorers, guys getting open shots, a lot of guys finding a chance to get aggressive during games. I don’t think we had that as much (tonight)." -Miles

"We have to be better defensively (than) tonight. In the first half they made a lot of passes that kind of caught us off guard. We just have to get back to playing great team defense." -Hill

"As a result of getting better shots we were able to set our defense and our defense was pretty good. Our guards were great and I thought our bigs did a really good job of handling those pick and rolls in the middle, which is tough." -Stevens

"We knew coming in here it would be a grind, especially on a back to back, those guys have been playing well and they like to grind it out as well. We just stayed the course." -Crowder

"I thought we did a good job of keeping them out of transition. They have been playing well of late and scoring more. We were able to get back and set our defense and when we do that we are tough to score on." -Zeller

The Pacers finished with just 30 bench points, one fewer than Boston. Indiana is now only 3-14 when they score fewer bench points than their opponents.

Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors visit Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Monday at 7:00 PM. Find Tickets »