Game Rewind: Pacers 102, Celtics 109

Even with a furious fourth-quarter rally, the Pacers were unable to overcome the sharp play of the Boston Celtics, who used a dominating second quarter to build an early lead against the Pacers as Boston went on to win 109-102 on Thursday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

On a number of occasions, Indiana got its deficit down to just five points, but each time, the comeback bid was stymied by Boston's offense, spearheaded by the play of Isaiah Thomas, who finished the night with 28 points and nine assists.

"We had to play with a sense of urgency," Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said after the game. "We were down. But it's going to be tough to beat any team when you have 19 turnovers and only 20 assists. There was sloppy play, particularly in the first half."

The Pacers' comeback came to life when Thaddeus Young hit a 3-pointer to make it 98-93 with under two minutes remaining in the game, but a quick Avery Bradley bucket in the paint once again pushed Indiana out of striking distance, as the Pacers fell to 15-16 on the season.

Indiana was trailing by 10 late, until C.J. Miles scored seven straight for the Pacers, his last of which also brought the Pacers within five.

But just as Bradley did when Young had cut the lead down, Thomas scorched the Pacers inside, moving the comeback out of reach.

"Isaiah (Thomas) is a strong aggressive guard," Paul George said. "Coach's game plan was right on. We had the right game plan in place for this team and we did a good job for the most part, just not quite good enough."

In the waning moments of the game, needing to foul to stop the clock, Indiana used a 3-pointer from Jeff Teague and free throws from Miles to make it a one-possession game, but the Pacers were never on offense while down three, needing to send opposing shooters to the free throw line to stay alive. Despite giving the home crowd a late thrill, Boston was able to close out the game at the stipe.

The Celtics (17-12)— now winners of four straight — jumped out to an early lead to start the game, up until the Pacers' starting unit began clicking, outscoring the Celtics 14-6 to force a Boston timeout. While the Celtics regained the lead with a 3-pointer to make it 22-20, the Pacers wrested it right back with the help of an 11-0 run triggered by a powerful one-handed Myles Turner slam in transition.

The run helped give the Pacers separation, as Indiana entered the second quarter with a nine-point edge on the visitors.

That lead, it turned out, wasn't built to last, as Boston's offense continued to find chances while Indiana's offense stayed grounded, with the Celtics reeling off a devastating 17-0 run to open the quarter. By the time the Pacers scored a point, 5:30 of game time had elapsed as the score was flipped on its head.

Thanks to their earlier cushion, the Pacers were able to tighten the game on a Thaddeus Young 3-pointer to make it 44-40, but Boston closed the half with force, extending its lead to 11 at the break.

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Out of the halftime locker room, the Pacers were able to close the gap to 55-49 following a Teague layup, but Boston responded with a 10-0 punch, six of which came from the hot hand of Bradley.

Even after Thad Young quelled the string of scoring with a pair of buckets to bring Indiana's deficit to 12, Boston continued its torrid play, extending its advantage to 69-53. Thankfully for the Pacers, a transition opportunity gave Turner yet another chance for a rim-rocking slam, bringing life to the crowd and forcing a Boston timeout with 3:44 left in the third quarter.

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Over the last four minutes of the third, it was the Jeff Teague show for Indiana, as the point guard scored or assisted on all five of Indiana's buckets to close the quarter, including a nifty dime to Al Jefferson, who slammed it home.

A Kelly Olynyk three temporarily stalled Indiana's comeback bid, but the electric Teague hit a baseline jumper to close the quarter, sending the Pacers into the fourth trailing 77-67.

After a converted and-1 from George, the Pacers got a scare when George's legs slipped out from under him while making a crossover dribble with 8:47 in the game. Luckily for the Blue & Gold, George stayed in the game, knocking down two more free throws to bring the lead down to single digits.

With just over 6:00 remaining in the game, Teague knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the score down to 85-80, as the Celtics called timeout to slow the charging Pacers, who had been on a 9-1 run.

But just as they had all game out of timeouts, the Celtics regrouped, extending their lead back to eight points on a pair of Isaiah Thomas free throws.

C.J. Miles, who finished with 19 points, kept the Pacers' offense churning with three inside buckets, the second of which was whistled an and-1, giving Miles a personal 7-0 run to pull the Pacers back into striking distance.

Yet every time the Pacers rallied close, they were parried by the play of Thomas — who dropped a career-high 44 points in his previous game. Thomas split the defense for an easy bucket at the rim to push the gap to seven.

From there, the teams traded buckets the remainder of the way until free throws closed out the game for Boston, who denied the Pacers a Hickory moment in the final seconds of the game.

The Pacers shot a higher percentage and outrebounded Boston, but were undone by 19 turnovers, compared to just 10 from Boston.

Thaddeus Young collected a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while hitting 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.

C.J. Miles led the charge off the bench, scoring 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting.

Boston outscored Indiana 48-34 in the paint.

"We are all disappointed right now. This is a good group of guys. We like each other and we are there for each other. We know we are better than our record shows. We keep saying it but we just need to go out and show it." -Jeff Teague

"Well we weren't making shots in the first half at all; but I felt like we were getting great looks and I felt like we could play through more in the post to be more efficient. We started really guarding and we got on the floor a couple times and it turned to our favor after that." -Celtics coach Brad Stevens

"Boston got in a groove and we were in a funk. Boston played more physical. We've got to be more physical. I should have stepped up and talked to the team about that more than I did when it was happening. Our lack of physical play is on me." -Paul George

Jeff Teague finished the night with 31 points, leading all scorers. It was his third game this season with 30 points or more, which ties his career-high for games with 30 or more points in a single season.

The Pacers get a few days of rest before heading back on the road, this time to face Jimmy Butler and the Bulls on Monday, December 26th. Tipoff is set for 8 PM ET.

Select Hickory Crew Fleece - $30. Game Night Specials can be purchased in the Home Court Gift Shop or any of our souvenir stands located on all levels of Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The special is also available online at PacersGear.com until midnight.