Indiana Pacers at Boston Celtics
Team Totals: Pacers 106, Celtics 116
Injury Report: Kristaps Porzingis (O, calf), Xavier Tillman (Q, personal)
Pacers projected starters: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner
Celtics projected starters: Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford
Offensive Ranks Pacers 2nd, Celtics 1st
Defensive Ranks: Pacers 24th, Celtics 3rd
Season series: 3-2 Boston (Boston +61)
Noteworthy missed games: Pascal Siakam (4), Tyrese Haliburton (1), Bennedict Mathurin (1), Andrew Nembhard (1), T.J. McConnell (1), Jayson Tatum (1), Al Horford (1), Kristaps Porzingis (1)
Carlisle quotes: Gave props to the Knicks and the crowd, said they stuck together and were able to “problem-solve their way through it”, said the previous games this series helped them prepare for Game 7, said too much is made of Haliburton’s scoring, said Haliburton knew he needed to score to win in Game 7, said after IST they decided they had to lean into defense (talked about Jalen Smith starting at the 4), said Siakam’s rebounding was a big piece on top of the scoring.
Mazzulla quotes: Said they started preparing for NYK and IND, said they went over their lessons from the last series, said KP is in a great place and doing all he can to return early, said he’s an optimistic person in general when it comes to KP’s chances, said the Pacers are the only team that has been better at protecting home court than them.
Stats and Notes:
Rim points per game: Pacers 1st, Celtics 19th
Rim points allowed per game: Pacers 29th, Celtics 3rd
Catch and shoot points per game: Pacers 11th, Celtics 1st
Catch and shoot points allowed per game: Pacers 1st, Celtics 10th
PNR handler scoring per game:Pacers 4th, Celtics 21st
PNR handler scoring allowed per game: Pacers 30th, Celtics 25th
Transition scoring per game: Pacers 2nd, Celtics 9th
Transition scoring allowed per game: Pacers 15th, Celtics 4th
When the Pacers have the ball:
We know what the Celtics are going to do here. In the last two series, the Celtics have been taking away off-ball scoring with the best of them. Among the playoff teams, only the Magic have allowed fewer spot-up plays than the Celtics. They’re allowing just 38.1 potential assists per game, which would’ve ranked last among the NBA offenses in the regular season (40.2; some of this is a function of playoff basketball). The Pacers are first in the postseason in potential assists and they’re second in spot-up points, so the Celtics taking that away will be a massive factor. The Celtics have also been a really good rim defense in the postseason with the fewest possessions allowed. The Pacers have been consistent with their rim pressure with the second-most points scored in the postseason, so the Celtics have another area they can neutralize. As great as the C&S and rim D has been, that may not even be the best part of the Boston defense. They have given up an absurd 12.2 transition possessions this postseason for the lowest in the postseason. The Pacers are first in postseason transition scoring. This is an insane strength vs. strength situation, and the 1-on-1 scoring from the Pacers is going to be paramount.
When the Celtics have the ball:
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