1. Ran the Pacers out of the Gym
After a close loss against the Detroit Pistons, Boston came back home to play their final matchup of the season against the Indiana Pacers where they proceeded to run them out of the gym, winning by a final score of 119-104. Boston did a great job when it came to defending the Pacers tonight, holding them to 37-94 (39%) shooting. The Celtics offense also showed up big time, opening up a 23-point lead in a great bounce back win back in front of the home crowd.
2. Sam Hauser is back
I think it is safe to say that Sam Hauser is officially back. Hauser pushed his three-point percentage back up over 40% on the season in his third great performance in a row, finishing with 17 points, 6 rebounds on 6-8 shooting from the field and 5-7 from three. I really think Hauser has started to develop into the second-best offensive player on the Celtics right now over his most recent hot stretch. At a time where the Celtics needed a second scoring option, Hauser has really turned up his game and has been on fire from three.
Hauser hit the first two threes that he attempted in the first quarter in quick succession. The first one came on the first shot of the game for the Celtics. Some nice ball movement from Derrick White set up Hauser for a wide-open corner three. The second came in a similar fashion, but this time Payton Pritchard drove to the free throw line and found Hauser on the opposite corner.
Hauser would hit 3 more wide open threes in similar fashion but his best play of the night came on his two-point attempt at the 7:05 mark of the fourth quarter. Hauser received the ball on the far corner and Pascal Siakam went to contest his shot. Instead, Hauser made a spin move out of the corner and hit a midrange jumper over Siakam instead. Just incredible bag work that you don’t see out of Hauser that often.
3. Jaylen Brown Efficient Game
This was one of the best all-around games we have seen from Jaylen Brown this season, finishing with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals on 11-22 shooting. Brown was incredibly efficient tonight, taking over the game when it came to straight drives to the paint. Brown opened up his scoring night with a driving finger roll over Johnny Furphy and then made a great play where he attacked Jay Huff at the rim and finished over him for an And-1.
Brown continued to be aggressive in the second quarter where he scored 10 of his 30 points. He hit a nice fadeaway jumper over Quenton Jackson, drove aggressively at Aaron Nesmith to finish a layup, and finally, after getting blocked by Micah Potter, he was able to grab his own rebound and finish with a layup.
Brown had a fine third quarter but the fourth quarter is where he really put the game away for good. This was highlighted by a steal on an errant pass by Aaron Nesmith where he took it all the way back for a driving layup that should have been an And-1.
4. Neemias Queta’s Defense
After a rough showing against the Pistons, Neemias Queta bounced back with a big performance, finishing with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks.
Queta’s first block came when Andrew Nembhard was going up for a layup in the first quarter that he swatted away. The second block came when Jackson left a dump off pass for Tony Brady who attempted to put up a shot, but Queta stuffed it before he even had the chance. The third came when Johnny Furphy got the ball in the corner and decided he wanted to drive to the basket where Pritchard was standing underneath. Before he made contact with Pritchard, Queta came flying out of nowhere to send Furphy’s attempt out of bounds. The fourth came when Pascal Siakam went driving to the basket, but Queta played some great help defense and was able to spike the shot off of the back board. Finally, the last block came when Ben Sheppard was trying to heave up a three as the shot clock expired, but Queta was right there on the contest to force the 24 second violation.
5. Jordan Walsh Hustle Plays
Jordan Walsh finished the game with 3 points and 5 rebounds but it felt like he was everywhere tonight on defense. Walsh had a great run in the second quarter that started with some great defense on Siakam. Siakam had Walsh on the block and went to work on him like he normally loved to do. Walsh wasn’t going to make it on him however as he stood his ground and forced Siakam to put up a wild shot that looked like it got tipped.
This was followed up by a great block by Neemias Queta that put the Celtics on the fast-break where some nice ball movement occurred. Simons passed it to Queta up top who sent it to Hauser who drew two defenders and found Walsh for a wide open three that he was able to knock down, forcing a Pacers timeout.
Walsh’s best play of the night came on the block he was credited for in the third quarter. Jarace Walker pump faked to get Jordan Walsh in the air. Instead of taking the shot, he decided to pass it to Ben Sheppard in the corner where he attempted a three. However, Walsh was able to recover well on the initial pump fake and sent Sheppard’s shot into the third row.
6. Luka Garza Bounce Back
Much like Queta, Luka Garza had a rough game in Detroit when it came to being matched up with their bigs. In this game however, he was able to bounce back and make a ton of winning plays, finishing with 8 points and 6 rebounds. Garza is a master when it comes to grabbing offensive rebounds and this play is a good microcosm of his performance on the glass. After Scheierman missed a layup, Garza was able hit the ball up to himself, grab another rebound, and got fouled by Isaiah Jackson on his third attempt to get free throws.
Garza showed off his masterful finishing skills at the basket tonight at the 4:54 mark of the first quarter. After setting a great screen on Andrew Nembhard for Pritchard, Payton pump faked a three and found Garza rolling to the basket on a bounce pass. Garza then used a beautiful deceleration step to let let Walker fly by him and finish the layup.
7. Hugo Gonzalez Offensive Flashes
Any time we get to see Hugo Gonzalez come in to the game, it is always going to be a fun time and tonight he made some great plays despite finishing with only 5 points and 2 rebounds. His best play of the night came after Anfernee Simons missed a midrange jumper in the second quarter. Hugo battled on the offensive glass over a crowd of Pacers players, came up with the ball, bobbled it, then got control to pass it to Jaylen Brown. Brown then found Gonzalez who relocated back to the corner for a wide open three that went down and got the TD Garden on its feet.
His other great play came off of an inbounds pass. White was passing it in and Gonzalez made a great cut to the basket off of a nice back screen by Queta to finish a wide open layup.
8. Free Throws
NBCSports Boston showed an interesting graphic during their broadcast tonight where it showed the Celtics rank dead last in free throw differential at home at -6.3 and 21st on the road at -1.4. In this game however, Boston was able to buck the trend as they shot 25 free throws on the night compared to Indiana’s 23. The Celtics did a much better job of hitting their free throws in this game as well, finishing the night 23-25 (92%). Joe Mazzulla said in his post game press conference that they need to find ways to win even when they aren’t shooting well and getting to the free throw line is a great start.
9. Dominating the Paint
The Celtics did a great job when it came to protecting the pain in this matchup against the Pacers. Thanks to the help of Neemias Queta, Boston finished the night with 6 blocks and only allowed Indiana to score 40 points in the paint. On the flip side, the Celtics finished with 48 points in the paint and shot 24-42 (57%) in that area. Boston was also dominant on the glass in this game, out-rebounding Indiana 54-42. This is a great bounce back from their loss to the Pistons and it was helped by the Pacers not having a legitimate big man.
10. Three Point Differential
In the three prior matchups with the Pacers this season, the three point shot has been the great equalizer. In the first matchup, the Pacers shot 60% from three in the first half and 5% from three in the second half leading to a 103-95 Celtics win. In the second matchup, Boston shot 51% from three and blew out Indiana 140-122. In the third matchup, Boston shot 26% from three as a team while Indiana 43% of theirs to beat the Celtics 98-96. In this matchup, the three pointer was not the biggest equalizer with both teams hitting 12 threes on the night but Boston was able to hit them at a more efficient clip, shooting 12-31 (39%) over Indiana’s 12-45 (27%).
