BOSTON — While the Celtics cruised to a Game 2 victory over the Pacers on Thursday, they comfortably held the lead for the majority of the second half. The dangerous Indiana offense can cut into a lead in an instant, which they showed already a few times this series.
But the C’s didn’t need much resistance in the fourth quarter — and that was partly with some help from Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. He subbed out his starters for good with 9:25 left in the fourth quarter and the Pacers facing a 17-point deficit. Sure, that’s a large deficit, but it’s not insurmountable in the modern NBA where offenses can heat up in an instant, especially the Pacers. But the C’s said they didn’t change their approach despite the surprising move from the visitors.
“Just continue to lock in,” Jrue Holiday said. “We know that these guys that are coming off the bench, whether it’s second or third string, this is their chance to make anything happen. And we know just the first and second unit of Indy, they’re going to play hard. But these guys are gonna play even harder. So we know on the big stage, anything can happen and guys can make plays.”
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“It was a little surprising,” Jaylen Brown said. “I don’t know what the reasoning behind it was, but we focused on winning the game. So I think that’s what our focus was, but yeah, that definitely was a little weird.”
Carlisle explained it as wanting to give his starters some rest while getting a look at some different guys on his bench. To be fair, the Pacers have played some high-intensity basketball for the past several days because they went the full seven games against the Knicks. On the flip side, the C’s got some valuable rest as they waited for the other East semifinal to wrap up.
The Pacers were also bogged down as star guard Tyrese Haliburton left the game in the third quarter due to what’s been reported as a hamstring injury. That’s the same injury he dealt with during the regular season, where it clearly affected his play as he had a slow second half of the year. But regardless, the Pacers will need to dig themselves out of another 2-0 series hole, much like the Knicks series. So all they can do for now is focus on Game 3, set for 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“To look at some guys that I thought needed a look,” Carlisle said. “(Doug) McDermott went in there and played well. Isaiah Jackson brought a lot of fight to the game. Jalen Smith hasn’t had much of an opportunity to play in the playoffs and so I wanted to see where he was at and we weren’t, we weren’t giving up, but it was an opportunity to get some energetic fresh guys in there to fight. They did some, they did some good things.”
