The Celtics had their chances to get to Las Vegas as part of the in-season tournament, but they weren’t able to stop the Pacers in the second half. Indiana poured it on, scoring 74 second-half points, as the Pacers had enough made shots down the stretch to bury the Celtics.
While the C’s could’ve shot better, the mistakes piled up as they had 18 turnovers. Eventually, the effort wasn’t enough in a 122-112 loss to the Pacers on Monday in Indiana. So the Celtics fought to make it to the knockout stages of the tourney, but they were eliminated from the tourney in the quarterfinals.
“I wanted to (expletive) go to Vegas,” Jayson Tatum said, via NBC Sports Boston. “I ain’t want to go home. I want to go to Vegas. So yeah, I’m mad. Next year, I guess.”
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Things quickly unraveled for the Celtics in the third quarter as they were outscored 37-23 by the Pacers. Tyrese Haliburton caught some fire, either scoring or assisting on a majority of the Pacers’ points as part of his first-career triple-double. But part of it was the Celtics’ turnovers as that allowed the Pacers to ramp up their pace and pressure.
That third quarter continues to be an issue for the Celtics as they have some of the worst numbers in the league in the 12 minutes after halftime. So while the C’s dropped to a still-healthy 15-5, there are some areas they still need to clean up going forward. They’ve been too lackadaisical coming out of halftime, and that’s buried them a few times this season.
The Celtics will now face either the Knicks or Bucks on Friday at TD Garden. The Knicks and Bucks play Tuesday as part of their own quarterfinal match of the in-season tourney. So the loser of that game will travel to Boston. But that’ll be just another regular season game Friday as the tournament life has come to a close for the Celtics.
“Obviously, we gotta do something to come out of this locker room better,” Derrick White said of the third quarters. “Play 48 minutes. It starts with us starters, and we gotta be better.”
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