Celtics Edge Pacers in Frantic Final Minute

The Boston Celtics stole an unlikely, late win over the Indiana Pacers last night. Boston scored 10 points in the final 27 seconds to come back after giving away a 19 point lead.

The Pacers were up 107 – 102 with half a minute left when Kyrie Irving scored 6 points. With Boston a point behind in the last ten seconds, Terry Rozier intercepted a Bojan Bogdanovic and broke away for the dunk to give Boston the win.

The Celtics went 10 – 0 up early in the game thanks to Al Horford, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

After a first quarter of incisive attacking play by Boston, it led 38 – 21. The Celtics built on this lead until halftime, when they were up 62 – 47. Although it was three quarters of Boston dominance, Indiana began to claw their way back. Entering the 4th quarter the Celtics led by 85 – 78.

Kyrie Irving led Boston with 30 points, including those two late three pointers. Al Horford also scored 14 points, made 10 rebounds and 9 assists.

Irving said at full time that this was “one hell of a game to be a part of”.

Jayson Tatum added 16 points. In addition, Marcus Smart scored 15. The Pacers were led by Victor Oladipo.

Eastern Conference

Oladipo scored 38 points, 30 of which came in the second half. It was also his three pointer with 53 seconds remaining that gave Indiana it’s first lead.

Via Yahoo Sports, Oladipo said:

“It’s a tough, tough loss. We gave ourselves a chance to win and we competed with the best team in the Eastern Conference. We can be that good, we just have to keep on getting better.”
The Boston Celtics are now 26 -7 for the season. They are second favorites to win the Eastern Conference at + 200, and 4th favorites to win the NBA Championship at + 1000.