Home Basketball The Celtics are unique. The Pacers, now down 2-0, have concerns about Tyrese Haliburton’s health

The Celtics are unique. The Pacers, now down 2-0, have concerns about Tyrese Haliburton’s health

Basketball — 05/24/2024

Because they have Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Al Horford, and Payton Pritchard.

 

The Celtics enjoy a luxury that few teams have: two-way quality among their rotation players to compensate for another player’s lack of offence.

May be an image of 1 person, playing basketball, crowd and text that says "5- 7 CUE ខ្ញែ CELTICS WIN! Getty mages"Brown scored 24 points in the first half, finished with a playoff career-high 40 points, and provided ample scoring support as the Celtics defeated the spirited but exhausted Pacers 126-110 Thursday to take a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

White scored 23 points, and Holiday had another strong offensive and defensive performance, finishing with 15 points and ten assists. Pritchard scored 12 points off the bench, and despite missing seven of his first nine shots, Tatum finished with 23 points, six rebounds, and five assists.

Game 3 is Saturday in Indianapolis (8 p.m. ET, ABC).

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown dunks the ball during the first half of Game 2 against the Indiana Pacers.

Celtics limiting now-injured Tyrese Haliburton

Tyrese Haliburton of Indiana, who was nominated to the All-NBA third team, finished with 10 points on eight field goal attempts and eight assists. He left the game with 3:44 remaining in the third quarter and did not return due to a left hamstring injury, according to Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. May be an image of 4 people, people playing basketball, basketball jersey, crowd and text
Haliburton reported a strained left hamstring at halftime. He worked on it during the break and returned briefly in the third quarter, but was unable to continue.

Depending on the severity of his injury, the Pacers require more shot attempts and scoring from Haliburton. “We’ll know more tomorrow (Friday), and probably even more Saturday,” Carlisle added. “It wasn’t like the coach decided not to play him. He was unable to return. So we’re hoping that this is only a temporary setback.” 

Haliburton was sidelined for ten games in January due to the same hamstring injury. He got the injury on January 8 against the Celtics.

Pascal Siakam not enough for Pacers

Pacers forward Pascal Siakam led the club with 28 points and was 12-for-14 from the field in the third quarter. Seven Pacers players scored in double figures in Boston’s Game 1 overtime triumph on Tuesday. In Game 2, only four Pacers reached double figures. Andrew Nembhard scored 16 points, while Obi Toppin contributed 11.

The Pacers missed Myles Turner’s offence. He had 23 points and 10 rebounds in Game 1, but his first points in Game 2 came in the third quarter.

Credit Boston, which had the No. 2 defence during the regular season, with restricting the Pacers, who had the No. 2 offence, albeit trailing Boston.

Celtics dominate inside

Boston outscored Indiana 54-34 in the paint and converted 13 offensive boards into 18 second-chance points. Three Celtics scored at least 20 points for the second time in a row, and centre Al Horford, who is filling in for the injured Kristaps Porzingis, contributed six points and ten rebounds.

“The second-chance points were a big factor and turnovers (16), once again, were a big problem,” Carlisle said. “We’ve got to do better in those areas.”