The Celtics take on Philadelphia in a pivotal division clash on Sunday.
Fourth quarter, 3:06, Celtics 79-65: If there is any wonder how Rondo handles the ball and dishes it so well, you need to see his hands up close. Rondo has monstrous hands, and he used them almost comically to finish a fastbreak layup that gave the Celtics a 14-point lead.
Collison lost the ball coming around a screen, and Rondo picked it up and raced downcourt. Dribbling with his right hand, he grabbed the ball with his right hand without ever using his left hand, like he was bouncing a tennis ball and snatching it off the bounce, before laying it in.
Fourth quarter, 5:37, Celtics 72-62: Rondo had nine assists at halftime and it took him more than 18 minutes of game time to get to 10. It marked Rondo's 16th straight game with double-digit assists, even if he had to work for that final one.
The Celtics as a team continued to share the ball. Boston had 23 assists on its 27 field goals, contributing to the Celtics' 41 percent shooting efficiency. The Pacers had only nine assists on their 22 baskets, which probably had a lot to do with their 36 percent shooting mark.
Fourth quarter, 8:06, Celtics 65-56: More trouble with fouls meant an even worse pace to begin the fourth quarter. The Pacers opened the quarter 1-for-4 from the field, with a Lou Amundson one-handed throwdown on an oop pass from George Hill the Pacers' only points.
The Celtics were able to take advantage and add to their lead, but it was not really a "run" by the C's. It was more of a crawl, really, in between whistles.
End of third quarter, Celtics 59-51: The Celtics shot 5-for-17 from the field and saw their 13-point lead whittled to eight points in the third quarter.
LeAndro Barbosa gave the Celtics trouble with his speed off the bench. He scored five points in the quarter and stole the ball rather easily from Allen, who followed an aggressive first half with only two shots in the period.
Third quarter, 2:14, Celtics 55-46: All flow was sucked out of this quarter by the work of referee Eddie F. Rush — we'll leave it to you to determine what the "F" stands for — and his crew.
This wasn't about the Celtics getting the short end of the calls, although they felt they did. This was about six rhythm-killing calls that slowed this down to a baseball pace.
Granger rattled in a 3-pointer to cut the Celtics' lead to nine points. Rivers had to call a timeout, as if this quarter needed any more stoppages.
Third quarter, 6:24, Celtics 50-37: The Celtics were quite unhappy with the way the officials called the first six minutes of the third quarter. The Pacers were whistled only once, but the Celtics felt at least three more could/should have been called.
More importantly, the Celtics' pace grounded to a halt, just the way Rivers hates. The teams combined for only 11 points in the first 5:36 of the second half, even with all of the starters on the floor.
Halftime, Celtics 43-33: A flurry of fouls helped the Pacers ease back into to game after the Celtics moved ahead by as many as 17 points. One of those fouls, a flagrant-one foul on Rondo, who grazed Granger's head going for the ball, was dubious.
The Pacers outshot the Celtics at the foul line 10-5, assisting Indiana in cutting its deficit down to 10 points.
The Good: Whenever the Celtics have a double-digit lead, it's safe to guess Rajon Rondo is at the center of it. The Celtics point guard ended the first half with nine assists and forced Darren Collison, who is prone to inconsistency, into one of Collison's off halves. … Greg Stiemsma picked up all five of the Celtics' blocked shots. … Roy Hibbert is tough to move in the low post, so holding the 7-foot-2 center to eight points on 3-for-6 shooting, 11 rebounds and two blocks is a minor accomplishment for Kevin Garnett and Stiemsma. … Sasha Pavlovic has been the consummate pro all year, ready to go when called upon and not complaining when his number is never called. He answered the ball with eight points on 3-for-4 shooting in the first half.
The Bad: Danny Granger and Paul Pierce troubled each other on the defensive end. The Celtics captain was only 2-for-6 from the field and picked up three early fouls. The Pacers' leading scorer missed five of his first seven shots and had two turnovers.
The So-so: Ray Allen had a tough start, missing two of his three shots and both of his 3-point attempts in the first half. He was more active trying to generate his own shot in the second frame, shooting 3-for-8, nabbing three rebounds and notching two of his three first-half steals.
Second quarter, 6:24, Celtics 34-19: The Pacers are known for their depth, but it was the Celtics' second unit that did the most damage early in the second quarter. Pavlovic finally took that open shot and drilled it, nailing a 3-pointer that gave Boston a 15-point lead.
As an added bonus, Stiemsma followed up his six-point first quarter by bringing his block total to four early in the second. And he had yet to commit a foul.
The Celtics held a 15-2 advantage in bench points midway through the quarter.
Second quarter, 7:46, Celtics 28-19: Pavlovic got off to a nice start by hitting his first two shots, but he often suffers from KG-itis. That is, he declines wide-open shots that he should really take.
Pavlovic dribbled off a Garnett screen and appeared to have a great look at a 15-foot jumper. Instead, he passed away to Bradley, who made a turnover trying to find Garnett as the shot clock wound down. Rivers would probably prefer Pavlovic take the open shot there. After all, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take.
End of first quarter, Celtics 24-19: Rondo was actively looking for Greg Stiemsma after the big man came off the bench. Stiemsma finished the quarter 3-for-3 for six points and all he had to do was catch and convert the layup or dunk.
Then again, Rondo actively looked for just about everybody. He led a late break and handed off to Sasha Pavlovic, who knocked down a baseline jumper as the first quarter expired. Pavlovic's second basket of the first quarter gave Rondo eight assists.
Rondo and Granger were the only players on either team to play all 12 minutes.
The Pacers also made an intriguing matchup choice in the first quarter. They assigned George, their best individual defender, to guard Rondo, while sending their point guard to guard the Celtics' two-guard. That made perfect sense when Bradley was on the floor, but the Pacers continued to do it even when Allen subbed in. It's hard to recall the last time in his career a team purposely put an inferior defender on Allen.
First quarter, 2:03, Celtics 17-15: Ray Allen made his first appearance with 4:12 left in the first quarter. He missed his first 3-point attempt, so clearly coming off the bench is messing with him and Doc should blow up this experiment immediately.
Allen got on the board with an easy layup created by Rondo on a two-on-two break moments later.
First quarter, 6:05, Celtics 11-8: One key to this game could be Garnett's positioning on defense against Hibbert. Twice in the early minutes, Hibbert established position and was able to catch the ball on the block. Both times Hibbert converted a hook shot.
Two other times, Garnett forced Hibbert to catch the ball a step or two beyond the paint. The results were a bobbled hand-off pass attempt to Collison and a tipped pass by Garnett that led to a three-on-one fastbreak.
Bradley looks like an ant beside George, who has at least a six-inch height advantage. Sometimes, smaller defenders benefit from having a lower center of gravity to get better position. Other times, obviously, the taller player just shoots over the shrimp guarding him. We'll see which type of matchup this one is.
6:18 p.m.: Avery Bradley has faced a lot of tough covers as the Celtics' starting two-guard. This game's matchup might be one of the toughest, as the 6-foot-2 Bradley matches up with the 6-foot-9 Paul George.
George, who allegedly grew two inches in the offseason, is one of the league's budding stars and already one of the best multidimensional players in the league. He would have hassled Ray Allen on the perimeter, which is party of why the decision by Celtics coach Doc Rivers to start Bradley is not the dumbest idea in the world.
The Celtics will be taking on a Pacers team that is doing its best to shatter the idea that starless teams cannot win in th NBA. The Pacers have won four straight and seven of their last nine games to take over the third seed in the Eastern Conference. In addition their lone "star"-level player, Danny Granger, has been on fire. After a rough first half of the season, when he shot just 38 percent from the field and 35 percent from 3-point range, the All-Star forward has averaged 19.3 points on 46 percent shooting, 41 percent from downtown, in 22 games since the All-Star break.
The probable starting lineups appear below.
Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley
Rajon Rondo
Pacers
Roy Hibbert
David West
Danny Granger
Paul George
Darren Collison
8 a.m.: The Celtics will try to be a little less "cool" on Saturday when they take on the Pacers in Indiana.
It is not clear how the Celtics become less cool. Do they watch all six episodes of Star Wars? Do they chant "Nerds, Nerds, Nerds" in the pregame huddle?
However they do it, they will have to so something after coach Doc Rivers criticized the Celtics (30-24) play in Thursday's loss at Chicago, saying his team was too "cool" to play hard.
That approach led to their second consecutive loss, and would probably mean a third consecutive loss if they bring a similar attitude against the Pacers (34-21), who are coming off an impressive win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which is set to tip-off at 7 p.m. ET.
