Pacers at Celtics
The Boston Celtics responded to the loss of one of their defensive leaders by putting forth a dominant effort on that end of the floor to begin their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series with the Indiana Pacers. They'll try to maintain their stranglehold on the Pacers and take a commanding 2-0 series lead when the teams meet Wednesday night in Boston.
Despite losing guard Marcus Smart (oblique) prior to the postseason, the Celtics outmuscled Indiana -- particularly during a 26-8 third quarter -- in Sunday's 84-74 Game 1 win, their third victory over the Pacers in a span of 17 days going back to the regular season. "They missed some shots, but we were really connected," Boston coach Brad Stevens told reporters. "We were really playing hard. We were really flying around." All-Star guard Kyrie Irving and forward Marcus Morris scored 20 points apiece for the Celtics, who had a 55-42 advantage on the glass and held Indiana to 33.3 percent shooting. Cory Joseph came off the bench to lead the Pacers with 14 points, while the team's five starters combined for 38 on 15-of-44 from the floor.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TNT, FS Indiana, NBCS Boston
ABOUT THE PACERS: Sometimes it comes down to simply making enough shots, and Indiana was nowhere close to achieving that goal in Game 1, especially during the third quarter when they were 2-of-19 from the floor. "We've got to shake this off and realize there was a lot of good in there," guard Wesley Matthews told reporters. "I don't think if we played with our eyes closed we could have an eight-point quarter again." Matthews and Joseph hit a pair of 3-pointers apiece while their teammates combined to go 2-of-17 from long range.
ABOUT THE CELTICS: Irving had to watch Boston's run to the Eastern Conference finals from the sidelines last season due to injury, but he made the most of his first playoff game with the team by leading the defensive charge. "I just try to be aggressive on the ball, be in the right spots," Irving, who also had a team-high seven assists, told the media. "I just really want to be aggressive and really be the head of the snake." Forward Jayson Tatum scored 15 points and was the only Celtic to shoot better than 50 percent from the field by hitting 6-of-11 shots -- 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Celtics C Al Horford had 10 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in Game 1.
2. SF Bojan Bogdanovic led the Pacers' starting five with 12 points in the opener.
3. Boston hit 18-of-22 free throws in Game 1, while Indiana was 12-of-21.