Celtics Storm Back, Win Indy 500!! ECF G3 Victory Cigar vs IND 5/25 (BOS leads 3-0)

[AlCelticFan]

WOW

What an incredible win. Tatum with the huge stat line and 0 turnovers.

Jrue with the DPOY level defence and an absolute championship mindset.

Ol Al for the threes!

Let’s go Celtics!!!!

Tatum made some great passes tonight as well. Great game.

Behind the back pass to Al at the 3pt line when Tatum was inside the paint drawing 2 defenders.

That's Larry Legend stuff right there.

That play was amazing. Horford was so wiiiiide open. The defenders were pretty much on the entire other side of the court.

[Celts17Pride]

TJ makes a 3 to give the Pacers an 8-point lead, 107-99, with 3:06 left in the 4th.

People were expecting Joe to take a timeout, but White pushed the ball and Jrue ended up getting an easy layup to make it 101-107.

Joe pushed the right buttons in this game.

If you're a Pacers fan, how in the world do you lose a game where you led by 18 in the 2nd qtr. and again led by 18 in the 3rd qtr.

But since it's Rick and not Joe, nobody will be asking to fire Rick.

Just imagine if the Celtics led by 18 in the 2nd and again led by 18 in the 3rd and the Cs lost.

The immediate overreaction would be, "Fire Joe!"

Celtics were out rebounded by 7 and allowed 68 points in the paint. That won’t win you a NBA Championship.

Mazzulla and the Celtics have to be better. They were fortunate tonight

[zoyathedestroya]

Read on Twitter

69 wins would've been nice to cap the season but will settle for 66.

[SuperDeluxe]

JB with a relatively quiet but not terrible game (glad he didn’t force things too much at least).

Agreed. I think his monster dunk was instrumental in bringing some extra energy out from everyone during the comeback. I know I was pumped as hell and was hoping for more.

[Fierce1]

Pacers once again shot 50% in this game and that's 5 straight playoff games where a team shot 50% or higher.

That's gotta be some kind of playoff record.

[Jammer]

Tatum, Al, Jrue, Jaylen and Derrick White brought this one home. Hauser has done zilch in 3 games against Indiana, and Pritch hasn't been impactful in 2 of the 3 games. So, the concerns about the bench against more elite competition were valid. Horford playing like he was 10 years younger, and Holiday playing magnificently while fitting in on only 10 shots are helping this team succeed. The Tillman addition was crucial from a defensive standpoint, especially with the injury to KP.

What's remarkable about this win is that Indiana outshot the Celtics (50.5% to 47%), outrebounded the Celtics by 7 and committed 4 less Turnovers but couldn't pull it out. That's veteran experience under pressure holding it together in the 4th.

The thing probably least understood by Celtics fans is that Jrue Holiday is a much better, and more team oriented player, than Mahcus Smart. The difference is huge.

An alternative view:

Pts. + Rebounds + (0.5*Assists) + Steals + ().5* Blocks) - Missed Field Goals - (0.5*Missed Free Throws) - Turnovers - (0.5* Fouls)

+39.5 Jayson Tatum 44 minutes

+22.5 Al Horford 35 minutes
+18.5 Jrue Holiday 38 minutes
+18 Jaylen Brown 38 minutes

+11 Derrick White 35 minutes

+2.5 Xavier Tillman 13 minutes
+2 Payton Pritchard 14 minutes
+0.5 Oshae Brissett 9 minutes
-2.5 Sam Hauser 13 minutes

Team Toal = 112

[zoyathedestroya]

I WOULDA VOTED TATUM! EASILY IMO!

Did they revoke your voting rights or something? Let me talk to the chairperson of the Board of Elections.

[CelticFaninLBC]

Jrue's so much better than Smart.

[Fierce1]

3:06 remaining in the 4th and the Pacers were still leading by 8 points.

This is a choke job by the Pacers.

[Fierce1]

Jrue's so much better than Smart.

That shouldn't be a surprise considering Jrue is a former All-Star.

It's time all Celtic fans acknowledge that fact.

[Shak_Celts]

I think X tonight saved our butt in the way Brissy did. His D was excellent! Every time they drove he slowed them in a way that let the other guys recover for steals and rbs. Sometimes a box score doesn't do someone justice. Going to need him more!


Joe has deployed the right guy at the right time every time, cred that man!

[Mr_Mojo_Risin]

Kudos for giving us 3 choices, as Jrue, Al, and JT all deserving.

Ahhh damn it we got three? May I kindly request a mod allow me to re-vote or just add 1 to Jrue please?

[Celts17Pride]

JB with a relatively quiet but not terrible game (glad he didn’t force things too much at least).

Agreed. I think his monster dunk was instrumental in bringing some extra energy out from everyone during the comeback. I know I was pumped as hell and was hoping for more.

Brown biggest play tonight was the late defense at half court that had the Pacers take a bad shot with a few seconds on the shot clock.

Brown played well but just wasn’t the story tonight. Same can be said for DWhite.

The story tonight was JT, Big Al and Jrue!

JT was awesome from the jump.

[doogie_hauser]

Bill Simmons tweeted we have a Sam Hauser problem right now and he is right, but I don't know if not playing in game 4 is the right solution. Hopefully Joe and the coaching staff can work through his current shooting woes from 3 point land.

[CelticFaninLBC]

Jrue's so much better than Smart.

That shouldn't be a surprise considering Jrue is a former All-Star.

It's time all Celtic fans acknowledge that fact.

Doubtful pseudo-intellectuals will agree.

[TheMartian]

Pacers with a 6-0 record at home. Celtics with a 4-0 record on the road. Something had to give.

Celtics (in the words of Arya Stark): "Not today."

[Shak_Celts]

I WOULDA VOTED TATUM! EASILY IMO!

Did they revoke your voting rights or something? Let me talk to the chairperson of the Board of Elections.

You know I always vote TEAM! We needed every bit of everyone. Still, think if it was about best tonight, it wouldn't be close. Tat ate! He gave Al dang near all his wide-open shots lmao. Dude was cooking! NO TURNOVERS?!

[Fierce1]

I really don't complain about the refs, but this game the refs were clearly giving the Pacers some help.

That JB drive that the refs didn't call a foul on, in the 1st half, was clearly a foul.

Joe had to call timeout to tell the refs that.

And Myles Turner slapping Jrue's wrist, making Jrue lose the ball, was clear as day a foul.

[chakdaddy]

Has anyone ever witnessed us getting the favorable end of a clear path foul?

[Fierce1]

That's why there's no need to get too high or too low on regular season wins and losses.

This is the real Celtics we're seeing right now.

Credit to Joe, all those experimenting in the regular season is paying off now.