BOSTON — Hours before Friday night’s tipoff, a tailor-made trap game if there ever was one for the road weary Celtics, coach Joe Mazzulla pinpointed the single greatest danger in facing the lottery-bound Pacers.
Tempo.
A young and aggressive bunch, the Pacers lead the NBA in fast-break points. They push opponents through their pace and All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton, whose return from an ankle injury Friday coincided with the C’s return from a six-game road trip.
So before they let the Pacers rev their engines, the Celtics beat them at their own game.
Jayson Tatum poured in 34 points and the Celtics doubled Indiana in fast-break points in a 120-95 win at TD Garden. Jaylen Brown added 27 points and seven rebounds, while Derrick White scored 22 and dished nine assists. Boston outscored the Pacers by 20 in the second half.
Playing his first home game in three weeks, Rob Williams thwarted Indiana in the half-court with three blocks and three steals, both team highs. He added four points and eight boards.
The Celtics have now won six of their last eight and maintained their place as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference standings.
Haliburton finished with 20 points and nine assists, while Pacers center Myles Turner had 20 points and six rebounds. Indiana shot 15.4% from downtown, while Boston hit 42.9% thanks largely to White’s 5-of-9 showing.
Early on, the Pacers (33-41) paved a runway to the basket and recorded 60% of their first-quarter shots inside the paint. Meanwhile, the Celtics cashed five 3-pointers, including a stretch of four straight that helped open the game. After Indiana’s Isaiah Jackson flushed a game-tying dunk with 5.9 seconds left in the quarter, Tatum beat the buzzer with a scooping, left-handed layup to push Boston back up 34-32.
But the Celtics (51-32) couldn’t pull away from the pesky Pacers just yet, nor keep them away from the rim. Backup point guard T.J. McConnell cashed three straight layups midway through the second quarter, each trimming Boston’s lead down to two. After McConnell’s third basket, Buddy Hield (eight points, eight rebounds) converted a lazy Brown pass on the next possession into a fast-break dunk and tied the game at 6:39 remaining.
Breaking from their timeout, the Celtics pieced together a 12-4 run built on sturdier defense and inside-out offense. That stretch inspired Indiana to call time at 3:11 left in the quarter, a maneuver that succeeded in slowing Boston down. The Celtics scored three points through halftime and led 60-55.
Rested and returning to the floor, Tatum and Brown spurred separate runs in the third quarter that all but knocked Indiana out. The first spurt, a 14-2 stretch, saw Tatum and Brown both connect on long 3-pointers. Next, the Celtics enjoyed a 10-2 run thanks to a pair of 3-point plays from Brown. White fed the latter on a cross-court dump-off to the low block, where Brown spun and lifted through contact for an and-1.
The Celtics’ largest lead reached 29 in the fourth quarter. Grant Williams led Boston’s bench with 12 points and six rebounds.
The Celtics pulled their starters midway through the fourth quarter, ready to roll into their final eight games of the regular season starting with a visit from the Spurs on Sunday.
