Celtics 142-105 Pacers (December 27, 2024) Game Recap

BOSTON — Jaylen Brown scored a season-high 44 points, including six 3-pointers, and the Boston Celtics snapped a two-game skid with a 142-105 rout of the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.

Jayson Tatum added 22 points and 13 rebounds for Boston, which finished with 23 3s and never trailed. Brown also had four steals to join Larry Bird (five times) and Antoine Walker as the only Celtics with at least 44 points and four steals in a game.

Payton Pritchard finished with 18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

The Pacers have lost two straight since posting a season-best five-game winning streak.

Tyrese Haliburton had 19 points and nine assists, Bennedict Mathurin finished with 18 points and Pascal Siakam added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Takeaways

Pacers: Unsurprisingly, Indiana struggled to find its footing with Obi Toppin sitting out with a sprained left ankle and Andrew Nembhard also out dealing with tendinitis in his left knee.

Celtics: Snapped their first three-game losing streak of the season with a dominant effort on both ends of the floor. Boston had nine steals and limited Indiana to 28% from beyond the arc. The Celtics did it without starters Kristaps Porzingis (sprained left ankle) and Jrue Holiday, who missed his second straight game with a shoulder injury.

Key moment

Al Horford connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to cap a 13-0 run by the Celtics late in the second quarter that gave them a 67-35 lead. Boston increased its cushion to as many as 38 in the fourth quarter.

Key state

This was Brown’s 11th career game with 40 or more points.

Next

Boston and Indiana meet again on Sunday in their final game of the season.

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