Brown scored 40 points, Haliburton went out injured, and the Pacers played the biggest shortcoming of the Green Army
On January 9th, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and today the Pacers sat at home to welcome the challenge of the Celtics, the two teams just played a game over the weekend, and finally the Green Army defeated the opponent, after returning to the home court, facing the Celtics who were absent from Tatum, the Pacers also wanted to win, and then we will talk about the game process first, and then talk about the players' play.
Contest Recap:
At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, Turner teamed up with Nesmith to play a 5-0 start, Porzingis inside kill opened up the situation for the Green Army, Jaylen Brown and Horford combined for 5 points, Jalen Smith and Nesmith combined for 4 points to help the Pacers regain the lead, and then the game entered Brown's time, he broke through in a row, and scored 12 points in a single quarter, but relying on the excellent play of the whole team, the Pacers withstood Brown's offense, and they only trailed by 1 point in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Cornet and Pritchard combined for 5 points to help the Green Army extend the lead, Toppin scored 5 points in a row with free throws, Mathurin relied on free throws to help the team catch up with the difference, Pritchard and White hit three points one after another, Turner and Haliburton responded with mid-range shots, and then Brown scored 7 points in a row to help the Green Army re-establish the lead, he was still strong in this quarter and scored 13 points in a single quarter, and the Green Army led the opponent by 9 points at halftime.
Jaylen Brown's inside kill helped the team extend the lead to 11 points, it was obvious that Brown wanted to close the game, but the Pacers didn't want to give up, Nesmith scored 5 points in a row, Turner scored 5 points in a row, the team caught up with the difference, as Bruns Brown hit a three-pointer, the Pacers overtook the opponent, and then the two sides fell into a stalemate, relying on McConnell's score at the end of the quarter, the Pacers led by 2 points to end the third quarter.
Hield and Toppin combined for five points in the final quarter to help extend the lead, White stopped the bleeding with three points, and then the two sides fell into a stalemate, relying on Horford's key three points, the Green Army tied the opponent in the last two minutes of regular time, and then Hield and Nesmith combined for six points, Brown and Porzingis combined for seven points in response, and then Mathurin relied on free throws to beat the Green Army, and they defeated the opponent 133-131.
Brown is on fire, and the Green Army's bench firepower is too poor
In the absence of Tatum, Brown stepped up, he was full of firepower, he shot 17 of 25 from the field, 3 of 4 from three-point range and got 40 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist. White had an abnormal game, with 13 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists on 4-of-16 shooting, and Holiday had 21 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
Porzingis also failed to play at the level he should have under Turner's defense, with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists on 6-of-13 shooting, and after Tatum's absence, the opponent's defense has become easier, unlike before when they had offensive threats in all five positions, the opponent couldn't defend at all, if it wasn't for Brown to open the individual mode, the Celtics might have collapsed in the first half, because the Celtics' bench firepower was too poor.
The Celtics came off the bench for a total of 27 points, which was good, but it was much worse than the firepower of the Pacers, who scored a total of 71 points off the bench. The Celtics are averaging 27.2 points per game off the bench so far this season, ranking second from the bottom in the league, and they have almost the best starting lineup in the league.
Haliburton went off injured, and Mathurin cashed in on his talent
Haliburton only played 13 minutes before leaving the game due to injury, and he scored 7 points, 2 rebounds and 6 assists on 3-of-5 shooting. Haliburton has played well this season and hopefully he's okay with the injury, Haliburton has suffered a left hamstring strain, and if he misses for a long time, it will definitely affect the Pacers' record.
The Pacers side Mathurin supported the team after Haliburton's injury, he had 26 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists on 8-of-14 shooting, Mathurin was the No. 6 pick in the first round in '22, and he averaged 16.7 points per game last season, but Carlisle wanted to put him in the starting partner Haliburton at the beginning of the season, but Mathurin, who had no ball, struggled, and Carlisle put him off the bench in desperation.
Mathurin has regained his dominance recently, and apart from this one, he has averaged 20 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists per game in the past four games, and he has begun to cash in on his talent, which is the future of the Pacers' second leader. Although there was no Haliburton to feed him, Turner had already played well, finishing with 16 points and eight rebounds on 7-of-13 shooting. Toppin had 13 points, Nesmith had 19 points, four rebounds and two assists, and McConnell had 12 points and seven assists.
Speaking of which, what do you have to say about the current Pacers and the Green Army?