Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris had 20 points a piece to lead five players in double figures Sunday afternoon, as the Boston Celtics earned an 84-74 comeback victory over the Indiana Pacers in game one of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal at TD Garden in Boston.
Indiana took an eight point first quarter lead in which Boston never led, as the game was tied 20-20 after the opening 12 minutes. The Celtics took their only lead of the first half when Gordon Hayward nailed a runner in the paint 30 seconds into the second quarter. Tyreke Evans nailed a three pointer to extend the Pacers lead back to 26-22, igniting a 12-3 run for their biggest lead at 36-25. Boston trailed 45-38 at the half. The hosts grabbed back a lead they would never relinquish when Irving hit a jump shot with 7:52 left in the third quarter to make it 47-45. Terry Rozier made a running three pointer just before the third quarter buzzer to give the Celtics their biggest lead to the point at 64-53. Boston outscored Indiana 26-8 in the third. The green and white continued to extend that lead in the fourth quarter going up as many as 22 on a three pointer from Jayson Tatum to cement the game one win.
Irving added five rebounds, seven assists, and two steals for the fourth seeded Eastern Conference seed Celtics. Morris added seven rebounds. Tatum finished with 15 points, three rebounds, and two steals. Al Horford and Hayward each had 10 points. Horford had a double double by also grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out five assists. Hayward also added seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals. For the fifth seeded Pacers, Cory Joseph had 14 points and Bojan Bogdanovic added 12. Boston made 10-28 from three point range as Indiana went 6-27. The Celts also shot 18-22 from the line, as compared to 12-21 for the Pacers. Boston was also one of only two home teams to win over the weekend in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, as the top seeded Milwaukee Bucks also won. The second and third seeds Toronto and Philadelphia got beaten by Orlando and Brooklyn respectively. The two teams now have two days off in Boston as game two will tipoff Wednesday night at 7 pm from TD Garden.
