Pacers survive late fade to beat Celtics in OT, hit the road to play Pelicans next

The Pacers nearly wasted their best effort to date, before settling in to beat the defending champs.

The Pacers’ depth was in full effect on Wednesday night when they delivered their most inspired performance of the season, still nearly lost, but eventually held on to beat the Cetlics, 135-132 in OT.

About the nearly lost…the Celtics almost did it, again. Rallying in furious fashion to steal a win they had no business trying to take. The Pacers were up 21 points with just under 9 minutes remaining in the game. You could sense the C’s ramp things up and they started digging out with a 5-0 run, but Ben Sheppard made a great hustle play to secure a defensive stop they cashed in a three at the other end. Lead back up to 19 with over 7 minutes to go.

The Pacers were stuck on 115, as the C’s kept chipping away, but Aaron Nesmith hit a three to push the lead to 16 with 5 minutes to go. But the Celtics would not be denied and finished the final five minutes on a 22 to 6 run, with a couple of loving whistles from Ed Malloy.

Jayson Tatum tied it up with 14 seconds remaining and Tyrese Haliburton, who had just put the Pacers up three with a two-point bucket, was unable to answer at the end of regulation.

In OT, Haliburton certainly answered as did Pascal Siakam who continued his All-Star level play to begin the season. Haliburton hit a deep three to get OT started and then assisted Siakam in scoring the final five points of the game, including what would be a game-deciding 3-ball from the top of the arc.

Siakam finished with 29 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists, while Haliburton continued struggling to shoot from deep, but finished with 17 points, 12 assists and 6 rebounds. The stars had to show up to match the C’s stars. Both Tatum and Jaylen Brown played 43 minutes with Tatum scoring 37 points, while Brown needed 30 shots to score 25 points with Siakam causing him problems on the defensive end along with solid stretches from Benn Mathurin.

Mathurin? Oh, yeah…about that depth.

With Myles Turner (ankle) out before the tip and Andrew Nemhbard (knee) joining him five minutes into the first quarter, the Pacers leaned their usual reserves to show up big in strong support of stars, Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton.

Benn Mathurin offered a monster performance filling both his reserve role and Nembhard’s role, delivering 30 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists in 43 minutes off the bench. He certainly had a couple of turnovers he’d like back, but delivered a much improved defensive disposition. Mathurin was able to stone Jaylen Brown on a couple of drives which really stood out as he was assertive on both ends of the floor. His game was about far more than scoring in this one, but that 30 points sure came in handy.

Photo: @Pacers

Isaiah Jackson held down the middle with a second consecutive strong effort before fouling out. IJax had 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals in an active role around the rim. That activity can get Jackson in foul trouble but the Pacers were able to manage with some smaller lineups against a Celtics team that doesn’t rely on a big.

Speaking of active, Ben Sheppard continues to deliver his solid all-around effort in relief with 7 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in just 21 minutes. Remember that 3-ball as the C’s were starting to rally? Well, that was just a Shep signature play. With the ball on the ground and no one desperately pursuing it, Shep dove to secure the possession and flip it up to Mathurin. Then he got up ran the floor and the basketball gods rewarded with an open three those same gods would never not allow to splash. Beautiful basketball play.

Among the others, Obi Toppin pitched in18 points having to play big in the smaller lineups and also had a great game on the glass with 7 rebounds. Nesmith played 30 minutes, eventually fouling out working to guard Tatum, but he added 8 rebounds. Needless to say, the Pacers won the battle on the boards 57-51 which was a big improvement.

Finally, TJ McConnell deserves his flowers for returning to his usual role and making himself a menace. Like Shep, TJMacs had a signature play with C’s center Luke Kornet guarding him, McConnell let the ball slowly roll up the court after a Boston make, using up 16 seconds before starting the shot clock. With Kornet finally got close enough to force TJ to grab it, McConnell picked it up drove on Kornet and pulled up for an easy two.

Simply a great team effort to secure a much-needed win over the top team in the league. Hopefully, the improved play will maintain on the road for the next two games starting on Friday night in New Orleans. The Pelicans are 2-3 after a strange schedule to start the season. Their last four games have been on the road which included two games at Portland followed by two games at Golden State. After winning the first two, the Pels have lost three consecutive while absorbing a brutal string of injuries.

CJ McCollum, Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones among others were unavailable in their last game at Golden State. The injury report remains crowded while the Pacers still have Turner and Nembhard questionable. Regardless, the Pacers have a solid opportunity to continue improving their level of play. Now if they can find a way to finish strong with a 48 minute effort, things will really start falling into place.

Pacers vs. Pelicans

Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA

When: Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, 8:00 p.m. ET

TV: FanDuel Sports Network

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan

Odds: Pacers -3

Projected Starters

Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Isaiah Jackson

Pelicans: Jose Alvarado, Jordan Hawkins, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, Daniel Theis

Injuries

Pacers: James Wiseman (Achilles) - out, Myles Turner (ankle) - questionable, Andrew Nembhard (knee) - questionable

Pelicans: CJ McCollum (hip) - questionable, Herb Jones (Shoulder) - questionable, Daniel Theis (ankle) - questionable, Trey Murphy III (hand) - out, Dejounte Murray (hammy) - out