The Indiana Pacers are going to Las Vegas

The Indiana Pacers beat Boston in the In-Season Tournament quarterfinal. After beating the Celtics, Indiana will again advance.

The Indiana Pacers won the In-Season Tournament Quarterfinal where they took on the Boston Celtics. After a 122-112 victory over the Celtics, Indiana will again advance. They are 5-0 in the In-Season Tournament.

Tyrese Haliburton is a superstar and has elevated this team to an impressive level. The Pacers responded against a Boston team that beat them by 50 points in their last matchup. If that 50-point loss was the first chapter in the book, I am sure glad I kept reading.

Haliburton finished the game with 26 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds. It was his first career triple-double.

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle shared his thoughts on the environment that Indiana brought tonight: “The crowd and the energy had something to do with that. Our crowd was amazing… I am happy for our fans”.

Here’s how the Pacers were able to beat the Celtics on the biggest stage

Getting stops and capitalizing on them was where the energy was in the first quarter. Myles Turner was able to score in the paint and behind the arc. Obi Toppin, who has been steadily improving, impacted the glass to start the game.

Indiana does a solid job of keeping pace with Boston and not giving any momentum. If anything, they missed opportunities to add more themselves. Indiana missed a few good looks from deep after halting the Boston scoring attack. Nevertheless, the Celtics punched back.

The Pacers substituted Tyrese Haliburton with TJ McConnell instead of Andrew Nembhard. Bennedict Mathurin had a few defensive lapses. However, Bruce Brown was a defensive strength.

The Pacers did not face a big deficit as the first quarter closed. The score was 22-24 Boston. Myles Turner had a team-high 8 points.

The second quarter was back and forth, but it wasn’t a shootout. Andrew Nembhard checked into the game with around five minutes to play in the half. On his first possession, he was fouled and went right to the line. He made one of two.

The Second Half

Tyrese Haliburton got the crowd going with a big three-point shot. He had nearly a double-double in the first half, in points and rebounds (that is new). He finished the half with seven points and six rebounds.

Haliburton flipped a switch to start the second half. He hit shots and cut Boston’s defense with his court vision. The Pacers gain momentum and cut the Celtic’s lead to just one point. The game remains close in the third quarter.

All I can say is if you weren’t in the building for this contest, you probably can hear better than I. Pacers’ fans were LOUD inside of the Fieldhouse Monday night. I posted a few videos of what that sounded like on my X timeline.

TJ McConnell got a steal, then Buddy hit a three, and Boston would miss. It was the perfect storm. Indiana had the lead, but the fourth quarter was next. The Pacers had the lead. Could they keep it?

The feeling was any team could make a run, but the result for much of the quarter was holding the line. Indiana would keep the lead for nearly half the period and minimize mistakes. With under seven minutes to go, the Pacer’s lead was just three. Then, we were tied due to defensive miscommunication.

The game was tight, and no team could break away. We were under two minutes to play and the game tied at 105. Then Tyrese Haliburton arrived. The Pacers’ star showed up at the perfect time, completed a four-point play, and led the Pacers to victory against the Celtics.

The final score was 122-112. The Pacers will now play in Vegas in the next round of the In-Season Tournament.