Celtics (15-4) at Pacers (10-8) Game #20 12/4/23

[liam]

Refs are doing whatever they can to keep this close. These calls for Indy are soft and questionable as can be.

Terrible.

[Silas]

Solid 1st half with minimal  3s.

[Atzar]

Five threes from Tatum in that half.  Four of them were junk (and the good shot wasn't even the one he hit).  I want better. 

This entire team should be taking Haliburton to the rim, especially if Turner isn't on the court.  Dude can't guard a goldfish in a bowl.  No reason to launch poor threes when a target like that is on the court. 

[SCeltic34]

Remarkable that we're up 7 after many things did not go well that half.  We still won both quarters.

[liam]

I'm hoping for more than 2 free throws for the second half!

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Remarkable that we're up 7 after many things did not go well that half.  We still won both quarters.

right. we will play better next half

[SHAQATTACK]

I hate when we shot poor from three

[tenn_smoothie]

Celts 6-23 from three and they are launching some from well beyond the line.
Tatum made the one, but so many others have been awful shots.
Will this team ever become smarter about shot selection ? Certainly not with Mazzulla.

[scaryjerry]

Anything could happen in the second half as we know with this Celtics team but this pacers team is average and I’m so sick of hearing about their vaunted offense. They play absolutely no defense and have run up high scores against other teams that play no defense. Bury them already.

[Silas]

Remarkable that we're up 7 after many things did not go well that half.  We still won both quarters.

and we had a lot of complaining about Luke, who played a solid 8 min.

[tenn_smoothie]

I at least appreciate that Barkley often criticizes the Celts for their bad shot selection.
How much better could this team be ?

[jpotter33]

While the fact that Indy plays no defense certainly contributes to this, the fact that we've only had 2 free throws thus far is crap as much as we're attacking the basket and getting some contact.

[blink]

If we keep getting Halliburton switched on Tatum, JT needs to keep attacking the rim.  TH can’t guard JT, he is too much for him.  Exploit that until they stop us.

[hpantazo]

While the fact that Indy plays no defense certainly contributes to this, the fact that we've only had 2 free throws thus far is crap as much as we're attacking the basket and getting some contact.

Yes, and if Porzingis were playing he probably would have already been tossed with two techs by now.

[tenn_smoothie]

This is the one advantage I think that JB has over JT. He's more athletic and faster with a quicker first step, so he easily able to get to the rim and finish against these no-defense teams by using his sheer athleticism.

Hopefully he keeps it up and keeps attacking.

If only Brown could ask himself, how is it I need to play to be the most beneficial to this team, we would really have something special with he and Tatum. Think of how Max accepted less scoring when Bird was drafted and how beautifully he and Larry played together. People forget that those first few seasons together, including the title year in '81, Max and Bird were viewed in a similar light as Tatum and Brown are now. Max had been the leading scorer before 1980 and was Finals MVP in '81. He and Larry figured out how best to be effective for the team.

The problem is when Jaylen starts thinking is when he gets himself in trouble 

Point taken.

Probably should have said that if the coach would direct him on how to play, but there is no hope of that.