Celtics Unable to Lean on Defense to Beat Pacers

BOSTON — Jayson Tatum launched a shot while Aaron Nesmith fouled him as the official emphatically ran to the right corner and point at the ground as the crowd’s cheers fell into boos.

A four-point play would’ve pulled the Celtics within one point after trailing by 30, but the ball went to a side out instead of the free throw line. Tatum launched another three moments later, it hit the back of the rim and the Pacers escaped with a 117-112 win.

The decisive play already came two quarters earlier. Nesmith missed a three that TJ McConnell corralled back to him for another miss inside. Oshae Brissett followed the shot on the opposite side of the rim and poured a layup back in to increase Indiana’s lead to 59-30. Boos rained down from the stands and Boston called timeout after a 39-19 run since the previous stoppage. The Pacers scored 42 points in the first quarter and flummoxed the Celtics defense Joe Mazzulla believed entered the game overlooked. He left it wondering what happened.

“I thought the first three minutes we came out and did our job, played hard enough,” Malcolm Brogdon told CLNS Media. “I think they went on a run and we just let them continue to go on a run and stay comfortable until the lead got too big.”

Mazzulla saw the Celtics lack details and awareness in the opening quarter, a startling development given the mini series sweep at the hands of the Magic and two off days that preceded Wednesday. Boston worked through its issues at practice on Tuesday and entered the Pacers game flatter than ever.

Jalen Smith dominated the offensive glass and Indiana converted 13-of-15 shots after a 1-for-9 start. Tyrese Haliburton lifted Robert Williams III with an up-fake and hit Myles Turner and Smith rolling uncontested. Jaylen Brown threw an in-bounds pass right to Nesmith to score. Chris Duarte beat the buzzer with a three-point heave.

A statistically top-10 unit that started the year uneven in their own end didn’t look like last year’s group, again.  Pacers cutters beat Celtics defenders, three-point shooters fired with space and Williams III’s 22 minutes didn’t prevent Indiana from averaging 122.9 points per 100 possessions against the Celtics during that time. On offense, the Celtics shot 6-for-18 at the rim as the Pacers followed the lead of recent teams that cut off Boston’s rim access.

“We were scoring really well, but it really started with defense,” Oshae Brissett told CLNS. “We were talking about before the game, Jayson Tatum won player of the month averaging 3o (PPG). That’s crazy for anyone, and we did a good job in the first quarter of really containing him and focusing on their main guys. It really started on defense … just to contain them. They can get hot at any second, so if we come out at the start, stop them on defense, not really worry about offense and play for each other, then we’ll be good. They’re a good team, they’re gonna pick it back up, they’re top of the east for a reason, but we were able to come away with the win.”

The Celtics couldn’t do the same, and Tatum didn’t see the group commit to defense until the second half, after Mazzulla asked them what kind of group they wanted to be. Brown and Tatum ended the first half missing a layup and forcing a long two-pointer. They opened the second piling up stops at the rim and setting up Al Horford for a pair of threes into the half court.

They double-teamed Haliburton across half court and funneled the ball to Nesmith for a miss from three. Payton Pritchard, who started in place of a sick Marcus Smart, fed Brown for a cutting dunk to cut the lead from 28 points to 20 within minutes. The Celtics succeeded by increasing pressure and pick-up points in recent games and thrived in the second half, holding the Pacers to 93.9 points per 100 after halftime, production in line with last year’s heights.

The game also took on a feel of a 2021-22 early season second half cram session. Boston frenetically chased offensive rebounds and blitzed defensively to force turnovers and create transition runs. They provided a compelling run, Tatum dunking through Nesmith and sending him flying past the stanchion, but not resulting in anything substantive as Derrick White shot 0-for-7 and hesitated to unload at one point. Sam Hauser showed more frustration through misses. Brogdon struggled to settle the offense and Brown lost the ball constantly.

Smart’s urgency on the ball, rushing it into the half court, making a timely pass, or running a set to find a teammate near the basket went sorely missed. The team hasn’t answered those rallying calls in recent weeks anyway, and while every recent loss contained its nuances, they’ve all been followed by a lack of answers.

Maybe they need a timeout to calm things down. There’s no apparent rift in room. Mazzulla hasn’t grown concerned. It’s just not something he does. Through multiple seasons, it’s clear this group will simply lapse, settle, stagnate and disconnect at times and someone needs to pull them through it when it happens.

Nobody did, again, on Wednesday with only a return to playing disruptive defense and doing so with Horford and Williams III sharing the court for the late stages of the comeback attempt showing promise. The Celtics, Tatum believes, can restore their defensive identity and lean on that end through bad shooting with an earlier effort.

“The first half (effort) wasn’t (there), the second half you seen us lock in, it’s tough,” Tatum told CLNS. “You’re down 28 points or whatever, that shot they hit at the end of the third, when Sam saved the ball and it went past our hands, and they got a three. Those are just some tough breaks, you seen the intensity, picking up full court. That just shows that we can do it, but we need to start that way, not necessarily when you’re down.”