Two days after waiting out a rare indoor rain delay, the Pacers weathered a metaphorical storm on Saturday (AEDT), surviving a furious rally to hold off the East-leading Celtics in Boston, 97-91.
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Indiana (31-25) — back in action for the first time since Tuesday after Thursday's game at New Orleans was postponed due to a leak in the roof at the Smoothie Center — raced out to a 26-point lead on Saturday (AEDT) against a Celtics team playing on a back-to-back. But Boston (40-17) mounted a furious charge in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics led 86-85 with four minutes to play after a pair of free throws by All-Star guard Kyrie Irving. On the other end, Indiana's All-Star Victor Oladipo missed a 3-pointer, but third-year center Myles Turner was there to clean it up, throwing down a putback dunk to put Indiana back in front with 3:51 to play.
The Pacers' defense buckled down over the next couple minutes, allowing them to slowly add to the lead. A Bojan Bogdanovic free throw after a defensive three seconds call and a pair of driving buckets by Oladipo made it a 91-85 Pacers lead with 1:37 remaining.
Terry Rozier made one of two foul shots to trim Boston's deficit to five points, but Turner answered with a three-point play to make it a three-possession game. Irving drove right back down the floor and converted a three-point play of his own with 1:04 to play.
Indiana ran the shot clock all the way down on the other end. Turner missed mid-range jumper, but Cory Joseph came flying in to tip the long rebound to Bogdanovic, forcing Boston to foul.
Turner made one of two free throws before Irving quickly raced down for a quick layup to make it 95-91 with 28.6 seconds remaining. The Celtics fouled Thaddeus Young — just a 55.1 percent free throw shooter on the year — but the Pacers captain calmly sank both shots from the charity stripe.
Irving missed a three on the other end and the Pacers were able to run out the clock and secure the win.
