Brown scores 31 to help Celtics erase 20-point deficit vs. Pacers
BOSTON (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 14 of his game-high 31 points in the final quarter and the Boston Celtics rallied from a 20-point, second-half deficit for a 103-95 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.
Derrick White finished with 19 points, and Payton Pritchard and Anfernee Simons each had 11 for Boston, which won its third straight game.
Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 25 points, and Andrew Nembhard had 20. Indiana, the NBA’s worst 3-point shooting team, missed 19 of its 20 attempts from beyond the arc in the second half in its fifth straight loss.
Brown’s best shot in the final quarter came on an off-balance 3 right in front of Boston’s bench, pushing the Celtics ahead 96-91 with 2:25 to play.
Nembhard’s 3-point play with 3:49 left had tied it at 91.
Trailing 82-74 entering the fourth, Boston went on an 11-2 spree, taking its first lead since the first half on Brown’s reverse layup.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla pulled his starters early in the second half with the Pacers up 69-49.
The Celtics whittled the Pacers’ edge to eight points after three. Brown and White reentered with a minute left in the third quarter.
Brown was out due to an illness in Boston’s last game, a victory at Toronto on Saturday, when Pritchard scored 33 points.
Coming off a 19-point loss at home against New Orleans on Saturday, the Pacers hit 60% (12 of 20) of their 3-point attempts in the first half and led 61-43 at the break. Boston, meanwhile, came in second in the league with 15.7 made 3s per game and was just 5 of 18 in the opening half.
The loss delayed Rick Carlisle’s run to his 1,000th NBA head coaching victory. The Pacers have lost five straight since beating the Sacramento Kings 116-105 on Dec. 8, and Carlisle stands at 999 victories over 24 seasons.
Up next
Pacers: Host Milwaukee on Tuesday.
Celtics: At Indiana on Friday.
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