The Celtics can’t keep up with the Pacers and settle for splitting the weekend set

Kristaps Porzingis (ankle) and Jrue Holiday (shoulder) remained out for Boston.

Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers with 31 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Indiana shot 52.9 percent from the field and had 66 points from the field.

The Celtics were down 105-94 with nine minutes left before they started to push forward. A 3-point play by Brown was followed by a 3-point play by Al Horford and a 3-point play by Tatum, with Boston needing less than 90 seconds to cut the deficit to 105-103.

But the Pacers spent all night making sure the Celtics’ small runs didn’t turn into big runs, and their response at that point was extremely important. After a timeout, Haliburton scored inside and Ben Sheppard hit a three-pointer, and a few minutes later Myles Turner put an exclamation point on the score with a loud one-handed dunk to make it 13-0.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla withdrew his starters with two minutes left.

Similar to Friday’s game, the Celtics got off to a cool start from beyond the arc, this time going 1 for 8. Indiana had similar issues on Friday, but they had more success closer to the rim on Sunday.

The Pacers began the game 8 for 8 from 2-point range, with seven of those baskets coming in the paint. This rush helped them take an early 16-5 lead.

Andrew Nembhard returned after missing Friday’s game with a knee injury. Before the game, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle emphasized that his presence was significant, pointing out that the team was just 5-10 this year without Nembhard.

And Nembhard’s impact was clearly visible in the first half. He made 5 of 6 shots for 14 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and he was perhaps even more impactful on the other end of the floor, where he rattled Tatum as his primary defender.

Tatum went scoreless in the first quarter. He played the entire second and had only moderate success, going just 1-for-8 from the field and 0-for-6 from the 3-point line by halftime, although he did record five assists.

For the second straight year, Brown played the entire first quarter, perhaps indicating a temporary return to last season when he started games dominantly. Brown scored 12 points in the quarter, and his 3-pointer with 33 seconds left completely erased the early deficit and gave Boston a 29-27 lead heading into the second round.

Payton Pritchard hit consecutive 3-pointers over a 27-second span midway through the second quarter before completing a 10-foot turnaround with 4:23 left to put Boston up 52-49. But the Pacers continued to respond to shots on goal from Pritchard and Brown.

Jarace Walker, who entered the night averaging just 6 points, was 4-for-4 from the field and 3-for-3 from the 3-point line during his six-minute stint in the second quarter, helping the Pacers to a 65-58 lead at halftime despite 19 points from Pritchard on 5-on-5 shooting.

With Porzingis sidelined, Horford was unable to fill the void as a ground-up big man. The Pacers’ double teams of Tatum and Brown created plenty of open opportunities for Horford, but he simply wasn’t able to convert the ball in the first three quarters.

Midway through the third period, he missed an open 3-pointer before firing a shot inside, dropping him to 1-for-10 overall and 0-for-8 from beyond the arc.

Tatum snapped out of his own 0-for-7 slip from long range when he hit one from the top of the key with 1:19 left and quickly added another just under a minute later, but that flurry barely got Boston within 98 -91 approaching the start of the fourth.

Mazzulla kept Tatum on the floor early in the fourth quarter, even though he hadn’t taken a pitch since the first. Maybe it was because he was showing signs of finding a rhythm, or maybe it was because Nembhard wasn’t on the floor to disturb him.

Regardless, it didn’t help in the opening minutes as the Pacers extended their lead to 105-94 following back-to-back baskets from Benedict Mathurin.

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.