Celtics squeak by Pacers, stop skid with 114-111 win

The Boston Celtics nearly squandered another huge lead to the Indiana Pacers, but pulled out the road win with some last-second grit.

The Boston Celtics came to Indianapolis to face the Pacers needing a win.

Boston came out hard against Indiana, quickly jumping out to a lead after the Pacers won the tip and hit the first shot.

The Celtics quickly built a 16-9 lead off a Kemba Walker trey, and pushed the lead as high as 15 points after a trip for forward Gordon Hayward with just under eight minutes left in the frame.

The Pacers would battle back as the period wound down, cutting the lead to 30-22 on a Domantas Sabonis dunk in the final seconds of the first quarter.

The second quarter continued to see Sabonis stay hot, the center cutting th elead to six with a quick layup. Forward Jayson Tatum began to heat up however, sinking a 3-pointer with six minutes left in the frame with to put Boston up 48-33.

Yet again Indiana would fight back from the double-digit deficit, and cut the lead to as few as four points before the Celtics would push it back to 59-50 going into the break.

The penultimate frame started with a Hayward three as Boston began to pull away again, with the Celtics going up as much as 17 points several times in the quarter.

T.J. McConnell would cut the lead to 14 for Boston for the Pacers to close out the third quarter, and would whittle the Celtics lead down to 104-101 with a Victor Oladipo trey with 3:30 remaining in the game.

T.J. Warren would tie it up soon after with a trey, and Sabonis would take the lead with an and-1 bucket converted at the stripe. Center Daniel Theis answered back with one of his own soon after.

Marcus Smart would hit a key layup with just second left in the game, forcing the Pacers to foul and sending Walker to the line where he converted one of two to make the lead 112-109.

Smart would ice the game by ripping down a rebound of a last-second heave by the Pacers hoping to tie the game, the Celtics squeaking by the Pacers 114-111.

The Boston Celtics next face the Milwaukee Bucks on the road on Thursday, March 12 at 7pm ET.

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