The Boston Celtics leaned into their elite defensive capabilities to put away the same Indiana Pacers squad that had eliminated them from the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament a month early on Saturday night, the Celtics’ limiting the impact of star Pacers floor general Tyrese Halliburton in particular to get the win.
Speaking to the press after the 118-101 blowout via Sports Illustrated’s Bobby Krivitsky, Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla shared how the Celtics slowed Halliburton this go-round. “I think a lot of it has to do with our half-court defense,” said Mazzulla. “I thought we were physical. I thought we did a good job of not letting him reject us, staying in front of him, angles, bringing him to help.”
“And the toughest thing to do against this team is to keep them out of transition, and I thought our guys did that tonight.”
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“Whether it was Jrue (Holiday), Derrick (White), Jaylen (Brown or) Jayson (Tatum), everybody guarding him did a good job of having good body position on him,” added the Celtics coach.
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