In order to make the regular season less boring, the NBA league started the mid-season tournament in the new season, with thirty teams divided into six groups to determine the final eight, and then a single knockout game was used to determine the champion of the mid-season tournament. Looking at the history of the NBA, there has never been a single knockout game, which is indeed a rare show for fans. The quarterfinals have all been decided, with the Lakers vs. Suns, Kings vs. Pelicans, Bucks vs. Knicks, and Pacers vs. Celtics.
This game is the quarterfinals knockout match between the Pacers and the Celtics, and whoever can win this game will advance to the final four, but once they lose, the midseason tournament will be over. The Celtics are the No. 1 team in the East, with no shortcomings on both offensive and defensive ends, but Porzingis was sidelined due to injury in this game, which has an impact on the team.
The Pacers are the dark horses of the East this season, and the team has played the league's No. 1 offensive efficiency, so a team that only needs to attack and not defend is indeed capable of beating any opponent in a single playout game. At the beginning of the first quarter, the offense of both teams was average, Brown scored 10 points and 3 rebounds on 5-of-7 shooting, but the team only scored 24 points, while the Pacers only scored 22 points, Turner had 8 points and 2 rebounds, and Brown had 7 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists and 2 steals. After returning from the game in the second quarter, Haliburton had 5 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist, Mathurin also had 5 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists, and the Pacers scored 26 points in a single quarter.
The Celtics didn't give a chance at all, Tatum had 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, White also had 9 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and the team scored another 31 points in a single quarter, and at the end of the half, the Celtics led the Pacers by as many as seven points at 55-48. In the second half, Haliburton began to explode, scoring 12 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal on 5-of-7 shooting, without a single turnover, leading the Pacers to 37 points in a single quarter, while the Celtics only scored 23 points, Brown got 8 points and 6 rebounds, Tatum had 7 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, and the team was 7 points behind the Pacers.
In the final quarter of the game, the Celtics kept catching up, and Horford grabbed a rebound in the front court and assisted Brown to hit a three-point shot, successfully tying the score. Nesmith threw and scored, then Horford dunked, Nesmith responded with a layup, Jalen scored on a jumper from the free throw line, Tatum hit one of two free throws, Haliburton ** Holiday scored, Jalen broke through and scored, Hield also made a layup, Tatum made two free throws, Nesmith folded and dunked, Tatum scored dry, Haliburton key 3+1, and stretched the difference to 4 points.
Hield continued to hit three points, the difference came to 7 points, Haliburton steals a long pass and Smith dunks it, the time is only 44 seconds left, Tatum quickly got two points, the Celtics don't want to give up, but it's too late. In the end, the Indiana Pacers defeated the Celtics 122-112 to advance to the semifinals of the mid-season tournament.
Who would have thought that the Celtics, who are the first in the East, would be eliminated in the first game of the midseason tournament, of course, Porzingis' injury has a big impact on the team, but the Indiana Pacers did win beautifully. Haliburton continued to show the strength of the league's top point guard, shooting 10-of-18 from the field, 5-of-11 from three-point range, a triple-double of 26 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, seven points in the first half, 19 points in the second half, and not a single turnover. It is worth mentioning that Haliburton was also playing with an injury in this game.
Under Haliburton's leadership, the Pacers had seven players in double figures and just six turnovers. Turner had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Hield had 16 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Nesmith had 14 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, Mathurin had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, and Brown had 13 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. The Celtics were eliminated, Tatum had 32 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, and Brown had 30 points and 9 rebounds. White had 18 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists, but Holiday only had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, and Horford had 2 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, which was unsatisfactory.