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<\/a><\/p>\nJay Huff NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Celtics Reserves
Anfernee Simons
Xavier Tillman
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Chris Boucher<\/p>\n
2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Amari Williams<\/p>\n
Injuries\/Out
Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Josh Minott (ankle) out
Jaylen Brown (back) doubtful
Sam Hauser (hamstring) questionable<\/p>\n
Pacers Reserves
Tony Bradley
Kam Jones
TJ McConnell
Micah Potter
Ben Sheppard
Jarace Walker<\/p>\n
Two-Way Players
Quenton Jackson
Taelon Peter
Ethan Thompson<\/p>\n
Injuries\/Out
Tyrese Haliburton (Achilles) out
Obi Toppin (foot) out
Isaiah Jackson (concussion) out
Bennedict Mathurin (thumb) out
Andrew Nembhard (back) questionable<\/p>\n
Key Matchups
Jordan Walsh vs Pascal Siakam
Siakam is averaging 23.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 48% from the field and 37.2% from beyond the arc. Over his career, Siakam has averaged 17.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game against the Celtics. In the 2 games this season, he averaged 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists while shooting 41.9% from the field and 40.3% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to defend him well in this game.<\/p>\n
Derrick White vs Andrew Nembhard
Nembhard is averaging 17.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 7.0 assists and 1 steal while shooting 44.5% from the field and 36.4% from beyond the arc. Over his career against the Celtics, he has averaged 10.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. In the first 2 games he averaged 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 7.5 assists while shooting 50% from the field and 54.5% from beyond the arc. Nembhard is questionable and if he can\u2019t play, Sheppard or McConnell may get the start here.
Honorable Mention
Payton Pritchard vs Aaron Nesmith
Nesmith is averaging 14.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 37.8% from the field and 39.3% from beyond the arc. Over his career against the Celtics, he averaged 2.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. He didn\u2019t play in either of the first 2 games against the Celtics this season. He always likes to play well against his former team.<\/p>\n
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense is the key to winning every single game. The Pacers haven\u2019t been the scoring juggernaut they were last season. They are 29th in the league with an offensive rating of 108.6 while the Celtics have an offensive rating of 121.9 (2nd). The Celtics are 16th in the league with a defensive rating of 114.5. The Pacers are 20th with a defensive rating of 116.2. In the first game between these two teams, the Celtics allowed the Pacers to score 61 points in the first half and they trailed by 18 points at the half. The held them to 34 points in the second half and won the game. They have to play tough defense from the tip through the final buzzer in this one and not just for one half.<\/p>\n
Rebound – The Celtics are 16th in the league, pulling down 44.4 rebounds per game. The Pacers are 24th with 42.7 rebounds per game. It is important for the Celtics to rebound the ball to give themselves extra possessions and to prevent the Pacers from getting the same along with 2nd chance points. Much of rebounding is effort and the Celtics have got to put out more effort than the Pacers to grab rebounds for all 4 quarters.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t Underestimate – It seems that we have had a lot of these games recently where the Celtics might be tempted to underestimate their opponent. They have to come out and play hard from start to finish in this one and not underestimate the Pacers who seem to be tanking but are coming off a win over the Hornets and the Heat and have players who can play well if not defended well.<\/p>\n
Play the Right Way – The Celtics need to move the ball to find the best shot. When they hold the ball and try to do too much individually, the Celtics struggle. But, when they keep the ball moving and move without the ball, they are very tough to beat. They need to focus on playing defense and having each others backs. They need to crash the boards and box out. They need to focus on taking and making good shots. If the 3\u2019s aren\u2019t falling, take the ball to the basket. Play with focus, effort, and energy.<\/p>\n
X-Factors
On The Road and Revenge – The Celtics are playing on the road and they are facing the distractions of travel and a hostile crowd and they can\u2019t allow those distractions to take away from their focus on the game. The Celtics beat the Pacers two times already this season and so the Pacers may have revenge on their minds for those two losses.<\/p>\n
Officiating – Officiating can always be an x-factor. Every officiating crew calls the game differently. Will the refs call it tight? Will they let them play? Will they give the Celtics more than 4 free throws? Will they try to make up for the Celtics getting shorted in their last game or will they be even more stingy with fouls since Jaylen Brown called them out for it? Celtics have to play through however the refs call the game, whether it is tight or they let them play or they make terrible calls. The Celtics can\u2019t allow bad calls or no calls to take away their focus on the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics (24-14) at Indiana Pacers (8-31)Monday, January 12, 20267:30 PM ETRegular Season Game #39, Road Game #20TV:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,38331,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-532648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-celtics-game-previews","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115884546501577828","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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