Pacers tame East’s beasts; Celtics barely survive Pelicans
Two of the best teams in the East played off-form on Sunday. But one of them managed to somehow squeeze out a victory.
The Indiana Pacers erased a 15-point deficit to bring Cleveland’s 12-game NBA winning streak to an emphatic end, beating the league-leading Cavaliers 108-93.
Andrew Nembhard scored 19 points, Pascal Siakam added 18 and Myles Turner had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who weathered the halftime departure of star guard Tyrese Haliburton with a tight left hamstring.
Indiana handed the Cavaliers just their second home defeat of the season, notching their own sixth straight victory by a double-digit margin.
“It’s nothing to lose,” Nembhard said of the Pacers’ second-half push. “This is the best team in the league right now. We just had to play hard, play together, put some more physicality in the game on the defensive side and play off that.”
The Boston Celtics needed key plays by Jayson Tatum in the stretch, and even then, needed to weather some uncharacteristic errors near the end before escaping with a 120-119 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Tatum scored 38 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to fuel the reigning champion Celtics in a 120-119 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Tatum saved the Celtics with two big dunks late in the game but also missed two free throws that could have helped the Celtics avoid a nerve-wracking ending. also missed two free throws that could have sealed it
Poor shooting
“No excuse for that,” Tatum said of the missed freebies, which were part of a wild endgame that saw Derrick White lose possession uncontested and get called for a five-second violation while calling a timeout and the Celtics having to force Pelicans guard CJ McCollum to miss a layup before sealing the win.
Boston also made just 43.6 percent of their shots from the field and just 13 of 44 from three-point range.
“The positive thing is we know we can play better,” Tatum said. “There’s so much room for improvement.”
New Orleans, buoyed by the return of Zion Williamson from a one-game team suspension for violating team policy, led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter.
Trey Murphy III scored 30 points and Williamson added 16.
In Cleveland, Darius Garland scored 20 points and handed out seven assists to lead the Cavaliers, who led 53-40 at halftime and pushed the advantage to 60-45 early in the third quarter.
Pacers forward Bennedict Mathurin and reserve Obi Toppin scored 10 points apiece in the third as Indiana outscored Cleveland 37-18 to turn the tide.
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander also endured a tough shooting night, making just five of 17 shots from the floor but drilling 16 of his 17 free-throw attempts to score 27 in the Thunder’s lopsided 136-95 victory over the Washington Wizards.
The Denver Nuggets, fired by standout performances from Russell Westbrook and Nikola Jokic, rallied from a 19-point third-quarter deficit to beat the Mavericks, 112-101, in Dallas.
