After playing in a game that almost no one saw because Tiger Woods was dominating television sets while winning the Masters, the Boston Celtics hope that they’ll get more viewers to see them try to take a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Indiana Pacers. The Celtics suffocated the Pacers in the second half of Game 1 by holding Indy to 29 total points, including only eight in the third quarter.
The Celtics opened as 7.5-point favorites with a total of 203.
STANDOUT STATS
- The Pacers were one of the lowest-scoring teams on the road during the regular season at 107.3 points per game (ranked 22nd) and in Game 1, their offense fell apart. They actually had a seven-point lead at halftime after scoring 45 points but the Celtics choked the life out of them and they only managed 29 total points in the second half. For the game, the Pacers shot 33.3 percent from the floor and only 22.2 percent from behind the arc.
- The Celtics have been a frustrating team to back since the all-star break but wrapped up the season strong with six wins in eight games while covering the spread in four of them. The Celtics defense held teams to 107.3 points per home game this season and they had a +6.8 point differential. When they hosted the Pacers this season prior to the playoffs, they beat them twice, with one win being a blowout and the other by just two points.
- In Game 1, the Celtics didn’t shoot a high percentage from the field (36.4 percent) but outscored the Pacers 24-14 on the fast break and outrebounded them 68-50. Some of that rebound differential can be attributed to how poorly the Pacers shot in the third quarter.
- The Pacers weren’t a great free-throw shooting team for the season at 75.2 percent (ranked 22nd) but their woes from the charity stripe in Game 1 may have cost them the game. Indiana shot 12-for-21 from the free-throw line in a game they lost by 10 points.
- Although both teams fell way short of the OVER for Game 1, when Indiana plays in Boston, there tends to be a lot of points on the board. Both games at TD Garden went OVER between these two squads and the Celtics were one of the better OVER teams at home this season with it hitting in 25 of 41 games in Beantown. That being said, the UNDER has hit in nine of the Pacers’ last 12 road games because they keep the pace slow and tend to score less away from home.
My Best Bet for Pacers vs Celtics
Celtics -7.5
At this point, I don’t know how the Pacers will top 100 points. Their offense has been awful for most of the season on the road and while they came out strong in the first half of Game 1, they fell off a cliff once the Celtics figured them out.
The Celtics have typically been a strong home team and although they’ve had enough drama to write a novel about this season, I tend to think they will play even better than in Game 1. A case could be made for the UNDER if you’re like me and want to avoid spreads because you’ve had trouble throughout the year betting on or against the Celtics.
