Excelling on defense, Celtics face sputtering Pacers

The Indiana Pacers could find points hard to come by when they visit the Boston Celtics on Monday night.

Indiana enters that matchup averaging 110.2 points per game. Brooklyn is the only NBA team scoring at a lower rate (109.6). Boston, meanwhile, is holding teams to an average of 110.5 ppg (second best in the league) and 44.7% shooting from the field, which is third best.

The Pacers rank last among NBA teams in field-goal percentage (43.1) and 3-point percentage (32.3).

Defense also was a problem for Indiana in Saturday's 128-109 loss to New Orleans. The Pacers allowed 44 points in the first quarter and played catch-up for the rest of the game.

"First quarter was very poor, obviously," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. "After that, I thought we did a lot of good things -- a lot more good things than bad things. I thought we made some progress as a team after the first quarter, but the first quarter was a big problem giving up 44 points -- and it could have been more."

The setback to New Orleans extended Indiana's losing streak to four games. Boston has won two in a row and seven of its last nine.

Boston has been getting plenty of scoring from its backcourt recently. Point guard Derrick White had 31 points during Monday's 112-105 loss to Detroit and followed that performance by making nine 3-pointers and scoring a season-high 33 points in a 129-116 win against Miami on Friday. White is averaging a career-high 18.3 points per game.

Shooting guard Payton Pritchard led Boston with 33 points in Saturday's 112-96 victory at Toronto. He scored 19 in the third quarter.

"Just trying to turn up the pace," Pritchard said." Get out in transition. Make things happen early. I feel like our team is at its best when we're really running even after makes. That was kind of the mindset. Just trying to play with like this relentless feel. I feel like I haven't had that defensively, offensively, playing like my hair is on fire. Up and down."

Jaylen Brown, Boston's leading scorer (29.3 ppg), didn't play against Toronto because of what the team termed an illness, but it also was the team's second game in as many nights. Boston was without forward Jordan Walsh for the second half against Toronto.

"Jordan was sick," Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. "He wasn't supposed to play, but we pushed him to and wanted to see what he could give us. He gave us what he could, so that's kind of what it was."

The performance turned in by rookie Hugo Gonzalez against the Raptors was another bright spot for Boston. Gonzalez received extra playing time with Walsh on the bench and had 10 points and a season-high 10 rebounds.

"[He's] finding the balance of knowing how to be super aggressive versus defending without fouling so we can keep you on the floor," Mazzulla said. "You don't want to take that away because of his instincts and ability to make plays on both ends. He has a great knack for the ball defensively, and he's learning how to play against different matchups and coverages on the offensive end. The second half, he was great. The last few games he's been great for us. He's going to continue to get better and better."

An Indiana win would give Carlisle his 1,000th NBA coaching victory. He would be the 11th NBA coach to reach the milestone.

--Field Level Media