Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review
Brown shines as Celtics take 2-0 series lead over Pacers
Jaylen Brown scored 40 points to propel Boston to a 126-110 victory over Indiana and a 2-0 lead in the NBA Eastern Conference finals over a Pacers team rocked by an injury to Tyrese Haliburton.
Brown tied a career playoff high to help the top-seeded Celtics break their game-two jinx. Winners of a league-best 64 regular-season games, Boston had dropped the second game before prevailing in each of the first two rounds.
But they head to Indianapolis for game three on May 25 in control of the best-of-seven series.
Brown, who sank a threepointer to force overtime as the Celtics held off the Pacers in a game-one thriller, scored 10 points in a 20-0 Celtics run that saw Boston take the lead for good in the second quarter.
“It’s the playoffs, man,” Brown said. “Whatever it takes to get a ‘W’ – on defense, on offense – that’s what I’m going to do.”
“He has it going,” Jrue Holiday said of his teammate. “Great player, great leader, but wants to win and takes things into his own hands.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said that even though the box score reflected just two assists for Brown, he did a good job of keeping his teammates involved on offense.
Indiana emerged from a tight first quarter that featured 10 lead changes with a 27-25 advantage.
But Holiday’s three-pointer in the final minute of the opening period launched Boston’s scoring binge and they were up 42-27 midway through the second.
The Celtics pushed the lead to 16 before the Pacers hit back. Pascal Siakam came up with four big buckets, including a dunk that cut the deficit to 5651 at halftime.
Siakam struck again early in the third, and his three-pointer pulled Indiana within two.
But Boston pulled away again, their 16-5 scoring run swelling the lead to 13 going into the fourth quarter.*