BOSTON -- The Celtics -- already mired in a three-game losing streak, and having lost eight of their last 11 games -- found themselves down 18-4 five minutes into Friday night's game against the Indiana Pacers. It was the kind of performance that, had fans been allowed into TD Garden, would've been met with a hearty round of boos.
But rather than resigning himself, and his team, to another ugly loss in a stretch full of them, Kemba Walker put the Celtics on his back. And on a night when the team's young All-Stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, weren't effective, it was Walker who scored 32 points and dished out six assists to carry Boston to a desperately needed 118-112 victory over the Pacers.