The Celtics were bounced from the In-Season Tournament on Monday, falling to the Indiana Pacers 122-112.
Here are the takeaways.
1. The first takeaway here, of course, is that the In-Season Tournament is doing exactly what Adam Silver hoped it would do. Last week, it generated a ton of interest and conversation about point differential and the importance of respecting the game.
This week, it ratcheted the intensity of a Monday in December up several notches. Whether that was because of the money (almost certainly part of it) or because of their competitive nature (almost certainly another part of it) or because they were hoping to go on a work trip to Las Vegas in the middle of the season (almost certainly a third part of it) or some other reason, the players really wanted to win, and the end result was a fun game in a fun environment.