Sunday’s final buzzer closed the door on the Boston Celtics’ fourth loss in six games — a feat that they were able to avoid all of last season. Their second outing in three days against the Indiana Pacers had a much different feel than their first.
Boston gave up seven fewer points through three quarters (98) than they did in the entirety of Friday’s dominant win (105). There was no carryover in energy after the Cs seemingly found what they’d been lacking in their Christmas Day letdown against the Philadelphia 76ers.
According to head coach Joe Mazzulla, there were other factors in play during the wire-to-wire victory in Game 1 of this back-to-back.