BOSTON — They have been trying to escape fifth place in the Eastern Conference for the longest time.
On Friday night, it finally happened for the Celtics, thanks to a thrilling 114-112 victory over the Indiana Pacers at the TD Garden.
The Celtics and the Pacers are now tied for fourth place in the conference at 45-31 with six games remaining, including another head-to-head matchup next Friday in Indiana.
The two teams will likely be meeting in the opening [...]
BOSTON — They have been trying to escape fifth place in the Eastern Conference for the longest time.
On Friday night, it finally happened for the Celtics, thanks to a thrilling 114-112 victory over the Indiana Pacers at the TD Garden.
The Celtics and the Pacers are now tied for fourth place in the conference at 45-31 with six games remaining, including another head-to-head matchup next Friday in Indiana.
The two teams will likely be meeting in the opening round of the playoffs in two weeks, so the reward for finishing fourth will be home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series.
Kyrie Irving’s driving layup with 0.5 remaining in the game gave the Celtics the victory after a wild fourth quarter that had a playoff atmosphere.
Irving had 30 points while Al Horford, who set up Irving’s game-winning basket, added 19 points and seven rebounds.
Also in double figures for the Celtics were Jaylen Brown (16), Aron Baynes (13 points, 13 rebounds in his third straight start), and Jayson Tatum (11). Bojan Bogdanovic had 27 and Thaddeus Young 18 for the Pacers, who have dropped 10 straight road games.
Irving’s basket came after Indiana’s Darren Collison missed a jumper with 12.2 seconds to go and the Celtics called timeout to set up a final play.
Horford took an inbounds pass and fed Irving, who drove threw a pair of defenders and lofted his shot off the glass.
The Celtics took a 100-99 lead with 6:31 remaining on a tip-in by Baynes and Irving (lefty drive) and Brown (3-pointer) followed with baskets to make it 105-99 with 5:26 left.
But the Pacers scored three baskets in 1:07 to pull even at 105, Young making a layup, Collison hitting a jumper and Bogdanovic scoring on a drive with four minutes remaining.
Irving made two foul shots but Young scored inside to make it 107-107. Marcus Smart hit a desperation 3-pointer with the shot clock about to expire for a 110-107 Celtics lead with 2:27 to play, but Collison answered with a 3-pointer.
After a drive by Irving put the Celtics up, 112-110, Young scored on a layup with 1:19 to go after the Celtics couldn’t come up with a steal.
The Celtics lost the ball with 35 seconds to go, but Collison missed a pull-up jumper that would have put Indiana in front with 12.2 seconds remaining, and the Celtics called timeout to set up a final play with 10.2 seconds left.
The Pacers took a 91-89 lead into the fourth quarter after trailing by 11 points with just over eight minutes to go in the third quarter.
The Celtics were outscored, 20-6, and were behind, 85-82 as Myles Turner and Bogdanovic led the Pacers.
There were two ties after that in the quarter before Turner scored with 39.1 seconds remaining for the two-point Indiana lead going into the last 12 minutes. Turner had 12 points and four rebounds in the quarter to lead the way.
Irving scored 10 points in the first 1:59 of the second half to give the Celtics a nine-point lead before the Pacers turned things around. He hit a driving floater, a 21-footer on a fast break, a 3-pointer and three foul shots.
The Celtics were in front, 63-60, at halftime after an up-and-down second quarter.
After holding a 38-27 lead in the opening two minutes, the Celtics were outscored, 14-2, over a span of 2:21 and were behind, 41-40. TJ Leaf had eight of the points for the Pacers in that run.
That was the only lead Indiana had in the first half as the Celtics responded with eight straight points to go ahead, 48-40. Tatum, who had nine points in the quarter, made two straight 3-pointers in less than a minute.
The Celtics were ahead by eight in the final minute of the half, but Young hit a 3-pointer and Bogdanovic hit two foul shots with :00.7 left on the clock to get the Pacers within three.
The Celtics had a 35-25 advantage after one quarter, leading by as many as 13 (31-18) as they shot 50 percent and had a 19-11 edge in rebounds.
Baynes provided an early spark with seven points and three rebounds in just over nine minutes. He combined with Horford to score 13 points and Irving added seven, making three of his first four shots.
The Celtics had the ball moving in the first quarter, getting assists on all but four of their 14 baskets.