BOSTON — They can’t win by gargantuan totals every night, and as evidenced by the two narrow losses preceding Friday’s game against Indiana, the Celtics have experienced some tight game slippage.
But if their 128-123 win over the Pacers was a tad low on the energy scale, the Celtics were at least able to snap their two-game losing streak by grinding out a difficult night.
Jaylen Brown (32 points) and Jayson Tatum (31) crossed the 30-plus barrier in the same game for the eighth time this season, and the Celtics moved a half-game ahead of Philadelphia for third place in the Eastern Conference.
Tatum had 23 points after three quarters, though he had struggled to get there on 7-for-20 shooting. Brown had followed a 21-point first half with a four-point third, and overall the Celtics had trouble shaking the Pacers and especially Tyrese Haliburton, who had scored all 30 of his points over three quarters despite foul trouble.
They carried a 96-91 lead into the fourth, and despite an early 7-2 run, found themselves leading by only two points (103-101) two minutes later. Haliburton fouled out with 8:13 left, and Derrick White hit an up-top 3-pointer for a 106-101 edge.
Grant Williams briefly took matters over with a three-point play, followed by a second-chance drive set up by his mid-court steal for a 111-103 lead with 7:01 left.
Brown, rubbing the side of his face, briefly left for the locker room at about the same time a Tatum 3-pointer gave the Celtics a 114-106 lead. The Pacers responded with a 6-0 run, including a Lance Stephenson trey that cut the Celtics lead to 114-112, but Tatum drove for a 116-112 lead.
With 3:15 left, Brown muscled his way to the hoop to convert a three-point play for a 119-112 lead. Stephenson cut the margin to five points with a drive, Tatum shot 1 for 2 from the line, and Stephenson cut the margin to four with two free throws.
Brown fed Al Horford for a dunk with 1:41 left, Oshea Brissett cut the score to three points with a 3-pointer, and Brown drove for a 124-119 edge with 1:08 left.
Brown’s bump of Brissett, reviewed as a possible flagrant foul, was relegated to a common foul with 1:04 left. Brissett only hit the first of two, and Horford hit Tatum with a bounce pass for a dunk and a 126-120 lead with 39 seconds left.
Brissett hit from downtown, but White drove through coverage to finish it off.
The Celtics needed every drop of Brown’s 21-point first half, taking a 68-61 lead on a Tatum transition drive with 29.8 seconds left. The latter was off to a cold shooting start, with 12 points on 3-for-12 shooting. The Celtics were off to another tough start taking care of the ball, as evidenced by their 10 first-half turnovers.
Haliburton, coming in off a 22-point first half, buried two 3s over the first four minutes of the third quarter — the second cutting the Celtics lead to 76-71. Tatum’s second 3 of the night was good for an 84-75 lead with 5:26 left in the third. Indiana cut the C’s lead to four points on a Jalen Smith fast-break dunk, only for Tatum to dunk over the Pacers big man just under a minute later for a 90-82 Celtics lead.
But the Pacers cut the margin to four points again, this time on an Isaiah Jackson put-back, with Buddy Hield’s 3-pointer cutting the score to 90-89. The Celtics barely boosted their lead to 96-91 by the end of the quarter.
