Celtics hang in but fall to Pacers 97-102

Call it another moral victory.  The Celtics were very much in this game right up until the final couple of minutes.  The Pacers are simply the better team and showed it down the stretch.

The shorthanded C's got big contributions from Jeff Green, Kris Humphries, Brandon Bass, and Rajon Rondo but it wasn't enough.

Paul George paced the Pacers with 25 points and added 8 rebounds and 3 steals (all in the first few minutes) but as usual it was a group effort for Indiana.  They had contributions from West, Hibbert, Stevenson, and newcomer Evan Turner.  Mike and Tommy were joking about Turner's shot selection in the 4th quarter, but he's a guy that can give them points off the bench.

Kris Humphries was just about everywhere tonight.  On the boards (10 rebounds), putting up points (18), and getting the hustle plays (2 blocks, 2 steals).  A lot of respect goes his way for his effort tonight.

Rajon was 3 rebounds short of a triple double and played another solid game despite having issues with his knee brace (which had a screw loose).  He hit 3 three pointers and thought he had another one (beating the buzzer and banking in) before it was waived off.  Down the stretch he took a couple more that were badly off.  Would like to see the team get some better looks than that late in the 4th quarter.

Sullinger looked rusty at times in his first action in a week or so, but he still contributed 6 boards and 10 points.  As usual, Brandon Bass brought his lunchpail and punched the clock with is usual 16 points, 5 boards, and solid all around play.

Jeff Green, coming off averaging 20 points per game in February (I must admit, I totally didn't realize that till the broadcast pointed it out tonight) led all scorers with 27 points coming in his usual array of shots.

Chris Babb got his first action, with 2 uneventful minutes.