On Tuesday night, Jayson Tatum scored 30 points and had two blocks in the last 30 seconds to help the Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers 129–124.

Indiana lost to Boston 3-2 in the season series. Jaylen Brown scored 25 points and Derrick White scored 24. In December, the Celtics lost to the Pacers in the quarterfinals of the In-Season Tournament.

They were led by Aaron Nesmith, who scored 26 points and grabbed 12 boards. Myles Turner scored 17 points, and Pascal Siakam scored 23. Tyrese Haliburton, an All-Star, scored 13 points on 5 of 16 shots and grabbed 10 boards.

Late in the first half, the Celtics were ahead by 20 points. But Indiana came back and was behind 127–124 when White blocked Nesmith’s try to tie the game. Turner then tried to score, but Tatum blocked his shot, which caused the shot clock to be broken.

Jrue Holiday made two free throws that made Boston’s lead bigger. When Nesmith passed the ball up the court, Tatum was called for a foul even though it looked like he blocked the shot neatly. After review, the foul was thrown out after Boston argued with the call.

                                                          

The Celtics came out fired up after struggling at the start of their last two games.

Kristaps Porzingis came back into the game after missing two games because his left ankle was hurt. His presence inside kept Indiana’s defense honest and helped Boston’s shooters spread out the Pacers. There were lots of open shots for the Celtics, who made 17 3s that night. Porzingis scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the end.

In the third quarter, the Pacers scored 25 points in a row to take the lead back (94–93). Boston answered in the last 4:11 of the third, with Neemias Queta’s dunk off a pass from Tatum ending the period and giving the Celtics a 106-103 lead going into the fourth.

With a little more than five minutes left in the game, the Celtics went on a 16-9 run to take a 122-112 lead.