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Celtics Fall to Pacers in Summer League Finale

Marc D'Amico
Team Reporter and Analyst

ORLANDO – An 11-0 run toward the end of regulation sparked the Indiana Pacers to a 95-86 victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday morning. Indiana secured a third-place finish in the league with the win, while Boston finished fourth.

The two teams, which each entered play with a 3-1 record on the week, were separated by just one point after Mike Moser put home a jumper for Boston with 4:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. Indiana followed that basket up with 11 consecutive points to take a commanding 93-81 lead with 70 seconds left on the game clock.

The Pacers made five of their eight shots during that run, while the Celtics missed all 10 of their field goal attempts. Boston went more than four minutes without making a basket before Phil Pressey scored the final points of the contest with a 3-pointer on his team’s final possession.

Indiana nearly ran away with the game early in the third quarter. It led by 12 points after scoring the first four points of the second half and went on to maintain an eight-point advantage until the 6:41 mark of the period. Boston, however, wouldn’t go away.

Marcus Smart, Phil Pressey and Mike Moser combined to score the next 12 Celtics points while Indiana managed to score only two. Smart got the run going with a 3-pointer, his third of the day, and Pressey followed with a running layup. Moser then scored five straight points before Pressey closed out the spurt with a pull-up jumper.

Pressey’s shot gave the Celtics a 64-62 advantage with 3:40 left in the third quarter. That was before Indiana strung together two key runs over the final 14 minutes of the game to secure the victory.

Though Boston dropped its second game of the week, it received impressive contributions from several of its top players.

Smart, who scored 19 points on Thursday, poured in a game-high 20 on Friday. This was by far his top offensive performance since joining the Celtics. He shot 4-of-9 from 3-point range and nailed all four of his free throws. Smart also turned in five rebounds, three assists and a steal.

The Celtics must also be excited about what they saw from their summer league sophomores, Kelly Olynyk and Pressey. Olynyk finished just behind Smart in the scoring column with 19 points of his own. He also grabbed six boards and didn’t commit a turnover. Pressey, meanwhile, logged his first double-double of the week with 12 points and 13 assists. Pressey also contributed two rebounds and two steals while committing only three turnovers.

Boston finished the week with a 3-2 record, with both of its losses coming at the hands of Indiana. Olynyk was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder with averages of 17.5 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game. Smart finished the week with averages of 14.8 PPG, 4.2 RPG and 4.2 APG, while Pressey averaged 10.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 5.4 APG.