- Simba French
- Dec 6, 2023 Updated 9 hrs ago
- 0
Bahamian professional basketball player with the Indiana Pacers Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield has found his groove, dropping 21 points on the Boston Celtics to help his team win 122-112 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Monday, moving on to the semifinals of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) In-Season Tournament (IST).
The semis are set for Thursday against in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Most of Hield’s points came in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 in that frame. He went a perfect 3-for-3 from the field including two three-pointers.
“In all schemes of things, I do not think the league really want Indiana inside the Final Four,” Hield said about advancing to the semifinals. “Let’s keep it real, the Boston Celtics sounds a lot better. We in but it shows our hard play and how much Rick (Pacers’ Head Coach Rick Carlisle) and his coaching staff gets us ready for these games and they take these games seriously.”
Both teams shot the ball slightly above 45 percent as the Celtics were at 47 percent and the Pacers shot 46 percent from the field.
With the game being a knockout game, the atmosphere at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse was electric. The game itself had 15 ties and 16 lead changes.
The Pacers went into the final quarter up 85-78 and expected a run from the Celtics. That run came early and often in that quarter. The Celtics scored five in a row to open the fourth to pull to within 85-83 with 10:08 left in the game.
With the Pacers up 94-91, Hield was subbed into the game. The Celtics’ Jaylen Brown tied the game at 94 points apiece with a three-pointer. The Celtics took a 99-98 lead with 4:19 left in the game. Hield got some separation when he made a finger roll layup with 2:52 left to put his Pacers up 103-101. The turning point came at the 1:33 mark when Pacers’ point guard Tyrese Haliburton buried a three-point shot from the top of the key and was fouled on the play to break a 105 tie. Hield hit a three-point shot at the top of the key on the Pacers’ next offensive possession and the crowd went into a frenzy with 55 seconds left in the game. The Pacers were ahead 112-105 at that point.
The Celtics had no answer for the Pacers down the stretch.
Haliburton notched his first career triple-double with 26 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. The Celtics were led by Jayson Tatum with 32 points and 12 rebounds. Brown added 30.
The Pacers’ semifinal game is set for 5 p.m. on Thursday December 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be broadcasted on ESPN. They will take on the winner of the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks quarterfinal game that was played last night, but the result was unavailable up to press time.