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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Jaylen Brown scored 23 points and Kyrie Irving added 19 to help the Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers 104-96 on Friday night for a 3-0 first-round lead.
The Celtics may close the Eastern Conference Series Sunday in Indianapolis.
Irving also had 10 assists and five rebounds.
Tyreke Evans tied his career playoff record with 19 points for the Pacers. Bojan Bogdanovic was 15, which does not stop Indiana from losing his sixth straight win against Boston in the regular season and playoffs.
Indiana desperately needed a win to avoid facing its second sweep in three years, but Boston started quickly and closed with a 10-4 spurt at the end of the fourth quarter.
And again, the Boston defense tipped the game by giving only 12 points in the third quarter.
It's this kind of series for Indiana, who wiped out a 15-point deficit in the first half to take a 61-59 lead at half-time. Myles Turner opened the third with a 3-pointer to make it a five-point game.
But Boston responded with eight points in a row to regain the lead, closed the quarter by a 9-2 run to reach the score of 80-73 and sidelined late.
The Celtics quickly took things in hand by scoring 8 out of 10 on 3 in the first quarter to create a lead of 37-22.
Evans finally managed to silence the Pacers with 12 points in the second quarter, including 3 end-of-game points, to finish and finish the 17-3 push that allowed Indiana to tie at 52. The Pacers have closed the half on a 9-2 run to take the lead.
Tip-ins
Celtics: Jayson Tatum had 18 points and seven rebounds. Al Horford finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. … The Celtics finished 15 of 34 over 3s after making 11 of 17 in the first period. … Boston scored 41 points in the first quarter, beating the Pacers record with the NBA in playoffs for points awarded to the first. The Lakers set the previous mark, 38, in the NBA finals in 2000. … Boston lost eight points in the third quarter of the first game and 12 in the fourth quarter of the second game.
Pacers: Domantas Sabonis had 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Thaddeus Young had 11 and nine rebounds. … Myles Turner scored 13 points, the total of the first two games in the series. … Indiana recorded 11 points out of 3 after starting 8 of 15 and did not make any changes in the second quarter. … Delays in travel prevented Victor Oladipo, the club's star goalkeeper, from going to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the first time since his right knee injury ending his season in January.
following
The fourth match will take place in Indianapolis.
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