INDIANA — The Boston Celtics (28-7) were able to pull away in the fourth quarter to beat the Indiana Pacers (20-15) 118-101 on Saturday night, thanks to Jayson Tatum’s 38 points.

The game felt like a playoff atmosphere as the fans were loud and roaring whenever the Pacers climbed back into the game. The C’s jumped out to a double digit lead in the first quarter, but the Pacers decreased the Margin within four points multiple times. Going into the fourth quarter, the Celtics only lead 84-81 as the intensity grew. However, the firepower of the Celtics began to be overwhelming as they outscored the Pacers 34-20 in the final quarter.

Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 38 points and 13 rebounds in the first game of the back-to-back series. He also made six three-pointers for the C’s in critical moments when it looked like the Pacers were about to tie the game or take the lead. Jaylen Brown was also impressive with 31 points as he made a lot of his buckets inside the paint. Brown ran the floor well and created options in open space.

C’s bench showed up big

What really made it difficult for the Pacers to keep up was when the C’s bench was scoring. The entire bench scored 32 collectively, with Al Horford leading the way with 10 points. Oshae Brissett scored eight points on his former team in the Pacers. When the C’s get their second unit going on top of arguably the best starting five in the league, they’re almost impossible to stop.

Defense, defense, defense

Tyrese Haliburton struggled and scored 17 points while going two-for-nine from deep. For the C’s defensively, they caused a lot of issues for Indiana. Boston won the rebounding battle with 56 to 38. They also held the Pacers to only 19% from long range.

Celtics will stay in Indiana as they’ll play the Pacers again Monday at 7 pm.