BOSTON -- Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris each scored 20 points, and the Boston Celtics rallied in the second half to beat the Indiana Pacers 84-74 on Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Jayson Tatum finished with 15 points. Al Horford added 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Gordon Hayward had 10 points. It was the first playoff game since 2017 for Irving and Hayward after each missed last year's postseason with injuries.
"I just try to be aggressive on the ball, be in the right spots," Irving said. "I just really want to be aggressive and really be the head of the snake."
Game 2 is Wednesday night in Boston.
The Pacers led by 11 points in the first half but had just eight points in the third quarter. The Celtics capitalized and led by as many as 22 in the fourth. Indiana scored 29 points in the second half, and the quarter and half were both its worst of the season.
Cory Joseph had 14 points for the Pacers. Bojan Bogdanovic was the lone Pacers starter in double figures with 12 points.
Celtics Coach Brad Stevens and Pacers Coach Nate McMillan both said before the series that the more physical team would have the edge.
After a shaky start, it turned out to be Boston.
Boston opened the third quarter with a 22-3 run to take a 60-48 lead. The Pacers didn't get their first field goal of the second half until Joseph dropped in a layup with 3:38 left in the third. They finished the quarter 2 for 19 from the field.
"I thought we kind of lost our way in that third quarter," McMillan said. "They got the momentum and really never let that go."
Likewise, Stevens said his team found something in that quarter.
"They missed some shots, but we were really connected," he said. "We were really playing hard. We were really flying around."
Boston's run included a brief appearance by Celtics Hall of Famer and former Pacers front office executive Larry Bird, who was shown on the big screen during a timeout.
The third period ended with Terry Rozier connecting on an acrobatic three-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining to put the Celtics ahead 64-53. The lead grew to 84-62 on a three-pointer by Tatum with 3:34 remaining.
Stevens went with Jaylen Brown in the starting lineup in place of Marcus Smart, who is out with a torn left oblique.
But after Boston committed four turnovers in the first four minutes of the game, Stevens quickly adjusted, inserting Morris and Hayward.
The change paid off with Morris going 3 of 4 in the period, including 2 three-pointers, and scoring 12 points. No other Celtics player had more than two points.
The Celtics continued turning the ball over, though. They finished the first half with 10 turnovers, which led to 11 Pacers points.
For the game Boston shot just 36% (28 of 77) and had 20 turnovers. The Celtics' 84 points were their fewest of the season and marked the first time they scored fewer than 100 points and won.
While his team was able to recover from a dismal start, Stevens said the Pacers' defense deserved credit for making things difficult on them throughout the game.
"Those guys guarded [their] butts off," Stevens said. "That game looked like a 1980s playoff game in a lot of ways with the score. But it's tough. Those guys are physical. ...We have a lot to get better at."
TRAIL BLAZERS 104, THUNDER 99
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Damian Lillard scored 30 points and No. 3 seed Portland opened its playoff series against No. 6 Oklahoma City with a victory.
Enes Kanter added 20 points and a career playoff-high 18 rebounds for the Blazers, who were making their sixth consecutive postseason appearance. CJ McCollum added 24 points.
Russell Westbrook had 24 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his ninth career postseason triple-double. Paul George, who was a game-time decision because of a sore shoulder, added 26 points and 10 rebounds after a slow start.
BUCKS 121, PISTONS 86
MILWAUKEE -- Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points and 17 rebounds in just 24 minutes, and top-seeded Milwaukee showed it was serious about making a playoff run with a rout of Detroit in Game 1.
The MVP candidate ran and dunked all over the Pistons, who only really caught him when center Andre Drummond shoved him to the ground with both hands late in the third quarter after Antetokounmpo grabbed an offensive rebound with Detroit trailing by 41 points. Drummond was given a flagrant 2 foul and ejected.
Seven Bucks players scored in double figures. Eric Bledsoe had 15 points, and Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton each added 14. George Hill scored 16 points off the bench.
Sports on 04/15/2019