Boston Celtics – Indiana Pacers · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 8 January 2024

BOS131–133IND

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 99% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes
· The win probability swung between the two teams 47 times
· It stayed close for almost the whole game

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ IND winsBOS wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when IND leads and falls when BOS does.

This is how the game was decided.

Bennedict Mathurin decided it, the Indiana Pacers player with the most points (26, with 4 rebounds and 3 assists; -2 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was T.J. McConnell's (+10). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Indiana Pacers 133-131 Boston Celtics (January 8, 2024) was hit by Bennedict Mathurin: a free throw with 0.1 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Indiana Pacers up 132-131. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Indiana Pacers 133-131 Boston Celtics (January 8, 2024) was a 9-0 run by the Indiana Pacers in the third quarter (from 1:24 to 24.2 s), from 94-99 to 103-99. The Boston Celtics' best was a 8-0 run in the third quarter (from 4:04 to 2:29), from 89-92 to 97-92.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Bennedict Mathurin makes free throw 1 of 3.

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Bennedict Mathurin decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 0.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is the only game he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Mathurin decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

8 January 2024 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401585135:671; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · BOS

Brown · Porzingis · White · Horford · Kornet

Closing lineup · IND

Turner · Nesmith · Mathurin · Hield · McConnell

Q1Q2Q3Q4

BOS

Jaylen Brown

38′ · -1

Kristaps Porzingis

38′ · +1

Jrue Holiday

38′ · 0

Derrick White

36′ · -2

Al Horford

32′ · -9

Payton Pritchard

23′ · -2

Oshae Brissett

16′ · +5

Dalano Banton

4′ · +2

Luke Kornet

10′ · -3

Svi Mykhailiuk

5′ · -1

IND

Myles Turner

35′ · -1

Jalen Smith

27′ · +5

Aaron Nesmith

26′ · +1

Bruce Brown

21′ · +1

Tyrese Haliburton

13′ · -4

Bennedict Mathurin

29′ · -2

Obi Toppin

20′ · +3

Buddy Hield

25′ · +7

T.J. McConnell

25′ · +10

Isaiah Jackson

7′ · -2

Andrew Nembhard

12′ · -8

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. BOS and IND.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Boston Celtics

Brown, White, Horford, Holiday, and Porzingis played 21.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Brown, Brissett, Pritchard, Holiday, and Porzingis played 8.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
White, Kornet, Pritchard, Horford, and Holiday played 5.2 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.

Indiana Pacers

Turner, Brown, Nesmith, Smith, and McConnell played 10.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 7 points.
Turner, Brown, Haliburton, Nesmith, and Smith played 7.3 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Turner, Hield, Nesmith, Mathurin, and McConnell played 6.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.

▸See every lineup of the game

Boston Celtics

White, Kornet, Mykhailiuk, Pritchard, and Horford played 4.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Brown, Brissett, Pritchard, Banton, and Porzingis played 3.9 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Brown, White, Brissett, Holiday, and Porzingis played 2.8 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.

Indiana Pacers

Hield, Nembhard, Toppin, Smith, and Mathurin played 4.8 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Hield, Toppin, Jackson, Mathurin, and McConnell played 4.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Turner, Hield, Toppin, Haliburton, and Mathurin played 2.9 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Hield, Nembhard, Toppin, Jackson, and Mathurin played 2.6 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Turner, Hield, Toppin, Mathurin, and McConnell played 1.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Turner, Nembhard, Haliburton, Smith, and Mathurin played 1.6 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Turner, Brown, Nembhard, Nesmith, and Smith played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Turner, Hield, Nembhard, Nesmith, and Mathurin played 1.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Turner, Brown, Toppin, Mathurin, and McConnell played 1.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Jrue Holiday covered 4.67 km, more than anyone in the game.

T.J. McConnell touched the ball 85 times, a game high.
T.J. McConnell made 70 passes, a game high.
Kristaps Porziņģis defended 9 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 5.

▸See what was measured for each player

Boston Celtics

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Jrue Holiday	4.67	6.9	70	51
Kristaps Porziņģis	4.46	6.6	65	48
Jaylen Brown	4.36	6.4	70	34
Derrick White	4.33	6.8	64	42
Al Horford	3.81	6.6	31	24
Payton Pritchard	3.11	7.3	39	31
Oshae Brissett	2.19	7.7	23	14
Luke Kornet	1.27	6.8	15	8
Svi Mykhailiuk	0.69	8.0	5	2
Dalano Banton	0.56	8.0	4	4

Indiana Pacers

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Myles Turner	4.25	6.9	37	24
Bennedict Mathurin	3.72	7.0	55	33
Jalen Smith	3.49	7.3	43	28
Aaron Nesmith	3.46	7.4	44	32
Buddy Hield	3.44	7.7	51

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2023-24 regular season, not this game.

Boston Celtics

Kristaps Porziņģis defended 7.8 shots at the rim per game over his 57 games, and opponents made 14 fewer out of every 100 than usual.
He ranks 1 of 146 in the league.
Jaylen Brown recovered 1.1 loose balls per game over his 70 games.
He ranks 5 of 373 in the league.
Al Horford contested 8.1 shots per game over his 65 games.
He ranks 25 of 373 in the league.

Indiana Pacers

Myles Turner contested 8.8 shots per game over his 77 games.
He ranks 18 of 373 in the league.
Aaron Nesmith defended 4.9 shots at the rim per game over his 72 games, and opponents made 11 fewer out of every 100 than usual.
He ranks 8 of 146 in the league.
T.J. McConnell drew 0.10 charges per game over his 69 games.
He ranks 40 of 373 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Indiana Pacers have won 100 of their 234 games against the Boston Celtics.

100-134record of the Indiana Pacers · NBA 1976-77 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

1-3in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1976-77 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

16.009

89.3% of capacity

Gainbridge Fieldhouse · Indianapolis

Scoring

264

combined points

35.6 above the season average (228.4)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

23 calls reviewed2 errors admitted by the NBA

Foul: Shooting · 00:00.6

Kristaps Porzingis → Bennedict Mathurin

Porzingis (BOS) is above the ball and legally contests Mathurin's (IND) shot attempt, with some incidental arm contact occurring concurrent with the block. Referees conducted a replay review to determine if the foul was called with no time remaining on the clock (00:00), and determined it was called before the expiration of time. The clock was reset with 0.6 remaining on the clock. The foul itself was not a reviewable matter under this replay trigger.

Foul: Offensive · 00:02.0

Myles Turner → Derrick White

Turner (IND) turns his lower body into White (BOS) and delivers contact during the screen.