Boston Celtics – Indiana Pacers · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 12 January 2026

BOS96–98IND

Is it worth watching?

Recommended

It was more exciting than 70% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes
· 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.

Pascal Siakam decided it, the Indiana Pacers player with the most points (21, with 8 rebounds and 6 assists; +11 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Jay Huff's (+20). 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 98-96 Boston Celtics (January 12, 2026) was hit by Pascal Siakam: a jump shot with 6.8 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Indiana Pacers up 98-96. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Indiana Pacers 98-96 Boston Celtics (January 12, 2026) was a 10-0 run by the Indiana Pacers between the second quarter and the third quarter, from 51-56 to 61-56. The Boston Celtics' best was a 8-0 run in the first quarter (from 4:02 to 54.6 s), from 16-17 to 24-17.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Pascal Siakam makes 7-foot two point shot.

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.

Pascal Siakam decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 6.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 4 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Siakam 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.

12 January 2026 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401810414:562; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · BOS

Pritchard · White · Hauser · Scheierman · Simons

Closing lineup · IND

Siakam · Nembhard · Nesmith · Sheppard · Walker

Q1Q2Q3Q4

BOS

Payton Pritchard

37′ · +1

Derrick White

36′ · +1

Sam Hauser

33′ · -6

Neemias Queta

32′ · -12

Baylor Scheierman

20′ · -8

Anfernee Simons

24′ · -4

Luka Garza

16′ · +10

Jordan Walsh

26′ · +4

Hugo Gonzalez

15′ · +4

IND

Pascal Siakam

34′ · +11

Andrew Nembhard

33′ · +12

Aaron Nesmith

32′ · -8

Jay Huff

28′ · +20

Johnny Furphy

16′ · +12

Ben Sheppard

23′ · -16

Jarace Walker

25′ · -5

T.J. McConnell

15′ · -10

Micah Potter

13′ · -11

Quenton Jackson

15′ · +6

Tony Bradley

6′ · -1

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

White, Queta, Pritchard, Hauser, and Scheierman played 12.5 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
White, Queta, Pritchard, Hauser, and Walsh played 8.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 4 points.
Simons, Pritchard, Garza, Walsh, and Gonzalez played 6.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 8 points.

Indiana Pacers

Siakam, Nembhard, Nesmith, Huff, and Furphy played 10.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 9 points.
Nesmith, Potter, Walker, Sheppard, and McConnell played 6.6 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 7 points.
Siakam, Nembhard, Huff, Sheppard, and Furphy played 5.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Boston Celtics

White, Simons, Garza, Walsh, and Gonzalez played 4.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
White, Simons, Queta, Walsh, and Gonzalez played 3.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
White, Pritchard, Garza, Hauser, and Scheierman played 3.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
White, Simons, Queta, Hauser, and Walsh played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
Simons, Pritchard, Garza, Hauser, and Scheierman played 2.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
White, Simons, Queta, Pritchard, and Hauser played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Simons, Queta, Pritchard, Hauser, and Scheierman played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.

Indiana Pacers

Siakam, Nembhard, Huff, Jackson, and Walker played 3.9 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 9 points.
Siakam, Bradley, Nembhard, Jackson, and Walker played 3.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Siakam, Nembhard, Nesmith, Huff, and Sheppard played 3.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Nesmith, Huff, Jackson, Walker, and McConnell played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Siakam, Nesmith, Potter, Walker, and McConnell played 2.5 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Nembhard, Nesmith, Huff, Jackson, and Sheppard played 2.5 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
Siakam, Nembhard, Potter, Walker, and Sheppard played 2.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Bradley, Nesmith, Jackson, Walker, and McConnell played 1.9 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Siakam, Nembhard, Nesmith, Potter, and Sheppard played 1.5 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Siakam, Nesmith, Walker, Sheppard, and McConnell played 1.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 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.

Payton Pritchard covered 4.41 km, more than anyone in the game.

Payton Pritchard touched the ball 90 times, a game high.
Andrew Nembhard made 69 passes, a game high.
Micah Potter defended 8 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 8.
Neemias Queta had 20 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Boston Celtics

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Payton Pritchard	4.41	6.8	90	66
Sam Hauser	4.20	7.4	45	37
Derrick White	4.09	6.5	87	60
Neemias Queta	3.83	7.0	45	32
Jordan Walsh	3.17	7.0	27	20
Anfernee Simons	3.14	7.3	51	33
Baylor Scheierman	2.45	6.9	21	16
Luka Garza	2.11	7.4	20	16
Hugo González	1.95	7.6	12	9

Indiana Pacers

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Pascal Siakam	4.04	6.8	61	43
Aaron Nesmith	3.88	6.9	44	34
Andrew Nembhard	3.68	6.4	87	69
Jay Huff	3.36	6.9	39	25
Ben Sheppard	2.90	7.1	25

How far does Payton Pritchard run per game?

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 guarded whom

Jay Huff guarded Neemias Queta for 7.1 minutes, over 33 possessions.
In that time, Neemias Queta scored 4 points and made 2 of 2 shots.
Andrew Nembhard guarded Payton Pritchard for 6.3 minutes, over 32 possessions.
In that time, Payton Pritchard scored 4 points and made 2 of 3 shots.
Aaron Nesmith guarded Derrick White for 6.2 minutes, over 27 possessions.
In that time, Derrick White scored 9 points and made 3 of 9 shots.

▸See all 20 matchups of two minutes or more

Boston Celtics defending

Defender	Attacker	Min	Poss	Pts (FG)
Pritchard	Nembhard	5.2	24	6 (2/5)
White	Nesmith	4.3	23	0 (0/4)
Simons	Sheppard	3.9	18	0 (0/3)
Walsh	McConnell	3.9	15	3 (1/2)
Queta	Huff	3.7	21	6 (2/4)
Scheierman	Siakam	3.3	16	5 (2/4)
Hauser	Huff	2.6	10	2 (1/2)
Pritchard	Nesmith	2.6	11	0 (0/0)
Garza	Walker	2.5	10	6 (2/6)
Walsh	Siakam	2.4	9	2 (1/1)
González	Siakam	2.0	10	0 (0/1)

Indiana Pacers defending

Defender	Attacker	Min	Poss	Pts (FG)
Huff	Queta	7.1	33	4 (2/2)
Nembhard	Pritchard	6.3	32	4 (2/3)
Nesmith	White	6.2	27	9 (3/9)
Siakam	Scheierman	5.2	22	0 (0/1)
Furphy	Hauser	4.1	17	0 (0/1)

Matchups come from the NBA's tracking (NBA.com) for this game: how long each defender guarded each attacker and what the attacker produced in that time. Only matchups of two minutes or more are shown.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2025-26 regular season, not this game.

Boston Celtics

Neemias Queta contested 7.8 shots per game over his 76 games.
He ranks 24 of 399 in the league.
Derrick White drew 0.10 charges per game over his 77 games.
He ranks 29 of 399 in the league.
Baylor Scheierman drew 0.07 charges per game over his 74 games.
He ranks 47 of 399 in the league.

Indiana Pacers

Jay Huff contested 8.7 shots per game over his 81 games.
He ranks 14 of 399 in the league.
Aaron Nesmith drew 0.09 charges per game over his 45 games.
He ranks 31 of 399 in the league.
T.J. McConnell recovered 0.6 loose balls per game over his 54 games.
He ranks 46 of 399 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

15.650

87.3% of capacity

Gainbridge Fieldhouse · Indianapolis

Scoring

194

combined points

37.2 below the season average (231.2)