Boston Celtics angry after defeat to a dubious Siakam play

A hard blow for the Celtics in Indiana. Boston fell at Gainbridge Fieldhouse to the reigning runners-up – which, on the face of it, should not cause alarm. But the home team has kept its win total this season in single digits, with only nine victories overall, and one of them came on this night.

That context fueled Joe Mazzulla’s mix of disappointment, anger, and criticism immediately after the final buzzer. The decisive play – the one that prevented the tie and set the final score at 98–96 – was illegal in the Boston coach’s view. It was a two-on-two in which Pascal Siakam set a screen on Derrick White to free Andrew Nembhard on the drive. The ball then swung back to the Cameroonian, who stepped inside the arc and lofted a bank shot that dropped. On Siakam’s screen, clearly set while moving, White was sent flying. The contact was illegal and, for Mazzulla, the referees should have wiped out the basket and called an offensive foul in Boston’s favor. In his telling, they went from having a chance to win to losing outright.

The Celtics had just rescued themselves in the final two minutes, defending smartly and scoring five points to force the tie. Payton Pritchard’s three and White’s jumper had overtime within reach. Derrick, fittingly, then had a chance to undo the damage on the play described above. Indiana chose to switch Siakam onto him rather than Walsh, the primary defender, who has more size and length to counter a wing with those traits.

Hugo González logged 15 minutes and made one of his two shots, spending stretches defending Siakam. One such moment is captured in the photo accompanying this story. The Spaniard remains a steady part of Mazzulla’s rotation. He has been used to defend late-game situations this season, though not in this contest. Pritchard led Boston with 23 points on a night when Jaylen Brown was sidelined.

The Pacers dedicated the win to a fan base that still struggles to understand how sharply the team has dipped without Haliburton, the season’s most notable absence after the serious Achilles injury he suffered in the Finals. The fall has been steep – they sit near the bottom of an Eastern Conference that is hardly sparkling. But on this night they prevailed. They started tentatively, trailing early, then regrouped without losing focus at halftime. When the Celtics tried to rally, the game snapped back into high gear.

Mazzulla answered multiple postgame questions with just two words: “illegal screen.” Like an automaton. That was his chosen form of protest against the controversial play that decided the game. With Jaylen Brown having been fined hours earlier for publicly criticizing officiating, the coach saw the opening and took it.

Other NBA results:

• Cavaliers 112 – Jazz 123
• Raptors 102 – Sixers 115
• Mavericks 115 – Nets 103
• Clippers 117 – Hornets 109
• Lakers 124 – Kings 112

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Indiana Pacers

Stats

12 Johnny Furphy
43 Pascal Siakam
32 Jay Huff
2 Andrew Nembhard
23 Aaron Nesmith
13 Tony Bradley
29 Quenton Jackson
7 Kam Jones
9 T.J. McConnell
33 Micah Potter
26 Ben Sheppard
55 Ethan Thompson
5 Jarace Walker

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
12 Johnny Furphy	15	4	5	0	5	1	2	1	0	2/2	1/1	0/0	0	0	0
43 Pascal Siakam	34	21	8	1	7	6	2	2	1	1/2	10/14	0/1	0	0	0
32 Jay Huff	28	20	3	0	3	2	2	2	1	0/0	4/5	4/7	0	1	0
2 Andrew Nembhard	33	13	6	1	5	9	3	2	0	0/0	2/9	3/5	0	1	0
23 Aaron Nesmith	32	6	5	0	5	2	1	0	0	0/0	0/3	2/6	0	1	0
13 Tony Bradley	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
29 Quenton Jackson	14	8	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0/0	1/1	2/4	0	1	0
7 Kam Jones	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
9 T.J. McConnell	14	5	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	1/2	2/5	0/0	0	0	0
33 Micah Potter	12	5	4	3	1	1	0	0	0	0/0	1/3	1/3	0	1	0
26 Ben Sheppard	23	5	2	0	2	1	0	0	0	0/0	1/2	1/6	0	0	0
55 Ethan Thompson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
5 Jarace Walker	24	11	7	0	7	1	1	1	0	0/0	1/4	3/5	0	2	0

Boston Celtics

Stats

30 Sam Hauser
55 Baylor Scheierman
88 Neemias Queta
11 Payton Pritchard
9 Derrick White
99 Chris Boucher
52 Luka Garza
28 Hugo González
13 Ron Harper Jr.
44 Max Shulga
4 Anfernee Simons
26 Xavier Tillman
27 Jordan Walsh
77 Amari Williams

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
30 Sam Hauser	32	8	8	2	6	1	1	0	0	2/2	0/0	2/7	0	1	0
55 Baylor Scheierman	20	2	3	0	3	0	0	2	0	2/2	0/1	0/2	0	2	0
88 Neemias Queta	31	15	8	2	6	2	3	2	1	1/3	7/9	0/0	0	0	0
11 Payton Pritchard	37	23	4	1	3	8	0	2	0	0/0	7/15	3/7	0	0	0
9 Derrick White	36	18	4	2	2	5	4	0	0	2/2	5/12	2/9	0	1	0
99 Chris Boucher	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
52 Luka Garza	16	6	6	3	3	1	0	0	0	0/0	3/4	0/0	0	0	0
28 Hugo González	14	2	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0/0	1/1	0/1	0	0	0
13 Ron Harper Jr.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
44 Max Shulga	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
4 Anfernee Simons	24	16	3	0	3	4	2	0	0	0/0	5/8	2/7	0	2	0
26 Xavier Tillman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
27 Jordan Walsh	25	6	9	0	9	1	1	3	0	0/0	3/3	0/2	0	1	0
77 Amari Williams	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0