Boston Celtics Lost to Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers remained in the playoff hunt after defeating the Celtics Monday night 107-100. The Celtics were short handed in the post with injuries to Shaquille O'Neal, Jermaine O'Neal and Troy Murphy letting 7'2" Roy Hibbert of the Pacers score 26 points. The Celtics did themselves no favors, getting big men into foul trouble forcing them to play more conservative defense. Kevin Garnett only managed 25 minutes and received four fouls. Nenad Krstic had five more fouls creating a mismatch for Glen Davis against the five in taller Hibbert.

The Pacers got scoring help from Danny Granger with 18 and Darren Collison with 17. The win kept them from losing ground to the Charlotte Bobcats and Milwaukee Bucks, a game and three games behind respectively, for the last playoff spot. It was a big win for a team that has played inconsistently of late.

The Celtics got 22 points from Rajon Rondo who was playing with a jammed finger that caused him to miss Sunday's game. Paul Pierce led Boston with 23 points and Davis helped with 20 of his own. The loss means that the Celtics have lost seven of their last twelve games and are struggling to remain near the top of the standings in the East.

The game was close into the fourth quarter until a Pacers run pushed their lead to eight with just under four minutes to play. Poor shooting in the fourth quarter spelled defeat for Boston. They were 4-14 from the field and shot 50% on twelve attempts from the free throw line.