Pacers outscored the celts in the paint 68-40
And they out rebounded Boston 43-36, they had both more offensive rebounds ( 9 offensive rebounds for Indiana, against 7 rebounds for Boston)and defensive rebounds (34 defensive rebounds for Indiana, against 29 for Boston) than Boston.
But indiana still lost though, because they really struggled to hit shots from the three point line(5/22, 22,7%) and didn’t draw as much fouls as Boston.
Boston drew 26 fouls while Indiana only drew 14.
Celts hit slightly over 1/3 of their three point attempts (16/46, 35.1%) and drew more fouls than the pacers so they got more free throw attempts. They hit most of them( 20/26) including the last two winning free throws by jrue holiday at the end of the game.
Honestly the game was won in the little things.
As they say, the devil is in the details.
Celtics understood the game within the game and made the adjustments and did the little things to win. Their bench played well in relief and made solid contributions on defense. Boston was the more Experienced team with most talent and better execution under pressure, they didn’t panic when the pacers were on fire in the first two quarters,instead they weathered the storm and played smart basketball on the road. They held back the floodgates as much as they could. They minimized and reduced the damages. They bent but didn’t not break. When the pacers shooting cooled off in the second half, they got their own shooting back and still played lockdown defense.
They were opportunistic and took advantage of the pacers mistakes. They capitalized on every pacers turnover.