BOSTON — Jaylen Brown scored a career-high 40 points in the playoffs, including 10 that helped Boston take the lead with 20 straight points in the first half, and the Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers 126-110 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Following Game 1, Brown knocked down a 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left to force the game into overtime and help Boston turn a five-point first-quarter deficit into a 15-point lead in the second quarter.
Jayson Tatum and Derrick White each scored 23 points and Jrue Holiday had 15 points and 10 assists for the top-seeded Celtics, who have dropped Game 2 of their two previous series this postseason.
Pascal Siakam scored 28 points for Indiana, which returns home for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday nights.
Tyrese Haliburton, who had 25 points and 10 assists in the series opener, had 10 points and eight assists on Thursday but left the game in the third quarter with a sore left foot.
After a game in which the Celtics jumped out to a 12-0 lead and Indiana fought back for the rest of the first half, the lead changed hands 10 times in the first quarter and the Pacers led 27-22 with 1:14 left.
Boston then scored 20 more points.
Indiana missed nine straight shots and committed four turnovers during a shooting slump that lasted more than six minutes.
Brown scored 10 points alone during the run and had 24 by halftime. Early in the third quarter, Brown scored two quick points to give the Celtics a 61-52 lead.
But Siakam continued to perform well in the second half, making four shots in the first four minutes – two 2-pointers and two 3-pointers – to close the gap to two points.
Boston again extended its lead, this time for good, scoring 16 of the next 21 points.
Indiana never got close to single digits again.
Brown scored 26 points on Tuesday night, and the Celtics won thanks to some unforced errors late by the Pacers, particularly Haliburton.
Brown was left off the All-NBA team on Wednesday. As a second-team selection last year, he is eligible for a five-year supermax contract extension, making him the NBA’s highest-paid player.
Asked before the game if he needed to talk Brown into focusing on the team rather than giving him the personal snub, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said, “He’s a very mature guy, so I don’t need to talk to him.”
“He has a great outlook on life. He knows what’s important and what’s not,” Mazzulla said before the game. “He works really hard and he knows who he is as a person and as a player, and that’s the most important thing.”
