Celtics handle Pacers, take 2-0 Eastern Conference finals lead - ESPN

BOSTON — Jaylen Brown was a big enough problem for the Indiana Pacers even before an All-NBA snub that may have given him an added desire to show how much he can do for the Boston Celtics.

«I think he cares about it in a way that motivates him, and I think he doesn't really care about it at all,» Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said after watching Brown match his playoff career high of 40 points in Boston's 126-110 victory over Indiana in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals Thursday night.

«He understands that winning is the most important thing,» Mazzulla said. «He just cares about the right stuff.»

One game after his game-saving 3-pointer and one day after he was left out of the voting for the league's top 15 players, Brown scored 10 points during a 20-0 Boston run that turned a first-quarter deficit into a second-quarter lead that the Celtics never relinquished. Things got worse for Indiana in the third, when star Tyrese Haliburton reinjured the left hamstring that kept him out of 10 games in January.

«The beginning of the second quarter certainly changed the game a lot,» Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said said. «The third was tough, and losing Ty for the game obviously was a big blow.»

Jayson Tatum and Derrick White scored 23 points apiece and Jrue Holiday had 15 points and 10 assists for the top-seeded Celtics, who lost Game 2 in both of their previous series this postseason.

Pascal Siakam scored 28 points for Indiana, which heads home for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday nights in an arena where they have won 11 straight games — including six in the playoffs — since March 18. Haliburton, who had 25 points and 10 assists in the series opener, had 10 points and eight assists Thursday before leaving the game in the