5 takeaways when Kemba Walker’s big night lifted Celtics above Pacers

The Boston Celtics hacked out some breathing room on Friday and unleashed a three-game losing streak with a 118-112 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

Five takeaways from a sigh of relief for Boston.

Kemba Walker changed the tone in the first quarter.

The Celtics struggled early and appeared to be on track for another catastrophic loss as the Pacers almost immediately increased to a double-digit lead.

When the Celtics were 18-4 behind, Kemba Walker took over the reins. Walker threw in 10 points alone in the first quarter and scored two assists en route to a big night (32 points on 10-for-19 shooting, six assists, three rebounds). Boston’s 14-point deficit evaporates, and the Celtics regain a 32-31 lead to one.

Walker’s performance was a bit reminiscent of the way the Celtics used Isaiah Thomas – an offensive offense with Walker dripping around screens and drifting into the paint from dribble pieces. His transgression was an enormous elevator.

The Celtics need to play Robert Williams no matter what minutes they may.

Walker was Boston’s best player on Friday, but Williams was perhaps second – 14 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Offensively, Williams put pressure on the defense around the edge and made some passes at high level. Defensively, he fell back and made drivers think twice.

Stevens said the Celtics had limited Williams’ minutes in hopes of chasing him as the season progressed. Williams’ hip is a concern, and the Celtics are rightly wary of his health – the last thing they want is a persistent light injury to turn into something more serious.

Still, the Celtics need to take minutes they can get from Williams. He played well and still shows high potential in the middle position, even though the Celtics still trust solid veteran Daniel Theis with the closing minutes.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown finally got support.

Tatum and Brown were joint 9-for-30 off the floor with 24 points. Tatum struggled in particular and placed just nine points on the freeze of 4-for-18 shooting.

And yet, the Celtics still won 51.2 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from the 3-point shooting. Remove Brown and Tatum’s lines from the score, and Boston shot 63.4 percent as a team.

It is the power of depth. Boston’s season has been on the verge of a complete collapse (and frankly, it may have started to slow down already), but if Friday’s game leaves anything until halftime, it may not be a piece of cake to say Walker’s 32-point night has the Celtics’ season.

Response to collapse of the 4th quarter

The Celtics have a double-digit lead with nine minutes left. Almost immediately, the Pacers defeated it by a 9-0 run, playing just 1:02 playing time.

However, the reaction of the Celtics was encouraging. Walker spurred it on once again – he buried a driver, then a long jumper to put Boston’s advantage back to six. The Pacers cut it back to three, and Aaron Holiday’s wide-open triangle with just under a minute left looked like a lock to level the game.

Instead, it rattled off the edge and Daniel Theis hit a 3-corner on the other side that had the Celtics in control. With the free throw of the match, despite a bizarre three-pointer by Domantas Sabonis, who jumped high on the backboard and fell through.

The Celtics’ issues in the fourth quarter are obviously not resolved after one win.

But Friday’s performance – especially because it was spurred on by Walker – was definitely a step forward.

The Celtics’ rotations were intriguing.

Interestingly, Grant Williams and Semi Oeieye did not play on Friday. Aaron Nesmith, who recently got an extended appearance, played just seven minutes, while Javonte Green started the fourth quarter and was removed shortly thereafter.

Stevens’ rotation to help his team win was mostly veterans plus Payton Pritchard, who was 30 minutes ahead for the second time this season.

The Celtics are obviously going to look much further at Williams, Oeieye and Nesmith, but Stevens cut the minutes for younger players, who felt remarkable.