It’s safe to say the Indiana Pacers didn’t take Friday’s game lightly. The Pacers controlled the game from start to finish, scoring at will to beat Boston 123-114 at TD Garden. It’s never easy playing the same opponent twice in three days, and Boston learned that the hard way after claiming victory two nights ago.

The Pacers had Andrew Nembhard back after he missed Friday’s game, and he proved to be a crucial player. In addition to Nembhard, Tyrese Haliburton hurt the C’s all night with 31 points, but it was his ability to come relaxed into the box and either take a shot or find a teammate. The Pacers scored 66 points in the paint.

Whenever Boston made a run, Indiana did a great job of answering with a run of its own. A 13-0 run midway through the final quarter sealed the game for Indiana.

The Pacers opened the game with their first three shots, while the Celtics missed their first three shots, giving Indy an early 6-0 lead. Sam Hauser got Boston into the game right away with a three-pointer, his first in two weeks.

Indiana made six of its first seven shots, with every starter except Bennedict Mathurin scoring. Joe Mazzulla had to call his first timeout as his team trailed 12-5.

16 of Indiana’s first 18 points were all lost as Boston struggled early to contain Indy’s perimeter players.

Jordan Walsh, along with Payton Pritchard, were the first two players to come off the bench less than six minutes before the start of the first quarter.

Boston, trailing Jaylen Brown’s five straight points, cut the lead to four (21-17), which led to Rick Carlisle calling a timeout as Boston began to find its rhythm on offense.

After a three-pointer by Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard drained a three-pointer on the ensuing possession, giving Boston its first lead of the game (23-22) with three minutes left in the first. After the three, Carlisle took his second timeout.

Indy shot back with a 5-0 run, but that run was stopped by another three-pointer from Pritchard with 1:18 left. For a two-on-one chance, Jaylen hit a three-pointer on Pascal Siakam to take the lead at 29-27. The three-pointer was Brown’s 12th point of the game to go with three assists and two rebounds.

After a slow start, Boston took a two-point lead in the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Tatum looked for his shot and reached the free throw line. Tatum visited the charity stripe twice in the first two and a half minutes to get going offensively. However, Thomas Bryant’s back-to-back dunks gave the Pacers a four-point lead (thanks to an 8-3 run early in the quarter), prompting a Mazzulla timeout.

Boston got into the bonus early with 7:27 left in the half.

The Pacers dominated the first quarter, but it was back-to-back three-pointers from Haliburton and Jarace Walker that gave Indy a six-point lead midway through the quarter.

Pritchard then scored eight points in a row, unfortunately the Pacers’ offense continued to score baskets after every PP basket and with 3:40 left in the half, Boston trailed 57-49.

Although Tatum was aggressive early in the quarter, he didn’t make his first field goal until 2:11 left in the second quarter. Before the basket, Tatum was 0-7 from the field (0-6 from three).

Without Jrue Holiday, Boston struggled in the first half to contain Andrew Nembhard, who finished the half with 14 points.

Although it was a poor half defensively, Payton Pritchard shot a three-pointer just before the buzzer sounded, making the halftime deficit 65-58. According to Taylor Snow of Celtics.com, the three edged Pritchard ahead of Avery Bradley, making it ninth among all three-pointers in Celtics history.

We thank Indiana for the shot in the first half. The Pacers shot 58.1% from the floor and 35.7% from three, compared to Boston’s 52.4% from the field and 37% from distance. Boston allowed Indiana to score 36 of its 65 points in the game.

Pritchard led the Celtics in the first half, scoring 19 points (13 points in the second quarter), followed by Brown with 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting.

It was a good start to the third quarter for Boston, especially for Jaylen Brown, who scored back-to-back 1-pointers to quickly score six points to close the Pacers’ lead to three (76-73) with 8:19 left shorten.

The Celtics continued to struggle to keep Indy out of the game. The Pacers continually took advantage of the Celtics game plan as they switched in the half court.

For every run Boston made, Indiana found a way to respond with a run of its own. Indiana moved further into history, and with Porzingis out, there wasn’t much protection left for Boston. The Pacers scored 46 of their 89 points from play.

As the crowd began to grow restless, Jayson Tatum blocked Myles Turner at the rim, leading to a Derrick White layup that made the score 89-83, prompting a Pacers timeout.

Indiana entered the fourth quarter with a 98-91 lead. Tatum scored 12 points in the third period as Indiana continued to dominate the paint scoring, with more than half of its points (50) coming near the basket.

The fourth quarter was sloppy for both teams as the Pacers and Celtics repeatedly gave the ball away with unforced turnovers. However, Indiana extended its lead to 11, 105-94, with 9:04 left.

With 8:23 left, Al Horford made his first three-pointer of the game (his 650th in the green and white) to make it a five-point game, 105-100.

Tatum capped a 9-0 run after a Tatum and 1 to make the score 105-103.

As with every Boston run, Indiana responded with a run of its own. Indiana’s Ben Sheppard hit a three-pointer and then a layup for a quick 7-0, making it 112-103. Then a Turner dunk essentially ended the game and pushed the lead back to 11.

Indiana took a 13-0 lead, 118-103, and the air essentially left Boston.

The Celtics will look to bounce back on New Year’s Eve when they take on the Toronto Raptors at 3 p.m