Pacers' playoff hopes fade further

BOSTON – David West struggled to describe the frustration that was sinking in.

West and the rest of the Indiana Pacers understood the magnitude of Wednesday's game against the Boston Celtics and its grave implications on the playoff race, and all he could do was shake his head after a 100-87 loss at the TD Garden.

For the second straight night, the Pacers let the chances of making the playoffs slip further through their fingertips.

First, it was a 111-106 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.

The Pacers entered Wednesday trailing the Nets by 1.5 games for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot. They trailed the ninth-place Celtics by one game.

In a game they desperately needed to win, the Pacers trailed the Celtics by 18 in the third quarter, a hole they almost got out of but were never quite able to escape.

Now the Pacers (32-43) are on the outside looking in, having to make up 2.5 games on the Nets with seven games remaining, and the Celtics and Hornets (32-42) in front of them as well. Indiana hosts Charlotte on Friday.

"Yeah, it's tough," West said. "We haven't … we've just been too inconsistent and haven't been playing well enough. We lost to two teams we're fighting with. Had an opportunity to take over our own fate the last couple of days and weren't able to do it."

George Hill and Rodney Stuckey led the Pacers with 21 and 16 points, respectively, while West added 10 and eight rebounds.

After mounting a steady comeback in the third quarter, the Pacers trailed the Celtics (34-41), 68-62, entering the fourth. They never managed to get closer.

With 7:18 to play, Stuckey converted an and-one to cut the Celtics' lead to 81-74, but Boston responded with a 13-4 run that sealed the Pacers' fate.

The Pacers had trouble guarding the undersized Celtics lineup, which stretched the floor with ease. Boston was moving the ball well, getting 29 assists on 39 made field goals.

Evan Turner led the Celtics with a triple-double, scoring 13 points to go with 12 assists and 11 rebounds.

Tyler Zeller and Kelly Olynyk scored 19 points apiece.

"We tried our best to make it a game, but they made more shots, made more plays," Indiana coach Frank Vogel said. "Their style of play won out. It's what the league is going to, five 3-point shooters out there. And it causes problems for a team like us."

The Pacers started the third quarter the way they ended the second, giving up a 9-2 run that put them in an 18-point hole – their biggest deficit of the game.

But this time Indiana responded.

With the Celtics leading, 59-41, the Pacers went on a 10-0 run, capped by a Hill 3-pointer that cut it to 59-51.

Indiana didn't get much closer than that until the final seconds of the third quarter when Hill drained a 21-footer to shrink the Celtics' lead to 68-62.

"Playing on the road, you almost can't stay close. You've got to get over that hump," George Hill said. "I feel like every time we got to six or eight points, they were making big impact plays, getting the extra rebound, or a steal. It's a good team. They're starting to gel at the right time and that's late, and they cause a lot of problems with that spread five."

The Pacers trailed the Celtics, 50-39, at halftime. Boston exposed Indiana inside when Roy Hibbert got into early foul trouble, scoring 26 points in the paint on 13-of-17 shooting.

Hibbert, who finished with seven points and three rebounds, picked up two fouls and missed all four of his shots in the first 6 minutes of the game. Vogel didn't put him back on the floor until there were 3 minutes left in the half.

Two minutes later he picked up his third foul of the game and went back to the bench.

Without Hibbert on the floor, the biggest thorn in Indiana's side was Zeller, who scored 17 of his 19 points by halftime.

Hibbert's struggles continued in the second half. Vogel took him out with 2:58 to play in the third quarter, and he didn't return until the 5:45 mark of the fourth.

"It was a rough game for me on both ends. I think I was getting position in the paint where I wanted. Shots just weren't falling," Hibbert said. "And then guarding their spread lineup was real tough."