They just didn’t quite make it all the way back from the dead.

Alright, so, I think I tweeted this early in the second half of the Boston Celtics’ 135-132 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Celtics vs Pacers summary pic.twitter.com/8ovrpzKXZX

— Sam LaFrance (@SamLaFranceNBA) October 31, 2024

At the time, it was accurate. The reigning champs looked pretty disinterested. They weren’t working the ball around on offense, they were getting killed in transition, and were getting ROUTED by the Pacers.

Boston was down by as much as 24 in the second half and 21 in the fourth quarter.

Yet, the game ended up in overtime.

How did that happen?

Just one day after he proclaimed that he’d like to see the NBA allow in-game fighting, Joe Mazzulla’s team fought on the floor.

“They outplayed us. I thought we were a step behind in everything, Mazzulla said after the loss (h/t NBC Sports Boston). “Their speed. Their pace. They were a step ahead of us…I thought we missed a ton of layups…We just didn’t play our best and Indiana played great…You can focus on that, or you can focus on the fact that we stayed in it.”

Joe Mazzulla: "We made a game of it… the guys fought, so that was good"

Presented by @NEFordDealers pic.twitter.com/rtZtVrlM17

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) October 31, 2024

All of a sudden, they were forcing the Pacers to have to earn their buckets, which they struggled to do quite a bit. Indiana made just three field goals for the final 8:54 of regulation. To put that in perspective, they had made four in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.

With the lack of makes, the hosts got frazzled, turned the ball over, and fell victim to their own fast-paced attack.

Once the Cs were running, they started to get easy looks almost every time. They only attempted three-pointers or shots at the rim, during their steep climb back to even. It was peak modern-day offense.

Go ahead and scroll the fourth quarter play-by-play on NBA.com. You’ll see an assortment of threes, layups, and dunks for Boston.

The easy looks helped re-establish confidence and energy for the Celtics, which they used to get crucial stops in the final minutes (I can’t stress enough how they basically got no stops for the entire rest of the game). It was like watching a completely different team.

At the end of the day, that’s what Mazzulla is choosing to focus on, the fight.

“There’s two things to focus on. Making sure we’re not a half of a step behind. But you see what we’re capable of at our best, top to bottom, and the guys fought, so that was good.”

Sure, it’s pretty strange that I’m writing a moral victory article about a team that just won a championship, but fighting back was quite the feat. Unfortunately, it doesn’t change the fact that they picked up their first loss of the season in a winnable game.

What it does change is that they lost the game because they missed three free throws in overtime (and maybe took some questionable shots) on a night where Pascal Siakam tied a career-high in made three-pointers — not because they played like they didn’t care.