Indiana Pacers at Boston Celtics prediction, pick for 3/24: Celts chasing top seed

Yardbarker Quick Pick

The Celtics return home off a six-game road trip and are looking to solidify themselves before the postseason. The spread is large because of Tyrese Haliburton's injury, with his status currently unknown. Even when he's been out, Indiana tends to play in some tight games, so we'll load up Pacers +12; it just seems like too many points for what has been an inconsistent Celtics team. — Griffin Carroll, Yardbarker

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Friday, 7 p.m. ET
Indiana Pacers: +12 (-110) spread, +550 moneyline, over 234.5 (-110)
@ Boston Celtics: -12 (+110) spread, -670 moneyline, under 234.5 (-109)

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"With him out, (rookie guard Andrew Nembhard) is getting a great chance to play a lot of minutes at point, which is good for him," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said earlier this week. "It's been much more challenging when Tyrese has been out of the lineup. I don't think that's any news flash. But we are where we are."

Haliburton, 23, is averaging 20.8 points, 10.4 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game in 54 starts this season. He had 22 points and 14 assists when the Celtics beat the Pacers 142-138 in overtime on Feb. 23.

Nembhard scored 25 points and had 10 assists in Indiana's victory over Toronto.

Indiana can qualify for the play-in tournament that will determine the final two playoff teams in the Eastern Conference, but it needs to gain ground -- and hold it -- during its final nine games of the regular season. The Pacers are 1 1/2 games behind the Chicago Bulls for the 10th and final spot.

Jayson Tatum scored 36 points for the Celtics (50-23) when they completed a six-game road trip by beating the Sacramento Kings 132-109 on Tuesday. Boston went 4-2 on the trip.

"That looked like the team I recognized," Boston's Jaylen Brown said. "We came out, we played 48 minutes, we didn't take our foot off the gas. We took care of business. Ended the road trip well. Get back home and take care of business again. ...

"(The victory was) super important. We dropped a couple of games on this trip that we probably shouldn't have. The Sacramento Kings have been playing good basketball, so we wanted to come in here and make a little bit of a statement."

Celtics center Robert Williams returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing eight games with a hamstring injury. He came off the bench and had six points and seven rebounds in just under 21 minutes against the Kings.

The Celtics have nine games remaining, six of which are at home. Boston is trying to catch Milwaukee and earn the top seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs.

"If it wasn't nine games before the regular season was over and we weren't in first place the entire year, if this road trip was at the beginning of the year and we went 4-2, everybody would be happy," Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. "We have to maintain a level of perspective (and) understand that this was a hard trip."

Friday's game will be the third meeting between the clubs. The Pacers won the first matchup 117-112 in Boston on Dec. 21 and the Celtics notched a 142-138 road overtime win on Feb. 23.