INDIANAPOLIS — Pascal Siakam banked in a high floater with 6.8 seconds remaining to lift the Indiana Pacers past the Boston Celtics 98-96 Monday night. The bucket capped a late defensive stand and delivered Indiana its first three-game winning streak of the season, Jan. 12, 2026.
Pascal Siakam finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists as the Pacers improved to 9-31 after starting the night with the NBA’s worst record. Center Jay Huff added 20 points and four 3-pointers, and the Pacers’ shooting edge was stark: Indiana hit 16 3-pointers to Boston’s nine, according to the ESPN box score.
Payton Pritchard led Boston with 23 points, and Derrick White scored 18, but the Celtics played without leading scorer Jaylen Brown (lower back spasms) to begin a four-game trip. Indiana was also short-handed, with Bennedict Mathurin sidelined by a thumb injury, per the AP game story.
Pascal Siakam delivers the final touch
Boston nearly stole it after trailing by as many as 13. White’s driving layup tied the game with about 29 seconds left, but Pascal Siakam answered immediately — pump-faking, stepping inside the foul line and floating a soft bank shot off glass. White’s contested 3-pointer at the buzzer didn’t fall, a final sequence shown in the NBA’s official game recap.
The Pacers’ push came out of halftime. Down 56-53, Indiana opened the third quarter on an 8-0 spurt and turned pace into points behind Huff’s perimeter shooting and Andrew Nembhard’s playmaking. Boston closed the third with a 17-6 run to cut the deficit, then made it a one-possession game deep into the fourth as Pritchard steadied the offense and Anfernee Simons attacked off the dribble.
Pascal Siakam’s Indiana timeline keeps paying off
Clutch moments like Monday’s have helped define Pascal Siakam’s stint in Indianapolis. Indiana acquired Pascal Siakam from Toronto in January 2024, a move that ended his nearly eight-year run with the Raptors, as detailed in AP’s report on the trade. Pacers president Kevin Pritchard said then, “We’re incredibly excited to welcome Pascal to Indiana.”
The partnership became long term when Pascal Siakam signed a reported four-year max deal in 2024, according to NBA.com’s report on the contract. And against Boston, Pascal Siakam has delivered late before: he hit a tiebreaking overtime 3 against the Celtics in October 2024, as as recapped by ESPN. The Celtics, though, owned the matchup in the 2024 Eastern Conference finals, finishing a sweep at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, as described in ESPN’s Game 4 recap.
After this latest finish, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla offered the same two-word answer to multiple postgame questions — “Illegal screen” — in reference to the final possession, as reported by ESPN. The Pacers host Toronto on Wednesday, while Boston continues its trip Thursday at Miami.
