The good news for Indiana is its No. 1 ranked defense has held Boston to an average of 91.5 points during the first two games of this series.

The bad news is the Pacers are down 0-2 in the series because their shooting has been way off.

The Pacers, though, are far from outclassed. They led the Celtics by seven points at halftime in Game 1. They were leading Boston with less than a minute left in Game 2 before somehow failing to cover a 7 1/2-point underdog spread in a 99-91 loss.

Sure Indiana misses its top scorer, Victor Oladipo. But the Pacers are due to shoot much better than 38.8 pecent from the floor. Boston ranks eighth defensively. However, the Pacers have failed to connect on shots in which they had a good look at the basket. Myles Turner, Darren Collison and Thaddeus Young should step up. The Pacers have a strong history of dramatically playing much better at home.

The Celtics won just one of their eight road playoff games last season.