We’ll do our best impression of a Jomboy Media breakdown here. In the final minute of third quarter in Indianapolis last night, Luke Kornet drew a loose ball on Isaiah Jackson after boxing him out on the defensive glass. It’s clear as day that Jackson pushed Kornet in the back.
However, referee Jenna Schroeder initially sent teammate Sam Hauser , a surprisingly low 74.1% career free throw shooter, to the line. Hmmm. Honest mistake. After some protest from Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, the officials got the right Celtic to take the free throws. Kornet’s actually better at the charity stripe at 78.6%.
After sinking the first, you can see Tatum behind the backboard pumping his fists demonstrably. Kornet shakes his fist back at him. And after the second swishes through, he mimicked D’Angelo Russell’s “ice in the veins” celebration and the Boston bench went nuts.
With Kristaps Porzingis leaving the game in the first quarter, Kornet played an important 16 minutes off the bench and finished with four points, four rebounds, and three assists. Boston struggled to close out the quarter strong, but that moment of levity might have just been the ice breaker the Celtics needed in their 118-101 win over the Pacers.
