For a quarter, Friday night looked like it might turn into one of those games the Celtics (19-11) make harder than it needs to be.

Indiana (6-25) couldn’t miss, Boston couldn’t get a stop, and a 15-point hole opened up before the game had a chance to settle.

Then, the Celtics reminded everyone why those moments don’t scare them anymore.

What followed wasn’t just a rally, it was a takeover.

Boston turned a frantic start into a clinic, ripping control of the game away in the second quarter and never giving it back. By halftime, the Pacers were already chasing. By the fourth quarter, they were simply surviving.

This wasn’t about one star carrying the load or a hot shooting night saving the day. It was about how quickly the Celtics can find their footing, how many different ways they can beat you, and how thin the margin has become for teams trying to hang with them once they get rolling.

With another road win in hand and their streak climbing, Friday’s game felt less like an outlier and more like a snapshot of where this team is headed - which makes the takeaways from it even more telling.

1. They Don’t Need Perfect Starts Anymore:

The Pacers punched first. Hard.

Indiana hit its first 6 threes, built a 15-point lead, and briefly turned Friday night into the kind of road game that can spiral if you’re not locked in.

The Celtics barely flinched. That’s the real takeaway.

Boston absorbed the early chaos, trusted its offense, and waited for the game to tilt back toward them. When it did, it tilted violently.

The ability to survive ugly opening quarters without panicking is a trait that shows up in teams that know exactly who they are - and who they’re better than.

2. Sam Hauser’s Shooting:

This wasn’t just a hot shooting night - it was a geometry shift.

Hauser’s 7-straight threes forced Indiana to defend more space than it could handle. And once that happened, everything else opened up.

The early-season shooting slump is officially a memory.

Hauser is now over 40% from deep in December, and when he’s moving defenders that far off their spots, Boston’s offense stops feeling sequential and starts feeling inevitable.

Indiana never found an answer, and by the time they tried, the damage was already done.

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3. Second Quarter Explosion:

The Celtics’ 47-point second quarter wasn’t just decisive, it was demoralizing.

Boston doubled up Indiana 47-22 in the frame, flipping a double-digit deficit into a lead that never dipped back into single digits.

That kind of swing doesn’t happen by accident. It’s ball movement, shot quality, and lineup combinations that actually complement each other.

Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, and Jaylen Brown all hit double figures in the quarter, and once the Pacers cooled off, the Celtics never let them breathe again.

When Boston finds a rhythm like that, the rest of the night becomes procedural.

4. Bench Rotation Rounding Into Form:

Josh Minott’s DNP-CD stood out, but not because he did anything wrong. It stood out because Boston’s bench is starting to separate itself.

Baylor Scheierman’s second-quarter impact was too strong to ignore. Hauser was untouchable. Hugo Gonzalez has quietly stacked three of his best games as a Celtic.

This is what depth looks like when it turns into competition.

Not everyone plays every night. The best fits win.

And as Boston moves through a road trip against sub-.500 teams, that internal pressure could be just as important as the opponents on the schedule.

Before this four-game winning streak got underway, I predicted the Celtics would win 8 of their next 9 games. But with how well they’ve been playing, it may be time to up the ante even more.

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Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.