The Celtics were in a bit of a slump entering Friday’s game against the Pacers. Boston had lost four of its last seven games despite playing some underwhelming opponents. All of the sudden, the Celtics were four games behind the Cavaliers for the Eastern Conference lead and were facing a tough schedule in January.

The task got tougher when Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis were reuled out before tip-off against the Pacers, giving coach Joe Mazzulla a thin bench to work with against the Pacers, who had won five of their last six entering the game.

However, Mazzulla knew the Pacers were coming in town a little bit worse for the wear after a tough loss to the Thunder on Thursday night in Indiana. With Obi Toppin (ankle) and Andrew Nembhard (leg) also scratched, the Pacers would be fatigued and vulnerable if the Celtics were able to jump on them early.

The Celtics played well out of the gate, showing disciplined closeouts, good ball movement and better attention to detail. However, the game was still tied at 11 after six minutes due to some poor early shooting with no signs of a runaway emerging.

From there, Jaylen Brown got it going a little bit and when it was his normal time to hit the bench with three minutes left in the first quarter, no one came to the scorer’s table. Instead, Mazzulla threw a bit of a curveball, sticking with his All-Star duo of Brown and Jayson Tatum for the entire first quarter (outside of a last second defensive sub for Tatum) and the move paid dividends immediately.

Brown erupted for 15 first-quarter points on 6 of 6 shooting. Meanwhile, Tatum did all the little things well (seven points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals) to jumpstart a rout in the opening minutes. Boston led by 17 points after the first quarter and cruised to a 142-105 victory.

Mazzulla was asked about the choice after the game.

“It’s important to do that from time to time,” Mazzulla said of playing his duo star together longer. “Keeps us on edge, keeps them, keeps the other team on edge, can’t get a rhythm to what our sub pattern is, and just creates an environment to where we have to be able to perform regardless of what we think is going to happen. So just work to do situations like that throughout the year.”

Whether the decision was preplanned or an audible in the moment, it was the perfect play by Mazzulla on a night where the stars were setting the tone from the jump. Boston desperately needed an easy win for both morale  and to get some rest before a tough schedule looming next month. By turning the game into a rout early, Mazzulla was able to buy light nights for Al Horford (20 minutes), Sam Hauser (20 minutes) and Tatum (32 minutes) while Brown got some extra run late to make a run at his career-high before finishing with 44 points.

With Hauser hobbled lately and Derrick White dealing with a mini-slump, the Celtics needed to lean a bit more into their top dogs on a night they played without two starters. Doing it early particularly on a night when they were so locked in paid dividends for Mazzulla.

Boston had season high’s in points (142) and margin of victory (37 points). After a noticeable slump over the last few weeks, Mazzulla used some clever tactics to get the Celtics back on track.