Tim Legler reacts to Celtics vs. Pacers Game 2: ‘We saw a TALENT DISPARITY tonight!’ | SC with SVP

Tim Legler reacts to Celtics vs. Pacers Game 2: ‘We saw a TALENT DISPARITY tonight!’ | SC with SVP

but we like to take this space to just give some sort of initial observations on the game itself and it’s about 8:00 Eastern and you’re saying look man I don’t know I don’t know what we’re going to see tonight right and I think that’s reasonable because this Indiana team’s very capable of scoring frankly unlucky not to win game one Boston has lost the first two game twos but the ability of the Celtics in a game where at half they’re only up six and we’re looking at each other going how and all of a sudden seak is going nuts in the third and you’re thinking here come the Pacers to absorb those punches and then land knockout blows what’s it say about this Boston Squad yeah you saw a talent disparity tonight and you saw just dominance on the part of the Celtics and this game two thing is interesting for this reason we made a lot about it and I think justifiably so but the difference was in both of those first two rounds Scott they won that first game comfortably so was there a little bit psychologically of not a state of Readiness for that second game Miami makes a record number threes and then Cleveland wins by 24 and then they go on the road and they snuff everything out in this one game one they really know they should have been down 01 going into this game so their state of Readiness was greater and Jaylen Brown talked about it after the last game he wasn’t happy despite the win because he didn’t feel like they were prepared for that style of offense they were tonight and after the first quarter this was really all about the Celtics being in control you’re right Indiana made that run and shakum got hot but for the most part you’d never really felt that they were going to get over the hump that Boston was going to truly be threatened in this game they answered that run with a significant one of their own took control from that point on and tonight you saw a team that had offensive players that just flat out one every one-on-one in front of them and we’re going to talk about on the touch screen later and how they just broke Indiana down repeatedly all night long if I said Tatum had 32 I believe he had 23 regardless Boston had 126 ultimately that’s what matters Brown would never admit it he’s such a buttoned up dude he’s not going to say yeah I was pissed off you think he was about the all NBA think I think he was and I think look there are there are all NBA teams there’s three of them there’s different tiers to those this was a first team all NBA performance tonight the guy was Sensational he did it all he made his mid-range he made deep shots he overwhelmed guys uh off the dribble with his drive he was the guy really I actually was a little concerned at one point resist to Jaylen Brown Centric their offense because that’s not when the Celtics are at their best but he was taking what was in front of him that plate was set and he was eating no matter who was on him it didn’t matter he had the look in his eye had it going they rode that for a while that’s pretty much what their offense was in the first half and then he was also the answer when aniana made their run just give him credit the guy was Sensational tonight across the board in every way including defensively with some of the pressure that he put on guys when he guarded them as well you all know the the drill in the immediate aftermath of a game where tyres Alberton leaves with questions about his leg do we anticipate that between now and midnight Eastern we’re going to know the status for Saturday almost certainly not and so we don’t freak out and over react about his status however his importance to this Pacers team how do you quantify what he means to their capacity to win games against Boston well I think you even saw it in this game prior to the injury he had a quiet night and when he’s quiet they struggle it’s difficult for them he’s that important to them and he can push pace and not get shots and still be effective I just didn’t think he really put his stamp on the game and then this happens and is where it’s unfortunate this time of the year this round it’s interesting because the first two rounds you get situations where you get multiple days off sure you get to this point you’re every other day let’s go and so there’s a very quick turnaround they travel they get home he’s going to have a day and he’s going to have to get ready to play again who knows what this is going to look like what it’s going to mean but if he is not himself as the motor of this team and the pressure that he puts on teams to Sprint back initially and what secondary offense that leads to they’re a completely different team and it’s a left hamstring uh injury according to sources that’s what w tweeted out and it was 10 games that the hamstring issue cost him in January you think of O anobi who had the hamstring issue for the Knicks in the last round against the series and man you just look big picture look in the east no Butler right for Miami in the first series Donovan Mitchell injured Jared Allen couldn’t go for Cleveland and now if halberton if halberton is injured I mean the path for Boston it’s going to be hard for anybody anyway given the depth of scoring talent that the Celtics have but what were we talking about the other day you and I via Tech right you’re a avilability is an ability in a sense it’s just it’s the unfortunate reality in all sports this time of year isn’t it it’s critical and look this is the team that’s missing Benedict Ma and he he’d be big in a spot like this because he’s not going to be your point guard but that’s another 16 20 points that you don’t have TJ McConnell’s been as good as any backup point guard can play in the postseason he’s not Tyrus Halton it’s a different size component to it like he’ll be effective there’s no question in my mind if he has to go and halberton can’t there’s no doubt about that but this one felt a little bit different in terms of what Boston allowed Indiana to do to them and and Hal Burton would make a big difference but if Boston plays as physical and as hard as they did defensively in this game and and had as much attention to detail with getting back and matching up early because that’s when Indiana gets you back on your heels if they do that against Scott I don’t know if it’s going to matter that much th this was a great disparity tonight in not just talent but just in physical force that they played with that’s fair they they wanted to they wanted to Snuff something out tonight and not let this get to a lot noise and anxiety heading to Indiana you know in one1 when they know they really got away with one last look the noise was reasonable because they were lucky to win that game they were lucky underline it they were lucky to win game one I know you know it I know you’re still bummed out of Indiana had one in their hand for out and you just look you cannot afford to let that sand slip through your fingers if TJ’s got to be the guy he’s got that dog in him I’m sure he would relish the opportunity to put more more weight on the scale for him and I’m sure he’d be ready to handle that load they have not lost a playoff game at home that Boston hadn’t lost on the road right so it’s been a it’ll be a fascinating sort of one thing’s got to give yeah and I will say one thing that was interesting in this game offensively it was a big deal for Indiana Miles Turner got in early foul trouble Miles Turner never got in any kind of Rhythm if you go back to game one and think of how dominant he was in the first half they didn’t really have a great answer for that because Boston was continually retreating to run down toward the Baseline because the ball got behind him here comes my Turner trailing into those spots where he can catch shoot catch get to his mid-range catch and go down the lane and throw on somebody he really never had any impact in the game at all in the first half he had a couple of buckets early third you’re thinking he’s going to get it going it was almost too late by that time so that’s a one factor to look at can Miles Turner have the same imprint that he had in game one when they get back to Indiana in game three [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Tim Legler joins SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt to react to the Boston Celtics’ 126-110 win over the Indiana Pacers in take Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cs take 2-0 series lead over Indy.

✔️Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV