NBA FINALS GAME 2 REACTION 🗣️ ‘Dallas was holding on for DEAR LIFE!’ – Tim Legler | SC with SVP

NBA FINALS GAME 2 REACTION 🗣️ ‘Dallas was holding on for DEAR LIFE!’ – Tim Legler | SC with SVP

the NBA’s best team during the regular season is what JJ was just talking about and they demonstrated once again they’re the eighth team since 1990 to take a two games to nothing lead in the finals after owning the League’s best record that season six of the previous seven ultimately went on to win the title we’re going to visit with Jason Tatum here in just a bit it’s uh Tim legan hi how are you uh we’re just talking about just the the the luxury of scoring options right and and and what what Boston has got where you don’t have to lean into your two superstars you get 20 from porzingis and that first quarter right he was such a Difference Maker and then I called Drew just the ultimate Pro the guy doesn’t need touches doesn’t need anything and he can still give you this to you what stands out about what he did tonight yeah what stood out to me was the fact that he just took advantage of what was there on the drives on the close outs of the three-point line you know regular season game maybe he’s taken some of those contested threes he understood Dallas and disagree a little bit with what Doris and JJ were saying about Dallas’s urgency defensively I just didn’t think Boston played particularly well offensively in this game Drew holiday took advantage of some of these Closeouts where he could now take the extra step get to the paint get to the rim he made his first nine shots in the paint so on a night when neither team could really shoot the ball particularly well for the three-point line where are you going to grab those extra possessions and Drew holiday did that in attacking the gaps and attacking along the Baseline taking the extra step at the end around a shot blocker to get himself more on balance so he shot something good at The Rim I just thought he played a really smart offensive game on a night when everybody was struggling to find the range from Deep Drew holiday found another way to put the ball in the basket if he doesn’t do what he did in the first half Scott Dallas might be up 68 at halftime and if that’s the case maybe it feels a little bit different to them coming out of the locker room didn’t it feel though at halim like you look at the score me like that does not feel like the game we just watched I I was saying to you guys in the room I’m like you know it felt like Dallas left so much out there missed free throws they couldn’t make a three and yet you felt like they were holding on for dear life right and it was a matter of time before Boston was going to have a couple of runs eventually they had the one significant run to get the 15-point lead and then Dallas you know made it a little bit interesting there at the end but you never really felt that Boston was in danger of losing that game we’ll get to the touch screen a little bit later but just in like I could read out these numbers and it’s just it’s a make Miss League we know that it’s cliche but it’s true if Dallas doesn’t make threes they’ve been so good during the playoffs making them and they made six in this one after they made seven in game one that’s been a big issue but there’s a bigger issue just in terms of what they’re struggling to do in your estimation yeah they are and it’s it’s the defensive breakdowns is what’s been bothering them this entire time for both games but I just thought there was too much tonight that was below standard for Dallas it’s not finals worthy what it’s going to take to beat this team you’ve got to make threes from your role players you’re bigs Gafford played better later in the game but for the most part the three centers Gafford Lively and cber were completely ineffective offensively they had some really bad turnovers of where guys were coming from behind against Luca when he wasn’t aware that he was being chased down led to some sloppy turns including a really big one there in the back court at the end when it looked like they had a chance in the game Holiday Hits the three out of that there’s just too many areas in which they haven’t been good enough against this team the margin is so small against the Boston Celtics I’ve seen Dallas at their best this hasn’t been close to it through two games and yet it’s one of those weird games where it it got close it’s a five-point game that white block at the end is unbelievable to not have any contact it’s one of those things that you’ll just I just wonder how much conversation there’ll be about that in the in the in the fog of War right you just focus on all these other things that was an incredible Block in in a five-point game uh Luca afterwards on I guess his performance but just where Dallas now is beyond just being down two games to none all right first question Tim Tim MCM ESP pin uh Luca what have you been dealing with with your chest uh you know was there any question in your mind about being able to go tonight and you know H how are you feeling physically throughout this game you know especially going in the fourth quarter I mean yeah actually was uh but you know uh I always want to play uh so we did all day we did a lot of things to get ready for the game and how were you feeling physically tonight uh obviously a lot of minutes you know going in the fourth quarter especially good good I I was okay second row Luca it looked like you had a uh an interaction with this Celtics owner there was did he do something or say something that uh that you thought was over the line uh I’m sorry I don’t know who’s the Celtics owner was there somebody in the uh in the first row that you were having an exchange with that was the Celtics owner no Mike L Mike Curtis the Dallas Morning News um in the game where the Celtics um shot 26% from three um Jason Tatum didn’t have a necessarily good offensive outing does it feel like a missed opportunity that you guys weren’t able to capitalize in a game like this every game we lose it’s a missed opportunity for us you see the numbers in this series from three Luca 8 of 21 the rest of the Mavericks two of 21 from three that has been a gigantic gigantic issue hey Jason it’s Scott Vel thank you very much for coming out to visit with us as your team has taken a two nothing lead I’m looking at the box and I’m I’ve got 26% for you guys from three and you score 105 if I tell you that before the game it might have seemed like it was a loss what you’re smiling what how did you guys get a win in game two with those numbers for you all with your substandard uh I think if you look at it right in the first half uh and really U throughout the game what kept us in it was our defense um all five guys who were in The Game were on the string locked in communicating um and we didn’t shoot the ball well at all especially myself um and we just talked about it when we came in halftime we were still up three we felt like we should have been down 15 or 20 um but you know the way we were communicating and and competing on the defensive end um allowed ourselves to still be in the game and and and winning the game throughout I’ve described in the few minutes that we’ve on we’ve been on talking about this game I’ve used the word consummate professional to describe Drew holiday a guy who doesn’t care how many touches or shots he gets just he’s he’s he’s up for whatever is required and on this night 26 points from him how do you describe Jason what he provides your team uh just like a level of calmness right um obviously he’s been here before and and he’s won a championship a few years ago so he knows what it takes and and the biggest moments uh you know he can calm us down he can do the things he can make a winning play the the the block that he had um obviously he can score with the best of them when we need him to uh he just makes plays all around and we’re very very fortunate to to have him on our team he was six or seven on passes from you I don’t know was was there a focus off of what you were running to try try to find him or was it just sort of what was available in the moment uh they uh you know they were packing the paint couple double teams and things like that uh and you know we just kept making eye contact and he was in a dunker he was cutting he was open for threes uh so it was just making easy reads for me Jason my my entire career in in in sports TV I’ve covered Golf and something that I found in major championships is that players find out they don’t have to be perfect to win Majors when they like Xander Schley won the the last major was he perfect the entire week no but you find that my good enough is good enough and what I’m getting at here as it relates to you is is there a process where you’re figuring out I don’t have to be a 40-point guy every night for us to win games in other words my good enough is good enough does that resonate with you at all uh yeah you know I would love to to make some of those layups I miss and open threes uh but you know it’s lot of averages it’s it’s going to figure itself out um you know I’ve been doing this for a very very long time and and and shooting the ball is the least of my my worries right how can I dominate the game in other ways um and you know when my scoring uh you know meets the level of my defense and rebounding and assist uh you know it’ll it all be complete I guess maybe as a final thought maybe a different way to say it is that part of the process of learning what it is to be on this stage is giving yourself a little bit of Grace does that make sense perhaps yeah uh you know it’s tough in the world we live in everybody wants you to be perfect uh but you know just staying present in the moment staying you know having tunnel vision and uh you know really just locked in on what we’re trying to do as a unit um and trying to block out all the outside noise and uh you know just continue to get one step closer to our goal well you’re two and 0 and and your best game I have to believe is somewhere coming maybe it’s Wednesday night so I appreciate you taking a moment Jason good luck the rest of the way okay my man appreciate you game should have started play of the game uh can’t go un notice the humility of our team is Payton shot at the end of the quarter and you see guys around the league pass up on that shot or fake like they want to take it and so that their their numbers don’t get uh you know messed up and uh he takes pride in taking that and that’s winning basketball so uh that’s the first and foremost that should have been the first question is the ability of our everybody on our team to do different things that lead to winning so uh really tired hearing about one guy or this guy or that guy and everybody trying to make it out to be um anything other than Celtic basketball and uh everybody that play stepped on that court tonight made winning plays on both ends of the floor that’s the most important thing and then to answer your question Jason makes greatness look easy he does it in a lot of different ways he does it on defense he does it on rebounding does it on passing does it on screening um he’s a tremendous player and honored to coach him and he has the ability to affect the game in different ways we’re a different team but uh it takes everybody to do it that should answer everyone’s question Jake over here on the left side Joe that being said was there an emphasis for Jason to play more of a distributor role tonight it seemed like that was kind of his personal uh agenda out there the emphasis uh and where he’s grown over the last two years is to take what the defense has given and learn to impact the game in many different ways and because of the type of team that we’ve had especially this year uh he’s seen a bunch of different coverages and he’s seen different matchups because teams have to match up with our and so coming into a game uh it’s kind of similar to a puzzle and he’s done a great job learning how to solve the puzzle and do different things tonight with the way that they were rotating and the way that they were defending the most important thing was making the right play at the rim and we were able to stay out of transition because our guys made that and so uh I thought he did a tremendous job doing what uh the game called for Dave over here on the left Joe you guys trailed at the end of the first quarter Luca had 13 Drew ends up outscoring Luca in quarters two through four what allowed you guys to get him going on offense and and obviously as you mentioned a lot of you guys can do a lot of different things for you but um when a guy like Luka has it going like that how how much of a boost is it to get an extra scoring Boost from a guy like Drew yeah I mean listen you got to take a look at um gave up a 26 Point first quarter and then three 25 Point quarters in the 26 Point first quarter we follow the three-point we messed up to two for one and follow the three-point shooter for three free throws L gets two shooting free throws we give up a transition basket to PJ Washington PJ Washington hits it above the break three that’s almost 70% of the points there so that like the game was going the way we wanted it to go outside of the things that we can control and um I thought our guys took the Poise and remained the mindset and the toughness to to understand that uh and then Drew you know it’s connected and that’s what people don’t realize is like every guy on our team can’t be at their best if this guy doesn’t do that so Jason’s facilitating jaylen’s decision- making that leads to Drew’s playmaking and the way that they’re defending us we have to make multiple plays we have to have multiple drives and uh I think Drew did a great job guys did a great job finding him he did a great job attacking Closeouts and then either kicking it back back out for a second drive or getting um you know an open shot and then what he can do defensively uh it just goes back to everybody on the team uh Works to impact the game differently uh every single night he’s the fourth player with 25 and 10 boards and 75% shooting in a Finals game in Celtics history the first since Kevin mccale in 85 Larry Bird Cedric Maxwell the others afterwards he visited with Lisa Salters and they were talking about the same thing Jason Tatum mentioned with me and that’s the defense of the Celtics uh just being consistent um sticking with it knowing that they were scoring uh making plays get to the free throw line but being consistent and sticking to it and how about that play I thought it was a block by Derek white that that could have cut it to two but you’re not so sure it was Derek it was amazing uh I think maybe D white got it first and then JB got a second but um just the effort right just the effort to know that we’re up by I don’t know 10 or whatever um they could have they could have gave up the layup but to go up there and get that block is is is Elite now it seemed like especially in the first half when some other guys were having trouble making shots Drew stepped up and really had that kind of a game but he continued through the whole game yeah he was unbelievable um his effort defensively uh everything that he brings on that end and then on offense uh making reads uh making the game easy making the right decisions he’s so poised and um you know you can tell that he’s been in these type of moments uh just just very very composed and just uh out there getting the job done how what do you think of Jason’s gameon it’s the sixth time that the Mavericks have trailed a series 2 nothing over the last decade and a half if history is an indicator they’re fine they’ve won four of the previous five and have three Series wins all time went down two games to none which is tied for the most in NBA history now I was giving white the credit for the block all the time Brown definitely got it as well Jason kid wants to know was there a foul on that all right questions for Coach we’ll start here with Mike in the front Mike Curtis Dallas Morning News Jason what was your interpretation of the fast break with PJ that led to the block by Derek white there at the end my interpretation um it looked like a foul but it wasn’t called so it wasn’t a foul that’s a that’s a pretty black and white assessment of things they didn’t call it so it wasn’t a foul I kept saying in the Highlight over and over again I thought it was clean because I was looking at the ball right was there was there a hand oh yeah no question there was a hand in right into his back that if if that was a type of play that had been able to be reviewed at that time that’s going to be called a foul because there was absolute contact on the part of Jaylen brown right in the middle of PJ Washington’s back prior to going up and blocking and you really didn’t see it until they showed the uh the slow motion replay from a different angle when you could really see that hand get into his back okay well then I that’s on me I I’m giving all the credit for the clean block up top but that that left hand you certain you certainly see that there as far as the the the issues that Dallas has had in totality if there’s been a consistent issue that they faced in these two games what do you got for us can’t keep the ball in front of them and when they get broken down off the dribble I just think they go intoa chaotic mode on the weak side they’re not really disciplined in their rotations here’s example of what I’m talking about and we’ve seen this quite a bit and actually the initial again the initial defense by Luka isn’t bad you’re trying to keep the ball to the middle does a pretty good job of cutting Jaylen Brown off but when he spins out and gets down in here that’s when you’re going to start to have some problems now on the weak side with these three guys you get into the paint stop right here take a look at Josh Green I I don’t know when you should ever be on the weak side of the floor and just completely turn your back to the two players that are on that side because he has first pass you’re on that side of the Court there are two players over there you’re going to have to take first pass wherever it comes out and you’re going to see in a second what’s going to happen he goes but so does PJ Washington he’s also going to go on this kickout so it’s an undisciplined rotation all caused by getting broken down off the dribble so when both guys go there’s one more swing great read here by Tatum he sees Lucas coming out really hard and high so here’s another undisciplined play Scott you put it back down here if you Tatum if you’re Kyrie Irving you can’t come off the strong side corner it’s not your responsibility to stop this penetration you’ve got to stay with the shooter that’s why you’ve got a shot Blocker on the floor he’s coming and then you’ll get a sink down here that’s what the rotation should look like instead you’re going to see Kyrie he sells out to the drive and you end up with a wide open three and this is boster didn’t shoot well for the three so you give them a wide open look in that situation just can’t do it one more example here you get the switch and again surprise again beating off the dribble so now you’re going to get rotation on the weak side look at the weak side Defenders both again staring at the ball they’re not really in tune with who’s on the weak side of the floor they do a decent job on the first two Closeouts the problem is against Boston you’re probably going to need a third and you can see Daniel gafford’s relaxing right here he needs to be in dead Sprint now before that basketball gets passed it comes to Tatum here his first made three of the game only made three of the game right there out of Jason Tatum two clean looks now one other thing about those two possessions none of Dallas’s possessions look like that where it’s in the paint out around the horn somebody toes up a wide open look it feels like every pass that Luca makes is deeper into the clock or it’s a pass because he’s gotten two guys he’s expecting that shot to happen right now off one pass so someone’s either going to take a three or they’re going to he’s going to hit a big guy rolling to the rim Boston even though they didn’t shoot well tonight they’re still making the pass that’s supposed to be made to the next guy and trusting it it always gets back to your point about the balance and the trust of the number of that can shoot on this team and score that that’s a typical Boston possession what I’ve seen through two games Dallas has very few possessions that look that way well and the luxury of the depth of scoring options that Boston’s got it just shows itself again and it has all year long Luca was asked after the game about getting other guys involved obviously didn’t work cuz we lost uh but you know at the end of the day we got to make some more shots you know I think my turnovers and my Miss FR class as a game uh so I got to do way better in those two categories uh but at the end of the day we got to make shots to win them you’re shaking your head and so am I like man be clear that didn’t cost him the game he’s being hard on himself he’s being a leader that’s what a leader is supposed to say I just going to say give the man credit he’s he’s a young man on this stage for the first time and he’s led him in scoring in both games he’s the only guy making any threes and he’s saying that’s that’s on me uh what’s your sense of what what else can he do I know this is a team you like you picked him before beforehand they do get to go home what has to happen moving forward there’s not much more he could do right now there there’s several areas that going to have to be cleaned up if they want to make this a series period Kyrie Irving’s got to make an imprint in this series he’s he’s just has not been himself I said before the game I’d be shocked if he had another bad game that’s just not Kyrie like St ton two games in a row now he just was not a factor offensively and that’s you know Luca had said earlier in the playoffs after a game he felt like he was letting Kyrie down Kyrie Irving probably feels that way right now about Luca he just has not shown up the way they need them to against this team they they’re not making threes out of their role players uh and and the defensive breakdowns are keeping the ball in front I don’t know how much that’s going to change that’s a Personnel thing but you your rotations can be better when you look at film and tightening down what’s happening on the week side at the floor but there are so many areas in which Dallas can improve I would start with Kyrie Irving and the three-point shooting out of the role players seven of 18 just to get the numbers right and again they made Seven threes in the first six threes in this one they’ve got to be not good enough against this team got to be better uh moving forward Tim will be with us Wednesday for game three appreciate you my friend got it here’s holiday on his contributions tonight Drew if jayen and Jason are the superstars on this team what’s your role and if you’re going to be the team’s leading scorer leading rebounder and shoot the highest percentage in game two of the finals why aren’t you your Superstar as well utility guy I’ll do whatever um I’m I’m I’m here to win I feel like they brought me here to win um and and I’ll do my best to do do that um but at the end of the day this is this is their team and I know it’s probably just as much as my team as theirs but uh again I feel like I’ve talked about this before the pressure that they have on themselves to execute and to be great is a little bit different than than than my pressure um and again I’ve always uh been honest about that and how they always handle themselves has been something that’s been so honorable so um it’s just it’s it’s slightly different um they’re Superstars and and I’m here to support Mark Spears from manscape joins us this is the 85th game of the year for Drew holiday it’s the first time he goes for 20 and 10 all year and it’s just it’s a veteran who knows his role right and he was comfortable not having to flex on anybody because it wasn’t required but he’s capable of it you visited with him afterwards what was a sense of what he had contributed to tonight’s Victory Mark well for SE Celtics fans he was a holiday to celebrate tonight you know this is a guy that’s known for defense he puts all his energy on that side he actually was a 100th in the NBA in scoring the season 12.5 points per game but he dropped 26 nine points in the paint I mean nine buckets in the paint actually and he just you know he took what came to him but this is their like fourth option their fourth option which is very very scary for this Celtics team uh that you have a guy like that who’s capable of doing big things like this on any given night and he’s their fourth option shutting guys down and scoring big buckets for him but Mark I think what’s interesting is that it’s it’s the understanding of the role and I keep using the word professional like everyone in the league is is by definition a professional but NE they don’t necessarily always behave in that way right none of us do in any given profession I just feel like this guy is exactly what any team would want what’s his sense of what he is supposed to be for them yeah I mean he he’s not quite the OG on the team that’s Al Horford but he’s close to it he’s been the young guy before he’s been there he’s done that he’s not worried about that he’s worried about getting another championship and you got to remember he got one in Milwaukee already he knows what this feels like another thing where he knows what this feels like is you know a 2 Series but that time Phoenix actually was up 20 he said he expects Dallas to come back uh throw a punch one of the Dallas Mavericks employees told me they know they haven’t played in Dallas yet I was like yeah yeah but um you know Drew definitely likes being on this side of the coin as opposed to where it was last time with Milwaukee where they won four in a row so he’s just a vet and he gets it he does and I just am curious in one last thing and that’s that I don’t look at Boston now as having one rah rah vocal wave a towel and follow me into the fire kind of guy no ML car right right no exactly that’s exactly what the the old heads know this but I I just I would imagine that when Drew speaks people gather around to listen is that an accurate read yeah he’s he’s a EF Hutton kind of guy man he he’s really calm and cool and you know he just he doesn’t say a whole lot but he doesn’t have to he he plays with his defense um and their whole team is kind of chill right this certainly ain’t the 2018 I covered them guys are crazy uh definitely a different vibe on there but they just follow this cat and um you know his unselfishness goes through the whole team you know Jason Tatum hasn’t played great doesn’t matter they got weapons they’re just caring about winning the Championships the 100th guy in scoring NBA just let him in scor they’re two wins away that’s that’s all they care about they don’t they don’t care about the accolades or getting their jersey retired just yet well I got a paraphrase here Mark but it was a wise man that once said uh you don’t flex him if you know you got him something like that you know what I’m talking about I believe I believe I believe Drew put him on display tonight Mark I appreciate you man thank you all right always a pleasure brother always Mark Spears Kyrie on his struggles in game two yeah that’s the confidence that I have in myself um you know a lot of shots were hit in the back rim uh that could piss you off as a competitor um but it’s all part of the game of basketball and you got to accept the ups and downs to this um you know that’s that that’s the uh I would say the toughest challenge when you’re in the series you want to play extremely well especially when you’re playing in the finals um you know a little disappointed uh in myself not being able to convert a lot more of my opportunities that I have in the lane um you know obviously I’m going against Drew holiday and jayen brown um a few times but I I feel like I have the upper Edge on certain possessions where I just got to convert um they’re pushing me to my left hand a little bit more so just got to be aware of some of their adjustments like I was in game one um felt good in the first half but in the second half uh just shots weren’t going down and defensively I was out of position got some Ticky Tac fouls and um just kind of took away from our flow of the game as well um it wasn’t just all on me but I’m definitely taking a majority of it just because um you know my teammates look to me to convert a lot of these shots and uh ease the burden not only just Luca but everyone else and and settle our team um you know we’ve definitely made our identity on defensive end but now offensively I got to play better [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is

Tim Legler and Marc J. Spears join Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter to break down and react to Game 2 of the 2024 NBA Finals in which the Boston Celtics took down the Dallas Mavericks, 105-98, to go up 2-0 in the series.

0:00 Legler’s initial reaction
3:49 Luka Doncic postgame
5:44 Jayson Tatum interview
9:35 Joe Mazzulla postgame
12:40 Jrue Holiday interview
13:35 Al Horford postgame
14:37 Jason Kidd postgame
15:49 Tim Legler touchscreen
18:40 Luka on getting teammates involves
20:39 Jrue Holiday postgame
21:32 Marc J. Spears on Holiday
25:13 Kyrie Irving postgame

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