FIRST Star “Mad Dog” Russo thinks the Indiana Pacers are ready after a gut-wrenching loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Pacers almost pulled off an upset at TD Garden on Tuesday night – but a horrible late mistake left them trailing 133-128 after overtime.
two
two
Indiana committed a costly turnover by leading 117-114 with nine seconds left in the game.
Andrew Nembhard inbounded the ball to Pascal Siakam, who was running toward the Indiana basket while being chased by Celtics point guard Jaylen Brown.
Siakam was unable to make the catch under pressure, with the ball bouncing off his hand and out of bounds again.
The error allowed Jaylen Brown to hit a corner three on the next possession, sending the game into overtime.
“This is a terrible loss,” Russo said on Wednesday’s First Take.
Mad Dog criticized the Pacers for not playing it safe while they had a three-point lead.
“Throw the ball forward!” he roared.
The First Take analyst highlighted that the Celtics wouldn’t have had much time to create a scoring chance on the other side of the court, even if they had stolen the ball.
“The whole play is a disaster,” Russo said.
Mad Dog added that he can’t see Indiana recovering from the terrible loss.
“This is a game you have to win,” he said.
“I don’t see them winning [the Celtics] now four more times.”
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle took the blame for the loss, saying he should have called a timeout before Nembhard’s pass.
“I love the way our guys fought in this game,” Carlisle said.
First look at the numbers
First Take has grown from strength to strength under the guidance of Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim over the past year.
ESPN’s weekday debate show averaged 496,000 viewers in 2023 — making it the most-watched year in the show’s history.
Its December average of 611,000 represented a 24% annual increase compared to 2022.
The show has also recorded more than 250 million views on YouTube.
First Take was helped by the addition of Shannon Sharpe alongside Smith and Qerim after he left Fox Sports’ Undisputed.
“This loss is completely mine. With 10 seconds of regulation time, we should have just called timeout, advanced the ball and found a way to get it in.”
“We made some other mistakes, but our team just needs to focus on fighting the same way they fought in this game, from start to finish.”
Jayson Tatum dropped 10 points in overtime to seal Boston’s victory.
The NBA star finished the night with 36 points, along with 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Game 2 will take place on Thursday, starting at 8pm ET.
The NBA playoff series will then be moved to Indianapolis, Indiana.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
