‘CELTICS HAD TO DIG DOWN!’ Shannon LEARNED A LOT about Boston after SWEEPING Pacers | First Take

‘CELTICS HAD TO DIG DOWN!’ Shannon LEARNED A LOT about Boston after SWEEPING Pacers | First Take

gentlemen the brooms were out last night the Celtics come up clutch again sweeping the Pacers to reach the NBA Finals thanks to some late heroics from Jaylen Brown the Celtics have advanced to the NBA finals for a second time in three years Brown who finished with 29 Points had a block on Andrew nard and then hit Derek white for the game-winning three-pointer inside the final minute Brown was named MVP talked about it postgame I wasn’t expecting that at all you know I’ll never win so um I was just happy that we won um and give credit to Indiana you know they they played us tough I know like people think that Indiana wasn’t a good team or whatever the case mean I mean I thought they was tough as anybody we’ve played all season um they were physical they were fast they put a lot of pressure on us so shout out to them and respect to them it’s special right even though we’ve been there before most of us have uh you don’t take it for granted right we were excited uh as the hell of a team we just played um they they made us earn every single game and U we’re extremely grateful to uh you know move on to the finals all right all smiles from Beantown um Shannon let me ask you this would you characterize this playoff run for Boston as an easy path or a dominant run well they were games one three and four were as impressive as I’ve seen the Celtics all year because they had to dig down and they had to find ways in order order to win ball games because the Indiana Pacers put a lot of pressure on them now you know with the exception of that one game against I’m sorry UD when your team shot the lights out of the Miami Heat made like 23 threes and then uh I think one game in Cleveland when they made another 17 per 17 to 23s but I thought Indiana Indiana series showed me a lot about the Celtics because we wanted to see how they operate in clutch situation and in Games 1 three and four they had to be at the absolute best and when they had to be at the absolute best they absolutely were at their best guys made shots uh turnovers block shots Jaylen Brown of the L bird which was Finals MVP very are earning of that war award but you know Jason Tatum made clutch shots uh uh Derek White made clutch shots guys made clutch plays now they only lost two games in the series so maybe maybe this is a historic run we’ll see if they can cap it off but I was most impressed with the the way they play Indiana I wasn’t overly impressed with what they did to Cleveland um Donovan Mitchell missed two games Jared Allen missed the entire series Miami they were hamper with injuries their best player Jimmy Butler didn’t play so it’s hard to characterize it perk when you see so many guys out but I was really impressed with what they showed me in Games 1 three and four because they had to dig down they had to go get it because Indiana put as much pressure on them this season in this series as anybody has all year so so was it dominant or was it a easy easy path Shanny you still hav the question oh per perk but here’s the thing perk all I can do is play who’s in front of me it’s not my fault that I’m healthy and they’re GNA say well we lost Pingas I was in I’ve been on listen and I’ve been on record of saying this I’ve only been impressed with the Boston Celtics in this Indiana series now I don’t know if any other team I’m a little older than you UD and perk I don’t know if a team has dodged as many bullets but you know the the Eastern Conference was beat up so if we could make a case and said any if you come out of the East you kind of Dodge the bullet Molly it most definitely was an easy path for the Boston Celtics they played the Miami Heat first round the best player Jimmy Butler didn’t play second round Donovan Mitchell uh goes out uh they don’t have Jared Allen Carris Levert was injured as well so that was an easy path and then you go to this round right Indiana Coach Rick Cara blew two of these games okay two of those games in that Series game one and game three he smoked them for his coaching mistakes and so when I think about that no Tyrese halberton so you come out and here’s the thing right this is why I’m not calling it a dominant run because when you dominate you need to dominate meaning not be gentleman about gentleman gentleman about the situation but actually sweep them not one single series that they sweep them I don’t see a four in there oh yeah they just swept them I’m sorry they just swept them but they supposed to sweep them they supposed to sweep this these guys at the end of the day you look at this this starting five you look at you look at uh Jason Tatum jayen Brown Drew holiday Derek white I mean even Al Horford like old man Al Horford is still playing at a somewhat Allstar caliber like level right now so I mean you just look at it it was an easy path it wasn’t a dominant I got to agree with you on that one perk a th% it was an easy path and not only did we miss Jimmy but we missed Terry rosil we a have Scary Terry dun Duncan Robinson wasn’t 100% Tyler hero had just came back off injury what I will say is yes Indiana did pushed him Boston did stay in the fight for 48 minutes but while Indiana was pushing him left the front door open left the back door open left the garage door open every opportunity they could give Boston Celtics to finish these games and to win these games and to pull it out in they gave them there’s a saying when people show you who they are believe them when you sit in the locker room and you know you’re better than the team you just got to stay in the fight for 48 minutes because they gonna find a way to give it to you and I think Boston just stayed in the fight for 48 minutes and Indiana found ways to give it to him every now every every game but remember yesterday UD you said you wanted to see Boston get tested before they got to the finals have they not been tested in Games 1 three and four because like you hold they were down you down eight points with two minutes to go you’re down six points with a minute to go you watch that film and you look at it you see one team make a thousand mistakes speed up and you see another team slow down get Poise and just get the shot that they want and the baskets that they want that comes with experience that has nothing to do with domination they did not dominate I’m with perk on that we want to see them dominate half half healthy teams teams without their best players we want to see you win by 20 we want to see you put them in their place and let them know they do not deserve be on the court with you they did not do that but here’s the thing guys once you make it to the playoffs these are the best of the best and as you go further and further this supposed to be the best of the best at the end so the Indiana Pacers was the best that look was the best it wasn’t the best of the best Shannon it was the best of the rest cuz everybody was it wasn’t the best of the best it was the best of the rest everybody was banged up I will con I will concede that but we’ve seen teams that mess around end up going five games go six games go seven games when they should have ended the series in four five games that’s not what the Celtics did yes did they play it’s hard to play your absolute best for 48 minutes for four five six seven four or five games that’s not likely but to give those guys credit because you said UD you wanted to see them in clutch situations have to operate now granted when you look at this are does the p possess anybody that you’re afraid of like somebody on the other side if they face the MTH you got Luca and you got Kyrie that can also operate in the clutch situation that I don’t believe will make the same mistakes that Indiana made also Ant Man and Cat get it going but I don’t believe it’s going to be those guys so let’s just take the Mavericks because we got they got a three lead and I don’t believe any of us believe that the uh M uh the Minnesota timberwoods can win four straight games so in that situation I’ll con see that I don’t believe Kyrie and Luca will make the mistakes that Nim hard made I don’t believe they’ll make the mistakes the the go oh four and the two turnovers and the blown defensive assignments bro I’m like how many times y’all going to leave Drew holiday wide open under the basket y’all going to leave Jason tat wide open at the top of the key for three y’all going to leave Derek white in the short corner for three but those are the mistakes like you said guys those are young teams but give those guys because we’ve seen teams miss those opportunities say oh what if Derek white misses that shot we’re having a whole different conversation so give those guys credit well well I will say this I will say this game three of this series was the most impressive win for the Boston Celtics yes because they were down 18 and we wanted to see how they would act in those moments when the game got tight because we know the Celtics all season long they’ve been playing blowouts right they’ve been blowing people out and in those clutch moments I wanted to see not only the Boston Celtics but I wanted to see Jason Tatum and what he was going to do and I thought in game three he performed he he showed up and showed out out that that behind the back pass to Al Al Horford for that corner three that was huge I thought they made the right plays down the stretch that was the most impressive win but again I would say I would have to say I know it’s it’s hard look it’s hard to make it to the finals okay give them credit cuz in the regular season they did what they were supposed to do they secured the number one seed they was night and day above everybody else in the Eastern Conference they’re back into the NBA Finals but it was the easy path for them due to all the injuries and the teams that they played up were banged up both of those things can be true it could be an easy path and they could still have done what they were supposed to do but all us could be right on this one they because because the thing is guys when we look at it uh UD you and I talked about it perk you Wen with us yesterday UD say I want to see him challenge but when you got to dig deep you’re down 18 you’re down late in the fourth quarter by eight no matter what that means you still have to execute your offense because if you don’t execute even if they turn the ball over and give you opportunities as you say they left the front door open the back door and the windows and turned the alarm off even if they do all of those things if you don’t go in the house and take something nothing nothing is out of place hey what have you done but give those guys credit they kept pressure uh TJ McConnell they block uh I think it was uh Jaylen Brown they ended up blocking his shot of Derek white Derek white played unbelievable it was big turn forc big turnover after big turnover Drew holiday is true holiday I mean what can you say about him he’s going to make big shots he’s the guy uh but Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown those two big guns when they need them to be big they were [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On First Take, Shannon Sharpe, Kendrick Perkins and Udonis Haslem join Molly Qerim to react to the Boston Celtics’ 4-0 sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals and discuss if the Celtics’ run was dominant or an easy path.

0:00 Celtics sweep Pacers
2:00 Shannon’s take on Celtics season path
4:15 Perk on if the Celtics dominated the Pacers
6:00 Experience prevailed?
8:35 “Game 3 was the most impressive!” -Perk

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