“Didn’t Make the Celtics Win”: Rachel Nichols Credits Jaylen Brown and Co. Whilst Calling Out Pacers Choke Job

Despite their haphazard offense, the Boston Celtics escaped with a 133-128 OT win against the Indiana Pacers in the opening game of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Pacers committed numerous late-game errors and blew their chance to win. Jaylen Brown’s clutch three with 6 seconds left in the fourth quarter took the game to Overtime and then Tatum’s 10 points OT performance sealed the deal.

On ‘UNDISPUTED’, Rachel Nichols blamed Pacers HC Rick Carlisle for not calling a timeout with around 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter. This would have resulted in the Pacers not committing a turnover and probably earning two free throws after the break.

Nichols was flabbergasted that an experienced coach like Carlisle didn’t take the right call. However, she also downplayed that the Pacers handed the Celtics a win after giving them tough competition throughout the game.

The veteran analyst highlighted that Brown made a difficult deep trey with “Pascal Siakam in his face” to force the OT. While agreeing that the Pacers deserve flak for their multiple errors, she also asserted that the Celtics had to earn their way to a Game 1 win.

“The Pacers deserve all the criticism that is coming to them, they choked their part of the game away but they didn’t make the Celtics win, Celtics took it,” Nichols told Skip Bayless and Keyshawn Johnson.

While Nichols rightfully pointed out Celts’ clutch quotient to seal the deal, the Pacers ruined a golden chance to steal a game away from home. With around 10 seconds left in the game, they showed horrendous game-awareness. Keyshawn Johnson broke down the play which evaporated their chances of taking a momentous 1-0 lead in the ECF.

The sequence that may haunt the Pacers for a long time

With 10 seconds left in the game, the Pacers had a three-point lead and the ball in their hands. However, the inbound passer Aaron Nembhard threw a tough pass to Pascal Siakam who was hounded by Jaylen Brown making the ball ricochet to out-of-bounds. Keyshawn Johnson opined that veteran TJ McConnell should have in-bounded instead of Nembhard.

He also questioned Nembhard’s game-awareness as he didn’t call a TO after not getting a desired passing lane. At the same time, he questioned if 6’1” McConnell should have been on the defensive end in the aftermath of the Celts’ time-out. As per Johnson, a bigger athlete should have been there to make things difficult for the lengthy Celtics,

“TJ shouldn’t be on the floor, he is an offensive player and a liability on the defensive end… With 8 seconds to go in the game, you’re a liability, so now we need bigger and more athletic guys on the floor so we can switch.”

The Pacers did have a golden chance to seal the deal but committed turnovers during the most crucial parts of the game. The Celtics were overwhelmed by their uptempo offense but as a seasoned playoffs team, they knew that the fight was not over until the buzzer sounded.

The ECF Game 1 is a major example of a veteran squad holding its nerves and a younger squad unable to seize the moment.