Indiana Pacers forward Bojan Bogdanovic believes his team is too good to drop the first two games against the Boston Celtics.
Bogdanovic, who scored 23 points in Game 2, weighed in on the Pacers' two losses to the Celtics at TD Garden in their first-round playoff series, per The Indianapolis Star's J. Michael.
We got to get the two games in our arena to come back here to show that we can play against them.
We got to be focused. We're just too good to drop two games this way.
“We're just too good to drop two games this way."
– Bojan Bogdanovic tells @ThisIsJMichael after another second-half meltdown leaves Pacers trailing Celtics 2-0. https://t.co/FeOxmMudnO— Gregg Doyel (@GreggDoyelStar) April 18, 2019
The Pacers were ahead by 11 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter of Game 2 on Wednesday, 79-68. Boston, behind the hot shooting of All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, went on a 29-9 run to close things out. The Celtics prevailed 99-91. Irving finished with a game-high 37 points.
Indiana had a chance to tie things up with 12.1 seconds remaining. At that point, the Celtics were up by three, 94-91. Unfortunately, Wesley Matthews threw the ball out of bounds during the inbounds play.
“We got to be way better,” Bogdanovic told The Indianapolis Star. “We got to stay calm. We kind of dropped our heads.”
Pacers center Myles Turner also chimed in on the loss. “Our execution sucked,” he told Michael. “That's what it is.”
Talked to Bojan Bogdanovic not just about #PacersCeltics but his underrated toughness, desire for hard coaching and not yes men, how he became good at a sport that ranks behind handball in Croatia, free agency and what will sway him July 1 https://t.co/NkxRVvuX8c via @indystar
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) April 16, 2019
Game 1 had a similar storyline. Boston outscored Indiana 26-8 in the third quarter to pull away. The Celtics won by 10, 84-74.
Indiana has its work cut out in Game 3 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Friday. If they lose Game 3, it's all but over. If they win, they can still get back in the series.
Bogdanovic, who averaged 18.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists during the regular season, has been the Pacers' best player since Victor Oladipo's season ended. He and his teammates must execute better in crunch time if they want to extend the series.
The Pacers' playoff battle cry is “Gold Don't Quit.” Let's see if they will show their resilience in Game 3 against the Celtics on Friday.
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