While the Indiana Pacers are in the midst of playing in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics as being one of the final four teams left, there are some that feel the media's coverage of them have been subpar since they are in a small market. ESPN has been criticized this postseason for that very reason, one being a basketball analyst of the network themselves in Tim Legler.
Legler talks basketball for ESPN as he also is a former NBA player where he won the three-point contest in 1996 as part of the Washington Bullets. He was on The Ryen Russillo Podcast where he spoke about wanting to cover more about the Pacers this season, especially after the acquisition of star Pascal Siakam, and the network said it was not “sexy enough” as posted by Indiana writer Alex Golden.
“I wish I had video of all the meetings I've been in this year at ESPN when I wanted to talk more about the Indiana Pacers. Particularly after they got [Pascal] Siakam… and it's just not sexy enough,” Legler said. “I watch this team every night and I'm going, ‘Gosh that's fun' — fun style to play in. I envy these guys for being able to play in a system like this. But just how hard it is to guard, how hard it is to prepare when you have this many guys that can make shots. They don't waste one dribble and there's not one wasted dribble on the part of the Indiana Pacers over half-court.”
ESPN's Pacers coverage was amplified during series with the Knicks
The topic of ESPN's coverage of the Pacers was amplified during Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals where they were facing the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden. There was multiple instances people took issue with like how Stephan A. Smith was touting his fandom towards the Knicks organization and how they showed him with famous film director and known fan Spike Lee.
While this could entirely be seen as a subjective point of view, fans and other media personalities thought the coverage was biased towards New York especially when it was halftime and Indiana was up by 15 points. The Pacers had an insane shooting half where they made over 75 percent of their shots and the halftime broadcast focused more on the Knicks ability to come back since Indiana could not keep up the hot shooting.
Another ESPN personality points out lack of Pacers coverage
This was even pointed out by another ESPN personality in Pat McAfee, who is also known as a fan of any Indiana sports team since he was a punter for the Indianapolis Colts.
“If you were to watch TV, anyone who had a microphone, maybe some makeup on, a large platform — boy, you could see them actually callusing their knees, praying to God that the New York Knicks would take on the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals,” McAfee said on his show last Monday per The New York Post. “That would be a dream. Holy s–t. Boston-New York in the Eastern Conference Finals?… you could see TV executives and on-air personalities who are from those areas b-b-b-bopping to themselves about the possibility of the playoffs being a wet dream come true.”
“On-air personalities, TV, before the game,” McAfee continued. “‘This is what the Knicks are going to have to do to win this game.’ Halftime, Mike Wilbon: ‘There’s no way the Pacers are going to be able to keep shooting the way’ — THEY DID! Greatest shooting performance in the history of Game 7s in the NBA Playoffs.”
The Pacers would go on to win Game 7 against the Knicks where a key moment happened in the second half where star Jalen Brunson was ruled out of the game with a hand injury, McAfee states that the broadcast was filled with “devastation.”
“There was a time actually where they announced Jalen Bruson’s hand was broke where it seemed like Doris Burke didn’t even talk. Devastation hit the booth. Devastation hit the TV,” McAfee said. “Could you imagine if this Knicks team, who was hurt — wahh! wahh! — so hurt, had to play this Boston Celtics team?”
Another big sports media personality calls out ESPN
It does not stop with Legler and McAfee as another sports analyst in Dan Patrick commented on the lack of coverage for the Pacers and other small market teams. While he is not with ESPN at the current moment, he still has a big voice within the sports media world.
However, he was once with the huge network for a whopping 18 years from 1989 to 2006 so when he speaks about ESPN, people listen. He would go on to say that he was “embarrassed” watching the broadcast and also stating that it was further proof to “buy into ESPN's East Coast bias watching that game” according to The New York Post.
“The Pacers did play in the game; I just want to let ESPN know,” Patrick said. “If you want to buy into East Coast bias, you have every reason to buy into ESPN’s East Coast bias watching that game. How about some impartiality here? I was embarrassed for ESPN.”
Dan Patrick talks why he was “embarrassed” for ESPN
He would go into the details of the broadcast more like how ESPN aired an arrival video for the aforementioned Smith like he was a player for the Knicks. Patrick also brought up the meeting on Smith when he brought on Lee and had a “pep talk” in the hopes of New York beating Indiana.
“Because it felt like it was all about the Knicks,” Patrick said. “Even at halftime, it was about the Knicks. The Pacers aren’t exciting. I get it. Not big names, not a sexy team, but you still have to cover the game. You got to be fair. I don’t need a Stephen A. Smith arrival video. I don’t need a pep talk with him and Spike Lee. He doesn’t work for the Knicks; you work for ESPN.”
In any sense, the Pacers are now fighting in their first Eastern Conference Finals since the 2013-2014 season to get to their first NBA Finals since the 1999-2000 season. However, they lost Game 1 in a close one to the Celtics Tuesday night but look to bounce back in Game 2 which will take place Thursday night at TD Garden.
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