LIVE: Celtics vs Clippers Postgame Show | Garden Report

  • last year
The Garden Report goes live following the Celtics game against the Clippers. Catch the Celtics Postgame Show featuring Bobby Manning, Josue Pavon, Jimmy Toscano, A. Sherrod Blakely, and John Zannis as they offer insights and analysis from Boston's game in LA.

This episode of the Garden Report is is brought to you by:

Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering parter of the CLNS Media NetworkRight now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! So, visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, Official Partner of the NFL. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.

SeatGeek! Use code DREAMERSPRO for $20 off your first SeatGeek order! Visit https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/DREAMERSPRO !

With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Go to https://HelloFresh.com/CLNSFREE and use code CLNSFREE for FREE breakfast for life! One breakfast item per box while subscription is active. That’s free breakfast for life at HelloFresh.com/CLNSFREE with code CLNSFREE!

#Celtics #NBA #GardenReport #CLNS
Transcript
00:00:00 (upbeat music)
00:00:02 - Can you say hard hats folks?
00:00:05 Hard hats, much pale steel to a boots.
00:00:08 - Anything short of a championship this year is a failure.
00:00:10 - Son, look at this boomer right here.
00:00:12 - You've just got so much talent here.
00:00:14 - Somebody said we need to apologize for Jaylen.
00:00:16 - Can I pull the John?
00:00:17 What are we apologizing for?
00:00:19 What did we say?
00:00:20 What did we do?
00:00:20 (upbeat music)
00:00:23 (upbeat music)
00:00:26 - Love that intro.
00:00:30 What's up fellas?
00:00:32 - Look at this boomer right here.
00:00:33 - How we doing?
00:00:34 Hard hats, steel to a boots, Bobby Manning, Josue Pavone,
00:00:39 Jimmy Toscano here after a nice little Celtics win
00:00:43 on a Saturday afternoon.
00:00:44 How are you?
00:00:45 145, 108 over the less than stellar Clippers.
00:00:50 I'm a little disappointed in that team.
00:00:52 I think they mailed it in early on
00:00:55 or at least at some point.
00:00:56 And not impressed by the Clippers.
00:00:57 We'll get into them maybe a little bit later,
00:00:59 but it's all about the Celtics back to back,
00:01:02 just offensive juggernaut style performances.
00:01:06 They dropped 145 tonight.
00:01:08 They dropped 144 against the Kings
00:01:11 and they are the Kings of the NBA right now guys.
00:01:15 And we'll start with you, Bobby,
00:01:16 just opening thoughts on this performance
00:01:20 this afternoon here in Los Angeles.
00:01:24 - Yeah, I didn't know what to expect,
00:01:26 especially once Kawhi got ruled out
00:01:28 and Tatum played through the ankle,
00:01:29 which came up a couple of times
00:01:31 on some of those flagrant fouls,
00:01:32 but didn't hobble at all.
00:01:34 They're terrific performance here,
00:01:36 especially shooting the ball.
00:01:37 This is Tatum's best shooting game,
00:01:39 maybe of the month or in a month.
00:01:42 So he led the way with shooting off the dribble,
00:01:45 something we talked about last show and the Kings game.
00:01:48 He missed a lot of those in that Warriors game.
00:01:52 Felt like he was settling after a certain point.
00:01:54 And when they go in, you're not gonna say he's settling.
00:01:56 It's just, he hit tough shots in this game.
00:01:59 And that's probably what the Clippers are gonna,
00:02:00 you know, come away saying from this one
00:02:02 is just he hit some ridiculous ones
00:02:03 and he's capable of that.
00:02:04 And that's, I think a big reason why he takes them
00:02:08 to challenge the defense,
00:02:09 put them in uncomfortable positions
00:02:11 and on his best game hit those
00:02:13 and just completely overwhelm a performance.
00:02:15 'Cause you see how it kind of carries down
00:02:17 to every other player.
00:02:18 They got a lot of offensive rebounds
00:02:20 with the attention that the Clippers had to put on them.
00:02:23 Nimaeus Cade broke free for a really big game,
00:02:26 just cleaning stuff up around the rim.
00:02:28 And other guys hit their shots.
00:02:30 Three from Jalen Brown, three to six shooting.
00:02:33 White hit three more threes, four from Holiday
00:02:35 and three from O'Shea Brissette, who was excellent.
00:02:38 Once again, he's making a case for his rotation spot,
00:02:41 but it all stemmed from Tatum.
00:02:43 - You missed one guy, Bobby.
00:02:45 You conveniently forgot to mention
00:02:46 one other really effective player tonight
00:02:48 off the bench for the Celtics.
00:02:49 We'll have to get into him a little bit later too.
00:02:51 - I mentioned him.
00:02:53 - Did you say Cato?
00:02:54 - Cato, yeah.
00:02:55 - Briefly.
00:02:55 - Okay.
00:02:56 - Yeah, he said it briefly.
00:02:57 - He said he like under his breath,
00:02:58 Joe Sway was like, "Oh my God."
00:02:59 - Yeah.
00:03:00 (all laughing)
00:03:00 - And three more threes from Pritchard too.
00:03:02 So this is just one of those games
00:03:04 where I think it's gonna be tough
00:03:06 to have a major takeaway from this one, Jimmy,
00:03:09 because they hit 25 threes.
00:03:11 Any team in the league is gonna win a game
00:03:13 when they hit 25 threes.
00:03:14 And the offense flowed great.
00:03:16 They did a lot of good stuff on that end
00:03:18 against a tough defense,
00:03:19 but you're not gonna hit 25 threes every game.
00:03:23 So you love it.
00:03:25 You'll take it.
00:03:26 No Kawhi's.
00:03:27 - Big mistake.
00:03:28 - That happens.
00:03:28 No poor Zingas, certainly on the Celtics side.
00:03:30 So it's impressive that they were able to win
00:03:32 in spite of that to some degree,
00:03:34 but I don't have a huge takeaway from this one,
00:03:38 Joe Sway, do you?
00:03:39 - Well, I mean, the 25 threes,
00:03:41 if you're looking at the box score,
00:03:42 it certainly speaks out to you, right?
00:03:45 If you didn't watch this game,
00:03:46 but I don't feel like it's one of those games
00:03:48 where you're like, oh man,
00:03:49 the Clippers just couldn't stop the Celtics
00:03:51 from making threes.
00:03:51 I feel like the Celtics just snatched the Clippers hard out
00:03:55 by the end of the first quarter.
00:03:56 And it was like, oh, cool,
00:03:57 if Paul George is going off
00:03:59 and we're still down by double digits,
00:04:00 this one's done, right?
00:04:01 You saw guys like James Harden chucking them threes.
00:04:03 You saw guys really just kind of check out
00:04:05 of offensive possessions.
00:04:07 And I feel like a lot of that had to do
00:04:08 with the Celtics' defense.
00:04:09 They did a really good job
00:04:10 of just kind of making the Clippers really work for it.
00:04:12 They didn't have any like easy opportunities,
00:04:15 you know what I mean?
00:04:16 The Celtics did a really good job taking that away.
00:04:18 They never got to the free throw line.
00:04:19 What did they finish?
00:04:20 Like they attempted like 12 free throws in this game.
00:04:22 You know, the Celtics doubled that from the free throw line.
00:04:25 And I just felt like the Celtics just got very comfortable
00:04:27 once they had that lead.
00:04:29 Okay, yeah, three point shots, sure, that helps.
00:04:31 You know, it certainly kept them at, you know,
00:04:33 kept the Clippers at bay,
00:04:35 kept the Celtics, that lead intact.
00:04:37 But I also feel like it was the Celtics' defense
00:04:39 and just really getting comfortable offensively.
00:04:41 I thought that Drew Holiday had a really like low key,
00:04:43 solid game that kind of went under the radar.
00:04:46 And of course, Jason Tatum, once he got hot,
00:04:47 once he got to double digits in that first quarter,
00:04:49 he certainly just like kept that consistency,
00:04:52 you know, on offense,
00:04:53 where the Clippers just couldn't slow him down,
00:04:54 I felt like.
00:04:55 - Yeah, 25 of 53 from three point land for the Celtics.
00:05:00 Like Bobby said, you know, it's tough to lose
00:05:03 when the shots are falling that way.
00:05:04 Just the way you mentioned Holiday,
00:05:05 a great game for him tonight on both ends.
00:05:07 I mean, he ended up with 20 points tonight.
00:05:08 So if you're getting 20 points from Holiday,
00:05:10 those are points that, I mean, listen,
00:05:12 we know Holiday can contribute on the offensive side,
00:05:14 but you're not even really expecting him to go
00:05:18 for 20 plus a night.
00:05:19 So if that's where you're at,
00:05:20 I mean, the starting lineup right now
00:05:22 has just been clicking and yeah,
00:05:23 they didn't have Porzingis tonight,
00:05:24 but whether it's Holiday, White, you know,
00:05:27 he had 18 tonight, so he just missed that 20 point marker.
00:05:31 Bobby, you mentioned Tatum, great bounce back game for him.
00:05:33 One of his better shooting nights.
00:05:35 It seemed like he wanted to make a, you know,
00:05:37 he was aggressive out there, I thought, you know,
00:05:40 when he was getting to his spots on the court,
00:05:43 I thought the Clippers were just a step behind.
00:05:46 I don't know, I don't watch enough Clippers
00:05:47 to know if this is just who they are,
00:05:49 but uninspiring basketball from the Clippers.
00:05:52 And if I'm a fan of that organization or that team,
00:05:56 I'm not happy with what I'm looking at,
00:05:58 whether it's George, Harden, Westbrook,
00:06:00 obviously they didn't have Kawhi tonight,
00:06:02 so you have to consider that,
00:06:03 but I don't think that would have been
00:06:05 a big enough difference in this one
00:06:06 to really change things.
00:06:08 I just feel like the Clippers don't wanna work
00:06:11 as much as be like a real legitimate contender,
00:06:15 like, you know, a Nuggets team or a Bucks or a Celtics
00:06:18 or, you know, a Suns team.
00:06:19 I just don't know if the Clippers have that extra gear
00:06:22 where they really wanna take it to now.
00:06:25 You know, they're 17 and 12 on the year.
00:06:26 Obviously they're, you know, a playoff team.
00:06:28 I just don't know if you can put them
00:06:30 in that top echelon of teams yet.
00:06:32 - There's Tatum.
00:06:34 Yeah, not a ton inside in this one,
00:06:36 hit a few mid-rangers,
00:06:37 but he was just raining threes on these guys
00:06:40 and a couple flagrant threes too.
00:06:42 Just ridiculous.
00:06:43 - Yeah.
00:06:44 Yeah, a couple little scary one there.
00:06:45 - He's gonna do this one though.
00:06:47 And listen, I know what everyone's gonna say.
00:06:49 I know you guys weren't there for the last show,
00:06:52 but we talked about the difficulty of the shooting
00:06:56 for Tatum and how the offense seemed to be getting
00:07:01 a little out of sync with some of the shot attempts
00:07:03 he was taking.
00:07:04 And I think that's still valid,
00:07:06 even when you have a night like this.
00:07:08 It's awesome when you get this from him,
00:07:11 but it's difficult.
00:07:12 It's gonna be really hard to do this night in a night out,
00:07:15 especially in the playoff,
00:07:16 hitting these kinds of shots and he's capable of it.
00:07:19 But 10 of 16 from three spot up jumpers.
00:07:23 When they fall, it's amazing.
00:07:25 And he's the best guy in the league and he's the MVP.
00:07:27 But when they don't,
00:07:28 it's frustrating to watch them take these shots.
00:07:30 And I felt like this was a game.
00:07:33 Free throws aside, nine free throws you'll take any day.
00:07:36 And he's done a much better job of that
00:07:38 in the last few years here.
00:07:41 But I feel like he just hit tough shots in this game.
00:07:46 And I don't know what else to say beyond that.
00:07:49 Like, I don't think there was anything he adjusted on
00:07:52 coming out of the recent struggles.
00:07:54 And certainly the Clippers were a step slower.
00:07:57 Behind him, Jimmy, there was a matchup on the baseline
00:07:59 where Kobe Brown, the rookie was in front of him
00:08:01 and Tatum just exploded by him and dunked with ease.
00:08:04 So there was some good stuff
00:08:06 in terms of getting to the basket at times.
00:08:09 But this one, the overwhelming win here
00:08:11 was driven by some incredible spot up shooting from Tatum.
00:08:14 And this is, you know, when you talk to the team, Jimmy,
00:08:16 and you're like, why does he take so many spot up threes?
00:08:19 Why is he always pulling up above the break?
00:08:22 This is why, 'cause when he has a night like this,
00:08:24 they are literally impossible to cover
00:08:26 and they're just gonna blow the competition away.
00:08:28 And that's what they're always striving for.
00:08:30 But it's not always gonna happen.
00:08:32 - Right, no, I mean, it's not,
00:08:35 but listen, 30 points on 16 field goals,
00:08:38 that's as efficient as you could possibly dream.
00:08:41 So you'll take this type of a performance,
00:08:43 yeah, you can't expect it.
00:08:45 No one expects it on a night and night basis, Bobby,
00:08:47 but the 30 points is something that I think we are
00:08:49 at the point where we are expecting.
00:08:51 And how do you get there? - Yeah, no matter
00:08:52 how you get it, yeah.
00:08:53 - Yeah, how you get there on any given night,
00:08:56 you know, some nights it's a little bit more work.
00:08:58 So again, against a team that I think
00:09:00 is a little bit more defensive minded,
00:09:02 which wouldn't be the Clippers
00:09:04 and a team that really makes you work a lot harder,
00:09:06 you probably get there taking more shots
00:09:08 and maybe you have to figure out ways
00:09:10 to be a little bit more aggressive and go to the line more,
00:09:13 but he still went nine trips tonight.
00:09:15 So shots fell, maybe he had a couple of open ones.
00:09:17 Again, he got fouled.
00:09:19 Looks like he rolled, you know, he rolled that ankle.
00:09:22 That was a little bit scary there,
00:09:23 but he was able to shake that one off.
00:09:25 And it was a great bounce back game for Tatum.
00:09:26 So obviously take that.
00:09:28 And I thought Brown again tonight
00:09:30 continues to be aggressive.
00:09:32 It seems like every night now
00:09:34 he is his number one objective is to catch a body
00:09:39 and just completely ruin somebody's evening or night.
00:09:45 - Yeah, get that man in the dunk contest.
00:09:47 - Oh, the NBA would love to have Jaylen Brown
00:09:51 in the dunk contest,
00:09:52 whether or not he wants to be in it is a different story.
00:09:54 But I really do like what I'm seeing from Jay
00:09:57 on the last, you know, however many games
00:09:59 you want to go back,
00:10:00 but it feels like he's thinking less in a good way.
00:10:04 He's letting the game come to him a little bit more.
00:10:06 He's trusting his athleticism and his, you know,
00:10:10 I think he's starting to become a little bit more comfortable
00:10:15 in his role with the team.
00:10:16 And again, 24 points, nine of 17 from the field,
00:10:20 three of six, so from three, so, you know, and a plus 29.
00:10:23 So another really strong game from Jaylen Brown,
00:10:26 who is rounding into form, I think we could say, Joe Sway.
00:10:30 - Definitely, you know,
00:10:32 especially when he got into foul trouble
00:10:33 so early in this game,
00:10:35 that didn't really distract him from continuing
00:10:38 to get back on track and attack and pick his spots.
00:10:42 And you saw that again against the Clippers.
00:10:43 And even with Tatum going, you know,
00:10:45 when both of these guys are going,
00:10:46 obviously we know it's usually good results.
00:10:48 That's exactly what we got in this game, right?
00:10:50 Up by double digits, just up comfortably.
00:10:53 But again, Jaylen picking his spots
00:10:55 and just reading the opposing team's defense.
00:10:58 I think that's what's really got him to this point.
00:11:01 And I think it carries over.
00:11:02 I don't think this slows down anytime soon.
00:11:05 It's just been an incredible month for Jaylen Brown.
00:11:07 And yeah, I think this is where we're gonna be,
00:11:10 you know, at the end of the season, looking back on it,
00:11:12 and saying, okay, that was the month
00:11:13 where he turned things around.
00:11:14 And it was really just, it took off from there, you know.
00:11:18 - It's good to see it too without Porzingis in there,
00:11:20 because I think a lot of people felt like,
00:11:21 oh, maybe Porzingis is the key to this whole thing working.
00:11:24 And, you know, he gets the, he's, you know,
00:11:27 dealing with some injury stuff right now,
00:11:30 which I think we all expect to some capacity this season.
00:11:33 And to see the Celtics still able,
00:11:37 and to see Jaylen Brown still be able to contribute
00:11:40 and really not skip a beat out there,
00:11:42 it's a good sign because there are gonna be games
00:11:46 throughout the year where you're gonna miss a Porzingis,
00:11:48 or we already know that Horford's gonna miss games
00:11:50 on the back to backs.
00:11:51 And, you know, it's a long season, you know,
00:11:53 Tatum and Brown are gonna be there too.
00:11:56 Derek White's Superman, so maybe he doesn't miss any games.
00:11:58 But other than that, I think you kind of expect
00:12:01 these guys to come in and out.
00:12:02 And the goal is that when the playoffs come around,
00:12:05 what are they, what did I see, 14 and one, maybe,
00:12:07 the starting lineup in there, healthy.
00:12:10 So again, this doesn't even count towards that,
00:12:13 but it just goes to show that when this team is healthy
00:12:15 and playing together, they're nearly impossible to beat.
00:12:19 - Right, and especially, yeah, like you said,
00:12:21 do it without Porzingis.
00:12:23 I mean, I just think that the Celtics just did
00:12:25 a really good job of just establishing themselves
00:12:27 offensively and the Clippers, I mean, people can say,
00:12:31 you know, maybe they gave up in this one.
00:12:32 Yeah, probably that's a big part of it, if you ask me.
00:12:35 - Oh, they did.
00:12:36 - They certainly did.
00:12:37 However, the Celtics forced their hand, you know,
00:12:40 and it happened sooner than I expected,
00:12:42 especially for the Clippers team that's been hit or miss
00:12:46 this season, but they just really didn't show
00:12:49 as much emphasis on defense in that first half.
00:12:52 Like, the closer you got to halftime,
00:12:54 you're waiting for them to sort of show that fight,
00:12:56 and you never really saw that.
00:12:57 And the Celtics, you know, credit them,
00:12:59 because they fed off of that, you know?
00:13:01 And I think they're at the point where they can feel
00:13:04 when a team is just not there, you know,
00:13:06 in terms of their effort.
00:13:07 And that's when they double down on their offense.
00:13:09 That's exactly what we saw in the second half.
00:13:11 - You wanna have that, you wanna have that, like,
00:13:13 just don't let the foot off the gas mentality.
00:13:15 Just embarrass these dudes, just kill 'em.
00:13:17 And that's why in the bubble, like, I loved,
00:13:19 not in the bubble, in the in-season tournament,
00:13:22 I loved running up to score.
00:13:24 Get that mindset, run up the damn score.
00:13:26 Don't let these guys crawl back in
00:13:29 or let it look, like, reasonable at the end.
00:13:32 Blow 'em out of there, especially if they're not gonna
00:13:34 show any effort or if they're not gonna, you know,
00:13:36 if they're playing 50 or 75% at that point,
00:13:38 keep going strong.
00:13:39 I mean, that doesn't mean I want the starters to play,
00:13:41 you know, 40 minutes still in a blowout,
00:13:43 but when the second unit came in tonight
00:13:46 in the fourth quarter, they kept it going.
00:13:48 I mean, that's the quote unquote, what,
00:13:50 the stay ready crew, Tatum called them.
00:13:52 (laughing)
00:13:54 They looked ready.
00:13:55 I mean, they were ready to continue.
00:13:56 - They were ready.
00:13:57 - They got in there.
00:13:58 - Absolutely.
00:13:59 - And this is a bench that I think every Celtics fan
00:14:04 had serious questions about going into the season.
00:14:08 And to some extent, you're still gonna have
00:14:09 some questions here and there,
00:14:10 but you're starting to get contributions now
00:14:15 from guys that were not on the radar to start the year,
00:14:19 Bobby, and I'll let you pick up the torch
00:14:21 from there on this one.
00:14:23 - Yeah.
00:14:24 I mean, O'Shea was on my radar.
00:14:26 I was-
00:14:27 - There he is, there he goes, O'Shea.
00:14:28 Yeah, O'Shea Brissett, obviously, you know,
00:14:31 he contributed to this, and he's been a guy
00:14:32 that's been in and out, but we gotta talk about Keita.
00:14:35 We really gotta talk about Keita as a guy that-
00:14:37 - Hey Bobby, did he go to Syracuse?
00:14:39 - Yeah.
00:14:40 Did he go to Syracuse?
00:14:41 I'm not sure.
00:14:42 - Is that why you-
00:14:43 - Oh, a strange breeze.
00:14:44 Is that what we talk about?
00:14:45 (Bobby laughs)
00:14:46 Okay, cool.
00:14:47 - Brissett was money tonight, yeah.
00:14:48 Four or five from the field, three or four from three.
00:14:51 But we gotta talk about Keita.
00:14:53 This is a position, the big position,
00:14:57 that considered thin, because let's be real,
00:15:00 the Celtics, when they traded Time Lord, Rob Williams,
00:15:05 that they took a hit there at that position.
00:15:07 They're relying a lot on Horford,
00:15:08 who's getting up there in age
00:15:09 and doesn't go in back-to-back games.
00:15:11 Obviously, poor Zingas, when he's out there,
00:15:14 can really do a lot, but both those guys
00:15:16 are gonna be in and out of the lineups this year, Bobby,
00:15:18 for the most likely here and there
00:15:21 throughout the remainder of the regular season.
00:15:23 You're gonna need a guy, and unfortunately,
00:15:25 your guy Cornette's out of the lineup right now,
00:15:27 and he might be getting Wally pipped by Keita.
00:15:30 Keita comes in tonight, 14 points, 12 rebounds,
00:15:33 and just looks like he's getting up and down the court.
00:15:36 He's moving out there.
00:15:37 He's following up shots.
00:15:39 He's going back up with the ball.
00:15:41 This is a guy that is definitely carving a role
00:15:45 for himself right now, and I think when Cornette
00:15:48 does come back and when poor Zingas comes back,
00:15:51 I think Keita is showing that he deserves playing time,
00:15:56 even with a full, healthy roster in some way.
00:15:58 - I mean, Joe said it's not gonna be that way.
00:16:04 - We know what Joe said, but he also said it,
00:16:07 was it a couple weeks ago now?
00:16:09 I mean, we're on 10 days ago.
00:16:11 I mean, things change, Bobby.
00:16:12 Throughout the course of the season, guys are in and out.
00:16:14 Guys improve.
00:16:15 They show something maybe in a game
00:16:17 that they weren't able to show in a practice,
00:16:20 and Joe, one thing we've learned about Joe
00:16:22 is that you need to be in his circle of trust.
00:16:26 Once you're in the circle of trust,
00:16:28 you're in, you're, you know, like Marcus Smart,
00:16:30 whoever it is, you're gonna get that playing time,
00:16:32 but getting in there is the hard part.
00:16:34 These guys, whether it's O'Shea, whether it's Keita,
00:16:38 they're making the most of their opportunity right now.
00:16:40 So what Joe said two weeks ago
00:16:42 might've been true two weeks ago,
00:16:44 and then Joe would be the first guy to tell you
00:16:46 that that was the truth and that was the case two weeks ago.
00:16:50 But now, things might be changing a little bit.
00:16:52 If you find a guy that's contributing the way Keita is,
00:16:55 why would you just say, oh, we're gonna ignore that?
00:16:58 - It's not about ignoring it.
00:17:00 He's the fourth center on the roster.
00:17:03 So if someone's out, he'll play.
00:17:04 - But he's not far from the third.
00:17:06 He's not far from the third center.
00:17:07 - I think that's fair.
00:17:09 Yeah, I think that's fair.
00:17:10 And listen, Cornette's not in an insurmountable position,
00:17:14 especially since the last handful of games
00:17:17 before he got hurt,
00:17:19 the numbers weren't great with him out there.
00:17:20 And really all year, they're just edging out like a plus one
00:17:23 with Cornette on the court.
00:17:25 And Keita's got some gaudy plus minus numbers so far.
00:17:28 And again, it's a small sample size here,
00:17:30 but he's doing a great job screening.
00:17:34 And in this game,
00:17:35 they utilized him in a nice way defensively
00:17:37 where the Clippers had some lineups out there
00:17:40 that didn't have much shooting.
00:17:41 So they were able to stash him on Kobe Brown
00:17:44 and some non-shooters out there
00:17:45 and have him play in the paint area
00:17:47 as they often do with their centers,
00:17:49 especially when they go to some of the double big looks
00:17:51 out there that can be an effective
00:17:53 defensive alignment for them.
00:17:54 So I love the way they utilize Keita in this game.
00:17:57 Now the rebounds, a lot of them are off his own misses
00:18:00 and man, he has to finish some of those bunnies.
00:18:02 I mean, even me and Joe Swaywer
00:18:03 - Hey, there's still rebounds.
00:18:06 Come on.
00:18:07 - They are.
00:18:07 - There's still rebounds.
00:18:08 - And some of them are tough plays
00:18:11 where he grabs his own miss back
00:18:13 and puts it right up and in.
00:18:14 So those count all the same,
00:18:15 even though it's gonna hurt his percentage, you'll take it.
00:18:18 But he's gotta be able to take advantage
00:18:20 of mismatches in the lane.
00:18:22 Teams are gonna switch him
00:18:24 if he's not able to finish those.
00:18:26 And it's been weird to watch him struggle to do so.
00:18:28 I wonder if it has anything to do with the foot
00:18:30 that he's been kind of dealing with throughout the year.
00:18:32 But overall, especially considering he didn't go through,
00:18:35 well, he did go through training camp,
00:18:37 but he missed so much time to start the regular season
00:18:39 and really wasn't playing up and down at all
00:18:43 before he got back into the lineup.
00:18:45 This is good stuff.
00:18:47 You know, this is super impressive
00:18:49 for a guy who has so little time in the organization.
00:18:53 To be able to do this is impressive for sure.
00:18:56 But I feel like if you're adding up their games
00:19:00 as a whole, Jimmy, just in terms of the connectivity,
00:19:03 all the little things that they like doing out there
00:19:05 with their centers, and especially the defense,
00:19:08 which I think is probably the biggest gap
00:19:10 between them right now in Cornette's favor,
00:19:12 you're probably leaning Luke when he gets back.
00:19:15 But as you said, it's not an instant amount of opposition.
00:19:19 - I was reading the comments.
00:19:20 What did you just say as the reason why you're leaning Luke?
00:19:23 - I just think overall-
00:19:25 - In other words, you just heard that you're leaning Luke.
00:19:27 - Yeah, I heard leaning Luke,
00:19:28 and now I need to really pay attention to him.
00:19:30 (laughing)
00:19:31 - Overall, you're getting more out of Luke, I think,
00:19:34 as a whole.
00:19:35 - In what way, though?
00:19:36 I'm not trying to, I'm genuinely asking you,
00:19:39 in what way do you think you get more from Luke
00:19:43 than you do from a night that Cato just gave you,
00:19:45 a double-double, 14 and 12?
00:19:48 I feel like Luke should be able to fall
00:19:50 into 10 rebounds a night, but he just, he doesn't.
00:19:54 - I think the defense, I think the passing,
00:19:57 I think the screening positions on the floor.
00:19:59 I mean, there was one really tough three tonight
00:20:00 where Cato just couldn't get the three down,
00:20:03 and Tatum had a hit, you know,
00:20:05 spot up three right over his guy, and he hit it.
00:20:08 But those are the little things I think they're looking at
00:20:10 that they want out of their centers.
00:20:12 And listen, it's great.
00:20:15 He's probably a better scorer than Luke,
00:20:17 you know, being able to get opportunities inside to shoot.
00:20:22 But right now, I think in terms of the third center play,
00:20:26 you know, who's gonna make the most
00:20:27 of four or five minutes every night
00:20:29 that they're looking at when Cornette
00:20:31 and Porzingis are healthy,
00:20:34 I think they like Luke in that position.
00:20:35 Now, there might be a debate in terms of,
00:20:38 you need 20 minutes out of a guy
00:20:41 who's gonna give you more over that stretch,
00:20:43 you know, just because of some of the following issues
00:20:45 Luke's had, and Cato's followed too here.
00:20:47 Like, I think it's close, Jimmy.
00:20:48 Like, I think that's the fair way to look at this,
00:20:52 is that there's pros and cons both ways.
00:20:54 But there's probably more comfort going to Luke,
00:20:58 just knowing what he's done over a year and change here
00:21:01 than there is Cato.
00:21:02 - It's fair.
00:21:06 I was gonna tangle you, but I don't know how,
00:21:07 so just be happy.
00:21:09 - I saw your face light up for a second.
00:21:10 - What do you think, Justify, am I wrong?
00:21:12 - You're thinking of something there.
00:21:13 - I was gonna tangle him.
00:21:14 I was gonna tangle him hard, but I didn't.
00:21:16 It's the Christmas season.
00:21:17 I'm not gonna do that to you, Bobby.
00:21:19 Also, I don't know how to,
00:21:19 but if I did know how, I would have done it.
00:21:22 Joe Sway, do you have anything on anything Bobby has to say?
00:21:25 - I just think the whole,
00:21:27 okay, the difference in my opinion is,
00:21:30 Cato, when he's on, in terms of like what we saw tonight,
00:21:33 I think it's really hard to make a case for Luke.
00:21:36 You know what I mean?
00:21:37 Because I just think, but then at the same time,
00:21:40 Luke's a bit more polished in that sense
00:21:42 of when he's defending.
00:21:43 The only thing, the only knock I have on Cato,
00:21:46 the biggest knock I should say,
00:21:48 is the fouling.
00:21:49 You give him a couple of off fakes, he's gonna jump,
00:21:52 or he's gonna get a little,
00:21:54 he's gonna reach a little bit when he shouldn't.
00:21:56 He's gonna rack up fouls in that sense,
00:22:00 but he still gives the Southern a different edge.
00:22:03 I think that's-
00:22:04 - You know what it reminds me a little bit, Joe Sway?
00:22:06 - What's it remind you of?
00:22:07 - The Tice, Rob thing we used to do.
00:22:11 - Tice and Rob?
00:22:12 - Something with Tice and Rob, right?
00:22:13 - Yeah, something like that.
00:22:14 - Thompson, Thompson and Rob to some degree.
00:22:16 - Against a young, young Rob.
00:22:17 - Yeah, something like that.
00:22:19 - You have a more physically dominant player in Cato
00:22:24 who brings more-
00:22:25 - He just has to find a way,
00:22:26 he has to hone in that dominance.
00:22:28 I think the foul trouble and the screens,
00:22:33 he got hit for a couple of screens in today's game.
00:22:36 - It's the same argument we're having as we had then.
00:22:40 Do you want the more solid player
00:22:42 who you can trust possession to possession,
00:22:44 and that's what it's gonna come down to in the playoffs,
00:22:46 or do you want the guy with the higher upside here?
00:22:50 Listen, I don't think Luke has 14 and 12 in him,
00:22:52 certainly here.
00:22:53 Cato's a much better rebounder than him,
00:22:55 but possession for possession,
00:22:58 when every possession counts, who can you trust more?
00:23:01 And that's what it's gonna-
00:23:03 - Early this NFL season with FanDuel,
00:23:06 America's number one sports book.
00:23:09 Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets
00:23:13 with any winning $5 money bet.
00:23:16 That's 150 bucks, your team wins.
00:23:19 If you've been thinking about joining FanDuel,
00:23:21 there's no better time to get in on the action NFL.
00:23:24 The app is so easy to use,
00:23:26 there's a wide range of betting options,
00:23:27 including you get spreads, you get your player props,
00:23:30 you get over-unders and more.
00:23:31 So visit fanduel.com/boston
00:23:34 and kick off the NFL season.
00:23:36 FanDuel, official partner of the NFL.
00:23:39 - Check out FanDuel.
00:23:44 - I had to do it, Bobby, you tested me.
00:23:47 You were trying to get me to do it, I think,
00:23:50 when you started going into the trust.
00:23:50 - I think you figured it out, Bobby.
00:23:52 I think you figured out how to do it.
00:23:52 - I figured it out, I had to do it.
00:23:54 That was for everybody in the chat who was demanding it.
00:23:58 But I see your point too, Bob.
00:24:00 I understand where you're coming from.
00:24:01 There is a little bit more.
00:24:02 - Someone said Lucas- - This kills me,
00:24:03 'cause I love Cato. - Someone said,
00:24:04 "Lucas 2023's Roy Hibbert."
00:24:07 Yikes.
00:24:08 - Ooh, ooh, Roy Hibbert. - The tough thing,
00:24:11 the tough thing for me here is that I do love Cato.
00:24:14 Like when they signed him,
00:24:16 I was shocked that they got this guy on a two-way.
00:24:19 I mean, this guy is much better
00:24:21 than a two-way player coming out of Sacramento.
00:24:23 And they loved him there.
00:24:24 I was surprised they let him go to sign JaVale McGee.
00:24:27 And they had developed him over a year plus,
00:24:30 and were working on him over multiple summer leaves
00:24:33 to get him into their big man rotation.
00:24:35 So this is a player I really like,
00:24:37 and I think has some long-term potential
00:24:39 with the Celtics here.
00:24:41 What we might be arguing over here is that
00:24:44 if anything happens to Porzingis and Horford,
00:24:46 and we're in agreement, right?
00:24:48 Neither of these guys are probably gonna play
00:24:49 on a night where you have Horford and Porzingis
00:24:51 in the playoffs, maybe like three minutes.
00:24:54 So it's not a-
00:24:55 - Yeah, they're not playoff routine.
00:24:56 I mean, they're gonna go down to eight guys
00:24:58 in the playoffs, right?
00:24:58 - Yeah. - So those guys
00:24:59 aren't gonna sniff the white beely.
00:25:01 - So we're debating over,
00:25:04 I guess who'd be more ready to step in
00:25:06 in case of injury or something like that.
00:25:08 And honestly, neither of these guys are ready for that.
00:25:11 So that's the tricky spot that this team's in,
00:25:13 is I think they like both of these guys as depth bigs,
00:25:17 but if either of the frontline bigs,
00:25:19 certainly Porzingis got hurt, you'd be screwed.
00:25:22 And that's a difficult position
00:25:23 that they're gonna have to figure out
00:25:25 coming into this deadline here,
00:25:27 because I think they like all these guys,
00:25:29 but they like them all when they're healthy,
00:25:30 and they're all in their roles.
00:25:32 And in a regular season game,
00:25:34 Caden and Cornette can step up
00:25:35 and give you these good games.
00:25:37 But the two bigs in front of them
00:25:39 are just so much better than them.
00:25:41 - Yeah, I mean, no one's saying
00:25:43 slide them into the starting lineup,
00:25:44 but you need to have bench depth.
00:25:46 And I think, don't forget,
00:25:48 Caden might have already passed Luke earlier in the season
00:25:52 if he didn't enter the year hurt.
00:25:54 - That's a good point.
00:25:55 - I think a lot of people forget
00:25:56 that maybe Caden was on that trajectory.
00:25:59 He had a really good preseason.
00:26:00 He kind of was on everybody's radar.
00:26:02 And then was it a foot injury
00:26:03 that he kind of entered the year with a foot injury?
00:26:06 I'm not even sure how he got it.
00:26:07 - He had a stress fracture in July
00:26:10 before they even signed him in summer league
00:26:13 that didn't seem to fully heal.
00:26:15 And he's still going through sort of the ups and downs
00:26:17 and coming back from that,
00:26:18 it feels like, you know,
00:26:19 he says it's bothers him some days,
00:26:21 and he has the ups and downs with that.
00:26:23 So that's still something to watch here
00:26:26 from a health perspective with him.
00:26:28 Like, I still don't think we've seen him at 100%.
00:26:30 He's getting there,
00:26:31 which if this is what he's doing at less than 100%,
00:26:34 pretty impressive.
00:26:36 So I'm excited about his future, his potential here,
00:26:38 but we're still early on in the process of his development.
00:26:42 And the one thing you do have to say here
00:26:46 is it's probably time to sign him.
00:26:48 Like, I know you want to wait,
00:26:51 and if he gets hurt or something,
00:26:53 this gives you some insurance
00:26:55 against that possibly happening.
00:26:57 And he'd probably want like a multi-year contract
00:26:59 if they did sign him,
00:27:00 but he can't play in the playoffs
00:27:04 on this two-way deal he's on right now.
00:27:06 So I think he's shown enough
00:27:08 to at least be signed to a standard contract here.
00:27:10 I think we can all agree on that.
00:27:12 - Yeah, I think so.
00:27:14 - Yeah.
00:27:16 - I mean, if he keeps this up
00:27:16 and obviously barring any injuries,
00:27:19 yeah, absolutely.
00:27:21 We talked about Blake Griffin before,
00:27:22 but he keeps this up.
00:27:25 I don't think they have to call him.
00:27:27 - No, I mean,
00:27:28 Cade is going to have a more bigger effect
00:27:30 out there on the court.
00:27:32 I mean, yeah,
00:27:33 sign Blake Griffin as your assistant coach or something
00:27:35 if you want to go around the guys,
00:27:37 but I don't think he's doing much for you
00:27:41 in terms of on the court stuff at this point.
00:27:44 So yeah, I mean,
00:27:47 that's probably my takeaway from this game, Bobby.
00:27:49 I mean, I know we were talking about what takeaways.
00:27:51 Obviously Tatum coming back and playing well
00:27:55 and hitting shots is great,
00:27:56 but just getting contributions from a guy like Cade,
00:27:59 that again, this was somebody
00:28:01 that wasn't in the rotation at all.
00:28:03 So you've had recently,
00:28:06 you've seen some Cade,
00:28:07 you've seen some Stevens, right?
00:28:09 You saw Brissette a little bit back tonight.
00:28:11 So they don't have a bench of complete misfits, right?
00:28:15 They do have players who in a pinch they can go to.
00:28:19 And again, it's not an ideal situation
00:28:21 if this was a playoffs,
00:28:22 if this was playoffs,
00:28:23 obviously you want to have your starters in there
00:28:25 and that goes for any team.
00:28:26 If you're not healthy,
00:28:27 most likely you're just not deep enough.
00:28:29 The NBA is too talented now where you can't field
00:28:32 a team of half starters and half bench guys.
00:28:35 You got to have your healthy guys in there.
00:28:38 But that's why it's important
00:28:39 throughout the course of a regular season
00:28:41 to be able to bring in a guy like Cade
00:28:43 that can give you 14 and 12
00:28:44 and give you 23 minutes off the bench, effective minutes.
00:28:47 So you don't have to force Portford
00:28:50 to play more than he needs to.
00:28:51 Or you don't have to worry about Portingus
00:28:53 maybe missing an extra game
00:28:55 because the team can theoretically still function
00:28:59 to some capacity and compete, right?
00:29:01 Obviously you want those guys in the game
00:29:03 'cause you want them to get familiar
00:29:04 with playing with each other
00:29:06 because that's going to be your playoff rotation.
00:29:09 But to be able to go eight, nine deep
00:29:13 in the regular season, that's what you want.
00:29:15 I mean, so to me, it's a great thing to see Cade
00:29:18 to be able to contribute in that fashion.
00:29:20 And what's that mean for Luke?
00:29:22 I guess we'll find out.
00:29:23 I think it is going to be a competition as it should be.
00:29:27 I mean, Luke is certainly not a player
00:29:29 that is in a situation where he's just-
00:29:32 - And Luke's coming back off injury now.
00:29:34 - Where he's not just going to be given his role back.
00:29:37 You got to, again, it's the same as anybody else
00:29:40 on a fringe rotation spot here
00:29:43 where you earn that playing time.
00:29:45 So if Luke is the guy, then he'll have to earn it back
00:29:49 and show that in practice
00:29:50 and maybe he'll get an opportunity, I'm sure at some point,
00:29:52 again, in the regular season.
00:29:53 And if he does his job, then fine.
00:29:56 If he doesn't, I think Joe is going to be
00:29:59 a lot more inclined to now bring in Cade up, right?
00:30:03 Like he's not going to just ignore that possibility
00:30:06 as maybe he would have earlier in the season
00:30:08 because he's now seen it.
00:30:11 - I think we have to consider Brissette's run here too.
00:30:14 - Totally.
00:30:14 - He gives them a smaller look out there at the four.
00:30:17 And one thing I found interesting
00:30:19 looking at the last handful of games here
00:30:20 is you can see Joe looking for some double big combinations.
00:30:24 I know Brissette's not a big,
00:30:25 but they've played him with Horford.
00:30:27 They've played Cade with Horford
00:30:29 and they've played Luke with Horford.
00:30:31 So they're looking for a four or five with Horford
00:30:34 that can allow them to play a little bit bigger
00:30:37 on the offensive glass, especially.
00:30:39 And out of the three guys here,
00:30:41 I know Cade is a great rebounder,
00:30:42 but Brissette's been super timely
00:30:44 with the offensive boards.
00:30:46 Two great ones in the Sacramento game, I believe.
00:30:49 The Warriors game, he comes in.
00:30:51 And then the Orlando game where they were very short-handed,
00:30:54 but he's played well now.
00:30:55 So four straight threes in a row.
00:30:57 That's great to see after a one for nine start from deep,
00:31:00 which was hindering him more than anything else it feels.
00:31:03 Like I saw him in practice and shoot arounds and stuff
00:31:05 looking much better from behind the arc.
00:31:08 So that changes the dynamic here too with him.
00:31:11 He's not a guy, well, he's not gonna draw any gravity
00:31:14 with what he's doing right now
00:31:15 from behind the three point line.
00:31:16 But if you get the ball to him,
00:31:17 he might be able to knock one down here
00:31:19 or there, which is obviously something Luke and Cade
00:31:21 can't do.
00:31:22 So you could play five out with Brissette here
00:31:24 and still get some center level offensive rebounding.
00:31:27 And that was a big part of this game, I felt like,
00:31:29 with the second chance points.
00:31:30 And who's getting more than anybody's Drew Holiday.
00:31:33 I mean, he's all over the offensive glass right now.
00:31:36 So we've talked about how that's a great equalizer
00:31:38 for this team.
00:31:39 When you're missing threes,
00:31:41 and they're gonna put up a lot of threes every night,
00:31:43 go and grab that miss.
00:31:44 And you might find a wide open three right after
00:31:46 if you're getting these offensive rebounds.
00:31:47 So it's been a nice balance for this team,
00:31:49 how aggressive they are on the offensive glass.
00:31:52 - Yeah, no question.
00:31:54 And I also feel like O'Shea is sort of like the,
00:31:58 if Porzingis is out, you're gonna see more of O'Shea.
00:32:00 And sometimes I feel like there isn't a whole lot
00:32:03 of minutes around when Porzingis is available.
00:32:07 So I feel like it's tough for him to get in the mix.
00:32:10 But when his name is called, he's ready.
00:32:11 So obviously Joe Mizzou is gonna appreciate that.
00:32:14 And moving forward, he's gonna try to find minutes for him.
00:32:16 But I just feel like this is a great example
00:32:18 of when Porzingis is out,
00:32:19 this is when he gets that moment to shine.
00:32:21 You know, that front court gets a little smaller
00:32:25 in a sense, even though you do have Caden
00:32:26 mixed in there as well.
00:32:28 But that small, big lineup, he sort of matches that
00:32:30 because he's able to create those second chance
00:32:32 opportunities like a normal big would.
00:32:34 And you know, he can crash down low,
00:32:36 he can defend a bit down low,
00:32:38 you know, with the help defense as well.
00:32:39 He's effective in that regard.
00:32:41 So I feel like he's much more impactful
00:32:43 when Porzingis isn't there.
00:32:44 There's just isn't a whole lot of minutes to go around
00:32:46 when he's not.
00:32:47 But I mean, you gotta give him his props.
00:32:49 He's always ready for these situations
00:32:51 and tonight was no different.
00:32:52 - What do they want out of Brissette, Bobby?
00:32:57 When he's in there, like what's a good night for Brissette?
00:33:00 Obviously you wanna see him hit shots like he did tonight.
00:33:03 And I know there was a stretch
00:33:04 where he couldn't hit anything.
00:33:05 So obviously- - I know,
00:33:06 then he hit three in a row from behind the yard.
00:33:07 - It's a good sign to see him shoot the way he is.
00:33:10 But what's the ideal situation for Brissette on this team?
00:33:15 - I think defend, grab offensive rebounds,
00:33:18 which is probably the biggest thing,
00:33:19 and knock down a three if it comes your way.
00:33:22 I think you probably give him one three a game
00:33:24 in short rotation minutes.
00:33:26 And that's tough, right?
00:33:27 And he's talked about it, you know,
00:33:30 after that game where he got back in the rotation,
00:33:32 he's like, "This is the toughest position to be in
00:33:34 in all the sports."
00:33:35 And I was, you know, I was down at the G League showcase
00:33:38 this week and it's full of guys like this
00:33:40 who got one shot a game in their situations,
00:33:44 couldn't hit them, and you end up in the G League.
00:33:46 So that's exactly where he was to start this year.
00:33:49 And now for whatever reason,
00:33:50 maybe it's the fact that they're giving him
00:33:51 a little bit more consistent time,
00:33:53 that Joe has kind of on the side
00:33:55 to hold him to stay confident,
00:33:56 and, you know, we're not gonna just pull you
00:33:58 right out of there.
00:34:00 That helps too.
00:34:01 So this is the kind of game I think you expect from him.
00:34:03 And honestly, the last three,
00:34:06 John and I were going crazy after that Warriors game
00:34:08 because he, after Tatum got hurt in that game,
00:34:11 came in and threw down a cutting dunk,
00:34:14 two breakout scores, three for three,
00:34:16 and then five minutes he was done after a great rotation.
00:34:19 So luckily they went back to him the next game
00:34:21 against the Kings and he had another good game,
00:34:23 one-on-one, three points, five rebounds.
00:34:25 Like, I think that's what you look for him,
00:34:27 to him, Jimmy.
00:34:29 Don't try to do too much.
00:34:30 Don't make mistakes.
00:34:31 Just take advantage of the opportunities that come your way
00:34:34 by playing with Tatum and Brown.
00:34:35 So I think he's doing exactly
00:34:38 what they wanted to do out there.
00:34:39 And he looks comfortable now doing it.
00:34:40 He was looking like D Smith early in the year.
00:34:42 I think John said that,
00:34:43 but just how frenetic and out of control he was out there.
00:34:46 - That's a good comparison.
00:34:47 Joe Sway, where's O'Shea in the pecking order?
00:34:50 'Cause we're talking about like eight, nine spots here.
00:34:55 Right now, I mean, we're talking end of the rotation.
00:34:57 Is it gonna be O'Shea?
00:34:58 Is it gonna be Luke?
00:34:59 Is it gonna be, you know, Kada?
00:35:01 Is it gonna be Steven?
00:35:03 Like there's definitely a competition here
00:35:05 and it might be matchup based in some capacity,
00:35:07 but who is ultimately going to rise from the rubble
00:35:12 and round out this rotation?
00:35:14 - I think O'Shea, you know what?
00:35:17 I think O'Shea would get the benefit of the doubt
00:35:19 if everyone is healthy,
00:35:22 but I think the only person right now
00:35:23 that's really knocking on that door is Kada.
00:35:26 If I'm being completely honest, you know,
00:35:27 especially when you think about, yeah, like you said, Jimmy,
00:35:30 in game situations,
00:35:31 when the Celtics are up comfortably
00:35:33 and they just kind of need someone to come in there
00:35:34 and just create stops,
00:35:36 then you go with Kada.
00:35:37 You know, if you're more hungry for extra possessions,
00:35:39 you're down a bit, you know, six, seven points,
00:35:42 you're not completely out of it,
00:35:43 but you just need those extra possessions.
00:35:44 That's when Bursette, I think, is much more effective,
00:35:46 especially when he's left open in the corner
00:35:49 and he's able to, you know, get to his spot
00:35:51 and, you know, knock down that three point shot.
00:35:53 Then all of a sudden, you know,
00:35:55 he's able to affect both ends of the floor
00:35:56 and then that's gonna make him a shoo-in
00:35:58 to lock down that ninth spot in the rotation, you know,
00:36:02 which is realistically probably somewhat his goal
00:36:05 or where he is right now in the sense of
00:36:07 where he is in the depth chart.
00:36:09 But yeah, I think he's somewhere around there, you know.
00:36:12 Again, when this team's completely healthy,
00:36:16 when someone like Porzingis is out or another big is out,
00:36:19 I think that those opportunities open up
00:36:22 much more for guys like him and Kada.
00:36:24 And all of a sudden, tonight, like what we saw today,
00:36:25 it's a given, you know.
00:36:27 But when this team is absolutely 100% healthy,
00:36:30 he's still, you know,
00:36:32 there's still that opportunity for him to play,
00:36:34 especially if someone is in foul trouble.
00:36:36 I think he's built enough trust with Joe Mazzuolo, for sure.
00:36:40 - Word.
00:36:43 - I would agree, folks.
00:36:44 - Coming out of- - Yeah, I was seeing
00:36:45 if there's anything going on on Twitter.
00:36:48 Obviously, we're not on the road here.
00:36:51 Bobby, you going to LA for Lakers on Christmas?
00:36:55 - Nope.
00:36:56 Be back in the garden Thursday against Detroit.
00:36:59 Could be a historic night.
00:37:02 - We'll do a brief Celtics-Lakers chat
00:37:04 at the end of this show.
00:37:06 I want to just finish up on this specific game.
00:37:10 Thoughts on Jalen tonight?
00:37:11 I mentioned him briefly off the beginning of the show,
00:37:15 but I feel like he's just playing more consistent
00:37:19 than I think we've seen in the past.
00:37:22 Again, plus 29. - I think he knows
00:37:23 what his role is going to be tonight now,
00:37:25 which is what they need to figure out to begin this year.
00:37:27 He's going to be the guy that's more inside
00:37:29 to Tatum's perimeter game.
00:37:31 And it looks like he's finding more cutting lanes
00:37:34 than he did in the past.
00:37:35 And we've talked about the defense.
00:37:37 I thought it was really good tonight, again,
00:37:39 primarily on James Harden,
00:37:40 who he did a great job with there
00:37:42 in the second round against the Sixers.
00:37:46 Harden's stat line looked great, 14-9.
00:37:48 Before turnovers, six to 13.
00:37:51 I think you'll live with that against him.
00:37:53 And just two threes.
00:37:54 No free throw attempts for James Harden in this game.
00:37:56 How often do you see that in a minus 34?
00:38:00 So, they did a great job on him.
00:38:02 - Yeah, no, and that's such a James Harden type of a stat.
00:38:09 Minus 34.
00:38:11 I mean, when you talk about just kind of giving up
00:38:14 and just sort of half-assing it out there,
00:38:16 I don't know how you can't think of James Harden
00:38:18 as one of those guys that's kind of been-
00:38:20 - They really flattened out the Clippers.
00:38:22 - He could really check out of this game, man.
00:38:24 Just like chucking threes, a few dribbles.
00:38:27 Oh, you're not gonna let me through?
00:38:28 All right, whatever.
00:38:29 Like just chucking it up, passing it away,
00:38:32 or passing it off.
00:38:33 At least Paul George had some way of the offensive rhythm
00:38:35 where the Clippers are kind of like,
00:38:36 "Okay, if we can get somebody else going,
00:38:38 then we got a shot at this."
00:38:39 But it wasn't gonna be Harden.
00:38:41 Like you knew that entire game.
00:38:42 There was no way he was gonna actually fight
00:38:45 to find his offense this game.
00:38:47 - Yeah, and they did a great job
00:38:49 flattening out the Clippers.
00:38:50 This was a impressive defensive game
00:38:52 from the Celtics for me, because there is some shooting,
00:38:55 there are some threats on that Clippers side
00:38:57 you had to worry about, even with Kawhi down.
00:38:59 But they had George playing one-on-one,
00:39:01 and you saw him stepping inside
00:39:02 to hit those mid-rangers early, but it wasn't too damaging.
00:39:06 They held the Clippers to 21 in that first quarter,
00:39:09 which I have to feel like is the least, or right up there,
00:39:12 with the least amount of points the Celtics
00:39:14 have given up in a quarter all year.
00:39:16 So that set a great tone for this game.
00:39:18 And I know we were worried about some of the offensive stuff
00:39:21 from that Warriors game.
00:39:23 I think the bigger concern internally was the defense
00:39:27 that the Celtics played that night,
00:39:28 and that slipping a little bit going into that game,
00:39:31 and then of course on that night against Steph Curry.
00:39:33 They've locked up since.
00:39:35 Like the way they tightened up after that,
00:39:37 absolute, it was like a 40 to 38 first quarter
00:39:40 in Sacramento, Jimmy.
00:39:42 And then they tightened up defensively
00:39:44 the rest of the night and pulled away in that game.
00:39:46 Tonight, they were defending from the start
00:39:48 and doing it effectively just to keep the paint away
00:39:52 from all those guys and force them
00:39:53 to just shoot pull-up jumpers,
00:39:55 which didn't fall fairway in this game.
00:39:57 So Celtics got back to defense,
00:40:00 doing so without Porzingis is impressive.
00:40:02 And if they can carry that into the Lakers game,
00:40:07 they're probably gonna win that one
00:40:08 because I know it's gonna be a fun contrast to Stiles here.
00:40:12 The Celtics in terms of the three-point shooting,
00:40:16 we talk about night in, night out,
00:40:18 versus what the Lakers fans complain about,
00:40:20 having no three-point shooting at all,
00:40:23 is gonna be interesting to watch.
00:40:25 And the Lakers have lost five or six
00:40:27 since the in-season tournament championship.
00:40:31 They probably should have lost the sixth game too
00:40:33 against the Spurs.
00:40:34 They won that one by three.
00:40:37 So they've been an absolute disaster
00:40:40 and their defense has slipped too.
00:40:41 So you're heading into that Lakers game in a good spot
00:40:44 after these couple onslaughts
00:40:48 against the Clippers and Kings.
00:40:50 - Yeah, Lakers play tonight against the Thunder,
00:40:53 decent Thunder team this year.
00:40:54 Really good Thunder team actually this year.
00:40:56 - And they are benching D'Angelo Russell.
00:40:58 - SGA is balling them.
00:41:00 - SGA is balling, oh, they're benching D'Angelo Russell, huh?
00:41:02 - Yeah, I don't know who's stepping in in his place,
00:41:05 but it was funny, he was talking the other night.
00:41:09 Yeah, they're going with LeBron,
00:41:10 Reddish, Prince, Vanderbilt, Davis.
00:41:14 And I'm sure that's who LeBron imagined playing with
00:41:18 when he went out to the Lakers five days ago.
00:41:20 - Ham, Reddish, Tyrone Prince, and Jared Vanderbilt.
00:41:24 - Yeah, they've got some roster issues for sure,
00:41:30 but you can't count them out.
00:41:31 I mean, we've seen that when,
00:41:34 obviously based on that in-season tournament at least
00:41:36 going off of that, that there is an on switch to these guys.
00:41:40 And I feel like Christmas day, that's an on switch.
00:41:42 So you got to show up ready to play.
00:41:44 You obviously can't take LeBron and Davis for granted,
00:41:50 you know, 'cause on any given night,
00:41:52 those could be the two best players in the league.
00:41:55 But yeah, they do have,
00:41:56 the Lakers definitely have some issues to work through.
00:41:58 And you mentioned it already, Bobby,
00:42:00 their outside shooting is nowhere where it needs to be.
00:42:02 Celtics on the other hand, I just saw stats.
00:42:05 I'll go ahead and read this.
00:42:06 The Celtics made a total of 47 three-pointers
00:42:09 in their last two games,
00:42:11 22 against the Kings, 25 against the Clippers.
00:42:16 That is the most they've made in franchise history
00:42:19 over a two game stretch.
00:42:20 So 47 three-pointers over the last two games is a record.
00:42:24 So yes, we did make Celtics history tonight, boys.
00:42:28 Congrats to all of us.
00:42:29 - And I like your point at the top of the show, Jimmy,
00:42:31 get the points how you can,
00:42:33 take what the defense has given you.
00:42:35 I have no problem with the spot up shooting here
00:42:37 if that's where you saw opportunities to score from.
00:42:40 And certainly something was available there
00:42:42 that made them take that many and make that many.
00:42:45 But they also posted up in this game
00:42:47 and then against Sacramento, all the pick and roll action,
00:42:50 all the inside out play, the passing,
00:42:52 and Derek White, again, big part of that game,
00:42:56 big part of this game on both ends too.
00:42:59 His consistency is just astounding.
00:43:00 I know we didn't get to talk about it with you guys,
00:43:03 but the all-star case for him.
00:43:07 - I was just gonna bring that up.
00:43:08 I'm glad you went there.
00:43:09 - He's making that case, man.
00:43:10 - Oh, there's definitely a case.
00:43:13 I mean, think about the fact that the Celtics
00:43:16 are arguably the best team in the NBA.
00:43:18 It's not unheard of to bring three guys to,
00:43:21 and not even close to-
00:43:22 - They wanna bring five.
00:43:23 - I know, well, that's the problem,
00:43:24 is now you're gonna have a,
00:43:26 they're gonna have to make a cut here or there.
00:43:28 But if they're all getting in on the Derek White train,
00:43:32 we've seen this team publicize,
00:43:36 really make a case for something and have it happen.
00:43:39 I think a lot of people can get on board
00:43:41 with Derek White, the all-star.
00:43:43 And I think he has a lot of respect across the league.
00:43:46 I think a lot of coaches obviously understand his value,
00:43:48 and players are.
00:43:50 Talking about Russell earlier,
00:43:52 quote of the year was how Russell said he wanted,
00:43:54 was it Russell?
00:43:55 - He wanted to be Derek White.
00:43:56 - He wanted to be Derek White, yeah.
00:43:57 Well, now he's gonna be closer to a bench player for a bit.
00:44:02 But Derek White is, I think we can all agree,
00:44:07 the MVP of this team, right?
00:44:12 - Russell started the year saying,
00:44:13 "I wanna be Derek White."
00:44:14 And then the other night he was saying like,
00:44:16 "Yeah, when my shot's not going,
00:44:18 I don't know where else I can impact the game."
00:44:20 - Well, which is not a Derek White quote, right?
00:44:23 (laughing)
00:44:24 - That's the opposite of how Derek White plays.
00:44:26 - Yeah, it's one thing to want to,
00:44:29 pattern your game after somebody,
00:44:30 and it's another thing to actually do it.
00:44:32 And it's more of a mindset than anything else.
00:44:34 I mean, D'Andreo Russell needs to approach the game
00:44:37 completely different manner than he does.
00:44:38 And the way Derek White approaches it is,
00:44:41 just do what's best for the team.
00:44:42 I mean, it fit right in on the classic Patriots
00:44:45 from years ago, where it's like, do your job.
00:44:46 - I don't think I've ever seen,
00:44:48 and Joe Sway, we're around him a lot,
00:44:50 you've been around some other teams.
00:44:52 I don't think I've ever seen a Celtic with a smaller ego.
00:44:55 The guy just doesn't care.
00:44:57 Like if they told him to sit and not put,
00:44:58 well, I'm sure he wouldn't like that.
00:44:59 - Super humble.
00:45:00 (laughing)
00:45:02 - It seems like anything short of that, he's fine with.
00:45:06 Zero shots, he'd be fine with that.
00:45:10 Bench roll, he was fine with that to start the year,
00:45:12 if that's what they decided.
00:45:13 And fortunately, they've successfully pushed him
00:45:17 to be more aggressive.
00:45:17 Like, you're not going to the bench, you're starting.
00:45:20 Take these shots, be super aggressive out there.
00:45:23 And that's how he's played.
00:45:24 - Yeah, definitely.
00:45:26 And he's just been so disciplined and determined.
00:45:30 And you know, the type of, all the reviews
00:45:33 that we heard coming in, right,
00:45:35 when he first got traded to the Celtics,
00:45:36 like, I feel like he's exceeded those expectations
00:45:39 that a lot of what Brad Stevens was talking about
00:45:42 and him being a glue guy
00:45:43 and essentially adapting to the system.
00:45:45 And he's gone beyond that for sure.
00:45:47 People are gonna say what they want
00:45:48 about this being a contract year
00:45:50 and that, man, he could be playing himself
00:45:51 out of the city.
00:45:52 But regardless, if he's in the Celtics, you take that
00:45:54 because it doesn't matter what role he's in,
00:45:56 he's gonna shine.
00:45:57 You know, he's gonna make himself impactful.
00:46:00 And I think we're talking about All-Star Weekend
00:46:02 and the Celtics, and if they're still, in my opinion,
00:46:05 they probably will be the top team in the East
00:46:08 or top team in the NBA,
00:46:09 then yeah, you definitely have to have a conversation
00:46:11 about Derek White.
00:46:12 And I'm sure people across the league
00:46:14 will be having that same conversation
00:46:15 and thinking that the Celtics very well
00:46:17 do have three full-fledged All-Stars
00:46:20 and Derek White is definitely one of them.
00:46:22 - I find this comment interesting here.
00:46:24 I wonder what you guys think of this,
00:46:26 because I do think since Brad's become GM,
00:46:29 he's put a priority on bringing in good guys.
00:46:34 And I think that kind of started too
00:46:36 when they had that rough Kyrie year
00:46:38 and then all of a sudden it was like Grant
00:46:40 and a bunch of like big positive team personalities
00:46:44 coming in the door the next year.
00:46:46 - I think that they've- - I think-
00:46:49 - I think this has been part of the success here
00:46:52 is just the willingness to sacrifice across the board.
00:46:54 And I'm not saying they're all the greatest guys
00:46:56 off the court, you never know that.
00:46:58 But in terms of like the team dynamic, everyone gets it.
00:47:02 - Well, I'm gonna defer to you guys
00:47:05 'cause you're both around the team regularly
00:47:07 and you can kind of see the camaraderie
00:47:09 that they do or do not have, you're there at the practices.
00:47:12 It's very important to not only have high character,
00:47:16 but to gel together and to wanna play for each other.
00:47:20 It's not just going to work.
00:47:22 These aren't just your coworkers that you have to hang out,
00:47:25 that you have to basically just like put up with
00:47:30 for your nine to five job.
00:47:32 Like these are people that you are going to war with
00:47:35 in some way, right?
00:47:37 So you wanna be able to fight with them,
00:47:38 you wanna play for them, you wanna know what they like,
00:47:41 what they don't like, what their interests are.
00:47:43 You wanna feel like a family, right?
00:47:44 So I would agree that I think the character
00:47:46 is definitely important.
00:47:47 And it's been like that for a number of years now.
00:47:49 I mean, going back to Kemba,
00:47:50 I mean, that was a high character guy, right?
00:47:52 I mean, so they have definitely,
00:47:54 it seems like they've made a focus.
00:47:56 Josue, not a high character guy,
00:47:58 just left us in the middle of our show.
00:48:00 Just kidding.
00:48:01 Al Horford, I mean, you can go down the line with players.
00:48:06 Yeah, it kind of started with Horford.
00:48:08 Yeah, absolutely.
00:48:09 So it's important.
00:48:11 And I think it does have an effect.
00:48:12 And just to circle back to Derek White, there he is,
00:48:15 Josue's back.
00:48:17 He's got high character after all.
00:48:18 Derek White is honestly right up there.
00:48:24 No, you're good, dude.
00:48:26 Always says the right things.
00:48:28 And you feel like he means it.
00:48:30 He's a super humble guy, plays his role
00:48:33 and doesn't overstep his bounds,
00:48:35 doesn't try to do too much.
00:48:37 He's never gonna, you're never gonna be like,
00:48:39 "Wow, Derek White,
00:48:39 "like why is he trying to be so flashy out there?"
00:48:42 Like he couldn't be less flashy if he tried.
00:48:46 Yeah, that's the sense I've gotten, Josue.
00:48:52 Josue, you there?
00:48:54 I think that's been successful this year,
00:48:56 the willingness to sacrifice and focus on a team dynamic
00:49:00 where they're bringing in guys who just get it.
00:49:04 Like I think the Celtics genuinely feel like
00:49:07 if you're gonna be thinking about your contract
00:49:11 or your shots or your role,
00:49:13 even if you might help this team,
00:49:15 you're not gonna be here.
00:49:18 They're not gonna go for guys like that.
00:49:20 - I would agree with that.
00:49:23 You mean at this point, there's gotta be a,
00:49:25 you know, they have a bigger goal than themselves.
00:49:29 You know, it's not about personal accolades on this team.
00:49:33 At least it shouldn't be.
00:49:34 Any team with championship aspirations,
00:49:35 that has to be the common goal
00:49:39 between everybody on the team.
00:49:40 That should be right above the door when you walk in.
00:49:43 You know, we, not me, basically.
00:49:45 - Like that should be their-
00:49:48 - That doesn't get you in an all-star game though,
00:49:50 unfortunately.
00:49:51 - It doesn't.
00:49:52 - I think that might be the way.
00:49:52 - But winning does.
00:49:53 - Winning has theirs.
00:49:55 - Yeah, exactly.
00:49:56 - No, winning gives you a chance though, Bob.
00:49:58 - I'm interested to see how that shakes out
00:50:00 'cause I can just rattle off the top of my head
00:50:02 guys that might get consideration above him.
00:50:05 Certainly, you're thinking of Brunson,
00:50:08 Halliburton, Mitchell and Garland.
00:50:11 I know Garland's hurt now.
00:50:12 Maxey, so there's five guards right there.
00:50:14 Jimmy Butler.
00:50:15 - Listen, it's not gonna be easy,
00:50:19 but I think the point is,
00:50:20 and whether or not he makes it at the end of the day,
00:50:23 yeah, it'd be great for him if he could make it
00:50:24 and it would really, you know,
00:50:25 show that people are noticing what he does.
00:50:27 But regardless, I think we can all agree
00:50:30 that he's playing at that level, at least for this team.
00:50:33 And he's a huge reason why they are where they are right now
00:50:37 and he's just on both ends of the court.
00:50:39 Again, we talked about it before.
00:50:41 Him and Holiday, if they're healthy,
00:50:44 there's not two other guards in the league
00:50:47 that I would wanna play against.
00:50:51 - Which game did he miss this year?
00:50:53 - Less than them, like if I'm an opposing player.
00:50:56 He missed a game, wasn't for a personal reason, right?
00:50:58 It had to do with the birth of his son.
00:51:01 - Yeah. - No, it was the second one
00:51:02 after that.
00:51:03 There was two of them. - I think he missed two
00:51:05 for personal reasons. - Yeah.
00:51:06 - Yeah. - Okay.
00:51:07 - And both those games were ugly, if I remember right.
00:51:10 I'm trying to pull them up here.
00:51:12 The first one was the,
00:51:13 well, no, he missed two for the birth,
00:51:16 which was a win over the Nets
00:51:18 and then that really ugly finish against Minnesota
00:51:20 into overtime.
00:51:22 And then the third was probably the worst game of the year
00:51:25 in Charlotte.
00:51:27 So two of their three worst games of the year probably
00:51:31 were without Derek White.
00:51:32 So you could make the argument that he's one of the two
00:51:36 or three most valuable guys on this team.
00:51:39 - Oh, definitely. - Right?
00:51:40 - I think at this point of the season,
00:51:43 that's one thing that most people would agree with,
00:51:46 you know, which wasn't something
00:51:48 that people were saying coming in.
00:51:49 Maybe it was like a hot take, but now not so much.
00:51:53 I feel like it's set in stone that he's that important.
00:51:57 Whether that means he's an all-star or not,
00:52:00 like you said, I mean, if you look across the league
00:52:01 or you look across the Eastern Conference
00:52:03 or the top tier guards in the conference,
00:52:05 I mean, it's tough.
00:52:06 There's a lot of them, you know,
00:52:07 there's probably like four or five,
00:52:08 but he's certainly in that conversation though, you know?
00:52:12 And then when ESPN put out that list
00:52:14 where he wasn't even on it, you know,
00:52:15 this makes people- - Oh, the top 100, I know.
00:52:18 - Yeah, yeah.
00:52:18 This even- - Oh, I forgot Logan too.
00:52:20 - This reminds us of how ridiculous,
00:52:23 how crazy ridiculous that list was, you know?
00:52:25 - That was a huge miss on their part.
00:52:28 - They can't have Bridges in the East.
00:52:30 - We all said it.
00:52:31 I don't know if collectively we thought
00:52:34 White would be this good,
00:52:36 but we all said like, where's Derek White on this list?
00:52:38 There's no way that he's,
00:52:40 there's no way there's 100 players better than Derek White.
00:52:42 So, and maybe that's motivation for him too.
00:52:45 I don't know if he uses,
00:52:47 I don't know that he uses like negative, you know,
00:52:53 whatever, like I think Jalen Brown thrives off
00:52:55 of trying to prove people wrong
00:52:56 and thrives off like the negativity and things like that.
00:52:58 I don't know if Derek White.
00:52:59 - I think White's completely level.
00:53:02 And that's the good thing about him is,
00:53:04 he's gotten into his own head,
00:53:06 I think clearly at times over the shooting,
00:53:08 but he's moved past that, it looks like,
00:53:10 at least in Boston.
00:53:12 But other than that, nothing seems to rattle him.
00:53:15 Calls, getting shaken up physically.
00:53:18 I mean, he goes down like a bowling ball.
00:53:21 - Have you ever seen him angry?
00:53:23 - Never seen him angry, never seen him upset.
00:53:26 - I wouldn't mind seeing him a little, you know,
00:53:30 fired up, angry at something at some point.
00:53:33 - Yeah, and I think he plays with-
00:53:36 - He does it for a little bit.
00:53:38 Kind of just gives you that look like,
00:53:39 and then he goes back to normal.
00:53:41 - Yeah, I feel like the team-wide trend
00:53:45 of complaining about calls
00:53:46 has drifted a little bit in his direction,
00:53:48 but it's not gonna rattle him.
00:53:49 And I think you need that from a guy.
00:53:51 I mean, this move, we look back at the Horford one still,
00:53:55 as a little bit of a turning point
00:53:57 after that awful season in '21.
00:54:00 But this is the one that raised their ceiling,
00:54:02 because you need a connector.
00:54:03 I think every championship team you look at
00:54:06 has had a guy like this.
00:54:07 Iguodala and Golden State, Cleveland had,
00:54:10 you know, who was on this Cleveland team's Joe Sway
00:54:12 that was kind of like this?
00:54:13 Was it like J.R. Smith and Mon Shumpert, maybe?
00:54:17 - Yeah, Mon Shumpert, yeah, something like that.
00:54:20 - I mean, they weren't steady hands certain, right?
00:54:22 So maybe those-
00:54:23 - Well, Shumpert was more of an impact player on the Knicks.
00:54:27 That's sort of what got him on the team, but yeah.
00:54:29 That type of role.
00:54:30 - Yeah, maybe the Cavs didn't have that guy.
00:54:34 - Remember Jimmy, Avery Bradley?
00:54:36 - Oh, I loved Avery Bradley, yeah.
00:54:38 - Yeah, something like that.
00:54:39 - He didn't have much emotion either, Avery Bradley.
00:54:41 - Yeah, talk about a guy who didn't, yeah, yeah.
00:54:43 (laughs)
00:54:44 He was Derek White's advisor.
00:54:45 - He was a legit defender,
00:54:47 one of the best on-ball defenders in the NBA,
00:54:49 Avery Bradley, underrated.
00:54:51 - Right, and just like Derek White,
00:54:53 made a couple of all defensive second team,
00:54:55 I think it was, second team?
00:54:57 - Yeah, so there's definitely some comparisons there.
00:55:01 - Evan Turner was a connector too.
00:55:03 - Evan Turner, ET, still around,
00:55:05 still hanging around sometimes.
00:55:06 I think I see him at the Garden, right?
00:55:09 - He's got a big podcast with Aguadala.
00:55:11 - That's right, that's a good podcast.
00:55:13 Not as good as ours, but it's a good podcast.
00:55:15 (laughs)
00:55:17 Maybe we'll get them on.
00:55:18 - We wanna have Turner on at one point, yeah.
00:55:21 - I bet you he would do it.
00:55:23 - But yeah, there's a lot of guards in the East.
00:55:26 I don't know if White's gonna pull it off,
00:55:27 and if he does, it will be a ginormous accomplishment,
00:55:30 given the competition he's going up against.
00:55:33 - Everybody drink.
00:55:34 We got a ginormous thing.
00:55:37 All right, boys, anything else on this game?
00:55:40 Or I think we've touched upon pretty much everything again.
00:55:43 Bit of a historic type win for the Celtics
00:55:48 with the way they shot the three ball tonight.
00:55:50 - Yeah, and I don't wanna make any big characterizations
00:55:53 about this one from the Clippers' standpoint,
00:55:55 but even after this recent run of wins for them,
00:55:58 they had nine in a row,
00:56:01 I just have a hard time imagining them being there
00:56:05 in the finals on the other side.
00:56:06 Like for health reasons, for connectivity reasons,
00:56:11 and they've done a better job with that than expected.
00:56:13 The coach is kind of in a lame duck position too,
00:56:15 it seems like here.
00:56:17 This whole thing just still feels a little dysfunctional,
00:56:21 despite some recent success.
00:56:22 - Yeah, I mean, that recent success
00:56:26 had so much to do with Kawhi, right?
00:56:28 And I feel like him not being in the lineup
00:56:30 and other guys are out sometimes,
00:56:32 like they never find that run,
00:56:34 even though it felt like they had it for a little bit
00:56:36 in the beginning of the season.
00:56:38 You could still say, "Hey, it's still early," and all that,
00:56:40 but there's so many other teams at Western Conference
00:56:42 where you're like, "Man, they could really give the Clippers
00:56:45 a run for their money."
00:56:46 So I don't know if I ever see the Clippers-
00:56:48 - Dallas always.
00:56:49 - I don't see them getting the benefit of a doubt
00:56:51 in those matchups.
00:56:52 Yeah, there's so many other teams out there
00:56:54 where you're like, "Yeah, that team could beat the Clippers
00:56:58 in the best of seven series."
00:56:59 So until they can find that stride
00:57:02 where they can override those predictions
00:57:06 or how people feel about them,
00:57:08 I don't see them being one of those top teams
00:57:10 that are gonna be waiting for the Celtics
00:57:13 or any other team in the East
00:57:14 when it comes to the NBA Finals.
00:57:16 (laughing)
00:57:18 - The chat is basically telling me that my stream,
00:57:20 did my stream get-
00:57:21 - You just keep getting boring and boring
00:57:24 with each passing minute.
00:57:25 - Damn, well, we're gonna wrap it, I think, anyways,
00:57:27 in a couple minutes.
00:57:29 You guys got any-
00:57:30 - I'm gonna get out of the way, but all right.
00:57:31 - You got any, well, Celtics-Lakers real quick.
00:57:35 We touched upon it briefly,
00:57:36 but what are your expectations for that game?
00:57:38 You know, it's a fight, we got five o'clock.
00:57:40 - LeBron James gonna treat it like it's the NBA Final.
00:57:43 - Yeah, he's gonna put on a show in LA.
00:57:46 - Yeah, he's playing tonight.
00:57:48 - Frank and I are coming fresh.
00:57:50 - Oh yeah, he's taking this,
00:57:52 he's treating this like,
00:57:53 "Hey, everyone, this is what it's gonna look like, guys."
00:57:56 You know what I mean?
00:57:56 I'm sure he's got the whole speech down,
00:57:58 you know, like, "Hey, if we wanna go to the Finals,
00:58:00 this is what it's gonna take."
00:58:01 You know, like something to that effect.
00:58:03 I swear, like damn near verbatim,
00:58:05 he's gonna say something like that.
00:58:06 So you're gonna get a really good game.
00:58:09 You're gonna get a really hard, you know,
00:58:12 fought type of matchup type of approach
00:58:15 from the LA Lakers, but the Celtics just have to stay with it,
00:58:18 stick with it, and I think they'll be fine.
00:58:20 I really do.
00:58:21 - Yeah, you're gonna see,
00:58:22 for all the complaining we do about threes,
00:58:24 as I said earlier,
00:58:26 you'd much rather be complaining about too many threes
00:58:28 than too few, 'cause it makes it so hard
00:58:31 to win night in, night out,
00:58:33 when you don't have enough threes.
00:58:34 And that's what the Lakers have to do.
00:58:36 They play tight games every night.
00:58:38 It might test the Celtics' ability to win in the clutch,
00:58:41 if it comes to that, especially if Porzingis can't go.
00:58:44 Seems like he's okay, at least according to the reports
00:58:49 and how he's moving out there.
00:58:51 So you'd have to think he'll get up and play for this game.
00:58:53 He always wants to play.
00:58:54 I think the training staff has just tried
00:58:56 to be super cautious with him this year.
00:58:58 So if he's out there,
00:59:00 I don't know how the Lakers come away with this game.
00:59:02 But Anthony Davis, I've always had more respect in him
00:59:05 than the average fan, I think.
00:59:07 - Yeah, I've never liked him.
00:59:09 - I don't know how he's become so marginalized,
00:59:11 'cause you see what he did in that in-season tournament,
00:59:13 like four or five blocks every night and 30, 40 points.
00:59:18 He can be a top five player in this league, period.
00:59:23 But you're right, it's a consistency.
00:59:24 Which Davis are you getting on any given night?
00:59:26 And the health, of course, too.
00:59:27 But man, I'd still love to have him.
00:59:30 I really would.
00:59:31 - Well, speaking of Gary Tangway,
00:59:35 I did a podcast with him a couple of weeks ago,
00:59:37 and we talked about Davis,
00:59:38 'cause the Lakers won the in-season tournament.
00:59:40 And it was funny, he told a quick story
00:59:44 about when he was at NBC.
00:59:45 And every once in a while, he would write for the website.
00:59:48 And he would walk over to us and say,
00:59:51 "What are you guys looking for today?
00:59:53 "What do you want?"
00:59:54 'Cause we were pumping on content left and right
00:59:56 when I was one of the editors there.
00:59:58 He was like, "I'm gonna write something on the Celtics.
01:00:01 "I think they should trade for Anthony Davis."
01:00:03 And he wrote up something, we posted it,
01:00:06 and somehow it got picked up.
01:00:07 Like, you know how sometimes something just,
01:00:10 back in the day at least, it would go on Twitter.
01:00:12 - Yeah, at least a report grabs it or something.
01:00:14 - NBC Sports picks it up.
01:00:16 And all of a sudden, later that night,
01:00:17 Anthony Davis is getting asked,
01:00:19 like, "Hey, there's a report out there
01:00:20 "that you wanna be traded to the Celtics,
01:00:23 "or the Celtics are gonna trade for you."
01:00:25 And Anthony Davis was like, "What the hell is that?"
01:00:27 I'm like, "No, that's not true at all."
01:00:29 But then Gary's just sitting there.
01:00:32 - So you're the reason why Rich Paul
01:00:34 had to tell everybody, hey,
01:00:36 - Literally.
01:00:37 - The Celtics could trade for him if they want to,
01:00:39 but he's not gonna go, he's gonna be there for a year.
01:00:41 It'll be a running season.
01:00:42 - That was literally how it started, Josue.
01:00:44 It was all from Gary Tangway's article.
01:00:46 You could probably Google it and find it somewhere.
01:00:47 - So that was, for people who don't know,
01:00:49 that was the Jalen pick was gonna be attached to that.
01:00:52 You know, the whole trade package
01:00:54 with a bunch of future picks and all that.
01:00:55 But the big one was obviously that pick
01:00:58 that came from the Brooklyn Nets
01:00:59 that turned into Jalen Brown.
01:01:00 That was what was debated, yeah.
01:01:03 - Yeah, this might've been,
01:01:04 it might even happen later too.
01:01:05 Like I think the Celtics had Tatum
01:01:08 and that was all, like, I don't think
01:01:11 the Pelicans would even pick up the phone.
01:01:13 - Oh, wait, was it the Tatum pick you mean?
01:01:15 - Yeah, I think you're thinking of Butler, Josue.
01:01:17 That was the earlier one with-
01:01:18 - Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:01:20 That's when IT was still on the team, right?
01:01:21 - 'Cause this is what still makes that trade
01:01:24 so tough to look back on.
01:01:26 'Cause I think a bunch of people wanted Davis at that time,
01:01:29 but there's a good chance you would have had
01:01:32 to give up Tatum in that one.
01:01:33 And you probably don't do that.
01:01:35 - According to Tangway again,
01:01:37 and he knows some people,
01:01:39 but I think that's what it was gonna take was Tatum
01:01:42 and the Celtics said, no, that's not happening.
01:01:43 So, yeah.
01:01:44 - And the Pelicans got a ton in terms of Ingram, Ball,
01:01:48 Hart, who ended up becoming a great player,
01:01:51 boatloads of picks that they're still collecting
01:01:54 in New Orleans.
01:01:55 So that deal effectively propped up
01:01:58 what the Pelicans have now, which is a pretty-
01:02:00 - That's why they look like that.
01:02:01 Right, exactly, what they have now.
01:02:02 - Pelicans, man, speaking of,
01:02:04 we got to touch on this and then we'll head out,
01:02:06 but the fat clause has been activated.
01:02:11 - I thought you were gonna make a Lakers joke
01:02:13 being like, what could have been
01:02:14 if they didn't trade those guys.
01:02:15 Okay, good.
01:02:16 - Talking about- - The fat clause
01:02:17 and not Santa Claus.
01:02:18 - Not talking about Santa Claus, a different fat clause.
01:02:22 The fat clause in Zion's contract has been activated,
01:02:26 right, according to the report there.
01:02:28 So now his deal- - Expensivized.
01:02:30 - Is no longer guaranteed moving forward,
01:02:32 which, to be honest, probably makes it much more valuable
01:02:37 for them to trade it if they want to.
01:02:39 But man, that was, so the way it reads was
01:02:44 the number is 295 and that number is his weight
01:02:48 plus his body fat index or body fat percentage,
01:02:53 which, I mean, wasn't this dude 285
01:02:56 like coming into the league?
01:02:57 - Right, before, when he was in Duke, he was at Duke.
01:03:01 - Yeah, I mean, he must be 325 at this point.
01:03:03 I mean, he blew that clause out of the water.
01:03:06 I mean, he's a big boy right now.
01:03:07 So there's some definite problems going on over there
01:03:11 with that situation. - I think it came down
01:03:12 to games played.
01:03:14 He missed the games played.
01:03:16 - Yeah, no, it was the game- - No, but that's what triggered.
01:03:18 Yeah, that's what- - Yeah.
01:03:20 So it doesn't matter too much in theory.
01:03:24 In fact, how'd this get out there?
01:03:25 Maybe it was the team trying to wake him up a little bit
01:03:29 saying, man, he hasn't even been on the court enough
01:03:31 to earn his contract yet
01:03:32 because they're not gonna cut it, right?
01:03:34 To get the benefit of the non-guaranteed deal,
01:03:36 you have to just cut them and let them go.
01:03:37 - They said, "Let me go ahead
01:03:38 and leak that clause out real quick."
01:03:39 - Yeah, so this is more of a wake-up call for him.
01:03:42 Now- - It's tough.
01:03:44 Tough to get that news at the holidays.
01:03:45 We're all eating like crazy right now.
01:03:48 And now Zion's gotta worry about the fat clause
01:03:51 and this whole thing. - Right.
01:03:53 - Just tough. - Yeah.
01:03:54 Got my eggnog, got my cookies.
01:03:57 - Ready to go?
01:03:58 What do you guys, what are your Christmas plans?
01:04:00 What's your Christmas Eve plans?
01:04:01 You guys have anything going on tomorrow?
01:04:04 Christmas, we know where we'll be.
01:04:05 We'll be right here on the show.
01:04:06 - I'll be with the fam, man.
01:04:07 Nothing crazy.
01:04:09 Just a small gathering.
01:04:10 - Getting together with the fam.
01:04:11 - Yeah, spend time with my niece.
01:04:13 It's her first Christmas.
01:04:14 - There you go.
01:04:15 Take a picture, post it up on Instagram.
01:04:18 Get a DM. - This will be the one
01:04:19 we'll be showing her years from now.
01:04:22 Being like, "Look, this is your first Christmas."
01:04:24 - All the girls, "Hey, Josue's so good with kids."
01:04:30 - I'm working on it.
01:04:30 - Sharad thought Josue had kids at one point, right?
01:04:34 - Did he?
01:04:35 - Did he really?
01:04:36 He must've said that he thought I wasn't here.
01:04:38 - Josue might have kids. - Oh, no, that's because he...
01:04:43 No, that's because he came...
01:04:45 I was coming in real quick.
01:04:46 I was coming into the game,
01:04:48 going through security,
01:04:49 getting our credentials and all that stuff.
01:04:51 And Sharad was right ahead of me.
01:04:53 When he turned around, behind me,
01:04:56 there was a woman with her two kids.
01:04:58 And if you didn't know any better,
01:04:59 you would think that we're all together.
01:05:01 So I'm holding the door for her,
01:05:04 'cause I'm a gentleman like that.
01:05:06 And she said, "Oh, thank you."
01:05:07 And I think she said a small thing like,
01:05:08 "Oh, I'm so excited about this game."
01:05:10 So we're small talking.
01:05:11 All Sharad can see is a woman and two kids next to me.
01:05:15 So he's like...
01:05:16 - Sharad thought Josue brought his family.
01:05:18 - He brought the whole family to work.
01:05:20 - "Listen, Sharad's gonna give me one of these."
01:05:21 And I'm like, "Hey, man, what's going on?"
01:05:23 I didn't even realize why he's looking at me like that.
01:05:25 So he's kind of like, "Oh, okay."
01:05:26 And I'm like, I'm giving him that look like,
01:05:27 "Yep, that's right."
01:05:29 - He's like...
01:05:30 - Family, you know how it is.
01:05:31 - So later on, he's like, "Man, I didn't know you had kids."
01:05:33 I'm like, "Wait, what?"
01:05:34 And then this whole thing happened.
01:05:35 - That's funny.
01:05:36 Bobby, you got the eggnog going strong over there?
01:05:39 Is that what you said?
01:05:40 - Yeah.
01:05:41 - I don't drink a ton of it,
01:05:43 but I do like a couple of glasses around this time.
01:05:45 - Yeah, I mean, I don't think anyone
01:05:46 can drink a ton of eggnog.
01:05:48 I mean, that's like some heavy, heavy cream situation
01:05:51 going on there, but you toss a little rum in there.
01:05:53 - Oh my God, Josue.
01:05:55 - Huh?
01:05:57 - Jimmy's just gonna, soon Jimmy's just gonna disappear.
01:06:00 That's how far he's getting.
01:06:01 - Would you say it?
01:06:03 Would you say it?
01:06:04 - No, I'm not even kidding.
01:06:06 - Would you say it, Bobby?
01:06:07 - Soon you're just gonna be like in a cloud.
01:06:09 It's getting so blurry.
01:06:10 - I know, right?
01:06:11 - Oh, am I slowly like fading away?
01:06:14 - Yeah.
01:06:15 - All right, we're gonna call it.
01:06:15 - You're not doing that like patchy thing though,
01:06:17 so you're fine.
01:06:18 Once he starts doing the patchy thing,
01:06:19 then that's when you know it's there, when he's like...
01:06:21 - Whoa.
01:06:22 - Like, yeah, he's fine.
01:06:23 He's just a little blurry.
01:06:24 - This is me after three glass hogs,
01:06:29 spiked eggnog, Bobby.
01:06:32 - Yeah, pretty much.
01:06:33 Now it's getting to that point, yeah.
01:06:34 - A little rum in there, a little whiskey maybe,
01:06:36 whatever you like.
01:06:37 - It happens fast.
01:06:38 It happens fast, kids, so be careful out there.
01:06:39 - What else can we get on Christmas day?
01:06:42 I think it's Philly heat.
01:06:45 We got a little preview of Bucks.
01:06:46 - Bucks.
01:06:47 - Of Bucks Knicks today.
01:06:49 - I love the NBA lineup, man.
01:06:51 Christmas day, let's go.
01:06:53 - And the NFL is trying to hijack it.
01:06:55 I'm boycotting NFL on Christmas.
01:06:57 (laughing)
01:06:58 This is about the NBA.
01:07:00 - It's the NBA's day.
01:07:00 - This is about the NBA, man.
01:07:01 Yeah, I just want to put on ABC
01:07:04 and just ride it out for the rest of the day.
01:07:06 - And it's the NFL season.
01:07:07 - Thanksgiving's for football.
01:07:08 Football, they got Thanksgiving, you know?
01:07:10 Come on.
01:07:11 - Not just 'cause the pass is bad,
01:07:13 but I feel like 22 teams have just kind of stunk
01:07:17 in the NFL this year.
01:07:18 There's like five, 10 good teams.
01:07:20 - It's the worst product I've ever seen ever
01:07:23 as a football fan.
01:07:24 This has been the worst season.
01:07:25 And again, it's not just 'cause the Patriots are awful,
01:07:28 which they are.
01:07:29 It's because the NFL as a whole,
01:07:30 quarterback plays gone way, way, way down.
01:07:33 I think there's a game on right now where there was,
01:07:35 that was a one-sided flop.
01:07:37 And it might be this-
01:07:38 - It was like Browning versus,
01:07:40 I don't know if it was quarterback was back, but they had-
01:07:43 - Pickens, Pickens, Pickens, whatever.
01:07:45 All right, we're going to call it.
01:07:48 If that's cool with you boys,
01:07:50 thank you guys for hanging out.
01:07:52 Yup, we want to say Merry Christmas to everybody
01:07:54 and a happy holiday.
01:07:55 - Merry Christmas, join us, okay?
01:07:57 Wrap this up this game.
01:07:59 Spend some time with us.
01:08:00 - We will be here right after the game.
01:08:02 We'll be watching it.
01:08:03 We'll get the chat going beforehand like it always is.
01:08:06 So come back on and join us.
01:08:08 Have a glass of eggnog by your side
01:08:10 or whatever your Christmas cocktail of choice is.
01:08:13 And we will see you guys.
01:08:15 John will be back with us,
01:08:16 hopefully if he can get out of the kitchen.
01:08:17 I know he's probably juggling three or four pies right now.
01:08:20 - And you know it's going to be special pies.
01:08:21 - Charad should be with us too, absolutely.
01:08:23 - Going to be surprise specialties.
01:08:25 Like-
01:08:26 - We always do.
01:08:27 - Things that nobody asked for.
01:08:29 Like he's going to pull up with those.
01:08:30 - Garden Report always does it big on the holidays.
01:08:32 We do it big on Thanksgiving.
01:08:34 We do it big on Christmas.
01:08:34 You don't want to miss these shows.
01:08:36 We do it big on Halloween.
01:08:37 Doesn't matter what the holiday is.
01:08:38 We are here.
01:08:40 We will be with you guys.
01:08:41 And again, happy holidays, Merry Christmas.
01:08:44 And we will see you all on the next one.

Recommended

57:07
I
Up next
Jerod Mayo chooses Brissett over Drake Maye | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:06:40
The Patriots fan's guide to surviving Year 1 of a rebuild | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
29:36
What surprising Lonnie Walker signing means for Celtics | Still Poddable
CLNS Media Sports Network
31:57
What Will Happen with Jeremy Swayman? | Bruins Beat
CLNS Media Sports Network
47:05
How Did the NBA Let the Celtics Sign Lonnie Walker w/ Steve Bulpett | Celtics Beat
CLNS Media Sports Network
52:08
Lonnie Walker Signed + Gary Washburn Recaps Olympics Experience | Cedric Maxwell Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
4:13
LSU vs USC: Key Matchups & Analysis for Ranked Game
SportsGrid
1:39
Ole Miss Football 2024: High Hopes and Key Players
SportsGrid
21:09
20 Times SNL Made People REALLY Mad
WatchMojo
11:21
Top 10 Funniest Will Ferrell Meltdowns Ever
WatchMojo
27:52
Top 30 R-Rated Anime
WatchMojo
43:00
State of the Jeremy Swayman talks | Pucks with Haggs
CLNS Media Sports Network
40:18
Are the Bruins in danger of losing Swayman? | Poke the Bear
CLNS Media Sports Network
26:18
Celtics signing Lonnie Walker IV could be the steal of the summer | You Got Boston w/ Noa Dalzell
CLNS Media Sports Network
25:50
Jacoby Brissett NAMED Patriots Week 1 Starter | LIVE Patriots Daily
CLNS Media Sports Network
37:44
Talking Patriots QB Decision _ Roster Cuts _ Patriots Daily
CLNS Media Sports Network
34:07
Which rookies will shine brightest in 2024-25? | Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
52:10
The Patriots next moves after 53-man roster cuts | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
34:10
How Jayson Tatum ended up on the cover of NBA 2K25 w/ Ronnie Singh | Celtics Lab
CLNS Media Sports Network
38:45
Bruins Training Camp Questions | Bruins Beat
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:13:56
Previewing the AFC & NFC North | All 32 Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
56:30
Projecting the Patriots' 53 Man Roster | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
30:46
The Patriots QB competition & big line changes | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
34:19
How does Joe Mazzulla stack up against other NBA coaches? | Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
37:00
LIVE: Alex Van Pelt Addresses Media, Rookie Wide Receivers Shine | Patriots Beat
CLNS Media Sports Network