The Celtics ended 2023 with a bang, dominating the Spurs on the road and giving fans even more reason to celebrate into the night. What will 2024 bring for the Celtics? Is it, dare we say, "the year"?
Plus, a recap of the Spurs game, an efficient Jayson Tatum 3-pt shooting night, and a podcast listener makes a solid case for a new Kristaps Porzingis nickname.
#bostonceltics
#nba
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#jaylenbrown
#derrickwhite
#kristapsporzingis
#podcast
#celtics
#boston
Plus, a recap of the Spurs game, an efficient Jayson Tatum 3-pt shooting night, and a podcast listener makes a solid case for a new Kristaps Porzingis nickname.
#bostonceltics
#nba
#jaysontatum
#jaylenbrown
#derrickwhite
#kristapsporzingis
#podcast
#celtics
#boston
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00 [Music]
00:00:24 Welcome here to another episode of First to the Floor. Happy New Year!
00:00:28 Alex here, thank you for joining us. Hope you're doing well and not too busted up after celebrating,
00:00:32 whether that was New Year's or the Celtics dominating the Spurs of San Antonio,
00:00:36 winning 134-101, guys. Wayne Spooney, Jake Eisenberg are both here.
00:00:42 Spooney, Happy New Year. How's it going, man?
00:00:44 Happy New Year, dude. We started off with a bang at 7pm New Year's Eve.
00:00:48 My power went out for the entirety of the night.
00:00:51 Luckily, it's the 21st century, so I watch the game on my phone as I'm like
00:00:56 constantly checking the battery life, but it made it through.
00:01:00 We also lost power on Christmas Boxing Day, and it was like,
00:01:05 I still had my Power Bank phone data, so I'm just still cranking through the NBA games.
00:01:10 And my grandparents are just like, they're just sitting there, looking out the window.
00:01:14 And I'm like, I guess they're happy then.
00:01:18 At least you have an obsession to consume through your phone, and all else fails.
00:01:23 Jake, any exciting events to report from New Year's Eve?
00:01:27 We went camping at this awesome old campsite where a festival used to be.
00:01:34 There's like the relic of all the stages and stuff.
00:01:36 Oh, cool. Nice.
00:01:37 And we kind of know some people.
00:01:40 So, we're able to sneak in there and we brought speakers and everything.
00:01:43 I had like a secret music festival set.
00:01:48 That's awesome.
00:01:49 It was amazing.
00:01:52 Yeah, yeah. So it was great.
00:01:54 Love it. Good to hear.
00:01:55 Well, Happy New Year, everyone.
00:01:56 Some housekeeping quickly before we get into it.
00:01:58 Please subscribe to the First to the Floor YouTube channel.
00:02:00 We're closing in on 3,000 subscribers, so please like the stream here on YouTube as well.
00:02:05 Help us navigate the evil algorithm.
00:02:07 Check out Wayne Spoonie's weekly column, Three Leaf Clover on Celticsblog.
00:02:11 And speaking of Celticsblog, sign up to their Playback Room, playback.tv/celticsblog,
00:02:16 featuring us along with many of the Celticsblog staff hosting live watch parties for every Celtics game.
00:02:21 Okay.
00:02:22 We're going to get to the Spurs game real quick.
00:02:24 Plus, there will be another gushing over Derek White segment.
00:02:27 We'll circle back on the Cornette, cater discussion.
00:02:29 We've got a listener email with a solid proposal for a new Chris Stapps/Pulsingas nickname,
00:02:33 some Celtics New Year's resolutions, a whole lot more coming up.
00:02:36 But first, Spoonie, the Spurs game, you watched it on your phone.
00:02:40 How did the Seas defeat the Spurs so handily?
00:02:43 You know, everybody looked really small for some reason, even Wemba and Yama.
00:02:48 But I think ultimately, like, the Spurs are just terrible.
00:02:54 They just don't have shooting.
00:02:56 They don't play Jones at all, even though he's the only point guard on the roster.
00:03:01 I don't even know if he cracked 20 minutes against us.
00:03:04 And they're just kind of a complete mess.
00:03:07 I don't really know what to think about that team, other than Vassal is really good or Vassell is really good.
00:03:12 And Wemba is an alien.
00:03:15 He's a freak.
00:03:16 He's a giraffe.
00:03:17 And but like just a complete professional domination by the Celtics.
00:03:23 And I don't even think they played that well, especially defensively in the first half.
00:03:26 I thought they were terrible.
00:03:28 And Scowl was calling them out, man.
00:03:30 They were just getting cracked off the dribble by everybody.
00:03:32 And the Spurs were kind of hot early.
00:03:34 But then they turned it on that third quarter.
00:03:37 They just absolutely obliterated them, flew right by them.
00:03:41 And the offense all night long, the Spurs could do absolutely nothing,
00:03:45 even with Wemba out there protecting the rim.
00:03:48 I really appreciated this game because, you know, day ahead in Australia, New Year's Day,
00:03:54 coming back, streaming for the playback game.
00:03:57 And I've been having a few self-inflicted flu games across the playback streams in this period of the year.
00:04:07 But we're clear, we're fresh, and I'm feeling good for this part.
00:04:11 But man, this was like, I don't know who you assigned the credit to.
00:04:15 Did Brad Stevens get the credit because this team is so good, they can kind of sleepwalk to a 30-point win?
00:04:19 Do you assign credit to Craig Popovich for doing a Bill Belichick and creating just a terrible, terrible roster?
00:04:27 Like this team is so bad.
00:04:30 Like Kelton Johnson was out, so that kind of, he's like their second best player.
00:04:34 But man, I have no idea what they're doing out there.
00:04:38 They stayed in the game early, and me and Jackson were watching the game.
00:04:42 And we were like, "It feels like we're up 20 already, we're up 7."
00:04:46 But yeah, it was just good times.
00:04:49 It felt like Geno time, kind of like halfway through the third quarter.
00:04:52 And yeah, they kind of just sleptwalked to a huge net rating boost again.
00:04:57 Yeah, it was a very non-threatening game.
00:04:59 Very, very soothing for my anxiety there.
00:05:01 The game being on January 1st here in Australia.
00:05:05 Yeah, sorry, I was like, "What date is it again?" January 1st.
00:05:08 Quick shout-out to Muse31 in the chat, by the way, for this Super Chat.
00:05:12 Five bucks, thank you so much.
00:05:13 We did a little shout-out to all the listeners on Twitter yesterday.
00:05:17 So happy New Year to everyone, we appreciate all of you.
00:05:19 Love that you're all here in the chat hanging out with us, so thanks for that Super Chat, Muse31.
00:05:24 A stat here from Dick Leip, the Sultan of stat.
00:05:26 Just some Dick Leip early in the year for all of us guys.
00:05:29 This is the seventh straight game that the Celtics have scored 120-plus points,
00:05:33 which Greeny, I think, refers to as the magic number.
00:05:35 That's his version of the magic number.
00:05:37 Their longest streak since 1967.
00:05:40 A team record of nine was set back in 1960.
00:05:45 What I was thinking during the third quarter of this game was something that I'm calling in my mind the "pincer move".
00:05:51 The third quarter pincer move, which is like the Celtics' offense can obviously be really, really good.
00:05:57 Obviously, sometimes it doesn't need to be because the defense is often amazing.
00:06:00 And defensively, they have this other gear that they can go to.
00:06:03 But when they are doing both of those things at the same time, it's absolutely ridiculous.
00:06:08 And to do that against this bottom-of-the-barrel San Antonio Spurs team, like they did in the third quarter of this game,
00:06:14 the pincer movement, offensively and defensively crushing, they need to be investigated for assault.
00:06:19 Or like bullying of some sort, because it was absolutely disgusting and shameful the way that they beat down this Spurs team in the third quarter.
00:06:27 What else stood out to you guys? It was just a non-threat of a game. It was very pleasant overall.
00:06:33 Yeah, I think we went double bigs a lot, which I'm not really sure why.
00:06:38 Because I don't... Oh, what is his name? The center they have. Zach Collins. I don't think he played.
00:06:44 And so it was really just Wemby and then a bunch of wings that they were playing against.
00:06:49 But Corndog and Al played six minutes together. Minus 33 net rating. Small sample size.
00:06:55 But it did not look good when those two were sharing the court. And I don't think it really has all season.
00:06:59 But Joe hasn't gone to it a ton. Corndog and KP, though, three minutes plus 108 net rating.
00:07:04 Again, that's like maybe you outscored them by five points in that small sample size.
00:07:08 But in Al, KP, 13 minutes plus 67.1. I don't know.
00:07:14 Do you guys think like these weird Cornette and another center lineups or something we're going to keep seeing?
00:07:19 Or is it Joe just like farting around? Or like it's weird, right?
00:07:24 Yeah, I wonder if it's a little bit to do with just trying to get deeper into the bench and giving Cornette a few more minutes.
00:07:31 Like because he is kind of the ninth man in the rotation. So like if you're only playing him as a single big,
00:07:38 how much is he really going to get out there when you've got Al and KP playing at the same time?
00:07:43 So I wonder if it's just like trying to get the minutes down of the other guys.
00:07:47 I mean, we love that Al Horford sub 20 minutes. Porzingis at 30 minutes.
00:07:52 Like we could have could have felt like the rotation got to the end of the fourth quarter.
00:07:56 It's like, well, whoever's played that many minutes has played that many minutes.
00:08:00 But we saw it in the in the Pistons game before Cornette came back.
00:08:03 A lot of K to Al minutes or Al Kater, depending on which way you like to look at it.
00:08:12 I wonder if that's part of it is just trying to get deeper into the bench and double bigs is a way to do it.
00:08:17 So I think they should definitely keep using the Al Porzingis. Oh, yeah.
00:08:22 Double double bigs lineup. I know it hasn't been awesome by the numbers, but I think they have to keep using it, get better at it.
00:08:29 Because I think there's definitely going to be a place for it in the playoffs against maybe the sixes or the Bucs.
00:08:35 Just having a jumbo lineup you can go to. You want to have reps in there.
00:08:39 And and yes, I wonder if it's just like it's like training with a weight vest on.
00:08:44 Hey, Al, like imagine if Porzingis was Cornette.
00:08:48 And so then when you when Porzingis actually goes out there, it's like, oh, I'm ready.
00:08:54 I'm twenty five again and I'm just moving and moving and grooving.
00:08:58 Yeah, you've beaten the game and now you're circling back and speed running on a higher difficulty just to challenge yourself a little bit in Al Horford's case.
00:09:04 Yeah, I mean, Joe Mazzola might call it experimentation.
00:09:07 We obviously, as you've heard, we'll call it farting around, just seeing what you've got with different lineups and combinations.
00:09:13 And look, Cornette, and we'll get to it in a little bit more detail soon.
00:09:16 Cornette's been great. So like give him the opportunity to play with someone better than, you know, a string of bench players and see what he's capable there.
00:09:23 But obviously, small sample size, like you said, Spoonie, not looking great so far.
00:09:27 Something else I've noticed from the team in this game and really since I've come back from the road trip was a healthier ratio, offensively speaking.
00:09:35 So not just like specifically hunting mismatches always like they were doing earlier in the season.
00:09:40 Yes, still some of that, but also a good balance of that and like just playing good offense, moving the ball, motion style offense and a heavy ratio of set plays and good, reliable set plays in the half court as well.
00:09:53 So it feels like and the offensive rating reflects, I think in the last, I had the stat here written here somewhere, in the last two weeks by cleaning the glass.
00:10:00 Yeah, there we go. One of my favorite stats of all time.
00:10:03 Yeah, trademark.
00:10:04 Signature BV stat, last two weeks by cleaning the glass. First ranked offense, first ranked point differential.
00:10:09 So I think that's bearing out and obviously what we're seeing on the court as well.
00:10:13 Eleventh ranked defense, but we did let the Pistons run up like 120 something on us in overtime there.
00:10:19 So maybe a little dirty stat, whereas obviously the offensive side of things is pure, guys.
00:10:24 Are you noticing that at all as far as like the just the higher, healthier ratio, offensively speaking?
00:10:29 The offense has been the thing, which makes sense to be the last thing to come around and the last couple of weeks with this offense has just been ridiculous.
00:10:39 And again, like they're not like there's been a few games where they've shot really well, but again, like yesterday, they shoot 35% from three and just get to 135 points so easily.
00:10:49 I understand it's the Spurs, but yeah, the offense, everyone's kind of, I feel like understanding what everyone's strengths are.
00:10:57 Porzingis being maybe king among them all, like everyone, as soon as he gets the mismatch on someone to throw him the ball, and you just see the defenses of the opposing team just freak out.
00:11:08 And he's so patient down on the block and he can, you know, he holds the ball into the rafters, whatever stadium he's in, no one can get to it.
00:11:18 He just gets his lean booty into someone and he like throws a fake pass to someone, defenses go back out, gets more space, get another bump, can go back and shoot over the top.
00:11:29 Or if they do over help, try and double. He's just making really easy passes.
00:11:33 And it's just like, and Tatum did it as well yesterday in the post.
00:11:37 It's just like, teams really freak out and I would almost let Tatum and Al, I mean, and Porzingis just iso.
00:11:46 It's pick your poison, because if you double, Tatum's a good enough passer, Porzingis is a good enough passer, one pass away, and then the Celtics are in ball movement mode.
00:11:57 And when they're moving the ball and attacking warp defenses, it's just impossible to deal with them.
00:12:02 So it's like, I guess we have to live with Tatum isoing mismatches and Porzingis isoing mismatches.
00:12:08 Otherwise you get this athleticism and skill whirring around.
00:12:12 I just don't know how you deal with it.
00:12:14 Yeah, you can't really, right?
00:12:17 I mean, that's reflected in the stats.
00:12:18 We're just like blowing people apart.
00:12:20 Yeah.
00:12:21 So I thought they had been playing faster.
00:12:24 So I looked up the last 10 game pace numbers and it does not really reflect it in that.
00:12:29 So what I think, yeah, so I think we're like 23rd and pace over that, but that pace number is just like, how fast do you take a shot?
00:12:37 Right.
00:12:38 And that it doesn't feel like they're playing faster in that way, but just like when they're getting into their sets, they're doing it a little earlier.
00:12:45 And then when they see one of those mismatches, they just seize on it so fast.
00:12:50 Like, Jake, you've been rightly complaining about the passes not really being crisp when you see someone open.
00:12:56 I still think we have that problem sometimes, but it's definitely gotten a lot better.
00:13:01 And they're doing such a better job of like the second KP gets that switch.
00:13:06 He's got the ball.
00:13:07 Like, there's no him like waving around.
00:13:09 Like, please give me the ball.
00:13:10 Dion Wader style.
00:13:12 Like he just boom.
00:13:13 Oh, he's in the high post.
00:13:15 There's a small on him.
00:13:16 Just give it to him.
00:13:17 Go from there.
00:13:18 And that's not going to be fast pace for as far as that stat catches, but it's quick offense.
00:13:25 And they're just executing so well.
00:13:27 Like, and everybody down the line, like even Pritchard's out here looking like a star, man.
00:13:32 Like, he's all over the place.
00:13:34 He's crossing people up and getting into people.
00:13:36 And when you get like a team confidence like that, it builds.
00:13:40 It's like the rising tide lifts all boats, man.
00:13:42 Like, everybody starts feeling good about themselves.
00:13:45 And then you get the best version of each individual role player, too.
00:13:48 And like, we've seen it with Cornette.
00:13:50 He's like looking good in the handoff game.
00:13:52 I've dubbed it the corn hub.
00:13:56 People are just like flying around him.
00:13:58 He's laying it off.
00:13:59 He's reading it right.
00:14:00 He's pulling it, hitting little dump over passes.
00:14:02 So I'm not sure how much better you can play offense than the Celtics currently are right now.
00:14:08 Maybe shots go down a little more, but that's results over process.
00:14:13 Yeah.
00:14:14 Can we call it a plug and play offense?
00:14:15 Are we getting to that point?
00:14:17 Because, yeah, Pritchard comes in with seven assists, like predominantly in garbage time
00:14:21 last night.
00:14:22 Luke Cornette is suddenly catching the ball on those dump offs reliably out of nowhere,
00:14:26 silencing the haters.
00:14:28 And everyone is, even Delano Banton, I thought, obviously a deep, deep garbage time.
00:14:32 I was rewatching parts of the game that I missed yesterday, this morning.
00:14:35 He was scintillating to watch as part of this system.
00:14:38 So is it plug and play or is it just a collection of talented players who could be plugged in
00:14:43 elsewhere seamlessly also?
00:14:45 I think it's a buy-in.
00:14:46 And you see, as soon as Joe goes into the bench, these guys are so ready to go.
00:14:50 They're ready to play fast.
00:14:51 They're hustling on D. They're grabbing rebounds.
00:14:53 They're Sfi.
00:14:55 I love the way Sfi plays.
00:14:56 He's coming in there, flying off handoffs.
00:14:58 He hit him with a smitty bang bang dump off to the corn hub down low and threw it down.
00:15:05 Like, everybody comes in and they're just flying around.
00:15:08 I love to see even Lamar Stevens caught a great pass from Banton in the corner, drives
00:15:13 it, finds Cater down low for the and one.
00:15:17 It was good to see the extended minutes from the bench to see if anyone can pop a little bit.
00:15:23 Man, Brissett, it's so funny, dude.
00:15:25 Like, he's just bad at putting the orange ball into the basket.
00:15:30 Like, that's just, he's really bad at that thing.
00:15:32 But you know, he's so good at everything else.
00:15:34 He's six foot eight, relatively athletic, tries really hard.
00:15:38 And that's going to make you like a $1.9 million per year for like a decade if you just...
00:15:43 And great guy, great guy, media vibes.
00:15:47 He knows his role, intangibles, important.
00:15:51 Everybody seems to love him.
00:15:52 And like, interestingly, I'm not sure if everybody saw, like Haywood was on the podcast P, I think
00:15:59 it's called, thing.
00:16:00 I'm not sure if you put that on the run sheet.
00:16:02 I'm jumping ahead here.
00:16:03 But it's like the opposite of that team.
00:16:06 Everybody's bought in all the way through the roster as opposed to Haywood saying today,
00:16:11 like everybody with differing agendas.
00:16:15 This is opposite with this team.
00:16:17 Like, talent-wise, this is probably better.
00:16:20 But that team like barely like got over 50 wins and they should have easily cracked 60 plus
00:16:26 and gone to the conference finals.
00:16:27 But yeah.
00:16:30 Yeah, that Haywood clip gave me some much needed closure that I didn't realize I've been holding on to
00:16:35 inside my subconscious for years now.
00:16:38 On Brissette, like, I don't know if you guys can relate to this, but like with my wife here at home,
00:16:44 she'll say to me, you know, you can do the washing, you can hang it out.
00:16:47 But if you don't bring it back in and fold it, then what's really the point?
00:16:50 And it's the same with Brissette.
00:16:51 You can do everything.
00:16:52 But if you can't put the ball in the bucket, like how helpful are you really?
00:16:55 You know, like if I need to help you with every load of washing, then I may as well just do it all myself.
00:17:00 Anyway, bad analogy.
00:17:02 But let's move on.
00:17:04 What do you guys think of Wemby?
00:17:05 Jake, we'll start with you.
00:17:07 Obviously, the dude's an alien.
00:17:09 He presents a lot of matchup nightmares.
00:17:13 I think you can certainly see the potential for that in upcoming seasons.
00:17:16 He had one play where he like absolutely cooked Al Horford off the dribble.
00:17:20 Al, who has shut down like notable MVP caliber players in recent years,
00:17:25 obviously is on the losing side in Wemby's case, but he certainly had some flashes in this one.
00:17:30 What did you think?
00:17:32 Yeah, it's a tricky one.
00:17:33 I remember Spoonie coming into the season, you and me were like, "It's going to be that good."
00:17:39 Like how good am I talking to you?
00:17:41 I think the take was like Wemby's not going to be as good as SGA ever became or ever is.
00:17:47 And that actually, I was kind of wavering in the preseason with how good Wemby looked.
00:17:54 And then thankfully SGA has actually gone up another level.
00:17:57 Wemby became as good as SGA. I feel like that's a pretty good result for any player.
00:18:03 I'm still not sure I see the crazy hyperbole that everybody was getting to before the season
00:18:09 about him being like the best player in the NBA on his rookie contract at some point.
00:18:15 The second coming of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
00:18:18 Obviously, he's on just a garbage, garbage team that's just not designed for him to do anything really.
00:18:25 And him having a lack of a point guard, I think is teaching him some bad habits.
00:18:31 His shot selection is horrific.
00:18:34 He made three of eight threes yesterday, but they're just like walk in, pull up.
00:18:40 Dare I say Jason Tatum shots here and there.
00:18:44 But he's shooting 29% from three. That's across all three-point attempts, looks this season.
00:18:51 And I don't know, I just didn't feel him at all yesterday in the paint, both offensively and defensively.
00:18:59 And it's like, isn't that kind of the whole point?
00:19:01 I get that it's cool that you've got the extra perimeter skills.
00:19:04 That should be like secondary.
00:19:06 It should be, I think, and maybe they'll get there again so early.
00:19:09 But you know, zero rebounds in the first half.
00:19:13 Didn't really feel him defensively or offensively in the paint.
00:19:17 Yeah, and he just seems his offense seems so reliant on the jump shot going in.
00:19:22 Like he doesn't really get to the rim.
00:19:24 And maybe that's a function of the team around him sucking so bad that they can't ever get him easy looks.
00:19:30 So when he does have a big game, it's on all these like crazy pull ups and like mid-range jump shots.
00:19:35 But he's 7'5". He can't post up. He's just too thin right now.
00:19:39 And then as he ages, maybe that'll help.
00:19:41 But yeah, like is he better than Chet right now? I don't know.
00:19:45 Yeah, I don't think so.
00:19:47 Chet's way better.
00:19:49 Go ahead, Ben.
00:19:50 Well, just Chet is playing with a legitimate point guard who can set the table, which is a huge difference.
00:19:54 But sorry, Spoony, I'll cut you off.
00:19:56 Yeah, no, I was going to say, but everyone's comparing Wemby.
00:19:58 He's the next LeBron. He's the best prospect since LeBron.
00:20:01 LeBron was a monster the second he stepped foot on a bad team and he made them good.
00:20:08 So I think his expectations are like totally unreasonably high.
00:20:13 And he's definitely not meeting them to me, but he's probably going to be one of the best.
00:20:17 He's going to be an all-star at the very least, probably an all-NBA guy.
00:20:20 And the defense, I don't want to knock him too much for it because like, pop, buddy, might be time to retire, dude.
00:20:29 Like they're a mess, man.
00:20:31 We talked about Tatum Costin. Greg Popovich is coasting this season, absolutely.
00:20:35 It's Ben Costin, dude.
00:20:37 So I don't know. I mean, he's going to be great, but like, yeah, I'm with you, Jake.
00:20:41 The hyperbole, the craziness, it's not justified yet and maybe it will be, but man, that team sucks.
00:20:47 They do suck a lot. Yeah.
00:20:49 But yeah, with Wemby, like the talent is clearly there.
00:20:52 The dimensions, it's dimensions porn over here for me watching Wemby play.
00:20:56 He's incredible in that side of things.
00:20:58 But you know, like that play where White was trailing him and going for the steal and he lifted the ball up over his head.
00:21:04 I don't know, like we get it. He's fucking tall.
00:21:07 So what? Next play. I didn't think that was that amazing.
00:21:10 But the template is there.
00:21:12 I respect the shit out of the San Antonio Spurs organization.
00:21:16 They're like my second favorite franchise in the league.
00:21:19 So if there's somewhere or someone to nurture a talent and a skill set like Wemby, it better be the Spurs.
00:21:26 I was glad to see him go there.
00:21:28 I think he's going to be great under the tutelage of everyone there.
00:21:30 That goes way beyond Greg Popovich. They've got a lot of good personnel in their front office there.
00:21:34 So good luck to them.
00:21:36 Is the zag and Bill Simmons flagged this the other day.
00:21:39 It's like, is the Spurs organization that good still?
00:21:44 Like similar to the Patriots and it's like, you know, you were the greatest dynasty in the history of the sport.
00:21:51 But it's like, this is a brain drain.
00:21:54 Yeah. What have you done for me lately? Business.
00:21:57 And Derek Whitetrade, terrible.
00:22:00 The Wembanyama pick, obviously, but like that's just pure luck that they got the first overall pick.
00:22:06 So we're going to see because right now they were going to be terrible no matter what team they put around him.
00:22:12 But like the fact that they're not putting Trey Jones on the court.
00:22:16 So he just like run pick and roll with anybody.
00:22:19 Like they didn't run pick and roll at all yesterday.
00:22:22 It's like, what are we doing?
00:22:24 So, yeah, I think it's fair to be like, let's see the Spurs make one good move first.
00:22:33 And then maybe we can go back to them being one of the greatest organizations in the history of the sport.
00:22:39 But just quickly, shout out to Rodrigo in the chat with the super chat donation there.
00:22:45 Thank you so much. Shout out to all the Brazilians, all the South Americans out there.
00:22:49 Big Hooper nation, Brazil, they've had some good Olympic squads in the past.
00:22:52 So shout out to all the Brazilians there and thank you for the donation there.
00:22:55 I will say with the Spurs, just quickly, it's funny, like before we started this point, I was like, guys, we've got so much on the run sheet.
00:23:00 I'll move us along quickly. And I haven't done that. So I apologize.
00:23:03 We're having fun. That's the main thing with the Spurs and any organization.
00:23:06 It's like knowing to be good and knowing to be bad.
00:23:09 And I feel like you talk about what have you done for me lately with the Spurs?
00:23:12 They have picked a good time to be bad.
00:23:14 Trading Derek Wideaway was a part of that. Let's get worse.
00:23:17 Let's increase our chances of getting a potentially generational player, an all time player.
00:23:22 Maybe we're shitting on him a little too hard so early in his career.
00:23:25 Well, he's a terrible team, but that's part of the fun.
00:23:28 I'm not going to call it schadenfreude, but it's like when he had that early stretch and I guess some of preseason as well.
00:23:33 I was like, shit, we better win a title soon because when he's going to take over the league soon.
00:23:37 But obviously those feelings have dissipated, thankfully.
00:23:39 So that's why I guess I'm happy and just lightly dipping my toes in some schadenfreude that it's not working out in the short term for them.
00:23:46 But I love Wemby, love the Spurs.
00:23:48 Guys, let's get on quickly, I should say, to some individual performances from this game.
00:23:52 Starting with Jason Tatum. We've been begging for this for a while.
00:23:55 An efficient three point shooting game, five of ten from three.
00:23:59 I stopped short of writing like and better decision making because there were some quite terrible turnovers in this game.
00:24:05 Both, I think, in quick succession later in the game, but better decision making from beyond the arc.
00:24:11 I thought that a lot of his shots came much more within the flow of the offense.
00:24:15 Some, sure, like he just hit them and so it's easier to heap on some praise here.
00:24:20 But all in all, going through a list of individuals, it's hard to point out who had a bad game.
00:24:25 But Tatum, much better than weeks past in this one.
00:24:28 Jake, what do you think?
00:24:29 So the green with envy guys had a great tweet today.
00:24:32 I think we're at the game.
00:24:34 But so Tatum took ten three point attempts last night, which, you know, if that's all you knew, you'd be like, oh, here we go again with the terrible threes.
00:24:43 But he took six dribbles on his ten three point attempts yesterday.
00:24:48 Some catch and shoot stuff.
00:24:50 And when he was getting to the pull up, it's like coming off the screen, one dribble, two dribbles max.
00:24:55 Like there's a very big difference in the types of three pointers that he's taking in, even within the pull ups.
00:25:02 And last night, again, it's always it's hard to discern a little bit when they're actually going in versus missing.
00:25:08 They felt better last night, and I think that's reflected in the amount of dribbles that he was taking last night.
00:25:14 But man, when the three point is going in, he's literally just unstoppable.
00:25:21 And that's kind of maybe why you want him to keep shooting them, because they can win any game where he shoots three for ten from three anyway.
00:25:29 It's not even that big of a deal.
00:25:30 But when he does have the five for ten games, like in game six against Milwaukee, then there's no chance, especially with this team as well.
00:25:39 It's like when they do go down and he goes on a heater.
00:25:42 And when he's in the playoffs, he's playing more inside out and he's taking these pull up threes.
00:25:48 It's just a supernova level that you can't touch.
00:25:52 And that's the version of Tatum that takes the team to a whole new level.
00:25:55 And so which is why they can just sleepwalk to a 30 point win and Tatum can sleepwalk his way to 25.
00:26:01 What do you even have in the end? I don't even know.
00:26:03 I was just like watching the game yesterday.
00:26:05 He's not even trying, dude.
00:26:06 He's going to have a LeBron stat line.
00:26:08 25. Yeah.
00:26:09 It's just ridiculous.
00:26:11 Yeah, I think it goes to sort of the growth of Tatum that he was feeling it from three.
00:26:16 And I kind of didn't really notice him all that much out there in a good way.
00:26:20 Like he didn't try to force himself onto this game.
00:26:23 Like he knew the team's good enough.
00:26:25 He's going to get up some open catch and shoot threes.
00:26:28 He's going to get to the rim a few times and play some defense.
00:26:31 And that's it.
00:26:32 Only took 17 shots, which is I think I don't mind Tatum taking more than that.
00:26:37 But in a game like that, we're just about everybody else has a mismatch on you as well.
00:26:42 Why not?
00:26:43 That's a hilarious comment that you put on the screen.
00:26:47 When he needs Zion chef.
00:26:50 You got to get some gumbo, dude.
00:26:53 So, yeah, I just thought like a tidy professional Jason Tatum game.
00:26:59 Like he didn't try to do too much.
00:27:01 And that's just fine with the team you have around you when you're playing the Spurs.
00:27:05 For sure.
00:27:06 Derek White to move on.
00:27:08 Let's start with this.
00:27:10 White in All-Star!
00:27:12 White in All-Star!
00:27:15 White in All-Star!
00:27:18 White in All-Star!
00:27:21 I mean, the vibes continue to elevate.
00:27:25 How do the vibes like I have to add like more whiteboard manually to the big one in my house to continue to track the vibes upwards.
00:27:34 I'm running out of vertical space.
00:27:35 It's ridiculous.
00:27:36 And, you know, the fans, they're everywhere in every arena.
00:27:39 It seems you mentioned the green with envy guys.
00:27:41 Go check out their pod because they were at the game last night, probably taking part in these these chance for Derek White.
00:27:47 But, you know, he had a great game.
00:27:49 Coach Pop was just like absolutely beaming with positivity for Derek White, rightfully so.
00:27:54 After the game, D White had 17, 5 and 3 on 7 of 11 shooting in this one.
00:27:59 Zero turnovers.
00:28:01 Just, you know, like not jumping off the page in any one particular stat, maybe other than the turnovers, but just like continues to be like the fulcrum of the team's stability there.
00:28:10 Spoonie, we'll go back to you.
00:28:12 Jake, you just got to hold it in for a little bit longer.
00:28:14 I'm good, obviously.
00:28:16 I'm basking, just basking.
00:28:18 I thought it was interesting.
00:28:20 I think Scal said this and I think it's something that's been said before is like he talked to Pop and Pop's like I always had to convince Derek how good he was.
00:28:29 And I feel like that's a mindset a lot of guys don't get over and they might wash out of the league if you don't have incredible confidence.
00:28:36 So shout out, Ravens.
00:28:39 Appreciate it, buddy.
00:28:40 Thank you for the donation.
00:28:41 Yeah, that's awesome.
00:28:43 So like I feel like that's a mindset that can like make you no longer an NBA player if you don't have that belief, that confidence.
00:28:49 And like to see Derek go from a guy who doesn't totally think he belongs in the NBA to whatever the hell we're watching, like prime Kyle Lowry.
00:28:57 I mean, like he's insane on both sides of the ball now, man.
00:29:01 It's nuts.
00:29:02 So I will cede the rest of my time to Jake to allow him to bask some more.
00:29:06 What a gentleman.
00:29:07 It's very Derek White of you.
00:29:09 Yes, yes, Ravens.
00:29:10 I know no beds in sight this session, but you know, the game, you know, was last night and that's when we need the beds.
00:29:17 But look, man, has there, I don't know if there's ever been a season like has ever been like a higher approval rating across the board, not just within the team himself.
00:29:26 You're getting the JJ Reddix, the Twitter, you know, the Nikaias Duncans, the Jackson Franks, like across the board, people just truly, truly appreciating what we've kind of been seeing and seen grow since he's arrived in Boston.
00:29:43 And like when he got traded from San Antonio, it was shocking how positive the outpouring was from Derek White.
00:29:53 He was really good against the Celtics.
00:29:55 I'd seen him be good, but like never, never thought that he would be this.
00:30:00 And to be fair, he's gone up multiple levels since arriving here from the guy that he even was in San Antonio.
00:30:09 And maybe I take back all the slander I had on Popovich and the Spurs because without, I guess, the way they nurtured that sweet little, that sweet fro from Buffalo into the beautiful bald man that he is today.
00:30:22 I mean, you got to tip your cap, but he's just having a special season and like really just enjoy the ride, so to speak.
00:30:31 But there was this guy, I went to this party at this bar one time, it was last year, it was like halfway through the season.
00:30:40 Derek White was playing awesome.
00:30:42 And you know, you're out and about, sometimes you start talking about basketball, it comes up some way and then someone will say something and you're like, oh, this person actually is a, he speaks NBA.
00:30:54 You lock eyes from across the room.
00:30:56 Yeah, exactly.
00:30:57 And then we spend the next like two hours just like standing in the corner, just like talking about the Eastern Conference and the race and whatever.
00:31:03 And he was just like not, he's like, I get Derek White's good, but you know, he's not, he's not moving the needle in a series against X, Y, and Z.
00:31:12 Like the Cavs could beat the Celtics and that kind of stuff.
00:31:15 And I'm like, what?
00:31:17 I'm like, and I think about him a lot, actually.
00:31:21 I think about that guy a lot.
00:31:22 Derek White?
00:31:23 No, well, both.
00:31:24 Sorry.
00:31:25 But I think about both, but that guy in the bar, I'm like, I wonder if he thinks about that night that we spent together and how I had 30 minutes of Derek White propaganda, just like, you know, one more drink.
00:31:36 I'll be back in a second to tell you more about how good Derek White is.
00:31:39 And he's like, he's fine, but he's not this guy.
00:31:42 And I think about if he sees what's happening with Derek White, it's like, damn, that guy I met in that bar one night, he was right.
00:31:49 Amazing.
00:31:52 We're going to come back in a second and talk about Jalen Brown and some other individual performances.
00:31:56 But first, a quick word from our sponsor.
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00:32:26 You guys got anything?
00:32:29 Yep. Well, I got made fun of last episode for Pistons plus five against the Raptors and maybe sprinkling a little bit on the Moneyline.
00:32:37 Cha-ching!
00:32:39 Did I get helped slightly by the fact that the Raptors made a trade sending OG Ananobi out the door, allowing him not to play in that game?
00:32:46 Maybe, but I think the process is sound here.
00:32:48 I would live bet on Pistons right now to hang with the Rockets, who have been kind of sliding lately.
00:32:54 And by the way, I don't like the board.
00:32:57 Side note, I was like really keen for the Heat Clippers game to bet on that one.
00:33:00 Jimmy Butler's out again on track to miss 20 plus games again.
00:33:03 He seems to skate on just like being like not playing any games anymore.
00:33:08 But yeah, just live bet the Pistons.
00:33:11 Love it. Gamble responsibly, folks.
00:33:13 Let's get through the rest of these individual performances very quickly.
00:33:16 Starting with a comment here from Eric Weiss in the chat.
00:33:18 How about Jalen Brown continuing to absolutely roast single coverage?
00:33:22 I might be having the most fun, like of all individual performers, watching Jalen Brown more than anybody else.
00:33:28 Because when he's playing like this, and speaking of, a few weeks ago we talked about, you know, is Jalen Brown playing the best basketball of his career?
00:33:36 It turned out he was. Is he, Jake, playing even better now?
00:33:40 Has he continued to improve since that data point three weeks ago?
00:33:43 Well, that was the tricky part, was like, the process looks better.
00:33:47 He seems like he's buying into making the right play, making the extra pass, finding guys.
00:33:53 But the shot making wasn't, like the shot making last year when he made All-NBA Second Team was really, really good.
00:33:59 The three-point ball wasn't quite as good as previous years, but he was just killing everybody.
00:34:05 From a scoring perspective, and that wasn't quite the case when we were having those discussions.
00:34:10 But now he's on fire. Like, anytime he gets in the post, these mid-range fadeaways, like MJ style.
00:34:18 Every time, last night, when I was streaming the game with Jackson, he got the ball, he pumped fake, pivot, fadeaway, and I was just like, money, money, and it goes.
00:34:27 He's just elite from that spot right now.
00:34:30 And now the three-point arm has started to come as well.
00:34:33 So right now, you add the efficient scoring, and he's just not forcing it.
00:34:37 Like, he has 13 shots last night, and he's moving the ball.
00:34:41 He absolutely is playing some of the best basketball of his career.
00:34:44 And it's incredible to see, because I mean, like Jalen Brown, man, I mean, level up, level up, level up.
00:34:49 Every year of his career, it was like, this is the one facet of his game that you always find.
00:34:55 Not a lot of guys really improve in this kind of stuff.
00:34:59 But give it to Jalen, who is truly, truly committed to getting better every season and every day.
00:35:05 And especially the way that he came off last season, the no left hand, seven for a million, or whatever it was in game seven against Miami.
00:35:15 The richest contract. We've heard nothing really about the contract for ages.
00:35:21 Like, no one being like, can you believe this guy's the highest player in the league?
00:35:24 It's like, yeah, we can. Well, he's contributing to a team that's going to win 65 games.
00:35:28 Yeah. Last 10 games, 25, 6, 4 and a half, 1.3 stocks, 2.7 turnovers.
00:35:36 That's a 1.71 assist. OK, ratio over 10 games, man.
00:35:40 Like, that's pretty good. 62.7 true shooting percentage.
00:35:44 He's shooting over 50, 40 and then 75 from the line, which is OK.
00:35:49 And we're plus 20 per 100 possessions with him on the court.
00:35:53 And that to me is the big number for Jalen, because it's always been a bit strange that the advance metrics never really caught up with Jalen's counting stats.
00:36:02 Part of that's just because of our rotation. Tatum comes off. We always fell apart.
00:36:07 But this year, that is not the case. We're dominating in the minutes. Tatum's on the bench.
00:36:12 And that's mostly because of Jalen Brown and his two way impact.
00:36:16 He always had a two way reputation. I think it was a little bit unearned before this season.
00:36:22 But it's earned this year, man. He's playing amazing on both ends.
00:36:26 And yeah, it's the mindset. It's the knowing how unguardable he is that he's going to have help get sent to him.
00:36:33 And he just has to make the easy, simple pass. And it's just going to open everything up for the rest of the team.
00:36:38 And the fact that he is not driving aimlessly into a crowd of people like he just doesn't do that anymore.
00:36:45 I mean, once in a while he'll get the ball poked away or I'll have one of his goofy like dribbles it off his foot turnovers.
00:36:51 But when you don't compound that with bad decisions, you start to become a much more efficient and helpful player to your entire team.
00:37:00 And he's done that. Yeah. And you're right, Jake. It's hard to go from all NBA second team and then get better at age 27.
00:37:07 But he's done it, dude. And it's in the way we've all hoped. And it's like amazing to see.
00:37:13 Yeah. And maybe my only disappointment from last night is that he didn't dunk on Wemby or at least try to.
00:37:19 Because Jalen Brown has become such a reliable bad motherfucker. And you can feel it in road games as well.
00:37:26 He's probably got the biggest accounting stats of like oohing and aahing the road crowd as well.
00:37:31 You can hear it on every game. And he just has that BDE. He's got that energy about him.
00:37:36 People in the arena feel it. I can feel it through my TV at home.
00:37:39 And for him to not, I guess he just didn't have the opportunity.
00:37:42 But I fully expected him, if he got any slither of an opportunity to go at Wemby and posterize him,
00:37:48 he would have because he's becoming that reliable of a personality type.
00:37:52 So that just makes the game so entertaining to watch.
00:37:55 And we just have, I said it on the last show, an absolute embarrassment of riches right now.
00:38:00 And Jalen Brown is at the top of the pile. It's a lot of fun. We're having fun right now, folks.
00:38:03 I love it. I love it. The energy shifter. It absolutely is a factor.
00:38:07 The way that he enforces himself on the game this year. Like he's just dunking on everybody, bringing it on defense.
00:38:14 Yeah. And Spoonie, the driving into the lane thing, I can't remember a single time, like in the second half of the season,
00:38:20 where he does the thing where he jumps in the air and gets lost.
00:38:23 And then like that happened like four times a game in the playoffs. Just doesn't happen anymore.
00:38:29 It's a complete, he keeps his dribble alive and just back someone down.
00:38:33 And because he's so good, easy passes. Let's go, Jalen.
00:38:37 And it means, so go ahead, go ahead, Spoonie.
00:38:40 I was going to say he gets to the pivot game a lot more, right? Instead of jumping, looking for a pass to bail himself out.
00:38:46 He's like, I'll just hop step. And he's got all these like crazy pivot combos that people just can't guard.
00:38:52 So I think that's another way he's like cut down the turnovers there.
00:38:56 Yeah, you're right, Jake. I can't remember the last time he's jumped in the air and thrown it out of bounds.
00:39:00 That was maddening.
00:39:03 And it all means like when guys like Chris Tapspawzingers have as rough a shooting night as they did last night.
00:39:08 Four of 14 overall, 0 of 7 from three.
00:39:11 And it doesn't matter because the team is firing on all cylinders and just the presence of Pawsingers.
00:39:17 And yeah, we've covered this since game one of the regular season.
00:39:20 The presence alone allows guys like Jay LeBron to cook at that level.
00:39:24 So just him being out there and being a theoretical three-point shooting threat, not even a practical one, is enough it seems.
00:39:30 So Jake, Pawsingers, bad shooting night last night. Does it even matter?
00:39:35 No. And similar to Tatum in that when he has an off shooting night, it doesn't matter because he can still be impactful.
00:39:42 The defense that he's playing is being underrated this season.
00:39:47 Like last night he had that incredible block on Chetty Osman that ended up leading to a shot clock violation.
00:39:54 Pritchett hounding Chetty and then Pawsingers coming over late.
00:39:57 That's what's great about Pawsingers is like he's anchoring one of the best defenses in the league.
00:40:01 So even if he's missing shots, he's still going to be doing that.
00:40:04 And then the gravity obviously impacting the rest of the offense.
00:40:07 And this grifting son of a gun.
00:40:09 I know. I love it.
00:40:11 All for 14, six for six from the line.
00:40:14 He's elite at getting himself to the free throw line, partly because of how dominant he is in mismatches and getting people with the pump fake.
00:40:21 So patient. He's just such a good player.
00:40:25 And man, the rest of the league better watch out because he's like 32, 33% from three this year.
00:40:30 And that's going to turn at some point. He's going to go on a run and go scorched earth.
00:40:34 Honestly, save it for the playoffs, KP. Save all those makes. Conference finals, finals.
00:40:39 And we'll just coast our way to Bander-18. That would be beautiful.
00:40:43 I definitely think the shooting is going to come around because he's 36% on open threes, but 32% on wide open threes.
00:40:50 And that just makes absolutely no sense that he's only shooting 32% on wide open threes.
00:40:54 So that's going to come back. And yeah, you're right, Jake.
00:40:57 Defensively, his impact is I think we almost miss him on that end more than we do on offense and games.
00:41:02 He doesn't play because he's so impactful. He's really a smarter defender than I knew.
00:41:07 It might have been the Raptors game, but he jumped out on somebody late shot clock and doubled them and basically forced the shot clock violation.
00:41:17 Might have been him and Jalen. And that's just great recognition.
00:41:20 Like, OK, there's three seconds left on the shot clock. They can't get a pass.
00:41:23 I'm just going to I'm just going to straight double, get off my guy and go.
00:41:27 And it's that type of stuff that makes you from a good or decent defender to a great one.
00:41:33 And he's approaching great defense in my mind. Yeah, absolutely.
00:41:37 Sam Houser to move on. The slump is over. Right.
00:41:40 I'm not even posing that as a question because it's clearly over.
00:41:43 Our guy, Drew Carter, coined or not coined the phrase, used the phrase house party during the call last night as we further attempt to embed ourselves in Celtics law,
00:41:52 which is awesome to see. I get crazy kicks from from seeing that on the broadcast.
00:41:57 But just quickly, guys, before we move on, Sam Houser, obviously more of a homebody so far in this season and that he's much better at home.
00:42:05 Struggles on the road a little bit from beyond the arc, but a couple of games now where he's actually managed to hit at a decent clip from the three point line.
00:42:11 Yeah. Was it a slump like he kind of missed shots for like like on and off for a couple of weeks.
00:42:19 And even within there, he had a couple of games where he was still 50 percent like his.
00:42:23 He's been so much more consistent, like the slump that he had last season where he was cold for pretty much an entire month.
00:42:29 And that's partly probably due to maturing as a player and having the confidence that he's made it through a slump like he did last year when they were relying on him.
00:42:39 And now knowing that he's got he's going to get minutes no matter what.
00:42:42 And he's able to shoot through. They want him to shoot through these slumps.
00:42:45 But man, he it is great to see him knock down some shots on the on the road, because I think he's up to I think you had it just there, Ben, right.
00:42:52 Thirty six percent on the road, which is absolutely acceptable.
00:42:57 I'm I just I've got green colored glasses on.
00:43:01 I don't feel like him missing or making shots is a home road related thing.
00:43:06 It's just more the sample size of shooting, specifically in Milwaukee, where he's from, which is all that really matters.
00:43:13 Yeah, right. Yeah.
00:43:15 That's also just kind of the life of a shooter who only really takes threes as your field goal attempts.
00:43:20 Like you go one for five one night and it looks bad, but you can't go three for five every night.
00:43:25 Otherwise, you'd shoot 60 something percent, although it feels like Hauser could at some point.
00:43:30 It's that good. It's that pure. But, you know, I think that's just going to be how he's going to be for his entire career.
00:43:37 But what matters is that he comes back up and he's shooting like forty five percent on a high volume of threes this season and home road.
00:43:47 Like maybe there's something to that, but I really don't think so.
00:43:52 I think it's a small sample size right now. We're only 30 something games into the season.
00:43:57 So what matters is if he's making him in the playoffs, we will find out.
00:44:01 But, hey, we should get more home games than road games in the playoffs.
00:44:04 So we're good there anyway. For me, it's relative to expectations, though.
00:44:08 So if he misses a shot, a shot that we expect every time to go in, then it's a slump as far as I'm concerned.
00:44:13 Until the next shot goes in, which fortunately it never is never too long to wait there for Sammy House Party Hauser.
00:44:19 The Cornette Cater battle rages on just quickly, guys, before we get to a listener email.
00:44:25 Which one of you guys added these stats to the run sheet? Because that's probably the quickest quickest way to get through.
00:44:29 This is just the three of you guys. All right. You want me to just like let me just like lay these out.
00:44:35 I'll try to be quick because I probably went a little over. I'm going to write about this.
00:44:38 So that's why I'm just everyone listening at home. I'm looking at a spicy chunk of Cater Cornette stats right now.
00:44:43 So prepare yourselves. It's going to be great. Level research.
00:44:46 Make it here yet again. All right. OK. All right. So I will just do it this way.
00:44:51 Luke, significantly better defending the rim holds players to much worse field goal percentage around the rim.
00:44:56 Luke, 99th percentile is a roll man. Kata 87. So Luke, Luke, he's winning the battle there.
00:45:03 Kata more screen assist by about one point five. Luke boxes out less, even though I don't really trust NBA dot coms box out numbers.
00:45:11 They're terrible. Ban the Cornette contest. That's the that's why that's the eclipse.
00:45:17 That that's spot on, dude. So our rebounding gets worse with both of them on the court.
00:45:24 So we rebound a 70 percent, 70 percent rebound percentage with Luke on Kevin Kata's 70.2.
00:45:33 It improves with both of them on the bench. So like, no, that's a wash there.
00:45:37 Kata worst offensive rating on the team. Second worst is Luke. So take from that what you will.
00:45:43 But Kata plus 13 net rating and Luke's only a plus two point three.
00:45:48 So, yeah, that's a bunch of stats that probably nobody absorbed. But yeah, I think I think I would probably lean Luke still.
00:45:57 I just trust him more with the with the ball in his hands. But I don't know about you guys.
00:46:01 It's not even close. Like he's so, so much more solid.
00:46:05 And the net rating stuff, it's because Kata got to play in the Clippers in the Kings games.
00:46:10 Yeah, he's barely played this season. And he just happens to have been on.
00:46:16 And you give him a little bit of credit for for being on the court when they were dominating.
00:46:20 But that was not a Kata led blowout in Sacramento or L.A. for those games.
00:46:26 Cornett over the last two games, everything like since returning from the injury, obviously small sample, 16 points, six rebounds, two and a half assists.
00:46:34 He's he just he knows where to be. He makes the right play. He's quick decisions.
00:46:39 I'm all aboard the Luke Cornett hype train right now.
00:46:43 I had someone on Twitter today say if Cornett keeps playing like this, he might price himself out of the Celtics.
00:46:48 I'm like, I'm not worried about that yet just now.
00:46:52 But if that does happen, that's a that's a good that's a good development, because that means a Cornett probably played well in the playoffs, which is worth losing him because he ends up making four million or the taxpayer mid-level somewhere, which I would be pretty surprised still if he gets to that point.
00:47:10 Yeah, you just need to be solid in that role, whether it's Kata or Cornett like that deep in the big rotation.
00:47:16 And Kata has some really electrifying physical talents and has had some good moments.
00:47:21 Don't get me wrong, and especially relative to his two way contract.
00:47:24 But Luke has been more solid, more reliable in that really diminished role for longer stretches.
00:47:30 So for me, it's Luke. But again, hopping back to the last podcast, a ridiculous embarrassment of riches even that far down the bench to be like which one of these two guys who are both playing great again relative to expectations.
00:47:41 It's really, really good to see.
00:47:43 We're going to move on to a listener email.
00:47:45 And by the way, you can email us at first to the floor 18 at gmail dot com.
00:47:48 Send us your questions.
00:47:49 We'll check them on the podcast.
00:47:50 We'll argue about them.
00:47:51 We'll discuss them.
00:47:52 We'll laugh at each other trying to answer them ridiculously.
00:47:55 But this is an email from George Scriber and the subject of the email was Porzingis nickname.
00:48:02 And it goes as follows.
00:48:03 Guys, I was just curious if anyone has considered Kvorka as a nickname for Kristaps Porzingis.
00:48:08 I do like Bearslayer, but I think Kvorka is better.
00:48:11 Kvorka comes from a Seinfeld episode and made up word from the Latvian Orthodox Church and refers to Kramer having quote the lure of the animal.
00:48:20 I think it would be a great nickname.
00:48:21 And I'm kind of surprised it hasn't been brought up already.
00:48:24 Google Kvorka and decide for yourselves.
00:48:26 Love the podcast.
00:48:27 Start listening a year ago and haven't missed one.
00:48:29 Thank you very much.
00:48:30 Keep up the great work.
00:48:31 Thank you for the email, George.
00:48:32 I do have a clip here just for added context, guys.
00:48:35 Yeah.
00:48:36 I told you.
00:48:37 What?
00:48:38 I told you she liked me.
00:48:39 Who?
00:48:40 Sister Roberta.
00:48:41 How do you know?
00:48:42 She told me.
00:48:43 She says she's never had a man stir up all these feelings inside of her.
00:48:46 She's questioning her faith.
00:48:47 She's thinking of leaving the church.
00:48:49 Wow.
00:48:50 Oh, right.
00:48:51 This power.
00:48:52 Look what I'm doing.
00:48:55 I'm dangerous, Jerry.
00:48:56 I'm very, very dangerous.
00:48:58 You wanted to see me, father?
00:49:01 Yes, please sit down.
00:49:03 Sister Roberta came to see me yesterday.
00:49:08 I know what this is about, father.
00:49:09 I didn't do anything.
00:49:11 I just spoke to her innocently for just a few minutes.
00:49:13 It's just that I I have this power.
00:49:17 Yes.
00:49:20 It is a Latvian word, which means the lure of the animal.
00:49:28 I don't understand.
00:49:30 Have you guys been feeling the lure of the animal this season?
00:49:33 Do you think it's a nickname?
00:49:35 Kvorka.
00:49:36 I mean, great.
00:49:37 Like, there's not a lot of Latvian references in Western pop culture.
00:49:40 I've been feeling the lure of the animal from Porzingis.
00:49:43 I think we could safely say we all have.
00:49:45 Is Kvorka, is it a nickname that we can get to stick?
00:49:47 Should we get Drew back on the podcast and start name dropping the Kvorka?
00:49:51 This is a first-floor nickname,
00:49:55 because Drew Carter is not going to be able to drop this one on the podcast.
00:49:59 Can we run this two-minute clip of Seinfeld on the podcast
00:50:04 just so we can get the context for everybody?
00:50:07 But I mean, this is beautiful.
00:50:09 Kramer, Porzingis, two legends.
00:50:11 You can't go past these, do you?
00:50:14 I think we've got to get Latvian Pete's thoughts here.
00:50:17 I know he's not in the chat here today,
00:50:19 but we'll definitely have to get his thoughts,
00:50:21 because I feel like he might have to be the last say on this one.
00:50:25 Yeah, we've got to consult our Latvian expert, Pete, for sure.
00:50:29 But I can definitely see some playbacks
00:50:31 where we're just screaming Kvorka very loudly.
00:50:35 It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.
00:50:37 I will say that's kind of one downside to it.
00:50:40 But yeah, no, it's fun. It's funny.
00:50:42 Seinfeld reference, yeah, you can't hate on that.
00:50:45 Yeah, and look, could I have cut that clip down to be a little shorter?
00:50:48 Sure.
00:50:49 Maybe that might be the difference maker in this one.
00:50:51 But we appreciate listeners sending in emails with any kind of proposal.
00:50:56 So let's try the next playback stream.
00:50:58 We'll see if we can get that out there
00:51:00 and see if it sticks with the many people joining us
00:51:02 on those Celtics Blog playback streams.
00:51:05 Let's move on to this, guys.
00:51:07 It's the 2nd of January here in Sydney, Australia,
00:51:10 and I'm sure down there in Tasmania as well, Jake.
00:51:12 Still the first in the States, just.
00:51:14 What, as a team, as a whole, Spoonie,
00:51:16 should be the Celtics' most highly prioritized New Year's resolution?
00:51:22 Ooh, hmm.
00:51:25 That's a great question.
00:51:26 I think maybe defensively just continue--
00:51:30 Do you want a joke answer or a real one?
00:51:32 Because I'm hitting you with a real answer.
00:51:34 Whatever comes first.
00:51:35 Okay, all right.
00:51:36 So first I would say defensively just kind of continue to hone.
00:51:39 Maybe hit the glass a little bit harder.
00:51:41 Even though they're a good rebounding team,
00:51:43 it just seems like once in a while they have those games
00:51:45 against the Pistons where they can't keep them off the glass.
00:51:48 So just eliminate those kind of games where you lose a little bit of focus.
00:51:53 That's great, Rivens.
00:51:56 And then a joke one, I would say do whatever you can
00:51:59 to allow that JB Kristaps budding friendship to flower.
00:52:05 Maybe get them in some commercial, like a Duncans commercial together,
00:52:08 something like that, something a little goofy,
00:52:10 like can I buy you a coffee, Chris?
00:52:14 That's good.
00:52:15 Okay.
00:52:16 Good stuff.
00:52:17 Real resolution, keep up the pace.
00:52:20 Crank up the pace.
00:52:22 I think that when this team is playing fast,
00:52:25 and maybe more specifically Tatum, please crank up the pace.
00:52:29 Feels like everybody's on board.
00:52:31 Jalen's constantly talking about the pace.
00:52:33 I'm just like I'm wondering what's going through Jalen's head sometimes
00:52:36 when he's like Tatum stops the ball and does something slow.
00:52:44 But, you know, lead by example, play fast.
00:52:47 I love you, Jalen, for continuing to talk about it as well.
00:52:50 Play fast both as a team, Tatum specifically.
00:52:54 And then I think we've got to really hone in on Derek White
00:52:59 and how we're pampering him and his family, you know, Hendrix
00:53:03 and I forget the name of his new kid as well.
00:53:06 But Daxon, is that it?
00:53:09 That sounds familiar.
00:53:11 But the extension talks, maybe a miss from Brad,
00:53:15 he should have just said yes to whatever the number was in the offseason
00:53:18 because the number's going up, coming up here,
00:53:21 and you have to pay whatever it is at this point.
00:53:25 Like it's going to be like it's probably going to be $40 million annual salary,
00:53:30 and I think you just have to keep Derek White, Porzingis, Tatum, and Jalen together forever.
00:53:35 So be very nice to Derek and his family would be my resolution.
00:53:42 These are sound resolutions, guys.
00:53:44 Just very quickly to circle back on Kvorka.
00:53:46 I know Jake's loving this.
00:53:47 We've got Martins in the chat here who says, "I'm Latvian and I don't know such a word."
00:53:51 He also says, "It's not a Latvian thing."
00:53:53 I don't think that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David thought that Chris Zaps Porzingis
00:53:58 would come along and popularize Latvia in Western pop culture.
00:54:02 But here we go.
00:54:03 All right, good to tie a bow on that.
00:54:05 For me, new year's resolutions for the Celtics, just do it in the playoffs.
00:54:08 You've been great for an extended stretch here, well beyond what, 30 games now.
00:54:13 We've all come to rely on this new iteration of the Celtics,
00:54:16 but the playoffs have their own demons, I think, for the team themselves.
00:54:20 And what we saw, how demons do come back to bite you as recently as that Warriors game.
00:54:25 It is a thing in terms of getting the monkey off your back and shaking those mental cobwebs.
00:54:30 We've had troubles in the playoffs recently, executing down the stretch, crunch time, etc.,
00:54:34 closing out series.
00:54:35 So resolution, be this new awesome version of yourselves in the playoffs.
00:54:40 For me, it's that simple.
00:54:42 Folks, listening now in the chat, let us know your thoughts,
00:54:46 your own funny new year's resolutions for the Celtics.
00:54:49 We want to hear it all, so let us know.
00:54:51 And while you're at it, like the stream and subscribe as well.
00:54:53 We're going to end on this, guys.
00:54:54 The upcoming schedule is becoming a little bit more challenging for the Celtics
00:54:57 after a brief "easy stretch" where we almost got beaten by the Pistons and the Raptors.
00:55:02 Now we've got the Thunder on the road tomorrow.
00:55:05 They're a really hot team at the moment.
00:55:06 Back home for the Jazz, maybe a Kelly Olenek audition, a re-audition for Brad Stephens,
00:55:11 even though his contract is prohibitively sized and it's probably not a possible acquisition for the Celtics.
00:55:16 And then back-to-back away games against Aaron Neesmith's Pacers guys.
00:55:21 So starting with the Thunder game, Jake, I'll throw to you,
00:55:24 there's an Aussie connection with the team,
00:55:26 although maybe we're somewhat distancing ourselves from that at the moment.
00:55:29 I don't know what you're talking about, man.
00:55:31 How do you expect this Thunder game to go?
00:55:33 Because it is one of the more talented teams that we'll have faced in a while, I suppose.
00:55:36 I'd say that the Thunder is the team that I've watched the most outside of the Celtics this season,
00:55:40 just because partly it started with the Josh Giddey connection,
00:55:44 partly because I have a bet on the Thunder to win the Western Conference at 70-1.
00:55:48 I'm keeping my eye out, I have a Chet Holmgren to win Rookie of the Year as well.
00:55:52 Things are looking good from that perspective.
00:55:54 They're so fun to watch though.
00:55:56 They're a two-way team, they defend, they run, they drive and kick.
00:56:00 They're similar to the Celtics, a lot of drive and kick.
00:56:02 I'm really interested to see how we defend them.
00:56:06 SGA has been unstoppable, averaging 31 a game, mid-range.
00:56:11 I want to see, do we get a little playoff game plan?
00:56:15 When Drew's on Embiid, obviously a different team, but is there something different?
00:56:21 I'm always interested to see why teams don't play off SGA a little bit more.
00:56:26 He's not really a three-point shooter, doesn't take a lot, doesn't make a lot either.
00:56:31 So I would give him a little bit of space, because he's just so good at driving and he's relentless.
00:56:37 He leads the league in drives per game by a sizable margin.
00:56:41 I love the way that he plays.
00:56:43 Question in the chat, is Drew back?
00:56:45 Full team, injury report, completely clean.
00:56:48 No one questionable. Everyone is out.
00:56:51 I love the way they actually bought some rest for this team here.
00:56:54 Tatum got a night off, Jalen and Drew here as well.
00:56:58 Not Derek White, of course, but he's an Ironman.
00:57:01 Defensively as well, I'm really intrigued to see how we game plan for the Thunder.
00:57:06 Yeah, I'll be really interested to see who takes the shy matchup.
00:57:12 I probably will be Drew if I had to guess, because shy is a little big for Derek White.
00:57:17 You kind of want Derek on some of their shooters.
00:57:20 I have a bad feeling about this Thunder game.
00:57:24 I think this is probably one we drop.
00:57:26 We're 9-1 in our last 10, right?
00:57:29 We've got to lose another game at some point soon here.
00:57:32 I think I probably have this one pegged.
00:57:34 Yeah, well let me just dust off a couple of these.
00:57:38 Cleaning the glass, last two weeks, stats again.
00:57:41 It's pretty terrifying looking at OKC.
00:57:43 Second in point differential the past two weeks, second ranked offense, first ranked defense.
00:57:48 They're well and truly up there with us, well above us defensively in the past two weeks.
00:57:54 We're just flying fresh from San Antonio, I don't think they went home via Boston at all.
00:57:59 OKC, somewhat well rested, playing at home, sleeping in their own beds.
00:58:03 They're a fantastic team.
00:58:05 This is going to be one of the most challenging games of the season thus far.
00:58:08 We continue to go through this cycle, we talk about it all the time.
00:58:11 Where the team, maybe they struggle a little bit on the road or against some more challenging teams.
00:58:17 We say, we really need a stretch at home, we really need a nice stretch against some sub 500 teams to reset ourselves.
00:58:22 And then we get that and they rattle off 9-1 as you said Spoonie.
00:58:26 And then suddenly the desire is, OK, now let's see it against a really good team.
00:58:30 Well now we have this matchup against a really, really good team.
00:58:33 It is going to be really challenging.
00:58:35 But I think we're ready for it, sticking with that cycle.
00:58:38 We've arrived at this point again and it's time to see how we hold up against a really good team.
00:58:43 I haven't looked at the odds, but I would assume that we're favourites, because of how dominant we've been.
00:58:48 But it's going to be close.
00:58:50 Yeah, we're favourites by like 2.5, 3.
00:58:52 So it's very close.
00:58:54 It's a close spread, it's the closest spread we've had for a while.
00:58:58 For a good while, outside of the, which game was it that we were not favoured in?
00:59:02 The Kings game, that's because we had no Tatum and no Hawthorne.
00:59:08 It was a back-to-back.
00:59:09 Yeah, it was a back-to-back.
00:59:10 And there was just bad vibes around the team after that one.
00:59:13 So that's the only game I think we may not have been favoured in.
00:59:16 This is like the closest one since then.
00:59:18 And then the KP/Chet thing, Unicorn vs Unicorn.
00:59:21 These guys are going to be up for this, I guarantee it.
00:59:24 It's going to be a good game.
00:59:26 And I think a lot of people are going to be watching this one.
00:59:28 Guys, an absolute miracle to have brought this home within the one-hour mark.
00:59:32 I didn't think we were going to do it, the odds were against us.
00:59:34 But here we are, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.
00:59:36 Any final thoughts before we wrap up, guys?
00:59:38 No, dude, you've got 22 seconds. Let's get out of here.
00:59:41 All right, let's call it.
00:59:42 All right, that's going to do it for this one.
00:59:44 Thank you so much for joining us.
00:59:45 Please, if you haven't already, hit that Like button.
00:59:47 Please subscribe.
00:59:48 Thank you to CLNS for presenting the First to the Floor podcast.
00:59:50 Spoonie Jake, happy New Year to you and everyone.
00:59:53 Love your work, guys.
00:59:54 Until next time, go Celtics.
00:59:55 Score early this NFL season with Fan Joy.
00:59:58 I love the Celtics!
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