Do You TRUST the Celtics Come Playoff Time? w/ Yahoo's Vince Goodwill | BIG 3 NBA Podcast - video Dailymotion

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In today's episode of The Big 3 Podcast, A. Sherrod Blakely is joined by Vince Goodwill, host of the "Good Word" podcast on Yahoo Sports and NBA writer for Yahoo Sports. They delve into the Boston Celtics boasting the NBA's best record, Jayson Tatum's MVP prospects, and the other top contenders in the league.  Get buckets with your first bet on FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Because right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your bet wins! Just, visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON and shoot your shot!  Bet on all your favorite NBA players and teams with:  ● Quick Bets ● Live Same Game Parlays ● Exclusive Props ● And more!  FanDuel, Official Sportsbook Partner of the NBA.  DISCLAIMER: Must be 21+ and present in select states. 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. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Vermont. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.

Transcript

00:00 [VIDEO PLAYBACK]

00:00 - Up to the layup.

00:01 Oh, blocked by James.

00:02 - Larry Bird scored 60 points.

00:04 Look at the Boston players mobbing.

00:06 Michael Jordan is not only the best basketball player,

00:09 but he's the most exciting basketball player to ever play.

00:12 Weed fires away.

00:13 Puffs it in.

00:15 51 for James Fitzgerald.

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00:24 - Welcome to another edition, the all-star break edition,

00:28 of the Big 3 NBA podcast.

00:30 I'm your host, Sharob Blakely.

00:32 And today, we have one of my good friends, a great beat

00:36 writer, who's been in the game for a minute,

00:38 but still has his youthfulness.

00:40 A little scruffy today, but he's still a young fella.

00:43 Vincent Goodwill Jr. of Yahoo Sports.

00:45 What's going on, V?

00:47 - I just got a haircut.

00:48 You're saying I'm scruffy.

00:49 I literally got a haircut to go to all--

00:51 it's called a beard.

00:52 - Yeah, you got the beard.

00:54 See, me and Vinny go way back to when there was no beard,

00:57 no matter how hard he tried, it wasn't coming in.

00:59 Now look at you.

01:01 Look at you, boy.

01:02 - That's a long time ago.

01:04 - It's been a minute.

01:05 It's been a minute.

01:06 But the all-star break has been here--

01:08 it's been about a minute.

01:09 Teams finished playing, and all the records and standings

01:13 are set for the pre-all-star break reflection

01:18 of the season.

01:19 Celtics with the best overall record in the NBA.

01:21 They've got a six-game lead over Cleveland in the East.

01:24 I think they're four games ahead of Minnesota

01:26 for the best overall record.

01:28 You've covered a lot of games, a lot of teams this year,

01:31 Vinny.

01:31 What's your take on the Celtics?

01:33 And what, from your perspective, makes them such a good team?

01:38 - It is so odd to, honestly, Sherrod,

01:41 get a feel on the Celtics.

01:42 I'm going to be perfectly honest with you,

01:44 because all the metrics and the numbers

01:45 say that they are far and away the best team in the league,

01:48 far and away, let's say, top seven as far as their rotation.

01:52 You put their top seven up against anybody,

01:55 and they're blowing everybody away.

01:56 They're blowing away the Clippers.

01:57 They're blowing away the Nuggets.

01:59 They're blowing everybody away.

02:00 And then they have these crazy games, where they take 45 threes,

02:04 hit 11 of them, and you're like, OK, y'all,

02:06 can we get a counterpunch today?

02:08 Like that sort of thing.

02:09 But when they're good, nobody's beating them.

02:12 You know, like their B game probably

02:14 beats everybody else's A-minus game, I would say.

02:18 You know what I mean?

02:19 So just the versatility, Sherrod, and the explosiveness,

02:24 I think my doubts are going to look foolish in June

02:29 if we come away, and I'm in Boston sitting with y'all,

02:32 sitting with y'all in Boston.

02:33 Having some chowder.

02:35 Having some chowder.

02:36 And it's game two of the finals, and I'm like,

02:39 why didn't I see this coming?

02:41 Because all the evidence says that they should be here.

02:43 But it's those little nagging doubts

02:46 that's preventing me from jumping

02:48 the broom with the Celtics.

02:49 How about that?

02:50 See, here's the thing, Vinny.

02:51 First of all, you have trust issues,

02:53 which is another podcast for another day.

02:56 We can get much deeper in detail with that.

02:59 But you do have some trust issues.

03:00 But I understand the place you're

03:03 coming from with this team, because you

03:05 feel like there's a part of you that doesn't want to get

03:07 Charlie Brown, where you're running up, running up,

03:09 you're thinking about the nail it,

03:11 and the next thing you know, you're

03:11 flat on your back because they just

03:13 pull the ball right from underneath your feet

03:15 and all that.

03:16 So I get that.

03:18 The one thing that has been a little bit surprising to me,

03:20 and maybe you can help me with this one,

03:22 is that the Celtics, to your point, Vinny,

03:24 they've had the best record for the majority of this season.

03:27 They have shown themselves from a win and loss perspective,

03:32 from an analytics data perspective,

03:34 that they're that team that everyone is gunning for.

03:37 And typically, when you have that type of consistency,

03:41 your best player is automatically

03:44 defaulted into the top five conversation for league MVP.

03:47 And yet, I'm not really hearing and seeing and feeling

03:51 that Jason Tatum, even though his numbers are strong

03:53 and he's clearly their best player,

03:55 I'm not really getting the sense that he

03:57 is in the eyes of many a top five league MVP candidate.

04:01 I'm just curious, Vinny.

04:02 Why do you think that is?

04:03 Why do you think he hasn't gotten to that level,

04:05 even though from a stats standpoint,

04:07 he kind of should be in that conversation, I would think.

04:10 You know what it is, Sherrod?

04:12 I think part of it is people have last season

04:14 stuck in their heads.

04:16 Because I felt like last year, he had a case, especially early,

04:20 especially before Joel Embiid came in and started doing

04:23 40-point games and everything else.

04:25 He really had a strong case for MVP.

04:27 I think I even wrote a story about it.

04:29 And I think that was off of the NBA finals.

04:32 And even though they underwhelmed in the NBA finals,

04:35 they got over that hump.

04:37 So last year, the narrative was--

04:39 or coming into this year, the narrative was,

04:41 this is the team that got down 3-0 to the Miami Heat

04:44 and blew a game seven at the crib.

04:46 There was going to be next to nothing

04:49 that Jason Tatum was going to be able to do

04:50 from an individual standpoint.

04:52 Even though he got hurt early in that game seven,

04:54 and he wasn't a big reason for that collapse,

04:59 he doesn't have the story right now.

05:01 It's not about the game.

05:02 If you think about it, Nikola Jokic, MVP of the finals,

05:06 finally get over the hump.

05:08 Shea Gildress Alexander, he's the hot name.

05:10 And the winner in win shares per 48 minutes.

05:12 But he's the guy that's been coming.

05:14 People have seen him rising for the past few years.

05:17 Who I learned, who's on my ballot,

05:18 he's got a comeback story of sorts.

05:21 Luka Doncic is always there because he's got the numbers.

05:23 So it leaves someone like Tatum kind of on the outside

05:26 looking in, in a way.

05:28 And you didn't even mention last year's MVP, Joel Embiid,

05:31 who he's hurt, but still, when he's been healthy,

05:33 he's in a conversation too.

05:35 Yeah, so part of it is, it's so much top heavy talent.

05:40 The other part of it is, I guarantee you, Sherrod,

05:43 if the Celtics make it to the finals this year,

05:46 they don't even have to win.

05:47 If they make it to the finals this year,

05:49 Jason Tatum will automatically be bought it

05:52 to MVP conversation next year.

05:56 I just think it's the taste in people's mouths.

05:58 And here's the crazy part, Sherrod.

06:00 We've gotten used to Jason Tatum.

06:02 It's almost like the clown at the, not the clown,

06:06 but the performer at the party doing the magic tricks.

06:10 All right, you've done enough magic tricks.

06:11 What else you got?

06:12 You know what I mean?

06:12 At some point, kids get bored,

06:13 and we've gotten bored with Jason Tatum,

06:15 even though we haven't awarded him anything.

06:18 And I think that's the crazy part.

06:19 - Yeah, and you look at the fact

06:21 that this is his fifth All-Star game, and the dude is 25.

06:24 You got some cats in the Hall of Fame

06:26 who are at that point in terms of number

06:28 of All-Star appearance,

06:29 and this dude has got a good decade left in him

06:33 to put in some work.

06:35 It's interesting that you raise that point

06:38 because he's like that comfortable meal

06:42 that you can get at the restaurant anytime

06:44 that you know it's gonna be good.

06:45 You don't even gotta ask them,

06:47 put a little hot sauce on this, make a little extra.

06:50 You just say, "Give me that,"

06:51 and you know it's gonna be good.

06:53 - Salmon and mashed potatoes, baby.

06:55 It's gonna be filling, it's gonna be healthy,

06:57 it's gonna be good for you, it's gonna be good to you.

06:59 That's all.

07:00 - And it don't matter who comes to the restaurant.

07:03 When they order that, they all gonna like it.

07:05 It ain't gonna hit 'em all the same,

07:06 but they all gonna like it.

07:08 But it gets me to thinking about something else.

07:12 I've been in all season,

07:14 and things are starting to come together for them.

07:17 The Minnesota Timberwolves, they were the team,

07:21 and I think I speak for most of us who follow the NBA,

07:24 we were waiting for the shoe to drop.

07:26 We were waiting for them to hit that four, five, six,

07:28 seven game losing streak, eight out of 10,

07:31 lose 10 out of 14, and then they go from being top dog

07:34 to middle of the pack, and it hasn't happened.

07:36 It hasn't happened, and Anthony Edwards

07:38 obviously is a big part of that team's success.

07:41 But I'm just curious, Vinny.

07:42 I mean, are they the team that you're looking

07:46 to come out of the West?

07:46 Who are some of the teams,

07:47 'cause it seems like there's a lot of teams

07:49 that can make a case for,

07:51 we're gonna be the best team to come out of the West.

07:52 Who are you looking at as we hit the post-All-Star break

07:55 to kind of emerge as that team out West?

07:58 - It's funny, Sherrod.

07:59 We talk way more about teams at the bottom

08:01 of the West playoff picture than the teams at the top.

08:03 - Yeah, like the Lakers. - We talk about the play-ins.

08:05 - Yeah. - We talk about the Lakers.

08:06 We talk about Golden State.

08:07 We talk about Phoenix.

08:08 We talk about those teams, and two of those teams,

08:11 at least two of those teams,

08:12 we planned each other for the right to play

08:15 maybe the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Denver Nuggets

08:18 or whomever winds up being in that first seat.

08:21 I, Sherrod, have a hard time trusting a team

08:25 that has never won a playoff series

08:28 to bounce all the way to the finals.

08:30 You gotta have some real heartbreak.

08:32 You gotta have some real sweat equity in the playoffs.

08:35 For me, for me, the basketball I grew up watching,

08:38 the basketball that we're seeing now,

08:40 you gotta have that.

08:42 - Yeah. - And part of it is,

08:44 Sherrod, do we just not trust Carl Anthony Towns?

08:47 - I don't. - Is that what it is?

08:49 We just don't trust Carl Towns?

08:50 - I might be the president,

08:52 certainly I'm on the executive board

08:54 of the I don't trust Carl Towns fan club.

08:58 I love the talent.

09:00 It's just that, like you, I have trust issues

09:03 with that particular player,

09:05 because I look at the talent, I look at the ability,

09:07 and then I look at the intangible

09:09 that we don't talk enough about, which is leadership.

09:12 He is not that dude.

09:14 That's why when Anthony Edwards

09:15 kind of went into takeover mode of the franchise,

09:18 Carl was not pushing back on that.

09:19 He wasn't tripping.

09:20 It's just like, look, recognize that I get buckets,

09:23 I get rebounds, I'm a good player.

09:25 I'm just not a good player to lead this team.

09:27 - And your best player, not that he is the best player,

09:30 he might be the third best player, to be perfectly honest,

09:32 behind Rudy and Ant-Man.

09:35 You don't need your best player to be your leader.

09:37 That's not always the case.

09:38 But your most talented player, excuse me,

09:42 your most talented player has to do things besides score.

09:47 You know what I mean?

09:48 Like you said intangibles,

09:49 a seven-footer needs to be able to protect the rim.

09:52 Like stuff like that.

09:54 That's what gives me trust issues with Carl Towns.

09:57 But to your original question,

09:58 are we just saying that Denver Nuggets

10:01 are gonna be the team that comes out of the West

10:03 because we don't see anybody else

10:05 beating that big dude for four games?

10:08 'Cause that's what I, you know what I mean?

10:11 - I've been thinking about that.

10:13 And I don't know if there's a team

10:15 that I feel confident/trust

10:18 that could beat Denver four out of seven games.

10:20 - Not, not, but like, - I feel like,

10:22 I feel like Yokeditch,

10:23 - Yeah. - Yokeditch is good enough

10:24 to carry you to victory for two or three,

10:26 and there's going to be one player on that team

10:29 that's gonna have the game of their life

10:31 who'll get 'em that fourth win.

10:33 So I'm not--

10:34 - Yeah, Jamal Murray.

10:35 Jamal Murray's gonna give you one of those

10:37 Mike Bibby 2002 games,

10:39 you know what I mean? - Oh wow, flashback.

10:41 Way to show your knowledge and history, V.

10:43 Okay, bonus points for your class.

10:46 - I was in high school then.

10:47 But for those who don't know,

10:48 I was not covering the league. - You was in my class,

10:48 you get bonus points for that one, V.

10:49 You might get some bonus points

10:50 for throwing that one out there.

10:51 Well done.

10:52 - I went to the crates.

10:54 But no, the Clippers are a team that,

10:57 you know, 'cause we all know Ty Lewin,

10:58 how great of a coach he is.

11:00 If they're healthy, they're gonna be a tough out.

11:03 But they don't have anybody to guard that big dude.

11:06 Like I don't trust Oklahoma City

11:07 to win the playoffs here

11:08 because they haven't done it

11:09 and Minnesota's in the same boat.

11:10 So I would say between the Clippers and Nuggets,

11:14 which means I don't trust anybody in the Western Conference

11:17 to be perfectly honest.

11:18 - This is a perfect year for,

11:21 and again, it's one of the reasons why I think, Vinny,

11:23 we're still talking about the Lakers,

11:26 a team that could basically be

11:29 literally getting the last ticket to get in the building

11:33 and could wind up just being the king of the prom.

11:36 Because one, they've got guys who've been there,

11:39 done that before.

11:39 Two, no one has firmly cemented themselves

11:43 as the team to beat out West.

11:45 And number three, to your point, V,

11:47 every team that wins a championship

11:49 in some way, shape, or form

11:50 has to go through some hardships to get that.

11:53 Even when the Celtics won it in '08,

11:55 and you say, well, you know,

11:56 they came together and got it all in one year.

11:58 But that was after Paul Pierce spent more than a decade

12:00 coming oh so close.

12:02 That was when Kevin Burnett was inside

12:03 the basketball Siberia known as Minnesota.

12:06 And that was when Ray Ray was a great player,

12:08 but no one really knew a whole lot about him

12:09 'cause he's balling out of Pacific Northwest

12:11 before he came to Milwaukee.

12:12 So those guys went through hardships individually

12:15 so that when they collectively came together,

12:18 they didn't need to go through any hardships

12:19 because they'd been there, done that.

12:20 At that point, it was about winning that chip.

12:22 But when you talk about Minnesota and that youth

12:25 that they got, collectively,

12:27 they haven't done much in terms of hardship.

12:29 And up to the point where they've come close,

12:32 but didn't get there.

12:33 They just sucked.

12:34 That was their hardship.

12:35 They didn't have, they weren't in a situation

12:37 where, man, we should win this series.

12:38 Nah, not every playoff series that Ant-Man

12:41 has been a part of, they have been the lower seed.

12:43 This is the first time they're actually going to have

12:45 to go into the postseason, theoretically,

12:47 with a little bit of pressure to win.

12:49 Before, they were just playing with house money.

12:52 Now, you coming in there, big daddy,

12:56 with big checks, big pockets.

12:59 How you gonna handle that?

13:00 Same thing with--

13:01 - I don't have concerns about Ant-Man.

13:03 I have concerns about everybody else.

13:06 - This is what's running.

13:07 Oh, Ant-Man going to ball.

13:09 - Yeah, I got concerns about Carl Towns.

13:12 I got concerns about our French seven-footer.

13:15 I got concerns--

13:16 - The fact that you gotta take him off the court,

13:17 you know you're going to have to take him off the court

13:19 in certain matches.

13:21 I don't know of any other team that's in the top tier

13:24 where one of their top three players,

13:26 you automatically go into games knowing that

13:29 you're going to have to get him off the floor

13:30 because he does not match up well

13:32 with any opponent that you play.

13:35 - Or, simply, you have to count on the other four players

13:39 to compensate for what Rudy doesn't do.

13:42 Or, basically, Rudy, you gotta stay in the paint.

13:45 So we gotta work extra hard on these screens.

13:47 We gotta work extra hard on these switches

13:49 to make sure that you can stay on the floor

13:50 because he is so valuable at the rim.

13:53 He is so valuable on both ends of the floor.

13:56 I don't know in a seven-game series how that holds up.

13:58 You gotta have a masterful coaching staff to do that.

14:00 And maybe Chris Finch is that guy,

14:02 but until I see it, I ain't seen it.

14:05 - Yeah, yeah, I mean, Chris Finch,

14:06 he's done a good job this year.

14:07 And I've been really critical of him

14:09 because I didn't like the way he got the job,

14:11 to be perfectly honest and keep it real.

14:13 I haven't forgotten about David Van Der Poel.

14:15 I have not forgotten about that.

14:16 We'll not let that go.

14:17 It's always going to rub me the wrong way,

14:21 but I give Chris props.

14:22 He's done a really good job with this team.

14:24 He deserves all the credit, all the praise

14:27 that Minnesota is getting for how they're playing.

14:29 And again, he's done an exceptional job leading that team.

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15:03 When I look at Wes, and you touched on him earlier,

15:10 Ty Lue, I just don't feel Ty Lue gets the credit

15:13 that he deserves as a coach.

15:14 I mean, this Ty Lue is a really good coach.

15:18 People forget about little things he's done

15:20 even before he became a head coach that damn near saved.

15:23 Like remember when he was in Cleveland

15:25 and my man that got fired.

15:27 Splat.

15:29 Yeah, he was trying to call a timeout

15:31 and when he didn't have any,

15:32 and Ty Lue literally grabbed him, shielded him from the refs,

15:35 and they were able to win that game

15:36 'cause if that call would have been made

15:38 and he got the timeout, they would have lost the game.

15:40 Little things like that.

15:41 And they would have gone down 3-1.

15:42 And they went down 3-1 in the series against Chicago.

15:44 I was there, I was courtside at that game,

15:47 and I'm like, this clown's calling a timeout?

15:50 No, look, Sherrod, you know my theory on coaches.

15:54 There's about five or six good ones,

15:56 five or six bad ones, and a bunch of dudes in the middle.

16:00 Ty Lue and Eric Spolster are the two best coaches

16:03 in basketball and it ain't close.

16:05 And Ty Lue might be actually better, theoretically.

16:10 He might actually be better than Spol.

16:12 He just hasn't gotten back to the finals

16:14 since the LeBron James stuff.

16:17 - I'm kind of leaning on Spol.

16:19 I got my needle on Spol right now.

16:20 But Ty, put it this way.

16:22 If this team can get to the NBA finals,

16:27 I might put him in and Spol in a bit of a toss up.

16:30 But Spol does so much with so little consistently.

16:34 And again, Miami, no matter who they have on the roster,

16:37 even if it's a guy like Duncan Robinson,

16:39 who's nothing but a jump shooter,

16:41 he'd play with a little bit of edge for a jump shooter.

16:43 The way he tried to get in Jalen Barber--

16:45 - Oh, that was spicy. - That was spicy.

16:48 - That was spicy, I like that.

16:51 It was spicy on both sides.

16:53 He was like, "You're not like that."

16:55 I was like, "Miami, what if you dudes are fighters?"

16:57 - Nah, nah.

16:58 But the thing about Jalen,

17:00 Jalen always makes me nervous

17:02 because I have this feeling that the one time he lets loose,

17:06 he's gonna let loose decades of pent up frustration

17:10 and anger that mess around and get him suspended

17:14 for like damn near half the season if you get into it.

17:18 But no one will ever be like,

17:20 "And Isaiah Stewart, let's put it that way."

17:22 - Wow, do we have to go there?

17:24 - Listen, I love Stewie.

17:26 I love--

17:26 - And so do the Celtics.

17:28 The Celtics love Stewie.

17:30 - Yes, yes, yes, they do, they do.

17:34 - Look, you gotta have,

17:35 every great team has to have a crazy person.

17:38 - You gotta have one.

17:40 - Look, and just because, here's my thing, Sherrod.

17:42 Let me talk about, let me detour for a quick second.

17:44 All right, Sherrod,

17:45 if you're face to face and nose to nose with somebody,

17:49 is that a sucker punch or did you just get punched?

17:53 - Right, or you just got punched, sucker.

17:55 (laughing)

17:57 Maybe that's the sucker punch.

17:58 You just got punched, sucker.

18:00 Listen, man, Isaiah,

18:04 say what you want about what happened in Phoenix,

18:06 but man, look, I want that dude on my team.

18:09 I want that because here's the thing about it,

18:12 and Vinny, we've been in the game long enough to know

18:14 that the deeper you get into the playoffs,

18:16 the grimier it gets.

18:18 You need someone who you ain't gotta worry about

18:20 if things go sideways and you just gotta go all out,

18:24 you ain't gotta worry about them handling business.

18:26 That's why the South is going out to guy Xavier Tillman.

18:29 I mean, he's 6'9", 260 every day,

18:31 and he don't mind letting you know,

18:33 I'm 6'9", 260 every day.

18:36 - You need ruffians.

18:37 You need some dudes who are unafraid

18:41 to get their hands dirty.

18:43 As much as this league has turned into

18:46 a pretty shooting exhibition,

18:49 you ain't getting to June unless you got some dudes

18:53 who are willing to get their elbows

18:55 and willing to take a couple hits.

18:57 I don't care where this game evolves into.

19:00 If that part, look, Sherrod,

19:02 the day I'll stop covering this league

19:03 is the day those guys are no longer in it.

19:06 'Cause I don't wanna just see

19:08 a bunch of Stephen Currys out there.

19:09 Like, I need a mix of everything

19:12 that the game has to offer.

19:14 - Yeah, as much as Steph Currys,

19:17 Klay Thompson, Tatum, and all them cats

19:19 mean to the league, I need a Draymond Green.

19:23 As crazy as he is, and as problematic as he is,

19:25 and as much as he does need a little bit of help,

19:29 and he's got some, he does help.

19:30 - Problematic is the word.

19:31 You said it, problematic is the word.

19:33 - The edge that he brings to the game, I need that.

19:36 I absolutely need that,

19:38 because as great as this Golden State Dynasty has been,

19:42 it is not a dynasty without Draymond Green.

19:44 I don't care what you say.

19:46 'Cause the thing that we've learned about the NBA

19:48 is if you've got a team full of great shooters

19:50 and shot makers, you can go only so far.

19:53 Remember all those teams that Don Nelson

19:54 used to have back in the day?

19:55 I love watching them play,

19:57 'cause they would get buckets,

19:58 everyone is, but then you get to the playoffs,

20:00 they lose a series four or two

20:01 because they're giving up layups left and right,

20:03 or they have a stretch where they're not making shots,

20:06 and they have nothing to counterbalance that.

20:07 They don't have anyone at edge,

20:09 no one that can play defense.

20:10 And the Draymond Greens, the Tillmans,

20:13 you know, the Zia Stewards,

20:15 they're not the best players in the world,

20:18 but that's all right.

20:19 They have certain skills and strengths

20:22 that every team could benefit from,

20:23 particularly when you get into the playoffs.

20:28 Vanny, before we go any further,

20:31 just wanted to make sure I give a shout out

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21:02 Vanny, I wanted to talk to you about-

21:05 - You gotta pay them bills, I like it.

21:07 - And you know this,

21:09 I wanted to talk to you a little bit about

21:11 just what are you expecting to see after the break?

21:14 I mean, the Celtics have been kind of the team

21:16 everyone's chasing,

21:17 but there's some other teams

21:18 that are doing some good things.

21:19 You got Cleveland, you know,

21:20 they've won like nine of the last 10,

21:23 so they're starting to come on a little bit.

21:25 Things are still real tight out West.

21:27 What are you expecting to see

21:29 as we hit the home stretch here?

21:31 - You know what, in the West,

21:32 like everything is siloed,

21:33 like looking at the standings,

21:35 they're the top four teams.

21:37 OKC, the Clippers, Minnesota, and Denver,

21:40 they're all separated by a game.

21:42 And then you got the next cluster,

21:43 which is New Orleans, Phoenix, and Sacramento.

21:48 They're separated by like a game.

21:50 And then you got like the Lakers and Dallas,

21:52 and you know what I mean?

21:53 Like everything is so siloed,

21:55 so it's individual races within that.

21:58 It's gonna be the battle for home court advantage.

22:00 And do you want home court advantage?

22:03 How bad do you want that first or second seed?

22:06 'Cause if you get the first or second seed,

22:07 Sherrod, you might have to see the Lakers,

22:10 or you might have to see Stephen Curry.

22:12 Do you want that stress in your life?

22:15 Or do you wanna get to that third seed,

22:17 where you might see Kevin Durant?

22:18 You know, like literally,

22:19 there's no easy answer anyway.

22:21 But out East, my question is going to be,

22:25 where is Philadelphia going to land?

22:27 If Joel Embiid comes back this season,

22:29 after this surgery that they're calling a procedure

22:31 and all this other nonsense, right?

22:33 What if Philly falls to the play-in?

22:36 If Philly falls to the play-in,

22:40 and they're on that Boston line, right?

22:42 And we know Boston is their bully.

22:44 But do you wanna see nothing to lose Joel Embiid

22:47 in the playoff series?

22:49 - You know what, listen, if you're the Celtics,

22:51 you're not intimidated, afraid,

22:53 or concerned about Philadelphia,

22:55 but you don't wanna see them right out the gate.

22:57 You know what, you're cool with seeing them

23:00 in the second round, because by the time

23:01 the second round, you done lathered up,

23:03 you got to stretch on, you ready to roll.

23:06 And they're probably going to have a tough,

23:09 hard fought first round series,

23:11 if you're seeing them in the second round.

23:12 But to see them right out the gate,

23:15 I don't think you want that smoke, if you're Boston.

23:18 - No, and here's the other part.

23:20 They're gonna have the top seed locked up for so long.

23:24 As much as Cleveland is coming, right?

23:26 Boston's not gonna like pare it down.

23:28 Like, I don't think that's how Joe Mazzulli gets down, right?

23:31 But there's an intensity that you lose

23:34 if you are six games up,

23:36 and you have to make sure everybody's healthy,

23:38 and we got the poor Zingas thing to worry about.

23:40 So you're not gonna be playing

23:41 high intensity level basketball,

23:44 probably for the last three or four weeks of the season.

23:46 Like, they're gonna be that far in the head of everybody,

23:48 and then you gotta ramp it up

23:50 in the first round of the playoffs?

23:51 Maybe to see Joel Embiid?

23:53 Like, don't get me wrong, if you see Chicago,

23:55 or Atlanta, or one of those other teams,

23:58 you can ease your way into it.

23:59 - That's like high intensity practice

24:03 when you see their squads.

24:04 That's not, it's officially a playoff game,

24:06 but it's really more like kind of a,

24:08 you know, this is an intense practice

24:09 that we gonna go through this week, fellas.

24:12 - So yeah, you don't wanna have to jump

24:14 right into the deep end.

24:15 As much as you have Joel Embiid's number,

24:17 and Joel Embiid has not shown up in the playoffs

24:19 like he's supposed to,

24:20 you don't wanna be the person

24:21 that he breaks the streak against.

24:23 - No.

24:24 - And because you are one of those teams,

24:25 I think I looked up the numbers, Sherob,

24:27 when they win, they shoot 42 from three.

24:30 When they lose, they shoot 31.

24:32 That's a wide variance for the Celtics in the playoffs

24:35 when shooting does not always carry,

24:37 it doesn't always travel.

24:39 You better, like luckily for them,

24:41 they got other things in their bag,

24:42 but man, I wouldn't want to have that first round matchup.

24:46 - Nah, you definitely don't want that.

24:48 And Philly is definitely a team that

24:50 there's a lot of concerns and question marks

24:53 about not only where they're gonna land,

24:54 but just how they're going to get there.

24:58 Who's gonna be healthy enough to lead them?

25:00 And is someone besides Maxie and Joel

25:03 gonna step up for them?

25:05 But as much as I think there are legitimate questions

25:08 about them, I think there are even more questions

25:11 about the Milwaukee Bucks,

25:13 who ever since they made the coaching switch,

25:16 at the time they had the third best record in the NBA,

25:20 they've gone three and seven on the Doc Rivers.

25:22 How concerned are you about them getting it right?

25:27 'Cause there's gotta be a part of me

25:28 that's thinking of A.G. Griffin looking back,

25:30 thinking like, get rid of this, this is what you get.

25:35 This is what you get.

25:36 This is what you get.

25:38 Do you think they're gonna figure it out?

25:40 Or do you think that this might be,

25:42 they might have issues going forward,

25:44 not only in the regular season, but also in the playoffs?

25:47 - Figure it out to what degree, are you asking?

25:50 You know what I mean?

25:51 Are you asking me?

25:52 - Can they get to the NBA finals?

25:54 - Can, they can.

25:57 Do I see it?

25:59 I'm not sure what I see when I see them now.

26:02 The bad part about this is, yes,

26:04 the three and seven record with Doc,

26:07 but there's no training camp.

26:08 There's no way for him to come in

26:09 and really implement his sets

26:11 and get to know guys and everything else.

26:14 The good news is, in part,

26:16 they've played a really tough schedule

26:18 and their defense has gotten better.

26:20 They just don't know each other at this point.

26:23 Coaches the players and players the players.

26:25 That is the one good team in the league,

26:27 that I think we can call them a good team, Sherrod,

26:29 that does not have an identity.

26:31 The good news is you can find one.

26:33 The bad news is, why the hell don't you have one?

26:35 - See, that's kind of my point.

26:37 Giannis is your best player.

26:39 Giannis, by all accounts,

26:40 was a big part of them making a coaching change.

26:43 So if that's in fact the case,

26:46 then you should kind of have some idea

26:48 of how you want to play,

26:49 how you want to be as a team.

26:51 Are you going to be a defense first team?

26:53 Are you going to be a shot chucking team?

26:55 Figure out who the hell you are.

26:57 And it doesn't seem like they've done that.

26:58 And I hate picking on Hall of Famers,

27:02 guys who I know are going to be Hall of Famers.

27:05 - Oh, who you putting on the screen?

27:07 - But Dan Willard, if we're being honest,

27:11 if we're being real,

27:12 when people talk about,

27:13 oh yeah, he'll go to Milwaukee,

27:15 they're much more of a defensive-minded team

27:17 than what he was with in Portland,

27:18 and he'll just figure it out.

27:19 Fellas, ladies, people out there,

27:22 the dude has been in the game

27:23 for a decade and some change.

27:25 Newsflash, he ain't changing.

27:27 He may have changed zip codes,

27:30 but he has not changed the code

27:31 that he lives by as a player.

27:32 He is a shot taker, shot maker, defense optional.

27:37 Always has been, always will be.

27:40 And there's nothing,

27:41 none of Doc Rivers' Jedi mind tricks

27:45 is going to change that.

27:46 And that to me is why,

27:48 if I had to look at the teams right now

27:50 who are listed top four in each of the conference,

27:53 and you said pick one team

27:55 that you think can get bounced in the first round,

27:57 I'm picking Milwaukee.

27:59 I'm picking them because they are the one team

28:02 that, to your point, Vinny,

28:04 we don't really know who they are.

28:06 We don't know what kind of team they are.

28:07 They don't have an identity,

28:09 and bringing a coach in midstream

28:11 only muddies the waters even more.

28:13 This was the issue that Adrian Griffin had

28:15 when he first took the job.

28:16 What kind of team are you going to have?

28:18 And when you, it seemed like they were sort of

28:19 kind of figuring out who they were,

28:21 but Giannis and Dame, and or Dame,

28:25 wasn't feeling Adrian,

28:26 and so they said, "We need to make a change."

28:28 And you still have the same issues.

28:31 - I've never heard of a team with a really good coach

28:35 from like weeks into the season.

28:37 Like you start hearing these things

28:38 like two or three weeks into the season,

28:40 like, "Quitafan gon' last a year."

28:42 I'm like, "What the hell is going on here?"

28:44 - They're winning games,

28:44 and they're figuring this stuff out.

28:47 - So it's, I do think it was a lot there.

28:48 I think it was beyond Giannis and Dame.

28:52 I think a lot of people wanted him out, right?

28:53 Okay, cool.

28:55 But now the responsibility is on you.

28:57 And you, in one, Sherrod, you have intimate knowledge

28:59 because you are in Boston with Drew Holiday,

29:02 so you can see the Drew Holiday effect.

29:03 And you've covered Doc Rivers in all his movies,

29:06 "Good, Bad, and Indifferent," right?

29:08 Part of Doc, I think, gets a bad rap, right?

29:13 3-1 Doc Rivers.

29:15 Sherrod, you covered that.

29:16 - I saw it up close when they were up 3-1

29:19 when he was in Orlando against the Pistons.

29:21 - Who was that team's second best player?

29:24 - I couldn't even tell you.

29:25 - Exactly.

29:26 - It was T-Mac and the T-Mac acts.

29:28 - There was no, like some of those 3-1 leads,

29:31 you say, "Oh, he had no business losing."

29:33 I tell you, he had no business being up 3-1

29:35 in some of those series.

29:36 And the law of averages just turned back around.

29:40 But the thing about Doc that you cannot deny

29:43 is sometimes those teams fall spectacularly.

29:47 And that's where he might be the common denominator.

29:51 And because Milwaukee fell spectacularly on its face

29:55 this time last year, last April to Miami,

29:58 you have to wonder how much scar tissue was there

30:00 with the team.

30:01 You have to wonder how much scar tissue was there

30:03 with Doc Rivers as an individual.

30:05 And Dane Lillard, for the playoff moments that he's had,

30:08 he's gotten to the conference finals one time in his career

30:12 and got swept out by the Golden State Warriors

30:15 minus Kevin Durant in that series.

30:18 So you have a lot of, I still have a lot of questions.

30:22 I think they can get there.

30:23 I think they can get to the finals.

30:24 I think they could.

30:25 They waxed Milwaukee.

30:26 I mean, they waxed Boston on a TNT game

30:30 that had our buddy Joe Mazzullo running you and me out there

30:33 in the second half

30:34 'cause he was so fed up with his starter.

30:36 - Yeah, when Joe took the entire crew and said,

30:39 "Look, you, you, you, you, y'all done.

30:44 "Get in there, yeah."

30:46 - He basically said, "Y'all done for the day.

30:48 "Y'all done for the night."

30:49 - "Y'all trashed tonight.

30:51 "I'm taking out the trash, so come on over here.

30:53 "Y'all done tonight."

30:54 - But Milwaukee was the team that put the screws to them

30:56 in that game.

30:58 They can do that.

30:59 The problem is you can't pinpoint their strengths

31:04 in a way that you can rely on something

31:06 from a night-to-night basis.

31:07 If nothing else, Sherrod, you can pick out every team

31:10 and every good team and say,

31:11 "This is what I know I can count on on a nightly basis."

31:14 And you can't do that with the Bucs,

31:16 at least not to this point.

31:17 - No, no, the Bucs, they are,

31:19 to me, they're one of those teams that amplify

31:22 one of your shortcomings, which is trust.

31:26 Your trust issues are amplified

31:28 when I see the Milwaukee Bucs.

31:29 And now you're triggering my own distrust issues as well,

31:33 which I'm not particularly proud of, but it's real.

31:35 'Cause the more I think about a lot of these teams,

31:37 the more I just don't trust them.

31:39 So you and I, we are definitely on the same page.

31:41 - Do you trust Doc?

31:43 - What's that?

31:43 - Do you trust Doc?

31:45 - I trust Doc's mojo Jedi mind tricks can work.

31:49 I don't know if they're gonna work on this team.

31:51 I see this team with a lot of old dogs who are like,

31:54 "We've kind of been there, done that.

31:56 "We got a chip too, Doc.

31:57 "You ain't the only one that come

31:58 "into the building with a chip."

31:59 And so it's like, I'm not sure he can gain their trust

32:02 to the point where they're willing to invest

32:04 in a way that they need to.

32:06 They know what they need to do,

32:07 but I'm not sure they're willing to do it

32:08 because there's a certain fat and happy dynamic

32:12 that they got going on, 'cause they want a chip.

32:14 Dame is the one who you would think would have an edge

32:17 and be willing to make the sacrifices and all,

32:19 but Dame is pretty much playing Dame's game in Milwaukee.

32:23 And I don't see him changing that at all.

32:26 It's gotten him this far, it's made him a ton of money,

32:29 but it also, in a lot of ways,

32:33 shows that he's just not maybe ready to be a champion.

32:35 Like he's a champion in life maybe,

32:37 but he ain't a champion on the court.

32:39 I look at him as, I mean, to me, when Dame leaves,

32:43 Trey Young will take that mantle.

32:45 Trey Young will be like Dame Lillard 2.0,

32:48 a really good player, all-star caliber talent,

32:51 never win anything beyond just fandom, that's it.

32:56 So, I mean, Trey this year, 20 and 10 every night.

33:00 His team, Atlanta Boston-

33:02 - But you don't think, yeah, but you don't think Dame,

33:04 I mean, you don't think Trey ever impacts winning.

33:07 - No, no, I don't, I don't.

33:10 They had the one great,

33:11 they had the one really good season

33:13 where it got to the conference finals,

33:14 but you go back and look at that series,

33:15 they got so many fluky breaks along the way

33:17 that you can't build around that.

33:20 - Against Doc Rivers.

33:22 - Right, so I like Trey as a player,

33:27 I just don't think he's gonna win.

33:29 - I'm with you on that.

33:30 No, I'm definitely with you on,

33:31 I don't know what Trey Young is if he's your best player.

33:36 I don't know how far you're going as a team

33:38 if he's playing the way that he's playing

33:40 and you see all these numbers.

33:42 Oh, he's the youngest with 25 and 10 assists

33:44 and I'm like, what the hell does that mean?

33:46 - He's also got the worst record,

33:48 his team has the worst record

33:49 of all the all-star players at the all-star game.

33:51 They're like 11 games below 500.

33:55 They are the, he's the best player

33:58 on the worst team represented at all-star weekend.

34:01 So take that for what it's worth.

34:02 - That's a bar.

34:03 As the kids say, that's a bar.

34:06 - Exactly, exactly.

34:07 But listen, man, this was really good, Vinny.

34:11 We keep going on, we're gonna have to have another podcast

34:14 where we talk about our trust issues

34:15 'cause we definitely each have some trust issues.

34:18 Yours a little deeper than mine,

34:20 but that's again, another day, another podcast.

34:22 But listen, Vincent Goodwill Jr.,

34:25 thank you so much for coming out, man.

34:26 - I'm catching all these strays for all-star weekend,

34:28 all-star strays, that's what I'm catching.

34:30 - Exactly, the ASS, you're getting them all-star strays.

34:33 (Vinny laughs)

34:34 For sure, for sure.

34:35 Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports,

34:37 thanks for coming on to the podcast, brother.

34:38 I appreciate you as always, man.

34:40 (upbeat music)

34:42 (upbeat music)

34:45 (upbeat music)

34:47 (upbeat music)

34:50 (upbeat music)

34:53 ♪♪

Do You TRUST the Celtics Come Playoff Time? w/ Yahoo's Vince Goodwill | BIG 3 NBA Podcast

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