Maintaining C's Momentum into Game 4 | Celtics Beat

  • 5 months ago
In the latest episode of The Big 3 Podcast, hosts A. Sherrod Blakely, Gary Washburn, and Kwani Lunis discuss the Celtics' convincing Game 3 victory, what made the difference this game, the impact Joe Mazzulla made, how the Celtics can carry this energy into game 4, and much more!





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TOPIC TIMELINE:

00:45 - C’s Turn it around in game 3

04:20 - Celts Bench

08:40 - Mazzulla’s adjustments

13:37 - PrizePicks

14:35 - Focus on defense

17:18 - Porzingis

22:34 - Expectations for Game 4

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Sports
Transcript
00:00 The Big 3 NBA Podcast is powered by PrizePace, the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the
00:23 LNS Media Network.
00:30 This is the Big 3 NBA Podcast. I'm your host, Tayden Brown. And I'm your host, Bonnie Lunas. Let's get into it already. The Celtics, back in the series, they take control in Game 3 in Miami. Miami just scored 12 points in that first quarter. Tayden with 22 and 11. Brown and 22 and 8 rebounds. What do you make of this bounce back? I get people were being a little dramatic after one loss, but how big of a turnaround was it for Boston playing in Miami?
00:53 They did what they were supposed to do. This is what you do when you have the fourth best record in franchise history. This is what you do when you have the best record in the NBA. You go into somebody's building and you lay the smackdown on them, particularly when they're a team like the Miami Heat, which you know has historically had your number, particularly in the playoffs.
01:13 So it was a good win. It was a convincing win. And the thing that impressed me the most about this win was that I didn't think the Celtics played great basketball. I thought they played good. I didn't think they played great basketball. And even though that they won by 20 points, there's clear and undeniable room for growth.
01:37 I thought it was a good win, way to respond from Joel Mazzulla. And the entire team, it just wasn't Mazzulla who needed to respond. The entire team needed to respond. Being an aggressive team, the more passionate team, playing well, playing cohesive, playing strong defense, all of the above, and then letting the offense take care of itself.
02:01 I mean, the offense, they're going to be able to score points in games, but they need to stop Miami. And Miami has now scored 94 points in game one, 84 points in game two, sorry, game three. So you have to stop them. You have to limit their open looks. You have to just play together defense, play with that passion, get all the loose balls, hustle plays, 50/50 balls, all that.
02:29 The Celts punch first, jumping out to a 12-3 lead, like Kewani said, holding them at 12 points in the first quarter. Miami could never really recover. And that's what you have to do. You got to stop these dudes out. Like, you can't take it easy, take the foot off the gas, chill, think, oh, they're shorthanded.
02:47 You literally have to play with that passion for the rest of the series to get these guys out of there.
03:08 I think you're playing with fire. You're giving teams, I think, more space to shoot than you probably should. But their ability to close out on pretty much every shooter that Miami was looking to get going early on was so pivotal. When you look at Tyler Hero, he was like 0 for 5 in the first quarter. And none of the five shots he took were good looks. And that's what you want if you're the Celtics.
03:30 Tyler Hero specifically is a guy that when he gets it going, he becomes damn near impossible to slow down. But the trick is, when he's off, he's ridiculously off. Like, he was 5 for 16 for the game, never got into any kind of flow or rhythm offensively, and that threw everything that the Miami were looking to do off.
03:49 Same thing for Jovic, who had a really good game 2 for them. He was also a non-factor, and he was another guy that they tried to get going early as well. So the Celtics' ability to not just be in the right positions in terms of guarding their men, but also closing out on shot attempts. I thought that was such a big deal for them in game 3, something that we didn't see them do nearly as good a job with in game 2.
04:16 Another thing we've talked about all season, obviously, is the Celtics' depth on their bench. So how would you say the bench played a role in that game 3 win as well?
04:27 I thought the bench was solid. Peyton Pritchard made plays in a couple of shots, had one of those little pesky putbacks that he does. Sam Houser knocked down a 3 and also played good defense. Al Horford. Those guys contributed. Those guys are all non-factors in game 2 for whatever reason.
04:46 I felt like the bench pitched in, contributed. It was an all-around good effort. They only scored 104 points, so they didn't have this masterful offensive game. We've seen them be much better offensively, especially in the second half. I think they scored 41 points in the second half.
05:02 They're going to need to be better down the road in the second half. They have to be more efficient. But it was most definitely good enough to win. You would have liked to have seen them maybe pull away a little bit more.
05:17 But you know what? You can't ask for everything. Playoff basketball is hard. You're facing a very quality and tough opponent. But I thought the bench came in, did exactly what they're supposed to do, had a spark, played defense too. It's not just scoring the ball, it's playing defense.
05:35 I thought Hauser, Horford, and Pritchard, and even Cornett, hit a couple of free throws in his first minutes back. He played five minutes. But seven points from Pritchard, nine from Horford, five from Hauser, plus 15 for Hauser, plus 15 for Horford.
05:54 Exceptional performance considering that it was just a balanced effort. Five scores and double figures. You know, sorry, four scores and double figures. But I just felt like the bench was a big plus in game three.
06:11 Yeah, and the thing that I liked about the bench was that Joe Mazzulla didn't wait to get them in the game. He played nine guys in the first quarter. And that's a little bit unusual in a playoff game to see that many guys play so early. And not that be something that you've been doing all season.
06:28 And, you know, part of it I think had to do with Porzingis picking up those two quick fouls. But I think a bigger part of it was that Joe was looking for, I think what Gary pointed out, a spark. Even though they were playing great defense, they still need to be connected, both the starters and the bench.
06:43 And so some of the good things you saw defensively out of that starting unit, they were looking, I think, for a little bit of an offensive spark from that bench, which is something that Peyton Pritchard and Sam Hauser have been pretty good at most of the season.
06:56 But in this particular game, it was Al Horford who was giving that offensive juice, with his ability to knock down shots and things of that nature. And that's what this team is going to have to do.
07:06 You know, their bench doesn't have to go out there and get you 25, 30, 40 points as a group. They have to make an impact. And that was not the case in game two. You go back to game two, Peyton Pritchard took the same number of shots as you, Quani, as you, Gary, and I combined.
07:23 And that should never happen. Never, ever, ever, ever should that happen. And so it was good to see him look to shoot. I mean, forget about the points he scored, just take a damn shot. That's what we're looking for.
07:36 And same with Sam Hauser. I thought they didn't use him nearly as much as they should have in game two. And to me, Sam is a specialist. He's a guy that he's becoming a solid defender, not spectacular, not all NBA defensive.
07:48 He doesn't get torched. He may not stop everyone, but he's not a, let's put it this way. He ain't Luka defensively. He ain't that dude. Sam is a solid defender who also has a specialty.
08:01 He's a knock down three point shooter. And I thought the Celtics, they did a good job of leaning on that a little bit more than I thought they did in game two. And that's, again, it's one of the main reasons why the Celtics did not play a great game.
08:15 And yet they still won by 20 on the road. And to me, that's what the second unit gives you the luxury of being able to do. Come into the game, not score a ton of points, but definitely make an impact with their presence to help buffer a not so great game by the starters.
08:31 Defensively, the Celtics realized how, but overall, it was an okay game. It wasn't a great game, but it was an okay game.
08:39 - Yeah, Sheraton, you mentioned Mazzulla putting in bench players earlier. What would you attribute to, when you think about the win itself to the win, is it more of a Joe adjustment factor or the fact that the Celtics just maybe used more of the depth in general?
08:57 - I'm gonna throw my two cents in, but I really wanna hear what Gary got to say. He's talking about Gary's boy, Joe. So, I went back, I looked at the game afterwards, just 'cause it was an earlier game, so I had time.
09:10 And I felt that the players were more leading the charge because the things, I think what Joe did more than anything else was reiterate who they were and made sure that they were reminded that when you do what you're supposed to do, when you do what our game plan is, you're going to win and you're gonna win comfortably.
09:29 But I thought it was the players that I think really kind of supercharged their play in that game at both ends of the floor. I mean, when you look at just the way they were defending, and I just remember just watching the game from home, there would be, when a timeout was called, there was a consistency with guys like Jason Tatum talking to Sam Hauser about something, and it was clearly they were talking about something defensively.
09:52 Same thing with Jaylen Brown. There was a level of communication among the players on the floor that seemed to be a bit more heightened than what we saw in game two. And so while I think Joe did a good job of just kind of setting the table, it was the players that made sure everyone ate good. It was the players that made sure everyone was, defensively speaking, where they needed to be.
10:11 And that's what a team is about, because if Joe Mazzulla did nothing, I think you might have saw a similar result to game two. And we'll talk a little bit more about just game four coming up, but it was really good to see that the players and the coach seemed to be kind of on the same page in terms of how we're going to approach this game, what are we going to do defensively, and what are we going to get from everyone.
10:40 What does everyone bring into the picnic today? And Joe was among those that brought a little something to the game. But I think the players brought more.
10:49 Yeah, I agree with Sherrod. I thought Mazzulla was steady during the break, three days off, and I think he instilled in his guys, "Listen, we need to be more forceful, play with more fortitude, play with more passion, be able to take control of this game."
11:05 Like, right away, punch first, don't let them get comfortable, and they don't have enough scoring talent to be able to score on the Celtics' top-line defense. They just don't.
11:19 The Celtics are willing to let Adebayo go for his step-back 16-footers, but you're going to run Tyler Hero off the 3-point line, and obviously their aggressive defense, their physical defense, got him frustrated.
11:35 Duncan Robinson was a non-factor. Kevin Love barely played. Haywood Highsmith, who can't shoot, turned into more of a driver. They ran him off the line, he hit a couple of floaters and layups, and that's fine.
11:46 They're like, "Okay, you can hit your twos." Jervick, same thing. Jamie Hawkins missed all three of his attempts. So this was a situation where the resistance increased, and Miami bent.
12:00 Miami was not the same team, and I think that was a combination of the players and the coach. I think Mazzulla said, "You guys know what you have to do."
12:07 And the players came together and said, "Listen, we know we're the better team. We know we're playing 100 percent, engaged, no lapses. There's not many teams on the earth that can beat them."
12:20 And I know that, so go out there and prove it. I don't care if the game is in South Beach, Miami, Cuba, wherever the game is.
12:30 It didn't matter what's on the road. They punched first, they took control, they took the crowd out of the game, and they cruised to a win.
12:38 And it was just like game one. Charot, they didn't play their A offensive game. 41 points in the second half, 3 for 16 from the three-point line in the second half.
12:49 They got outscored in the second half, but when you're up 24 points, you can do that. You can have that little bit of a drop-off when you continue.
12:58 There's a guy I said at practice today, they continued to play defense. The defense didn't slip. The offense wasn't great in the second half.
13:05 I mean, Jason and Jalen, I think Jason had 7 points in the second half, Jalen had 12. They're not going to be superstars in this series.
13:14 OK, like Miami's not going to let them go for 30 each and cruise. Maybe another series, maybe the next series, maybe a series after that.
13:23 This is going to be a grinded out series. This is not going to be pretty, but that's fine. As long as you play defense, play physical, let them feel you, you're going to win this series.
13:34 So I feel like it was the players just as much as the coach.
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14:32 You know, here's the thing, Gary. I wanted to just kind of get you to get your thoughts on this.
14:40 It feels as though all season long, this team has been built around scoring because they've got so many different options in that regard.
14:50 And yet we here we are in the playoffs and they're up 2-1 because of what they're doing on the defensive end of the floor.
14:57 What are your thoughts on how they are balancing those two worlds?
15:01 Because the Celtics, I think on the broadcast, they said something about the Celtics, I think maybe the first team in NBA history to finish in like the top three, you know, offensive and defensive rating back to back years.
15:12 Something like that, which makes a lot of sense when you look at just how they play and just the results that they put up.
15:19 But how much, how do you think they've gone about balancing those two things?
15:25 Because I'm not sold that they're as good at balancing the two as their stats might indicate.
15:32 But what are your thoughts on that?
15:33 I think when they hit shots, I think they contend to coast a little bit and rely too heavily on their offense.
15:39 I think they know when they're locked in and 100% engaged and knocking down on shots offensively, White, Orford, Brown, Tatum, when they're knocking down threes and they can score 135, 140 points, they know that they don't need, their defense doesn't need to be as engaged and locked in.
15:58 They know they can win a game 130 to 110.
16:00 It's what I just think these games have had, they've had to be locked in defensively, not because Miami has a great prolific scores, but Miami's just pesky enough to be able to hang in the game, muck up the game.
16:15 They have a great coach.
16:16 They have a well disciplined roster to be able to muck the game up.
16:20 And they know if they catch the Celtics slipping, because that's how they're going to have to win, catching the Celtics slipping, being like a daisy, having those lapses.
16:29 If the Celtics don't lapse, especially defensively, they know they can win any game and they can have their C game offensively because they have so many scores.
16:37 They have even guys like Drew Holliday, they have guys like Al Horford and Peyton Pritchard who can come in and deliver 10, 18 or 15, 16 points on any given night.
16:47 The same with Derek White, in addition to Tatum and Brown.
16:50 So I think they have to realize, and I think they're starting to realize we're a defense first team.
16:55 We have to be, we cannot be an offense first team throughout this playoffs and postseason expecting to win a championship.
17:01 We've got to focus on stopping other teams in the offense to take care of itself.
17:05 I think they entered game one with that mentality and I think they entered game three with that mentality.
17:10 I don't know what the hell happened in game two.
17:12 They don't know what the hell happened in game two.
17:15 Right. I don't think anyone did.
17:17 But Porzingis, also in game two, he didn't show up.
17:20 He didn't know what was going on.
17:21 But game three was his bounce back game.
17:23 He had eight points in the first quarter of game three when, as we know, in game two he had six points total.
17:31 So what adjustments did you guys see him make in game three and what should Boston be expecting from him for the rest of the series?
17:40 You want to see him, what did you see?
17:43 Well, I thought he got going early in a couple of threes.
17:47 He just, he just was, he made sure, he said it was a tough couple of days in reflection, having such a bad game and losing and going one for nine.
17:58 Just him not being himself and being a minus 32 in his 30 minutes.
18:02 So I just think he got going quickly.
18:04 He made himself a presence.
18:05 I think he scored more points in the first couple of minutes than he did all of game three.
18:11 I'm sorry, all of game two.
18:13 So he was just a presence.
18:14 And once you get him to be a presence, it opens everything else up.
18:17 So I just thought he was more confident, more aggressive, more assertive.
18:21 And like he said, quit getting frustrated.
18:24 Quit talking about the officiating.
18:26 I know he felt like he got fouled.
18:28 He felt like he got slapped and touched in game two.
18:30 And, oh, they were pushing him around.
18:32 You know what?
18:33 Get over it.
18:35 Get tougher.
18:37 You know, grind that out.
18:39 Get through it and you'll be fine and the rest will take care of itself.
18:42 And I think that's what he literally understood, that he had to be a little bit tougher, a little bit more focused in game three.
18:51 I think one of the things that we sometimes forget about Chris Stapps is that he's relatively new to this high stakes world of playoff basketball.
19:00 And he -- usually this time of year, when we're talking about like late April, he's in one, two, three Cancun mode.
19:07 Because the teams he played for, they literally not playing at this point.
19:11 So I think for him there's a bit of an adjustment of understanding, embracing the -- not just the opportunity,
19:19 but just the challenges that come about when you are playing high stakes playoff basketball.
19:25 How do you deal when you're getting a bad whistle?
19:27 What are some of the counters that you need to implement when things aren't going your way?
19:32 What can you provide and bring to the table that they're taking away, but you can still give them some of this or that or the other?
19:38 Those are some of the things that he is going to be working through.
19:41 And I thought it was a good experience for him in game two because he knows what it looks like to play poorly.
19:47 And now he has a better idea of what he needs to do in that -- when he's going through that in order to right the ship in game versus righting the ship after you lose.
19:58 And so for me, that's the thing that I like most about Chris Stapps in game three, was his recognition of what he needed to do better
20:07 and his willingness to look at ways to just frankly impact the game in a way that maybe isn't in his sweet spot.
20:16 Like, first, he loves -- when teams play zone, he loves to set up camp right in the middle
20:21 because he knows he can just more times than not shoot right over the top of guys.
20:26 But what Miami did, they forced him out a little bit further away from getting to his sweet spot.
20:31 And what wound up happening was when he would get the ball there, all of his shots were pretty much contested.
20:35 So what did he do? He stepped further away and got behind the three-point line,
20:39 spent a little bit more time behind the three-point arc, I thought, than he normally does.
20:43 And the result was he knocked down a couple shots, and that opened things up for some of those other driving angles and lanes for his teammates.
20:50 And so even though his numbers were significantly better, I mean, when you score 18 points on five-for-nine shooting, that's pretty damn efficient.
20:57 It opened up things for Tatum and Brown to attack, for Derek White to get going, a guy that I still -- I just don't think they utilize him enough when they really should.
21:09 But Porzingis, I thought, opened up opportunities for so many other guys when he was able to get his game going.
21:15 And again, I think he did it a little bit differently.
21:18 So I'm curious to see how does Miami adapt to that because if Porzingis is setting up shots behind the three-point line, you can't give him that shot.
21:27 And Porzingis, I think, now realizes that if they're going to close hard on me, pump fake, dribble drive, pull up, or pump fake, dribble drive, and find someone.
21:37 I think now Porzingis is understanding that I can't go to my bread and butter, camp in the lane of that zone, and just catch and try to shoot over guys because they're pushing me out.
21:47 They're not letting me get that comfortable.
21:49 So if he's figuring out what he can do to impact the game offensively more than he already has this season, that becomes another hole in the ship for the Heat to try to plug.
22:00 And I just don't think they can do that.
22:02 And this is exactly why Porzingis was so important to this team and why when you look back at last year's squad and you look at this year's, you look at all the new additions, there is none more important than Chris Asprey.
22:15 Because he is the one guy that Miami, when he's playing his game, they have no answer for.
22:22 And we saw that play out in game one, we saw it play out again in game three, and I suspect we'll see it play out in the next couple of games as this series begins to wind down.
22:33 So with that point made, what are the expectations for the Celtics in game four other than to actually win the game?
22:43 I think this might be blowout time. And they've won some pretty convincing games already.
22:50 But I think there's like that regular season Celtics beatdown. I'm not going to call a 50-burger win, but I would not be surprised.
23:01 Gary, they've won three games by 50 or more points. Don't act like you don't know.
23:05 Jarrod, question. What's a 50-burger wing?
23:08 Win, win.
23:10 We hungry. I heard a wing.
23:13 Okay, gotcha. 50-burger, okay.
23:15 It's a 50-burger win.
23:16 It's a 50-burger victory.
23:17 Continue.
23:18 But I mean, the Celtics won more games like that than anyone in a single season in NBA history.
23:24 I don't think they'll beat Miami that bad, but I do think that the Celtics have one of those games in them because they haven't had one yet.
23:31 We're three games into this and the Celtics really haven't had that one signature clicking at both ends of the floor kind of game.
23:38 Miami had that and they won that in game two.
23:41 And the scary part about game two, if you're at Miami, is that the Celtics basically needed maybe an average game for Porzingis and they probably beat you, even though you played a great game.
23:50 So I think the Celtics have that big blowout-type performance in them and we may see that on Monday.
23:57 We may see it in game five back in Boston, but it's going to come at some point.
24:01 And so that, to me, is what going into game four, I'm looking to see.
24:07 Are the Celtics going to get out to one of those, you know, like a 23-6 run or something like that or have that stretch where Miami just can't stop them and can't score against them?
24:18 Because that's one of the benefits of having a team that's elite at both ends of the floor.
24:22 You can literally create a blowout in about two, three minutes because they can't get anything going either way.
24:28 They can't stop you and they can't score on you.
24:30 So I do think game four might be a little bit more lopsided than people think.
24:36 And it's not so much that the Celtics have found some secret sauce.
24:39 It's just that Celtics have gone back to the original flavor that they are about.
24:45 And that is we lock you up on defense, we score at will and offense, and there's nothing you can do about it because the minute you try to limit one of our guys, we got four others who can go out there and get buckets.
24:55 And now that they've got the bench, I think trying to be a little bit more engaged at both ends of the floor, you have even more problems when Tatum and Brown take a seat.
25:03 So I expect game four to be very lopsided in the Celtics' favor. I really do.
25:08 Damn, Sherrod, you got a brother hungry for some original Kentucky Fried Chicken.
25:16 I know that's not one of our sponsors, but damn, Sherrod.
25:21 Yeah, I got an app for you, Gary.
25:23 Who got out of the Kerm?
25:26 I did.
25:27 That's before your time. Before it was KFC, your parents, your granddaddy would be like, "Go get some Kerm."
25:34 Is that a brand?
25:36 No, Kentucky Fried Chicken.
25:38 Oh, I see.
25:39 But the Kerm was the logo, like the dude, right?
25:42 Yeah.
25:43 Colonel Sanders. So your grandma would be like, "Go get some Colonel Sanders."
25:47 If I said that now to a 20-year-old, you would have heard it was Colonel Sanders.
25:52 That was the guy who did all the ads.
25:55 "Go get some Colonel for me. Go get some Colonel Sanders."
25:58 So that's old school.
26:00 So, original recipe, by the way.
26:02 Anyway, I think that they're going to have to fight in game four.
26:06 I think Miami...
26:08 One thing I know is Miami's doing a lot of talking.
26:11 You know, they're talking about, "Well, you know, Harold's upset.
26:15 Oh, they was pushing me around and grabbing my jersey.
26:18 Kevin Les said we're going to have a way better game plan."
26:20 Like, the Sevens aren't doing a lot of talking, which I think is good.
26:23 Like, just be quiet and ball.
26:25 Hoop.
26:26 Like, don't worry about what--you know, Miami's doing all this.
26:29 Oh, they're underestimating us, and, you know, we have the culture and all that.
26:33 Let them talk.
26:34 Go out there and punch first.
26:36 And just understand you're going to come up with--there's going to be--they're going to--
26:39 Miami's going to try to blitz.
26:40 Miami's going to change some things.
26:42 They're going to try to make some serious adjustments because they're desperate.
26:45 They know they can't go down 3-1.
26:47 And so withstand that because I don't think Miami is good enough to go up on them 20 points
26:54 unless the Celtics are just not there mentally and just missing, you know, going 2 for 30,
27:01 2 for 25 to start the game.
27:03 Miami just doesn't have that much offense.
27:05 But they do have enough offense, strong enough defense to make it, you know,
27:10 45-45, 50-50, 52-50 throughout the game.
27:15 Then come down to the last final possession to try to win 96-93.
27:19 Like, they're good enough for that.
27:21 So don't let that happen.
27:23 Whip the ball around.
27:24 Use your ball movement.
27:25 Use your talented players.
27:27 Get to the free throw line.
27:28 Get some easy points.
27:29 Get to the rim.
27:31 And just withstand that early charge.
27:33 Once you do that, I think you'll be fine because I think Sherrod touches on something
27:38 that's very important.
27:40 I feel that there's like eventually Miami's going to have to understand that they don't
27:46 have enough left.
27:48 And I think when you look at the playoffs, right, and you see some of these teams kind
27:53 of throwing the towel, I'm not saying Miami's going to quit.
27:56 But like you look at New Orleans in Game 3 against Oklahoma City where if they go get
28:03 the bell, if it's 2-1, they're still in the series.
28:05 They just didn't have it.
28:06 You know, same with Phoenix against Minnesota.
28:09 Eventually a team realizes if you keep the pressure on, we don't have enough.
28:16 We just don't have enough.
28:18 And you want to push Miami to that point.
28:21 Don't let them get life.
28:23 Don't let them get a win.
28:25 All of a sudden all the pressure's on winning Game 5 and you've got to come back to Miami.
28:30 Focus.
28:32 And I just think the heat will be focused.
28:34 It's up to the Celtics to match that focus and exceed that focus and just understand
28:40 that they're the better team and they need to play like it.
28:43 Well, we'll see what Game 4 actually brings us.
28:49 And we want to thank, of course, the listeners, viewers for sticking with us for the Big 3
28:54 NBA podcast.
28:55 We'll be back soon.
28:56 For A. Sharpley and Gary Washburn, I'm Swati Wilkins.
28:59 Thanks for listening.
29:00 [Music]

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