Join the Garden Report crew as they break down all the action from the Celtics' first game of the mini-series against the Pacers. Don’t miss instant analysis, live player reactions, and more!
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00♪♪
00:00:04Hard hat's all about showing up to play hard,
00:00:06doing what it takes to win.
00:00:07If you want to cement legacy, win another.
00:00:09He's your third center.
00:00:11You don't want to prop him up too much,
00:00:13but it's hard not to.
00:00:14This is maybe the most I've ever agreed with you.
00:00:16♪♪
00:00:22What's going on, guys?
00:00:23Dunnit, dunnit.
00:00:24What's up, fellas?
00:00:26Friday night.
00:00:28Everyone tell Jimmy how good he looks.
00:00:32Yeah, this is the second I've had.
00:00:33So I had this on Monday, this new camera,
00:00:35so it's not a surprise to everybody.
00:00:37But, yeah, I look pretty good with this new camera setup.
00:00:39Pretty good.
00:00:41I also got the microphone situational handle.
00:00:45He hooked me up with, like, the arm.
00:00:48He mailed me one because the first one didn't work,
00:00:51but I'm at shout-out.
00:00:53I did get this to work.
00:00:54Here it is, guys.
00:00:57Almost professional.
00:00:59It's definitely professional.
00:01:01I should stop messing with it, though,
00:01:02because I'm already screaming.
00:01:04Bobby's here.
00:01:06We have limited Bobby time
00:01:08because he's going to jump into some post-game stuff,
00:01:10but it was a blowout.
00:01:11We're going to listen to Joe together here on the stage
00:01:14when he comes up,
00:01:16and we'll hear that press conference.
00:01:18But, yeah, let's talk about some things today, Bobby.
00:01:25It felt like a bit of a correction game.
00:01:28Celtics don't like – I mean, the players all admitted
00:01:31that they played like ass last game
00:01:33and that they've been a little bit down.
00:01:36Joe got a little defensive pre-game.
00:01:38We'll hear from Joe on that as well.
00:01:41But what do you think happened tonight,
00:01:44like, that completely flipped it?
00:01:46Is it just as simple as, well, they made shots,
00:01:50or you think they came out with a different kind of mindset?
00:01:54Fred's here.
00:01:56Come on, Fred.
00:01:57Celtics got it right tonight, Fred, right?
00:01:59They got it right.
00:02:02Hey, we back in the winning column, man.
00:02:03Get the hat, hard hat.
00:02:04Where's Mayor Wu?
00:02:06Where's the hard hat?
00:02:07Where's the mayor?
00:02:09He wants the hard hat over there.
00:02:10I mean, they did what they said
00:02:12they were going to do for this one,
00:02:14manage the game offensively,
00:02:16clean up some of the defensive issues with their offense.
00:02:19And it's not like they rained down threes in this one,
00:02:21but shooting got back, especially through Jalen Brown.
00:02:25They played with some good pace,
00:02:26and the defensive intensity ramped up
00:02:29when they needed to in the second quarter
00:02:30there to slam the door shut.
00:02:32And Brown set the tone for a lot of it.
00:02:34And I think it's another good example of him
00:02:36being the guy who sets the temperature for this group.
00:02:39I do think through some of those lapses,
00:02:41John, you didn't see Brown at his best.
00:02:42You didn't see him at his most engaged.
00:02:44And in this one, he grabbed the wheel and said,
00:02:47all right, let's plow right through this team here.
00:02:51And the Pacers were vulnerable,
00:02:52probably more vulnerable than we gave credit to,
00:02:55because I did think these were going to be
00:02:56challenging games this weekend,
00:02:58and it wasn't, right from the jump here.
00:03:01So maybe it's a good team to get right against.
00:03:03They clearly look that way tonight,
00:03:05and who knows what they're going to,
00:03:06what kind of effort they'll put up on Sunday.
00:03:08But Halliburton's not himself.
00:03:11Nemhart sets this one out,
00:03:12Topping gets hurt last night,
00:03:13and they're in a back-to-back.
00:03:14So they were in prime position
00:03:16for you to run them off the floor
00:03:18if you gave a commensurate effort.
00:03:20And that's what they gave here in this one.
00:03:21I think the efforts across the board were pretty good.
00:03:24I'll give them extra credit for doing it
00:03:26without Porzingis and Holliday.
00:03:28And I didn't expect this kind of a blowout in this one.
00:03:30I thought this was going to be a pretty competitive
00:03:32and challenging game for the Celtics here.
00:03:35And whether it's because Indiana let down
00:03:37or the Celtics excelled,
00:03:38probably a little bit of both in this one.
00:03:40You got to get right game,
00:03:41and you got to carry that forward here.
00:03:43I don't think it totally erases
00:03:45some of my concerns with them,
00:03:47especially as you get into the more challenging games
00:03:49into next month here.
00:03:51But it avoids what we probably expected
00:03:55or didn't expect to happen here,
00:03:57which is an all-out meltdown late this month, a disaster.
00:03:59I did not think it was going to get to that point.
00:04:01And that's what they avoided tonight.
00:04:05Good right-to-ship game.
00:04:06I think we would all have been slamming that panic button
00:04:08if it went the other way.
00:04:10Absolutely.
00:04:11Well, let me ask, Jimmy, let me ask you this.
00:04:13Do you like, are you thrilled with the fact
00:04:16that they were able to right the ship?
00:04:18Or are you annoyed that it's a choice
00:04:22and then sometimes they choose not to play the right way?
00:04:26Well, it's not a choice whether or not they hit their shot.
00:04:29So I think we can all agree
00:04:31that they got off to a hot start.
00:04:32You know, they hit a lot of threes,
00:04:35they hit shots in this game.
00:04:37And yeah, that good offense
00:04:39tends to lead to good defense, I guess,
00:04:41where it should be good defense, you know, regardless.
00:04:45But I know Joe said something about the game
00:04:48on effort and defense, Bobby.
00:04:50I know you could probably do a better job
00:04:51of summing up where he was coming from.
00:04:53But yeah, I mean, I think it's human nature
00:04:55a little bit, John, to, you know,
00:04:57start kicking rocks and being down on yourself
00:04:59when things are going your way and letting that spill over.
00:05:01It happened to them.
00:05:02It's not saying it's not going to happen to them again.
00:05:05It is a long season
00:05:06and I think they can get tired of things.
00:05:08But sometimes you're like,
00:05:10shit really needs to hit the fan for you to snap out of it.
00:05:13You know, you gotta, you know,
00:05:14somebody slaps you in the face and says,
00:05:16hey, wake up.
00:05:17You know, I imagine there was something like that
00:05:19that happened after the Christmas Day game.
00:05:21And this is what you get.
00:05:23So I'm not completely surprised by the outcome.
00:05:26I thought that they were going to come out strong
00:05:28after, you know, kind of an embarrassing way
00:05:30to lose on Christmas.
00:05:31But I think like Bobby,
00:05:32I don't think any of us expected a victory,
00:05:36you know, this one-sided.
00:05:38And yeah, Indy had a couple guys out, but so did Boston.
00:05:43Boston had a couple key guys out at the start.
00:05:45And, you know, no excuses for either team.
00:05:47And I think Boston just came out
00:05:49and, you know, did what they had to do.
00:05:50And again, I say right the ship.
00:05:53I mean, again, you know, if they lose Sunday,
00:05:55then you're probably having the same conversation
00:05:56that we had on Wednesday.
00:05:57So it's not that simple.
00:06:00But it is at least good to see them show some fight
00:06:04and show some stuff.
00:06:06I will say too, before we get to Joe here,
00:06:07he's at the podium.
00:06:09Okay.
00:06:10They had a long-ish shoot around this morning.
00:06:13They had a good session
00:06:14where they got into a ton of fundamental stuff,
00:06:15which I don't think they had to get to too much,
00:06:17Sam, as you were saying last year,
00:06:19going back to a lot of basics in terms of their system.
00:06:22So I think that helped them there.
00:06:24Win or lose, we have an understanding
00:06:26of where we're at, where we want to get to,
00:06:29what we have to work on, where we can get better.
00:06:31And they stick that whether we win or lose.
00:06:32So they do a good job of not getting distracted
00:06:36by things that don't impact winning
00:06:39and focusing on those things daily.
00:06:40So it's a credit to them.
00:06:43You played Jalen and Jason together
00:06:46for almost the entire first quarter.
00:06:48I think Tatum sat the last three seconds or whatever.
00:06:51What went into that?
00:06:52Was that because Jason or Jalen had it going
00:06:55that you changed up the sub-patterns?
00:06:56And what did you see from him tonight?
00:06:58No, it's just, it's important to do that
00:07:00from time to time.
00:07:01You know, it keeps us on edge,
00:07:04keeps the other team on edge.
00:07:07Can't get a rhythm to where a sub-pattern is
00:07:08and just creates an environment
00:07:10to where we have to be able to perform
00:07:12regardless of what we think is gonna happen.
00:07:14So, you know, we just work to do situations
00:07:16like that throughout the year.
00:07:18And then Jalen had 15 points in the first quarter,
00:07:20made his first nine shots,
00:07:22had some steals and dunks
00:07:23that really kind of ignited you guys.
00:07:24What type of energy did he bring tonight
00:07:26to kind of set the tone?
00:07:27No, he was big time.
00:07:29He has the ability to impact, you know, a team, an arena,
00:07:32just kind of with his energy and his physicality.
00:07:36And when he gets into a certain zone,
00:07:39he just gets locked in.
00:07:40And you kind of saw that on both ends of the floor
00:07:42with his, and I think the shot making is a distraction
00:07:45to what he does great defensively.
00:07:47And so it was great to see that from him.
00:07:49And like you said, I thought he was a catalyst
00:07:51to, you know, what we were doing on both ends of the floor.
00:07:55Joe, obviously the magic game,
00:07:56maybe not the best offensive performance
00:07:57and then defensively against the Sixers,
00:07:59maybe not the best.
00:08:00Was there any extra, maybe not frustration,
00:08:02but motivation coming into this game
00:08:03to bounce back after a couple of losses
00:08:05where, I mean, even you mentioned maybe inconsistencies
00:08:07were getting to you after the first game?
00:08:09I honestly, no.
00:08:10I mean, I think, you know, where our guys are motivated
00:08:12is to just kind of stay and even kill, you know,
00:08:15like this doesn't really matter
00:08:16just as much as a last game's loss doesn't matter
00:08:18because we have a game in, you know, 20,
00:08:20whatever it is, 48 hours.
00:08:21So can't be distracted by the result.
00:08:23You have to stick to the process of what you're doing well,
00:08:25what you're not doing well, where you can get better.
00:08:27And our guys do a great job of that.
00:08:28Do you think you saw more of the consistency
00:08:31we're looking for in the Sixers game defensively?
00:08:33And that's what it seemed,
00:08:34it seemed like the guys were locked in pretty early.
00:08:35I mean, we gave up a 33 point third quarter.
00:08:38So you can't win.
00:08:40It's just what you're willing to focus on.
00:08:43Can't win.
00:08:46I'm going back to JB.
00:08:47You said his shot making a distraction
00:08:49to what he does defensively.
00:08:50What does he do for this team defensively
00:08:52and before steals?
00:08:53Yeah, I mean, he can get locked in on a matchup
00:08:54and, you know, take that away.
00:08:56You can have a sense of physicality on and off ball
00:08:58and you saw some steals that he was able to get.
00:09:00So I think he just creates a natural energy for our team
00:09:04when he plays that way defensively.
00:09:06Like I said, he has the ability to really zone in
00:09:09on a matchup or on a certain situation defensively
00:09:12and take advantage of that.
00:09:12So he was great tonight.
00:09:15Joe, you went to Jordan Walsh early.
00:09:18What kind of boost did he give you guys?
00:09:19It seemed like he came in and made a few plays for you.
00:09:22Loved the Walsh minutes tonight.
00:09:24You know, obviously made a great read on his shot,
00:09:27but he has really good physical defensive possessions
00:09:30that you don't see.
00:09:32You know, you have to really watch the possessions.
00:09:34He stands guys up.
00:09:37He doesn't open up his hips on angles.
00:09:38He's physical.
00:09:39He got like two rebounds outside of his area.
00:09:41So he's continuing to get better on like the small things
00:09:43that really matter.
00:09:44And what makes you go, like earlier in the season,
00:09:46you went to Drew Peterson in certain spots.
00:09:49What makes you decide like, okay,
00:09:50this is the guy for this game, this guy.
00:09:52Yeah, the matchup plays a big part in that.
00:09:54Who we're playing against.
00:09:55He went to Drew Peterson against a team
00:09:56that is more susceptible to go and zone against us.
00:09:59And, you know, sometimes, you know,
00:10:02you're just looking about what he's done
00:10:04when he was in Maine or, you know,
00:10:06obviously it's a balance of having an understanding
00:10:08that everyone on the bench has to impact winning
00:10:10at some point.
00:10:11So, but it mostly goes into kind of
00:10:13what the lineups look like for us,
00:10:15what the matchups look like for your opponent.
00:10:18Joe, was there a kind of a freedom
00:10:19that you guys played with tonight?
00:10:20Just the ball movement, the excitement.
00:10:22It just seemed like there was an energy.
00:10:25Did you notice that?
00:10:26And what's that like to watch when your guys
00:10:29are kind of carrying out the game plan as you see fit?
00:10:33Yeah, I mean, listen,
00:10:34every game presents different challenges.
00:10:41We're running out of lobby time.
00:10:43So yeah, we got some more analysis here.
00:10:45It is interesting to me that if you tell Joe
00:10:47they played well, he'll point out why they didn't.
00:10:49If you tell him they played poorly,
00:10:50he'll point out why they did.
00:10:52So it's fine.
00:10:55It's just contrarianism.
00:10:56I don't care.
00:10:57It has nothing to do with basketball.
00:10:58It just always, it cracks me up a little bit.
00:11:01Which, was it good or not good?
00:11:04And here's the thing.
00:11:05This flies in the face of kind of some of the stuff
00:11:08he said pregame, which again, isn't really the story.
00:11:10But there's nothing wrong with admitting,
00:11:14yeah, we're playing like ass right now.
00:11:16I do feel when they're in their worst stretches,
00:11:18he gets a little defensive.
00:11:20Well, it's not as bad.
00:11:21Look at the numbers, look at the numbers,
00:11:22look at the numbers.
00:11:23And then they're playing really well.
00:11:25It's like, well, we didn't do great.
00:11:26And that's fine.
00:11:27If that keeps the Celtics level, so be it here.
00:11:29But-
00:11:30I think he wants to be level.
00:11:31I think that's kind of what he-
00:11:32And that's fine.
00:11:33That's fine.
00:11:34That's fine.
00:11:35It's not, it has nothing to do with anything here.
00:11:40It's just the way he likes to kind of play.
00:11:41Winning can just be just as dangerous
00:11:43as losing and all that.
00:11:44Yeah, and like I said, right before he came on,
00:11:47they had a long-ish shoot around this morning.
00:11:49Nothing unusual, but I did get back
00:11:51to a lot of fundamental stuff and it showed tonight.
00:11:54The ball control was good.
00:11:55The pace was great.
00:11:56Shot making pretty good as well.
00:11:59So I do think a lot of the execution offensively
00:12:01led to some better results on defense,
00:12:03which was good for this matchup.
00:12:04And I liked how they utilized Walsh.
00:12:07I liked the rotations overall.
00:12:09I didn't mention the Brown-Tatum thing,
00:12:10which I think was probably the most important part
00:12:12about this game is that they ran those guys
00:12:14a little longer to start,
00:12:17beat down on Indiana's second unit
00:12:18and use that to pretty much run away with this game.
00:12:20So I'll give Joe a lot of credit
00:12:22for the turnaround for this game.
00:12:23I do think he managed the last two days well,
00:12:26as well as the start of this game.
00:12:28Even the substitutions, Hauser, Porford,
00:12:31I thought set a good tone for this game as well here.
00:12:34So all in all, again, get right game.
00:12:38Can you carry it forward?
00:12:40That's gonna be the key now.
00:12:44That's what it comes down to, right?
00:12:45Yes, I know.
00:12:47The whole, it's fine to,
00:12:52you just don't wanna get into one-on-one-off sort of thing.
00:12:56The best thing about the Celtics last year was
00:13:00a bad loss or a stretch of not so great
00:13:03would be followed by seven straight wins.
00:13:05You saw that so many times,
00:13:07which is why, much to Jimmy's chagrin,
00:13:09I didn't get worried about anything last year.
00:13:11And I'm like, they're fine.
00:13:13They were fine.
00:13:16But I'm still not there with these guys.
00:13:19No, you can't have one game.
00:13:21Yeah, we've seen it a bit.
00:13:23And again, it might be as simple as the shots fell
00:13:25and they fell, they fell early.
00:13:27Once those threes fall early,
00:13:28you can see it really messes with the other team's psyche
00:13:32because they know they're in trouble there
00:13:36because there's really, it's hard to get out of that.
00:13:40And you know, just that avalanche is coming
00:13:42and you've got to kind of sit there and wait it out.
00:13:44And when it doesn't stop, it gets ugly.
00:13:47But they didn't just do that tonight.
00:13:49Again, it's always the too many threes
00:13:51versus not enough threes versus the quality of the threes.
00:13:54The ball moved a lot better tonight.
00:13:56It's really clear.
00:13:58It's really clear when they're getting the right looks
00:14:01and they're not falling or they all are falling.
00:14:03And it's really clear
00:14:04when they're just taking the first shot available to them.
00:14:07And there was a lot of really nice extra pass,
00:14:10good movement inside out, basketball throughout,
00:14:14while also, you know, thanks to Brown mainly,
00:14:17attacking a fair amount and attacking the paint
00:14:20and not letting them off the hook there.
00:14:21So it was a really good balance, I thought.
00:14:24Yeah, and then they were getting going in transition
00:14:27and they had steals, which again, it was great to see.
00:14:29That's the stat that's going to jump a little bit tonight
00:14:33is just, you know, Brown alone having four steals
00:14:35after they only had a single steal last game.
00:14:37And Bobby, that's something you've brought up before.
00:14:39Like they're not a team that gets,
00:14:41that turns the other guys over very often.
00:14:45Yeah, and they've done a better job of it this year.
00:14:48And in spots like this,
00:14:49you see the forcefulness they play with defensively.
00:14:51And Joe mentioned it.
00:14:52And they only have five, yeah.
00:14:54I thought he came in with some good energy
00:14:55on the defensive end as well, forcing a turnover or two.
00:14:58He was there on one of those steals too,
00:15:00that Brown got coming around the back of a guy.
00:15:02So I liked the forcefulness, the way they got in transition.
00:15:06It wasn't just a drove of threes
00:15:07that led to the avalanche, as you said, John, there.
00:15:09And 17 offensive rebounds too,
00:15:11I think is something Joe's really been looking for,
00:15:14especially when they are missing threes.
00:15:15They need to be able to counteract that
00:15:17with their offensive rebounding.
00:15:19And Pritchard brought that.
00:15:20This is a get-right game for Pritchard too,
00:15:21who I thought was just phenomenal here.
00:15:24So all in all, great efforts across the board.
00:15:28And I do think the effort being there was a big part of it.
00:15:31The focus and the attention to detail on both ends.
00:15:36Again, the Pacers were vulnerable in this one,
00:15:40but you weren't going to walk in here and get a win.
00:15:42It wasn't going to be that easy.
00:15:43So they came and took it seriously right away
00:15:46and it showed in how the lead built and built throughout.
00:15:48And they never really let up.
00:15:50Maybe a little bit at the end of the second quarter there,
00:15:52but other than that, it built in the third,
00:15:54built into the fourth.
00:15:55You sit down the starters early and you're out of here.
00:15:58And I am going to hit the locker room real quick, John,
00:16:00but I'll be back.
00:16:01And I do want to talk about the Joe thing from pregame
00:16:04because I have a lot to say about that.
00:16:06All right.
00:16:08Well, Bobby, we may or may not be here when you get back,
00:16:12but hopefully we will.
00:16:13Make it snappy.
00:16:14All right.
00:16:15So Bobby Manning, jump into the locker room.
00:16:17We'll hear from Noah in a little bit as well.
00:16:20So again, I'll go back to the Jalen thing.
00:16:24It's-
00:16:25Jalen, he played tonight?
00:16:28Did he play?
00:16:29I'm not sure.
00:16:30Let me look up how he did.
00:16:31Who gets your brownie award tonight?
00:16:34Who gets the brownie?
00:16:37I mean, look-
00:16:38Jalen had a game.
00:16:38Jalen had a game.
00:16:39Kidding aside, like this was man on a mission.
00:16:43This was man on a mission sort of stuff.
00:16:45Like it was, it was get out of my way.
00:16:48Oh boy.
00:16:49Yeah, that's right, Louise.
00:16:53Jalen Brown was unbelievable in that first quarter.
00:16:55And I think he, I saw the stat.
00:16:57He's, it was his sixth 15 point first quarter,
00:17:00which obviously leads the league.
00:17:04Listen, he's been known, not just this year.
00:17:07In fact, I feel like we used to see it more often.
00:17:11He's been known to just light it up to start these games.
00:17:14And on the other hand, typically he fizzles after that.
00:17:18But tonight you got to give him credit.
00:17:20He was hot, hot, hot from the first quarter on.
00:17:24I know they tried to get him 50.
00:17:25Joe wanted to try to get him 50 early
00:17:27in that fourth quarter, but it just wasn't happening.
00:17:29And then Indy knew what was up.
00:17:30They started to-
00:17:32Do you know what I liked though?
00:17:34The one time that he went to the hole there
00:17:36and he dished it off to Luke, that was good.
00:17:38Because I think it would have been gratuitous
00:17:40to try something there.
00:17:41And that was kind of the, that was the tip off there.
00:17:44I think Joe knew it.
00:17:46But like the dunks were ridiculous.
00:17:48The steal, he had that stretch there
00:17:49with the dunk in the lane
00:17:50and then the steal and the windmill.
00:17:53And, you know, it was just silly stuff.
00:17:55But just the three, I loved that corner three
00:17:58that he caught it kind of going to his left
00:18:00and just jumped straight up.
00:18:02You know, just really unbelievable.
00:18:06I mean, again, at that level.
00:18:09Again, this is a guy who earlier in the day, Jimmy,
00:18:12was bestowed this honor that we didn't know existed.
00:18:17This, whatever this is, the player of the year.
00:18:23I guess Chris Mannix gets to just decide on his own.
00:18:26That's some power, I guess now.
00:18:27I don't know what this is.
00:18:29Are there going to be multiple players of the year?
00:18:32Was it like a basketball player or just a player?
00:18:35So basically, Si picking one for each sport
00:18:38and Mannix is the hoops guy.
00:18:40So he picked Jalen and he's apparently, this is a thing.
00:18:45I didn't read, was there a corresponding article
00:18:48to go along with it, I imagine, to like defend the pick or?
00:18:52Yeah, but that's, you know, that's a lot of work.
00:18:55I mean, you're picking the MVP of the NBA finals.
00:18:58It's not that far-fetched, I guess.
00:18:59I mean, Jalen Brown, you know, he signed a massive deal.
00:19:02He kind of stepped up in some big moments
00:19:06for the Celtics last season.
00:19:08And I mean, are there better basketball players than him?
00:19:12Yeah.
00:19:13Are there, you know, better athletes in other sports?
00:19:18Now you start getting into different sports,
00:19:20it's a whole different conversation.
00:19:21I mean, Matsui, I mean,
00:19:28there's some freaking good, some good players out there.
00:19:32Yeah, did you say Hideki Matsui?
00:19:34Is that where you were going with it?
00:19:35Yeah, I was.
00:19:36Instead of Ohtani?
00:19:37Ohtani.
00:19:38No, they're doing one for each sport.
00:19:39They're doing one for each sport.
00:19:41They're doing one for each sport.
00:19:42I mean, when you're talking about basketball
00:19:47player of the year, I don't know what it's based on, right?
00:19:49So it's not based on-
00:19:50I don't know what it is.
00:19:51Best player, but the guy certainly has had a big say
00:19:55in the success of the Celtics team.
00:19:58They won the NBA finals.
00:20:00Now, again, he didn't go to the Olympics,
00:20:03so you can't factor any of that stuff in
00:20:06when you're talking about player of the year.
00:20:07I don't know if that counts, but it's an interesting pick.
00:20:10Mannix has been around the Celtics for 20 years.
00:20:14You know, when I was covering the team,
00:20:17Mannix was already there covering the team.
00:20:18He's been a fixture on that team for a long, long time.
00:20:22So for him to pick Jalen Brown, to me,
00:20:23says a lot about Jalen Brown
00:20:25and what Jalen Brown means to this team,
00:20:26because Mannix knows a lot about the Celtics.
00:20:29A lot about the Celtics.
00:20:30He's probably hasn't reported more things
00:20:33than some reporters have reported.
00:20:35That's how much I think Mannix is kind of in tune
00:20:38with what goes on in that organization
00:20:40over the last 20 plus years.
00:20:43So it's a nice honor for Jalen Brown to have.
00:20:46Again, I don't really know what went into the pick.
00:20:48I don't know what it is, but it's cool.
00:20:50But it is cool. Good for him.
00:20:51You know, well, well-deserved.
00:20:52What am I supposed to say?
00:20:54What do you want me to do?
00:20:54Trash it?
00:20:55You want me to trash it, Jalen?
00:20:56I'll do 10 minutes trashing it if you want to.
00:20:58No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:20:59It's totally fine.
00:21:00But that, it was an interesting thing
00:21:01I didn't know existed prior to Jalen Brown.
00:21:03I didn't know it existed.
00:21:04I didn't know it existed.
00:21:05Yeah, it's a...
00:21:07But this was a Jalen game and you have now
00:21:11two signature games in the span of a couple of,
00:21:16you know, in the span of a few games here
00:21:19with Brown on the second of the back-to-back
00:21:22against Chicago and then, and I mean,
00:21:25not Tatum, and then Brown here.
00:21:27Two, like, best games of the year
00:21:30from your two best players,
00:21:31like, within the last few games.
00:21:33So that's pretty good from Brown.
00:21:37But he was just, like I said,
00:21:38man on a mission, willing his way past wherever,
00:21:41you know, past anybody, wherever he wanted to go.
00:21:43And again, people have pointed out in the chat,
00:21:46and Joe said it in the post game,
00:21:48it begins with defense.
00:21:49It's such a cliche to say it,
00:21:51but it's like, look, he sucked last game
00:21:55and he was asleep and then he woke up
00:21:57in the third quarter.
00:21:58He had a good third quarter,
00:21:59but it all starts with, like, that engagement.
00:22:02It's almost like you gotta trigger yourself
00:22:04to get into the flow of the game
00:22:06by deciding that you're gonna play defense.
00:22:08I think Brown is definitely, like,
00:22:10one of those guys to the nth degree.
00:22:13When he comes out, especially, like,
00:22:15some of his best games was like,
00:22:16I'm gonna lock that other dude up
00:22:18or I'm gonna go out there
00:22:18and I'm gonna be a menace on defense.
00:22:20It just clicks you into another world,
00:22:23you know, just another kind of zone
00:22:26from an energy perspective.
00:22:27And, like, that's where he was tonight
00:22:28and that translated over to offense.
00:22:30So it's really dumb and really is a cliche
00:22:32and Bobby loves it, but it's like,
00:22:34Jimmy, are you gonna find the center of that screen
00:22:37or are we just gonna keep fiddling there?
00:22:39Just keeps moving.
00:22:40Are you trying to do something artistic?
00:22:41No, you're moving it.
00:22:43Yeah.
00:22:44My foot, like, moved the wire.
00:22:46If only you could see this setup.
00:22:48I'm watching you move it.
00:22:50I'm watching you move it.
00:22:51It's gonna move, like, just moving on, moving on.
00:22:54It was a defense triggers offense
00:22:59sort of game for him.
00:23:00I think it's across the board for all of them.
00:23:04It is.
00:23:06It is.
00:23:06I mean, but Jalen Brown gets into a zone.
00:23:08He starts, you know, he starts to feel it.
00:23:10You know, Jalen Brown kind of gets-
00:23:11You see this, Jimmy?
00:23:12Starts feeling himself a bit.
00:23:14He's got that swagger to him.
00:23:16Yeah, what happened?
00:23:17You dunk?
00:23:18It's pie injury.
00:23:18Did you dunk too?
00:23:20No.
00:23:21Yeah.
00:23:22After Christmas?
00:23:23I had a bad pie.
00:23:26Look at that.
00:23:28I'm looking at it here on the screen.
00:23:30Brutal.
00:23:31You didn't mention that on the Christmas show.
00:23:32Did that happen after the show?
00:23:34No, it happened during,
00:23:35but, like, I'm really noticing it now.
00:23:37Look at that thing.
00:23:38Yeah.
00:23:39Bad pie.
00:23:40Battle wound.
00:23:41What was the pie?
00:23:42Just rushing.
00:23:43I was just rushing.
00:23:44Yeah.
00:23:45Yeah.
00:23:46Let's see.
00:23:47Yeah.
00:23:48It's a bad, bad pie day.
00:23:49But that was in the kitchen.
00:23:49People think it's, you know, it's real.
00:23:52It's real in that one.
00:23:53No, man.
00:23:54That's real stuff.
00:23:55We lost a lot of good men in the kitchen.
00:23:57We lost a lot of good people here.
00:23:59We're gonna hear more from Celtics there.
00:24:01A couple interesting tidbits on the NBA as well.
00:24:04One involving the Sacramento Kings,
00:24:05and also there's a Jimmy Butler update.
00:24:07We're gonna get Noah on the show.
00:24:10We're going to talk a little bit
00:24:12about our guy Peyton Pritchard,
00:24:14and a bunch of other things.
00:24:15Jimmy's gonna wake the F up at some point or another.
00:24:19Man, it's been a long week, man.
00:24:20It's been a long week.
00:24:21Yeah.
00:24:22He's gonna try.
00:24:23He's gonna try to wake the F up.
00:24:25I know.
00:24:26It's been tough.
00:24:26But first, we're gonna hear a little bit
00:24:28from one of our sponsors here on The Garden Report,
00:24:30and we're gonna start with PrizePix.
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00:24:52I'm gonna say I absolutely mucked my pick four
00:24:57right out of the gate,
00:24:58because I had JSN going over,
00:25:00and that was a ugly stinker of a Thursday night game.
00:25:02But I'm saying Drake May is gonna show tomorrow.
00:25:06Patriots Chargers,
00:25:07I think it's gonna be a nice one for him.
00:25:08So I'm still kind of riding Drake May.
00:25:10But you can make your holidays-
00:25:11That's a Saturday game?
00:25:13Yeah, bigger and brighter with PrizePix.
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00:25:17And yeah, I'm all in on the Pats tomorrow.
00:25:19Only game in town.
00:25:20It's a one o'clock game with a Saturday game.
00:25:23That should be fun.
00:25:24This season, PrizePix has given away
00:25:25two free picks in December,
00:25:2730 plus million dollars in rewards during Pickmas,
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00:25:50So again, PrizePix, run your game.
00:25:55Back to the game itself now, Jimmy.
00:25:57We're gonna, like we said,
00:25:58Bobby and Noah jumping on in a little bit.
00:26:01Outside of Jalen needed a get-right game.
00:26:04You also had to have Peyton Pritchard jumping back today.
00:26:07And he was good after maybe some not-so-good.
00:26:13Pritchard was nice.
00:26:14He was nice.
00:26:15He was still in there
00:26:15trying to get that garbage time triple-double late.
00:26:18I love that shit late in the game too,
00:26:20when he's there for one reason.
00:26:22He's standing under the basket
00:26:23and you got Jordan Walsh jumping up
00:26:25and snatching rebounds out of his hand
00:26:26and the crowd knows it.
00:26:28And they're like, dude, come on.
00:26:31You gotta understand the mission at this point.
00:26:33But he was good.
00:26:36He was good.
00:26:37He needed it.
00:26:37He's had a couple of off nights, off-shooting nights.
00:26:40And again, four of 11.
00:26:42Still not a great, not like lights out,
00:26:45but you start to see those threes fall a little bit.
00:26:4818 points, we're a little bit,
00:26:50I think the needle has moved
00:26:52on what you expect from Peyton Pritchard.
00:26:55Last season, 18 points.
00:26:58We're oohing and aahing about it.
00:26:59Now we're like, 18 points?
00:27:00Ah, it would have been good to get the triple-double.
00:27:04But he had three straight games.
00:27:06He had three straight single-digit games.
00:27:08Four, seven, and six.
00:27:09He was one of nine from the field last game.
00:27:12Zero for eight from three.
00:27:13One of five from three the game before that
00:27:15against Orlando, the loss.
00:27:17And then two of six against Chicago.
00:27:19So again, it's not big, brutal,
00:27:23but he'd gone through that stretch.
00:27:25But before that, I mean, this is how he started December.
00:27:2824-25-19, he had that one goose egg game.
00:27:32Came back 22-27, and then he just cooled down
00:27:36right around, again, 15-14-fine.
00:27:39You're right, that used to be good.
00:27:41Not anymore for this guy.
00:27:43Six, seven, four, so just a little bit of a dip,
00:27:46a little bit of a swoon for him,
00:27:49which is interesting because he put up some huge games,
00:27:52but overall, his December numbers are slightly below his,
00:27:57not slightly, there are below his November numbers overall.
00:28:00He's averaging his three-point percentages down,
00:28:03his overall field goal percentages down,
00:28:04his points per game are down.
00:28:06So yeah, with a guy like Pritchard,
00:28:08you do worry a little bit.
00:28:10Like, is he turning back into a pumpkin?
00:28:11I'm not saying it is, but like,
00:28:14was November unsustainable?
00:28:16You know, he scored almost 16 points a game.
00:28:18He was shooting 43% from three.
00:28:21And like, if you had that guy all season long,
00:28:24it's almost a cheat code.
00:28:25And that's kind of, you know, the tune we were singing.
00:28:27And he came out of December frigging smoking as well,
00:28:32and just a little cool down.
00:28:34So you really do want to see it just be a little cool down.
00:28:37And then back to this, back to the every night, 14-16-18,
00:28:41because if he's living there consistently,
00:28:44then you've still got the same guy that you've got.
00:28:47You know, I am always going to be worried with people
00:28:49that haven't shown it for an entire season
00:28:53or multiple seasons in the past,
00:28:54that that's going to go, not go away, but not be the same.
00:28:59Ultimately with Pritchard,
00:29:00you're less concerned with like regular season stats
00:29:03and more whether or not he's going to get
00:29:04to the post-season and be this guy.
00:29:07And I think like, I don't think it's ridiculous
00:29:10to think or worry that you get to the post-season
00:29:15and he kind of not disappears,
00:29:17but isn't this level of a scorer
00:29:21on a consistent basis in the playoffs
00:29:23when things clamp down.
00:29:25If he is, frigging awesome.
00:29:27So I don't know, like, are you fully sold?
00:29:29Like, this is Pritchard now and forever,
00:29:31and this is the guy you're going to always have.
00:29:32I kind of sort of am, but in the back of my mind,
00:29:35I'm always a little worried that like,
00:29:37oh, the guy who just shows up
00:29:38and like can't get any shots off
00:29:40and scores zero points comes back.
00:29:42Because he was like a gadget player in the playoffs,
00:29:46you know, just a few months ago.
00:29:48I think on this roster,
00:29:50this is the type of player I expect.
00:29:52I think if he was on a roster
00:29:53where people could focus in on him a little bit more,
00:29:55pay more attention to him out there,
00:29:57he would have a little bit more difficulty
00:29:59getting those shots.
00:30:00He scored six points a game in the playoffs.
00:30:01He was only getting 18 minutes.
00:30:03Again, like relative to his regular season numbers,
00:30:06you know, last year, you know,
00:30:08his overall numbers were up.
00:30:09He was close to 10 points a game, 22 minutes,
00:30:12and it just dropped to a point that he was,
00:30:15he was an afterthought.
00:30:16He really was an afterthought in the playoffs.
00:30:19Yeah.
00:30:20Some guys make the leap.
00:30:22You know, this is the year we make,
00:30:24we always talk about it, John.
00:30:25Is it a real leap?
00:30:26Like, you feel good about like, this is who he is?
00:30:27I feel like it's a real leap.
00:30:27I feel like it's a real leap.
00:30:29I mean, I feel like we always knew
00:30:31that Pritchard was a good outside shooter.
00:30:33We always knew that because we saw signs of it.
00:30:36In this year, he's really put it together.
00:30:38And not only the shooting, but the assists, the rebounds,
00:30:41he's working harder than a lot of guys
00:30:43out there on the court.
00:30:45He's a different dude.
00:30:46He's a different guy.
00:30:47He's morphed into a different beast.
00:30:49Andy outplayed your little Sparky guy.
00:30:52His dribbling route, he did.
00:30:55What's his name there?
00:30:56McConnell.
00:30:58Sparky McConnell.
00:30:59Yeah, TJ McConnell.
00:31:00You're like 7% present tonight.
00:31:03No, I'm always bad with names.
00:31:05I'm always bad with names.
00:31:06I barely know your name.
00:31:08TJ McConnell is a guy that I've loved for years
00:31:10and I still love him, even though Pritchard has,
00:31:13I can say Pritchard has leapfrogged him,
00:31:14but McConnell's a Celtics killer.
00:31:16Not tonight, but typically.
00:31:19Pritchard's dribbling video kind of went viral too
00:31:22on the socials.
00:31:23I don't know if you're on there, John,
00:31:24but Pritchard just dribbling in the garage.
00:31:26Like, unbelievable.
00:31:28Like, the work that this guy puts in.
00:31:30And he talks about it.
00:31:31He said it over the years too.
00:31:35Whenever there's any doubt
00:31:36or when anything, something goes the wrong way for him,
00:31:38he always just goes back to the work.
00:31:40Because if you base it on the work you've put in,
00:31:43you can always go back to it.
00:31:44He's like a Joe guy.
00:31:46He is like a Joe guy.
00:31:47Joe might be-
00:31:48It's the process.
00:31:49Joe might be a great reason for his sort of-
00:31:54We know where we want to go, you know?
00:31:56Yeah.
00:31:57They know where they want to go.
00:31:58I think another thing Pritchard said too,
00:32:00I only saw a clip of it,
00:32:02but he basically said, like,
00:32:04he's kind of in a great place off the court,
00:32:07you know, with his relationships,
00:32:08whether it's family, friends, whatever.
00:32:10He's in a really good place off the court.
00:32:12So that's helping him on the court.
00:32:15So, dude, that's messed up.
00:32:18Presentating energy.
00:32:20That is messed.
00:32:21You want me to go monotone?
00:32:22I'll go monotone.
00:32:24But no, I just think,
00:32:25I think we're seeing,
00:32:26we are seeing a different Pritchard this year.
00:32:28And I do think it's a guy that you can count on.
00:32:31I'm not saying expect near triple doubles every night, John,
00:32:34but I think you can expect double,
00:32:35you should be able to expect double digit points.
00:32:37You should be able to expect a guy
00:32:39that's going to rip down boards,
00:32:41not just the ones that fall to him,
00:32:42but he's going to be in there, you know?
00:32:43And he's quick.
00:32:44He's fast.
00:32:45He plays hard on both ends.
00:32:46He makes it difficult for the opponent.
00:32:47And that's why he's earning the extra playing time.
00:32:50Right now, you've got Drew Holiday,
00:32:51who's kind of in and out of the lineup,
00:32:53dealing with some injuries.
00:32:56I think that's just-
00:32:57We got our guys here.
00:32:58We're going to listen in real quick.
00:32:59There they are.
00:33:00It's a new year.
00:33:01You can't expect everything to just go perfect.
00:33:03You know, I think the adversity is kind of like,
00:33:06you need that more to kind of see what you're made of.
00:33:10So in those moments, you don't get concerned.
00:33:13You kind of just, you know, look to your guys,
00:33:16look to your group in order to use,
00:33:18it's an opportunity to get better.
00:33:21It's an opportunity to see what we're made of.
00:33:24So I don't really,
00:33:25I'll never get concerned in those moments.
00:33:27You just got to respond.
00:33:28And that's like my favorite thing to do
00:33:29is respond from adversity.
00:33:31And Peyton, Sam mentioned this morning,
00:33:33you guys had to get back-
00:33:34Bobby!
00:33:34To the fundamentals a little bit.
00:33:35Nice.
00:33:36What was that process like, I guess,
00:33:37this morning at shoot around or whenever that was,
00:33:39of kind of going back to the basics?
00:33:43I don't know if it's necessarily the fundamentals,
00:33:45but like just the intensity we play with,
00:33:48the pace we play with, the ball pressure,
00:33:51and then just being active off ball,
00:33:53like helping our guys out.
00:33:54If you see a guy get beat, we're recovering.
00:33:58We're having multiple efforts.
00:33:59And I think tonight we showed that.
00:34:01We had a lot of deflections.
00:34:03I don't know how many steals that JB had,
00:34:06but like we're just active and it makes a difference.
00:34:08We get out and running after that.
00:34:10So it's something we just got to be mindful of
00:34:12and keep playing that way.
00:34:14Jalen, you say never concerned,
00:34:16but was there any extra motivation to get back on track?
00:34:18Obviously you guys lost two in a row
00:34:19and you haven't lost three in a row this season.
00:34:21Like, was there any extra motivation there
00:34:22to get back on track this year?
00:34:23Yeah, of course.
00:34:24I think obviously playing on Christmas day
00:34:26is a privilege.
00:34:29And we kind of let our fans down on our home court.
00:34:33And we appreciate everybody
00:34:34for taking the time out of their day to watch this.
00:34:36And we didn't put our best foot forward.
00:34:38So I think we wanted to come out and respond today.
00:34:43And then Jalen, obviously you had a season I-44,
00:34:45Peyton, you were a couple boards away from your triple-double.
00:34:47Do you think your footwear choices tonight
00:34:48were a coincidence?
00:34:49Or do you think it meant something
00:34:51that both of you had such great nights?
00:34:53Like, you know, it gives you a little bit,
00:34:56like, in 2K, it gives you a couple points overall
00:34:59in quickness and timing, you know?
00:35:01I think I had two offensive rebounds in a row.
00:35:03Maybe if I'm not rocking the shoes,
00:35:04I don't have that quick of a bounce.
00:35:06If Peyton gets a dunk this season,
00:35:08it's definitely the shoes.
00:35:12Fair enough.
00:35:14Jalen, obviously-
00:35:15Who had these two guys at the podium together
00:35:17at any point in time?
00:35:18When you were making your first nine shots,
00:35:20the transition dunks, the three-
00:35:21Noah.
00:35:22The crowd's going crazy.
00:35:23What does that feel like-
00:35:24CLNS?
00:35:25For all of us in this room
00:35:26that have never felt anything like that before,
00:35:27if you could try to put it into words.
00:35:29It's just a rhythm.
00:35:30It's like, you know, you're just in tune with everything.
00:35:34Like, you're just connected to the fans.
00:35:36You're just connected to the game.
00:35:38Everything is just kind of flowing
00:35:40all in the same direction.
00:35:41And, like, you just got to do your best to stay in that.
00:35:44You know, little stuff can kind of take you out of it.
00:35:46You know, anything, arguing with the refs
00:35:49or paying attention to other stuff or whatever.
00:35:53You just got to do your best
00:35:53to kind of stay in that rhythm.
00:35:55And then I think you kind of can ride that
00:35:57and just enjoy that and play basketball from there.
00:36:06John, you're obviously really good
00:36:08in first quarters last year.
00:36:09This year has been some adjustments
00:36:10with subbing out Jason playing more often.
00:36:13Today, you got the whole run, got going again.
00:36:15How'd it feel to kind of get that run?
00:36:18And what's the process been like for you
00:36:19in the course of this year,
00:36:20kind of figuring out, you know, your spots and timing?
00:36:23I think it's been good.
00:36:25Obviously, it's been different.
00:36:26I'm used to being the guy that kind of starts the game off,
00:36:29but we switched it up this year.
00:36:31And that's made me, like, adjust to certain things.
00:36:34I've been more of a playmaker.
00:36:36But just trying to find my rhythm,
00:36:37I just think is ultimately making me
00:36:39a better basketball player.
00:36:41So, you know, whatever the team needs
00:36:43is whatever we got to do.
00:36:44But it's definitely been a little different than the past.
00:36:48Jalen, it's been a difficult couple of weeks for you.
00:36:52What have you done to kind of get your mind off of things
00:36:56and on basketball or off basketball?
00:36:58What have you done to kind of be meditative?
00:37:01What have you done to kind of make sure
00:37:03you're focused when you're here
00:37:05because life has been a little bit difficult?
00:37:09Yeah, I mean, I've just been spending time with my family.
00:37:11Obviously, like the situation that happened
00:37:14a week or so ago kind of affected us a little bit,
00:37:18made us start to evaluate,
00:37:19think about things a little bit differently.
00:37:22We didn't love kind of how the media approached the situation.
00:37:25We had drones flying over our house,
00:37:27people knocking on the door.
00:37:29It was a lot.
00:37:30But, you know, we get it.
00:37:31It is what it is.
00:37:32But that definitely takes some brainpower
00:37:35to kind of have to filter through that for your family
00:37:38and stuff like that.
00:37:39And we got some decisions we got to make going forward.
00:37:42And can you describe the significance
00:37:43of your skullcap?
00:37:46What do you mean?
00:37:47Like, what is it expressing?
00:37:51Biddy, biddy.
00:37:53It's just a fashion statement,
00:37:55but I guess I'm a king, so I got some jewels.
00:38:01Jalen, you mentioned there was a focus in a while,
00:38:06a lot of pride in being a leader in this team.
00:38:08Were you kind of searching more to find
00:38:12that rhythm and get into that zone you got into tonight,
00:38:15just given how the last couple games have gone?
00:38:18We just had to be ready to go, you know,
00:38:19however the game was going to be played.
00:38:21The style of play in the end, I think,
00:38:23is more catered to me, you know, aggressive, physical,
00:38:26getting up and down, transition.
00:38:28They kind of force us to have to play that kind of style,
00:38:31which I think is more catered to,
00:38:33like, how I want to play basketball.
00:38:35So tonight was a night
00:38:37where I was able to get into a rhythm.
00:38:39Next game may be different.
00:38:41Whatever the game needs, you know,
00:38:43being able to adjust and do whatever is needed for our team.
00:38:47If they were going to help, you know,
00:38:48being okay with just making those reads all night.
00:38:51But tonight we was able to turn them over,
00:38:53speed the game up, getting out, get some open shots,
00:38:56and I was able to catch a rhythm.
00:39:00Sam Anson from NBC Nightly News Kids Edition.
00:39:03This question is for both of you.
00:39:05First, great win tonight.
00:39:08Going into 2025, is there anything
00:39:10that you guys are focused on continuing or improving on?
00:39:14Who is this?
00:39:15I'm not doing kids.
00:39:17Who is this?
00:39:19I'm not doing it.
00:39:20I'm not doing kids questions.
00:39:21Is that Deuce?
00:39:25He's everywhere now, man.
00:39:27They just let it go.
00:39:29Hey, Deuce Tatum from the Tatum Times.
00:39:34Yeah, yeah, Jalen.
00:39:36No, no, I'm just kidding.
00:39:40Let's get back to it.
00:39:41Let's hear it from the kid.
00:39:42Guys, you know, continuing to feed confidence into our team.
00:39:46I think we're only as strong-
00:39:47Let's hear it from the kids.
00:39:48Each link.
00:39:49So, you know, empowering guys.
00:39:52I mean, shoot.
00:39:53They let Bobby ask questions.
00:39:53Continue their great play.
00:39:54I still love this kid.
00:39:56It would mean a lot for me to get Peyton,
00:39:58to help him get six man of the year.
00:40:00So just continuing to empower everybody on our team
00:40:03and give them confidence
00:40:04and kind of lead us on defense as well.
00:40:07Picking up guys, full court, you know,
00:40:09whatever I got to do, you know,
00:40:11getting steals, being active.
00:40:14But when our team is at its best,
00:40:17our guys are feeling empowered
00:40:19and we're playing and flying around on defense.
00:40:21So I would say those two things.
00:40:26Peyton, did you know you were two rebounds shy
00:40:28of a triple-double?
00:40:29And did you let Jordan know that
00:40:31that was happening as well afterwards?
00:40:33I didn't let him know, but, you know,
00:40:35after hearing the fans' reactions,
00:40:37and obviously it's very easy to see up at the scoreboard,
00:40:40but I could hear the gasp,
00:40:42but I've said this before, though.
00:40:44Like, I don't, when you know you have someone
00:40:46on the line like that, I don't want to like chase it.
00:40:48It feels, you know,
00:40:49I don't feel like it's a real accomplishment.
00:40:51You want to get it naturally in the flow of a game.
00:40:54And so hopefully I'll be in another opportunity.
00:40:58I'll get it then.
00:41:00And then Jalen, you had four steals tonight.
00:41:03I feel like defensively, the narrative isn't enough.
00:41:08You need those numbers.
00:41:09And is that something that you're capable of?
00:41:11And how do you kind of get to that
00:41:14while balancing the team defense aspect of it?
00:41:16For sure.
00:41:17You know, and I don't think defense is,
00:41:19like people pay enough attention to it, but.
00:41:22All right, we're going back.
00:41:25You sure?
00:41:25We're going back.
00:41:26We're back.
00:41:27So, good game by those two guys.
00:41:30I have a question for you.
00:41:31Will we ever see a Jalen Brown,
00:41:33Jason Tatum tandem presser again?
00:41:37It's a good question.
00:41:38I mean, back in the day,
00:41:39you never could get a Pierce without Garnett.
00:41:41I don't know.
00:41:42It's different now, I guess.
00:41:45It's so weird.
00:41:46In almost every other sport,
00:41:47it's the two stars always in tandem.
00:41:50But you got, they got their guys, right?
00:41:52It's KP and JB, PP and JB.
00:41:55You've got Tatum with Derek White.
00:41:56Oh yeah, Tatum and White.
00:41:58Yeah, yeah.
00:41:59Tatum and White.
00:42:00It's interesting pairings.
00:42:01You'll never get those guys going again.
00:42:02They're cool though.
00:42:03Don't worry.
00:42:04They like each other.
00:42:05Yeah, yeah.
00:42:06It's all good.
00:42:07It's all good.
00:42:08It's all good.
00:42:09Don't worry about it.
00:42:09It's all good.
00:42:10Shut up, John.
00:42:13Come on, John.
00:42:14Try to ruin a good night.
00:42:17Yeah.
00:42:18No, no, it's all good.
00:42:19Everything's fine.
00:42:20It's all good.
00:42:20They're fine.
00:42:21They're fine.
00:42:22Shut up, John.
00:42:23Shut up.
00:42:24Deuce goes over, like, hangs out with them and stuff.
00:42:27Yeah, they're buddies.
00:42:27They babysit and shit.
00:42:29Anyway, back to the game itself.
00:42:33So yeah, PP is another story.
00:42:34I'll say this because I got to look at the final box here
00:42:40before I start talking.
00:42:42I will say that Sam Houser,
00:42:48still looking for it a little bit,
00:42:49wasn't able to knock down threes.
00:42:51Yeah.
00:42:52The line looks ugly, but I didn't hate it tonight
00:42:56because the two buckets he scored
00:42:58were nice little up-fakes,
00:42:59getting run off the three-point line
00:43:01and coming up and drilling a little mid-range,
00:43:06which a lot of other people can't do.
00:43:08And it looked really smooth.
00:43:10He just, his threes didn't drop tonight,
00:43:12but I didn't think he was awful.
00:43:13A lot of people in the chat
00:43:14were kind of getting after him a little bit,
00:43:16and I thought he was fine.
00:43:19It doesn't matter.
00:43:19You need him in there.
00:43:20He started and he acquitted himself fine, I thought.
00:43:26You still want to see a little bit more,
00:43:27but I think that that's okay.
00:43:29You were missing poor Zingas.
00:43:30You're missing Holiday.
00:43:31So the old men continue to be banged up.
00:43:34I still think you've got a little concern there
00:43:39with the injury stuff.
00:43:41I don't know if it's load management or guys are legit.
00:43:44It feels like everybody's dealing with a little something.
00:43:47It does.
00:43:48And I mean, is there really,
00:43:49there's no reason to push these guys right now.
00:43:52I mean, they're obviously being careful
00:43:54with poor Zingas, with Holiday.
00:43:56Hauser, it's tough, man.
00:43:57It's just the back is,
00:44:00I mean, you're an old guy, John.
00:44:02You must have back pain.
00:44:03You must know what that's like, like to go-
00:44:04Amazingly, amazingly.
00:44:07No, I would.
00:44:08I don't want to jinx you.
00:44:10I would say getting out of bed every single morning,
00:44:12everything is sore.
00:44:15But I swear, it really is.
00:44:19Everything is like, oh, it takes a while.
00:44:24It's like a thousand mousetraps went off.
00:44:28Crack, crack, snap, snap, snap.
00:44:30But once I get going, I'm good.
00:44:31Amazingly, back pain has eluded me.
00:44:37Holy crap, because that wipes people out.
00:44:40There's people watching that have dealt with it,
00:44:42unfortunately, in and out of it.
00:44:43There's things you can do,
00:44:45but those are NARPs, as we call them,
00:44:51non-athletic regular people.
00:44:52You got a little back pain, you can figure out
00:44:55how to fix it, maybe go to the doctor,
00:44:57get a shot, cortisone, whatever.
00:44:58There's things you can do,
00:44:59but if you're a basketball player,
00:45:01yeah, there's things you can do,
00:45:02but then you have to go out there and play in the NBA,
00:45:05like the fastest pace against the strongest
00:45:08and most in-shape athlete.
00:45:10It's not that easy to fight through back pain,
00:45:12so I imagine Hauser's going through some stuff right now.
00:45:16Just a little bit of pain can like,
00:45:20that's true, John doesn't have to make any of that sound,
00:45:22just a little bit of pain can throw up the whole shot.
00:45:24It can throw off the whole shot, John, you know?
00:45:28Yeah, that's true.
00:45:32No, it can.
00:45:33It can.
00:45:37No, I won't do it.
00:45:39I've got some stuff.
00:45:40I've got some stuff I'm holding on to.
00:45:41I'm not bringing it out just now.
00:45:43There's some-
00:45:43He's always got some stuff.
00:45:46I'm waiting to hear it.
00:45:48No, we're not going to get there.
00:45:50We're not going to get there.
00:45:51Not tonight.
00:45:52Bobby and Noah gunning it out of the press conference.
00:45:56They were in the press conference.
00:45:57They're holding it.
00:45:58They're representing CLS in the press conference.
00:45:59You don't have to worry about it.
00:46:00Some good questions.
00:46:02We'll get those guys.
00:46:03They did ask some good questions.
00:46:04I actually like that question too.
00:46:06It is kind of neat.
00:46:06Like, you know, have you had dunking dreams?
00:46:11I've had dunking dreams.
00:46:12Me personally, I-
00:46:13Yes.
00:46:15Let's just say that ship sailed a long, long time ago.
00:46:17I was never close to dunking.
00:46:19The only dunking I ever did was in the driveway
00:46:22where I could like, I had the adjustable,
00:46:24the adjustable grip.
00:46:25But dreams, that's why they're dreams.
00:46:27Put it down to six.
00:46:28No, not even.
00:46:29No, I would just-
00:46:31It's a great dream.
00:46:34It's very cool.
00:46:35Maybe that's what I'll choose to dream about tonight.
00:46:37It's very cool.
00:46:38Go to bed thinking about dunking
00:46:40and see what you come up with.
00:46:41It's a great dream.
00:46:42Just being able to fly.
00:46:43It would change everything, actually.
00:46:45It's a cool question.
00:46:46Like, what does that feel like?
00:46:49Yeah, I mean, certainly I'm not going to ever come close,
00:46:51even as much squats as I could ever do.
00:46:54Didn't you tell everybody that you were close
00:46:56or that you could dunk?
00:46:57I could dunk any, I could dunk tosses all day long.
00:47:00Anything that was thrown above the rim.
00:47:02Meaning someone standing under the rim
00:47:04could lob it up over and I could just get up and dunk it.
00:47:07But it would slip out of my hand.
00:47:08I could dunk everything I could palm.
00:47:11Like a girl, you know, a girl's ball.
00:47:13Tiny hands, got it, got it.
00:47:14Everything.
00:47:15But, and I could dunk on the tosses,
00:47:18but like I could never just get up
00:47:19and throw down a basketball.
00:47:21I did it once.
00:47:22Yeah, that would be unreal.
00:47:23I feel like.
00:47:24But like I could do the other stuff all the time.
00:47:26But still, it's a cool feeling.
00:47:27If you can dunk, I feel like.
00:47:28And this is probably, this is coming from a,
00:47:30this is probably something that guys who can't dunk say,
00:47:32but I would just always dunk.
00:47:34Yeah.
00:47:35Like, wait, you can dunk it.
00:47:36Why don't you just go dunk it?
00:47:38Just go dunk it.
00:47:39I say I'm six feet.
00:47:40I'm probably five, 11 and a half.
00:47:44Why are you laying the ball up?
00:47:45Why are you taking this like six foot
00:47:48or eight foot or 10 foot?
00:47:49Dunk it.
00:47:49Just like two steps, dunk it.
00:47:51Like, I would just be constantly working
00:47:53on my jumping skills, you know?
00:47:57Yeah.
00:47:57My vertical.
00:47:58Yeah.
00:47:59Be getting my vertical up there.
00:48:01Laying it in is fine.
00:48:02Can Richard dunk?
00:48:05He can dunk.
00:48:05Of course he can dunk.
00:48:06They can all dunk.
00:48:08I know, but I feel like we just don't see it.
00:48:13I'm sure he can dunk, but I'd like to,
00:48:17if he dunks the whole team's going wild.
00:48:20We would like to see it.
00:48:21Bobby and Noah, I see them setting up right now.
00:48:24So while they are getting ready,
00:48:26we'll tell you again about another one of our sponsors
00:48:30and we are, yeah, we'll do it.
00:48:31We're going to talk about game time
00:48:33and I'm pulling it up right now.
00:48:34I'm going to look what's going on here while we're talking.
00:48:37Cause I want to see where we're at.
00:48:39Game time tickets.
00:48:40You know what?
00:48:41I'll say it right now because I was just on game time
00:48:43and I'm thinking about going tomorrow, the Fenway Bowl.
00:48:44You should.
00:48:46Oh yeah, that's fine.
00:48:46I'm thinking about going to the Fenway Bowl,
00:48:48not the Pats game.
00:48:49I'm thinking about going to the Fenway Bowl.
00:48:50And on game time right now, all in,
00:48:53I saw all in for 60 bucks, which to me is very crazy.
00:48:57I'm going to share it right now.
00:48:58Hold on.
00:48:59I'm going to share a screen.
00:49:01I cannot believe what you can get in for right now.
00:49:06At Patriots?
00:49:07Yes.
00:49:09Honestly, I think watching-
00:49:12Look at it.
00:49:13We're at lower bowl.
00:49:14Look at this.
00:49:15150.
00:49:17Oh my God.
00:49:18107, row six.
00:49:20107 is dirt cheap for a football game.
00:49:25Look where you can, dude, look at this seat.
00:49:29Are you kidding me?
00:49:30Look at this view.
00:49:31117 right here.
00:49:33This is unbelievable.
00:49:35You get to see Maevers, Herbert, two quarterbacks
00:49:38that should be top 10 quarterbacks.
00:49:41Oh my God.
00:49:42I'm going.
00:49:43This is unreal.
00:49:45I'm thinking honestly-
00:49:46Great deals, but you check, hold on.
00:49:48I got to tell people first what they have to do.
00:49:50If you haven't signed up for game time,
00:49:51this is unbelievable.
00:49:52These are great seats.
00:49:55Download the game time app, create an account,
00:49:56use the code CLNS, throw another 20 on top of this deal
00:50:01that you're getting here.
00:50:02$20 off your first purchase.
00:50:03Terms do apply.
00:50:05And again, you mentioned the Fenway Bowl.
00:50:06I'll check that out too.
00:50:07What are we looking at there?
00:50:09Fenway Bowl is a dude you get in,
00:50:11you can get in all in for like 60 bucks.
00:50:13Now, I have seen other sports at Fenway
00:50:16and it is always fun.
00:50:18I love it.
00:50:19I've seen everything there.
00:50:20Classic.
00:50:21I've seen hurling multiple times.
00:50:23I hope to God that hurling comes back.
00:50:26People are saying, what's hurling?
00:50:27Look up hurling.
00:50:28It's like, it's like lacrosse meets hockey meets rugby
00:50:34meets what's that sport they play in India?
00:50:43What are you talking about cricket?
00:50:43What's that sport?
00:50:44Cricket.
00:50:46Cricket.
00:50:47My brain is not working tonight.
00:50:48Anyway, download the app, create an account,
00:50:48use code CLNS.
00:50:50Nope.
00:50:50For $20 off your first purchase.
00:50:52Terms do apply.
00:50:53All in pricing.
00:50:54As you can see, you know exactly what you're paying for.
00:50:56Panoramic views from your seat.
00:50:58So you can check that out as well.
00:51:00Fenway is legit.
00:51:03I'll say this.
00:51:04Hockey's not great, but it's still a cool vibe.
00:51:07I've seen the Bruins there twice.
00:51:10I've seen football there.
00:51:11I've seen soccer there.
00:51:12I've seen a bunch of different things there.
00:51:13I've seen multiple concerts.
00:51:15So it's kind of cool.
00:51:16Yeah.
00:51:17Hurling isn't real, but I...
00:51:18Saw Pearl Jam using game time.
00:51:20I'll tell you that.
00:51:21I did.
00:51:22It'd be cool to watch a football game
00:51:24for like 50 bucks at Fenway.
00:51:26There's a lot of cool spots around Fenway.
00:51:28You can go out before, after, during,
00:51:29and then the game gets out
00:51:31and then you get the Pats game.
00:51:32So it's just like a full day.
00:51:34Let's check out these guys.
00:51:36Of football.
00:51:37Hi guys.
00:51:38What's up?
00:51:39How's it going?
00:51:41Good.
00:51:42How are you doing?
00:51:44Jimmy, are you wearing a hard hat?
00:51:47Yeah, it's not a hard hat game,
00:51:48but I was wearing a hard hat.
00:51:50I feel like it was, it warranted it.
00:51:52Somebody mentioned hard hat on the show.
00:51:55I'd say no.
00:51:56No, okay.
00:51:57No, it's not a hard hat game.
00:51:58Talk about that.
00:51:59Minnesota, Houston, those kinds of games.
00:52:02Speaking of hard hat, John,
00:52:03we gotta give away some things.
00:52:05Not hard hats.
00:52:06Yeah, we'll do that later.
00:52:07Anyway, guys, your primary takeaway.
00:52:10How about this?
00:52:11Talk about the game,
00:52:11but you can't mention Jalen or Pritchard.
00:52:13Go.
00:52:16I can go.
00:52:17Yeah, I mean, honestly, I don't think it was about them.
00:52:19I think from the beginning,
00:52:20you saw ball movement that we haven't seen
00:52:22in a couple of weeks.
00:52:23And I honestly didn't realize it until I saw it
00:52:24because then I realized this is what they usually look like
00:52:27historically over the last year and a half.
00:52:29And it's just been gone.
00:52:30And I think possessions where five guys
00:52:32are touching the ball,
00:52:33where people are turning down good shots for great shots.
00:52:36And, you know, obviously those two guys were a part of it,
00:52:39but it wasn't just them.
00:52:40I mean, Jason Tatum had a great game tonight.
00:52:41I thought Jordan Walsh had his best game as a Celtic.
00:52:43That stood out.
00:52:44But just overall, defensive intensity was there
00:52:46from the jump.
00:52:47And then the offensive part was probably
00:52:49what allowed that.
00:52:50And Sam Houser said a shoot around this morning
00:52:52that it's the offense is what's leading
00:52:53to the defensive issues.
00:52:54And I think today you saw really good offense
00:52:56lead to really good defense.
00:52:57And it was just a full team effort.
00:52:59You know, some guys got more on the box core,
00:53:01but everybody was bought in.
00:53:02Yeah, and we didn't get too much on the balls.
00:53:05Wait, wait, I just want to ask,
00:53:06is that what they've become though, Noah?
00:53:08Because normally they would say,
00:53:10like normally we would say defense,
00:53:13you started the defensive end
00:53:14and that helps get your offense going.
00:53:16Is this a team that needs threes?
00:53:18I know, but is this a team that has to have the threes fall
00:53:21in order to be able to not be so depressed
00:53:23that they can play defense?
00:53:25No, no, I don't think it's that.
00:53:26I think it's-
00:53:27Because otherwise they're sad.
00:53:28Yeah.
00:53:29No, John, I don't think it's like,
00:53:30they didn't get super hot from three today.
00:53:32I mean, they were up by 30
00:53:33and they were shooting 35% from three.
00:53:35It wasn't like they went crazy
00:53:36and that's what allowed this to happen.
00:53:38Ultimately, I think when they're turning the ball over,
00:53:41live all turnovers, and they're not,
00:53:43they're not the best transition defensive team at points.
00:53:45And so I think it's just,
00:53:46they're not setting themselves up to play good defense
00:53:48when their offense is bad and they're taking bad shots
00:53:51and they're missing, you know, getting blocked at the rim.
00:53:53These are indicators of bad defense.
00:53:54That's been Missoula's philosophy from the beginning,
00:53:57that he thinks that, you know,
00:53:58defense and offense should not be separated concepts.
00:54:00It should be one thing because they are one thing
00:54:02and they bleed into each other.
00:54:03Whether or not people like that or it's traditional,
00:54:06you know, that's another discussion point.
00:54:07But I don't think it's, they get super hot from three
00:54:09and suddenly now they're motivated to play defense.
00:54:11I think it's literally the mistakes that they're making
00:54:13from an execution standpoint
00:54:14are putting them in position
00:54:16to have the defensive numbers already kind of against them.
00:54:19Well, they've mentioned the shooting hurting their defense
00:54:23too, a couple of the players have.
00:54:25So I do think it stands to reason that on a night
00:54:28where the threes do fall like this,
00:54:30that you'd get a better effort,
00:54:31along with the fact that you've got such a bad spell here.
00:54:35They did.
00:54:35They made seven out of 16 in the first quarter.
00:54:37They very much did start hot.
00:54:39And that's where they put, I mean,
00:54:40they literally put the game away almost right away there.
00:54:42So yes, they came in, they started knocking down everything.
00:54:45And that's kind of it is like,
00:54:47if the reverse was true and those threes didn't fall,
00:54:49would they have played a, like a,
00:54:51do you think they play a bad defensive game?
00:54:55I don't think so.
00:54:57It's tough to tell.
00:54:58I mean, again, there's an urgency to this game.
00:55:00And I don't know if you guys played the clip
00:55:02that I already started to bemoan
00:55:04before I got off the first time.
00:55:05No, not yet.
00:55:06We saved it for you.
00:55:09I mean, how can you not say effort is a part of this
00:55:13and a part of the losses
00:55:14that they suffered leading into this?
00:55:16Not to say that they didn't care about the other games
00:55:18and that they cared a ton tonight
00:55:20and there was obviously more nuance to it than that,
00:55:22but there was definitely a higher level of intensity
00:55:24to their effort in this one.
00:55:26All right.
00:55:27So here's what's triggered Bobby prior to the game.
00:55:31A lot of us, a lot of people believed,
00:55:34and I'm sure media fans,
00:55:38that there's an effort issue to last game.
00:55:40And in fact, many of the players themselves acknowledged
00:55:43we didn't show up.
00:55:44Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum
00:55:45not only talked about it after last game,
00:55:47Jalen Brown again talked about it after this game
00:55:51saying, we're embarrassed.
00:55:52We didn't really give our best effort
00:55:53or put our best foot forward.
00:55:55Don't tell Joe Mizzoula, however,
00:55:57that the Celtics played with low effort.
00:56:01Here's what, you know, when he was asked about it
00:56:03prior to the game.
00:56:04And this is why Bobby's upset.
00:56:06I mean, if you're that, I don't know if that-
00:56:09Oh boy.
00:56:10I would never say that we're not motivated.
00:56:12I think, you know, I would never say that.
00:56:14So I don't think that's the case in a lot of the things.
00:56:17I think it's more of the details at times,
00:56:20the communication at times.
00:56:21I don't question the intrinsic motivation
00:56:25to our guys or where they're at.
00:56:26So I don't think that's the case at all.
00:56:28And I think it's easy to look at one game
00:56:30and say it's the defense.
00:56:31I mean, just two games ago,
00:56:32we dominated Chicago defensively, had two 25 point quarters.
00:56:35So I just think when you're in a tough stretch
00:56:38or when it's not going well,
00:56:39the easiest thing for the untrained eye to see
00:56:41is defense, effort, motivation.
00:56:43And those are just kind of words that people throw around.
00:56:46I think the things that we really have to get better at
00:56:48is what we focused on today.
00:56:51Situational defense in 10 to 15 possessions.
00:56:54We're a part of that.
00:56:55You know, I just think it's so easy to go to that
00:56:57when, you know, you lose whatever we've lost.
00:56:59What, two out of three, something like that.
00:57:01Okay, so the untrained eye really upsets Bobby.
00:57:05That's what it gets at.
00:57:05I will say this.
00:57:07I'm going to say this.
00:57:08Gerard Mayo gets, Patriots head coach Gerard Mayo
00:57:11gets legitimately killed for pulling out his score sheet
00:57:15after every game and saying we were really good
00:57:17except for these five plays
00:57:19where we gave up five touchdowns, 80 yard touchdowns.
00:57:21But other than that, we were great.
00:57:23And so Joe does that a lot.
00:57:25Like we're really good except for 15 possessions.
00:57:27Yeah, I mean, sometimes games come down
00:57:29to two and three possessions.
00:57:31You can't toss 15 of them.
00:57:34You can't toss 15 of them when you've had that happen,
00:57:37you know, and critical plays at critical times.
00:57:41Or 15 is a lot of possessions to screw up, you know,
00:57:45and do things completely opposite.
00:57:47If you're not going through your process,
00:57:49that's more than enough to lose many NBA games.
00:57:52So I don't think you could just toss them aside,
00:57:55but Bobby, go ahead.
00:57:56Why are you so mad?
00:57:59There's so many reasons.
00:58:00And obviously, first and foremost, Noah pointed out
00:58:04that's the Spolstra line from the finals.
00:58:06Oh yes, I was going to say, do you guys remember this line?
00:58:08Because this, to me, when I heard untrained eye,
00:58:10I was like, the untrained eye.
00:58:11Because last, in 2023, Eric Spolstra said it's a removal.
00:58:16Bobby is hurt.
00:58:17He apologized.
00:58:19Eric Spolstra apologized to her for, you know,
00:58:21he texted her that night and was like,
00:58:22I didn't mean like, you don't know basketball.
00:58:24But I think it also didn't help that she was like
00:58:25the one woman covering the NBA finals.
00:58:27But I think, I don't think he meant it as a shot at Gary,
00:58:30who asked the question.
00:58:30Guys, it's been talked about generally.
00:58:32Yeah, it's just a general thing.
00:58:33And I'm-
00:58:34No, he meant it as he was talking about you, Bobby.
00:58:36Yeah.
00:58:37He was looking right at you.
00:58:38Well, Gary asked the question about that first.
00:58:39I know, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.
00:58:41I know, I know.
00:58:42This is what we get into, like the verbiage.
00:58:44Yeah, I don't love that line.
00:58:45Then again, I also think, I think it's fair in a way.
00:58:49I don't think it is.
00:58:50I don't think the line is,
00:58:51I don't think it's the right thing to say.
00:58:52And I said to you right away, I think,
00:58:53I actually, funny, because nobody else
00:58:54walked out of that press conference,
00:58:55like thinking about that word as much as we were.
00:58:57I was asking around, people were like,
00:58:58when did he say that?
00:59:00But I do think-
00:59:01You don't know Bob, man.
00:59:02There is an element to what he's saying that is true,
00:59:04where, I mean, even today,
00:59:05when we were talking about previewing the series,
00:59:07I think it's easy to diminish things to effort
00:59:10and want and desire.
00:59:11And I do it all the time, we all do it.
00:59:13And it's part of how we talk about basketball as media.
00:59:16And he's talking about things like
00:59:18the angles that they're guarding guys
00:59:19and people's rebounding zones.
00:59:21And we don't really use that terminology.
00:59:23And I think from a coaching standpoint,
00:59:24it can be frustrating to hear discussion
00:59:27of the game that you're coaching,
00:59:28that you're breaking down,
00:59:29talking about very specific things.
00:59:30And that's not what he's hearing.
00:59:33I get it.
00:59:34And I don't know what he's directing it at,
00:59:35because obviously there's fans and media out there
00:59:37who say, oh, they're not trying,
00:59:38they're not giving it up.
00:59:40And that's, I guess, fair
00:59:41when you're going up against that kind of criticism.
00:59:44But I mean, Gary asked the question,
00:59:46whether it's directed at Gary or not,
00:59:47Gary's covered this league for decades.
00:59:50He knows what a good effort on the defensive end is
00:59:53and what a bad one is.
00:59:54And they weren't giving a good effort
00:59:57specifically in that game.
00:59:58But I also don't like him saying
01:00:00we dominated against Chicago
01:00:02when it took a Tatum 9-3 eruption to win that game.
01:00:05So Bobby, I've said this before,
01:00:07and I'll say it again.
01:00:08I've said it, it's not just in reference to Joe.
01:00:10I mean, Bill Belichick used to do it
01:00:11and a lot of coaches do it.
01:00:12The problem isn't that Joe thinks that,
01:00:14the problem is that he says it.
01:00:16Because most coaches and most players
01:00:18think that all the time.
01:00:19And the reality is they're correct.
01:00:22Like even the smartest reporters and analysts out there
01:00:26are kindergarten level basketball knowledge
01:00:28to these guys, you know, triple PhD.
01:00:30They're on a much different level of understanding
01:00:33just the way that they process
01:00:35every single thing that happens in the game.
01:00:36And we're talking everything,
01:00:38stuff that we don't even think to think about.
01:00:40Especially with defense in today's game.
01:00:42Or ask about angles, literally so in-depth.
01:00:46And I know you guys sometimes get to sit in
01:00:48and listen to Joe really get in-depth on basketball
01:00:50and it is enlightening.
01:00:52The problem is that he says it, you know,
01:00:54and that the message comes across either
01:00:56as disrespectful to people who are sitting there listening
01:00:59or denial to other fans out there.
01:01:02Or denial to fans out there who kind of sometimes
01:01:04want a coach to say, yeah, we dogged it today.
01:01:10Because that's what you're watching
01:01:11and you're paying money to see it
01:01:13and you're emotionally invested in the team.
01:01:15And sometimes you want to hear them echo it as well.
01:01:17So the excuses I think can absolutely get there.
01:01:19But I've always said like every coach knows this
01:01:22and they just sometimes play along with this.
01:01:26They know they don't think we have a right to our opinion
01:01:30and they're not wrong.
01:01:31They're really not.
01:01:32We've discussed this before.
01:01:34They're not wrong.
01:01:36Yeah.
01:01:36And we discussed the fact before
01:01:37how Joe's not willing to criticize the team publicly.
01:01:40And there's probably more that goes on behind the scenes
01:01:43than we know about with that.
01:01:44But it comes off and whether he's doing it
01:01:47behind the scenes or not,
01:01:49as if he's letting them off the hook for inconsistent play,
01:01:52especially the extra, like I don't,
01:01:53I don't understand him using that game as a defense.
01:01:56And I'd obviously have to look back on it
01:01:57and see what the defensive effectiveness was in that game.
01:02:02But he's talking about two quarters out of four quarters.
01:02:05And he had to basically admit after that Philadelphia game
01:02:08that they've been inconsistent
01:02:10on the defensive end this year.
01:02:11So again, I don't want to go to 2023
01:02:14because I don't think this is 2023.
01:02:16But what did he do all that year, John?
01:02:18Deny, deny, deny that there was an issue with defense.
01:02:21And then when you get to these finals and you go down 0-3,
01:02:23it's all about the defensive identity.
01:02:24But that's the thing is we end up being right
01:02:27even if we didn't arrive at the opinion
01:02:29the same way as he did.
01:02:31And it's his job to say, like I said,
01:02:33I've used this analogy before.
01:02:35My five, my seven-year-old might be watching
01:02:37a Patriots game with me and be like, they suck.
01:02:39And she's right, but she doesn't know exactly why.
01:02:43You know?
01:02:44She's definitely your daughter.
01:02:46Nor the seven-year-old.
01:02:48They've said that.
01:02:49Daddy, why do the Patriots suck?
01:02:51I'm like, well, honey, it's, there's-
01:02:53How much time you got?
01:02:5545 minutes later, they've been gone for like 30 minutes.
01:02:59And that's how they view it.
01:03:01But you're right.
01:03:02You know, it's, it's not that-
01:03:03No, and they got the team to respond tonight.
01:03:05So great.
01:03:06But they did.
01:03:06That's what I talked about earlier.
01:03:07I want to, I want to hit you guys with it and get you-
01:03:09But Jon, we're not, like, what Mazzoula's saying,
01:03:13there's some truth to it, some truth to it,
01:03:15but we're not-
01:03:16I'm not even caught up about what he's saying
01:03:18about us, Jimmy, right?
01:03:19I don't even care about that part.
01:03:21I just don't want him to try to make this look better
01:03:25than it's been, because I think that's what he was doing
01:03:27with that-
01:03:28But why not though?
01:03:29I mean, it's his job, right?
01:03:30To spin it that it's better than it's been.
01:03:31Yeah, why not?
01:03:31If I'm the head coach of the Celtics,
01:03:33like, I'm spinning it.
01:03:34Why not?
01:03:35Like, I think we have to realize the fact that
01:03:37as the head coach, he has many responsibilities
01:03:40and one of them is to speak to the media
01:03:42like nine times a week.
01:03:44And if one of his objectives is to never turn on the players
01:03:47to make sure that they never see anything
01:03:49when they're scrolling through Twitter
01:03:50that rubs them the wrong way of like,
01:03:51why is he saying this to the media and not to me?
01:03:53I'm shocked that guys like Mike Malone,
01:03:55and I know they're great coaches
01:03:56and he's obviously accomplished a lot,
01:03:58but like, he takes an approach of like,
01:04:00I'm going to rip my star players
01:04:01and that's the way I motivate-
01:04:02I'm not asking him to rip them,
01:04:03I'm asking him to be real.
01:04:04I think that Joe might, that we would be stunned
01:04:07if we saw some of the conversations
01:04:08that he has behind closed doors.
01:04:10And the reality is, is like, maybe that, you know,
01:04:12if you're a fan who's just watching a game here and there,
01:04:14you're probably like, why is he not calling them out?
01:04:15But at this point, the amount of time
01:04:17that we're around this team, like, I don't even,
01:04:19I'm not even trying for him to say anything
01:04:21about their effort or anything,
01:04:22because he's not going to, because it's not,
01:04:23it's just not, it doesn't serve his,
01:04:25anything that he is looking to accomplish.
01:04:28But on the other hand too, Bobby,
01:04:29let me real quick, let me just say,
01:04:31he doesn't go out of his way to like,
01:04:34really, really strongly commend his players
01:04:37and his team after big wins and things like that.
01:04:39I mean, he will say, he will say some stuff
01:04:42and he'll say stuff like,
01:04:43oh, I think we underappreciate Tatum
01:04:44and whether you think that's true or not,
01:04:46but Joe just doesn't get too high
01:04:48and he doesn't get too low.
01:04:49He doesn't panic.
01:04:50He doesn't praise his guys overly.
01:04:53He's not going to be super,
01:04:55I mean, he does get animated at times,
01:04:58but it's more like during the game,
01:04:59it's not so much before or after the game.
01:05:01It's, you know, he gets animated and emotional
01:05:03during the game at what things going on.
01:05:05Maybe it's about the refs or whatever,
01:05:07but there's not a lot of examples of him,
01:05:10like wooing and eyeing about his players.
01:05:13And there's not a lot of examples
01:05:14of him being highly critical.
01:05:15So he is consistent in that sense.
01:05:17I can't know, Jimmy, I'm not talking about criticism
01:05:20or whether he's giving us stuff
01:05:23or whether he's even being fair to our intelligence.
01:05:25I'm not going there.
01:05:27I'm going to the reality of the last three to four games
01:05:31leading up to this.
01:05:32And whether you want to call it effort and motivation,
01:05:35or as he said, the details and the fundamentals
01:05:39or whatever you got into there,
01:05:41they needed to tighten some stuff up coming into this game.
01:05:44And I just don't get the need to spin it as if it was good.
01:05:48It wasn't good.
01:05:49Yeah, so again, that aside,
01:05:51we know this and Joe's even said it,
01:05:54you know, he views everything as combat.
01:05:57Even the Orlando game, John, like he defended that game
01:06:01and the decisive basket of the game
01:06:02was a breakdown defensively on DeSoto.
01:06:04If you're playing with the mic.
01:06:06My bad, man.
01:06:07So we're getting back,
01:06:08we're getting back into what you said
01:06:09at the beginning there, John.
01:06:12Can 10 to 15 plays breaking down in a game
01:06:15and costing you the game be indicative of your performance?
01:06:21I can, yeah, I mean, I think you're right, Bobby.
01:06:23I think that ultimately like it is,
01:06:25sometimes it's hard when we're,
01:06:28I can't even think about my own power right now.
01:06:29I think sometimes it's hard when you,
01:06:31when you're, we're watching it
01:06:33and we're looking at a whole body of work
01:06:34and then he comes back with these like stats
01:06:35that don't really match what we all saw.
01:06:37And I think that's when it can be frustrating.
01:06:39It's almost like the statistics are weaponized against us,
01:06:40but we all saw like the defensive breakdowns
01:06:42down the stretch.
01:06:43It goes back to the expected thing.
01:06:44Like they didn't expect Caleb Martin to hit seven threes.
01:06:47They don't expect DeSilva to hit that three
01:06:49in the corner there, which I get,
01:06:51but it happened and you have to accept that reality.
01:06:53But he's saying that he's not gonna change.
01:06:56He's gonna live with the process.
01:06:57And I thought the most interesting thing
01:06:58that he said tonight was that he said
01:06:59that he doesn't feel anything positive about this win
01:07:02because this win doesn't matter and the loss didn't matter
01:07:04and they have another game.
01:07:05I'm like, I think he genuinely believes that.
01:07:07Yeah.
01:07:07I agree with that, but I agree with that.
01:07:11Yeah.
01:07:11In the regular season, you can live with that process.
01:07:1410 to 15 plays going awry
01:07:16and you losing off one play in a close game.
01:07:18In the playoffs, we're not gonna sit here
01:07:21and say the process was great, but they lost.
01:07:23But we saw the difference in Joe.
01:07:25The way Joe coached in the playoffs was unlike anything
01:07:29we'd seen Joe do in the regular season.
01:07:31The amount of timeouts he called
01:07:33when he didn't like something he saw.
01:07:34He was no longer about process.
01:07:36He was about results.
01:07:37Completely different approach.
01:07:40He really valued every moment, every possession.
01:07:42If he didn't like the way things are going,
01:07:43there was no more, let's let these guys figure it out.
01:07:46So, I think it's a sound philosophy,
01:07:50even if it's not going to satisfy you at home
01:07:52and you're watching and you see a bad effort on Christmas
01:07:55and you wasted two and a half hours and you're pissed off,
01:07:58you're not gonna get your pound of flesh.
01:07:59But as we said, Joe views it as combat every time,
01:08:03like even in press conferences,
01:08:05he doesn't want anyone to get the upper hand.
01:08:07So, he doesn't want to give it up to you.
01:08:08He doesn't want to give you that signature bite
01:08:10or quote that you want to be able to talk about it.
01:08:12He's not gonna call it as players.
01:08:14It's not gonna change.
01:08:15But what you guys hit on earlier,
01:08:17and I'll ask Noah, because I asked Jimmy earlier,
01:08:19are you happy that they could come back from,
01:08:22not happy, but what's your feeling
01:08:26that they're able to flip the switch back
01:08:27into what to our untrained eye
01:08:30looked like a better effort tonight
01:08:33off of a really bad, low effort,
01:08:37bad execution game on Christmas.
01:08:40The fact that they can flip that switch
01:08:41and play like they did tonight,
01:08:44is that encouraging or is it frustrating
01:08:47that they chose not to do it the other day,
01:08:49or they just pick and choose when they do it?
01:08:51Because again, I don't expect them to do this for all 82,
01:08:55but when you start seeing it in pockets,
01:08:58three out of four, five out of seven,
01:09:03the last month, picking and choosing
01:09:06which quarters you're gonna play,
01:09:07which games you're gonna play,
01:09:09eventually, when does that become habit forming
01:09:11where flipping the switch isn't as easy
01:09:13as you think it might be?
01:09:16Because that's what bugs me a little bit.
01:09:17Yeah, go ahead.
01:09:19Am I allowed to talk about Jalen now?
01:09:21Am I still banned?
01:09:22Yeah, you can.
01:09:23Okay, okay, I can do without Jalen.
01:09:25So I think first of all-
01:09:26No, no, no, I'm just messing around.
01:09:27Oh, I was ready to not say his name.
01:09:29Okay, so I think first of all-
01:09:30No, no, no, no, no, you go.
01:09:32It was a good idea.
01:09:33It was a good idea.
01:09:34It was a good idea.
01:09:35It was a good idea.
01:09:36It was a good idea.
01:09:36It was a good idea.
01:09:37It was a good idea.
01:09:38It was a good idea.
01:09:39It was a good idea.
01:09:40Go ahead, give Brian the brownie.
01:09:41There we go.
01:09:41Give Brian the brownie.
01:09:42Well, you can't.
01:09:43You actually can't do that, but-
01:09:45Okay.
01:09:46So I think I'm not,
01:09:48I view this only as encouraging, honestly,
01:09:50because it's not like we were seeing them,
01:09:52they're hovering on 500,
01:09:54and here they have this great game,
01:09:55but they've had these few games where they were terrible.
01:09:58They're 23 and eight.
01:09:59They're coming off of a championship team
01:10:01where they're historically dominant.
01:10:03And so I think we have to acknowledge the fact
01:10:05that at the end of the day, they're people like us.
01:10:07And just like we don't have,
01:10:08sometimes we have shows where we're,
01:10:09sometimes I'm like,
01:10:10I don't even think I said a sentence correct tonight.
01:10:12And sometimes I write an article and it's terrible
01:10:14and they're not perfect.
01:10:15And so they're going to have stretches where we're-
01:10:17Sometimes you have a bad hair day.
01:10:22Come on.
01:10:23I don't think I could have answered that.
01:10:24Whoa, whoa.
01:10:25It was right there.
01:10:26It was right there.
01:10:27It was a bad Twitter comment.
01:10:28That's not me.
01:10:30What's this about?
01:10:32Noah got dragged.
01:10:33What type of guy got dragged?
01:10:35Some jerk on Twitter.
01:10:36Do you have straight hair today?
01:10:37And then you straighten it.
01:10:38You shouldn't have done that.
01:10:40I know, I know.
01:10:40I straighten it all the time.
01:10:42I wasn't going to say anything.
01:10:44I still won't.
01:10:47So I think the reality is that when we're seeing,
01:10:50and this is why I keep saying like
01:10:51this Western Conference road trip
01:10:52was going to show us so much about this team
01:10:54because there hasn't been like an extended stretch here
01:10:57where we're watching them slip through the standings
01:10:59and they keep saying they're,
01:11:00saying the things are going to change and they're not.
01:11:02Last game was the first time that I got the sense
01:11:04from the players that there was a feeling of frustration
01:11:06and a feeling of like, we have to be better.
01:11:08And then they come and respond like this.
01:11:10So it's not like every game Tatum's telling us like,
01:11:13oh, we're going to look in the mirror.
01:11:13And then they don't.
01:11:14The one time he said it, this is how they respond.
01:11:16So I'm going to buy it
01:11:17because this group has a body of work
01:11:19that makes me believe in them.
01:11:20That they, when they talk, they mean it.
01:11:22You know, again, there are 23 needs.
01:11:24Like we, it's below our standard
01:11:25of what we've come to watch with this team
01:11:27over the last year and a half.
01:11:29But ultimately like that's the third best record
01:11:30in the league.
01:11:31And they've done it without Porzingis, right?
01:11:33He really hasn't been a part of this team.
01:11:35The games that he's played, he's left early.
01:11:36He hasn't been, he's told us himself many times.
01:11:39He's not at a hundred percent right now.
01:11:41So you got to be impressed
01:11:41with what they've done this season,
01:11:42despite the fact it hasn't been perfect.
01:11:43And if they can respond to losses like this
01:11:46and avoid them from becoming, you know,
01:11:47big losing streaks that we're seeing around the league
01:11:49all the time that are resulting in major changes.
01:11:52Like, I think you have to cut them some slack.
01:11:53They're playing a hundred games a year.
01:11:54I do think you have to acknowledge the injuries
01:11:57and the bumps and bruises stuff guys are playing through
01:11:59that's contributed to some of their unevenness this year.
01:12:02But that's why I keep stressing.
01:12:03And I wrote yesterday, this isn't 2024 anymore.
01:12:07And it's similar.
01:12:08I think there's a ton of overlapping aspects, obviously,
01:12:11because of the team you carried forward into this year,
01:12:14but bumps and bruises, absences,
01:12:16guys not being a hundred percent themselves
01:12:19might become part of this year.
01:12:21Like you might have Porzingis
01:12:22being in and out of the lineup the rest of this year.
01:12:24You might have a down Drew Holiday season.
01:12:27Even Sam Hauser who started this game
01:12:28still didn't look great for much of this one.
01:12:31So those are part of your season.
01:12:33There is a chance that this group
01:12:34could get back to full strength
01:12:36and peak come playoff time.
01:12:38But I do think we have to hold them to a similar standard
01:12:40just as Joe says, when guys are out,
01:12:43you still hold them to that standard.
01:12:44That's why even with Tatum going down in that Orlando game,
01:12:47I want to see more from them in that spot,
01:12:49especially going against a shorthanded Magic team too.
01:12:51So I'm not just going to sit here, John, all year
01:12:54and say they won the championship last year.
01:12:56They'll be fine.
01:12:58No, nor should you.
01:12:59Again, you have to judge it for what it is.
01:13:00And again, I shout out to Kes.
01:13:03Miss you, buddy.
01:13:04Sometimes some of the OGs I haven't seen.
01:13:06How's Kes doing? I want to know how Kes is feeling.
01:13:09Haven't seen Dudley, haven't seen Kes recently.
01:13:11It makes me sad, but they'll be back when the games count.
01:13:13We know that.
01:13:14No, Bobby, you can't.
01:13:15But like, there's a reason why it's tough to repeat.
01:13:17And there's a reason, you know,
01:13:19where you see a lot of teams,
01:13:21why you see teams go through a little bit of a malaise.
01:13:23You play deeper into the season.
01:13:25Also, you have the Olympics.
01:13:27Also, it's that motivation.
01:13:28I made the analogy last time.
01:13:29Like once you play at the highest level,
01:13:31it's really hard to get up for like a back to back,
01:13:35a home and home with Chicago.
01:13:37I get it, I get it.
01:13:38And like right now, look at this schedule
01:13:40and look at who they've played.
01:13:43These are not a lot of teams
01:13:44that you're getting up for on a nightly basis.
01:13:47I think they would acknowledge, John,
01:13:49that the motivation, the effort,
01:13:51and just the, I guess, pushback you're going to get
01:13:55from other teams coming off a championship
01:13:57is even greater than they would have expected.
01:13:59You know, they had to go through it
01:14:00to actually see what that was going to be like.
01:14:01And I keep going back to those Brooklyn Atlanta games
01:14:04early in the year, the first letdowns that we saw from them,
01:14:07even though they won, the Nets won.
01:14:09Those aren't teams you expected to come in and shock you
01:14:11and give you a bad loss early in the schedule,
01:14:16but you're seeing it from every team
01:14:18that you're getting their best shot.
01:14:19And I've hated that phrase in the past
01:14:21when they've used it,
01:14:22because they hadn't won at that point.
01:14:24But now that you have won,
01:14:25I do think there's more intensity coming from the other way.
01:14:28And I think Al had some good comments
01:14:29after the last game too,
01:14:30about how different this year is
01:14:33in terms of the opposition
01:14:35that they're seeing night in and night out.
01:14:36And also some of the own internal differences,
01:14:40namely the injuries.
01:14:41And that's a big part of this one too, Noah,
01:14:43that I will give them credit for,
01:14:44is they played great without Porzingis, without Holiday.
01:14:48And those absences have hurt them in other spots.
01:14:50And I think what made that last year's team so special
01:14:52was their ability to just overcome absences
01:14:56like you wouldn't even notice.
01:14:57Sometimes I was like,
01:14:58are they better when they're missing a starter?
01:14:59Because it felt like every time somebody was out,
01:15:02somebody else would step up.
01:15:03But the bench hasn't been the same this year.
01:15:05And that's another difference.
01:15:06Right.
01:15:07And so I think tonight was an encouraging small sample
01:15:09of them being able to,
01:15:10I didn't think about Porzingis or Holiday once in this game
01:15:12because you didn't have any reason to,
01:15:14because they didn't feel like there was anything missing.
01:15:16It was a complete team.
01:15:18But again, I think as much as ever,
01:15:19I agree with everything you're saying.
01:15:20I just feel like we can't expect them.
01:15:22There's a reason why the record for wins in a season is 72.
01:15:25Nobody's ever won more than that.
01:15:26Because you just,
01:15:27it's impossible to be a basketball player
01:15:29and put best foot forward every single game.
01:15:32I'm just going to react to what's in front of me.
01:15:35But it comes down to this question, Noah.
01:15:37Like all of that's true and you can't expect it.
01:15:40And I don't expect it.
01:15:41And again, I've said this a bunch of times.
01:15:43I'm an untrained eye.
01:15:44I said it last year too.
01:15:45Like you can't expect these guys to get up in all 82.
01:15:50But if they don't win the championship,
01:15:52you're going to look back at different points in the season
01:15:54and be like, we should have known it there.
01:15:56We should have known it there.
01:15:57We should have known it there.
01:15:58So anything short of a championship,
01:16:01there's going to be things that along the way
01:16:04that might be reasons why.
01:16:06So is this still the team that should absolutely
01:16:11win the championship based on their roster
01:16:13and the way that they're playing?
01:16:14Or is it a jump ball again?
01:16:17Like we entered this season thinking
01:16:20it's theirs to lose again.
01:16:22I'd say OKC is making a really strong case
01:16:26for themselves out West.
01:16:27But like, do you still think anything short
01:16:29of a championship here is a successful season?
01:16:33I mean, I never felt like this was
01:16:35they were inevitable to win the championship.
01:16:37If you look at like the odds, they're like, what?
01:16:40They were at like 33%.
01:16:41That means that most likely they're not
01:16:42going to win the championship, right?
01:16:43You can't like go into a year with 30 NBA teams.
01:16:46The odds are always against them.
01:16:47Yeah, right.
01:16:48So I don't feel I mean, I think I went into the season saying
01:16:51if I had to pick a team to win the championship,
01:16:53it's the Celtics.
01:16:53But most likely they're not going to repeat.
01:16:55That's just the reality.
01:16:56Like, it's really, really hard to do it.
01:16:59I haven't heard anyone say this year that anyone else has done
01:17:02it.
01:17:02Yeah, I mean, I would pick the field.
01:17:05Like, I believe in this team.
01:17:06You know, I do.
01:17:07But I think at the end of the day,
01:17:07like, it's just looking at history.
01:17:10I think the field is more challenging this year for sure.
01:17:12The field is a safer bet every year always.
01:17:14I mean, except for maybe Golden State,
01:17:16you know, those couple of years.
01:17:17So I don't view.
01:17:18So my point is, like, I'm not saying
01:17:20they're showing us every single thing about them
01:17:22is making me think they're going to win
01:17:23the championship this season.
01:17:24I think we just have to evaluate them fairly.
01:17:26And fairly is acknowledging the fact
01:17:27that there's going to be slips and there's
01:17:29going to be stretches during the season that they're
01:17:31struggling in, and especially coming off of a championship
01:17:34and three guys being on the Olympic team, which I think
01:17:36has taken a toll on Derek and Drew both.
01:17:39Just the fact that they really had a shortened off season.
01:17:41Tatum, I don't.
01:17:42Halliburton, man.
01:17:43Yeah, I mean, guys all over the league
01:17:44were seeing the Olympic thing.
01:17:45Halliburton didn't play.
01:17:47By the way, the Cavs right now, as we're
01:17:49talking about the best teams, they've
01:17:51got 144 with five minutes to go against the Nuggets.
01:17:57That's going to be an interesting Mike Malone press
01:17:59conference.
01:18:01I mean.
01:18:03Everybody's going under the bus.
01:18:05The Nuggets.
01:18:06They've got four guys over 20.
01:18:09Mitchell, 33.
01:18:09Garland, 23.
01:18:10Allen, 22.
01:18:11Mobley, 26.
01:18:12They are just smoking it right now.
01:18:15They're phenomenal.
01:18:16Yeah, and they got you last time.
01:18:18You got them the first time.
01:18:19It's going to be an interesting thing
01:18:20to watch throughout here.
01:18:21But it does reflect what we're talking about here, the field.
01:18:24It's stronger.
01:18:25I think not to do the whole easiest path.
01:18:28Don't steep on the Knicks either.
01:18:31I think you're going to see a more challenging postseason
01:18:34run or postseason path this time around.
01:18:36That's inevitable if they're not the one seed.
01:18:39So it's a different year.
01:18:40I just keep stressing that.
01:18:41I think now that we're 30 games in,
01:18:43now that we've seen those differences,
01:18:45you have to start to think about, all right,
01:18:47how could this season be different?
01:18:48Because I don't think they're going
01:18:50to roll through the way they did last year.
01:18:52That required some special shooting, urgency
01:18:56that we've talked about defensively, specifically.
01:18:59And these guys coming together at their moments
01:19:01in their careers, only Drew having won at that point,
01:19:04to win.
01:19:05And it's tougher the second time around.
01:19:08And I'm interested to see, are they
01:19:10going to do some shake-ups on the edge of the roster?
01:19:12I haven't gotten any sense that that's going to come here.
01:19:15But I go back to what Brad said in the preseason.
01:19:17I went back to that quote that he
01:19:19hesitated to bring the whole roster back
01:19:22because of the fact that he likes to see a couple changes.
01:19:24And he likes to see the way that that can
01:19:26shake up the dynamic on a team.
01:19:28And Brad, to me, whereas Joe, as we talked about here,
01:19:32can be defensive and try to spin things in a positive way
01:19:35when it's not going great, I think
01:19:37Brad, even going into a season off the championship,
01:19:40was like, all right, we're all getting celebrated.
01:19:43Everyone thinks we're going to win again here.
01:19:45But how can I look at this in a critical manner
01:19:51and think about how this could improve here?
01:19:52And I go back to the bench.
01:19:54We saw some wall strides in this game.
01:19:56I'm a strong believer in them.
01:19:58I know you and Jimmy are kind of fading in that sense, John.
01:20:00But the bench productivity, Hauser included again
01:20:03in this game, hasn't been super consistent.
01:20:06You haven't seen guys involved to the degree
01:20:08that they were before.
01:20:09And I know you texted during the game, Jimmy.
01:20:11They're up a million in this game.
01:20:12And they're still not involving some of the deeper bench guys
01:20:15there.
01:20:15Not that that's going to swing a championship in one way
01:20:19or another.
01:20:19But it is one thing that you can look at here and be like,
01:20:22all right, is the bench strong enough for this run?
01:20:24Because that was a real strength of theirs last year.
01:20:26Hauser hit 11 threes and defended
01:20:28Luca in the finals in this game.
01:20:30I know he had some tough misses.
01:20:32But it's still like, oh, is he going
01:20:34to be able to turn this season around?
01:20:35And this is another tough one for him.
01:20:37Yeah, I'm not worried about Hauser at all.
01:20:39I wish everybody laid off him, because I
01:20:41know he's getting a lot of critiques
01:20:42online and everything.
01:20:43Because he's hurt.
01:20:43Yeah, I mean, what are you going to do?
01:20:45Because he's hurt.
01:20:45But also, he's a rhythm shooter.
01:20:47He's a three-point shooter.
01:20:49He's a rhythm player.
01:20:49And he just hasn't been able to find that.
01:20:51And I love that he took two mid-range shots.
01:20:53That's the worry.
01:20:54He wasn't falling.
01:20:55Yeah, it's like, see the ball go through the basket.
01:20:57But again, I feel like I'm the most broken record.
01:21:00But his career shooting numbers are so high
01:21:04that this stretch, I do attribute to his back.
01:21:07And he's been back for two games.
01:21:08He attempted one three-pointer in the last two games
01:21:10before tonight.
01:21:11And then he hadn't played the two games prior.
01:21:13So that's not him struggling.
01:21:14That's him not being able to even find
01:21:17a semblance of a rhythm.
01:21:19And he didn't deal with any of that last year.
01:21:20So I think that if this back thing can
01:21:22be left in the rear view, and if he can find some help,
01:21:24and just be able to be in his shooting routine,
01:21:26I don't know how much this is impacting what
01:21:28he's able to do at practice.
01:21:29If he's still getting up the same number of shots
01:21:31that he was getting up in the past.
01:21:32But I think people need to, I know a lot of people
01:21:34are critiquing the contract and wondering
01:21:37if last year was a fluke thing.
01:21:38I don't think we have any reason to think that that's true.
01:21:40And really, if you haven't dealt with back spasms,
01:21:43then you don't know how much that can impact somebody,
01:21:46and just your ability to even just get your standing
01:21:48three-point shots up.
01:21:49So he'll be OK if he can stay healthy.
01:21:51But that's the worry, Noah.
01:21:52That is exactly what people are worried about,
01:21:54is that the injury is going to prevent him
01:21:57from getting into that rhythm.
01:21:58Well, they're not worrying with a lot of compassion.
01:22:00That's all I have to say.
01:22:02I know, but I don't know why.
01:22:03We're not going to find out.
01:22:05I've never understood why the safe thing to say
01:22:07is everything will be OK versus maybe things won't be OK.
01:22:10I don't know.
01:22:10Right now, Hauser.
01:22:11Well, I just said I don't know that they're
01:22:12going to win the championship.
01:22:13I'm not saying everything will be great.
01:22:16Hauser missing every few games with the recurring back things.
01:22:20Definitely, right now, the only track record we have.
01:22:24Hauser has a track record of being an awesome shooter.
01:22:27Right now, he's got a track record
01:22:28of having a bad back every three out of every eight games.
01:22:33So that's definitely not a great rhythm that he's in right now.
01:22:36So he's battling something.
01:22:38We talked to him this morning, too,
01:22:40and he's really frustrated.
01:22:42Yeah, that's got to be annoying as hell,
01:22:43because he can't get himself.
01:22:45I don't think it's Hauser hate.
01:22:47I think it's like, uh-oh, something's
01:22:49not right with this guy.
01:22:50Like, I think everyone likes Hauser
01:22:52and likes what he brings.
01:22:53He's just not right.
01:22:54And he's fighting.
01:22:54You can see.
01:22:55And I didn't think the misses were bad tonight.
01:22:57And he made a great play on the first couple of possessions
01:23:00there, catching the ball twice inside
01:23:02and swinging it out for a three.
01:23:03Had two assists in this one.
01:23:05So I don't think it was a bad game.
01:23:07But the track record, as John said,
01:23:09there's been inconsistent through the injury so far.
01:23:11And that's just what they're getting from him.
01:23:13I appreciate all concerns around his injury.
01:23:15I've told you many times, I actually
01:23:17am pretty concerned about a recurring chronic back injury.
01:23:19Because the wing depth isn't great, too.
01:23:20Yeah, and also just the fact that this
01:23:21isn't something like he sprained his ankle
01:23:23or he's recovering from a surgery.
01:23:24It's just we don't really know what this is.
01:23:26We're not going to know.
01:23:27We don't know if it's a slipped disc.
01:23:28We have no idea.
01:23:29I don't even want to speculate.
01:23:30But what I'm saying is that there should be zero expectation
01:23:34that he's going to have a good shooting game tonight.
01:23:36When he's missed two games and taken one shot in the last two,
01:23:39you could pretty much bet, if you were betting on this game,
01:23:41you could pretty much bet that he was going to struggle
01:23:42from three, because that's the nature.
01:23:44Would you have gone less on prize pick?
01:23:46I would have gone less on prize pick.
01:23:48Yeah, fair enough.
01:23:49That's all I'm saying, is that I think
01:23:50that we can scrutinize his shooting struggles a little bit
01:23:53less right now.
01:23:55Yeah, we'd definitely like to see him string a few together.
01:24:01I mentioned those middies.
01:24:02Yeah, he didn't three to fall, but twice he
01:24:04got run off the line, got to that midrange.
01:24:07And it looked very smooth.
01:24:09I actually thought he was moving well tonight.
01:24:10You just never know how it's going to,
01:24:11if it pops back up or whatever.
01:24:13But I thought he looked OK, despite the box score.
01:24:16He got some hate in the chat here.
01:24:18But yeah, you just don't like seeing a young guy get
01:24:21old man injuries like that, and have it keep popping up.
01:24:24Again, that quote, at the beginning of the year,
01:24:26maybe it's just a lot of years of playing basketball.
01:24:28I was like, what?
01:24:30Drew said the same thing.
01:24:31Bill Walton, Bill Walton said he was cooked.
01:24:33He's been playing for a long time.
01:24:35Bill Walton claims he was cooked before he got to the pros.
01:24:38So for real, he's like, I was done.
01:24:41I was already done.
01:24:43I had nothing left.
01:24:44Anyway, he was.
01:24:47His feet were so bad.
01:24:49Anyway, that's what we thought.
01:24:50I can't believe we lost him last year, man.
01:24:52I know, I know.
01:24:53And Gumball today.
01:24:55That was kind of out of nowhere.
01:24:56Gumball's a tough one.
01:24:57That was tough.
01:24:58So again, thank you guys for hanging out.
01:25:00We got a couple more shows left in 2020, and we will be here.
01:25:04We hope you will be here with us as well.
01:25:06We're here on the 29th against the Pacers.
01:25:12And then New Year's Eve.
01:25:13What time is that?
01:25:14Three o'clock, baby.
01:25:16Why are they doing this?
01:25:17Anyway, all right.
01:25:18So that's what we've got.
01:25:19But, you know, the Garden Report doesn't rest.
01:25:22We don't take days off.
01:25:23Well, I do.
01:25:24I won't be here, but other people will do the show.
01:25:28But that's all right.
01:25:30But we do thank you guys for for for hanging out and tuning in.
01:25:33And we look forward to last couple of shows of the year
01:25:35and obviously a couple of in a really good 2025
01:25:39as the Celtics march on on, you know, what do we how many
01:25:44how many banners do they want now?
01:25:4518. We're looking for banner 19 on their quest for banner 19.
01:25:49But yeah, two more games here.
01:25:51Bobby and Noel will be down there.
01:25:53We thank you, Amit and Richie, for covering all of the games here.
01:25:56We're going to wish Richie a happy birthday
01:25:58because he's not going to be there on the 29th.
01:26:00He's actually going to take his birthday off.
01:26:02Happy birthday to Rich Lemay.
01:26:04He's turning 14 years old on the 29th.
01:26:10Which is nice.
01:26:10He can I think now he can legally officially work for us,
01:26:15which is great.
01:26:15So thank you.
01:26:16May he gets he gets he gets a pretty good shot to these guys on our
01:26:19CLNS Instagram. He's friggin awesome.
01:26:21He's awesome.
01:26:22We appreciate you guys.
01:26:24And also Jackson Tolliver behind the scenes toiling for us
01:26:28back at the CLNS studios. Thank you, Jackson.
01:26:30As well, we will see everybody on Sunday.
01:26:34Take care.
01:26:35No one's sneaking a vegan brownie by me, I'll tell you.
01:26:37OK, you know what, John, we're going to do it.
01:26:39You have to feel that way, too, Bobby.
01:26:40I have to feel that way.
01:26:42Slide Al over and make Luke your first center.
01:26:45Bobby, we gave you Luke hour earlier.
01:26:47We're not going to end this on a damn conversation about Luke.