LIVE Garden Report: Celtics vs Pelicans Postgame Show

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Join John Zannis, A. Sherrod Blakely, Noa Dalzell, and Bobby Manning as they recap the action from the second Celtics vs Pelicans matchup of the year! Tune in for instant analysis, player reaction, and more!  CLNS Media is Powered by:  💰 Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS Download the app today and use Code CLNS when you sign up & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!  🎫 Gametime - https://gametime.co Take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.

Transcript

00:00:00Hard hat's all about showing up to play hard, doing what it takes to win.

00:00:06If you want to cement legacy, win another.

00:00:08He's your third center.

00:00:10You don't want to pump him up too much, but it's hard not to.

00:00:13This is maybe the most I've ever agreed with you.

00:00:19Hey, Bobby Manning here, Noah Del Azel alongside and welcome to the Celtics postgame show.

00:00:30Celtics escape another two point game against the Pelicans and under man Pelicans team even

00:00:35more so than the last time they saw them earlier this month.

00:00:39And some scary moments late, missed free throws, Trey Murphy going off for 38, I believe he

00:00:45had in this one, three's raining from him with 40, got up to 40, just one short of his

00:00:52career high.

00:00:54So another game that makes you uneasy about this team, but a good ending, Jason Tatum

00:01:01winning it at the buzzer, Jalen Brown pouring a big shot in late.

00:01:05I like the flow between them in this game and it was their first game in a while, Noah,

00:01:09that they both had it going throughout.

00:01:12Both starters drawing, both closed on for Tatum, who even in this game making shots

00:01:18similar to Wednesday night, not always looking super thrilled about the way his night was

00:01:24going on some of the calls and whatever else was going on out there.

00:01:27I think important for him to get that shot to go and be able to build on that throughout

00:01:32this road trip that they're beginning here.

00:01:35Yeah, definitely.

00:01:37This was the first time in a minute that it felt like Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum both

00:01:40had good games and Jalen was playing some of the best basketball that he's played in

00:01:45a while.

00:01:46Like those mid range shots just haven't been falling and tonight they were, and he's just

00:01:50a different player and this is a different team when those fall.

00:01:53And then secondly, yeah, I mean, this is Jason Tatum's second game winner of the season.

00:01:56First one was the three versus Toronto, but he had such a bad stretch last year where

00:02:01he just, he was like over 12 at one point and he was just, he just felt like indebted

00:02:05that he just, it just wasn't going his way in late game situations, especially at the

00:02:09buzzer.

00:02:10I'm never like a huge fan of that shot, but it is a shot that he's been a lot better at

00:02:14this year.

00:02:15And ultimately like to see that go through is great and for him and Jalen to both hit

00:02:19their mid range look in the final 30 seconds, like that's what they needed.

00:02:22A lot of uncharacteristic things that happen, or at least like kind of uncontrollable is

00:02:27like they missed, they went three of eight from the free throw line in the last five

00:02:30minutes.

00:02:31Porzingis missed three.

00:02:32That's kind of unlike him.

00:02:33He really has been so consistent in those moments.

00:02:36So I thought after the bank three and, you know, I thought this might be one of those

00:02:39games that they just don't pull away because of a lot of kind of things that they, they

00:02:43left the door open and ultimately had to pay for it.

00:02:45So yeah, I thought ultimately like that's two in a row that we haven't seen two in a

00:02:51row in a minute.

00:02:52You're muted, Bobby.

00:02:58Don't love the game.

00:02:59I didn't love long stretches of this one.

00:03:01I didn't love the way they let the Pelicans stay in it and I didn't like the way they

00:03:05started the night guarding Murphy, but again, a win to win here.

00:03:10I think Tatum starting to build a nice stretch to close the month and this obviously the

00:03:14last game of January, difficult shooting months for both Brown and Tatum.

00:03:18We've talked about it.

00:03:20I wrote about it after last game though.

00:03:23I feel like Porzingis can be a good connector for them and obviously he missed all the free

00:03:26throws late and the brutal last two that could have put the game away.

00:03:33I still love the ball going through him.

00:03:35He had that nice pass to white down the stretch for an important three as well.

00:03:40Every time he got the ball, it felt like they were scoring in this game.

00:03:43You saw the deep threes.

00:03:44You saw him get into the free throw line.

00:03:46You saw him finishing inside.

00:03:49I feel like right now he can be that connector between Tatum, between Brown.

00:03:53Those guys aren't always playing off each other, aren't always in the actions together

00:03:57and I think that's along with rotations caused a little bit of the separation and unevenness

00:04:03between their performances this month, but now that you have Porzingis in there who they

00:04:07both can target, who can make a play himself and is a guy who you can actually involve

00:04:13in actions and post some mismatches in the play.

00:04:17I feel like he's a good facilitator for them to finally be able to find some balance offensively

00:04:23right now.

00:04:24In this game again, I feel like there were stretches even on a five for 12 night where

00:04:29you could just give it to him and you knew you were going to get some amount of points

00:04:32on a play and the defense was great too.

00:04:33I think he had five blocks at one point, moves down to four for some reason or another.

00:04:38I don't know why they took it away.

00:04:39He's constantly moving down.

00:04:40If you look at his stats, like he loses stats by the end of the game.

00:04:44I don't know what it is.

00:04:45Yeah.

00:04:46And of course a tough call against them in the closing minutes there on the no goal 10

00:04:50free throw misses.

00:04:51You mentioned not typically something we see from him, but another night, another game

00:04:56he gets through fully healthy.

00:04:58They seem to limit his minutes a little bit in this one.

00:05:00It was a long stretch between the third and the fourth where he wasn't in there, but once

00:05:03he got out there, he was the solution to all their problems and I've said this many times

00:05:08this year.

00:05:09I feel like they need him this year.

00:05:12Obviously they went to the playoffs last season and one without him for the most part.

00:05:16They brought him off the bench when he was there late in those final stretches.

00:05:19I feel like now he's going to have to be central to everything they're doing.

00:05:22And obviously the big conversation after the last game was, what does that look like?

00:05:25Cause he really hasn't been there a lot for them over the last year and change here.

00:05:29Yeah.

00:05:30And I, I, that makes me nervous because obviously he's dealt with a bunch of injuries, but I

00:05:35do think he's, he's looking more the last few games.

00:05:38I do think that he's been more of a connector.

00:05:40One thing I was kind of weird.

00:05:41Did you meet?

00:05:42I know Eddie house talked about it on the broadcast, but Joe subbing him out on defense

00:05:46and putting Alan like that one.

00:05:47That was weird.

00:05:48Yeah.

00:05:49That, that threw me off.

00:05:50I wonder if there was something there that we missed, but he was, I thought he was, yeah,

00:05:55I was a little confused with why he was doing that.

00:05:59I mean, we've talked about it, but we really trust Al and crunch time defensively.

00:06:03He just makes, he makes the right decisions and things, but yeah, from a passing standpoint,

00:06:07like this was a good game.

00:06:08He obviously wasn't, it wasn't one of his sport scoring explosions that we've seen over

00:06:13these past few, but, but yeah, it was good to see, it was good to see just even contributions

00:06:19throughout their three.

00:06:20I almost want to say there are three all-stars I know KP's on all-star, but I feel like the

00:06:24level that he's played this past month, at least he's been in that, you know, that caliber

00:06:28of play, but really just seeing Tatum and Brown be consistent at the same time together.

00:06:32Like we, that's, that's what the hallmark of this team has been over the past few seasons.

00:06:36And to, to get to see them to do that together again, you know, I don't know the exact stats

00:06:40when was the last time they both had 27 points.

00:06:42It feels like it's been a minute.

00:06:45We can look into that, but first we'll bring in Sherrod.

00:06:47Sherrod, how you doing?

00:06:51Big night for the big three.

00:06:53Yeah.

00:06:54Uh, it was a little bit, uh, I'm going to be very transparent after Jalen made the shot

00:07:02that put him up and then the Pelicans came back down and tied it.

00:07:06And I'm looking at Tatum's doing the dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble

00:07:11that he does.

00:07:12I'm thinking we're going to overtime and the shot that he took was a great shot.

00:07:17I mean, that's a shot that Tatum should make nine out of 10 times that he takes it.

00:07:21And of course he knocked it down, but we have seen time and time again, he doesn't make

00:07:26it in that particular moment of the game.

00:07:28It was good to see Tatum close this thing out with a big shot.

00:07:32Good to see him and Jalen both really come up big down the stretch for the Celtics.

00:07:37And that's, I think that's something that I think Noah kind of alluded to a few minutes

00:07:41ago where it really is unusual for a game like this to come down to big plays down the

00:07:47stretch and you can look at Tatum delivering a dagger and Jalen doing the same.

00:07:52So that was good.

00:07:53I mean, where Zane is again, continues to be the best player, the most consistent player

00:07:58on this team.

00:08:00When you talk about just high impact night in, night out when they're on the floor.

00:08:06It was what it was a weird game from the officiating standpoint.

00:08:09I thought they did a good job for the most part.

00:08:11And then they just had like about two or three brain cramp minutes where they just missed

00:08:16some pretty obvious stuff.

00:08:18I mean, that goal 10, even without the replay, something didn't look right about that play.

00:08:23Without even reviewing it and for them to miss that in real time, it's disappointing.

00:08:29But the basketball guys have a way of balancing that stuff out.

00:08:34Good win against it.

00:08:35I think the whenever you have streaks against teams that you dominated and they know it

00:08:40and you know it, it gets a lot harder to keep it going.

00:08:44We saw that with Houston.

00:08:46We see it tonight.

00:08:47Pelicans.

00:08:48I think this was that came in winning what, eight in a row or something like that.

00:08:53This was a hard fought game and it's a good win, good road win.

00:08:57And now it's just on to the next one.

00:08:59Yeah, of course, the backdrop here, no Zion, the illness knocks him out of this one.

00:09:06No Hawkins, no Tice.

00:09:08So a bunch of rotation guys out for them.

00:09:09And then pretty early in this game, DeJounte Murray goes out with what looked like a pretty

00:09:13major injury.

00:09:14He was struggling a little bit to start the game.

00:09:17I feel like they were containing him more early in this game than they did in that last

00:09:22one where he went crazy.

00:09:24But I was thinking you, Sharad, you know, who are we going to circle going into this

00:09:28game?

00:09:29Who are you going to be like?

00:09:30We got to stop this guy.

00:09:31And with Zion out and, you know, Murray's going to get more coverage.

00:09:35I felt like the guy you had to think about containing and being all over and not losing

00:09:40was Trey Murphy, who's fantastic all year.

00:09:45And he played well against you.

00:09:47Yeah, and maybe their only shooter in their lineup tonight, given the personnel that they

00:09:51had out there.

00:09:52He got three open looks with the guys either hedging off him or lost or stuck behind a

00:09:57screen early in this game.

00:09:59I think he hit two of them.

00:10:01And that just we've seen it so many times, Sharad, to start this year or in the first

00:10:06half of this year.

00:10:07Guys just allowed to gain rhythm early in these games because there's not enough attention

00:10:12to finding them or they're trying to ignore them or play off them.

00:10:15I don't feel like that was the case here.

00:10:16I don't think that was the game plan, but they still ended up giving him great looks

00:10:20early in this game.

00:10:21And it built into a near career night for him in a game where you really didn't have

00:10:25that many guys to account for offensively with all the guys that were missing, especially

00:10:30once Murray left this game.

00:10:32So that drove me crazy watching the game in the first couple of minutes.

00:10:37It feels like, Bobby, sometimes that they have been coming to these games with a very

00:10:41defined game plan.

00:10:43And when things shake down where guys are, you know, instead of being maybe the fifth

00:10:48or sixth player you worry about, they become number three.

00:10:51They don't recalibrate the game plan to account for that.

00:10:56When the game started, Troy Murphy was probably at a certain point in the scouting report.

00:11:02But obviously when things happen, he naturally becomes more prominent.

00:11:06And it seems like they don't necessarily adjust as quickly as they should to that increase

00:11:12in prominence that players have.

00:11:14And it's frustrating because for those of us who are watching the game at home, when

00:11:19you see, you know, Jonte Murray go out, you're thinking, okay, Troy Murphy is probably going

00:11:25to get a few more looks or, you know, if there's no Zion, well, again, there's a domino effect

00:11:31where guys are going to get more opportunities.

00:11:34And it just seems that the Celtics kind of have this almost like prescripted game plan

00:11:40that these are the guys that we need to worry about.

00:11:43And even when they're not there, we're still not going to change or deviate the game plan

00:11:48enough to account for the changes.

00:11:51And it's frustrating because it just doesn't make sense, particularly for a team that has

00:11:56such a high basketball IQ like the Celtics do.

00:11:59I mean, you're not talking about a team, you know, with a bunch of, you know, lunkheads

00:12:03who aren't basketball savvy.

00:12:05They're really smart, but they don't always do smart things, particularly when it comes

00:12:10to recalibrating the game plan on the fly.

00:12:16So it was interesting, Noah, they forced seven steals in the first half.

00:12:20I think they had five bucks or something like that, or Przingis had had five bucks by the

00:12:24time halftime came around early into the third quarter there.

00:12:29So they were disruptive, but they're not disciplined right now.

00:12:34And I feel like they're letting guys break free for shots that if they're just tighter,

00:12:39there's better ball pressure, they wouldn't be giving up.

00:12:42They're overcompensating to a lot of the dribble drives right now, and that's giving up some

00:12:45of these catch and shoot threes.

00:12:48And what concerned me in this one, too, and I know he's starting to come around, he had

00:12:51a pretty good game here again tonight.

00:12:54I thought they beat White bad a couple of times late in this game.

00:12:57CJ got by him for a couple of floaters.

00:12:59Trey had that near three-point play for him there.

00:13:03And so he's a guy you count on.

00:13:06He's a guy that is obviously all defense the last couple of years here, but whether it's

00:13:09his health, and I know he talked a little bit about it the other night, that he's not

00:13:13a thousand percent healthy right now.

00:13:16I saw a vulnerability from him on the defensive end that, as you said, there's some uncharacteristic

00:13:22stuff we're watching in this game, and that was one to me that really stood out.

00:13:25CJ went by him a couple of times and got to that offhand.

00:13:29Trey hit that and won over him late in this game.

00:13:32And he's the guy, Holliday's the guy, and I don't think he's been quite the same defensively

00:13:36this year.

00:13:37Those are guys, and you've talked about it, Noah, that you're counting on to be great.

00:13:41They were great a year ago on both ends.

00:13:44Hasn't been as much the case this year.

00:13:45He's coming around offensively.

00:13:47But that stood out to me in crunch time there, the couple of baskets that he gave up when,

00:13:51you know, if you have him on a guy, you should feel pretty good about that, especially a

00:13:55CJ McCollum, who's a little further in his career.

00:13:58Even Trey Murphy at that point in the game, you think if you're able to hold him to a

00:14:02mid-range shot there that you're feeling pretty good about it, but it wasn't the case.

00:14:07Yeah, and we're seeing news just came out that Jonte Murray did in fact tear his Achilles,

00:14:12so that's unfortunate.

00:14:13I think that's kind of what it looked like.

00:14:16But I think absolutely, like Derek and Drew both have been a little bit a step slow, and

00:14:21the question I think everybody's wondering is, are they kind of just, I don't want to

00:14:26say load managing, but a little bit saving their 100% best effort for later in the year.

00:14:32They both played the Olympics.

00:14:33They both played through June.

00:14:34Like, I don't think Derek White at age 30 or 29 is suddenly like a worst offender.

00:14:39But I do think that he's been dealing with a bunch of different things.

00:14:43Some of them have been in the injury report, some of them haven't.

00:14:46And he's in that, you know, year after a finals run, after an Olympic run.

00:14:50It's a very specific overlapping of miles that, you know, very few players have in the

00:14:55league right now, right?

00:14:56It's literally just him, Drew and Luca and Tatum.

00:15:00That's like it, right?

00:15:01Yeah.

00:15:02Guys that were in the finals and also played in the Olympics.

00:15:04So when I look at Derek, like that's most likely what this is.

00:15:08I don't think that he like suddenly forgot how to play defense or he's not, he doesn't

00:15:11care.

00:15:12But I, you know, probably when we could see behind the scenes, like the treatment that

00:15:17he's undergoing, like there's probably some stuff he's dealing with, whether it's the

00:15:20knee or the ankle, you know, we've heard there's a bunch of different things that he's been

00:15:23listed for.

00:15:24Uh, that being said, I, what I do really agree with though, is like the early game, lack

00:15:29of intensity on certain plays and certain players.

00:15:33It's why you're now banking in a three at the end of the game.

00:15:35Like how many times have we seen this where it's like, okay, that's just a lucky shot,

00:15:38but it's not lucky.

00:15:39Right.

00:15:40It's like that guy's feeling it now.

00:15:41He's going to bank.

00:15:42And he's a good player.

00:15:43Of course.

00:15:44Yeah.

00:15:45He's a good player.

00:15:46I don't think the game plan, like you said, I don't think the game plan is it's to get

00:15:47him going.

00:15:48Because if you look at this roster and Jake Eisenberg from, uh, first of the floor tweeted

00:15:51before the game that he's going for 42 tonight, just given the circumstances and he literally

00:15:55went for 40.

00:15:56So I do think like, this was not the game plan to let him go off, but he had some really

00:16:00tough shots at the end of the game there.

00:16:02He really, he really did.

00:16:03And so there's a balance of like, just, I don't know how much the analytics take into

00:16:06account keep players, individual confidence and how that might impact their late game

00:16:11shots.

00:16:12I was talking to Dana Barrows a couple of weeks ago, I paid him purchase one-on-one

00:16:15tournament.

00:16:16And we were talking about like the analytics, you know, somebody who played in the NBA,

00:16:20you know, pre the analytics era.

00:16:22And he said that he gets the analytics, they don't, they kind of don't let you down.

00:16:24And that's why the hell this one, the championships, like over time, things do pan out, but that

00:16:28there's a couple of things that don't necessarily aren't necessarily accounted for.

00:16:33Like star players are very rarely in foul trouble now because you're not going forward

00:16:36because that's not what the analytics tell you to do.

00:16:37So there's a couple of things that I think like that confidence swing, like the Dylan

00:16:40Brooks effect, where you had a few empty ones and open ones, and now you're 40.

00:16:45Like, I don't know how much the analytics take into account that like, I almost feel

00:16:47like the equation needs to be like shifted a little, because it feels like all the time

00:16:51we're seeing guys just kind of get so comfortable early on that later on, they're in this position.

00:16:56Yeah.

00:16:57And there's two things going on shroud here.

00:16:59This game, I think is a case of breakdowns happening, not that they're trying to veer

00:17:03off Murphy or play away from him or dare him to shoot.

00:17:07And that's happened with other guys, obviously, Dylan Brooks, that was the case the other

00:17:10night, along with some breakdowns.

00:17:12And obviously, I think their transition defense is a little vulnerable right now.

00:17:17But the question is, does this matter come playoff time?

00:17:20Because it's leading to a lot of slip ups in the regular season.

00:17:24Noah mentions like over the course of many games, does that guy continue to kill you?

00:17:29And those guys have killed them throughout the first half here.

00:17:32It's been really strange how it's happened.

00:17:34And they're obviously a bit perplexed by that happening to his so often here, but I will

00:17:40give them this.

00:17:42I think if say they're playing the Pelicans in a series, and Murphy goes off for 40, whatever

00:17:47it is right now, I do think they would adjust game to game and react to that.

00:17:52You remember the Nem Heart stuff with Indiana there and TJ McConnell and all that.

00:17:57Those guys killed them.

00:17:59They had big impacts throughout that series, but it didn't amount to a much like they kind

00:18:03of dealt with the blows.

00:18:04And then those guys slowed down when it mattered late in games, and they were able to pull

00:18:07those out.

00:18:08So I will give them that I don't think a Dylan Brooks or a trade Murphy is going to knock

00:18:13them out of the playoffs here, you know, whatever one of those guys goes off.

00:18:17But the fact that it keeps happening in the regular season right now, and they don't seem

00:18:22to have a great solution to it, whatever the reason is that this keeps happening.

00:18:28It just adds to my concern about the defense, and I've just been so frustrated watching

00:18:31them defensively at times.

00:18:32Sure, I'd give up these massive nights to guys that they should be able to just put

00:18:36some ball pressure into and contain.

00:18:39Well, the breakdowns that you talk about and some of the bad things we see also, they have

00:18:47the potential to lead to just some, you know, just bad habits developing.

00:18:53And I think that's the real concern that these little things, you know, they're not going

00:18:58to, you know, derail their regular season.

00:19:02But when you get in the best of seven and you're playing a team that you should be better

00:19:06than, these little things could make what should be a five game series into a six and

00:19:12potentially seven game series if you're not careful.

00:19:16You know, they're the players that you have to consume yourself with worrying about who

00:19:20are really good. And then there are the, you know, the kind of the, you know, the the

00:19:25others who, if you allow them to get confidence, they can become Dylan Brooks and go off

00:19:31for 36 points and make 10 threes.

00:19:34And they can beat Trey Murphy and hit you for a 40 piece and only need like 15, 20 shots

00:19:39to do so. So my concern more than anything, Bobby, is just the bad habits that they're

00:19:43potentially putting themselves in a crosshairs of developing and how those bad habits

00:19:49can unfortunately manifest themselves at the absolute worst time.

00:19:54And, you know, something that Noah said earlier that I think is really noteworthy is that

00:20:00when you when you allow guys to get comfortable early on in games, I'd be curious to

00:20:08see what the analytics say about like when a guy makes his first three shots and they're

00:20:13all open, what does his end of the night numbers typically look like?

00:20:18And then when a guy takes his first three shots that are contested, what does his numbers

00:20:23look like at the end of the night?

00:20:24I think there would be a radical difference and which would then be talking essentially

00:20:29about two or three possessions, actually beginning the game, playing good defense for

00:20:35the first two or three possessions.

00:20:36How much of a difference does that make in some of those, you know, the non superstar

00:20:40guys having good nights or having typical nights for them, which most of the time for a

00:20:45team like the Celtics isn't going to hurt you in terms of wins and losses.

00:20:49I did want to bring up Springer tonight.

00:20:51He wasn't a DNP, Noah.

00:20:52He got good 30 seconds.

00:20:54Why does Bobby say that with a smile?

00:20:57Why does he say that with a smile?

00:20:59Did you notice how he just perked up when he says Springer DNP?

00:21:03No, I think he's just pro Springer.

00:21:05I'm pro Springer.

00:21:06I want to see more of them.

00:21:08We're talking about defensive issues right now.

00:21:10Bobby's in the dark.

00:21:12He's playing well, Noah, so I do want to get to him.

00:21:14But first, we're going to give a shout out to first our super chatter here.

00:21:18PR Max Celtics fan for life.

00:21:20Let's be honest.

00:21:21Defense has been suspect.

00:21:23This is in the NBA.

00:21:24This is the NBA.

00:21:25Every team has players that can torch us.

00:21:27It's been too frequent.

00:21:28I think we all feel that way a little bit, especially after this month.

00:21:31And January is finally over.

00:21:33So maybe that's going to shake, shake off whatever's gone wrong

00:21:37with the team over this month.

00:21:39And again, they win the night.

00:21:41It's a positive show.

00:21:43That's how it goes.

00:21:44But there was a lot to not love from this one.

00:21:46And it obviously was a dangerous finish there.

00:21:48Positive show you, Sin?

00:21:50It's going to be a positive show as much as it can be.

00:21:53Okay.

00:21:54I'm checking back in in 15 minutes on that one.

00:21:58I'm going to try my best, but first let's hear from GameTime.

00:22:02This episode is also powered by GameTime, the best place to get tickets to the

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00:22:42$20 off your first purchase terms to apply.

00:22:46What time is it?

00:22:47It's GameTime.

00:22:50Shout out to GameTime.

00:22:51I was looking at the Philly chart, Noah and I are heading down the Philly

00:22:55charade for the game on Sunday and I saw $73.

00:23:00So a tough-ish ticket, but some attainable stuff there in the balcony.

00:23:05It's always going to be a good crowd there.

00:23:06I'm interested to see what the crowd's like.

00:23:08Noah, you've been tracking that a lot this year.

00:23:10New Orleans was obviously a Celtics crowd tonight.

00:23:13You could hear it even after some of the missed calls late.

00:23:16And much of the season Celtics fans have invaded arenas around the league.

00:23:22Sunday's going to be a fun mix of Sixers fans who are obviously a little pissed

00:23:27at their team, but also apathetic toward Boston's team.

00:23:32And I think that a sea of green is going to be mixing in there too.

00:23:35I'm interested to see what that atmosphere is going to be like.

00:23:37And it's always a really fun game down there at Philadelphia at Wells Fargo there.

00:23:42And this is the first time that the Celtics are heading down this season.

00:23:46We're going to hit on the Sixers later in the show.

00:23:48They lost tonight, but they've been finding a little rhythm

00:23:50with some of their guys out recently.

00:23:52So it's going to be an interesting game on Sunday.

00:23:54And of course, you can go to the game time app

00:23:56if you're in Philadelphia and check those out.

00:23:58Big game up on Tuesday as well at Cleveland that the whole basketball world will be watching.

00:24:03The top two teams in the East right now, a potential East finals preview.

00:24:07So go check that out.

00:24:10So let's hit it on the bench a little bit.

00:24:11Hauser came back here for this game.

00:24:15Horford came back after missing a couple.

00:24:17Hauser got going early.

00:24:19And overall, I feel like he's finding that rhythm a little bit late this month.

00:24:24And Cornette just continues to play well.

00:24:29I'm going to give him a shout out here because I thought he was awesome.

00:24:31Sherrod, he's one of the NBA leaders right now in net rating.

00:24:35And I think you see it when he's out there.

00:24:37I mean, he had some great putbacks in the fourth and finishes around the rim.

00:24:42Block a couple assists.

00:24:43And when you're watching him, these last handful of games here,

00:24:46he's really getting the offense moving, too.

00:24:48So I'm going to give it.

00:24:49I haven't done in a while, Sherrod.

00:24:51I felt like I had to do it here tonight because he played another phenomenal game.

00:24:55I thought coming off the bench with some physicality, some finesse,

00:24:59just great stuff, great minutes from Cornette right now.

00:25:02And again, in a bad month for the Celtics or worse than usual month here,

00:25:08one of the league leaders in net rating.

00:25:10What do you got to say to that, Sherrod?

00:25:13I'm just amazed that you have been able to contain yourself this month.

00:25:21Luke's played well.

00:25:22I mean, Luke has done a lot of really good things.

00:25:24He's showing some things that we didn't really know he could do.

00:25:30I mean, like Luke, you know, in this game, he did some things that I have not,

00:25:34I don't recall him doing with any type of frequency or even infrequency.

00:25:40I mean, like Tatum found him on, you know, kind of a road to the basket where Luke

00:25:44takes off from like around a free throw line, two big steps and finishes with the left.

00:25:50And that's stuff.

00:25:50And one.

00:25:52Yeah. And one.

00:25:53Right.

00:25:53And so that's just not, that's not in the scouting report on Luke Cornette.

00:25:58And I think that's, you know, Luke, he's got to continue to do that.

00:26:02He's got to find ways to contribute in ways that aren't as predictable

00:26:05as they've been up to this point.

00:26:07And I think he did a good job in January of doing that.

00:26:09And, you know, February, it'll be interesting to see.

00:26:13As they get closer and closer to the playoffs and getting their kind of,

00:26:17you know, foundational group together for that.

00:26:20What are we getting from Luke?

00:26:21Is he going to continue to kind of grow into this role?

00:26:24Is it being maybe a guy that can give them a little bit more than just setting good screens

00:26:28and then some good, you know, passes from time to time?

00:26:32Can he be a guy that can finish around the rim?

00:26:34Can he be a guy that Tatum can actually, you know,

00:26:36throw that lob to, you know, Jalen can throw the lob to.

00:26:40Will we continue to see him grow as a player?

00:26:42And then January was a great month for him.

00:26:44There's no doubt about that.

00:26:45But what's next?

00:26:47Can he, can he build off of this going forward?

00:26:48That to me is the big question with Luke Cornette at this point.

00:26:53I feel like he's one of the guys you, you're most confident in right now.

00:26:57No, I, I, he's taken that backup or third center role and ran with it right now.

00:27:02And even in that game on Monday, looking back at that,

00:27:05I loved his minutes with Porzingis.

00:27:06I feel like they could almost use a little bit more of Luke right now.

00:27:09One or two defensive rating this month when he's out there.

00:27:13Slow down Bobby, slow down, slow down.

00:27:16Luke's been great.

00:27:17Matchups that might not go as well, but he's been great.

00:27:20He's been good, but slow down, Bobby.

00:27:22Just slow down.

00:27:22Go ahead, Noah.

00:27:23I think the other thing is, I just like the fact that he's taking some minutes from Al

00:27:27Porzingis, guys, that there's just no reason that in a January game versus the Pelicans,

00:27:31either of those guys need to be playing heavy minutes.

00:27:34And so obviously Porzingis, he's had a healthy month, knock on wood.

00:27:37It's been a good stretch for him.

00:27:38A couple, couple straight weeks here of just getting better and better.

00:27:41But like, I love the fact that you can play Luke 20, 25 minutes a night and not feel like

00:27:45you're sacrificing a whole lot in a regular season game.

00:27:48The jury's still out on the playoffs.

00:27:50I think that we've seen him now have two really good regular seasons in a row, but he really

00:27:54wasn't much of a factor in the playoffs.

00:27:55And so I'm curious to see, like, if he's going to be able to assume a bigger role,

00:28:00but it's kind of like Pritchard where, you know, it's going to depend on the matchup,

00:28:02but also just being, he's contributed to a lot of wins this season.

00:28:06He really has like the net rating stuff.

00:28:07If you look at that list who had it earlier, Bobby, you sent it to me.

00:28:10It was Sean Grandy.

00:28:12Yeah.

00:28:16Yeah.

00:28:17Before the game, he, so it's SGA, Isaiah Joe, Alex Caruso, Luke Cornette and Isaiah

00:28:23Hardenstein.

00:28:24So it's four OKC players that, you know, Thunder have had been historically good this year

00:28:29on both ends.

00:28:30And then Luke Cornette's just in the middle there.

00:28:32And it's not a coincidence, ultimately.

00:28:33Like it's, he has been providing them with really high quality minutes and there's the

00:28:37things that, you know, are his weaknesses.

00:28:40They're always going to be his weaknesses to an extent, like he's like the late game

00:28:43defensive things with Drew, with Jalen.

00:28:45We never figured out exactly what was responsible for that, but he's not going to be somebody

00:28:49else.

00:28:50He's going to be himself.

00:28:51But I've been, I've been so impressed with him offensively, just what he's been able

00:28:53to almost give them like another layer to their offense.

00:28:56And that's not the vision that I think we had for Luke a year and a half ago, that he

00:29:00was going to actually be able to enhance the team's offense.

00:29:03And I do think that he has.

00:29:05Yeah, gets in good spots for handoffs.

00:29:07The screens are great.

00:29:08Again, I think and people are coming around a little bit.

00:29:11I think the chat's coming around on him, but I think for so long it was either the appearance

00:29:16or maybe just the finesse offensive style he plays there.

00:29:20And he has gotten better on the offensive glass.

00:29:22I think he's gotten better playing and finishing with physicality to Sherrod's point there,

00:29:26the and one finish.

00:29:27So there's a lot that's gotten better from his game.

00:29:29Even the stupid cornet contest that we loved back then, that's disappeared a little bit

00:29:34too in favor of some better contests here.

00:29:36But the most important thing is I think he just gets the offense moving a little bit.

00:29:39He throws a lot of passes, good handoffs that stuff just flows nicely.

00:29:44Even his dives to the basket really do attract some nice vertical gravity out there to free

00:29:53some guys up.

00:29:54And Tatum and him had that little sequence late in the game, Sherrod, where they ran

00:29:57a couple of pick and rolls.

00:29:58And he got an alley-oop dunk finishing the lane too.

00:30:02And those were plays that helped separate the Celtics at the start of the fourth there.

00:30:05So I don't want to go too far with this Sherrod again, but I thought he was a really big part

00:30:09of this win here.

00:30:10Well, you know what, Bobby?

00:30:12We're seeing what Luke more than I think anything else is that the things that he's doing out

00:30:17there, they don't feel gimmicky.

00:30:20Like he's actually doing basketball big man plays when you're rebounding in traffic, you're

00:30:27catching lobs, you're rolling to the basket, you're finishing with the left hand, you're

00:30:32doing the things that if you're seven feet tall and you play in the NBA, you should be

00:30:36showing signs of being able to do these things.

00:30:38And he's doing those within the confines of the team concept.

00:30:42It's not like he's going out of his way to do these things.

00:30:45These things are just happening in a natural flow of the game.

00:30:48And I think that's why teams are going to have to recalibrate the scouting report a

00:30:54little bit on him because he's no longer just kind of the third center that they're

00:30:59just throwing out there to just hopefully they can get by the next 10, 15 minutes and

00:31:03not be devastated with him out there.

00:31:05He's actually able to help the Celtics when he's out there now.

00:31:08And I don't think that has always been the case.

00:31:11I don't think he has played always with that type of confidence.

00:31:14And that is, again, I give him a lot of credit for, frankly, elevating his play and making

00:31:23it so that when they do put him out there, you're not cringing at the thought that I

00:31:28can't wait to get Luke off the floor so that we can, so that the Celtics can get back to

00:31:33winning and start putting this team away.

00:31:36He's actually just helping this team in the natural causation of how this game is being

00:31:41played out.

00:31:42So I give him props.

00:31:44He's done well lately.

00:31:47Yeah.

00:31:47And again, chat was mad.

00:31:49I glossed over how good stuff from him tonight.

00:31:51Glad he came back from the hip injury and looked like himself.

00:31:54All those threes were early.

00:31:55So not a ton from him later in this game, but a good start on solid minutes.

00:32:00They need him right now for this lineup flexibility.

00:32:02I did want to hit on Pritchard, Noah.

00:32:06This is another just lackluster performance for him.

00:32:09And they're stacking up here in January.

00:32:12Obviously, 15 plus points was the norm for him.

00:32:15And John had a good tweet about this earlier.

00:32:17They'll pull up, but it took him until the third quarter to score.

00:32:22That's all he did for the whole game there in terms of scoring.

00:32:26And out of all the games in January now, only had four with 15 plus points now.

00:32:34So we were debating, is he going to be a big, substantial part of this team this year?

00:32:40Is his scoring increased and he was run away at the six man race and all that?

00:32:44Or is he going to cool down at some point and

00:32:47be closer to some of the inconsistency we've seen from him in the past?

00:32:50And for whatever reason, this month just hasn't gone his way,

00:32:54by and large.

00:32:54Are you getting a little concerned performance?

00:32:57No, not at all, because it really hasn't.

00:32:59He hasn't really cooled down that much.

00:33:00He's just shooting way less.

00:33:02His last 10 games, 48.8% from the field, 44% from three in his last 10 games.

00:33:08So that's 64% true shooting.

00:33:11Like that's that's as good as it gets for an NBA guard.

00:33:13So he's just taking way fewer shots.

00:33:16Why hasn't he been as involved as much, you think?

00:33:19Because, and actually, like I talked to people within the organization

00:33:22as KP was coming back and like, it was pretty well understood that

00:33:26Richard, Richard taking, you know, Richard was going to be one of the guys that

00:33:31loses some shot attempts when KP comes back.

00:33:33Like those shots are going to come from somewhere.

00:33:35And it's not, I don't think it's people's instinct is to be like this, you know,

00:33:38the seven footer is back.

00:33:40So the, the, you know, 511 or six foot guard is going to lose his shots.

00:33:44But like, at the end of the day, they go, they have to go leave from somewhere.

00:33:47And I do think that him and Derek are two of the guys that have taken the biggest dip.

00:33:51And, you know, Derek's talked about it openly, but he's really just not.

00:33:54And I know people get, there's like a thing online about him, like looking off Tatum.

00:34:00I don't really think it's true.

00:34:01I think that, you know, there's, there's been a lack of just like team wide ball movement

00:34:04that is more so than anyone.

00:34:05I think that's hurt him too.

00:34:07Yeah.

00:34:08But if you look at his assistant turnover ratio last 10 games, like 3.6 assist 0.9 turnovers,

00:34:13like his numbers are the same as efficiency is the same.

00:34:16I feel like he's had some big contributions,

00:34:18whether it was the nine assists game other day, or he had nine rebounds.

00:34:22Yeah.

00:34:22He's finding ways to continue impacting the game.

00:34:25I just think you're seeing a decline.

00:34:28And I think we talked early on, but like some of those 20 point explosions for him,

00:34:32they were awesome for me to see.

00:34:34We all had fun watching it, but they were also a little bit of an indictment on the

00:34:38team because that's not really like this team was not built for Pritchard to come

00:34:41off the bench and score 25 every day.

00:34:42Like, that's not what they were.

00:34:43That's not what I tell them that their best should be looking like.

00:34:47So there was an element of that.

00:34:49I also think that there are certain guys that he does struggle against more.

00:34:52And I think it's the players that have the same tricks that he has, like Jose Alvarado.

00:34:58Who's whose other one?

00:34:59I'm totally blanking.

00:35:01The sumo the other night.

00:35:02Who's the guy in the Pacers?

00:35:05Nembhard McConnell.

00:35:07No McConnell.

00:35:08Yes.

00:35:09Yeah.

00:35:09He's another guy that I feel like it's almost like he's playing himself a little bit and

00:35:13he struggles more in those matchups is what I've noticed.

00:35:16So again, though, I looked at the numbers the other day because I was like, is he really

00:35:20cooling down or is it just he's just cutting his touches are going down and it's more the

00:35:25latter, even though I think it feels like the former because it just felt like he was

00:35:29putting up crazy numbers early on.

00:35:32It's just they just want us to come on here and wave the green pom poms after the win.

00:35:36It wasn't a great game, guys.

00:35:38I'm sorry.

00:35:39OK, it was a great game.

00:35:40If you're a Celtics fan, you just watch a Friday night game and you got a game winner.

00:35:43Like, that's fun to watch.

00:35:44I know.

00:35:45I know.

00:35:45But the other team had half their guys out and they have 12 wins on the season and you

00:35:50almost lost to them.

00:35:51So it's going to be a bit of a mixed mixed bag here tonight.

00:35:54We've tried.

00:35:55I've tried hard here to lean positive, but there were some issues in this game.

00:36:00Well, yeah, I mean, there are going to be issues every game.

00:36:02But the thing about Peyton Pritchard is that and the numbers really bear this out as Noah

00:36:07laid out.

00:36:08He's still finding ways to put his imprint on games.

00:36:11And when you look at the numbers that he was posting earlier this season, it just wasn't

00:36:15sustainable for this team, the way they're constructed for him to continue playing like

00:36:21that.

00:36:21And, you know, when you have got Porzingis, you know, in and out of the lineup and then

00:36:26your eyes here and there, it makes it it's great for Peyton because there's some opportunities

00:36:32to do some things he otherwise wouldn't normally get a chance to do.

00:36:36But as this team inches closer and closer to becoming at full strength, you understand

00:36:41that his role is probably going to change and be a little bit closer to what it was

00:36:46previously than what it was when guys are out.

00:36:48And that's fine, because the thing about Peyton Pritchard, you want him to figure out ways

00:36:53to put his imprint on games other than just making shots.

00:36:56And that was my big concern from him for him this year, is that if the shots aren't falling

00:37:01or if the shots aren't coming, what's he going to give you when he's out there?

00:37:05He's not your traditional point guard where he's going to dribble, drive, find guys.

00:37:09He can do that, but that's really not playing necessarily to his strengths.

00:37:14I give him credit for finding ways to still impact the game.

00:37:18His ability to get steals, I think, is important.

00:37:20His ability to get two or three assists and not turn the ball over very much.

00:37:26And maybe the one thing he does that I don't think he gets enough credit for

00:37:30is when he's on the floor, teams now have to account for his presence.

00:37:35And that has a tendency to trickle down and open things up for some of his teammates.

00:37:40And that's one of those areas of the game where he's never going to get enough credit

00:37:45for what he does in that regard.

00:37:47So even though, yeah, his numbers may be a bit down,

00:37:50let's not act as if he's out there getting filleted night in, night out,

00:37:54and he's giving them absolutely nothing, because that's just not reality.

00:37:59And I think that's the beauty of this team, is that they've got a number of guys

00:38:04who are basically in roles that are literally changing in real time,

00:38:10where one night you need to be a guy that can give me 20.

00:38:12Another night, you just need to be a guy that has the potential to give me 20

00:38:16so that Tatum can have a night where he can shoot maybe closer to 50%.

00:38:20Maybe Sam Houser could get one or two wide open looks.

00:38:23Drew can knock down those corner threes without any type of resistance from the defense.

00:38:28Little things like that, that I think Peyton is helping his team with,

00:38:31that, again, it's important that he understands that and embraces that.

00:38:38He doesn't have to be a 20-point scorer in order to help this team.

00:38:40And I think he understands that and is cool with that, which is why,

00:38:44again, his numbers aren't going to, I think,

00:38:48really reflect the impact that he's still having on games,

00:38:51even though he's not taking as many shots.

00:38:56Yeah, and I think he kind of proved that last fall, honestly, when he couldn't make a shot.

00:39:01I don't know if you guys remember how bad his first 10 games were.

00:39:04It was brutal.

00:39:05Yeah, and I remember Joe was like,

00:39:08I'm still playing him, and I've told him,

00:39:10at this point, you're due enough to be out there, even if your shot's not falling.

00:39:14He's not in one of those stretches where a shot's not falling,

00:39:16but I think the stretch that he had earlier this season,

00:39:19where he was kind of on an insane heater,

00:39:22like he was on the best heater of any guard in the NBA,

00:39:25and doing all those other things,

00:39:27that was probably not going to be scalable to the entire season,

00:39:30especially with all the talent on this team.

00:39:32But I haven't felt, I've seen a lot of chatter about it,

00:39:33so I haven't felt like he has been playing poorly at all.

00:39:38Yeah, he's just not doing what he was doing earlier in the year,

00:39:40which maybe was unsustainable.

00:39:41It was crazy what he was doing in November and December there.

00:39:46Yeah, the eye test is not raising red flags that,

00:39:49oh my God, there's something wrong here.

00:39:52I think Noah has it right there, that the shots are just going down,

00:39:55which I think is an offensive issue, not a Pritchard issue.

00:39:59So that's Pritchard.

00:40:01I do want to give a second to Springer, Noah,

00:40:04because I have had the same thought as you here in a couple of these games.

00:40:09We don't even have a Springer graphic because he played two seconds.

00:40:16Can he get a little run here?

00:40:17He's playing well.

00:40:18They need what he brings to the table.

00:40:20Maybe I'm wrong, maybe you're wrong, Noah,

00:40:23and he's not going to do well if they keep playing him

00:40:25or continue to put him out there in spots.

00:40:28But I don't get how he was great last game.

00:40:31Now, zero minutes or 30 seconds, whatever it was tonight.

00:40:35And then that Clippers game was the Springer game,

00:40:38and you're getting run off the court in L.A. the next night,

00:40:41and he's not out there until late.

00:40:42And he played great late in that game.

00:40:44So there's obviously all this stuff of swirling around

00:40:48about maybe he's traded or whatever happens this week.

00:40:51But whether it's to show him off

00:40:53or whether it's to actually get some help from that defense of his,

00:40:56I don't know why Joe isn't going to him right now.

00:40:58I guess because everybody's healthy right in front of him

00:41:00and they don't want to take anyone else's minutes away.

00:41:02Bobby, that's it.

00:41:05That's it.

00:41:05I mean, the only reason he was getting an opportunity

00:41:08was because they were shorthanded.

00:41:10And I think that's the way Joe views him.

00:41:12This is the, in case my main guys aren't ready to go,

00:41:17I'm going to open up my insurance policy known as the Springer plan.

00:41:21And I give Jaden credit.

00:41:24He has made the most of the very, very limited opportunities

00:41:28he has had to play.

00:41:30But I'm telling you now, Bobby,

00:41:32if our good friend Sam Houser can stay healthy,

00:41:36Springer will do the same thing you and me

00:41:38and Noah do at most games and watch.

00:41:41That's how this is going to work.

00:41:42And I'm not saying that's the right thing to do

00:41:44because I personally like guys who can defend at a high level.

00:41:47I like guys-

00:41:48I want to see it.

00:41:50Well, and we know he can do that,

00:41:52but that's not how Joe's built.

00:41:54I mean, think about the type of player

00:41:57that Joe Mazzuolo would be building

00:42:00if he could get into the lab

00:42:01and build a player in the image that he wants that player to be.

00:42:05It wouldn't be Springer.

00:42:05It would not be Jaden Springer.

00:42:06No.

00:42:07It so would not be him.

00:42:08And that's the issue here, Noah.

00:42:09I don't think Joe likes Springer's game, which is fine.

00:42:14To an extent.

00:42:15I mean, they did trade for him when Joe was coach.

00:42:17I'm sure he had some input,

00:42:18even though he likes to downplay his involvement in those things.

00:42:21But I'm sure he had some input.

00:42:24You don't think he had input, Jaron?

00:42:25I think that was one of those deals where,

00:42:29you know what?

00:42:30I'm just going to rubber stamp whatever you want.

00:42:33And I think for Joe, part of it is like,

00:42:35yeah, I'll take him, but I don't have to play him, right?

00:42:38Oh, okay.

00:42:39Yeah.

00:42:42Offensively, he doesn't fit in, Noah.

00:42:43And that's why he's-

00:42:44Well, listen, it's a very small sample,

00:42:46but he is shooting 46% from three in January.

00:42:49And that's a thing.

00:42:49As you pointed out, this is a very small sample, as you pointed out.

00:42:53It's a small sample,

00:42:54but all he can do is make the ones that he takes in the game.

00:42:58Here's where I'm at on this, Noah.

00:43:01Your other guys are tired.

00:43:02They're worn out.

00:43:03They're probably not giving you the best energy level right now

00:43:06at this point in the season.

00:43:08Why not just feed a couple of those minutes down to a guy like that

00:43:11who you need to funnel some minutes to,

00:43:13to develop and grow and gain confidence?

00:43:16And you need what he brings to the table right now.

00:43:18So to me, it's just Joe trying to win every game,

00:43:22right now, and trying to get this team back in a mix.

00:43:25And, you know, he has trust for the guys who are playing

00:43:28and doesn't have as much trust for the guys who aren't.

00:43:30But it just buries and ruins the momentum of the guys

00:43:34who are on that bench,

00:43:35who maybe have a good showing here or there,

00:43:37and then are just right back to the bench, as Shradd said there.

00:43:39So again, this isn't something I want to harp on too much,

00:43:43but I do feel like the last couple of nights,

00:43:44they could have used him, Noah.

00:43:46Yeah, I mean, I would love to see him out there.

00:43:48I just enjoy watching him play.

00:43:50So I think it'd be fun.

00:43:51It just makes it up.

00:43:52You know, we'd be able to talk about him more,

00:43:54and it wouldn't be as ridiculous.

00:43:55But I do think that he's looked good

00:43:57in his stretches here this month.

00:43:59I think that he has a gift defensively,

00:44:01and that the jury's out on the offense.

00:44:03I know this is not super scientific,

00:44:07but I always go show up early and watch the guys warm up.

00:44:10There is a noticeable improvement

00:44:12in Jaden Springer's shot, in his release,

00:44:14and just in his efficiency.

00:44:15And I'm not going to name names,

00:44:17but watching the Stay Ready group warm up last year,

00:44:20at three hours before tip-off, it was a brutal watch.

00:44:23Some of those guys that were on that

00:44:24before the trade deadline,

00:44:26and you can think for yourself who they are,

00:44:27but just air balls.

00:44:29You just would not guess they're NBA players, honestly.

00:44:31And Springer has really come along with a shot.

00:44:34And so you're seeing it in games,

00:44:36but that's the big question on him.

00:44:38If he was a good three-point shooter,

00:44:39he would be, I don't know, a starting guard in the NBA.

00:44:43He'd be a completely different person

00:44:44as far as where he's at in his career.

00:44:46And so it's just a question mark,

00:44:47because we just haven't seen it enough.

00:44:49But they have behind-the-scenes things

00:44:52that they're tracking these guys

00:44:53at three-point performances much more scientifically

00:44:55than these 10 attempts that he's taken in January

00:44:57and me coming to warm up.

00:44:58So I'm assuming that he's still not hitting those marks,

00:45:01and that's what's holding him back

00:45:02for more extended minutes.

00:45:04And I feel like most people that cover teams,

00:45:06most fans, everybody wants to see the head coach

00:45:09play the starters a little bit less.

00:45:11We could be covering the Knicks,

00:45:12and the competition would be even more inflated.

00:45:14But I think coaches just struggle with doing that.

00:45:16It's not a Joe thing.

00:45:17I think it's kind of league-wide,

00:45:19especially when you know what works,

00:45:20and especially when you have your starting group,

00:45:22and you want to develop that chemistry

00:45:24and work out the issues that you have.

00:45:27And we were talking about switching up

00:45:28the starting lineup a few weeks ago,

00:45:29and I think Joe wants to figure this out with this group,

00:45:32and he doesn't really want to change anything.

00:45:33Everyone loves the backup.

00:45:36Yeah, everybody loves the backup.

00:45:37Everyone loves the backup until the backup has to play,

00:45:40and then you realize there's a reason why they're the backup.

00:45:46Um, I like that Springer, again,

00:45:50he's making the most of his opportunities,

00:45:51but he is an in-case-of-emergency player.

00:45:57He has not done enough to gain the confidence of his coach,

00:46:00and in part because he just hasn't had a lot of opportunities.

00:46:03So, um...

00:46:04Hey, you can do it!

00:46:06Before you get going, I do have to do this read real quick.

00:46:10No, no, no, no, no, you're fine.

00:46:13What do you got, John?

00:46:14Go ahead, you can do it.

00:46:15All right.

00:46:17I didn't want to wait too long before we get into it here,

00:46:19but Prize Picks, big game right now.

00:46:22This is huge, John.

00:46:24Not like you need it, but Pat Mahomes,

00:46:270.5 passing yards for the big game.

00:46:30I think he's going to get that.

00:46:31I think that's one you got to look into here.

00:46:33I'll take it.

00:46:33Bobby, you're doing great.

00:46:34I'll be right back.

00:46:36And this is probably the best time to go over to Prize Picks,

00:46:40because there's a lot of interesting guys in this game.

00:46:42It's a great matchup, Sherrod, obviously.

00:46:45Your Eagles, the Chiefs.

00:46:47A couple of years ago, this was a, what, 38 to 35 game.

00:46:51So just offense flying everywhere.

00:46:52I know the Chiefs are better defense this time around,

00:46:55but look at some of these things you're looking at here for this.

00:46:58Well, Saquon Barkley rushed for more than 112.5 yards.

00:47:03That's what we're talking about as a more or less for Saquon Barkley in this game.

00:47:07And these are the kind of numbers we're going to see.

00:47:09Jalen Hurts, 215 and a half yards.

00:47:12Kelsey, 62 and a half.

00:47:14Well, Xavier Worthy have more than 56 and a half.

00:47:17So check Prize Picks for up-to-date player projections.

00:47:20That's what I like going over there for,

00:47:21just to see what they think guys are going to do on any given night.

00:47:25And again, right now, up until that big game,

00:47:280.5 passing yard square for Pat Mahomes.

00:47:31It's pretty much a free square for Pat Mahomes.

00:47:34And you know the deal over on Prize Picks.

00:47:36Pick two or more players.

00:47:37Pick more or less on their stat projections.

00:47:39And you have your team for the big game.

00:47:41And you can just enjoy it all the more over there

00:47:44by having some guys involved that you want to see do well there.

00:47:48And again, I like that Barkley one.

00:47:50He's been out of this world, Sherrod.

00:47:52I know it's a high number, but I want to root for Barkley.

00:47:56Obviously, everybody's going to be rooting for the Eagles in this game more or less.

00:47:59But I want to root for Barkley because he's just running through the world right now.

00:48:02So that would be my team going into the big game here.

00:48:06Pat Mahomes, free square.

00:48:08And Saquon Barkley, even though it's a big, big rushing yard number right there.

00:48:13But again, go over to Prize Picks today.

00:48:15Use the code CLNS and get $50 instantly when you play your first $5 lineup.

00:48:20Along with that, Pat Mahomes square.

00:48:22Again, CLNS gets you $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup.

00:48:26Prize Picks, run your game.

00:48:28And still just over a week to build your lineups over there

00:48:31over on Prize Picks for that big game.

00:48:33Welcome in, John.

00:48:34Hey, guys.

00:48:36Hey, John.

00:48:37I don't have much to add.

00:48:38I actually came here because I have questions.

00:48:42What?

00:48:43Explain it.

00:48:44Explain to me.

00:48:46What?

00:48:47Explain it to me because I can't understand it.

00:48:52The amount of good things that happened in this game were many.

00:48:57You had Tatum and Brown both going off for, you know,

00:49:00you get the combined 55 points or whatever out of that.

00:49:03Porzingis gets seven stocks.

00:49:05You win the turnover battle.

00:49:07Sam Houser comes in.

00:49:08He's knocking down a couple of threes.

00:49:11That looks really good.

00:49:12You clamp down on defense at the end when you really need it.

00:49:16And, you know, you win by two.

00:49:24Statistically, I can't understand, looking at this box score, how this game was close.

00:49:28And I know everyone will say, well, Trey Murphy went off for 40 and that's it.

00:49:33I guess, but like give three of his makes to three other Pelicans and call it even.

00:49:40It wasn't like a shooting variance game either.

00:49:42What, how was this game close?

00:49:44What, what am I missing?

00:49:47He missed eight free throws.

00:49:49I know you missed the free throws late.

00:49:50Sure.

00:49:50You traded, you traded late.

00:49:52You traded fourth quarter turnovers for missed free throws, you know, like in terms of like,

00:49:56what's kind of messing with you here, but you lost the defense, Sean.

00:49:59It's another game.

00:50:00You lost three of four quarters to the Pelicans without three of their four best players.

00:50:05And I can't understand it because it didn't look bad, but Jackson points out the rebounding there

00:50:12to the rebound is the one statistical area where there's a big, big differential.

00:50:16But still again, almost everything else is going in your favor here.

00:50:19I can't figure it out there.

00:50:23What am I missing?

00:50:23Noah, I think there's 40% from three.

00:50:26So it's always something shot 39.

00:50:29Right.

00:50:30But I'm saying like, it's not a huge shooting variance game.

00:50:33Like, it's not like, oh God, they hit everything in the Celtics were ice cold.

00:50:36Something like that might explain how a team like the Pelicans without its best

00:50:40players could stay close to you.

00:50:42But you basically played them to a standstill, you know, and they shot well, but that's fine.

00:50:47It wasn't like ridiculous number.

00:50:50It was a 40% game.

00:50:52I mean, that's fine.

00:50:53NBA average is 38, 37.

00:50:55It's not a ridiculous game.

00:50:58That's why I'm really confused by how it's so close.

00:51:01Cause you look at the numbers, you'd be like, God, they should have killed them.

00:51:03And again, someone mentioned empty possessions.

00:51:06I do think sometimes Celtics are kind of taking plays off and just letting them hang in there.

00:51:11It's like, you know, three good plays.

00:51:13One, I can't figure it out.

00:51:15I can't put my finger on it.

00:51:16So I'm curious what you guys think.

00:51:18Like, how is it so close?

00:51:22You know where I'm always going to go, John, it's the defense.

00:51:25I think that they get in the stretches where they're just funneling away points.

00:51:29Start of the fourth, they gave up points on six of the first 10 possessions there.

00:51:32And that brings the Pelicans right back into the game.

00:51:35There were stretches in the game where the Celtics started to separate themselves a little bit,

00:51:38but they just can't rack up enough stops right now to be able to turn these games into

00:51:43double digit leads.

00:51:45The shooting's obviously not where it was.

00:51:46And there's another game where you didn't generate as many threes as you normally do.

00:51:50So teams are running off the three point line.

00:51:52That margin was closer, as Noah mentioned there.

00:51:55And the offensive rebounding was a big one here, too.

00:51:57A lot of second chance points for the Pelicans in this game.

00:52:00And this is the frustrating part about this team, though, to me.

00:52:05Your defense hasn't been intense enough to separate you.

00:52:08The shooting hasn't been intense enough to separate you or consistent enough, really.

00:52:13You don't have a lot of depth to your scoring either.

00:52:16And obviously, Brown and Tatum were struggling until tonight.

00:52:19So you almost come in every game.

00:52:21I don't know if you feel this way, Noah.

00:52:23Expecting that whether it's the Pelicans or whoever here, whoever's playing or whoever's not,

00:52:28that it's going to be a rock fight and they'll do their whole,

00:52:32oh, we're going to get everybody's best shot.

00:52:33But that's kind of where they're at right now is that their opponents are playing well.

00:52:37They're not playing great.

00:52:38Their defense hasn't been consistent.

00:52:40What aren't they doing?

00:52:41It's going to go right down the wire.

00:52:43Was it defense?

00:52:44Is it just not consistent enough defensive effort?

00:52:46Because again, you're not going to say they left Murphy open all night.

00:52:50They didn't.

00:52:50A lot of those shots were contested.

00:52:52A couple were deep early.

00:52:53They did early.

00:52:55Sure.

00:52:55But then he, you know, he, he really earned his money after that.

00:52:58And even the drives to the basket were tough shots.

00:53:01He was not, you know, hitting gimme's all day long.

00:53:04So like, he definitely earned it and he definitely got on a heater.

00:53:07But like, what, what was it, you know, like what else beyond that?

00:53:13Is it a lack of perimeter defense?

00:53:15Is it, are the J, you know, someone said here, the Jays aren't paying attention.

00:53:18Like I, I, I mean, aren't, aren't playing consistent defense here.

00:53:21You know, yeah, I don't know.

00:53:23I think, I think part of it is, is people don't know.

00:53:26And players that they have counted on to be almost like those game

00:53:30changes defensively are not doing that through holiday.

00:53:33Uh, Derek white couple times for sure.

00:53:36Yeah.

00:53:37They weren't horrible all game long, but those are guys that typically they make plays

00:53:42that basically shut the faucet off on other teams and then start the floodgates for the

00:53:47Celtics to start pulling away and beating the crap out of teams.

00:53:50And they just haven't, they didn't do that tonight.

00:53:52And they haven't really done that as consistently as we saw a year ago.

00:53:56And that guys like, like Trey Murphy, uh, all of a sudden they get real comfortable,

00:54:01uh, even when you're defending them well, because they were able to get off to a great start.

00:54:06Yeah.

00:54:06That doesn't end.

00:54:08Uh, and you would think that when you don't have the kind of firepower that they were

00:54:15missing, that all you got to really do is just going to lock up Trey Murphy and you

00:54:19win this game by 2025 points.

00:54:21Easy.

00:54:22That's the thing.

00:54:22They just were missing so many other guys that you think you'd be able to throw extra

00:54:26pressure at them.

00:54:26So I am going to look at the coaching again, John, just, I don't know, like I said, I can't

00:54:31figure it out.

00:54:31It feels like a good win, but I was, you know, and, but it's, it was the free throws late.

00:54:39It was some of the turnovers and offensive rebate, like a lot of stuff just prevented.

00:54:42Maybe that's it.

00:54:43Maybe if Murphy shoots 50% and they hit their free throws late, it's a 16 point game and

00:54:48nobody's talking about it.

00:54:49I guess, I guess, but I don't know.

00:54:51I mean, uh, and that's part of the weird stuff that's going on right now.

00:54:54I know with them and every game, it's a little different with them in crunch time.

00:54:57It's like, all right.

00:54:58One night White's committing a five second violation tonight.

00:55:01They're missing free throws, which they don't usually do.

00:55:03Something just seems to be popping up every time that there's a close game late.

00:55:06And that's, you know, that's a concern to me too, right now.

00:55:09And again, credit tonight.

00:55:12Yeah.

00:55:12No, we just talked about that for a good stretch there, which I do agree with too.

00:55:19Like if guys are tired, if there's not enough intensity right now, look to the bench for

00:55:24that.

00:55:24And you know, they're not, they're not willing to do that.

00:55:26Although Cornette Hauser and, uh, yeah, I think a good Luke game.

00:55:30You had a lot of good, you have so many positive things, so many, so many boxes to check.

00:55:35I don't know.

00:55:36On the flip side though, if you're the Pelicans, you're sitting there saying we got 40 from,

00:55:40from Trey Murphy.

00:55:41We got 20 points off the bench from Jose Alvarado, like that.

00:55:45Why didn't we win?

00:55:45You know, like, I think I hate to always say this, but I feel like the difference between

00:55:50the teams that are whatever their selfless record is 32 and 15.

00:55:53And the teams that are towards the bottom of the standings.

00:55:56Isn't that you can't, they can't compete with one another.

00:55:58It's that the Pelicans are the team that doesn't come ahead in these rock fights.

00:56:01The Pelicans are the team that can't execute down the stretch.

00:56:03And I think what we saw from the Celtics last year, particularly in the playoffs is that

00:56:07they were able to be in a battle all game with the Pacers, but their veteran wisdom,

00:56:12their experience, their ability to kind of be smart and poised down the stretch is why

00:56:15they were able to win games.

00:56:16And that's why like the late game execution stuff, the fact that they haven't been the

00:56:19same this year is something that has stood out because they've lost some of those games

00:56:23to go back and forth.

00:56:23We were like, all they had to do was like three things and they didn't do those.

00:56:27And so in these games, like tonight, what stands out is like, they missed a bunch of

00:56:31free throws down the stretch.

00:56:31They shouldn't have missed.

00:56:32They didn't miss the wide open layup, you know, but they were able to still, you know,

00:56:36great shot making kind of salvage that, but they don't make those shots.

00:56:39We're sitting here.

00:56:39We're not talking about, I don't think about 48 minutes.

00:56:42I think that they didn't execute in the fourth quarter to pull away when they could have.

00:56:47And honestly, like Derek's gotten a little bit of flack from us.

00:56:49And I think it's rightfully so.

00:56:50Like he has taken us up defensively, but he also made some huge defensive plays tonight.

00:56:54Like the double with Tatum.

00:56:55Those drive me crazy.

00:56:57What Derek White did back-to-back plays with the let the guy go by and then the tap from

00:57:03behind.

00:57:03Oh my God.

00:57:04I used to get so mad when people would do that, but they were great defensive plays.

00:57:08They were a lot of deals in this game too, which again, to the defensive point, as bad

00:57:12as they were at times in this game, they bought a lot of shots.

00:57:15They foresaw a turnover.

00:57:16This is a weird one.

00:57:16Undoubtedly.

00:57:17And it was a weird month.

00:57:18Like this month was just a one big WTF across the board with them.

00:57:22Like they had some amazing wins.

00:57:24Yeah.

00:57:24I mean, Minnesota won the Houston one.

00:57:26They had some awful losses in games.

00:57:28Atlanta won the Houston one.

00:57:29I'm conflicted.

00:57:31Noah mentioned all of this stuff.

00:57:32Like what the other team has, you know, you know, this guy go off for 40.

00:57:36Do they expect to win?

00:57:37No, they don't.

00:57:38They're missing Zion and Deshante Murray.

00:57:40And they're, they're not, you needed 60 from a player to make up for all of the lost players.

00:57:45I don't think you can expect one guy to get hot and to win.

00:57:48And I don't think they're, they view that as deserving.

00:57:51And I don't think the Celtics won because of the Celtics and the Pelicans lost because

00:57:53of the Pelicans.

00:57:54I just don't know why it was close at all.

00:57:56And that's where I'm stuck right now.

00:57:58Because the worst thing is the worst, the worst outcome.

00:58:03If you're a Celtics fan, is that you played well and that's about as that was the right,

00:58:07that was the proper result, you know, because last year I'd be like, you play well, you

00:58:11win this game by 30 points.

00:58:13So playing relatively well, if, if they played well, then that's, that's more depressing.

00:58:20Like I'm trying to find out what they didn't do well that I didn't fully see to, to, to

00:58:26be able to understand why the game was as close as it was.

00:58:28Like I said, you lost three of four quarters in this game.

00:58:33You gave up 34 in the fourth.

00:58:34It wasn't great.

00:58:36There's something missing and I can't quite exactly figure out what it is.

00:58:40You know, we're talking about ball pressure, perimeter defense, whatever that is, or is

00:58:44just, are they just all a little bit, this is the best, this is a good Celtics effort.

00:58:48If it is, that's not, I don't think that's great.

00:58:51Right.

00:58:52Like, I feel like last year, this is a 40 point win.

00:58:55No, it's been a confusing month in that sense.

00:58:57It's confusing.

00:58:58I'm not, I'm not trying to be negative for the sake of negative.

00:59:01I can't figure it out.

00:59:02Yeah.

00:59:03I think after every game, we should say, did the Celtics play well?

00:59:07And did the opposing team play well?

00:59:09Because a lot of times the Celtics play against, who was that the other night that was in Boston?

00:59:14Who was just there?

00:59:15Houston.

00:59:16No, no.

00:59:17On Wednesday.

00:59:18Chicago.

00:59:19Chicago.

00:59:19Yeah.

00:59:19Chicago played terrible.

00:59:21Chicago was such a bad watch.

00:59:22Watching Chicago, it's like, I almost feel like we can't even talk about the Celtics because

00:59:26Chicago gave nothing.

00:59:27And so I feel like we have to better contextualize, like, okay, the Pelicans played well today

00:59:32and the Celtics played well.

00:59:33And on Wednesday, the Celtics played well and the Bulls played terrible.

00:59:37And so, like, there's a certain level of shot making tonight.

00:59:39Like, they really were at their best.

00:59:41And I know that we always are going to look at the injuries.

00:59:43We're always going to look at who was out.

00:59:46But we know, we all know, I mean, we've all been watching enough NBA basketball for years

00:59:50that this is the dream for these other guys.

00:59:52This is the opportunity for Trey Murphy to be the guy.

00:59:55You know, this is an opportunity for guys to get increased shots.

00:59:57And they are the best players in the world, ultimately.

00:59:59And I don't know about the Celtics bench.

01:00:01I don't know that if right now you put the Celtics bottom five and gave them increased

01:00:05opportunities, like, if those are the kinds of caliber players that are going to start

01:00:08running the offense through them.

01:00:09I don't think Tillman's going for 25 tomorrow.

01:00:10But there's a lot of these guys on NBA benches that are just waiting for somebody to be injured.

01:00:15And I do think, like, that's why I never look at the schedule and say, oh, you know,

01:00:19the Thunder are playing the Pistons, or the Thunder are playing the, you know, the Wizards

01:00:23are maybe the one team this year where you can kind of put them in their own league.

01:00:26Maybe last year it was the Pistons.

01:00:27But it's just like, I don't know.

01:00:29I just feel like what, like, it doesn't have to be a huge story of, like, why this game

01:00:34was closed, because.

01:00:35Sure.

01:00:36But what it doesn't have to be, let's do the reverse, right?

01:00:38If it's not a big deal that it's this, would we be talking about it differently if it were

01:00:42a 30-point win?

01:00:43Like, oh, back on track.

01:00:45That was good.

01:00:45They needed that, right?

01:00:46So, like, if we're going to do the reverse, if we would have made a big deal about facing

01:00:51a Pelicans team that did play well in eating a Trey Murphy 40 and going out there and drilling

01:00:56them by 25 or 30 points, we'd be saying, wow, that looked like a Celtics-like performance.

01:01:02So the flip side would be, like, well, I guess it didn't look like it.

01:01:06Like, it goes both ways there.

01:01:08If you're going to call out one thing, you have to look at it if the reverse were true.

01:01:11I'm sorry.

01:01:12We'd be making a big deal.

01:01:14If they're steamrolling these teams, we'd be, oh, this looks like last year's Celtics.

01:01:19That's what I remember.

01:01:20But it's not.

01:01:21And that's what I'm trying to figure out there.

01:01:23There's an explanation.

01:01:24Your explanation is perfectly sound, Noah.

01:01:27It makes sense.

01:01:27They played a pretty good game.

01:01:29But, like, that didn't matter last year.

01:01:31And you have a fully healthy team right now.

01:01:34And you got good games from the Jays.

01:01:36Something's missed.

01:01:37Something's there.

01:01:38I can't see it.

01:01:40Um, because this is not how we would have reacted to this game last year.

01:01:44And last year, they probably beat this team by a hundred freaking points.

01:01:48It would be, yeah, it does matter who's playing.

01:01:51It does matter who's on the other side.

01:01:53And we've watched this game a bunch of times this month.

01:01:55And that's frustrating.

01:01:57If this just happened once out of, you know, it's again, the Clippers with no one.

01:02:02Same, same thing.

01:02:02It's like that matters.

01:02:04That's that.

01:02:04But the stuff they do matters, too.

01:02:06Again, you build a six, seven point lead, and then you come out of time out and you

01:02:10give up two shots the other way into one point game.

01:02:13You know, the general lack of inconsistency from them within the flow of games, I think,

01:02:17is what's frustrating here.

01:02:18And you're right, Noah.

01:02:19Guys played well on the other side.

01:02:20That team played well.

01:02:22They're getting good resistance here on a lot of different nights.

01:02:26But they have a standard that they have to play to.

01:02:30And they haven't met that in a lot of these games here.

01:02:32And that's frustrating to watch for me.

01:02:35A game like this to me.

01:02:38Given what some of the guys did in this game to John's point, Cornette and Tatum and Brown

01:02:42getting going and all these different performances, it's frustrating to me that they squander that

01:02:48with whether it's a missed free throws or giving up an offensive rebound or sub patterns,

01:02:54whatever you want to blame some of their inconsistency on right now.

01:02:58That's frustrating to me because, listen, they win this game.

01:03:02Tatum makes that shot, a tough shot at the end.

01:03:04He deserves a lot of praise for that.

01:03:06I love that play to close this game from him.

01:03:09But if he misses it and they go to overtime and they lose, it's like, oh, man, it's another

01:03:14brutal loss.

01:03:14And that's the position they put themselves in at the end of this game, despite all the

01:03:18good things that they did there.

01:03:19And again, I know the Pelicans did a lot of good stuff to make that happen.

01:03:22But when you're up, what was the fourth quarter lead?

01:03:25Seven.

01:03:26It wasn't 12 like the other night, but it was another lead that just disappeared like

01:03:29nothing out there.

01:03:31I don't know if it's fatigue, John, or, you know, them just thinking that they get a small

01:03:36lead and they're good to go.

01:03:37And they left playing too slow.

01:03:38Other teams, athletic, double big, conceding, awful right now, conceding, conceding threes,

01:03:44not not creating any ball pressure, whatever that is.

01:03:46I just think you're letting teams hang around here.

01:03:48I really feel like this is a game they should have just stepped on their throat and let

01:03:52it get away.

01:03:53The one that frustrated me that, you know, I tweeted about it.

01:03:57The area that frustrated me, and it was interesting because the Tatum got yanked, was in that

01:04:01third quarter where, you know, he drives and he scores, but he wanted the foul and he didn't

01:04:06get it.

01:04:06And then he's late getting back on defense, talking about it.

01:04:09And that resulted in a three from the Pelicans because he didn't join.

01:04:13He didn't join the play.

01:04:14So it's five on four the other way.

01:04:16And then he doesn't get a call again, takes himself out of the play, jogs back.

01:04:19It's another bucket.

01:04:20That was five points.

01:04:23You tell me if this is why this happened.

01:04:26Joe went back to original substitutions in the first half, right?

01:04:30The Tatum plays and Brown goes out at the six minute mark.

01:04:33And then it reversed in the third.

01:04:34I don't know if Tatum got taken out because he kind of got in his own head there and did

01:04:38the little sulky pouty thing because overall he was playing an outstanding game prior to

01:04:42that.

01:04:43But then, oh, and then he had a bad, you know, then he forced the issue on another shot and

01:04:47took a foul, I think too.

01:04:49So it was a weird little stretch there for him in that third quarter.

01:04:52And I know JB had two fouls again.

01:04:55So I don't know if that's what, what, what changed it or what dictated it, because that's

01:04:58what happened last game also.

01:05:00Um, so yeah, maybe, yeah, because it's twice now that Brown's had two falls in the first

01:05:05quarter and had to come out.

01:05:06So, um, but, but that was, that was a weird little stretch there.

01:05:09And that was like kind of emblematic of like, that was where that you needed to put the

01:05:13hammer down and put them away.

01:05:15And they kind of hung around there in the third and you enter the fourth quarter and

01:05:18it's, it's a game.

01:05:21Yeah.

01:05:22So I don't know.

01:05:23Like I said, but overall, I mean, it's hard to argue with the good Tatum did.

01:05:27There's a ton of going in the right direction, John, and to that point on Tatum, there was

01:05:30a lot to like about tonight.

01:05:32Yeah.

01:05:32I feel like there is hope that that game winner can, along with the good performance here

01:05:38and a couple of better performances, we've seen the last couple of games here that that

01:05:41can get him going.

01:05:42That can probably improve some of the energy from him and just get him right back on the

01:05:47track.

01:05:47And I loved the shot.

01:05:48It was a really good shot.

01:05:49A pretty shot.

01:05:50The two game winners you mentioned this year now are both tie game situations.

01:05:55I believe.

01:05:56I think the Toronto one was a tie game in overtime and instead of just launching the

01:06:01stupid three, cause they want to run out the clock and you know, give, put themselves in

01:06:05the best position and not give up a basket.

01:06:07The other way he gets to his spot and hits a comfortable shot for himself.

01:06:11So I think that's a 12 game winners or game tying shots like that for him in that spot

01:06:19over the last handful of years here.

01:06:21So he's again, guy that you like in that spot.

01:06:24And when he can get many attempts, his mission.

01:06:27Yeah.

01:06:28Yeah.

01:06:28But again, no one, no one shoots well in those situations, John.

01:06:30So I like him in those spots.

01:06:32I just don't like the launching the three thing.

01:06:34And the fact that he hasn't done that on those last two there, I think is he went to work

01:06:37on a less, he went to work on a lesser opponent.

01:06:39He got the matchup.

01:06:40He wanted to hit a shot.

01:06:41It was a great shot.

01:06:42It had been Brown Brown, the position before two clutch shots.

01:06:45No question about it.

01:06:47You guys talk about Pritchard.

01:06:50Three, six last five seconds leader time.

01:06:53And it's complete departure from last year.

01:06:55Last year, it was like, we were all sitting there being like, why even, why even give

01:06:58him the ball?

01:06:58He's missed every single one.

01:06:59All season.

01:07:00And he just said, yeah, he just said, like, I'm due for one, you know, I'm going to eventually

01:07:03make one.

01:07:04And so he's, I think he, it's great to see that back on track.

01:07:08I wasn't necessarily like everybody.

01:07:10I think people thought he wasn't clutch.

01:07:11And it was really just one off year where he was bad down the stretch in those moments,

01:07:14like really like late, you know, that final seconds.

01:07:16But it is just really encouraging to see that.

01:07:19I thought Jalen tonight had one of his, the best game he's had in a while.

01:07:25I think so too, especially in that third.

01:07:27I thought, um, uh, there were, uh, where Tatum went out and it was kind of his unit.

01:07:32I thought he was good, but I thought he had an overall good game too.

01:07:37What happened with that Pritchard?

01:07:38Did you guys talk about it?

01:07:40Are you worried?

01:07:44No, not at all.

01:07:46Not at all.

01:07:47No.

01:07:47I mean, I think his, his shooting numbers of this, like the last 10 games, he's shooting

01:07:5144 from three and 49 from the fielder.

01:07:54So it's really more just, his punches are way down.

01:07:56And so the question is like, can you impact the game in other ways?

01:07:59And statistically he's one of the best, that's the turnover ratios in the league in the last

01:08:02few seasons.

01:08:03I think defensively, there's always things that he's going to be better or worse, but

01:08:06I think like him having that intensity, that energy, like that, that can waver, but he's

01:08:10going to be one of those guys that is going to suffer the most from Porzingis coming back

01:08:14from scoring.

01:08:15I think Derek's the other, maybe drew a little, but it's not like the shots, the numbers aren't

01:08:19coming away from Tatum and Brown, whether or not they should.

01:08:22So it's, he's low on all of the concerns.

01:08:26Yeah.

01:08:26I mean, I'd be concerned if he was like, like, you know, making poor decisions or if he was

01:08:31like on a really extended stretch where, you know, the early numbers are looking like a

01:08:35heater, but he's still been a very consistent shooter for them.

01:08:40And I think the other thing is that just like from a mental standpoint, you got to make

01:08:43sure that guys like Derek White, guys like Peyton Pritchard are not losing their engagement

01:08:47because they're not taking the same shot attempts.

01:08:49And so like, we were talking to Derek after Dallas and he plainly said like, yeah, part

01:08:54of my, part of my scoring dip is just KP coming back.

01:08:57The other part of it is like, I've been shooting like crap.

01:08:59Like he said both those things, but he's not a guy that I'm worried that Derek's going

01:09:04to stop playing hard because his shot attempts are down.

01:09:06I don't think Pritchard's that guy either, but I do know that Pritchard has this thing

01:09:09of like, he really believes in himself and he's obviously requested a trade before and

01:09:13all those other things.

01:09:13So like, that's the only part of it that I'm thinking like from a mental standpoint, you

01:09:16got to make sure that the guys that are now taking a little bit of a dip, same as Drew.

01:09:20I mean, Drew barely shoots a lot of these games.

01:09:22Like it just can't, you have to find, you have to find ways as a coaching staff to make

01:09:26sure that it's not impacting other aspects of their game.

01:09:28And I think you have a really unique trio of guards that are actually willing to take

01:09:32four shots and still play really hard in the whole game and not really the case on a lot

01:09:36of NBA teams.

01:09:36And that's kind of what made last year's team work in a lot of ways.

01:09:41I got nothing.

01:09:42I was just coming here because I wanted to hear what you guys thought because I couldn't

01:09:45make sense of why the game was close.

01:09:48I still can't, but because like I said, there's so many good things happen.

01:09:53I just can't make sense of it.

01:09:55Yeah.

01:09:55I'm not going to freak out about this one.

01:09:57There was not a freak out at all.

01:09:58I just, I couldn't understand.

01:09:59I'm having a tough time understanding.

01:10:02I'm still leaving here.

01:10:02I don't think I'm going to get it.

01:10:04Oh yeah.

01:10:06I think we expected it.

01:10:07It was, it was great.

01:10:08When on Wednesday, Friday, you come out and it's, it's not as great here, but they

01:10:12won.

01:10:12So passing grade, you should be able to get through Philly on Sunday.

01:10:16You don't want another situation like this though.

01:10:19I wouldn't put it past them.

01:10:21Yeah.

01:10:21We'll see who ends up playing in that game.

01:10:22But well, Bobby, did you, are we going to, are we, have we been saving this for the end?

01:10:27Are you ready for it?

01:10:28Yeah, I'm ready.

01:10:29Cause I'm pumped about this, man.

01:10:33Talk about Bobby is talk about an energy infusion.

01:10:38The Celtics reportedly are among a few teams interested in acquiring Yabu.

01:10:47So this is a crazy thing about this charade.

01:10:51You covered Yabu.

01:10:52It wasn't pretty.

01:10:53It's probably one of Danny's worst draft picks ever.

01:10:56Uh, and, and he goes to the French trim on the green.

01:11:03They waved them.

01:11:04He was just French.

01:11:07I dream on green that, that, that small print.

01:11:10Yeah.

01:11:11But what he's doing this year is crazy.

01:11:14I don't know if anyone's paying attention, but he has that Olympic run.

01:11:18They sign up to a $2 million.

01:11:19I think everyone started paying attention when he dunked on LeBron.

01:11:23That'll do it.

01:11:24But in Philly, you know, and beads out and Georgia's out every night and all these different

01:11:28guys are missing for them.

01:11:29So this guy's playing big minutes every night.

01:11:31He's playing center.

01:11:32Sometimes it's saying all those threes, he's 50 from the field.

01:11:36He's a double figure score.

01:11:38And in case you guys missed it tonight, 28, 28 on 12 for 17, four for seven for everyone

01:11:44lamenting what Trey Murphy did to the Celtics tonight.

01:11:47You got the frigging.

01:11:49Denver got Yabu for 28 points.

01:11:52I don't know which is the greater anomaly.

01:11:53I would say that.

01:11:55But he had 22 at Denver a couple of weeks ago.

01:11:57So he's had big nights this season.

01:11:59And again, there's some positional versatility that the good thing about him.

01:12:04And there's a big pro and a con here.

01:12:07You can just absorb him into that empty roster spot.

01:12:10So there's not a salary thing here.

01:12:12He makes 2 million bucks.

01:12:13He's not making any money.

01:12:14There's no real tax hit here.

01:12:16You're worried about.

01:12:17I don't know how you would send Philly value here.

01:12:19And I saw a report today from Bagley.

01:12:22I think that Philly doesn't actually want to trade Yabu, but.

01:12:25Why would you?

01:12:26He's contributing and he costs nothing.

01:12:28Right, it makes no sense.

01:12:30Well, their season's going to hell.

01:12:32Their pick is going Oklahoma City.

01:12:36Top six protected from the Horford trade.

01:12:38So they have to manage that a little bit.

01:12:40I think they got to figure out is Embiid coming back this year.

01:12:43Are we actually doing this thing?

01:12:45And they can't sign him because of cap stuff and they don't have bird rights.

01:12:50So you can't really keep him if you're them.

01:12:52If you look at the year he's had, he's probably made himself 10, 15,

01:12:56maybe upwards of 20 million a year.

01:12:58You do this a lot with your show.

01:13:01You just start throwing $20 million contracts at everybody who bats their eye at you.

01:13:05Like you got to look at the numbers.

01:13:07No, no, no, Bobby, we've done this.

01:13:11So that's the downside for Boston too.

01:13:13If you bring him in, he's a pure rental.

01:13:15You can't sign him.

01:13:16I don't care if it's 5 million, 10 million or 20 million.

01:13:19They can't afford it.

01:13:20It's a rental.

01:13:21And would you give up a first round pick for a rental here?

01:13:24I think he plays a position you need pretty badly.

01:13:26He's not a first round pick sort of trading guy.

01:13:30So that's the tough thing.

01:13:31You probably can't get him without a first.

01:13:34No, I mean, there's no doubt he's played well and he has played his way into a significantly

01:13:40richer contract going forward.

01:13:44But I think he's got a lot of potential.

01:13:47Going forward.

01:13:49But I just don't think the Celtics would have the kind of assets that they're willing to

01:13:55part with in order to acquire him.

01:13:57And if we're being honest, how much do you really need?

01:14:03I'd give up a second.

01:14:05Oh, if that's all it's going to take, then absolutely.

01:14:07I mean, because remember, this guy was like three spots away from being a lottery pick

01:14:12when they drafted him.

01:14:12I mean, granted, they drafted him and they could have drafted some dude named Pascal

01:14:17Sycam, who turned out to be a pretty good player.

01:14:21But this is I think he's one of those guys who the way that he's playing works well in

01:14:28the situation, in the scenario that he's in.

01:14:31But I'm not sure that will translate if he were back in Boston.

01:14:36No, he wouldn't be playing a ton.

01:14:39Right.

01:14:39And I'm just not sure if he's the kind of guy that instead of playing really well over

01:14:46a 20, 25 minute period of time, can still play well if he's down to 10 to 15 minutes.

01:14:53I'm not saying his numbers, could they be the same?

01:14:55I'm saying, could his impact in a smaller window to work with be similar?

01:15:00And I'm not sure about that.

01:15:03And I think the Celtics are kind of along the same lines.

01:15:0626 minutes a night for Philly.

01:15:08It's insane.

01:15:09Yeah, but it beads out every night.

01:15:11So it's a little different.

01:15:12I'm just saying it's a lot of minutes.

01:15:14You know, like, yeah, he absolutely is.

01:15:16He's playing a lot.

01:15:16But I mean, he's, you know, he's really makes you think like how many other guys are out

01:15:21there overseas that just didn't have a breakout Olympic run where they dunked on LeBron and,

01:15:27you know, got a lot of everybody's attention that could be contributing in the NBA because

01:15:31nobody was thinking about him a year ago.

01:15:32It's pretty cool.

01:15:34Yeah, it's great.

01:15:34Out of nowhere.

01:15:35He was he was a punchline, you know, it was just, you know, he was he was a meme.

01:15:39He wasn't he wasn't he wasn't he wasn't a viable NBA players.

01:15:43It's good.

01:15:44I love this story.

01:15:44I would love it.

01:15:46It's good vibes, too.

01:15:47You know, like, and they're going to see him.

01:15:49I don't care if he's playing 10 to 12 minutes.

01:15:50If you found a way to get him for a second round pick and you throw him onto that bench

01:15:54mob with Luke and oh, my God, you know how I feel, John, the vibes are outstanding.

01:16:00Ever since Grant left and I never want to see Grant go.

01:16:04They haven't had that four or five hybrid.

01:16:07Obviously, Horford does that, but he's more of a hybrid starter.

01:16:10They haven't had a guy off the bench who can play the four and the five,

01:16:13give you some size with shooting.

01:16:15And again, you can't keep them.

01:16:16That's the killer.

01:16:17He's probably going to walk at the end of the year.

01:16:19But this could be a real boost to that bench.

01:16:22Obviously, there's a Hauser implication, though, that we've talked about a million times.

01:16:25Every time he misses a couple of games here, I'm like that happens in the playoffs and

01:16:29you don't have someone who can slide into that rotation spot.

01:16:32You're going to be in some trouble there.

01:16:34And obviously, they were missing Horford and Hauser the last couple of games before this.

01:16:37So yeah, it was not exactly that player.

01:16:40I don't know if you're going to expect him to shoot 39 in the playoffs, but he's kept

01:16:44that up for a lot of this year.

01:16:46And there's some other aspects to his game that can be more helpful than even a Hauser.

01:16:51And those guys could obviously play together some.

01:16:53I want them to do something this week.

01:16:54John Murray also in that draft, by the way, you went with you went with Gershaw.

01:16:59You went with Yabu and Ante Zizic.

01:17:01And you had a couple of a couple of other gems waiting there later.

01:17:04And again, if everybody hit on that was the Jalen Brown draft.

01:17:07All right.

01:17:07Because Brown went three.

01:17:09Yeah.

01:17:09And then Yabu 16 and Zizic and like 20 something 23 or whatever.

01:17:13They picked like six guys that year was ridiculous.

01:17:18Yeah.

01:17:19It's amazing.

01:17:19You just need to win like two twice and you're set.

01:17:22Like Tatum and Brown was enough to erase a lot of those.

01:17:24Well, I say this all the time.

01:17:26Like that's when everyone people are like, whoa, he's not.

01:17:28You know, Danny, Danny draft history and this and that the impact of drafting those two guys

01:17:37drafting Tatum instead of instead of whoever else instead of Josh Jackson or drafting Brown

01:17:44instead of Dragan Bender, like those are the draft picks that set you back 15 years.

01:17:49And those guys were in play in those in those slots.

01:17:52Right.

01:17:52So like Chris Dunn, even that done that right there.

01:17:56Like, I mean, getting all NBA players in those means you can blow every other pick for the next

01:18:04five, six, seven years.

01:18:04It doesn't matter.

01:18:05It's just you want to if you if you could have just hit one late round home run a Desmond Bain

01:18:11instead of having to trade that picture, upload cash, you know, when you took Pritchard there

01:18:15and then you offloaded that pick because you had to get off from what's his name?

01:18:21And it's freedom.

01:18:22The idiot.

01:18:23Right.

01:18:23Freedom.

01:18:24You had to get off of him.

01:18:27It's just one of those.

01:18:28You hit one of those and it changes everything.

01:18:30You ended up with Maxi instead of which draft was that?

01:18:35Neesmith.

01:18:38Hey, those weren't awful picks.

01:18:40Neesmith became a good player.

01:18:41I franchise all day.

01:18:42You got Rob.

01:18:43The Tatum and Brown hits supersede all of that.

01:18:46Yeah.

01:18:47Yeah, I know.

01:18:47And if you picked all the right picks all the time, you'd be the greatest team ever.

01:18:50So you're going to get hits and misses.

01:18:52And, you know, the interesting thing now is going to be and to your point, John,

01:18:55you can't give up a first for this guy.

01:18:57You probably can't give up a first for this guy because you have to start

01:19:00drafting first and hitting first now to keep this thing going.

01:19:03And they haven't had to do that since Danny left.

01:19:06So that's why I hated giving them up.

01:19:08You know, like, I, I, I.

01:19:09Well, it's a different era, John.

01:19:10You were trying to know.

01:19:11I know what I argued back in the day.

01:19:13I hated having to get off of Kemba, you know, and to get Al Horford.

01:19:17I hated having to sell a first round pick.

01:19:20It ends up being Shangun, you know, so like I get it.

01:19:23Um, but like you, you need, you gotta get one of those.

01:19:28They haven't gotten one in a long time.

01:19:30You gotta get one, you know, um, to be able to reload or else you're going to get expensive.

01:19:35This is why they are where they are not having drafted your maxi or Sengun, your, whatever

01:19:40your next core player star controllable for the seven years that you don't have to pay,

01:19:45you know, anything beyond a rookie deal for the first three, four or five is why they're

01:19:49the most expensive team in the history of sports and why they're probably gonna have

01:19:52to start to break it apart after this year, because you didn't, you don't have the max

01:19:57guys with the cheaper guys and then making decisions down the road, you're paying everybody

01:20:02at once.

01:20:03So, you know, it's, you need them, you gotta be careful, but, you know, like all the bail,

01:20:08all the Baylor Shyamans in the world, aren't gonna, you know, turn this, turn the ship

01:20:12around.

01:20:12You gotta hit up, you gotta hit a home run, you know, even if he ends up being a rotational

01:20:16player somewhere, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta get one.

01:20:19Right.

01:20:22So that might be why you don't do too much this week.

01:20:25We'll say, but I would like them to go.

01:20:27No, no.

01:20:27What do you want to see them do?

01:20:31I mean, I just want to see, I'd like to see them sign a 15th player and eat the tax bill.

01:20:35Cause what do I care about the tax bill?

01:20:36Exactly.

01:20:37This is not why we got into watching sports.

01:20:39So people could save their money.

01:20:42Why do I want an empty roster spot?

01:20:44So I signed to somebody there.

01:20:45They can, maybe they can help.

01:20:46If not, they can be Hayden gets an extra locker.

01:20:50Like, um, yeah, I want them to keep longer, but, but honestly, at this point, like, I'm

01:20:56just a fan of Springer's game that I'm almost like, he's not going to play here.

01:21:01Just send him somewhere else.

01:21:02Give him a chance.

01:21:03The only thing is, I'll be free.

01:21:07Well, but Philadelphia didn't play.

01:21:09So I'm almost like, maybe they know something that I don't and he's really not going to

01:21:13work out.

01:21:14But, um, I I'm, I'm okay with him standing path.

01:21:17What would you be okay trading Springer for?

01:21:21I don't know.

01:21:22I don't have like a guy off the top of my head.

01:21:24I'm telling you guys, if they trade spring, it's going to be cap relief.

01:21:26It's going to be tax relief.

01:21:27I can't do capital.

01:21:28It's so boring.

01:21:30No, Xavier Tillman is the one guy that like, he really has brought.

01:21:33I want trade exceptions.

01:21:34I missed those.

01:21:36I don't think there's value for him.

01:21:38So no, I don't think so.

01:21:40I trade exceptions.

01:21:42I missed trade exceptions.

01:21:43Everyone thought those things were like, you could just cash them in.

01:21:47Like they were like, they're not a free $18 million player with the, uh, with the four

01:21:55net trade exception.

01:21:56You just have to take it to the, to the player store and just hand it to them.

01:21:59And they'll just give you a guy.

01:22:01They got, uh, they got Richardson.

01:22:04Yeah.

01:22:05That got you, that got you white.

01:22:07So that one worked out.

01:22:09Yeah.

01:22:09Though.

01:22:10Not so much.

01:22:11Yeah.

01:22:11TPE.

01:22:12Oh, I missed TPE.

01:22:13The TPE era was one of the darkest eras.

01:22:17It's like, we're trying to like create this magic trick with TPE.

01:22:21The season was falling apart.

01:22:22Cause they gave up Hayward and we're just like, when they use the TPE, they'll be fine.

01:22:27And then it was fornia and it was, it was not fun.

01:22:31Um, yeah.

01:22:32Uh, I got nothing.

01:22:34I came in late.

01:22:35I don't want to keep talking about stuff you guys talked about.

01:22:36I was just, I was out and I just wanted to jump on.

01:22:39Yeah.

01:22:39That was all I had.

01:22:40You, unless you want to shower Jalen and praise John, but yeah.

01:22:44Congrats to him.

01:22:46For what?

01:22:46Oh, he did.

01:22:48I mean, look, championship credentials.

01:22:51Those are, those, those are strong.

01:22:54And, and Bobby, you make a point.

01:22:55I don't know that there's a, you know, forwards.

01:22:58There was a lot of guards, you know, who are probably more deserving.

01:23:01It's kind of tough to find a forward and be like, Oh, robbed here.

01:23:05Um, I also don't know that it necessarily matters, you know, cause so many people are

01:23:08kind of positionless here, but like definitely made it on the heels of last year.

01:23:12But also I don't think you could say that he's not deserving.

01:23:14No one thinks that this was outrageous.

01:23:16I think the only weird thing is LaMelo not making the team was my own.

01:23:24What's that?

01:23:24No conferences.

01:23:25None in both conferences.

01:23:26You could just tell that winning was rewarded over like fan favorites.

01:23:31Yeah.

01:23:31Almost like three for the calves, two for the Celtics, two for the, and fans at home

01:23:36don't care about that.

01:23:36They want to see like their favorite players.

01:23:38So there's a little bit of a disconnect between the voting system, really favoring winning.

01:23:41And like my little brother being like, why is LaMelo not in the all-star game?

01:23:44And it's like, they just don't care about the bottom seed teams.

01:23:47You have to be like insane on the lower seat of teams to be an all-star.

01:23:50So to me, it's like Jalen was kind of a no brainer for that reason.

01:23:53And Tyrese Madison, for example, like you're not going to be an all-star when your team

01:23:56has been as bad as we've been, even though he's had a good, a better month here.

01:24:00I also don't think the coaches play, pay close attention to this stuff.

01:24:03Sherrod, we've been over that for years.

01:24:05They just tossed it.

01:24:06We're an assistant and they probably picked the guy who's winning.

01:24:08So that's, you know, hero gets in young, young was a snub too.

01:24:12That one doesn't make much sense.

01:24:13What's that?

01:24:14Max is on a heater, but he hasn't had a great year.

01:24:16It's been a straight volume year where he, where he's had to shoot a ton because he wasn't

01:24:20a snub the snub his last five, six, seven games have been great.

01:24:25But he honestly, like he's been okay.

01:24:28Like he's been fine.

01:24:30He was, he was better last year.

01:24:32Honestly, overall, in terms of efficiency, he's just, he's got a shoulder, a bigger load

01:24:36because they've been a mess all year.

01:24:38There weren't really any forward snubs to your point, John, though.

01:24:41Like Barnes was hurt and beads hurt.

01:24:44Paulo's hurt.

01:24:45Franz is hurt.

01:24:46Like all the guys who would have been, I go LaMelo over hero.

01:24:49That's about it.

01:24:50Yeah, that was, yeah.

01:24:51I mean, I would, I would take Mello over here.

01:24:55I take over Tyler hero.

01:24:59I mean, Tyler hero to me, he's the outlier.

01:25:01I mean, if he, cause whenever I hear people talk about snub, is there someone on the team

01:25:07that you think should be not on the team?

01:25:10And Tyler hero is a guy.

01:25:12Miami is not very good.

01:25:13Tyler is as about as one dimensional the player as there is on the all-star team.

01:25:19And Trey young leaves the freaking league and assists.

01:25:22I mean, and he's playing the kind of basketball that we have basically been criticizing him

01:25:28for years for not playing.

01:25:30And he's not rewarded for that.

01:25:33I think if either of those guys were more efficient this season, they would benefit

01:25:36like shooting 40% from the field.

01:25:38LaMelo shooting 41% Tyler here has been really efficient this season.

01:25:42And I think that that's probably where they lost, even though, and also he's on a better

01:25:46team than both those guys.

01:25:47And I mean, LaMelo has been injured.

01:25:48He's been good.

01:25:49He deserves it.

01:25:50They might, they might have to weigh the fan vote more ultimately though, because the fans

01:25:53are the ones that are tuning in.

01:25:54And if the fans are pissed off with the guy, they voted for number one in the entire conference

01:25:58is not there.

01:25:59Like, it's kind of like, it's an all-star game.

01:26:00Ultimately it's not all NBA doesn't determine contracts for the most part.

01:26:03Right.

01:26:04I think maybe that's the answer is just like giving it to the fans a little bit more.

01:26:08Yeah.

01:26:08LaMelo is just chucking right now.

01:26:10He is, and his, and his 3.4 percentage is down after, after a hot start to the year

01:26:15too.

01:26:16So, yeah.

01:26:17So Jalen Brown did it again, not giving the Celtics to all-stars is ridiculous.

01:26:22I think Derek White might've made a case, but boy, would that have been interesting

01:26:25if, if White made it over Brown as the second Celtic, I can't wait for the eyeball.

01:26:34The emojis bring them.

01:26:36The Nike conspiracies and all of that.

01:26:38But yeah, no, I mean, there was no way, uh, I didn't mean to put that one up, Bobby.

01:26:42I made fingers fast.

01:26:43Sorry.

01:26:52I've been getting a lot of crap tonight.

01:26:53I had to sit in the John chair tonight, John.

01:26:55So that kind of comes with it.

01:26:57Oh, really?

01:26:59Yeah.

01:26:59Did you say John things?

01:27:00Cause that's usually the bigger issue.

01:27:02Nothing shared.

01:27:02Yeah, I said John thing.

01:27:04Okay.

01:27:05I'm sorry.

01:27:07I'm sorry.

01:27:07I put you in that position.

01:27:09Come out, come out, play great against Philly, run them off the floor the way you should.

01:27:14I think all those guys are going to be out again and you know, they'll keep going in

01:27:17the right direction here.

01:27:18So they're climbing out of it, John.

01:27:20February is about to start fresh start.

01:27:22They're healthy.

01:27:23I love what Porzingis is doing.

01:27:24So, uh, we'll be down there.

01:27:26We'll have coverage.

01:27:27It's a six o'clock game, which is nice.

01:27:30And, uh, looking forward to seeing that crowd with the vibe to like down there.

01:27:33Cause it has not been a pretty season for that Philly team.

01:27:37Yeah.

01:27:38Okay.

01:27:38Well, thanks for having me guys.

01:27:43All right.

01:27:44Any last thoughts?

01:27:45You want to say goodbye, Bobby?

01:27:46You started the show.

01:27:47You can take us home.

01:27:49Any last thoughts, guys?

01:27:50I'll press the button.

01:27:51You say goodbye when you're ready.

01:27:53Yeah, we're done.

01:27:54See you guys on Sunday.

01:27:55We'll talk to you then.

01:27:56No one's sneaking a vegan brownie by me.

01:27:58I'll tell you that.

01:27:59Okay.

01:27:59You know what, John?

01:27:59I'm going to do it.

01:28:00You have to feel that way too, Bobby.

01:28:02I have to feel that way?

01:28:03Let's slide out over and make Luke your first center.

01:28:06Bobby, we gave you Luke hour earlier.

01:28:08We're not going to end this on a damn conversation about Luke.

01:28:26Bye.

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