On this episode of The Big 3 NBA Podcast, A. Sherrod Blakely, Gary Washburn, and Kwani Lunis break down what the Boston Celtics need to do to close out the season strong. They dive into the team’s defensive intensity, the emergence of Luke Kornet, and whether Jrue Holiday’s health is a concern down the stretch.
Plus, they discuss the Celtics' success on the road and take an early look at the 2025 All-Star Break.
Timestamps:
0:00 How Can Celtics finish season strong?
4:04 What is fueling the Celtics defensive effort?
8:32 Discussing the emergence of Luke Kornet
17:40 Any concerns about Jrue Holiday’s health?
22:25 Do Celtics have an advantage on the road?
26:15 Discussing the 2025 All-Star Break
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Plus, they discuss the Celtics' success on the road and take an early look at the 2025 All-Star Break.
Timestamps:
0:00 How Can Celtics finish season strong?
4:04 What is fueling the Celtics defensive effort?
8:32 Discussing the emergence of Luke Kornet
17:40 Any concerns about Jrue Holiday’s health?
22:25 Do Celtics have an advantage on the road?
26:15 Discussing the 2025 All-Star Break
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 NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Terms apply. What time is it? Gametime!
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hello, everyone. Welcome into another edition of the Big 3 NBA podcast. The usual crew,
00:27H.R. Blakely, Gary Washburn. I'm Kwanye Lewis. Thank you for being here with us today and talking
00:33about the Celtics. We'll get right into it. The Celtics blasting the heat 103-85 just a few days
00:39ago, depending on when you're listening. But Tatum 33 points, eight rebounds. Horford 16 and 10.
00:45Brasingus with 17 points, nine rebounds. A trailed Cleveland right now at this point, 5.5
00:51games, and they lead New York by three. But besides another win, what do you all think that the
00:58Celtics need to do to just close out strong before fall start break?
01:05Stay healthy. I mean, at this point, you're not in position to make a significant ground on
01:13Cleveland or frankly, lose significant ground to New York. You've already shown that you're the
01:17better team than New York. You handled Cleveland when you had the opportunity. You're good if you're
01:24the Celtics. I mean, at this point, you just want to get to the break, keep you guys relatively
01:27healthy, and just focus to finish out this regular season strong. Because from the very beginning, we
01:33knew this season wasn't about what happens in January, February, March. It's what do you do in a
01:37playoffs? And the Celtics are close to the season that matters most. And that's a good thing. And
01:44they're going into it playing some good basketball. The big thing at this point is just keeping guys
01:49healthy and ready to finish out this thing strong.
01:54Yeah, I mean, the Ridge report shows that Drew Holliday's out for tomorrow. Torrey Cray's
02:02question also, Gillian Brown with that reswelling. So what you'd like to do tomorrow is do whatever
02:09you can to get a win. You want to end the unofficial first half on a good note. You want to,
02:16you know, obviously the Spurs now would Victor Wunbidyama and B. Aaron Fox and some of those
02:22other guys, Devin Vercel and Keldon Johnson and Chris Paul are going to be a challenge, right?
02:31Because they want to end their first half. They're going for a playoff spot. So if you're a Celtic
02:36fan, you hope that you don't want to lose another home game in the first half on kind of a down
02:45note. You want to be able to do whatever you can to get that dub. And you're going to be
02:51shorthanded without Drew, but I think it's good to give Drew some extra rest. He gets another week
02:56off and they go back and play Philly next Thursday and they start the stretch run. So do
03:03whatever you got to do. You know, if you want to play guys heavy minutes, you know, there's not
03:07another game for another eight days. So, you know, go for it. Do whatever you got to do to get a
03:12dub in the first half on a positive note, because besides that loss to Dallas, this team is playing
03:18a very good basketball right now. Blowout win against the Knicks on that big stage at New York.
03:24New York had four days off. You know, they didn't have Ananobi, but they were still what they
03:30thought was prepared to face the Celtics and they weren't. And then you come back and you beat the
03:36breaks off Miami after a slow first quarter and you do what you're supposed to do against the
03:41Heat. Like that's what you're supposed to do against a shorthanded team. That's what you're
03:45supposed to do against a team that's got a bunch of new guys and just don't know what the heck's
03:50going on. Do what you're supposed to do. And that's what they did. So now in the first half, do
03:55what you're supposed to do. And that's beating under 500 San Antonio team.
04:01Yeah. And kind of along those lines, though. So the Celtics, their defense has been strong as of
04:08late. They're ranked in the top five of opponent points in the paint. Defensive field goal
04:13percentages among other categories over the last 10 games. What do you two think has been fueling
04:18that improvement on the defensive end? You got it, Gary. Well, I think more activity, more desire.
04:28It's not any new personnel. This team has always had the defenders to be able to stop teams.
04:34It's just more engagement defensively and also more technique, you know, doubling and trapping
04:42guys at a certain opportunity, trapping guys like Jalen Brunson. So he doesn't go for 45 or
04:4950 points when he's the only player on the Knicks that night that had anything going for him.
04:54Everybody else was slow and everybody else just wasn't producing. And Brunson was. So you get the
05:02ball out of his hands, put the ball in Bridges' hands. Carl Anthony Towns, you know, as we know,
05:07doesn't always show up for these big games. And that was the case again the other night where he
05:12was kind of a no-show. I know he was coming off a knee injury. He was questionable. But if you're
05:16on the court, you've got to play. And he was playing against Luke Cornett. He was not even
05:20playing against Porzingis. He was playing against Cornett and Horford. He still didn't really
05:24dominate at all. But the defense, I thought, was effective. They were engaging. They were
05:31reading passing lanes. They were rebounding. Just all the little things you have to do.
05:35So it's an example that this team is capable of playing great defense as they are constructed.
05:40They don't need to add another defender. They can do it as they are now. And I just think they're
05:46just being more engaged. I think maybe some techniques have changed a little bit. More
05:50aggressive. Less switching. More on ball defense. But also, just more engagement. Trapping. More
06:00just like, okay, we're going to stop you. And that's the kind of aptitude and mentality that
06:05you have to have as we're near the playoffs. No more letting guys go for 40 and 50. No more
06:11letting Dylan Brooks hit 10 threes. You've got to look at that as embarrassment. And you've got
06:16to move on and move forward into this stretch run playing that type of defense you did against
06:23the Heat. You did against the Knicks. And you know, even you did against the Cavaliers.
06:29Yeah, I think a lot of what we're seeing from them comes down to just a greater attention to
06:33detail. Little things that don't always show up in the stat sheet are really manifesting themselves
06:39in a very real way for the Celtics. I look at that last game against New York and just the
06:45Celtics' ability to play help side defense consistently without compromising themselves
06:51overall. When Brunson would attack the rim and he'd find himself meeting a brick wall,
06:57he'd kick it out to a guy who, when he passed the ball, was open. But by the time the ball gets
07:02there, he's not. And forcing New York to really play a brand of basketball they didn't want to
07:08play. I mean, when you have a player like Jalen Brunson, who's as dynamic a player as he is,
07:14you're hoping that his dribble drive penetration is going to either create opportunities for him
07:18to score or create wide open looks for his teammates. And the Celtics were able to shut
07:22the mouth on both of those things consistently. And that is what it takes for them to really have
07:27I think that balance of being an elite team from a defensive standpoint and continue to be one of
07:33the better offensively minded teams out there. They have shown a great balance of those two worlds
07:39these last few games. And it'll be interesting to see how they're able to close this thing out
07:43before the break and whether they can continue that afterwards. Because that's what it's going
07:48to take to win a chip. They're going to have to play both ends of the floor at a high level
07:53when you start looking at the teams that they're playing, the teams that they're going to have to
07:57eventually get past in order to get out of the East. Those are teams that have the ability to
08:02be significant players at one end of the floor or the other. The Celtics are one of the rare
08:07teams in the Eastern Conference that can be great at both. I look at them in Cleveland
08:11as being head and shoulders above the rest of the Eastern Conference in that regard.
08:15And if you're the Celtics, again, that is what it's going to take to repeat as champions. You're
08:20going to have to be not just a really good offensive team, not just a really good defensive
08:24team. You're going to have to be a really good team, period, who can get it done at both ends
08:28of the floor. Another positive for this team right now is Luke Cornett. His play has been
08:33good over the last few games as well. But we've talked about him, obviously, over the past,
08:39obviously, weeks of the season. But do you both think he's still your third big man as of right
08:45now? Well, I know Gary was ready for Luke to be the start center and everything. But I'm not as
08:51bullish on Luke as Gary is for his boy Luke. He's playing really good basketball. There's
08:56absolutely no doubt about that. And he has been someone who has made the most of the opportunities
09:01that he's been given. But I have to put his success in the framework of you're coming in as
09:08the second or third center on this team most nights. And thus, you're playing those backup
09:13slash third center type minutes. And thus, you're in that backup slash third center type role.
09:18And because of that, you're not dealing with the opposing team's best center right off the bat. And
09:24even when he does start, guys aren't going at him like they used to. And teams, frankly,
09:30the Celtics, the way they're played defensively, they're not allowing him to get exposed early in
09:35games the way I think they did earlier this year, where they weren't as helpful defensively as they
09:40needed to be. So Luke is playing great basketball. But I think he really needs, in order to continue
09:45to maximize his value, I think he needs to continue to be in the role that he's in now.
09:49When you've got Al and Presidious around, he's your third center. If you got one of those two
09:54guys around, he's your backup. Because again, he is showing a lot of good things. But there is this
10:01term, and Gary, I mean, I know you went to Cal, so this might go over your head, what is called
10:06diminishing returns. The more you play Luke, that does not mean you're going to continue to get good
10:12play. So there is a diminishing returns dynamic to Luke Cornett that I think the Celtics understand
10:20and realize. And because of that, they know that there's a certain plateau that he's going to hit
10:25in terms of getting really good Luke minutes. But the minute you try to get greedy, that's when you're
10:32in a problem. That's when all of a sudden, the clock strikes midnight and Luke Cinderella is
10:37back to being just some ragamuffin and not the star of the ball. So the Celtics, I think, understand
10:43that. They understand that he has a value to them, but they know that there's a cap to it,
10:48and they're maximizing that right now. Gary, are you going to take that slander?
10:53Quantie, I was going to come after your head, Quantie, but I said, you know what?
10:56Our birthday is this week, so I'm going to be nice. Yo, thank you. Quick fact. Sorry, Gary.
11:02Anyway, I thought Luke was great against the Knicks. He was an enforcer in the paint.
11:09He blocked shots. He got rebounds. He was exactly what they need.
11:16Gary, when did you ever think you'd say that about Luke Cornett?
11:19Never, but he put it on him. He put it on the Knicks. They didn't need Porzingis that night,
11:26and that's what they need out of Luke, a mean streak. Luke's one of those guys,
11:31he's the nicest guy off the floor. He's very thoughtful,
11:34obviously a Vanderbilt education, which is obviously better than Syracuse.
11:42So he's a very intelligent, smart one, probably one of the more smarter guys you're going to meet
11:48covering this league. Real thinker, great talker, very friendly, things like that,
11:55but he's got to turn into a, yeah, I don't know what that was.
12:01You told the greatest guy, but you wouldn't recognize that because you went to the Alps.
12:04Keep going.
12:05Thanks, Sherrod. None of us are thirsty. Anyway, we don't want that water. Anyway,
12:14he has to have more of a mean streak on the court, and teams are going to go at him. Teams
12:20are going to challenge his aggression, and he needs to be like, no, this is my paint.
12:24He's got to be a meaner guy on the floor. I wrote that, and I don't know if you get this reference,
12:31especially Kawani, he needs to be less Mr. Rogers and more Nicky Santoro, and Nicky Santoro was
12:39the Joe Pesci character in Casino, one of my all-time favorite movies. Young people,
12:44if you haven't seen Casino, you got to see Casino.
12:46I got to see Casino.
12:47A must watch.
12:48For the record, I did watch Mr. Rogers growing up, so.
12:52So it's like some people think Goodfellas is better. I'm one of those rare people that think
12:56Casino's better than Goodfellas, although that's blasphemy to some people. I'm a big Casino guy,
13:02one of my top five all-time favorite movies.
13:05Really? Okay.
13:05So check out Casino, but the Joe Pesci character was just an enforcer in that movie. He was the
13:13tough guy, and that's what they need out of Luke Cornett, being a tough guy to paint,
13:18blocking shots, rebounding. You know what? You don't have to dunk everything, but just get
13:23aggressive, and if you don't get the dunk, get to the free throw line, hit those free throws,
13:27like little things like that. And if you see that out of Luke Cornett, it's a huge development for
13:33the Celtics, because as we're seeing, I think, and he's had a last couple of games have been good,
13:40now Horford is starting to show signs of age. And I'm not talking about
13:44throwing out to the past, or I'm not saying anything like that.
13:46Throw him out to the past, it will help. Send him to the farm.
13:50I didn't say take him to Shady Green, or anything like that, but I'm saying that
13:55it would help if Cornett compensated for some of those minutes that Horford,
14:00because you'll want to start playing Horford, maybe a tad bit fewer minutes. You don't want
14:05him to wear out, because we all know he's 38. You know, 38-year-olds in the NBA don't have,
14:12no, nobody out here is LeBron. It just isn't, it ain't happening like that, right? So,
14:18what you want out of Cornett is to be able to put him, be comfortable putting him on the floor,
14:23and have him take some of those, maybe Horford minutes, and also our friend Nemeus Cata,
14:29you know, him taking some of those minutes too. And then if you can get those two to be effective,
14:34and then Horford comes in, plays his effective way, maybe a little bit lesser minutes,
14:3918 minutes as opposed to 24, something like that, and then he hits a couple of threes too,
14:44then you have a real three-headed monster backing up Chris Dowd's Porzingis, and then you really
14:51have your team ready for the playoffs. You have four legitimate bigs who can contribute. So,
14:56I just think the development of Cornett is one of the bigger things that is going to happen with
15:02this team, because you want a shot blocker, you don't want to put all the pressure on Porzingis,
15:07there's going to be games when Porzingis misses, there's going to be games it's not as effective,
15:11there's going to be games he gets into foul trouble. You want Cornett to come off the bench
15:16and be able to soak up those minutes and play well, as he did in New York, and as he did on
15:22some cases in Miami. But that New York game was just, it was his greatest hits package,
15:28it was his thriller, it was his Purple Rain, it was his, what's Jay-Z's best, Black Album,
15:36yeah, you know, whatever artists, their best album, that was Cornett's material on Saturday
15:43against the Knicks. Wow, wow. We're going to ask you about Dolce, because you won't, you wouldn't
15:50get that one. You're a Dolce. You listen to Dolce? I do, that's another story, that's another story.
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17:29All right. So we've talked about some of the positives for the Celtics over the last few
17:33weeks, few games, but some negatives, of course, always exist. Drew Holliday being one of them,
17:38not necessarily for it being himself, but just missing three games straight that ties the longest
17:44streak of missed games for him this season so far. So what would you say the Celtics missed most
17:49when he's not around? Presence. Drew is just one of those guys that his numbers rarely add up to
17:58his impact in terms of winning. His ability to frankly, keep the ball moving, hitting that corner
18:04three, defending at a high level, forcing guys to, guys who want to get to the hole to have to
18:11take a different route and find themselves, you know, swinging the ball out as opposed to taking
18:16a shot attempt at the basket. Little things that he does consistently have been really important
18:21to both the Celtics success and his success. Now, the one thing that I think we've seen more so this
18:27year than in past years, since he's been in Boston is the impact. It's been a little bit more up and
18:34down with Drew Holliday than we've seen previously. And you have to wonder, are we talking about
18:40something that's a health related thing where he hasn't been as healthy as he's been in past years?
18:44Or is this Father Time's way of giving us a heads up that I'm coming? We don't really know,
18:50but they're going to need good Drew Holliday to win a championship because when Drew Holliday is
18:55good, he is a difference maker in so many ways, whether it's knocking down shots, locking kids up
19:01defensively, or just simply being a physical, play a little bully ball, handling your business
19:07out there type of guy. But they're going to need him and they're going to need him when it really
19:11matters most. Yeah, I think what they're missing out of him is just that on-ball defender. But I
19:18also think it's smart. Remember as much as Drew looks young and he still looks like,
19:29maybe he'd been in the league maybe 10 years, something like that. They do been in the league
19:34since 09. So we're talking about now 16 years. He's a gray beard, he's a vet.
19:41Double OG.
19:43Triple OG. He'll be 35 this year. So we're not talking about a young, young guy
19:52or whatever. And I'm not saying, it's no criticism at all. It's just you definitely need to manage
20:00his workload, manage his minutes, and make sure that he's 100% for the playoffs. All you're trying
20:07to do is essentially get to the finish line here and have your team healthy as it could possibly
20:15be. So that means, especially poor Zingyas and especially Drew. So give him extra time with his
20:22shoulder injury. I think it's something that's been bothering him for a while. If it's a little
20:27inflamed, you know what, Drew, take two weeks off. We're good. We'll be able to manage without you.
20:34Come on back for the Philly game next Thursday. Hopefully he'll be healthy and ready to go and
20:39rested by then. I think that's a very smart move. But I also think, of course, you miss an all-ball
20:44defender. You miss a guy who hits big shots for you, a guy who can get to the rim, who can post
20:48anybody up. Regardless of their size, Drew's got the strength to post them up. So to me,
20:56they're missing that. But I think with Derek White playing a lot better lately,
21:00they're starting to turn into the team that we thought we would see.
21:06And they're not too far back from last year's pace. I think all of us, a lot of people have
21:10been hard on them, especially about their home record. 16-10 is not acceptable for a
21:15league team. They've snotted off 10 home games. But let's be honest, if you turn
21:21four of those games in the wins, then nobody's complaining about the Celtics this year.
21:26So you're talking about a 3-4, maybe the most 5-game difference of games. You're like,
21:32oh, they should have won this one, right? Because that's how far they're back from
21:37Cleveland. Even with Cleveland, nobody would say a word at this point. But they've beaten
21:41Cleveland twice. They've beaten the Knicks twice. They've beaten Milwaukee three times.
21:45So they can match up against anybody. However, you want to get to the finish line with everybody
21:52healthy. So I think it's a smart move to rest Drew. It's a smart move to maybe give a guy a
21:57break in terms of maybe even Jalen. We'll see if he comes back. I know he missed the Miami game.
22:03And you want to be everybody ready to go. But with Drew, obviously, you miss his presence.
22:07You miss his shot making, his post-up game. But I think they're doing a good job of managing
22:13that with Peyton and with Derek playing well. Usually with teams, we talk about home court
22:18advantage because it just makes sense. Logically, you play better when you're in a regular space.
22:23But for the Celtics, it's been the opposite. They have what we would consider to be road
22:27court advantage. One, do you think that's even a real thing? But even if you don't,
22:32why do you think they have been looking better on the road?
22:35Shoot, Gary. I think they're more, honestly, they're just more focused. I mean, you don't
22:41have the, it's like anything else. When you're away from home and you're on the road, you're in
22:49your hotel, you're probably a little bit more organized. You're putting stuff in places to where
22:55you know where it's going to be. You're unpacking. Everything is nice and neat because you don't
23:02have a whole lot of space and you want your hotel room to be as cool and as convenient as possible.
23:08When you're at home, you just take off your shirt and throw it out. You're just chilling.
23:13You're at home. It was like the Bruce Willis movie, Die Hard. Once you take off your socks
23:18and your socks hit the rug, it's over. You're chilling. I just think they have a certain
23:24mentality on the road like, we want to be the bad guys. We want to go in there and take your lunch
23:29money. I wish they would take that mentality at home if they want to be an elite team, but they
23:33don't at this point. They get relaxed at home. On the road, I was just very impressed. You won
23:38at Cleveland and you won in New York in a matter of four or five days. That was two impressive
23:43wins. I mean, and you beat the breaks off the Knicks at Mayo Square Garden in front of Dizzell,
23:48in front of Distiller, Spike, Wheatley. A bunch of other actors, some people I've never heard
23:57of before. I guess they're from Lebanese. There's a lot of people I don't know anymore.
24:02Well, I did recognize Michael J. Fox. He was there. It was good to see him. My friend,
24:07Alex P. Keaton, if you don't know him from Family Ties, before Back to the Future and all that when
24:12he was on Family Ties. So I'll date myself there, but it's good to see them focus because it's just
24:19something about it. They're 22-6 on the road. That's by far the best road record in the league.
24:26No other team, the two teams leading the conference, Oklahoma City and Cleveland,
24:32the respective conferences, have 18 road wins. The Celtics have four more road wins than Cleveland
24:37and four more road wins than Oklahoma City. Those are the two best teams. So I was like,
24:41what the hell's going on at home? That's why they're trailing by five and a half. They ain't
24:46nothing to do on the road. It's their home record. That's going to probably cost them
24:50potentially the number one seed unless they can make a run at the Cavaliers in the last couple
24:55of weeks. So we'll see. I don't know, Kwanee, why they're low, but I just see they locked in,
25:01they focused. There's none of that riffraff. And it's a good thing because you want to be able to
25:06win on the road, especially in the playoffs. This team has been a good road team. This team has
25:11struggled at home over the last several years. I've never understood. Boston's a pretty daunting
25:17place for teams to play, but it's daunting for the Celtics too, and I can't explain why.
25:23Yeah. The thing about the Celtics is, you know, even when they have struggled at home,
25:30they're still relatively a good team compared to the rest of the NBA. And obviously, as Gary
25:35pointed out, they have been super dominant when they've had to play games away from their building.
25:40Before we get into the NBA All-Star festivities, which obviously, exciting time of the year,
25:46I just want to remind people, obviously, if you've got this far, you clearly enjoy,
25:50I would assume, you enjoy this podcast, listening to it. So please share with a friend,
25:56tag us online, make sure that you're engaging as often as possible, because we appreciate you,
26:01but also want to make sure more people know that this should be their favorite Celtics-related
26:06podcast. But that being said, let's get into NBA All-Star weekend. My favorite, because always
26:13around my birthday, but of course, the Celtics will have representatives there, Jason Tatum,
26:18Jalen Brown, of course, JD Davidson, the G League All-Star will be there as well. But when you guys
26:25look specifically for Boston, who would you say can fill in the lane with this one? The biggest
26:31winner at the All-Star game for Boston is blank. What do you got, Gary?
26:37I'm going to say, I'm going to bet on Jalen Brown. I'm going to bet on that he's going to
26:42have a breakout game, that he's going to show, you know, but him and Jason are the same team.
26:47You know what? I ain't got no idea how this whole format's going to go, this tournament thing's
26:51going to go. I don't know who's going to ... I don't know. I ain't got nothing for you on that.
27:00Gary's like, I'm just going to be there. I'm just going to be there if I can.
27:04I'll read the social media to see what the fans think about this new format and this tournament
27:10thing and semifinals and the finals. I don't know. It's sad that it's had to come to this
27:16point that the players couldn't just play hard for 48 minutes and just give the fans a real treat
27:25as opposed to like, let me not play to get hurt. Let me, you know, oh, please dunk on me because
27:31I don't want to get hurt. Play defense.
27:33Yeah, no competitive, no competitive spirit. Let me just get out of here, not hurt.
27:40And get my check.
27:41Get my check and I'll be, you know, see you next time. But hopefully this will be something
27:46interesting. But I'm going to give it to Jalen. I'm going to say, you know, we're all kind of,
27:52we're all, you know, I'm coming home. What's the song?
27:55Okay, Wildin', tell the world I'm coming home.
27:59Like-
27:59There we go. Karaoke.
28:01The Bay Area is like a second home to me is where I went to college and where Jalen went to college.
28:05So it's going to be kind of a homecoming for a lot of us. Or, you know, I'm coming home.
28:11Um, and so I think Jalen shows out, you know, I don't know if he's going to get the MVP or
28:16anything like that because who knows how this MVP thing is going to go with a tournament and all
28:22that. But I think Jalen will show his best. I think he'll, he'll play, he's playing his best
28:26ball before he got hurt. And let's see him. I think, and I think Jason's going to play well
28:32too. But I would say, considering that he's back at home, he's going to be doing stuff in the
28:37community in Oakland. It's going to be a winning situation for Jalen.
28:42He says that was sort of kind of a not really confidence.
28:46Here's the thing. One of the things we know about these Celtics that they have shown us
28:51up to this point is this. They don't mind going to your crib and kicking your ass.
28:57They don't mind making you look foolish in front of your people.
29:00That's true.
29:01Which is why I'm putting my money on Tatum. You know, I'm going to tell you, right, Tatum has
29:06been really, really good lately in lots of different ways. And to me, it only makes sense
29:12that he's going to take that game into the all-star game and go to a place where you, I mean,
29:19whether you're talking about the Golden State Warriors or the Bay area, Tatum is always going
29:24to have a little something for that team. One, because they beat him for championship. Two,
29:30their coach dealt you maybe the biggest blow from an ego standpoint that you have had to
29:36deal with as a pro in benching your ass for the Olympics. And if you're Jason Tatum, to me,
29:42you're going to be stacking up low-key redemption points all season long. Because remember,
29:47up until like maybe, I don't know, a month ago, Tatum was just considered, yeah, he's having a
29:52pretty good season. And then all of a sudden, he started dominating games from the jump.
29:58And now all of a sudden, while he's not going to be the front runner for MVP, his name is once again
30:03in the conversation based on what he's doing. And you don't think a dominant showing during this,
30:07even this, this rebate all-star weekend wouldn't only enhance that, especially when you look at
30:12their schedule coming out of the break. And some of the things that certainly he's going to be
30:15looking to do, and he's going to be a little bit more refreshed than he was before the break,
30:20because obviously the schedule lightens up. So I'm putting my money on Tatum to just show out
30:24and do what the South has been doing all year long. And that's making you look foolish in front
30:27of your people. Okay. If that is the case, the second question for both of you is the
30:33biggest loser for Boston when it comes to the all-star game will be who? The biggest loser
30:42among the Celtics.
30:45I got to go with Jalen Brown, and here's why. Gary made some really good points about Jalen,
30:52but because that's where he went to school, because that's where he kind of got on, because
30:57he's got all this other stuff going on in the area. There's a certain amount of pressure for
31:01Jalen to shine. Even though he does a lot of great things all the time, being in that particular
31:07environment, there's going to be a significant amount of pressure for him to really be great.
31:12And I just don't think that's going to happen. And I don't think it's going to happen because
31:15I just don't think the format is going to allow that to happen. The way that this new format looks
31:23to me, it's going to put, I think, a greater premium on guys who can create their own shots,
31:29do their own thing, got tight handles, can knock down threes, the kind of stuff that
31:33Jason Tatum do all the time. On a bad night, Tatum's going to get you 25.
31:39I just think that Jalen is going to have a good weekend, but I don't think he's going to
31:42have a great one. And I think the expectation is that his weekend is going to be great.
31:48Yeah, I don't know. I don't want to say Jason's going to be a loser.
31:53Unless you want to pick on poor...
31:55$300 million cast A losers.
31:57J.D. Davidson. I ain't picking on J.D. I don't know. I ain't going to say he's going to be a
32:03loser. I do think Jason will probably, he's already got an all-star game MVP in his back
32:09pocket. I think he kind of takes a step back and lets other, maybe some of the younger guys
32:14get theirs going. And I think he has kind of a mellow all-star weekend. I don't know if it's
32:21going to be like Jason 2.0. No, Jason just on that guy this weekend. I think he probably takes
32:30a step back, tries to get some rest. The guy's been grinding, playing a lot of minutes. He played
32:3721 consecutive minutes against Miami. I think he played a lot of the second half against the Knicks.
32:46So I think he's going to probably take a little bit easier, not play as many minutes,
32:51and just have a chill all-star weekend.
32:54That sounds good. The Sultans have one more game before that break. And of course,
32:58we'll be following all the festivities surrounding it. Gary, I know you'll be on the ground
33:04keeping an eye out for us. But until then, until next week, for A. Sharpley, D. and Gary Washburn,
33:10I'm Claudine Loomis. This is the Big Three NBA Podcast. Thank you for listening.