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00:00High noon, Jones and Keefe, WEEI, it's a Celtics Wednesday, which means it's time for pure
00:06hoops with Terp, Justin Turpin of WEEI.com. He'll be in the garden tonight for the Celtics
00:13and the Thunder. You'll also catch him on WEEI Afternoons later on today. Busy day for
00:18you, Terp.
00:19Must be a big game.
00:20Must be a big game.
00:21It is a big game.
00:22I think it is.
00:23All right. More likely finals preview tonight or Saturday's game against the Lakers?
00:28I still think it's tonight. Celtics-Thunder. I think that's been kind of a crash course
00:32all season long. And you just see the way they play defense. And Los Angeles has been
00:37much better with their defense, but Oklahoma City's been doing it all year long. So I still
00:42think this is the most likely finals preview.
00:44Let me ask a little differently. So the teams are a finals preview. The Lakers were at least
00:48a full team over the weekend. The Celtics were largely a full team outside of Porzingis
00:54over the weekend. Who are we actually going to get tonight? I know it's no Jalen Williams
00:58for the Thunder. Are we going to get Porzingis, Tatum? I mean, Tatum, I'm assuming, is playing
01:03in the game.
01:04There's no way Tatum doesn't play. That's gamesmanship.
01:06But are we going to get the full thing tonight? Or is this going to be kind of a watered-down
01:11version where it's going to be hard to tell what these teams would look like at full strength?
01:14It's going to be hard to tell because Jalen Williams is out for the Thunder. But it is
01:18interesting that last night the Celtics adjusted the injury report. Originally, Kristaps Porzingis
01:22was doubtful. They bumped him up to questionable. And I really do think they just don't know
01:27what the hell is going on.
01:28Part of it is them just kind of taking it slow just because of his history. And they
01:32want to make sure he's good. They're not going to push him right now when they're pretty
01:35much locked in for the two seed. But I also don't think they actually know what's going
01:39on. So he's been going through workouts. He went through a pretty extensive one on Saturday
01:43before the game, which usually doesn't happen unless a player is really trying to test out
01:47to see if they can play.
01:49So I thought he was going to play on Saturday, but he didn't do any workouts last game. So
01:53we'll see what happens.
01:54Seems like Drew Holliday came back maybe a little bit sooner and Porzingis is out a little
01:58bit longer. Is that fair? Like the timetables lined up?
02:00And from my vantage point, like Drew looks good shooting the ball. I mean, the percentages
02:04aren't great, but there was like three of five or whatever, something like that. He's
02:09been good, though, shooting the ball. The shot looks fine. He's playing good defense.
02:12So I mean, you really if you didn't know, you wouldn't really be able to tell that anything's
02:16really bothering Drew.
02:18So Porzingis tweeted, and I would agree with that. Like Holliday, it surprised me. And
02:23so that makes me feel better. The Porzingis thing, you just never know that you're going
02:27to have and you can never trust that you're going to have. And we've talked about that
02:29a lot with Terp. And you can dial up any Celtics questions you have about Celtics Thunder tonight.
02:35Celtics season to this point. We'll talk Celtics City. We'll get into Celtics Lakers and the
02:39ratings, all that coming up here. 617-779-7937. But Porzingis tweeted the other day. Was this
02:46right after the game? It was at halftime. It was in the middle of the game. He said,
02:50I've been dealing with some viral illness that we haven't been able to fully identify
02:55yet. I don't love this. I'm recovering and getting better. Still working my way back
02:59to full strength to help this team. Thanks for the support. I'm hoping to be fully healthy
03:03or hoping for a fully healthy return rather soon. Is this another outbreak? Is he Rudy
03:08Gobert from 2020? Five years ago yesterday. Was it? Yeah. They shut down the NBA five
03:13years ago yesterday. Oh man. I was on the air when that happened. And they still gave
03:16out a title that year. I was on the air when all that happened. What was it? I said, they
03:21still gave out a title that year. Oh yeah. No, we don't count that. We don't count that.
03:25I was on the air when that happened. It was like Tom Hanks had COVID. Yeah. They shut
03:29down the NBA and something. It was like one, two, three, boom, boom, boom. They shut down
03:34the NHL that night. Yeah. It was that one. It was like an hour after the NBA. There were
03:36like three things all at once. And then the NCAA tournament was the next day. Some tournaments
03:41kept playing. Some didn't. I remember Rudy Gobert had that press conference where they
03:44were like asking him about it. And then he like got up and like touched all the microphones
03:47and like licking everybody's paper corner. And then didn't the jazz play in Boston? Cause
03:53everybody was, the Celtics were there. Weren't they? No, there was some connection or maybe
03:57they were supposed to play that night. Maybe the team they played played here. There was
04:01some weird like follow the footsteps. Smart, smart. Got it early. Right? I honestly don't
04:05remember. I think smart was one of the first players who had it. Yeah. But they were here
04:09right before. Okay. I think that's what it was because they were supposed to play that
04:13night, but then he tested positive and they shut it all down. Has been postponed. You're
04:20all safe. He repeated it. That was the Thunder PA announcement. You're all good. Don't worry
04:25about it. It's fine. We don't know how any of this works yet, but you're good. According
04:30to the Boston Herald, Marcus smart was the first professional athlete in Boston to test
04:36positive for COVID-19 March 19th. We are all safe. So there you go. How about that? Wow.
04:42What are we talking about? Oh, and his viral, possibly outbreak level ground zero, a viral
04:48infection. But when he says like, we're trying to figure out what it is, like you don't even
04:51know what it is at this point. Like, good Lord. I thought we'd have enough issues with
04:55him when it comes to like, you know, elbow, knee, shoulder, back, everything else. But
05:00now you add this on top of it. I also think people are like, why is he around the team
05:04if he's sick? Cause he's been on the sideline. He's been at practices. He played a game before
05:09he was, so he missed a game because of the illness, then played a game and that has now
05:13missed six straight. So he's missed seven of the last eight because of this. And I just
05:17think seeing him around the team, it's like, why can't he play? Why is he around the team?
05:21And he can be around everybody and he's not contagious enough to spread it. But I mean,
05:25I don't know. It was weird that they couldn't find out what it is, but it's a good sign
05:29that he's going through practices and stuff and just trying to get back to me. It's just
05:32a reminder. Like again, you're not going to have him for the playoff run. I might be
05:36like last year where he plays a couple of games, then he's out again. Then he plays
05:39a couple of games. Yeah. You can't rely on him. I don't think you need him. Like Horford
05:42was excellent over the weekend against the Lakers and the week before against Denver.
05:47He was excellent in the playoffs last year. Large. I mean, excellent might be too strong,
05:51but like he's more than most teams have to replace a guy like poor Zynga. So I don't
05:55think you need him even with what should be a more difficult road. But it's just a reminder.
06:00You can't rely on him. And I'd be surprised if they have him for the full run in a way
06:03Horford's become underrated, just what he's able to do for this team. I mean, defensively,
06:08especially you don't see a player of that size, a big like that, especially at that
06:13age, have the switch ability that Horford does. I mean, they were switching him on Luca
06:16last game or against the Lakers on Saturday, the week before they were trying to get Jamal
06:21Murray on him. And he does a great job defending these guards in no matter what role he's in.
06:25When he comes off the bench, he still does it though. He doesn't necessarily shoot the
06:28ball as well when he comes off the bench, but no matter what role they need him in,
06:32he does a great job. So if you need to rely on Horford more in the playoffs, which they're
06:36gonna, he's going to be ready to go. And I think they've done a good job of managing
06:39his minutes when he plays a lot of minutes. It's usually in games they really want to
06:43win. So tonight coming off three days of rest, I'd expect high minutes from him, especially
06:47with this being kind of their last tune-up after tonight, they're going to have 16 more
06:52games. Only three of them are against teams with winning records.
06:55Thunder, the best defensive team in the league. Yes. Yes. They have the number one defensive
06:59rating and they've held opponents under a hundred points 19 times this year, 19 times
07:04in today's NBA, under a hundred points. The Celtics were one of them, right? So at least
07:09one ice cold in that second half. Yeah. They scored 29 points. I think it wasn't that second
07:12half and they made eight shots in the entire second.
07:15We were just talking about this. So it's worth asking. One of the, would you rathers was
07:19who's the MVP? Is it Yokich? Is it SGA? Who's, who's the MVP of the league?
07:23Yokich. Yeah. Okay. We agree. And I think what he did Friday night with the 30, 20,
07:2820 game, it's never been done in the NBA. One game doesn't solidify it, but that makes
07:31one hell of a case. And like Keith said earlier, he's putting up better numbers than he has
07:36in MVP seasons in the past. Like, I don't know what he does both ways. And just, if
07:41you look at the deeper numbers, we were talking about this when he missed the game against
07:45the Celtics earlier in the season, they're one of the worst teams in the league by the
07:48numbers when he's off the floor, by the numbers of, by the meaning of the word, most value
07:53player, it is Nicole Yokich. Yeah. The SGA thing is interesting too. Cause like if he
07:57wins an MVP before Tatum, I think Tatum does have a right to be annoyed by that. Definitely.
08:02Yokich wins again. And he's like, you got to tip your cap. Who's got the better resume
08:06than me? It's like, I don't know. Yokich. So there's guys with better resumes, but I'd
08:09be annoyed if SGA, if I were Tatum, if SGA won before. But Yokich is also on that path.
08:14If he's not already there as one of the all-time great players, like you're gonna have to rearrange
08:18your top 20, your top 15, you're on it. You were on this, that you were ahead of the curve,
08:24but it is one of those guys sort of similar to Jordan and LeBron, where if you played
08:28in that era and you either didn't win an MVP or you won one, you're like, well, I played
08:33with Yokich.
08:34Like I played with LeBron. So like, how many did you really want me to win every year?
08:37What'd you want me to do? So that could be like, how many prime years will Tatum have
08:41when Yokich is out of the league? What is he three years younger than him? So like maybe
08:45only a couple.
08:46And how long does Yokich actually play?
08:48He doesn't seem like he even likes it, right? He seems like he's annoyed to play. It's unbelievable.
08:53Like he, you ask him, he's like, I don't care. Some of those memes are making the rounds
08:56with like, Hey, you had like a 30, 20, 20 game. He's like staring at it. He's like,
09:00I don't care. I just want to go home. Remember how upset he was to go to the parade a couple
09:04years ago?
09:05I need to go home.
09:06He just wants to go home, be with his horses. Guy doesn't even like basketball. You don't
09:09think he's gonna play for a long time?
09:10Oh, I mean, I'm just saying he's probably not as much as Tatum.
09:13Body type wise, you mean?
09:14No, not necessarily, possibly even just interest wise. I mean, you look at him, you wouldn't
09:19think body type wise he could make, make it all those years, but he's the best player
09:23in the sport. Like there's no sign that his body slowed down at all. So I just think more
09:28so interest wise, like, is he going to want to play until he's almost 40? Like, I don't
09:32get that, that vibe from him. Whereas Tatum, you know, he's going to play for a long time.
09:37Celtics Lakers ratings are in and they're massive. Uh, the game average 4.61 million
09:42viewers on Saturday night, primetime on ABC. It's the most watched regular season game
09:47in seven years, excluding Christmas day. So non-Christmas day NBA games, it's the most
09:52watched, uh, in seven years, it was up 92% in a comparable window. The game peaked at
09:585.3 million viewers. Most watched program in primetime on Saturday night. The NBA obviously
10:04would love Celtics and Lakers. We would all love Celtics and Lakers.
10:08You'll get way more conspiracy that it's right theories. There's like a couple of weird calls
10:15in the playoffs for the Lakers because that would outrate any other possible matchup by
10:21everyone else. Also look at the Luca trade. Well, right. They'd look back on that and
10:25be like, is, is Nico Harrison just actually like a Lee Harvey Oswald. Right. And even
10:29if, even if you don't, even if you don't want to go back, not even just down that road,
10:34but back to the trade, I know a conspiracy Curtis has been doing this, but even if you
10:39don't want to go there, how can you not watch games?
10:42And I'm not the biggest, like criticize the refs guy, but how can you not watch critical
10:45calls in the Lakers games and just kind of wonder, Oh yeah, Celtics Lakers would be pretty
10:49good for the NBA. I don't know. I don't know how you can't watch Lakers nuggets or Lakers
10:54thunder and not have that in the back. I mean, I don't subscribe to the theory that any professional
10:59sport is rigged. I just think there's way too much that goes into it. And especially
11:02now with the sports betting and all that, it's just, there's no way it is. But I think
11:06teams do get favorable calls. Like the league of course has match-ups they want to see,
11:11and there's no direct way of reading a game, but if you get favorable calls, maybe that
11:16does make a little bit of a difference.
11:18So I think the NBA would absolutely want this. A lot of people, myself included, think it
11:22will be Celtics thunder. But I think the NBA is really pushing for Celtics Lakers, especially
11:26after this game where people are saying like, this is the rebirth of one of the greatest
11:30rivalries in sports. And now the first year, you know, it's going to change when LeBron's
11:34gone. You don't know how many more years LeBron has. So you want to maximize that window.
11:39And of course they're going to want to see him get into the finals one more time.
11:42Well, and this is also like the, you know, the, whether Tatum's underappreciated or not
11:46and that whole storyline, it just, the state, the NBA is in right now, like they still would
11:51love to market LeBron and Curry and Durant, but it's more and more difficult to do that.
11:58Obviously it might be Tatum and SGA. Like those might be the two guys, but neither one
12:02really have the kind of personalities that some of the other ones have. Any of the young
12:05players really do with the exception of Anthony Edwards. Yeah. It might, it might just be
12:10even like the, the older guys like Katie LeBron, Steph, did they really have those like crazy?
12:16Like I'm going to yell in your face kind of, no, no, the style of play, only if it's killer,
12:22only if it's Steven.
12:23Yeah, that's true. Yeah. I don't know what it is. Oh, real quick on the thunder. Um,
12:28no Jalen Williams tonight, obviously is a, is a shame. Chet Holmgren had a broken pelvis.
12:33I think it was at the beginning of the year. Right. But he's come back. He's another one
12:37of these guys. It's not to the extreme of one by Ama, but seven foot one, like 200 pounds.
12:43He's an odd guy to watch odd, odd looking, but he's actually bounced back. All right.
12:48Like how, how good do you think he is? I think he's really good. And I think he fits that
12:51system perfectly because when they have a big seven foot big in there, they are borderline
12:56unstoppable. They're a great team when they have their seven footers in there. And Chet,
12:59like you said, has a really unique body type. Obviously missed his rookie year, came back
13:04and had a great season last year, played all 82. So he can stay healthy. You just hope
13:08he does because he can be really good. What was your takeaway from Celtics Lakers on the
13:12floor? Not just the, the ratings, which were massive and not just, uh, again, you know,
13:17the Celtics mostly at full strength, getting back holiday, not having poor Zingas. What
13:21was your takeaway about the matchup? Tatum and Brown looks so much more comfortable in
13:25these big games. And even Friday night against the calves, when they lost, they combined
13:29for 83 points.
13:30It certainly wasn't their fault that it happened. And then against the Lakers. I mean, they,
13:34I forget, I wrote it in my article. I forget the number off the top of my head. I think
13:37it was 34 of the 40 makes the Celtics ad were scored or assisted by Jason Tatum or Jalen
13:42Brown. And they had a, they had a hand in almost every bucket. It was, it was striking
13:47watching Luca too. I heard arcane talking about this last night. It was pretty funny
13:50where, I mean, Luca not only had the heating pack on his back where he was like constantly
13:57looking like he's 50 years old, but it was like only on defense, which made him look
14:01extra pathetic.
14:02He would like hobble around on defense and not be able to move. And then he'd get the
14:05basketball and he'd like, click in and be like, fine. I think that's striking when you
14:09watch Tatum and Brown versus LeBron out of the game and then Luca hobbling around and
14:14you go, okay. I mean, this is a team in their prime. So it was 34 or 40, that's 85%, which
14:19is just insane. And another thing about that too, like you said, the defense, both Jason
14:25Tatum and Jalen Brown play extraordinary individual defense. Like what he did to Jalen on Luca.
14:30Exactly. Oh yeah. Incredible. I mean, he just bothers him so much and it wears Luca so much
14:34out so much on the, he wears himself out so much on the offensive side.
14:38It hurts their defense, which we saw the entire NBA finals run. So I think games like that,
14:43especially with their defense, it really highlights how good they are as two-way players.
14:47Cause when they're putting up, you know, these big scoring nights, it's easy to overlook
14:51their defense, but night in and night out, they bring it defensively. And Joe Missoula
14:55gives them a ton of credit for that because the Celtics want to pride themselves on the
14:59defensive end. And when your two best players are doing that, it's kind of easy to fall
15:03suit.
15:04What'd you think of the second episode of Celtic city, uh, the documenter on HBO, this
15:08one was really about bill Russell in the city, really in the sixties, bill Russell
15:13as the head coach and you know, the post Bob Cousy days. But what was your, your takeaway
15:19from this episode? I mean, the first thing that came to my mind, it was towards the end
15:22is like, it's incredible that he was a player coach. Yeah. Like I feel like that's just
15:26not talked about enough. Like this guy was playing 40 minutes and also coaching them
15:30and he's going to battle with Wilt Chamberlain kind of makes you think less of red.
15:33Uh, that's a good take. I mean, if you want to go, you want to skew negative. Oh my God.
15:39Red, what a coach. It's like, nah, it turns out they just had a lot of talent and bill
15:42Russell could coach them. True. He became the GM and he's just like, I'm going to get
15:46to Russell. You, although again, if you want to play this game, I I'm down on red after
15:49watching two episodes. He also hated Bob Cousy. Red didn't even want Bob Cousy. But all he
15:56wanted to do is win ownership. Well, he didn't want Bob Cousy. Ownership twisted his arm
16:01on, uh, bringing in Bob Cousy. And then they won without him with bill Russell coaching.
16:05Now that these aren't things we didn't know, but it's just a reminder. Like, eh, maybe
16:08a little, you know, things that read overrated. That's my takeaway after two episodes. Yeah.
16:13But also just like how obnoxious and how, like the stuff that bill Russell had to deal
16:19with and in that press car. And like, we, we've read these stories and for about these
16:22stories, but it's just, it's gross to watch it. And the guy wins a title as a player coach.
16:29You happened with the coaching. Like, are you serious? How about, how about the quest?
16:33Was it his introductory press conference? This I didn't realize. How about the question?
16:36And they're basically like, are you going to be like racist the other way? Like this
16:40is a sensitive question. I'm like, Oh God, what does this go? And he's like, Oh, can
16:43you promise you won't be a favorable to black players effectively? Like you won't be a reverse
16:50racist effectively. And it's like, that's his introductory press conference. Red was
16:55the first coach to insert an all black starting five. So like it had already been done within
17:00the franchise, which the line of questioning was, how about that? They talked about like
17:05the NBA quota. They were like, it was sort of like an unwritten thing where like you
17:08had to have a certain number of white players on the court at all times. And then, so when
17:13Tommy Heinsohn got hurt, they were like, Oh, this is our best lineup. We're trying to win.
17:16So here we go. And everybody around the league was like, you can't do that. And what bill
17:20Russell was doing too, he was playing coaching as a trailblazer in the civil rights movement.
17:25Just like all the stuff he did to see it kind of unfold like that over the documentary is
17:30incredible and what he was dealing with and doing it. And they were still wildly successful
17:35and walking away after a title like that. You almost wonder, all right, how many more
17:39can you go to the parade? How many more could he have won? So it's interesting. I would
17:46say, well, number one, I mostly am over-listening not to dump on red more. I'm mostly, I was
17:52not ready for this. I'm mostly over listening to like reds daughters picking through all
17:55the knickknacks in their house. Like I'm done with that. Like I've seen two episodes of
17:58that. I don't need it anymore. Well, that's the tough part. You brought this up. I mean,
18:00you can't get new interviews with red and Russell. So they do a great job though. Using
18:04those old footage. No, they do. And bill Russell's daughter, you know, again, I'm like, why are
18:09we talking to bill Russell's daughter? But to have somebody who lived in the home where
18:13they broke into the Russell family's home and someone defecates in the man's bed after
18:19threatening everybody's life to, you know, to have her there when she was in the house
18:23like that, I thought there was some actual value to that. And that's like a heartbreaking
18:27story to listen to her as a child, you don't have to live through that. But I would say
18:31the standout so far, and you correct me if I'm wrong, the standout through two episodes,
18:35Shaughnessy, I did like the Shaughnessy cameos. I did just kicking it in like a breezeway
18:42Billy and Nick. No, I was bitching after the first episode. I'm like, they better have
18:44Shaughnessy in this thing. Simmons, Simmons better get over his Shaughnessy bias or anti
18:48Sean and get it in the episode. And he's in, he's in there. Um, I think Satch Sanders has
18:52been the star of this thing. Zach has been really good. I agree. He's a great storyteller. Yeah.
18:56And like they had him at Slades, you know, these like in the bar, he's like looking at,
19:00he's like, I haven't been in here in forever. I think Satch Sanders through two episodes.
19:04And again, you're limited in how many guys are alive. It's pretty much him and Bob Cousy.
19:09That story about how he hated Bill Sharman. He's been great guy, but yeah. But well,
19:14yeah, cause you can get somebody to tell some of those stories and sort of bridge that gap
19:18because that is so long ago. And unfortunately we've lost so many members of that team.
19:22And so how many can you get sort of new stories from? And so, yeah, he's been, he's been really
19:28good. I know this is going to be a long documentary, but I am interested to see sort of where
19:32this goes. We haven't even scratched the surface on Byrd, McHale. I mean, you're going to need
19:36another month before we get to Celtics. Yeah. Yeah. There's not a lot on right now. I'm fine
19:40with it. Oh, I look forward to the next episode. I also like how sharp both Satch Sanders and Bob
19:44Cousy are like, they're really sharp in explaining these stories. I think he is.
19:50No, Satch is. I don't know what I'm, I don't know what sharp is the word I'd use for Bob Cousy.
19:54I thought it was great, but no, I mean, look good. Sharp is not the word I would use, but when it
19:58comes to, uh, when it comes to, uh, Jerry West, you mentioned West too. I think West has kind of
20:03been a standout through two episodes too. But I love that about West is like, I think there are
20:07some athletes today that feel this way, but I think that just, you know, the money and the fame
20:11and everything else has sort of changed it. But like Jerry West is one of the greatest basketball
20:15players of all time. He's the logo of the freaking NBA and it still kills him. Like those games.
20:20He's like the Celtics have ruined my life. He's still like, he's literally said that
20:26and he's still, he's still just so upset about the balloons at the old forum. I can
20:30ever look at a balloon furious, but that's what it should be. That's what we all want it to be.
20:35Right. When you watch these guys, you're like, we care so much about it as fans. Like, I hope the
20:38players care about it. I don't know if anybody cared about it more than Jerry West. They had
20:41like these balloons ready to go and they had whole itinerary, like lining out what was going to go
20:46down when the Lakers won. I had heard that story. I had heard that story and it's, that's a, that's
20:51a well-documented story. And maybe Jerry West has been interviewed about it a bunch. I hadn't really
20:55heard him talking about it again. Maybe it's well-documented, but they got him because he
20:59could have said F you like, Hey, do you want to do a Celtics documentary? He could have been like,
21:02no, but he's added, he's added to it. Every time he mentions the word Celtic, he's just so bitter
21:09about it all. It's great. It's true. Uh, we'll Terp every Celtics Wednesday at high noon. We
21:15call it pure hoops with Terp, Justin Turpin, check out his work, uh, at w e I.com. Check
21:20him out on Twitter at Justin M Turpin and check him out at three 30 today on WEI afternoons.
21:26That's right. Double-dipping huge game. All right. Big game. Celtics thunder tonight. Uh,
21:31Terp will be at scores with the whole WEI afternoons crew at three 30.
21:35You can check it out on the odyssey app. Terp. Thanks so much.