OKC Beats Boston: A Postgame Reaction | Off The Pike

OKC Beats Boston: A Postgame Reaction | Off The Pike

Bill I thought they were going to get blown out at one point in the third quarter they made a fight of it in the fourth but it’s the first time I think all season long where I watched a Celtics game and I thought they may not

Be the most athletic team on the court like at times tonight Oklahoma City looked more athletic and it’s a very rare thing to see but I I do like and look there’s no moral victories but I do like the way that they fought back in the fourth quarter and I thought one

Thing finally they put Tatum on Shay because I don’t remember a time where Drew holiday and Derek white both got blown by on defense in the first quarter of the game that’s what happened with Shay I think it just took him a little too long to get to that adjustment I was

On a Tex thre with a couple Celtic fans talking about this was before the game would Joe put Tatum on SGA a and then B when would he do it right because I think SGA and Brunson are similar you saw I don’t know if you saw Nicks Minnesota the other

Night but they threw McDaniels on Brunson and Brunson had a lot of issues with it like you have those these smaller guards and SJ is like 65 66 but I want length on him I think white probably has a better chance but I think they were probably worried about the

Foul trouble with him but they waited they waited they put Jaylen on him and honestly he kind of torched Jaylen and he did pretty much whatever he wanted with any guard and then I thought Tatum had some real success against him in the fourth quarter and Brian this was the

Big question I had with this team if they actually want to win the title it can’t and and where Tatum is at at his point in his career there’s going to be games where they don’t need him to be the number one score in the team what

They need is defense and rebounding he finished the game with 13 rebounds I thought he played some really good defense on uh on SJ down the stretch and porzingis carried more of the offense load that the guy that really just killed them in the game was Jaylen this

Was a bad 2023 playoffs jayen performance he couldn’t shoot he had his typical three unforced a turnovers and uh and wasn’t good on defense either and I think if he played better I think they would have won yeah and I think that sort of I don’t want to say the most

Aggravating part because if you go back to like the beginning of the Season we had questions about Jaylen and then in the month of December he sort of turned it around he cut back his three-point shooting now in this game today he took eight three-pointers and it felt like he

Had no confidence in that shot whatsoever but the bigger point with that is you’re right I mean you lose this game by four points and a guy that has been so good for you over the past month in change he was just atrocious in

This game and I first bad one in a while yeah and I do and I do think that if this game happen six weeks ago I would have been concerned about it but today I just sort of chalk it up to he had a bad afternoon which or the bad evening I

Should say and I guess that’s the good thing is Jaylen played this poorly and you were still on the game and to your point on Tatum I think it’s a great one because porzingis carried them in the first half in the first quarter he had

12 points and I do feel like in some sense I don’t know what happened in the third quarter where they got they lost that quarter 40 to 25 and it felt like what got them the lead was playing through porzingis we saw this so many

Times on the road trip going back to a couple of games in that Series where the Lakers game third quarter they played through porzingis you go to the Kings game they play through porzingis in the third quarter the third quarter have been an issue for this team for a large

Portion of the season they fixed this I’m just trying to figure out what happened tonight in the third qu okay so I think part of their game plan the first about their defense loss on this game we could talk about the third quarter but then we talk fourth quarter

Too one of their game plans here was hey Josh giddy we’re not afraid of you feel free go nuts Josh giddy was good in this game first of all he went four for seven from three which he’s an awful three-point shooter so and they all of those they

Were like please take those and they actually made them and they were putting porzingis on them they were cheating porzingis and trying to see if they could get away with him where they weren’t afraid of get his shooting put porzingis on him then porzingis can come

And help on some of the other players well not only was giddy making threes but a couple times he went by porzingis and created shots I just thought he played really well he only played 27 minutes he had 23 points he was plus 10 he had his usual rebound assist combo so

That was that and then in the fourth quarter it was really three defensive possessions I’m just doing this off top of my head but Chad hit two big threes in the last couple minutes both of them were porzingis doing the Rob Williams Memorial I’m out with my hand up but I’m

I’m a step and a half back from where I actually should be and Chad was able to line up and make it and then the one that shocked me so OKC they need a basket in the last minute uh Jaylen Williams has the ball and it’s SGA

Tatum’s on SGA J and White’s on Jaylen Williams and they get a switch to get SGA on white and then Jaylen Williams takes Tatum off the dribble and he scores on him and that was the game because if they get a stop there I actually think the Celtics could have

Won so to me those three possessions were the killers in the fourth quarter and then just giddy just playing really well I thought really hurt him yeah when there’s two other one other play I would say is I felt like all right Pritchard deserved time to stay in the game

Because of the way that he played but at the end of the game when it’s a defensive possession I would rather see Drew holiday on the court because Jay you would have you think really because you see what he ends up on the ground Jaylen Williams just goes right through

Him and he gets an easy opportunity at the bucket and then the other thing to your point about porzingis the dagger cat three I guess technically it wasn’t the dagger because the Celtics had a chance on the other end porzingis is just on that play and it’s tough to

Criticize porzingis after the evening he just had but there was no reason to help there like Tatum Shay had not beaten Tatum yet Tatum had him at the top of the Keen he’s trying to drive on Tatum it wasn’t like he had created an advantage where porzingis has to cheat

Off Jet and instead he sort of cheated off him on that play and then I would say the other thing that sort of aggravated me in this game and this happened in the Warriors game too sheay picked up his fourth foul with 852 left in the third quarter and they were

Hiding him right so what I don’t understand is it and it’s not like the Celtics played well offensively as we mentioned they only had 25 points in that third quarter even a guy like Sam Hower who was getting guarded by Shay they’re purposely doing that because

They don’t think you’ll put Hower in any action and guess what the Celtics do they don’t put Hower in any action instead he’s just hanging out by the three-point line and I thought that was an opportunity to try to take advantage of the game is try to get that fifth

Foul on Shay and I give them a lot of credit OKC dagal because this is something Brad Stevens used to do he wouldn’t take his guys out when they got in F trouble because Brad’s rationale was okay well what am I just going to lose 5 minutes pick to take him out of

The game with five minutes and the other bet that Brad used to make which I think is the same bet that diagonal bet on Missoula is they won’t go after him I can hide my best guy and they’re not going to actually go after him so what

Was it it was 8 minutes left in the third quarter when he got the fourth foul 852 almost N9 minutes left in when that happened I was like oh my God they’re going to win they’re going to they’re but you’re right they didn’t attack him there’s all kinds of things

They could have done and maybe they’ll learn from this but even like they could have played three guards at the same time you got to make him guard somebody and at least be in the mix and it didn’t feel like he was in the mix to me at all

I agree that that was a huge mistake yeah it just doesn’t really make sense to me that when especially it’d be one thing if it’s just some random player but it’s when a guy’s on his way to having a 30 plus Point performance it would seem like that’s sort of the time

That you want to go after well do you want to talk about the big picture angle of this game and I I I thought I was on tery and Eddie Johnson’s um show today and I was saying how we do this ringer 100 that we we hand in our list like

Every month and I put sgaa over Tatum I put I put him five because I’ve watched too many of these games where he goes mono onano with the other team’s best player and his team wins or he does better and I was just like I just think

He’s been more consistent in games like this you watch the game today it was really close CU Tatum did a lot of good stuff that I mean he had his usual how many times does he just do the 28 foot pullup three where you’re like what are

You doing he did in both halves right there on this just go by him bounce into him get a foul he’s still doing that but I loved how hard he played I love how hard the the Celtics played um but SGA was a tiny bit better and I feel like

That’s why they won I will say this though Brian um I think there were two awesome Celtic games this year that really felt like finals games and it was this one and it was the Minnesota game and they they played other really good games like the m one of the Miami games

Was good early in this season they there’s they they’ve had good games the Golden State game was super entertaining the this game and the Minnesota game felt finals level with so even if you look at the Celtics stats they took 40 threes they took 29 free

Throws that’s kind of where we want them to be right I don’t want them to take 55 threes I thought they went to the rim hard I thought when they needed baskets they had really nice balance the threes they took I thought were good white was fantastic again and weirdly it was good

This the seventh loss of the season six of them they could have won and they could have won this one yeah I I would agree with that and they actually because what happened in the Warriors game is they didn’t take advantage of what the Warriors don’t do

Well the Warriors are terrible in terms of Defending without fouling they foul like crazy the Thunder that’s one of their weaknesses is they foul a ton they commit I believe it’s the fifth most fouls in the NBA or they give up the fifth most free throws and the Celtics

Actually did get to the free throw line in this game and you look at Tatum in this one he takes 10 free throws porzingis takes nine and even in this bad jayen game he still gets eight free throw attempts which you like to see that from your star players because this

Is something that they’ve struggled with in the past and and 33 assists yeah so I mean the offense was not the problem in this game the defense became the issue in the game and it felt like it took them too long as we mentioned earlier to

Get to that Jason Tatum match up the one other critique I would have in this game is they’re down 18 now they make a comeback in the fourth quarter but they’re down double digit points to start the fourth and they come out with a lineup of Al Horford and Luke cornette

If you’re trying to make a comeback in this game you need to do it offensively and I don’t think cornette played poorly in this game I just don’t understand the combination at that point of the game to go with the double big lineup there that to me was just a perplexing decision to

Go with those two guys on the court if anything I would say try to go small because if you look at that Thunder team they don’t play two bigs ever and it wasn’t like you were getting an advantage out of the two bigs if anything I thought playing the two bigs

Actually hurt and maybe the numbers will say differently when the data finalizes tomorrow in terms of the tracking data but it wasn’t like OKC was struggling offensively when you put two bigs on the court if anything it made him easier because you could get one of those guys

In the action how many times do we see the ball just flying around because Cora caught up in some sort of we were great point where was brassette because he had been re I thought he played well for this team over the past couple of weeks he’s a

Dnp uh what was the game you and I and Chad Finn were texting he played oh that Clipper game I went to that game where he played 18 minutes they blew him out but he was four for five from three and it it felt like Joe was kind of

Getting into a rhythm with okay these are the guy and kada had a really good game that game then kada sucked against the Lakers um but I felt like brassett I think his minutes have been yanked around I think it’s a mistake like especially you’re right a game like this

Why are you playing too bigs against a team they’re dying for the other team to do something like that because they’re small and they’re but they want give us big and slow we’re going to be able to move the ball around and attack him I I

Think dagn is such a good coach I mean he’s clearly unquestionably a heavy coach to the year favor right now but you look at like you know they’re playing Wallace played 17 minutes as a rookie and by the way did not did they did not look great when he was out there

But even like he uses Isaiah Joe and sometimes he’ll play a lot of minutes this game he only played 13 minutes but he has such a feel over who are my guys in this and I’ve seen him like pull the plug on giddy where giddy will just like

Oh giddy doesn’t have it n he’s out but he saw something with giddy in that matchup today and uh I thought their best five played against our best five really really well hey we got think about this if I told you porzingis was going to score

34 and that we were going to have 29 free throws and 33 assists would you have said we were going to win handily like by 15 20 points like oh we we blew out OKC and OKC but they you know they scored 127 and Shay didn’t even really do that

Much in the fourth quarter I bet he had what four points six points something like that that was not the it wasn’t his usual like lay the smackdown end of the game stuff it was Chad and it was that Jaylen Williams possession yeah there’s a couple of things in there like first

Of all just circling back to brassette and I know the Celtics were able to get some offensive rebounds but that’s something that he does well OKC on the season gives up to or 29th in offensive rebounds against at 13 I thought that especially because it felt like when

They didn’t get the offensive rebound we know that they’re the best transition team in the NBA so they were getting burned on the other end if you have a more athletic guy like brassette I think that sort of helps you instead of cornette and then the big picture stuff

You were mentioning the thing that scares me about this Thunder team I do think like say KnockOn would that this happens they both get to the finals that’s a difficult match up for the Celtics and OKC now like we think about these windows for the Celtics it kind of

Scares you looking into the future because they’re going to have chat forever they’re going to have Shay forever and they can make a move move if they really wanted to this upcoming trade deadline the three like kendri Williams played 13 Wiggins played 13 meic played 11 a Joe played 13 but you

Take two of those guys and just give 26 minutes to like a kick-ass dude who becomes like a seven eight man rotation guy um I listen they to me they’re one of the five teams that can win the title and Shay is one of the best five players

In the league and for them to not pursue this seriously I would be if I were them so encouraged by what I saw from Chad not only in this game but against Denver against Minnesota a team that you think like oh Minnesota should be able to overpower them they just have Chad that

In Chad holds his own he’s tough as hell he protects the rim he’s really crafty with SGA and that high screen stuff I think that’s their hardest play to defend like you’re if they put a little switch and or chat pops off your big guy better be ready to fly out there anti-r

Style I think they’re really hard to play but on the flip side like I it’s weird the Celtics lost but I this game made me feel better about them the fact that they were smart enough in the fourth quarter to put Tatum on Shay I thought was I was kind of proud of

Second row Joe I was like okay you did it I didn’t know if you’re were gonna have the balls to do that you did it and from Tatum standpoint all right don’t get in the herob ball contest with Shay like guard him take him out on

That end and trust your teammates and I I thought that is really encouraging yeah and the fact that Tatum wanted the matchup too because you can tell that he wanted it and we’ve seen him do it before going back to a couple of years ago against Kevin Durant in that Series

Against Brooklyn where Durant was like horrible against Tatum and Tatum deserves a lot of credit for that so maybe that is something because I do think we talked earlier in the season how this is sort of an adjustment period for Jaylen but Tatum in this game had to

Have realized that hey this is going to be more of a porzingis game and I know he’s still finished with his 30 points and all that but porzingis at times and in a lot of games is going to be the biggest Vantage the Celtics have so that

Means that Tatum’s going to impact the game in other ways we’ve talked in the past about how he’s a great rebounder but on the defensive end of the floor taking on that match up was huge and I do think going back to your point about how this is sort of encouraging I think

The big thing we’ve seen in a lot of these wins is and I know they lost tonight but there have been so many games this year where I felt like if they didn’t have porzingis they would have lost the game so I do think it’s sort of a blessing and a crur the

Blessing is the fact that okay they do finally have this Advantage you’ve brought up on your pod before like they were sick and tired of getting into these postseason Series where their offense just gets stuck in the mud it gets stale and if the threes aren’t falling or if Tatum or jaylen’s turning

The ball over late so I think you now have that answer as long as porzingis is healthy because the first quarter of this game and really into the second quarter the Celtics probably get blown out of the building if they don’t have porzingis in this game to just go to way

Was playing yeah I agree yeah and I think the one thing he can do too especially in this game where that team likes to play fast and Indiana’s going to they’re going to play Indiana Again coming up soon another team that likes to play Fast Milwaukee to a lesser

Extent likes to play fast is and I know it seems like not the most effective strategy because you’re the Celtics and you’re super athletic but sometimes it’s useful to just slow the game down and give porzingis the ball because like when he gets the ball at the nail there

At the free throw line there’s nothing you can really do and cuz if you bring help he’s a good enough passer to kick it out the one thing that I’ve been really impressed with is he just shoots over guys like it’s it’s as if the defender anybody that’s shorter than him

It’s as if the defender is not even there like I haven’t seen any you see him against wmy yeah it what was it like an inch apart maybe like an inch and a quarter they were he looks small they were they you how how much taller do you

Think wemi was than him is he two inches taller I would said like an inch and a half I I was shocked by cuz everyone says porzingis is 73 and what you’re saying like on that foul line shot you could feel it in the Detroit game it

Seems like his shots going to get blocked when you’re watching on TV because you have this down angle on it right but every time he gets a shot off nobody touches it nobody blocks it and the postup stats I mean one of the things that’s I I’m going to be

Interested to see how they experiment with it as the season goes along porzingis I think is second for post up per 100% like his points per possession on post-ups he was at like I think it was 1.48 points per 100 yeah but then Tatum was seventh and I think Jaylen was like 11th

And there’s always somebody that’s too small for one of those three guys whoever they’re playing and I think as the season’s going along they’re starting to figure out like oh you’re going to guard pringus with him okay and they’re kind of surgically taking this

Stuff apart so I as I watch them I just feel like this team is starting to get more sophisticated over who they are also like porzingis hasn’t shot the three that well and this is something that if you know this is what part of the advertisement with porzingis right

He’s supposed to be this 40% three-point shooter we haven’t seen that piece totally yet when that gets unlocked I don’t know if the Derek white three-point shooting is sustainable like I mean I know everybody’s been talking about him for five weeks but he made three of like the craziest threes of the

Season for him like like kind of coming off uh semi fast break one- footed off balance threes like he was uh I don’t know Paul Pierce in the mid 2000s um I’m not sure how sustainable that is but I do think porzingis can get better to uh highlight the point you made so

Porzingis is at 14 1.48 points per possession on post-ups and Tatum is at 1.23 and the best offense in the NBA is like 1.22 so those are both but and both of those are top seven right porzingis is like second yeah yeah porzingis is

One of the most he’s been at for a while he was the most efficient post scorer in the NBA he’s dipped a little bit below that but I mean he’s still as efficient as all hell but the other thing you mentioned about porzingis in the three-point shooting even if it’s not

There the fact that he’s willing to take it from that deep guys are still defending it right like this is the difference and there’s a lot of differences between the two players but even when Al was having that outstanding shooting season last year where he was top five in the NBA in three-point

Percentage he was never defended like this with porzingis the defense is still freaked out about it now Derek white I still think that he can finish the season north of 40% from three I think he’s good enough to do that because a lot of these are stanel threes that he’s

Getting the one thing that he actually has been doing how about 50% because that’s where he’s been for like five weeks I don’t know if 50% is realistic yeah well all these all these guys the top your top eight rotation guys with the exception of Jaylen who actually did

Shoot 38% from three in December outside of Jaylen Tatum and porzingis the rest of those guys Hower Pritchard Al White and holiday they all shot North of 40% from three in the month of December and the other thing the Celtics did a lot better this past month in December

Compared to where they were at earlier this season is we actually finally saw them do other things besides take threes like if you just take their last six games prior to tonight fifth in points per game in the paint their first 26 they were 26 the free throws they and

They took a bunch tonight as you mentioned they were 11th in their last six games their first 26 they were 24th and they did me mention Joe moula mentioned it but also guys on the team mention they found different things offensively like they were actually playing faster they were getting more

Fast break points as well so I do think is that sort of starting to come together because I felt like the offense was sort of behind the defense earlier in the season and I do feel like they’ve sort of found and a lot of it goes with Jaylen outside of tonight sort of

Finding his der playing better too yeah and dere Derek White playing better and I thought Drew finally shooting the ball better as well but until tonight um the porzingis one thing I’ve been surprised surprised I you know I obviously followed his career and watched him and

Saw him a bunch but I I was not watching him on WatchON I felt like a Dallas he was kind of an afterthought on the side he’s a really good transition player like in the air stuff Ali oops um hustling down like he really he hustles

I think way more for points than I was expecting like he’s a really hungry player and I he’s great hands like he catches those like when when he’s Rim running he’ll catch these passes like on the break where I’m like you probably shouldn’t be throwing a 7’3 guy that

Pass and somehow he makes the catch and the other thing I think he does too don’t you think he’s like a phenomenal athlete like I I’m actually kind of stunned by how athletic he is I am too and the way that he finishes with traffic around him is incredible too

Like and to your point I remember when the Celtics were and I know the Celtics have been interested in him for a couple of years but when they made the trade I’m like look and I’m not going to pretend that I watched a lot of Washington Wizards basketball last year

But I just remember looking at the numbers like the post up numbers and the twoo shooting all that I’m like holy like this is kind of ridiculous this is what house was telling me why that was his Scouting Report he’s like here’s the thing you can’t you can’t

Cheat with this dude you can’t put a smaller guy on him or try to hide somebody on him because he would take that dude down and score on him and he was adamant like that was this part of porzingis his game that he didn’t realize he had and I’ve been stunned by

That I’ve been stunned by the in the air stuff because I don’t know in my head I just felt like he was this three-point shooting kind of stationary clumsy is 7 foot3 guy and he’s not that at all he’s he’s almost plays like uh I don’t know

Like he’s 611 or something it’s it’s he’s really impressive and they of course none of this will matter if he gets hurt before me well and I do think that’s an interesting component to this is because what we’ve seen lately is he’s not playing back tobs he has not been

Playing back to backs lately I know for a fact they don’t they don’t they they want to get him 100% they’re not messing around they know who they are they know they’re going to be in the top they’ll be in the top three right they’ll be one

Two or three probably one and be’s been healthy the whole year Dame’s been healthy the whole year and Dame does not have a great injury history I think they feel like with what they have they’re probably going to be the one seat anyway and they’re just not putting miles on

Him they’re not going to do it well I think it’s smart the one thing I don’t agree with with the way they’re handling this is we know that Horford isn’t playing backto back backto backs either and I agree with that but here’s the problem I I don’t know why they keep

Doing this thing where they play them both on the first end and then they play neither one of the guys on the second end I don’t know if that’s like an opportunity to get kada and brassette and cornette minutes but I would just separate that I don’t know why you need

Porzingis and Al both sitting out when you know going into a back-to-back that neither one is going to play both of them my only rationale behind it is I’m guessing maybe that’s when they want to find out what they have with some of these bench guys but it’s weird now

Because Kay is sort of it feels like now he’s out of the rotation when he was in the rotation for a while they’ve gone sort of back to cornette and I do think like that’s the one thing that I would like this was not a kada game he’s

There’s no way we were seeing him tonight well he can’t he like he’s he’s not going to play defense against these guys right like he can’t he can’t play defense like he really he can only play a drop and he’s not really good in a drop coverage right now but I do wonder

The Lakers game was tough for him that I think that was one of those like oh okay we got some work left here but I do Wonder like is there one a guy they need to give minutes to like is brassette somebody that needs to play more often

Than he does or are they going to have to address that at the trading deadline I I would just let brette go like I think he brings too much to the table not to play him I think you’re right on both I’m going to go yes and yes that

The thing with kada there’s certain matchups where he becomes important like when it’s somebody like a zubats where it’s and he was great in that quipper game because zubats is a certain type of player he rolls to the basket he’s his arms are always around the rim that’s

Perfect for kayada the team tonight is not a good like him against Chad holgren now I’m a little nervous but I think like you know that he was a high second round pick for the Kings two years ago kada and the kings are the Kings so and

Maybe just the kind of style they play they just kind of uh gave up on him but I to me he’s on a two-way but I assume they’re going to probably lock that down by the end of the year they don’t need to anytime soon but he’s

He’s at least a body for the playoffs I still feel like um if it’s not peret then they need to go find who that is but the biggest thing for me is a defensive guard with size I just feel like that’s there’s games and you could feel it a little bit even though

Pritchard played pretty well today there’s games where he just seems too small when he’s out there and every guard and forward on the other team is 6′ five 6′ six and up and um there’s just times athletically where I feel like he it gets a little dicey don’t you

Think yeah and especially in this game tonight I mean when he’s on jayen yeah like he’s given up too much size and he’s giving up too much weight and this is somebody me that I like Pritchard I think he’s a good player I think he’s a very useful player during the regular

Season but like going back to the Heat Series last year remember game one I can’t remember if it was you or Pina came on after that game and it’s like he’s on the court when Jimmy Butler’s on the court and they just like immediately Jimmy Butler like almost couldn’t

Believe it in the fourth quarter he’s like yeah like I’m going to and get him so yeah I just I just wonder what they have resource-wise right because you’re not trading like one of the top six guys so from a financial standpoint they don’t really have a lot to trade I mean

Is it is it is it Austin Rivers like is is he trying to make his way back in the league or he’s just living the Pod life there’s going to be a bunch of buyout guys because we have four horrible teams the bottom four in this league are

Really really bottomy and um maybe somebody like that I don’t know I don’t think they’re that worried about it because once you get you don’t have to worry about it until February the the thing if I had to worry about one thing and I’m not 100% worried about this

Yet but as you know because we’ve texted about it a few times it’s like where are we in Drew’s career right now what what checkpoint are we in in the Drew holiday experience because he looked I would say a halfstep slow from where he was at his alltime Peak

Probably two years ago 2021 Drew um but we also knew we got H at the start of the season so it’s like all right he’s getting then he really started to look good the last couple weeks and like there’s Drew holiday yeah that’s the guy

Um and him guarding LeBron was great I I thought on Christmas I thought he got in LeBron’s head which I didn’t even think was possible at this point but uh Lebron was afraid to turn and dribble against him and he really I thought affected the

The game I did not think he was good tonight and this was a game that I thought he was going to be really important in and part of it might have been just what they were doing with the lineups and putting porzingis on giddy I’m sure if they had to do that over

Again maybe you just put Drew on Giddy and try to take giddy out and make sure he doesn’t have a good game but um you know seven points tonight two for eight two free throws minus 15 um they didn’t play him in crunch time just it just kind of made me

Go hm this is a guy who we were talking contract extension at the end of the year and this was one of the two biggest games of the year and he didn’t play in the last five minutes yeah and he had some real issues finishing earlier this

Season he still had some of those and we saw that one play tonight where he tried to go up and under against Shay and he or excuse me against Chet he just kind of threw it up in the air so I think going back to Al and porzingis when we

Talk about Drew I wonder if you got to start doing that with him a little bit not say every back back to back he sits out but maybe you got to start thinking about wrestling him because think about his career recently go back to last year he’s over taxed in the postseason trying

To be the number two option at times when Giannis goes down he’s trying to be the number one option at the same time he’s covering Jimmy Butler on one end going all the way back to 2021 he’s playing deep into the playoffs when he wins the finals and then the following

Season they have that grueling series against the Celtics I just think there’s a lot of mileage there and the one thing I’ve noticed about Drew hold on on that point he’s over a thousand games combined regular season and playoffs now and a thousand you know things changed

They were’re in the 2020s guys longevity I get it but the Thousand Mark is usually anything after a thousand if you’re still playing at a really high level is a bonus in my opinion so yeah I’m just I’m monitoring it but anyway go ahead well and I think his biggest

Attribute now is not as like a guy that you just put on somebody to take out of the game I think it’s more about his defensive versatility like we’ve seen him cover Giannis and we’ve seen him cover embiid we’ve seen they put him on Anthony Davis at one point during the

Third quarter we’ve seen him cover LeBron but what I wonder about with Drew is we talked about before the season like hey this may be the best guy to cover Dame and like you can go all the way back to the New Orleans series that he played against them I don’t know if

That is his best thing anymore and it’s not a problem for the Celtics because you have Derek white that can cover the elite guards like and I know that Jimmy Butler sort of gave it to him and Jimmy was talking back and forth him in that series against Milwaukee but I actually

Think at this point in his career he’s better guarding up than he is actually covering like the traditional like whether in look may this team may not even make the playoffs but like the Darius Garland types the Damen Lillard types the Tyrese halberton types like those quick guards I don’t think those

Are his best matchups anymore I think it’s more of like the swing the bigger twos the threes and the fours and even to a lesser extent centers and it’s good that you have Derek white guys yeah like I feel like it we saw it a couple times

Tonight and look Shay does it to a lot of people but like he had Drew holiday they were neck and neck and all of a sudden he’s at the rim and yeah sh Shay’s not fair because he just he’s destroyed every single person in the league I what I agree and I disagree

With you because on the one hand you’re right he’s we’ve seen over and over again now he has been unable to really truly lock down scoring guards um on the flip side I watch basketball every night I don’t see anybody doing it and it goes back to like the stuff Steve cerr was

Talking about a couple weeks ago about how hard it is to just play defense anymore I don’t really see any lockdown defensive point guard defense out there I think white is the best defensive guard in the league right now him and Caruso are probably you know there’s a

Couple other guys but white if you’re going to say like who brings the most to the table defensively it’s probably Derek white and there’s been guys who have been going by Derek white All Season you know because it’s really hard to play defense and not foul so I think

What where Drew becomes really fun especially if you’re thinking a playoff series is you know that when he’s guarding Jimmy Butler or when I know he did do it well last year but when you throw him on Giannis for for a series when you put him on embiid he’s he

Becomes like a little Marcus smartish um but I you know going team by team who they’re going in the playoffs like when they play Brunson you probably gonna have to put Tatum and and brown on him as much as Derek white like length bothers Brunson when you play

Dame I’m not sure anybody’s staying in front of Dame if he’s playing well you know and I so to me the the bigger thing for me is his offense and how can you unlock that a little bit more because I like when he has the ball the big thing

Just in general for the season is that they trust white it’s by the week they’re trusting him more with the ball the running setting picks for him having him in transition that guy has so much confidence now with his three-point shooting and getting to the rim it’s unbelievable it’s like I remember you

And I were talking after the Marcus Smart trade the number one reason I think both of us like to trade so much it was like finally Derek white can be Unleashed because both of us believed in the stats the stats were there like when this guy has the ball in his hand good

Things happen and good things have been happening since they gave him the ball and I wonder like you know I know he was 25 and five in December do you think that goes up does he get to like does he become like a 22 six and six guy or or

Is December the ceiling I think this is probably where he levels out because I I just don’t think he’s GNA take many more shots right and I don’t see the and I don’t think think the percentages stay like where they are right now I think

They can stay in a similar area but to expect them like 5040 90 is I think realistic that he actually like finishes somewhere around there but I just don’t think how about two blocks a game yeah unbelievable I mean that streak he had where it’s like Ron Harper he tied Ron

Harper for four games in a row with three consecutive blocks and then he had like the most blocks ever for a guard in like a six game span one today who was the one he had the Block in the first half was that Shay it it was literally

On a lob attempt he broke up a lob attempt as as as a guard right and speaking of that like the the two plays that porzingis made in that in the first half too where first of all like jayen got lost he came over and at a block on

Meich whatever that guy’s name is and then he had another one too where he challenged the shot at The Rim Mich passed it and then he still got the block on a different a different offensive player which was phenomenal to your to your point on white by the way

He’s in the 91st percentile as a pick and roll ball handler 1.09 points per 100 possessions like obviously Dame has way higher volume but he’s he’s like more efficient than Damen Lillard not to say that he could do it on the same usage but my point being

That’s how efficient he’s been and I do feel like at times like that is their best late game offense when they go now Tatum did a I thought Tatum did a good job making decisions late in this game but we saw I forget where which game it

Was on the road trip if it was was it the Lakers or the Kings whatever it was like it definitely wasn’t the Kings I think it was the Lakers where they played through Derek white and Kristof porzingis late in the game it was like high picking rooll for Derek white and

It feels like he always makes the right decision when it comes to that in terms of think to you today do you see that they actually posted up Tatum on a play in the last minute where they needed a basket I’m like oh yeah so they can go to nba.com and

Cleaning the glass and they they’re started to realize that actually this is one of the eight best plays you can run in the NBA right now well and that’s what I I do think that they’re doing a better job of just like hey when Tatum gets a switch just give it to him

Because that’s the one thing that aggravates me about Tatum his postup numbers are great actually if you look at his isolation numbers which have not been great in the past they’ve been great this season the one thing and he only took five threes tonight which is like an accomplishment that he only took

Five threes but he takes the fourth most pullup threes per game in the NBA if terrible one with like 4 minutes left today yeah and 28 footer with with with like 22 seconds on the shot clock and I don’t get it I I don’t know why he takes

Those shots because last year he self the 30% on those pullup threes he’s 44% on catch and shoot threes and he can get to the free throw line for the month of December he’s at like eight free throws per game we know his finishing has been

Much better he can post guys up he can score in isolation why do you take a step back three especially when there’s a center on you that’s the one that I don’t saying the most it’s like you can pull that guy out and go buy him he’s 26

Years old he’s not totally the player he’s going to be and even this year I feel like there’s been some some good strides like him guarding Shay today to me it’s like that it’s like a win and it’s weird they lose the game but I I felt pretty good about the about the

Loss and then if I’m OKC I just beat Minnesota and I beat Denver and I beat Boston and I beat Boston in a game where Boston fought back and it actually seemed seemed like I might choke away the game and I executed offense at the end of games so

Now I’m thinking I can play with any of these teams this is not a fluke cuz we’re at we’re past the 30 game Mark now like this is we the rabbit stage of the season is over like the Indiana going you know 12 and four whatever that right

Like that that shit’s behind us now we’re starting to find out who are your flaws like Minnesota is starting to feel you seen a couple flaws now it’s like oh if Mike Conley sucks in a game they have some issues um they this OKC team’s good

I think this Celtics team when you think seven losses and six of them two plays go differently and they could have won all six like it’s hard to be upset and the starting group I believe they only have what two losses together like this group that when they’re actually all in

The lineup I believe this is only their second loss altogether but if you just look at it big picture-wise like I don’t see anything really Milwaukee can do outside of like if Dame just goes crazy but on the other end like the Celtics going to be able to take advantage

Of lard now bad for them yeah yeah their defense is really bad like there’s this thing that was going around social media where Dame’s like looking at where the screen’s coming from and H Burton just goes right by him he’s he’s been and like the numbers for the past couple

Years have told you that Lillard just horrible defensively Billy that’s a team where it’s like okay they beat the out of the Bulls tonight Maxi’s playing outstanding of course we know what they have in beid is there a move for them to make like well there is a move it’s just

Can they make it in time before like they lost out on in anobi yeah that’s the one that would have scared me yeah yeah that one would have scared me just because I feel like okay that’s a guy that they can throw in Tatum and the dirty secret about Philly

Is they’ve never had a guy to throw on Tatum like they were trying PJ Tucker remember they traded for what was his name MCD was that McDaniel’s brother that played for Philly last year no but it was he was he was like his the bad McDaniels he was like his second cousin

Yeah the guy that the guy that tat him when he was playing for Charlotte put 50 on and that’s the guy that tell if they keep Morris and they have the tomb Covington Morris like that’s at least better than what they had last year and Morris does have the big brother little

Brother thing with Tatum maybe it won’t matter anymore but I assume they’re going to make a trade and I assume Miami’s going to make a trade they have L’s expiring and maybe they’ll get into Mitchell if Mitchell becomes available but Miami is going to do something the

One the one thing that I feel better about with Miami this year compared to last year and you’re right they probably will make a move and maybe it’s a big move I mean who knows I I mean I wouldn’t be trading for Zack LaVine but if Zack LaVine got traded they’re not

Going to do that okay but I would say like if if he got traded to any team and I was worried about it’ only be Miami because they like somehow get the guy right but the reason Miami doesn’t you’re right and I’m I’m GNA hate to say

This knock on wood the reason they don’t scare me as much as they have in the past is like I feel like bam last year could just muck everything up because of the offensive Personnel now if he’s not on porzingis then they have real trouble because then you can just give it to

Porzingis and he can score on the post so I think that Bam’s going to have to cover porzingis in a potential playoff series and I I feel like that’s sort of going back to this whole theme of why they traded for him I think that’s the biggest difference going back to this

Season compared to last year like that’s the one guy they can’t lose like I think they could actually win a playoff series not the finals but they could win a playoff series Without Tatum or they could win a playoff series Without Jaylen now not for the entire postseason

Round I don’t think they can win a championship that way but if they don’t have porzingis for Philly Milwaukee or the heat I think they’re in trouble agree he’s we’ve said it before he’s the superpower of the team he’s the guy that raises the ceiling you go from being a

10-story building to being a 20 story building L literally I’ll leave you with this the next couple games they’re playing the Jazz at home on Friday and then they have this weird for some reason they’re playing in Indiana two more times which I don’t understand at all it’s this baseball Series stuff

That they’re doing the NBA but we already played in Indiana so now this is somehow three Indiana games then home from Minnesota at Milwaukee and then home Houston so that basically the next that’s all in like the next uh they have a break and then Friday and then it’s

Like five games in eight days something like that all those teams bring something different to the table like Utah is just a weird team they have these guards that attack the basket Marin’s tough Kessler protects the rim but they’re it’s they kind of r whatever the hot hand is Will

Hardy so and That’s a classic terrible Celtics letdown game where it’s like wait we’re losing by 18 at home to Utah what’s going on then you have the Pacers team which has proven they’re not afraid of the Celtics and they’ll go run and Gun and you try to play our Pace

Timberwolves beat them already and had the McDaniels Edwards combo and then the Rockets is eeme coming back yeah so and and with a team you know shenon I think is going to be problematic for them but but I think so that will be January 13th against all the playoff games but after

Three those six games I think we’ll have a really good feeling on what the ceiling of the Celtics team is and I think that ceiling I think they’re the best team in the league them losing barely to OKC today doesn’t change out in my head I thought

It was a better win for OKC but um but we’ll see six games from now all right well two questions actually a comment and a question to the two thing to what you laid out there Markin that would scare me if he got traded to somebody in

The East like about OKC or yeah OKC that’s a great one I mean he’s one of the best catch and shoot three-pointers in the uh shooters in the NBA like what if Philly got in on that that I just don’t think he’s available I never believed that he was available to begin

Why would you trade him they have a million picks already what do they need to trade him for true and I mean but I mean I will say and like Danny’s def like Danny’s got a lot out of the like think about the MIT He does care yeah

Anybody yeah and if they’re a couple years obviously they’re a couple years away maybe they go out and do that but the other interesting oppon of that is you see Will Hardy in the building as you mentioned with Utah coming to town and I know they’re not having a great

Season and then the emay thing so my question about the Rockets coming back is your dad going to be okay like with eay in the building like going up against second row Joe my dad loves eay as you know he’s he’s still upset he thought eay was it

Was I think it was maybe in the running for his favorite Celtic coach um Joe’s been growing on my dad a little bit this season he and I think Charles Lee has been a big piece of that because I think Charles Lee has been really important but just in general he’s he he

Feels like he’s seeing small strides in Joe um but we’ll see he could turn on Joe in five seconds as you know um he he still feels like the three-point thing drives them nuts even them losing today but only shooting 43s is a huge win for my dad um

The the jacking up just a million threes he just he will never abide by that because my dad he’s been in too many playoff games and he’s just like here’s what works in the playoffs and we know that doesn’t work in the playoffs we have you know 20 years of evidence now

So he wants them to attack the rim and play smart like they did tonight so if they do that he’s happy but he does MIM he’s gonna be sad I do have faith now that when they get in a buy this year on the playoffs they’re actually going to

Do the right thing and give it to poor zingis because I feel like we’ve seen it too the match up yeah yeah so I I do think that’s a positive thing going can I ask you a question they probably don’t do a thank you emay video I’m guessing I I

Don’t think so I don’t think that’s going to be available it’s gonna be super awkward I mean they had they had a Kelly o l and a Kelly o Lin video like think I don’t think we’re g to thank you EMA video it’s going to be super weird

Though there’s no question anyway all right well I wish we were doing this after win but it was to see regardless no doubt about It

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons joins Brian Barrett on ‘Off the Pike’ to react to OKC and SGA’s defeat of the Celtics.

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