Jayson Tatum is DESTROYING the NBA again

Jayson Tatum is DESTROYING the NBA again

The Boston Celtics are rolling right now 13 and two let me say that again 13 and two in their last 15 coming off back-to-back wins against the Jazz and Pacers we got a lot to dig into so let’s get into it here on Green With Envy

What up what up what up welcome into another edition of Green With Envy as always this is your boy will Weir checking in how you doing how you living joining me today as he does each and every time my best friend co-host and the coach of our podcast the one and

Only Greg Manus how’s it going man loving loving the background setup right now I feel like we’ve got a for those of you watching on YouTube I feel like over Greg’s right shoulder we still got a little bit of Halloween and then over his left shoulder we we we we we still

Got the Christmas going so I I like the combination of the holidays it’s extended run in the Manas household yeah I gotta show off this little guy I think I think we named him Barnaby or Bartholomew or something he’s just dog little dog okay yeah it’s a dog with bat

Wings it’s like a little vampire dog I think it we got it at like CVS or something yeah it’s got like three different things it’s a vampire dog with bat wings we got a little hat on it maybe could be a little witch like there’s a lot going on with that dog bar

Barab bar does something too oh it just turned there’s like a little light in it so it like kind of glows in the dark uh this is one of those things we got at CVS how much would you pay for this I don’t know man classic 12 bucks yeah I

Think it was like 25 bucks it’s one of those things where like you’re you’re out with the fiance and you know we don’t have a lot of Halloween decorations and some people go all out for decorations in our neighborhood she’s like we got to get something I’m

Like all right you can get one thing it’s like I’m talking to a freaking child one thing get one impulse by here you look up and down the aisles you get one chance Make It Count exactly like is it gonna be a bag of candy that you know

When you for Halloween this is like such a dated episode at this point um but but for Halloween it’s like oh do you want to get a bag of candy for you in addition to the candy that we get for the kids and we give them like the

Shitty laffy taffies or whatever and we get the Snickers bars um and then you know you could also just get a cute little bat dog in that’s what we went with now he just hangs out here so he he’s just part of the house now and then

We’re we’re trying to decide right now will how long do we keep the Christmas tree up so we just took ours down and and I say we my my fiance Lorena took it down two days ago three days ago was right before she she went and started

Her new job so she’s like all right before I go back to work I’m taking this down and so ours is down I don’t know I don’t know if I have a real steady fast rule I will say before we we move on here growing up in the Weir household

This was always a big issue um because nobody ever wanted to do it and ultimately it led to the demise of Christmas in the Weir household was taking down the tree because one year I’m I’m not even kidding you I think it stayed up through the end of March

Madness like just just just out of out of pure nobody wanted to budge nobody wanted to do it and so I think that was I don’t know how old I was but definitely High schoolish age was the last I think it was the last time we put

Up a Christmas tree because then it was like well who’s putting it away none of us wanted to do it anymore and we had this like tiny little crawl space that like just nobody wanted to deal with and because you had the artificial tree right oh yeah yeah definitely had the

Artificial tree the I I’ll be honest as a kid growing up the the pine needles and the I don’t know it would mess with my like senses or whatever did not like it so that was we did it once or twice and then it was it was out I think this

Is a really important issue that people care about though will like how when do you take down the Christmas tree CU I think if you don’t take it down IM immediately it has the potential of staying up far too long well this is this this is kind of what that that was

Kind of the point I’m saying is like it’s a dangerous line I think right now so we’re recording this on on January 7th I I think by mid January it’s got to be down I feel like because you know what I mean because then once you get to

A full month after then you’re like why not six more weeks you know what I mean like you start like but once so you got to get to it before that month and really you don’t want to get too close to that month so I’d say January 15th or

So is is probably about the I think you got a week before before you guys got to worry about that thing lingering a little bit too long but then again you guys still have Halloween decorations up so so who knows this is a real tree right so and full disclosure to get rid

Of this tree all I do I have this like um wooded clearing area behind behind my house you’re just chucking I Chuck it over the fence right so for me it’s like not that big of an issue cuz sometimes people you know you kind of have to wait

For like a bulk pickup for the you know trash to come around pick it up or you have to drive it to the dump yourself um which you know I’m not doing so for me it’s a little bit easier where once I take the decorations off and we’ve

Decided next week is the week I’m gonna somebody is gonna one of my neighbors is gonna look into my backyard and they’re gonna see me chucking like a freaking Javelin my Christmas tree over my back fence which I did last year as well and I’m sure uh some animal has made it it’s

Home this week when you feel like you know what I should go to workout in but I’m just not really feeling it and you need to just like get that you know you got to pick up that tree you got to toss it like a jav and like you said it’s not

Really a workout but but trick yourself into it being this is my workout today I’m not going to actually do a workout but I’m G to take this tree pick it up over my shoulder toss it like a javelin and that’s my workout for the day and

That’s that’s how you’re going to get rid of that tree maybe I’ll have Danielle take a video of it I don’t know if this is like uh recording a crime or whatever because it’s like technically dumping but maybe I’ll have her uh take a video of me chucking this Christmas

Tree over the fence so that we can um get some content out of it and see how far see see what my form is like uh with the javelin and then maybe I’ll train to become an Olympian well I can’t wait for the trial when you try to contest this

And they have an audio and a video to go ahead and match up with your uh with your that’s the issue withit intentions right that’s the issue with doing a podcast is uh we we share a lot on this and sometimes you know we might commit a

A minor a minor crime minor crime or two it’s all right it’s a crime of passion it’s okay it’s okay uh well let’s get into some basketball here Celtics as I mentioned at the top they are rolling right now since they lost to Indie which the Celtics obviously beat

Indi and beat beat the Pacers last night we’re recording this on Sunday they play them again on Monday if you’re listening to this uh before that game to get yourself all set since their lost to in the in the inseason tournament they are 13 and two first in offensive rating

Fourth in defensive rating first and net rating by about three and a half points they have just been really really special since that time frame and you know over the last seven games and I talked about this with Adam a few episodes ago that the league should be

Very scared the league should be very scared because up for for the majority of the Season Jason Tatum has played at a second Team all NBA guaranteed all-star second Team all NBA level which is very good and also is just part of there’s a lot of dudes having insane

Years across the league Jason Tatum over his last seven games is playing like the first First Team MVP candidate Jason Tatum and when Jason Tatum is playing in that manner with the talent depth the Celtics have that is just trouble for the rest of the league over his last

Seven games 30 points on 30 points per game on 4944 shooting splits 8.6 rebounds 5.7 assists to only 2.6 turnovers along with two stocks and last night he was really really special in this Pacers game uh Greg how much of a problem is this for the league that

Jason Tatum is is starting to starting to go on one of those hot streaks that we’ve seen him do in the past huge problem for the league uh first of all for those of you watching on YouTube quick shout to uh Timmy toek who is the goat of Celtics highlights and and game

Recap highlights so if you’re watching on YouTube we are sharing at Timmy 93’s highlights of Jason Tatum absolutely cooking the Andy and a Pacers he heard everybody talking about how sgaa was better than him after the OKC game halberton got the best the best of him

Earlier in the season and he was like I’m not going to let another young guard young guard come in and and steal my shine and he came in last night on a mission uh that three ball is falling and when the three ball is falling oh

That’s the play right there where the uh he sent Miles Turner into another Universe with the little snatchback dribble where that boy I like that Drew Carter has such a pulse on on Celtics Twitter that he asked for it in the broadcast and but and by the time they

Got I think that was the second quarter but by the time they got to the third quarter already had the clip ready to go that’s shout out to our guy Drew shout out to Drew yeah but Tatum man when he’s playing like this this is the the MVP

Level Jason Tatum the three balls falling Adam had some good stats about his pull-up numbers and his uh hiss I think it was like he was shooting I got it right here yeah so his pull-up jumper has been pretty bad this year it’s been and once again you and I have talked

About this depends what you’re looking at as a pullup jumper but it’s been about 30% this season uh in the last several games since Janu 1 he’s been shooting 62.5% on his pull-up threes small sample size but you can see that and I think for me the biggest thing is his shot

Selection over the last you know 10 plus games whatever during this let’s just say this 15 games the 13- two stretch I mentioned has been getting better and better as it’s gone on right the shot selection is getting better but then last night you know if these shots don’t

Go down if the pullup threes don’t go down then maybe some people are complaining and it’s it’s kind of make or miss with that level but this is the thing like as as people that play basketball right you know that some nights you have it even even on like a wck league level

Even in a pickup level some days you have it and the when the three Ball’s feeling good you got to let that thing go because then you become unguardable when Jason Tatum is hitting these little step back threes it’s just like there’s nothing that you can do with him and he

Was just cooking them the entire night like putting Obie Obi top in on an island Miles Turner on an island anybody on an island and he was just cooking every single one of them it didn’t really matter um and then when when he’s driving to the basket as well because

They’re so worried about that three-point shot and this is what Tatum spoke to a little bit earlier in the season people asked him about why he’s shooting so many three-pointers and he said well it opens up a lot of things for me right when when I can hit these

Three-pointers it opens up a lot for me um and it it keeps the defense honest right and I think that’s what you’re seeing out of Tatum is when he’s hitting the three-point shot now people are completely at his mercy and he also he he probably had another other three but

They didn’t count the four-point play which was which was questionable which Carlile challenged because at that point Celtics are up nine I think that’s in the either the third or fourth quarter late third or early fourth quarter and um and T Tatum gets foued by I think it

Was Isaiah Jackson fouled him on the on the three-point shot and they ended up reversing the call but we still ended up going on a run and completely shutting down the Pacers and it was all because Jason Tatum really uh enforced his will on this game and he was by far the best

Player on the court and I want to touch on that that last Point enforced his will right because I I think you know it’s it’s all it’s it’s all fine and dandy that everybody sacrificing and it’s great and it’s it’s the right thing to do but I think

There’s going to be a point and and you can put Jaylen Brown this as well too because it was an old school 30 for 30 last night which I think is nice to see that that’s that’s still in the bag that’s still in the repertoire for what

The Celtics can be as a team where it’s hey we’ve got these two Elite scorers and of course you know KP goes out early so maybe they’ve three they really have three Elite scores that can go ahead and just dominate the game just enforce their will yeah I think that’s a perfect

Phrase for it and so you know seeing Tatum go out and and be able to do this in games is is something that’s going to be needed at certain points in the playoffs right because in the playoffs no matter how much depth you have there is a certain point where there needs to

Be that Alpha hierarchy where Tatum’s still gonna have despite how talented this team is there’s still going to have to be a handful of moments or games where Tatum is just that Elite dude because you need that that’s that’s very you can look through the history of the

NBA you need that Elite dude and that Elite dude has to have a couple of moments or a couple of games where they just go to a next level where you’re like look to your point when he’s hitting those shots you throw your hands up like what can I do there’s nothing

Else I can do against this guy and Tatum needs to still have that in him which I never I’m never saying that he that he’s lost that or didn’t have but we just don’t see it as often because it’s not needed right now in this season in the

Regular season because of you know all the other guys that are surrounding him so when you see it it’s just a reminder yeah he can still do this and even when Steve Jones was on here talking about it when we were kind of going through the

Shot selection it’s like he can hit some pretty damn difficult shots because he’s that freaking talented and so then when you see it last night where as as Adam put it Jason Tatum Tatam when he’s tattoing you know it I once again throw your hands up what do you do with him

What do you do with this team and that’s what is going to have to happen a few times in the playoffs if the Celtics are ultimately GNA G to get to their goal and win a championship yeah obviously right now um it’s just me and will on

The Pod right now you haven’t heard Adam but we wanted to give Adam a shout he’s been doing unbelievable work every single game writing the 10 things that he took over uh for Keith Smith at the end of last season into this season and his number one takeaway last night as

Will just alluded to was Tatum turns it up Jason Tatum Tatam he was Tatam you know anytime that you can turn the guy into a verb you know I think you don’t really hear anybody say oh he was jailing Jay lening that Browning he browned yeah he Brown that’s

A j that’s a JD Davidson problem also by the way shout shout out to the Discord I don’t know if you saw this Greg we had uh one of our listeners went to the main red CLA or not main red CLA main Celtics game whatever and uh

They they did an impression of your of your report card on the main on the main uh on the main Celtics so go check that out if you’re not in the Discord you got to join and if you want to go see we got a main Celtic Scouting Report inside the

Discord come join us yeah who who is that is that Rob the Rob Williams fan club Rob Williams fan club yeah I apologize don’t know his uh his full name but I know it’s Rob Williams fan club so shout out to you man yeah he

He’s he’s been go I don’t know if he goes to every uh main Celtics game but he he did start uh posting some report cards as I do after every single game for the Celtics on Twitter follow me at Min minnow all right um another guy you

Know Tatum you just just to quickly wrap up Tatum he’s the best player on the court um it’s going to be interesting to see how the Pacers adjust to him in the in the second game you know if this is a preview of the playoffs then we get a

Good chance you know we saw what the Celtics did one of the big adjustments um that they went to last night was their zone defense which uh Adam also touched on in his 10 things but how are the Pacers going to counteract Jason Tatum you saw them at some point double

Teaming him to get the ball out of his hands but they didn’t really have a plan right the double team seemed kind of at random they didn’t have rules you know how Andre Iguodala talked about the Tatum rules with the Miami Heat like they clearly did not have Tatum rules

Right so if the Pacers are going to learn from this game they’re going to need to implement a real game plan to stop Jason Tatum and to stop Jaylen Brown who was also amazing in this game complete bully ball of Tyrese halberton he was halberton hunting the entire game

Game Matt halberton looked small I think they really took offense to to what the Pacers did to them to get to Vegas when when Jason Tatum mentioned after the game when they lost the inseason tournament he’s like man I really wanted to go to Vegas you know and they didn’t

Play play well enough to get to Vegas and they they took it out on them man they were they were Tatum was hunting n Smith they were hunting halberton and um they were hunting hee yeah they were I mean the Pacers don’t really have a lot

Of good options on the defensive side of the ball so yeah we’ll see what Carlile does I know Caitlyn Cooper she often talks about how the Pacers are kind of just like screwed when it comes to defense in general they don’t really have a good game plan their game plan as

People always talk about with them is they force you to shoot um they force you to like kind of fall into the Trap of continuing to shoot three-pointers they give you Lane to the basket because they guard isolation they don’t overh help but when you have the elite

Isolation players that the Celtics have they’re going to have to make an adjustment so I’m I’m looking forward to that in in the second game yeah got two games against against the Pacers so there’ll be another game Monday night here and we’ll have to check in and see

What happens there but let’s take a quick break Greg and uh I want to come back and we got a few more things that we got to hit here follow from this game all right so earlier in the week Brad Stevens uh doesn’t always have a lot of press availability but decided to

That this week was was the time that he was able to meet with the media and then spoke with spoke with them and was asked a lot about a topic that we’ve covered quite a bit here which was trades and the trade deadline coming up here now

Just about a month away February 8th potentially by the time you’re listening to this is exactly uh a month away and one of the things that he said is yeah a large wing you know a reserve large wing would be great we have limited reach he

Was very he was very transparent which I thought was very refeshing it’s we’re very limited with resources we have the tpe there’s not much that we can that we’re going to be able to do but of course we’re going to be kind of looking around to see how we can always upgrade

This roster and one part of this Indiana game that really stood out and then this guy has actually stood out for maybe the last like couple weeks or so is OA Bret is that maybe OA brassette is the answer to this quote unquote large wing hole that you know that the Celtics are

Looking to fill and last night you know you did a couple did a breakdown on this basically either live or right after the game where you have a thread of all these different plays of OA Bret what have you seen from OA Bret over the last few games and especially last night well

The the big thing that stands out and I talked about this in my thread is with brassette he knows why He’s on the floor right he he has no delusions about who he is as a player he’s going to be someone that’s bringing energy that’s Corner crashing on the offensive glass

And is also just the first to the ball whether it’s diving on the floor as we saw one of the first players he was in the game a couple a couple nights ago and then this play that I have on the screen here for those of you that are

Watching on YouTube um this is in the fourth quarter where brass ended up playing a majority of the fourth quarter because Derek white was in file trouble and um Joe moula liked the energy he was bringing the size that he was bringing he could have kept Payton Pritchard in

The game like he did against the Thunder but instead he kept brette in the game and with about seven minutes 50 seconds left in the game brassette has this great rebound where he’s he’s on U strong side corner and as halton’s coming off the pick and roll Horford’s

In drop um Derek white blocks Halton shot this is that great block that Derek White had and you just brassette is the first person like his instincts to go get the ball once it’s blocked he’s the first person to move towards the ball and he just goes and attacks it and

Immediately gives it up to somebody else that is going to make um a better decision as as we get into transition gets the ball gives it to Horford right away and then we start the fast break right those types of little plays those defensive instincts and those rebounding

Instincts that he has um I think are are an elite skill set right and we talked about I think we saw this against the the heat early in the season I tweeted out for my at mini minnow account um I think it was like two or three days

Before the Thunder game where I I shouted out Bret and I said I really hope he gets an opportunity to play against the Thunder because I do think that his size that big Wing that Brad Stevens alluded to after the Thunder game um I think brassette is the best

Internal option for the Celtics but if they don’t want to give up any resources to go get a bigger Wing I think brassette can f fill that role and fill it well um on the screen here I I still have some more highlights from that thread that I posted from the Green Envy

Twitter account yesterday just showcasing the corner crft just showcasing the physicality that brassette showed throughout the game last night and it’s just really great because he seems like a great guy as well seems like a really good locker room guy um seems very coachable and he’s he’s always always has a smile on

His face so I think he’s one of those vibes guy off the bench that um is even turning Adam’s mindset because I I don’t know if you saw this today but Adam admitted that he is wrong at least for now on O’Shea brasset as to what he can

Bring to this roster so and Adam is probably the most Anti Bret guy that I’ve heard um just in general you know I think he made him his new Schroeder to start the season that was that was kind of his flag I will say not not to brag

First guy that was on the oaper set train on this podcast just just gonna just gonna point that to myself here but obviously within reason right like I’m not going to take uh too much of a Victory lap on this mostly it was what do we think between him and Lamar St and

I’ve always kind of leaned o peret but I I think what you said about him knowing specifically his role and even when you think back to like when he was on Indiana right he was always a guy that kind of stood out to me when we played

Them I I I would be lying to you if I would tune in and like go back to other games and be like oh let me go check out what OA perc’s up to but every it’s just one of those guys where as you look around the league as you’re you’re

You’re playing this guy like man that guy keeps making some some plays right he keeps making plays it wasn’t necessarily like oh he can shoot oh he’s going to take you off the the dribble there wasn’t something that necessarily said just like that guy is always seemingly finding his way into the mix

And he’s got 12 points and five rebounds when he plays the Celtics and it was it was just something to keep note of so when we signed him I was like okay that’s a guy that has you know made the light bulb go off in my head before when

We played him and now getting to watch him I think it’s like you said he knows his role he comes in and I think this is what we talked about a little bit and and I’ve been leaning into that I don’t think the Celtics need to make a move

Unless it falls in their lap right now as long as they’re healthy I don’t think unless a move falls into their lap they necessarily need to feel pressured to go make any type of move in O shape or set is one of the reasons why because I

Think depending on the matchup like you said whether it’s the Heat or maybe the magic might even be a match up that I think he could he could have some some some valuable minutes in you know he’s gonna be a guy that when he gets in he

Knows exactly what he’s there for and what he’s supposed to do and then we talked about this in the Steve Jones podcast we were he was asking us about how we felt about Sam Hower and I feel great about Sam but in the scenario arios where Sam doesn’t have a shot

Going or Sam gets hurt or whatever if you needed to plug OA per in for 75 80% of Sam Houser’s minutes in a condensed playoff rotation I feel totally comfortable with what O’Shea even though it’s a very different drastically different skill set what OA Bret’s gonna give you I feel very comfortable with

Putting him in there because I think obviously with him I would as much as Sam has held up as a Defender O’Shea is a better Defender and O’Shea Is and and even though Sam crashes the glass from the weak side well O’Shea Is So aggressive in that and he’s just a

Better athlete just a better athlete and I think of the the offensive rebound he had I can’t remember if it was the third or fourth quarter he had this offensive rebound where he just was not going to be denied wrestled the ball away throws

It out to Tatum at the top of the key for for a three-pointer and I was like holy sh that that’s that that’s a that’s a grown man ass rebound right there and I think I think this is the play that you have then rips it throws it back out and

And then I don’t know if T I can’t remember if Tatum knocked that down or not but that was a play right there that certainly stood out as this is the OA brette give me some minutes that’s that’s at the top of the Highlight Reel right and and to talk about that play

That was the last uh rebound that I have on the thread one thing I really like about that when you watch this this play back and those you watching on YouTube you can see it um brassette you know he cuts to the basket and he’s he’s reading

The Flight of the ball he doesn’t jump early right he sees that he’s not going to be able to be the first guy get the ball so he’s patient he slides his feet and then he sees that he can actually get the ball lower to the ground and

Then he rips the ball away from I think it was Obi top in there and kicks the ball out and as you said right the grown man strength that he has there this is why I think brassette could be you know a real a real key piece in the playoffs

Against certain teams as as you just mentioned specifically I think he’s going to make a big impact against the Miami Heat you know if we play the Miami Heat in the playoffs I think o Bret is one of those guys that is going to match up really well with them because the

Heat don’t overwhelm you with size they overwhelm you with execution and with with like guys that play kind of above who they are and like I I said this in the thread that if brasset was on the heat I’d be terrified of him he’d be one of those guys that would just absolutely

Piss me off because like God just like block out o and Haywood heith would somehow win games three and six of that I don’t know how but they would find a way to be like yeah we lost the Series because Haywood heith and and O shaper

Set went off exactly exactly so I think that’s the matchup where I think he’s really going to pay dividends also against the Pacers as we saw last night he has the internal knowledge of of how the Pacers do things so I think that’s an advantage in itself right there but

You know just like the type of player that he is I’m not sure that he’s going to be able to be on the court um against like a Philadelphia just because of the size of him be that’s when you kind of have to size up probably go cornette if

We’re going to eight-man rotation in the playoffs maybe it’s cornette but may maybe it’s one as you just mentioned if Sam Hower just doesn’t have it if like Tyrese Maxi is just cooking Sam Hower anytime he’s in the game maybe Sam needs to take a seat and Brett’s in there and

We figure out the rotations elsewhere and we keep shooting on the floor not from the wing position even though brassette early in the season I think probably the first 15 games or so he had hit one three-pointer he didn’t play very frequently but recently that three-point shot is even starting to

Fall he hit either one or two last night so it was good to see brassette also finding the distance from um from three-point land and if brassette can continue to play like this the Celtics do not need to make a move they could probably um just focus on either the

Guard or the big man rotation but honestly at this point man unless we’re somehow getting Alex Caruso I don’t think we need to make a move like B Brett’s doing his thing cornette and kada doing their thing Payton Pritchard has figured out um how to thrive in the

Second unit with this team it still comes down to game seven who are you going to trust who are the seven guys that you’re going to trust in a game seven and right now we have six and I don’t know who the seventh guy is right

Now yeah I mean that and the thing is within a seven game series I think that seventh spot will reveal itself based on that matchup right and and I think that we have enough guys that that by that point will know to your point is it cornette because it’s we need more size

Is it Hower because he’s shooting the ball well is it pton Pritchard is it you know maybe it’s Bret like I think out of the guys that we would have to choose from from if we need to be like hey this is the final game this is the matchup

This is what this is the seven maybe eight guys we’re rolling with and that’s it like I think that will reveal itself so I don’t really have too much stress when it when it comes to that and then you know last night before we we take

Our our final break here you know I just got to give a shout out to Al Horford you know Adam Adam called him God on our on our last podcast uh but last night you know Chris STS goes down with the eye injuries we still haven’t seen an

Update of of where the eye injury was at so we’ll see if Chris DS will play Monday night or not but you know Al steps up into you know a larger role plays 30 minutes 10 points eight assists seven rebounds last night uh Al just as always just doing a little bit of

Everything and to have a 37 year old on your team that can that can perform that way and you know we were talking in a in a friend chat of ours the other day just it’s it’s awesome and crazy at the same time how important Al Horford is to this

Team but godamn do I love having Al Horford on the Celtics team he was unbelievable last night all over the court you know Chris STS going up with the eye injury I was a little bit worried when he got undercut and that’s when he ended up being out of the game

That it was a leg see on the injury report they just said eye injury for why he was questionable to return right which makes me feel better but I’m just curious to see once we get an update if if there was also any type of lower body

Injury as well right and Horford in the game last night you know he didn’t play on the first first night of the back toback against the Jazz so we were saving him for this matchup against the Pacers I was actually surprised that porzingis played even he hasn’t played

Many back-to-backs this year but he he played so few minutes against the Jazz because we just smoked him I think he was at like 23 minutes or something like that game that game was out of control just from the from the very start and I

So last night I had to watch the second half of the the Pacers game this morning uh because I went out to went out to went out to dinner because basically we didn’t go out to dinner Friday night cuz I was like a little tired I was like

We’ll watch this game here and I should have totally gone out Friday night for dinner and washingon state watch game I had that I had that totally backwards you did you did um but real quick once again quick plug we’re we’re showing the highlights that at Timmy 093 uh put

Together of Al Horford go follow Timmy make sure you subscribe to his YouTube page for all of his uh postgame highlights U but Horford was was just so good and not playing him against a jazz allowed him to be the live body that he was last night and this is the the thing

With Horford that you’re a little bit worried about come playoff time is that you’re not going to necessarily be able to give him quite as much rest which is why it’s so important for Joe Missoula to to be able to find one more guy that

He can rely on in the rotation to keep Horford’s minutes around the 20 to 25 um Mark per game instead of going up towards 30 because you don’t want to over tax Al Horford in the regular season and even in a playoff series you

Don’t want to have to go to him too much because you want him to be impactful through seven games not just impactful every other game which is kind of what we saw last season you know even in the playoffs last year Al really struggled in the playoffs last year that’s Jaylen

Got a lot of heat for uh for struggling in the playoffs last year but Al had what maybe like two good shooting games in the playoffs last year I mean his his his shot was I mean I think I think he sh had to look it up I think he’s like

25% or something like it was really bad what his sh Center was so you’re right I think that’s a very big piece of the going forward is how can you manage those minutes now and then when you get to the playoffs that’s and this is a

Topic we’ll get to as we get closer to the postseason is the Celtics taking care of business when they need to which has been a very big issue for them in the last two playoffs is that they’re not going an extra game they’re not having to win five games instead of four

Games right so they’re getting out of these series earlier which is also going to preserve Al Horford’s minutes but with that Greg let’s let’s take our final break and then I want to take a little bit of a a look around the NBA here for just a second

All right so I I’ve mentioned this a couple times now Celtics are streaking they are putting a little bit of distance between themselves and the rest of the conference right now the Celtics first place in the Eastern Conference at 28-7 they’re three and a half games against the Milwaukee Bucks who are 25-

11 they’ll play them this upcoming week that will be a fun one uh Milwaukee Bucks who by the way cannot beat the Indiana Pacers one and4 against the Indiana Pacers this year here didn’t have that on my bingo card don’t know how that’s that’s a thing but that’s a

Thing right now the Sixers the 76ers are in third place at 23 and 12 five games back and then you have this massive cluster from four to really yeah from four to eight in the in the East where it’s the Knicks heat magic Pacers and

Cavs uh that are all within a half game of each other and so it it looks like the East is kind of you know separating themselves as who their top eight teams are we’ll see obviously anything can happen in the playin as we saw but it

Looks like right now the East is kind of separating itself with who those top eight playoff seeds are and Greg I think there’s been some interesting results starting at the top of the East with the Bucks and the 76ers the last couple days let’s start with the Bucks and I think

Everybody was watching that wemi jannis show down which just first and foremost that was a lot of fun that was awesome watching wemi and Giannis go back and forth that wemi block on Giannis which ultimately you know towards the end of the game I think was one of the crazier

Blocks that I’ve seen in a long time because I think even Giannis was surprised that wemi was able to get to it but when you’re 75 those arms just come out of nowhere but I think maybe the bigger piece in relation to the Celtics you and

I watched the Spurs live and in person a few days before that game granted I’ll throw it out there there was no Kellin Johnson for the for the Spurs the night that we were there and Kell Johnson does actually play very well versus the Celtics and has given uh the Jays

Specifically Jaylen Brown some trouble uh in pass so we’ll throw that caveat out there although I don’t think it’s about a 30 to 40 Point caveat so take it for what you will but the Spurs looked abysmal and the Bucks had to scrape and Claw and were a Trey Jones 25%

Three-point shooter wide openen three-point shot away from having to go into overtime to take down the Spurs and I know Greg you’ve already been kind of off on the bugs as being that much of a threat but that game I I saw you tweet about it you know watching this watching

What we watched on New Year’s Eve and then seeing the Bucks go up against the Spurs and struggle you got to feel pretty good as a Celtics fan the Bucks just don’t look good man I know their record is 25 and 11 um the Giannis had

48 points last night and they lost to the Rockets right like I know the Rockets have had a better than expected season this year but if you’re the if you’re the Bucks and you’re coming off of a game in which you barely beat the Spurs then you got to feel like you you

You know you’re going to bring it a little bit more on the defensive side of the ball and I saw somebody I forget who posted it on on Twitter but I think it was a Bucks beat writer or something asked Giannis about their defense and he just excoriated them like Giannis just

Went off on how bad their defense has been um basically saying we can’t expect to score 150 points every night and and Win Basketball like we need to make a change we need need to make that change now and and this is my thing with the Bucks like I understand that they have

Dame Lillard and Giannis Dame every time I watch Dame this year he doesn’t look good he has like a stretch in the fourth quarter that he plays well but for the majority of the game he’s a Turn Style on defense his shooting splits aren’t great this year um every time I look at

A box score like in the third quarter Dame’s like three for 12 and one for eight from three it’s only the fourth quarter he’s I don’t want to put this on Jaylen but how know how we call Jaylen the first quarter opener right he always like his first that’s that’s Dame

Lillard but only in the fourth quarter right and I like I mean that’s where you want your guy to step up right it’s in the fourth quarter that’s why they got him but I don’t think they realized how much they would miss true holiday and the fact that Chris Middleton who used

To be a solid Wing Defender now can’t guard anybody as well I think their defense just is not set up to succeed I don’t know what the move is for the bucks I don’t think it’s internal I talked at the beginning of the Season how I think Marjam Bo champ was gonna be

Really important for them he has been really important for them but that’s still not enough right Maron bamp has played well for the bucks but they needed Jay Crowder to be more than he’s been he’s also been out every time I I tune in he’s never playing he’s been out

For a while yeah he’s been out for a while they don’t have the assets to go ahead and go get an Alex Caruso I don’t know who is available for them they need a point of attack Defender it’s not on the roster they lost Javon Carter who is

Probably like the the next best thing one thing I’m thinking about maybe I know he’s been playing again for the Kings lately but Davon Mitchell like that’s one of those like undervalued assets maybe they could go ahead and go get as someone that they could throw in

But you can’t play him with Dame so like who is who’s out there that you can go get that is gonna make sense defensively for this team because Dame Lillard is one of the worst defenders in basketball he’s like you know we we give Trey young

A ton of on this podcast for not being able to guard anybody Dame Lillard a little bit more physical than Trey young but he’s not I wouldn’t say he’s like substantially better than Trey Young on the defensive side of the ball so the Milwaukee Bucks to me I never

Really have considered them too much of a threat to us because I think it’s we’ve always been a bad matchup for them although Giannis can always go crazy they have no one to guard either Tatum or brown so like that’s always been their issue um and I I’m just not

Worried about them man how you feeling I mean here’s for me it’s it’s the the biggest part of this is and I’m putting a little bit of just in Dame’s history and because he does seem to show up every fourth quarter despite being like you said two of 12 or whatever it feels

Like the first three quarters he seems to go four of six by the time you get to the fourth quarter so I’m I’m kind of giving Dame a bit of a pass for me it’s all about Chris Middleton right like at least based on what they have because I

Don’t I just don’t know how they improve this externally so from an internal standpoint for me it’s all about Chris Middleton who last night to your point played 33 minutes which rarely do I see him even I feel like he’s still on this like weird somewhat minutes restriction

Sometimes when I check the box score and I see him play 20 minutes I’m like what the hell is this how long we’re we’re almost 40 games into the season how long is this guy gonna be on a minutes restriction for last night he plays 33

Minutes three of nine from the field 0 of five from three has 10 points three rebounds five assists three turnovers like that’s your number two I mean I gu you’re number three now with Dame but you don’t really have you don’t have that that depth right they don’t have

Depth they need Chris Middleton to be more than that Chris Middleton was supposed to be your you know you have Dame to now initiate your end of game offense you still want to have multiple options that was Chris Middleton Chris Middleton was the guy that was initiating their late game offense

Before Dame Lillard got there and I I don’t know what Chris Middleton is anymore I really don’t like I don’t he’s certainly not on a Star level right now and hasn’t been with these injuries over the last year or so so with Chris Milton

The way he is like it’s hard to get too worried really about about the bucks he’s you know we’ve always talked about him being a Celtics killer but you know well that’s going to have to be something that that’s proven over time and so the Bucks are in a really tough

Spot which like you said it’s it’s hard to say that or you know when they are in second place and they’re 25 and 11 but when you watch them it’s just it doesn’t look good and then I think you go to Philadelphia right so Philadelphia is 23

And 12 when they’re fully healthy and embiid is still in and out of the lineup like I mean embiid is having a crazy season but he may not even hit the 65 game Plateau to be able to be eligible for all of the wards that that would would rightfully probably go to him

They’re 23 and2 they also lost to the Jazz last night after the Celtics beat them down yeah no andb in that game uh but once again he’s just he’s just in and out of the lineup and still feels like all the time and Philadelphia does look better when they’re whole but

Something that I think is is really important to at least right now for for for the evidence that we do have looking at strength of schedule Celtics have played the sixth toughest schedule in the NBA here’s the bottom six teams for strength of schedule at number 25 the

Miami Heat and number 26 the Philadelphia 76ers 27 Washington Wizards 28 Portland Trailblazers 29 Phoenix Suns and dead last with the easiest strength of schedule is the Milwaukee Bucks so when you look at the teams that Boston is playing early on and the way that they’re putting some separation between

Themselves and their easy part of their schedule is just coming up now as we get to the second half of the season this first half three of their biggest you know their biggest worries in their conference have been three of the top six weakest schedules now Miami I think

Throw it out because they they rest Jimmy bam all the time we know like I I don’t really I’m not I just put that in there because they’re right in that mix but for Philadelphia and Milwaukee that’s got to be a little bit concerning that they have this easy of a strength

Of schedule and yet they’re five and three and a half games behind the Celtics who now have a much easier path coming up here in the second half of the Season yeah with the Sixers I think the the issue with them is when things get difficult especially for embiid and

You’ve seen this in the playoffs year after year he’s not as effective when teams like really hone in on his Tendencies um you know avoid following him and just make him kind of get it out the mud like embiid doesn’t really like doing that so with the Sixers that’s

What you got to be concerned about because they were killing the the rat teams as Chris Veron likes to call them um they were killing the rat teams early in the season that’s where they built up that insane Point differential that’s when embiid was going for like 45 points

A night against playing the Wizards every other night so I think with the Sixers when you see them go up against the Knicks who I think we should talk about here in a second and the Knicks just completely destroyed them uh hartenstein who’s been balling for them

He had like 18 rebounds last night hartenstein just gave and be problems all night um they beat them with Julius Randle not even scoring double digits in that game right the Knicks defense uh really gave the Sixers some problems and in the in the playoffs you’re you’re G

To have better defensive efforts game to game because you’re honing in on Tendencies and you have actual game plans to stop people and I think embiid when he goes up against the defense that’s ready to take away some of the stuff that he loves to do he’s just not

Quite as effective you know he he can put up these crazy numbers in in the regular season but he’s just not as good in the playoffs not to mean he’s bad in the playoffs but he’s not as good and they need him if they want to win a

Championship if they want to get through the boss of Celtics they need embiid to play like an MVP and he’s never played like an MVP against the Celtics and he’s never played like an MVP in the playoffs so it although the Sixers I think their

Roster this year is a lot um is like more designed to match up well more balance more balanced match up well with the Celtics in the playoffs that’s still what you got to worry about is can embiid do it in the playoffs and can Maxi um prove that he he’s a number two

Guy on a championship team we see that Maxi’s really really good he’s been a problem for everybody this year but we also have the Defenders to give him him some issues so um the Knicks the Knicks of the team if I’m looking in the straight four straight one for the

Knicks by the way a lot of that coinciding obviously with the OG and anobi trade exactly and you know we were texting with our guy Matt lipac who is a huge Nicks fan and to me the upgrade the Knicks still need to make is Julius Randle I know Randle went crazy last

Night he had like 38 points um in in the game last night but I just don’t think he’s necessarily the guy in a playoff series to be your number two Jaylen Brunson is he a number one I feel like brunson’s probably a number two right brunson’s probably a number two randle’s

Probably a number three so they’re kind of like leveled up there but they you know with tibs and the defense that they have they can give anybody an issue they’ve played the Celtics really really tough over the years and I think Haren Stein’s a better matchup to go up

Against por zingus than Mitch Mitchell Robinson so I actually think they might be okay um going up against us I still think the the deal out there and they were we were talking about this with lipac I think Randall for like a um a Jeremy Grant type who can guard Tatum

Like maybe that’s a better a better fit but I that’s not enough offense right yeah that’s every deal we talked about in that in that thread that’s what I would come back to is you’re you’re making that trade and it like it doesn’t doesn’t to me none of the trades that

Are potentially out there and the Randall trade like I I it’s weird I agree with you that I don’t think Randall’s the guy or the right guy but I don’t think any of the trades that are out there are going to take them from where they are and put them into that

Boston Milwaukee Philadelphia tier like I I don’t think there there is a move out there that would do it the only move that we alluded to in our chat was we threw the name Zion out there but also I don’t think the P but then the other

Flip side is a lot of these teams are gonna look at Randall and like what the hell are we gonna do with Randall right and so has to be a three team deal yeah exactly so it’s got to be it’s it’s a weird weird spot for the Knicks and so I

Do think for them I would assume they’re probably just GNA have to hold and maybe they’ll add you know we’ve seen I guess there’s some Malcolm Brogden rumors out there as well add that in and that just makes them a tougher out I don’t think malcol br’s gonna put them over the top

But it certainly makes them you know a tougher out and the Knicks are not going to be a fun team to play in the playoffs right that’s going to be a team that you’re like man this is probably going six or seven and it’s going to get

Us real bruised up and this was leading me to to one of the last points that I that I to make here as we’re playing the Pacers again on Monday night is that I look at what is kind of separating itself as the top eight in the Eastern

Conference and I am praying to God that at some point in that first or second round the Celtics get the Pacers because they’re the only team that you I feel like you’re going to be able to come out of a series and even if it goes six

You’re not going to be as broken down right because we talk about they don’t have the Defenders they do have Aaron n Smith they have Aaron n Smith right so so you may get poked in the eye you know what’s funny dude with n Smith like I

Love n Smith on the Celtics I loved his hustle and I’ve been like rooting for him to do well on the Pacers but like seeing him this year now I’m starting to hate him I’m like godd damn it ni Smith like you he’s becoming that guy

Right he’s becoming like a a pat Bev type right where when he’s on your team you love you don’t how you’ve seen this guy hustle you’ve seen what he does here but now you’re up 15 or 20 and he picks up Tatum at half court and he’s just

Hacking the out of him and you’re like get away from Tatum over under two and a half serious leg injuries Aaron Smith causes in his career Oh serious meaning you you you have to get surgery yeah yeah I mean I I’ll take the under but I think it’s probably

Right at two like like like I think it’s like I think it’s going to happen for sure uh two and a half is just that I mean yeah I’ll take the under but not by much okay but yeah he’s I mean he’s he plays I mean this is like you said this

Is one of the things that we liked in the little bit in the glimpses that we got and we were never going to get the full Aaron neith experience because there just wasn’t room for for his development within the Celtics timeline and what they were doing but other than

Him it’s it’s just the the Pacers are going to be from a physicality standpoint if you look at the eight teams that are projected to be in the playoffs that’s the team if I’m the Celtics I’m like please give me them in the first or second round to likely

Aside from Smith preserve the the the health of my team the wear and tear because when you go up against Milwaukee of course you got to deal with Giannis in you know in Brooke and and all that and that’s going to be you know that’s gonna be a you know trying to

Fight around screens on Dame 76ers Pat beb and beid the whole list we know the deal the Knicks we just talked about the heat we certainly know about them the magic we know that they’re you know they they’re making their ends on on defense right now because they’re not

A great offensive team and they’re big they’re long they’re tough you know Cleveland once they get healthy again you got Allen you got Moy you got to deal with so you know I think Pacers for me as we look at what projects to potentially be before any any moves are

Made the eight teams in that if we can unless unless of course the Pacers just get the Bucks and they take care of the Bucks let’s go with that that’s that’s the best case scenario 72 let’s get the let’s go ahead and get the Bucks out of

Here with the Pacers but from the Celtics the Pacers feel like despite their high-powered offense that’s the team that I would really hope that we get just to give ourselves a physical break in a playoff run absolutely man and the thing about the Eastern Conference people have always talked

About the West being the the tougher conference but the East is playing like kind of old school Eastern Conference basketball like gritty physical late 90s type of basketball Nicks Heat and Magic are all that that’s ex what all three of those teams are yeah it’s kind of funny

How how um you know the league is is kind of going in another cycle trending big trending physical um in a in an era in which defense is kind of undervalued and there’s so much um emphasis put on the offensive side of the ball and the playoffs it’s still going to come down

To defense it’s going to come down to physicality and then can you make shots when it matters and I think um in the East the Pacers are definitely the team that don’t present as many issues on the defensive side of the ball with the physicality aside from one Aaron E Smith

Yeah he’s gonna be the one you watch out for but uh we’ll have to see here Celtics uh busy week coming up here man we got got some got some tough games here obviously Monday we’re talking about the Pacers in that home and home baseball style series uh and then later

This week man they’ve got the T wolves and bucks on a back the back and then eeme makes his return on the weekend so a really fun schedule for the Celtics coming up and a really difficult schedule we said Rockets just beat the bucks so we got a lot to look forward to

This upcoming week uh Greg this has been a fun one as always we’ll be back later in the week to get you set up for some of those matchups any final thoughts and then uh for those listening here to the audio feed let them know what they’re

Going to hear on the way out uh just make sure you’re uh subscribing to our Discord Channel our YouTube channel links are in the description of the show if you go to our Twitter green nvod you’ll see the link to our Discord um we’ll probably do a mail bag here soon

Um continuing to try and put out some some good content for you on YouTube um we had Steve Jones of the dunker spot with Nikas Duncan who’s on the JJ reic podcast for the three things uh we had him on the Pod recently uh so make sure

You go ahead and listen to that interview or watch that interview on YouTube and you’re going to hear music from my band down here in Austin Texas we are called Black Sheep Optimus this one is called get this High peace everybody peace

It’s that special Jayson Tatum time of the year again! Like clockwork Jayson Tatum’s game seems to go to the next level each time the calendar turns and it is happening again for the star Boston Celtics Forward.

Will and Greg dive into the Tatum surge, look at Oshae Brissett and Al Horford’s contribution from the bench, plus take a look at who else, if anyone, can threaten the Celtics for the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

*Highlights provided by @Timi_093*

Chapters

0:00 – Intro
01:10 – When to take down your Christmas Tree
06:44 – Why the League should be very scared of Jayson Tatum
17:14 – Is Oshae Brissett the “big wing” Brad Stevens is looking for?
28:00 – Al Horford steps up when KP goes down
31:30 – Looking around the Eastern Conference Standings
46:00 – Is Aaron NeSmith becoming the villain?

Full Audio: https://podcasts.apple.com/lv/podcast/tatum-in-mvp-mode-and-brissett-is-a-big-wing/id1448785876?i=1000640836760

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Podcast audio feeds

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