FIRST TAKE | “Championship DNA, man!” – Stephen A. reacts to Giannis & Bucks CRUSH Celtics 135-102

FIRST TAKE | “Championship DNA, man!” – Stephen A. reacts to Giannis & Bucks CRUSH Celtics 135-102

Giannis Dame in the bugs blew out Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown in the Celtics last night 13512 big deal or no big deal let’s break it down fellas the Celtics trailed by 37 at half making it the worst halftime deficit by a team with the best

Record in the NBA in the shot clock era it’s also the largest halftime deficit for the Celtics since 1967 let’s bring in my guys there they are Kendrick Perkins Brian oh you guys are with Ste Stephen A you have which camera am I here we go it’s not my first

Time you have friends with you I this is great I love it he gets the studio he’s I know he’s so happy right now all right hi perk hi Wendy uh perk I’ll start with you how concerned should the East be about the Bucks can you hear her yeah I can hear

Her I’m not concerned I’m not concerned at all listen it was one game the cels were coming off a backto back with an overtime win against the Minnesota timber wolves they probably got in at 2 2:00 a.m. in the morning the Bucks still have to prove to me that they could do

This on a consistent basis it was one game now what I will tell you is I’m disappointed and pissed the hell off how Joe Missoula tapped out at least give the Stars a chance in the second half to cut the lead or get down by 20 you know

Or make a run or whatever the case may be but no one is fearing the deer it’s deer hunting season it’s deer hunting season been eat cook venison all year it this was such a egregious schedule loss yes um Not only was it their second night of a back toback after a over

Overtime it was their fifth game in seven nights and because of TV they started the game early Central Division Central Time Zone early it was this strange uh scheduling there the the Celtics actually been pretty good on back-to-backs they were five- one but they weren’t competitive in this game

And perk I think the players kind of agree with you I think they were surprised at halftime when Joe boula said we’re going to we’re going to pack it in think about the Bucks this is impressive win they played well I’m not taking anything away from them but they

Are a bottom 10 defensive team um and when you look at them they have a couple of significant problems number one their perimeter defense gets shredded uh you know D Willard is just not Drew holiday that’s not a revelation I mean he does he’s not he’s not D at the offensive end

Either but they they are really down there defensively and it’s not just the perimeter defense because their perimeter defense is so weak Giannis and Brook Lopez two of the best Rim defenders in the league have to come away from the basket and so there’s a cascading series of events that happens

There all the Bucks players defensive rebounds are down this year giannis’s is is down Bobby poris is down Brook Lopez is down because they got to come away from the rim to help that means no not as many defensive rebounds not as much transition that’s what Giannis does he

Kills he gets the ball and goes in transition he does that two few times a game it makes a difference and um you look at the Bucks they have the fewest transition points in the league and they give up the most drives in the league and I’m not most drives in the league

And I’m not sure how that’s going to get fixed between now and the playoffs I don’t think there’s a move they can that they can make so I think they’re a potent team but I actually think in the wake of this Dame Miller trade Stephen A they’re farther away from the

Championship than they were a year ago when they had the best defense and the number one overall SE I agree with you which is why I say and I say it with no pleasure I think Adrien Griffin might be a one-year head coach in Milwaukee you

Got to fix this defense you can’t they didn’t they didn’t do all of this to not be in the Championship picture you trade for Damen Lillard as well now offensively they’re second behind the paces and points per game and field goal percentage shooting they’re second behind the Celtics in the league in

Three-point field goals made but defensively they’ve been poorest we all know that that’s an issue this is the one thing that I want to bring up about what Missoula did last night because usually normally I would have a big time problem with this he pulled a Greg

Papovich but because of all the things you highlighted I don’t blame him second night of a backto back overtime Victory fifth game in seven nights you go out there you shoot 0 for 10 from three-point range in the first half you miss 16 of your first 17 three-point

Shots you have no legs whatsoever I’m saying to you KP as a coach you can look at your team and go like this damn they have nothing tonight cuz because when you rest your starters like that you don’t see that often you really really don’t now if that was something that you

Were doing you don’t you don’t almost never see something like that so the fact that he felt the need to do that you put him there the first half that kind of load I’m not using the word load Management in the right context but that kind of rest doesn’t bother me when you

Rest guys and you don’t play them at all you travel into different cities and what have you you don’t play them and you robbing the audience that’s different when you put them out there in the first half and they stink up the joint and they look absolutely spent and

Exhausted then I don’t mind no I mind and and look it may work anywhere else around the organization but damn it we’re talking about the city of Champions we’re talking about Celtic Pride that’s we got zero tolerance for that we don’t tap out we don’t tap out we going

To finish it to the end you going to have to make us in the four Court to make us believe that we don’t have a chance of winning the game that’s what Celtic Pride is All About Now number two this is the only reason why I feel like

A lot of the blame shouldn’t be on Adrien Griffin okay they don’t have the Personnel to defend you talk about Damen Lillard we know Damen Lillard is not a topn Defender he has never been in his career we thought that maybe playing for a championship and playing for

Meaningful games would have bought it out of him that’s not the case okay now look at the others Malik Beasley he can’t guard a park car Pat cson can he guard anybody hell no so the Personnel is just not there and see this is the thing right everyone uh uh everyone is

So quick to say oh Yannis he is one of the best defenders in the world World Yannis don’t do what Anthony Davis does and when I say what he what Anthony Davis do Yannis is a hell of a rim protector a guy that could chase down

And block shots but when it comes to his on the ball defense defense when you put jannis in a pick and roll and get him on isolation he get Cooks by the best of them they love picking on Giannis so at the end of the day I understand Adrian

Griffin got to do a better job of you know trying to put these guys in position to be successful for defensively I don’t know hell maybe you go Zone maybe you put your pride away you you bring up a you bring up a valid point when you’re talking about him in

That regard because you saying it’s about the personality he has to play with what I’m saying Wendy is this you were grown accustomed to having an elite defense when you were coached by Mike buen hoser Mike buen hoser has always had a good reputation as a defensive-minded coach whether he was in

Atlanta or when he got to Milwaukee it wasn’t all just about having Drew holiday available to him in the back court and Yannis in a large front Court the man knows how to coach defense and so when Giannis comes out there and Giannis is sitting up there literally

Saying we need to be more organized we need to get it together he said he was just talk about the plays talk about the coaches we that repeatedly that I was the one that asked him that question at the n Season tourament I’m he went in

Like we we got to get it together he the one wanted do I understand that game too like you are dead right he wanted D and he wanted that what he’s talking about is when the Bucks get back in transition defense cuz here what The Scouting Report says the Bucks can’t

Defend you in transition you get the ball and you go they’re disorganized last year when they came back in transition they knew what to do this year they’re disorganized is that a player’s fault is that a coach’s fault I don’t know but that that is the now you

Can argue it in the playoffs the game’s going to slow down and have a better chance in the half court that may be true but right now it’s not it’s not we last year at this time we were saying think about this for a second last year

At this time we all could agree that Yannis and and Brook Lopez was the best big tandem in the league right okay they’re so far behind car Anthony towns and Rudy Goldberg right now on what they’re doing on both ends of the floor is ridiculous it’s ridiculous well you

Might want to look at it then that’s another reason you might want to look at Giannis because from an inspirational perspective Anthony Edwards is bringing out that dog and and Cat along with Rudy Gober he’s having a positive effect on that because they look they know they

Got a star on their hands and Anthony Edwards now we know Yiannis is already but Milwaukee doesn’t seem as together Milwaukee is the fourth best team in the Eastern Conference one and four against the Pacers number one is the Boston Celtics number two are the New York Knicks number three is the Philadelphia

76ers and number four is the Milwaukee Bucks since the New York Knicks made the trade yes they have bleet frog the Philadelphia 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks I’m not going that far I am I want to want to I really really want to Wendy but I’m not going that far what’s up

Molly uh I’m just curious Stephen do you feel like the league screwed this up then having these two big time teams play each other after a back to back yeah I mean the schedule makers I mean there’s no other way to look at it because when Milwaukee and Boston go up

Against one another you’re looking forward to it and if You’ got Boston playing five games in seven days and they got Milwaukee on the second night of a backto back you just know that that’s going to compromise the quality of the product that’s fact see see this

Is where you get soft this is where you start to get soft the old school Stephen A wouldn’t tolerate or wouldn’t have uttered the words out of his mouth the problem that I have is we just watch the Minnesota Timberwolves land on game day after playing Orlando Magic in Boston at

10000 p.m. and take them in the overtime it’s a mentality I know what you’re saying perk but you know I watched the Phoenix Suns here in La this week on Monday they played the Clippers second night of back toback and that was a short trip they came from

Phoenix they looked exhausted yeah last night they played the Lakers they have two days off here they don’t have to travel they’re here in La they came out took and by the way yes you are absolutely right I will go hard but there’s a time and a place and last

Night is not the time to get on the Boston Celtics particularly since they are clearly the best team in the league it was an aberration it was a hiccup that is is not clearly okay do not forget the Denver nuggas they not oh okay that’s fair that’s B Denver Boston

In Denver keep him in he can try he can try Molly he can try yeah Stephen A picks and chooses when he goes hard in the paint yeah I see what it is all right Celtics and buck one and two respectively in the hey Kendrick Perkins

Brian wior please sit tight I need you to again in the second hour maybe go get a little Starbucks and I’ll see you back in a little bit I like that’s exactly what they’re going to do they’re going to get here list eight white bites 170 calories you

Might want to try the Macha latte listen to her tell nobody knows food better than Mom listen to her let’s go you know what I’m going to do I’m going to create a video of everything I eat in the day America book it okay here we go it’s time for sportsbooks predictions deated

An ally has defeated Tri kill Kill down enemy double kill Oh Team desty to Tri Kesty Tower an enemy has been Defeated An enemy has Deated kill [Applause] an enemy has been defeated oh an has deated your team has destroyed Tower defeated an enemy Ultimate Shut down Shut Fore spee take that now for Fore hello fore Spee forch Speee foreign spe spee Spee for Fore Foreign spee Speee

FIRST TAKE | “Championship DNA, man!” – Stephen A. reacts to Giannis & Bucks CRUSH Celtics 135-102