Mailbag: Top seed, Boston Celtics mental toughness, Joe Mazzulla ball, and more

Mailbag: Top seed, Boston Celtics mental toughness, Joe Mazzulla ball, and more

We’re opening up the mailbag to see if the Celtics can run away with the top seed their mental toughness Missoula ball dive into that and the MVP race can Jason Tay make a push it’s all right now on the lockdown Celtics podcast be ever ready recognize the city

Of champ Boston baby we do what you can’t locked on number 18 Tatum and brown J team step back we going to wet that and slay teams of course the Celtics who else could it be screaming like kg with the lario B Coralis above average assessing the team status best

Daily pod no cap salary matching clutch like bir the DJ keep John on replay Prime Time dapping up the truth on the sideline raining JS how we started raising B how we finish locked on Celtics home of the winners hey there welcome back to the lock on Celtics podcast right here on

The lock on podcast the work withs your team every day and I got you covered every day with a free fresh podcast that drops directly to whichever device you use when you subscribe to this show so do that right now also go to the YouTube page subscribe there ring the bell get

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Cover the Celtics 4 Boston Sports journal and today it’s mailbag time oh the mailbag is Flowing John al.com mailbag John coral.com mailbag to submit your questions I’m GNA start doing bonus YouTube shorts for questions that don’t make it into all of these mailbags I gu

So many that I think I could take a day and just answer all the questions and run them as YouTube shorts that’s another reason to subscribe to the YouTube page and kind of see if those questions get answered there it’s honestly I get I get so many questions

That I can’t answer all of them I try to pick some that have a bunch of variations of the same question and sometimes people send in questions that I’ve kind of answered on previous podcasts anyway so it’s it’s a little bit different but that’s that’s something I’m gonna think about doing

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And uh I’ll just dive into it here with Harold with how the Sixers and Bucks are doing lately is it safe to say the Celtics will secure the number one seed or could the Knicks and Cavs sneak up on us well I’m recording this before the

Bucks uh game is over but they are trailing the Phoenix Suns uh a look at the standings right now has the Celtics in first place five games up on Cleveland either five or four and a half uh up up on Milwaukee five and a half up

On New York seven and a half against the the Sixers obviously joelan beid is out uh had surgery on Tuesday morning he is gonna be out reportedly six to eight weeks somewhere in that range could be more could be less I don’t know but he’s

Gonna be out for a while and that if it’s eight weeks two months from now it’s February 7th for this show so that’s April 7th that’s right at the beginning of the playoffs so it’s going to be tough and jelan beid coming back and Diving right into a playoffs when

That’s going to make things very difficult on the Sixers regular season it’s going to hurt them for sure I am counting them out of the top here’s the scenario and why the Celtics are kind of running away with this East not running away but they’re very comfortable five

Game lead there 3 two games to play if the Celtics continue to win 76% of their games like they are right now they’ll finish with a 62 and 20 record which side note everybody in Celtics Nation would have signed up for a 62 and 20 record so they’re on Pace for that

That’s amazing I didn’t think they’d win 60 games no one thought they’d win 60 games so here they are 62 potentially 62 and 20 for these teams to tie Cleveland would have to go 30 and four Milwaukee 29 and3 the Knicks 30 and2 Philly 32 and one those are all very outrageous

Records to match the Celtics if Boston continues to win at 76% winning percentage maybe Boston slips a little bit drops to 74 70 something like that whatever those numbers change but also Boston already has a tiebreaker against Cleveland so they need to win one more they already have the time tiebreaker

Against New York so they need New York would need to win one more if they beat Cleveland I I’m sorry if they beat Philly once if they beat Milwaukee once more they have tiebreakers so add another game because they couldn’t just tie the Celtics so all this is to say Boston has

A very comfortable lead at five games and with the way that they’re playing with the way that they’re winning this is a very tough task for the rest of the East so I think the Celtics with this very important caveat very very important they have to continue playing

The way they’re playing they have to continue with that mentality they have to continue doing the things that they’re doing well and they have to improve on the things that they’re not doing well this is where the mentality that Joe moula is talking about comes in this is where all that mentality that

These guys keep talking about fighting through these doldrums they have to come out and beat the Hawks they have to come out and finish strong before the allstar break and then come out of the All-Star break and and hit that ground running it’s going to be a tough March that’s

Mostly on the road and hopefully a nice strong finish at home in April so they can uh finish and be in that top seed so I feel good about their chances I feel good about where they are I think they are playing extraordinarily well the stats point point to that they um are

The top seed and I think they’re in a good spot to continue being the top seed so that’s uh where I think they’re going to finish the Knicks and Cavs just don’t have enough time and they’re just not good enough I don’t think they’re they’re playing great right now um the

Cavs have won 14 of 15 but that that can’t keep up that just can’t keep up so um that’s where I think the Celtics are going to be Malachi asks Nick Richard to the Celtics would the Celtics do this would the Hornets do this would you entertain the idea well yeah he’s a

Center he makes uh about $5 million a year he’s getting some minutes in Charlotte but that that doesn’t mean much he’s uh he he could be a decent insurance policy and at five million if the Celtics are either willing to move a couple of the their

Bench guys uh to accommodate that or use the traded player exception which is $6.2 million then yeah they could bring Nick Richards in that’s fine uh Adam himmelbach tweeted that sources are saying it’d be a surprise if the Celtics don’t complete a deal by the deadline most likely are a player who can

Essentially serve as injury injury Insurance essentially serve as injury Insurance uh that does not make me think they’re going after the Andre Drummond type because Andre Drummond would want to be a rotation player maybe Richards can serve as that maybe it’s somebody else uh maybe they just kind of want to

Reconfigure the bench and have another big there maybe that’s the the route they go maybe another Wing uh somehow okay that that’s all fine I don’t think it’s going to be a big splash essentially serving as injury Insurance means uh another guy that can be an O’Shea

Brasset Lamar Stevens type that can get spot minutes which brings me to Enzo who says should the Celtics resign Blake Griffin or sign kada to a contract the rest of the season I mean that would serve as injury insurance I don’t know what Blake Griffin is going to do I am

Very skeptical of signing a guy who hasn’t played all year long and then asking him to step in after the All-Star break but he’s a guy that the these guys are familiar with that this team is familiar with so if anybody could do it it would be Blake I think kayada has an

Opportunity to maybe be upgraded by the end of the season but there’s no need to do that they could if they don’t think he’s gonna be a playoff performer then you don’t sign him and you leave that spot open or you use that spot for that

Insurance so I’m I’m not really high on Blake but it wouldn’t if if they did it sure why not I’m not I’m not anti Blake uh k as a full-time guy who can get some playoff minutes maybe but again I’m not are you going to throw him in there

Against the Milwaukee Bucks are you gonna throw them in there against these good teams I don’t know that pinning your playoff hopes on some good kada minutes off the bench that’s tough he’s not been in that situation and the playoffs are so different so yeah maybe Blake maybe kayada but um

Maybe for the you know the rest of the season that’s fine but you don’t need to sign him to a contract for the rest of the season he’s already on a two-way deal so uh kind of I know that’s not the best answer in the world but it none of those

Move me they just don’t move the needle for me so like yeah sure why not but um they let’s see what deal they make it’s not going to be anything special so we’ll see up next angry questions a that I got after the Lakers game and we’ll

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Talking about Joel embiid’s surgery uh the top of each conference which is just getting crazy and Allstar stuff Jaylen Brown is I think gonna be in the dunk contest looks like he’s gonna defend his or or he’s going to go up against MC mclung trying to defend his uh Dunk Contest uh

Title so Jaylen Brown’s gonna be in it I don’t think he should do it but hey whatever maybe it’ll be fun maybe it’ll work so that’s all gonna be a locked on NBA back to the questions here and we’re gonna get into angry questions got do

This once a week maybe once every two weeks during the season so people get their questions in all along uh and and boy uh a few a few angry questions after the Celtics lost to the Lakers who didn’t have LeBron James or Anthony Davis so here’s a couple a select two to

Represent the many that I got Matt says Kenny Chuck Kenny and Shaq made some interesting points talking about how uh Champions fight against human nature and don’t relax when they think the game is going to be easier sha and Chuck ched about talked about the Celtics mental toughness Chuck asks this question Chuck

M says this game showed a lack of mental toughness they are not as good as their record shows what can they do and who can they add to resolve this issue okay I hope by now Matt and Chuck have calmed down and UND like you probably listening

Going like okay maybe I was a little over the top there uh do the Celtics lack mental toughness no that’s not true uh look let me start with this we put a huge emphasis on that Lakers game because it’s the lak Lakers and losing to the Lakers is just a cardinal sin so

Everybody’s going to be like really worked up about that they didn’t have LeBron they didn’t have ad that was an embarrassing loss that was an inexcusable loss that was an unacceptable loss whatever word you want to use all applies totally valid no one’s excusing that loss away however

I’m gonna push back on what uh Kenny Smith said Champions fight against human nature and don’t relax when they think is the game going to go easy Champions lose these games all the time go look at what the Denver Nuggets did to close last season go look at what the Denver

Nuggets did over March and April they were awful they were losing games like this all the time they went on losing streaks no one could could fathom what they were doing oh this is not what a champion does and they won now they have joic he makes things a lot better and

When they tried they won this is is what happens I hate to say it and I don’t want to excuse away poor effort and poor execution that was a you know just a mess of a game and it shouldn’t have happened but it did and they bounced back and they beat a completely

Decimated Memphis team by 40 right they did what they were supposed to do in that game and they didn’t let it linger the Celtics have not lost two games in a row more than once this year they got one two game losing streak they have not

Lost two in a row other than that once okay so they’ve not lost three in a row they they don’t have losing streaks throughout the course of the season they have the League’s best point differential which means they are blowing teams out a whole lot more than they’re getting blown out those things

Happen do they have mental toughness they are one of the best teams in the in the clutch in the NBA this season their clutch numbers are good so they are on Pace to be a 62- win team so you can’t can’t tell me that they’re not as good as their record shows you

Can’t be a fraud and be on Pace for 62 wins you can’t be so I’m just pushing back on the reactions there because while we all understand that that game was unacceptable like dial it back a little because there’s a much bigger picture involved and when you look at what the

Rest of the league is doing that’s the Celtics are actually pretty good I mean we’re doing this the Oklahoma City Thunder lost to Utah Utah is now a 500 team right but these good teams keep losing to they keep beating these good teams in fact let’s see the Utah Jazz

Against 500 and above they’ve got 13 wins against teams better than 500 let’s just go down the standings here real quick the the Spurs have beaten four good teams the Blazers have beaten eight good teams 500 above the Grizzlies have beaten 11 the Rockets have beaten 13 the

Pistons have won the Wizards have one the Hornets have four the Raptors have seven good teams lose sometimes to bad teams so keep some perspective and let let not fly off the handle here let’s get into Jay our huge early leads a problem for this team along the

Same lines here I know it sounds really weird I think the Pacers game shows my perspective fully uh when they’re down going to halftime they play good basketball why does it always seem they have to take the game more seriously when they actually face a threat well I

Mean yeah are you going to relax when you get a an 18 point or 20 point halftime lead or or halftime lead at all at all yeah there’s a tendency to relax uh again that’s not it doesn’t happen all the time I think one issue here is people are getting last season and

This season kind of they’re just jamming them together and this season’s a different team this season’s team doesn’t do as we’re we’re looking at last year’s team and it’s just not the same right I know it’s Tatum and brown and Al Horford but it’s also porzingis

And Drew holiday and Derek white who has improved uh Sam Hower is better the bench is different the coaching is different uh there’s Missoula has improved the coaching staff is different it’s the dynamic is different so let’s not lump last year completely into this year and treat it as all one big thing

Right are are teams gonna kind of relax sometimes when they have a halftime lead yeah you go into the half you relax you kind of feel like okay yeah we got this you come out it’s tough like the third quarters have been tough no doubt about

It the third course have been an issue this season that shouldn’t be but it’s also uh they have also been able to hold on and win a lot of these games so it’s some of it is human nature some of it is you relax when you’ve got

A good lead and I think one thing that the Celtics need to do is recalibrate what they think a good lead is right because 20po leads are kind of that natural oh we’re up we’re easy but in this NBA they got to recalibrate that and say a 20-point lead is is not what

It used to be right and I think everybody has to understand that including the Celtics so uh that is something that is part of their progression but they’ve been able to rectify things they have not generally let bad quarters drift into bad halfs they’ve just been everybody has a bad quarter um I

Don’t want to sound too dismissive I’m not trying to be dismissive of things they yeah we want them to be perfect but I think the one thing that we can Bank on with this team is when they’re not perfect they still kind of get out of it pretty quickly so

Um I feel I feel pretty good about where they are all right let’s wrap this up with what Missoula ball is and the MVP race and a lot of other stuff here on this uh mailbag edition of the lockon Celtics podcast Today’s Show is brought to you by game

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Every trade uh you got analysis and insight from that you can only get from Lockdown fantasy basketball part of the lockdown podcast Network it’s your team every day let’s get back into the mailbag let’s finish this off strong I am maybe that third quarter wasn’t so

Great for me my fourth quarter here is going to be strong for the Celtics Lewis says the win against the Grizz was great but I still want to pick on the fact that we gave up 16 offensive rebounds against basically the Memphis hustle should we look for a big man to help

Solve this problem no do not look for a big man to solve your your rebounding issues it’s not a big man problem it’s a wing boxing out problem a lot of these offensive rebounds come from wings and guards you just have to be mindful of where these guys are crashing from and

Then box them out from there so this is not just the traditional oh rebounding issue let’s get a big guy because the big guy is gonna end up being switched you they they end up uh in different different parts of the floor it’s not just traditional big guys go grab

Rebounds it’s Tatum and brown and white and holiday and all of those guys just need to be better at boxing out and not giving up those those offensive rebounds the Celtics are one of the better rebounding teams they are one of the better defensive rebounding teams they

Don’t give up despite what you think when they when they give up offensive rebounds they have these games where they give up a bunch but they also have a bunch of games where they give up kind of like none and they don’t have a ton of Second Chance points and it works out

Where the Celtics are one of the better teams at allowing Second Chance points they they geez I wish I had that number off the top top of my head I had it before and I apologize for that but they they are amongst the top they’re in the

Top half of the league I think they’re in the top 10 uh in Second Chance points allowed they could be better that’s a wing thing so I would say don’t worry about getting a big guy to do that Steph says you say missula ball is making the

Right read while I agree with you I think it needs a much deeper dive because one could make the argument that making the right read is every team strategy so yes let’s dive into this a little bit more Missoula ball is playing the percentages right what’s the percentage

What’s what is the best play against a particular defense with the particular players on the floor and it could be different for different players like this is this is why we said when I say making the right read it’s kind of a catchall if Tatum is

Driving and there’s no big at the rim and even though the the the you might have like some kind of contest he should try to finish sometimes making the right read is the same exact play but with a light a slightly different defensive lineup you go and you finish at The Rim

Jaylen Brown finish at The Rim but when a big is coming over and you you’re about to get challenged or you see two or three guys then you kick and the Celtics do have the shooters where if you kick and it’s a wideopen corner three you should take it

If or if it’s a kick and swing maybe then that that guy has the shot maybe it’s a second swing and that guy has the shot maybe it’s another swing and the first guy who passed it Tatum let’s say has relocated to the other corner he catches it and drives again there’s a

Number of different reads it kind of just depends on what the defense is giving you and what the open shot is the open shot is very often a three-pointer half the time it’s a three-pointer and that’s something that is I think like yeah is it encouraged sure they encourage early offense

Three-pointers because they do encourage and this is part of Missoula ball Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown Derek white Drew holiday good Shooters right if you’re bringing the ball up and the defense is stepping back right is retreating and they’re below the three-point line and you can take a very simple in Rhythm one

Two step and step into a shot that’s a good shot to them because you’re in rhythm you’re a good shooter and the contest is going to come late late enough where it shouldn’t bother you and so it’s at 18 seconds on on the shot clock that’s going to be against modern NBA

Defenses that’s going to be your best chance to get a good look in that defensive possession especially against a team that’s setting its defense and one guy happens to be retreating a little bit those are the right reads and for us we say why shoot it with 18

Seconds left and I’ve said it on the podcast I’ve said it on this podcast before and I’ve come to learn that when you look at a possession in that particular possession Jason Tatum stepping into a three-pointer at that point might be the best shot they get

Now I agree with the mentality to say well maybe the best shot that they could have gotten if they just work the ball around a little bit might have been a layup and that would have been a better shot I shot I get it I understand that

But when the math is telling you to get up as like 100 shots if you can and the Celtics don’t do that but you want the volume and you want to get the best possible look and you want to get it whenever it is in the shot clock just

Because it’s 19 in the shot clock that’s when you take it uh that’s that’s modern NBA basketball it’s not what I grew up on you hear like I listened to Jay uh to to Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett on their podcast talk about there are shots being taken in today’s

NBA that would have been bad shots would have gotten guys benched 20 years ago right in their Heyday but this is what the league is right now and we have to accept it I hate to tell you that but we have to accept it because while you and I love you for it

You’re watching the Celtics religiously and you’re not watching every other team religiously because who has the time to do that I do it because it’s my job it’s not your job but I can tell you A lot of these other teams are doing the exact same kind of

Thing and that’s what modern NBA basketball is because the math is there and it’s not just nerds taking over the game three is so much more than two and sometimes if you get your best three-point Shooters opportunities then whenever they get the opportunities is when they get the opportunity that’s

It so that’s what Missoula ball is some sometimes it’s drive and go for the dunk go for the layup sometimes it’s pull up and there’s a mid-range jumper there sometimes that’s the best shot you’re going to get but it’s who who has the ball what’s the defensive alignment

Who’s on the floor with you and what’s what’s the right play to make there I I hate to say it any that’s that’s what it is it’s on the players to say okay this is my bread and butter this is where we are and situationally it could be a

Little a little bit different maybe a guy’s got three fouls four fouls five fouls different parts of the game you want to attack them you run something different maybe some guys’s got it going and you you kind of want to take advantage of a mismatch and the right

Play with certain Personnel is is different or maybe it’s just somebody’s got a on a heater and you say well let’s try to find this guy and that’s the right play it’s just a little bit different each time down the floor I’ll finish this answer with this Missoula constanty says success looks different

Every night and that’s that applies to this if the Celtics are doing it right they’ll be able to win in any number of ways and they have been and that’s what Missoula ball is it’s not just take every three that’s available a lot of those shots are going to be

Three-pointers no doubt about it there’s a lot of three-pointers being taken but the Celtics are are very much like many other teams a lot of teams are taking a lot of these three-pointers just what it is all right let’s keep going here Carl top contenders like embiid

Dropping out of the MVP running via the 65 game rule is there a chance Tatum could win it would people call him undeserving for getting in that manner people will say a lot of things so maybe yes if he does I don’t think that he’s GNA win it because you still have uh

Guys having great seasons uh like I still think joic there’s a four-way tie at the top of the West uh and joic the nuggets are in there I think joic is just a better player so I think it’s gonna be his MVP but he with Tatum uh I’m sorry with embiid out and

You know some dark horses like Tyrese halberton not that he was gonna get a lot of votes but um he would have maybe gotten some fifth place votes and with those those have to go somewhere so maybe maybe Tatum squeaks in that way he just racks up points um who knows and

There’s going to be like 30 games left for people to kind of change their minds and if Tatum finishes strong maybe he just works his way into the conversation naturally but it certainly helps that embiid is dropping out but I still don’t think Tatum is gonna win it there’s a

Chance obviously uh Celtics if they’re a 62- win team you’re not going to tell me that the best player on that 62- win team isn’t going to get a chance but uh I I still think that other guys are going to have a better opportunity final question Mike let’s say bench player X

Who only plays garbage time has traded this week in your opinion as a former player is player X more upset that he’s no longer on the team favored to win championship or excited that he’ll probably play more even though it’s for a seller dweller is is it also risky to

Tamper with the locker room chemistry these guys all seem to be legitimately enjoying each other is it worth it just for an insurance policy so you have to consider the the chemistry for sure uh depending on the insurance policy right this is why Andre Drummond kind of scares me if that’s your insurance

Policy is he going to be willing to play the role and as I said this on yesterday’s podcast if he’s not if there’s any I I feel like that’s a risk to the chemistry and if there’s any risk to the chemistry I’d rather preserve that because if somebody comes in and

Isn’t getting playing time in the playoffs and is griping during the playoffs then that guy is not going to be helpful so that that is a risk for sure and you have to be sure that the guy you bring in whoever it is is willing to accept whatever the role is

And that’s going to be part of Brad Stevens calculus now if a bench player who only plays during garbage time so where Lamar Stevens O’Shea brassette somebody like that there’s going to be a piece of them that’s upset that they’re going to leave a good team right but this is a business

And just like Payton Pritchard last year he he wants to play because he’s got contract he’s got a contract that he wants to get and he got a good contract from Boston but look these guys this is their job this is their job and you me we get

To sit here and talk solely about championships we can focus solely on does this help the Celtics win a championship yes or no and that’s how we evaluate everything and to you Boston f New England resident Boston resident you have some sense of Pride it’s all about

Winning you don’t give a damn and look let’s be honest none of us is getting rich doing what we do we work hard we earn our money these guys make Lottery money like they hit the Mega Millions every every offseason 10 guys hit the Powerball in Mega Millions in the

NBA and it’s like well yeah why I I would I would wanna you know I’ll take a bullet to win a you know if you can give me that much money I get it I get it but these guys are going to be thankful to get the opportunity to show something to

Prove something and to get that next big contract because every player in the league wants to hit the lottery no one wants to miss out on their chance to hit the lottery and as I’ve always said players have a finite amount of time now some players have a longer finite amount

Of time but LeBron James is still going to have to retire at some point he will no longer be NBA level basketball now his NBA level basketball lasts a whole lot longer than Lamar Stevens but Lamar Stevens wants to be in the NBA as long as possible and have his opportunity to

Make millions of dollars and when he’s 30s something 35 he’s gonna be doing something else coaching doing whatever it is but he’s going to run out of time to make money playing basketball so as much as these guys want to win championships these are the realities they have

To make their money make their living and they have to do it within a very small window of their lives and it’s got to last them the rest of their lives because there’s no other job that’s gonna pay them like this so this is where you make the bulk of the money for

The rest of your life and if you think of it that way whatever job that you do whatever it is that you do if you had to only do that job until you’re 35 and that was going to be where you make 80% of your money for the rest of your

Life how would you approach your job that’s why these guys make the decisions that they do so thank you everybody for submitting your questions John cares.com mailback to submit your questions I would love it if you subscribe now because I’ve got you covered Monday through Friday bonus podcast on the weekends whenever the

Celtics play I’m doing a podcast subscribe wherever you get your podcast get onto that YouTube uh page hop into the comments section let me know what you think and then share the podcast tell everybody that they should be listening to and watching the lockdown Celtics podcast here in the lockdown

Podcast Network your team every day

Opening up the mailbag to get questions on the chase for the top seed in the East, trade deadline moves, Blake Griffin, Boston’s mental toughness, and offensive rebounding. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal gets into all those answers, plus a deeper dive into Mazzulla ball, the MVP race now that Joel Embiid is out, and how bench guys view trades that get them more minutes on worse teams.

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eBay Motors
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BetterHelp
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PrizePicks
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Gametime
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FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.

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