Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis power Boston Celtics win over Washington, Brad Stevens talks trades

Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis power Boston Celtics win over Washington, Brad Stevens talks trades

Celtics beat the Wizards it didn’t go the way we had hoped but one stat that tells the entire story of this game the one thing that shows why the Celtics are Championship favorites and Brad Stevens talks trade deadline it’s all right now on a bonus locked on Celtics

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The lockdown podcast Network where it’s your team every day and I got you covered every Monday through Friday plus a bonus podcast like this for you on a Saturday after the Celtics Friday night game against the Washington Wizards a game that they won but a game that did

Not go the way people had thought who people had hoped so we’ll talk about that talk about uh Brad Stevens talked about uh the trade deadline we talked to him earlier on Friday morning and all of that stuff so why don’t we just dive into the whoa that’s a graphic on

YouTube didn’t uh work right away I’m John caralis by the way I cover the Celtics for Boston Sports journal and now I am uh you know covering the show covering the Celtics for you that’s what I do uh boy I you know what’s so funny I

Do this intro every damn day and yet when it’s a Friday night I completely forget how the hell to talk how to host the show what it’s like it’s like Friday night and my brain’s like you know what John just shut up but I gotta keep going

Man uh Celtics beat the Wizards 133 129 uh there’s one stat that covers how this entire game went and that is transition defense I’ll give you the stat right away so the Celtics gave up 36 fast break points they average 13 and change fast break points allowed so they gave

Up twice as many fast break points but that’s not the stat the stat is they gave up 26 in the first half they gave up so that’s what 13 I don’t know what it was per quarter in fact well let’s let’s just break it down a little bit per quarter first quarter it

Was 18 second quarter it was eight fourth quarter it was eight third quarter two so that is the stat of the night that tells you everything you need to know 26 transition points in the first half the first quarter was 18 so that’s how they started the game they gave up

Another eight which isn’t great in the in the second quarter now remember they average 13 and change per game so you’re supposed to give up that that works out to be what three and change per quarter so they gave up eight in the second quarter they give eight in the

Fourth so the first quarter sucked the second quarter was a little bit better third quarter uh fourth quarter was H you know what I mean but the second quarter they gave up two so that was below their average and lo and behold the third quarter is where the Celtics outscored the Wizards

36-6 got the entire their entire lead everything that they needed in a lead came in the third quarter and it just begs the question here you know you try you try for one sec it wasn’t even the whole quarter it was the second half was like

623 at the 623 Mark they went on a 26 to 11 run so like that’s where they made the most uh of their 20 point they got 15 points in that stretch so and then they held it through most of the fourth quarter then they kind of like fell apart

So the story of this game is the Celtics very clearly came in and said ah it’s the Wizards and the wizards without there they’re hurt they they traded away Daniel Gafford they got ran Holmes who wasn’t available yet because the trade was still being completed or finalized

With the physical and all of that stuff so they clearly came in and said we don’t need to work that hard and frankly they were proven correct because they didn’t work that hard they put in basically 12 minutes of effort and they won an NBA basketball game yeah they

Only won by four and people anybody who took the money line anybody anybody I’m sorry anybody who took the um the spread so was 17 and a half was not happy with how this went but the Celtics said yeah we’re going to kind of half ass it for

30 plus minutes of this game and we’re still going to win and they did and they say hey got it move on done got the win move on and what can you say like in in some sense you can say well they were correct and I know that that’s the problem for a

Lot of you and this is where like I’m not even going to get into the the the nitty-gritty of this game because honestly who cares it the the story of this game was christops porzingis is a matchup problem and the uh Wizards are too small and Jason Tatum went nuts driving

And the Wizards too small and that was it they combined for 69 points 35 for Tatum 34 for porzingis Drew holiday had his moments where he took advantage of mismatches pton Pritchard had a good stretch hit two half court shots one of them counted the other one didn’t but

Damn when you hit a second one that should just count automatically so pitard had a nice game Tatum had a nice game I mean I’m sorry Jaylen Brown had a nice game uh even though he was in there for kind of like the worst of it 18 points seven rebounds

Three assists uh I thought I thought he did a pretty you know he had a solid a solid game I thought he was a pretty solid player so the only guy who didn’t have a particularly great statistic IAL game was Derek white who had an awesome

Game against the Atlanta Hawks and I sat there and said D white should be an All-Star over uh Trey young stand by that two of six in this game 0 of four from three six assists that was good uh three steals that was good a block shot

So but you know he did other things but that was everybody kind of takes turns uh but let’s start with let’s start with the effort thing because this is where I feel like I’m a translator between two sides that are arguing right and and they’re both like mad at each other and

I can I can hear you both I can I can hear and understand what both sides are uh complaining about here so from the fan side you have the Wizards and this expectation they’re a nine- win team they suck they um they you should you should should and

Should is the key word here because what what should happen every night in in the NBA is hard to say but from the obvious outside perspective you say well it’s it’s the Wizards this is the Celtics you’re a championship level team if you’re a championship team and this is

The Wizards just just destroy them win this game by 50 which they did in Washington they they went nuts but people get frustrated you watch this you go why are you doing this why are you giving such little effort and you say oh how can you win a

Championship by giving effort like this in these games and to those people I always point to the Denver Nuggets of last year who finished the season March and April just sucking and people people who cover the Nuggets were like nah I don’t know if this team can do it

They’re they just completely Fallen apart like this goes beyond being resting and being tired and all that stuff but obviously the Nuggets ended up winning the championship so but I I get the the fear that hey the Celtics went and tried for 12 minutes and it worked

They got validated their lack of effort got validated and you’re not wrong you’re not wrong in that assessment you’re not wrong it’s not you’re not wrong to be fearful of that but from the the Celtics perspective they say hey look okay yeah okay you got us we we

Didn’t try right away we didn’t try right away we had we had a bad quarter we had a bad quarter to start and then NBA level players and like real NBA players now the Wizards are are horrible in general they’re terrible basketball team but Jordan P who is a clown but is

Talented he can he can get hot Kyle kosma is talented he can get hot tus Jones came over like in Memphis people were talking about tus Jones like the reason why they were able to kind of float along without John Morant last season was tus Jones was a really good

Backup so he he’s talented he’s capable Denny ABIA has cap you know he’s capable Cory kissper is capable like those guys Landry shamet he he has M like all of these guys minus like a couple you say they they have they’re NBA level players they’re legit NBA players they just

Don’t fit at all and like I said Jordan P who’s supposed to be their best player absolutely does not care one single bit about doing anything besides getting his own and he’s just a hot hot garbage he’s like he’s quickly become my least favorite player in the NBA because of

His attitude and and that permeates the entire team and okay so the Wizards suck but anyway from the Celtics perspective you relax they play the way they want to play they take it to basically uh you know unstructured Play Just fast and basically a pickup game and yeah that that that happens sometimes

And they get going they get hot they hit some shots and it becomes a little bit of a struggle to kind of get that toothpaste back in the tube so to speak so I understand from the Celtics perspective like look we get it we came

Out kind of half a it for a little bit took a little while to get these you know to her the cats but we did third quarter we did and you know fourth quarter yeah y yep yep we relax a little bit but close it out and we’re fine we

Won the game and that’s all that matters and and they are not wrong there either so you’re not wrong to sit there and say but the effort but the attitude how this is gonna burn you okay you’re not wrong but also it may not burn them and

They’re not wrong for saying like look yeah we screwed up a little bit we need to get better but it’s difficult and all that stuff but at the same time you do have to understand like it’s not always going to go this way like you you you Biff a game against the

Lakers you you know you punt the game against the you know if this if this ended up being a loss you’re like okay the bad losses are are there and they start to pile up and you know you just don’t want these to become habits you don’t want to become

Because people by Nature have a tendency to like find where the line is of what is is acceptable what’s good what okay is this the line of good work great I’m going to give you what the good work is and then I’m not gonna try to be B I’m

Just gonna give you what I know gets me the acceptance and the praise and that’s it I’m just GNA keep doing that and maybe you could be better you you’re just never going to explore that and that’s the the the the Trap you don’t

Want to fall into as a team like yeah we we gave you just enough effort to win you you want us to a basketball game we won it was entertaining in a lot of ways you know the fans were loving it the fans were loud they they we got a big

Ovation walking off the floor everybody was happy what do you want from us and so it’s that push and pull and so I would like to see them have more kind of oomph but I I would also like to you know I think people also need to understand like you know hey February

9th against the Wizards you know you’ve been home all this time you’re super comfortable you got a little bit of you three games left before the All-Star break you know haven’t we all been at work on you know getting ready for vacation and slipped a little bit that week that week before

Vacation how honestly honestly and I know oh they make so much money but like honestly your brain that week before vacation how focused are you and like that’s where human nature kicks in and that that’s the push and pull that’s the hard part with this because they do make a

Ton of money and you say ah that money should motivate you and and winning a championship should motivate you and they’re like yeah of course it does but you know it’s 82 games and you it’s vacations around the corner and there’s a dunk contest there’s this there’s know

The parties are probably going to be fun like yeah I’m a little distracted I’m kind of a little bit bored don’t want to play freaking Jordan P I don’t want to deal with his crap so like you want me to guard bow kabali you really do I have to

Yeah you have to because he just dropped 21 and eight so you gotta have to kind of have to like step up and and like guard him a little bit it’s the it’s a fight it’s a fight however there’s one thing that I do think that we can kind of lean on in

This game and it’s the the Celtics ability to kind of morph right who who’s hot who who’s who has the matchup who’s and and this is where the Celtics I think showed their Championship capabilities here like even within this game one of the hardest things for a

Team to do is grow over the course of a season like I just said there’s a tendency to get stagnant you’ve you’ve gotten to a place we know that this Baseline line generally gets us some success so this is what we’re going to give and we’re not going to give anymore

And it’s hard to learn and hard to grow but they are learning and growing and this is a a game where Jaylen Brown does he have the sexiest stats no nine of 15 18 points seven rebounds three assists uh three turnovers in a steal so

You know it’s you know okay it was an okay game but no it’s actually was better than okay game because he I think he you know not only is he a threat out there he’s he you know making passes he’s directing some of the offense you could see him kind of like

Calling out like no no no you go that way you go this way you know porzingis has the ball on the post you go here Spa this is the spacing that we want you there me here like he understands that kind of stuff these little tiny things the Celtics are developing over the

Course of the season this sense of where are the mismatches with the Celtics there are a ton of mismatches Joe moula uh jokingly referred to it as enter the spiderverse where there’s a bunch of different Spider-Man and that’s what this team is a bunch of different Spider-Man and there’s a downside to

That where the you know the ball gets sticky when there’s a bunch of Spider-Man around uh because everybody’s like I can do this I got the mismatch look at me I’m Spider-Man I’m better than this guy in front of me so I have the mismatch and the difficult part of

What the Celtics do is where do you find the best mismatch on the floor and that’s the hard part that’s when BR when um Joe Missoula talks about open-mindedness do you have the open-mindedness to be great that’s what he’s talking about Jaylen can sit there in this game could

Say man look at I got I got Jordan p on me and he attacked Jordan p and I got you know Cory kissper on me and I got you know Landry shaman on me like watch me cook but no the better play in those situations was you know he’s on the

Floor with christops porzingis a lot and christops was cooking because he’s 7 foot three and that’s even a a bigger mismatch so this progression that they’re making here even in this game there’s steps that we don’t even realize these little steps along the way we’re like okay the

M ality the ability to say I will not as Jaylen Brown you know demand my touches I will not go and pull Rank and say hey I’m the all NBA Guy this is okay Jason’s going for 34 look dude I’m going to the all-star game I’m I’m gonna go in on a

High note that I’m also going to get 30 we’re going to combine for 70 points and we’re going to have a good time the maturity to say you know what 15 shots is okay 15 shots on a night like this against a team like this for Jaylen Brown not not

Stat padding at all he’s going for hey christops they got no size he’s got all the size let’s let’s keep going to him and they fed him and he gets not only nine of 18 two of four from three but 14 of 14 from the line that’s an incredible

Performance from porzingis and brown is part of kind of needing that and recognizing that if the Celtics can keep doing this and perfect this and if they can carry that into late game execution on a consistent basis then they are a championship team this is uh the again

The openm mindedness to say even as Jaylen brown or even as Jason Tatum say you know what crunch time yeah Derek white chrisop porzingis picking rolls yeah no problem I’ll Stand in one corner JB you go stand on that other corner and we’ll we’ll be like the ultimate floor

Spacers for a few possessions because Derek white is incredible with the ball in his hands and an incredible decision maker and capable of doing a lot and there’s christops porzingis who has the mismatch against anybody on the floor and yeah you know spam that until it

Doesn’t work and they did for a little while and you know you got Drew holiday just stepping in every once in a while and uh yeah oh I got this mismatch or I’m G to play Down In the dunker or you know those things if the Celtics can stay

Openminded you forget about the effort stuff I I get it in this game it’s it’s that open-mindedness to say whatever the best mismatch on the floor is that’s what we’re going to go to so if that means Tatum is setting a screen that means Jaylen is setting a

Screen if they’re setting screens for holiday or white or for pres like those types of things are part of a championship team where if your stars are willing to say you know what you guys cook we’re we’re gonna be on the sideline here call us if you need us but

You got this is your game you got the mismatch go for it that’s that’s where Championship is won like those those kinds of things are where championships are won because that chemistry the cell be impossible to guard if that’s the case so that’s the game that that’s the

That’s my general reaction after the Washington Wizards the Celtics play a Tuesday I mean a Sunday 2PM game uh Super Bowl related early start so that’s gonna be a fun one I think myami is going to be an interesting one there uh so obviously I’ll be recording after

That show after that game so make sure you’re subscribed for that uh I’m not going to be uh wrapping up this podcast just yet because Brad Stevens talked and he talked before the trade Dead uh talked after the trade deadline about uh acquiring Xavier Tillman about uh acquiring Jaden Springer and

Generally the the the thought process what what Brad said I’ll just sum it up for you is uh they you know Tillman is a guy that they they think that that can contribute pretty quickly uh and Springer was a long-term kind of Developmental play and you heard Daryl Mory if if you were

Looking around the internet uh talk about how Springer was uh a little a little too long term for them and they need they needed kind of like the ability to make some win now moves and and that move helps them create the cap space that they need and all of that

Stuff so the Celtics I thought Brad Stevens I thought expertly played the margins which we talked a lot about this in yesterday’s podcast so if you missed that go check that out me and Tom Westerholm kind of breaking down the two moves thought Brad Stevens did a great

Job so the Tillman move so he his his knee is still not 100% so that’s uh I don’t know when he’s gonna make his debut maybe not till after the All-Star break but not that not that far off Springer was there in the locker room but unavailable to talk so I don’t know

Where or when he’s going to talk but uh might be on the road so I thought Brad explained it pretty well where he said look we’re we didn’t want to disrupt the flow of what we’ve got going here it’s great but also you don’t want to stand Pat and just do

Nothing because there are things the subs can improve Tillman’s going to make uh an impact defensively and can play situationally in ways that Stevens and Lamar Stevens and Delano banson couldn’t and Springer has a lot of potential and I I think what this does it just sets the Celtics up

For the cheap Talent on the bench to kind of bolster what they’re doing with their big money guys at the top so Brad kind of confirmed that and said hey look we’re we’re they second apron team and there’s going to be limitations so you have to work now to work within those

Limitations later so he kind of confirmed that Springer is kind of going to develop and who knows what we’re going to see from him this year but did did say that he has the potential to be like uh a a contributor to defensively they’re look he obviously

Has to and Brad said this has to improve his offense has to improve his jumper but he shoots like 83% from the free throw line that’s always an indicator when a guy’s got a busted jumper but he shoots well from the free throw line that to me says all right it’s just the

Mechanics are there maybe it’s a mental thing just fix some of those little things uh and translate that free throw form into a uh jump shot form him and I think they can figure something out um I know Philly fans are kind of upset that they moved Springer to Boston I’ve seen

It kind of characterized as uh they just gave Boston the Tyrese Maxi uh you know stopper and can only hope that that’s true but yeah Brad Stevens kind of basically summed everything up and uh it’s been it was what we thought so don’t know what’s going to happen on the

Buyout Market he seemed like nah I don’t think we’re going to do a buyout kayada he was like eh kind of wishy-washy on that I don’t don’t know if they’re gonna upgrade kada maybe they will maybe they won’t but that was kind of kind of left

That up in the air still the potential to make some kind of moves but I think this this is kind of where they wanted to be they they they got a couple guys that they wanted that they needed that once the Tillman signing was done they looked across the league to say

Okay what guy can we get that fits into a developmental role that maybe we could take a swing at and and to me the way we should look at it is the Celtics basically drafted Springer and he was off developing for a couple of years and now now they’re calling him up and

Thank you Philadelphia for developing him that’s that’s how I’m looking at it because he’s a first round pick that as Brad noted when when he was drafted they didn’t have a pick high enough to go get him but they liked him they watched him preseason game where he really defended

The Celtics well was uh a flasho for Brad Stevens and he said look that’s that’s we’ve always kind of liked him and when the Sixers said you know basically were like yeah we still need to clear more space there’s Brad Steven saying I’ll give you a space no problem

We we’ll we can we can make this happen and they did slick move by Brad Stevens I like it and if that guy does turn into a Tyrese Maxi stopper then brilliant move so that’s it hope you enjoyed the show lots of talking for me 28 minutes of

Talking more effort than the Celtics put in ha thanks for listening thanks for watching there on the YouTube page make sure you’re subscribed if you’re a new listener becoming every day or join me every Monday through Friday bonus podcast on a weekend like this so subscribe wherever you get your podcast

Watch the show on YouTube get into the comment section let me know what you think and also share the podcast spread the word tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the lockdown podcast Network it’s your team every day

It wasn’t pretty, but the Celtics got 69 combined points from Tatum and Porzingis to get a shaky win over the Washington Wizards. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal gets into why it’s fair to question the effort, but also fine for the Celtics to downplay it as a concern. Plus, the one thing this game shows to prove Boston is a true contender. And then reaction to Brad Stevens talking trade deadline deals.

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