Denver Nuggets’ Sluggish Play + Boston Celtics Ready For Finals Run? | The Hoop Collective

Denver Nuggets’ Sluggish Play + Boston Celtics Ready For Finals Run? | The Hoop Collective

Hello welcome to the hoop Collective podcast we talk about the NBA which we are doing on Thursday in the late morning I guess it’s almost noon in East joining us from the Eastern Time Zone but relocated to Indianapolis for this weekend’s Allstar Weekend festivities is Tim

Bonts well since our guy Big B is on vacation I don’t have to teach any vocab today which I’m very happy about yes we’re stepping it up to uh the ivy league of the West Coast because we’ve got a University of Washington graduate Uh Kevin the machine

Pelton joining us from Seattle yeah I’m sure the W lumni Association will be thrilled of the recruiting department here you refer to that as the ivy league of the West Coast I was the Big T of the West Coast that’s right baby Ohio State’s going out there stealing Pack 12

Coaches look it’s it snowed here this morning on February 15th so maybe we are a really big 10 country now I’ll tell you what when I’m in Seattle that’s what I think this looks like big 10 country and yeah McMahon is uh is taking some much deserved time with the tech uh with

The it the IT department uh over the weekend so we’ve got Pelton uh very admirably uh pinch hitting for him here um speaking of being out west where Pelton and I am right now um the Western Conference uh is hitting the All-Star break here and after the the about what

Was maybe eight 10 days ago all there was a basically a four-way tie at first things have sorted themselves out particularly because Minnesota went out west and had a great western trip including a win against the Clippers but the Denver Nuggets lost their third consecutive game on Wednesday night um

And for the second time they also to the Kings and for the second game in a row failed to crack a 100 points now Jamal Murray has a shin injury and he was out for that game uh and look uh you know we’re not you know I think we’ve seen

Enough in the NBA not to judge uh not to judge you know defending Champions too harshly by streaks in the um you know during the regular season there was a point earlier this year where they lost four out of five but they are in fourth place um and Pelton what I’m more

Interested in is just their pretty big backslide on the offensive end of the Court you know and and maybe the numbers are pulled down slightly because you know again failed to crack a hundred the last couple of games um but they were the number one offensive team in the

Playoffs last year and they were uh a top 10 offensive team during the regular season they’re in the middle of the pack uh offensively and um you know plenty of time I don’t doubt them they’ve certainly proven themselves but they are showing a little bit of vulnerability

Especially with some teams in the west flexing their muscles yeah it’s pretty wild especially when you consider that Nicole yic is again putting up his toric offensive numbers you know at the center of this and Porter and Michael Porter Jr Jamal Murray have kind of carried their

Weight and you we expected a bit of an offensive backslide I think From the Bench with the the loss of Bruce Brown Jr and knowing that they were going to be so young and improve unproven there Payton Watson has played terrifically I think kind of under the radar Christian

Brown has not had the second season that you I’m sure the Nuggets were expecting and then I think nationally that people were expecting after seeing him play so well in the finals as a rookie I I think what’s most interesting to me about Denver as a whole is just kind of the

Contrast to where they were a year ago because one of the things I went to go look at is what did the west standings look like a year ago today as compared to what they look like now and coming out of Valentine’s Day a year ago Denver

Had opened up five games on the rest of the Western Conference they were on route to basically putting the conference away when they beat Memphis right before the johnar uh video gun incident in the the nightclub in Aurora Colorado that night they basically locked up the Western Conference and you

Know with a month left in the season it was very early March Tim and I were in Boston for the Sloan conference at that point and then from that point on they’re able to rest Nicole yic considerably the rest of the way kind of manage their minutes not have to worry

About seating whatsoever and still have home court advantage ultimately throughout the playoffs you know this year we’re looking at a scenario where we’ll see just how much you know as the defending Champions they were about seating but you know home court advantage matters more for Denver because of the altitude than it does

Anywhere else and their choice is going to be between not having home court beyond the first round or having you know kind of to extend their starters and yic in particular down the stretch and not be able to come into the playoffs as rested as they did a year

Ago well by the way in the playoffs last year you mentioned that home court advantage lost one game at home and route to winning the title right obviously was a huge Advantage for them you want to look at on the positive end of the spectrum I just looked it up

While you were talking number one played lineup this year Denver starting five net rating plus 13 in 654 minutes offensive rating 125 so when they five guys are out there they still are a dominant team and there are obviously real questions about the bench you mentioned Christian Brown I

Saw them a few times a couple weeks ago it was interesting how pton Watson has sort of surpassed him in the depth chart there and he hasn’t really had the same kind of year he did last year Reggie Jackson experience has not been great obviously their bench gets better in the

Playoffs when they have Aaron Gordon play those Center minutes like they did in the game in Boston which was a game they clearly Ratched it up and wanted to win and went out and had Aaron Gordon play basically the entire second half I think he did play the entire second half

Of that game and played backup center in that game and they went close out a game on the road against Boston so we’ve seen them dial it up and I think when we talked about them at the time I said they remind me of some of those LeBron

Teams with Miami and Cleveland where they sort of Fate their in cruise control and they’re just going to turn it up when it matters in a couple of months but again if you have the number one seed and you’re getting a team coming out of the playing tournament

It’s a little bit different thing than if you’re say playing Phoenix in the first round and then going on the road to play the number one seed in the second round like it’s just it’s got the potential to be a more difficult Road at minimum than it was last year yeah it’s

You bring up a good point about their bench because their bench is super duper young you know because you’re you’re really relying on a bunch of not maybe not relying but you’re you got a bunch of first and seconde players um I guess pton Watson P wants a seconde player um

There’s a lot of guys playing those roles that you need and you know you just feel the loss of uh Bruce Brown and Jeff Green there now look at the highest level when it really matters you know yic is going to be out there 40 plus minutes you know Gordon’s

Going to be out there 40 plus minutes um you know Murray’s going to playing heavy minutes it it it might not matter but I do think there’s something to be said it’s something to point out that they’re they haven’t shown the same resiliency during the regular

Season as they did last year um you know one of the things I think will Define the Western Conference playoffs um leaving potential runs by the by The Warriors and Lakers out for now because that’s contractually obligated to talk about on TV on ESPN looking at these top

Four players are these top four teams Youth and experience is a is a big thing looking at this top four in my view you’ve got the the Thunder who are arguably the young one be one of the youngest teams we’ve ever seen in a high playoff seed not not arguably they they

Will be I mean we’ll see how Gordon Hayward changes their age a little bit but you know it’s them and the first incarnation of the thunder right and um so uh then you look at the Timberwolves now the Timberwolves have some experienced players obviously Mike connley obviously Rudy goar plenty of

Playoff games there uh but as a collective this is an organization that hasn’t had any playoff success um they haven’t won a playoff series I looked this up the other day since ant was two which is just an indication of of uh you know and so Carl towns is not a young

Player but again you’re if you’re asking a team to win three playoff series it’s never won one playing together exper two all stars have a combined three playoff victories not Playoff Series victories playoff game victories exactly um so you know that’s a big ask and then you look

At Denver and their bench is a little young um obviously they got a bunch of guys with rings uh you know and and then you look at the Clippers and they have everything they have depth they have experience they have guys with rings they have you I mean they got like PJ

Tucker got sent home this week PJ Tucker would be getting how many minutes a game in Denver like Denver would be running him out there in their top seven I think without question I mean if he didn’t play well fine but he’d be if FJ Tucker was available as a buyout candidate and

Denver signed him he’d be in that rotation licky split uh and and and he hasn’t played since November for the Clippers okay it’s it’s a Clippers cast off and Richie Jackson is currently in rotation and by the way you mentioned that Clipper team last night or Wednesday night uh for pod

Listeners they’re playing in Golden state they’re down most of the game and in the fourth quarter they come back and win that game with kawh ler not playing and with Paul George fouling out with four minutes to go and that run was largely driven by Norman Powell and

Other bench guys who were playing great and like they their their depth obviously like you said when you get to the playoffs death matters less because your star players play a lot more but the Clippers don’t have any weak lengths when it comes to really their rotation stuff like they’re rolling out there

With some pretty potent lineups up and down that can do a lot of different things and I thought that was a really impressive game from them yeah since you brought that up since you brought that game up um a very high character win now just again the Clippers lost at home earlier

This week to the Timberwolves where the Wolves demonstrated how their size um really can make a difference the Clippers do have some issues with size at times or have have it’s been an issue it’s been a little bit of a thorn for them um this is the last game before the

All-Star break it’s a total getaway game situation um kawhai doesn’t play he did make the trip with them which I respected by the way um he came up and uh was on the bench uh totally would have been understood if he wanted an extra day and you know he

Was dealing with an injury just stay at home but I respect that he came with them um and they’re down 15 or 17 or something like that uh Golden State’s won five games in a row it’s in it’s on the road tyou gets ejected uh in with like nine minutes to

Go which doesn’t usually happen Tai will get a tech every now and then but he usually keeps his cool he gets ejected um and they handle their business and get a really good um Golden State started uh double teaming and they just really just ran their offense moved the

Ball uh you mentioned Norm pal bontemps pal hit I think four threes in the fourth quarter um and just a real High character win by the way also I’ll say the same thing about the Lakers on Wednesday going into Salt Lake which historically taking teams coming on a

Backtack off the West Coast Salt Lake has feasted on those situations for decades and LeBron doesn’t make the trip and they’re catching on back toback total getaway game situation where um you know you could just totally let go on that and the Lakers go in there and win and I’ll just interestingly you

Know that you’ll know the result when this pod comes out um but the Warriors now are going into Salt Lake tonight Thursday night in a makeup game one of the games um uh that was postponed when their assistant coach Dei passed away uh suddenly a couple weeks ago it’s a tough

Again coming off the West Coast coming off a tough loss let’s see how the Warriors handle this test now now granted I don’t know how the Jaz the Jazz are not in the greatest head space right now because of uh they didn’t UPG they sort of downgraded their roster

While in a playoff position at the at the trade deadline but uh we’ll see how that same test is but anyway going all the way back to the Nuggets Pelton um what’s your concern level about them in general um are we just filling time in February here talking about a little

Losing streak like I said I think that element of the way that they were able to set up for last year’s playoffs is what separates it to me because I I referenced it was a little bit less than a year ago that that Tim and I were at

Sloan and and you know the the Nuggets had all but locked up the first seed and one of the things that talking to people from the Nuggets mentioned was you know the previous two years their playoff runs that jokic was exhausted by that point in the season from having to carry

Them without a healthy Jamal Murray throughout the regular season and you know with the concern about seating it’s not going to be to that degree and Jamal Murray you know even though he’s dealing with something right now there’s there’s every reason to expect that he’s going

To be healthy we’ll be around so that is a moderate concern and then the other interesting thing is you know they they’re not eligible for buyout candidates who are making a above the the mid level because of the fact that they’re in luxury tax like so many of

These teams it it doesn’t seem like they’re all that interested anyway one of the bets that that Kelvin Boo and the stver front office has made is we’re not going to give Michael Malone the option of playing veterans over some of these young guys by going out and getting kind

Of the high quality minimum players that some of these other teams in the west have or some of these other contending teams and you know that that they’re going to kind of sink or swim with these young guys and that you I think that as Tim mentioned that Boston game is really

Instructive you know in terms of how they’re going to approach the playoffs Gordon played the entire second half as Tim said and they only played Michael only played Seven guys total Christian Brown was a dnp in the second half it was only Payton Watson and Reggie

Jackson Off the Bench and that was it so how many guys are they going to trust in the playoffs those are the two levels of concern for me so I’m probably at like a four or five okay yeah they have another game with Boston coming up shortly after

The the uh Allstar break the Celtics go on a West Coast trip um and I actually want to talk about the cels but before we do speaking of uh interesting uh moves before uh going on the All-Star Break um I think we gotta touch about we

Got to talk real quickly about the game that happened last night in Phoenix um I should say Wednesday night in Phoenix um where before the game even started uh Isaiah Stewart sucker punched Drew euu from the suns in the back um in like the

Tunnel uh in the back uh I don’t have a lot of details and I’m I’m sort of expecting by the end of the day um video to pop up on TMZ um and I don’t know the potential history between uh beef stew and Drew Eubanks

Um unless you guys know and you can step in here um what I will just say is that it’s very unusual for there to be a backstage confrontation in uh in Phoenix and the reason is because Phoenix is an old school Arena and there’s only two

Tunnels um to get off the floor and the teams walk literally at complete opposite ends to their locker rooms and it’s a very long uh walk in between them um and not only that like it’s such a long walk that last year you may remember during the playoffs Russell

Westbrook was cutting through the Courtside Club um where he got into into into a screaming match with a fan um because uh you know he was just trying to take a shortcut at halftime so it makes me without having all the details it makes me wonder that like that he

Really hunted him down because he would had to have gone the complete opposite direction to get anywhere near the Suns locker room or I mean I don’t know maybe Eubanks was in the other Tel I don’t know it said I mean he he said that Eubank said it happened as he was coming

Into the arena so I mean oh obviously I wasn’t there and Ambush I mean I I don’t know if it was an ambush I I don’t think we should start like throwing around random words about this I mean from the news story the AP story on our site it says Eubank

Said before the game that the altercation happened as he was coming into the arena he said argument started and they were chest chest before Stewart threw the punch security intervened and Eubank said he was fine for the game the police said he suffered a minor injury so all right we haven’t seen it’s

A strange we haven’t seen a fight in the loading dock since uh since Jerry stack house and Kirk Snider Google it at least we haven’t heard about a fight in a loing I check they are both Pack 12 guys at least at least for the rest of this year

But uh Eubanks was already a pro by the time that Isaiah Stewart was was at Washington so it doesn’t date that that far yeah I mean look I mean the fact is too I mean Isaiah Stewart’s got a few various incidents like this now at various point I mean everybody remembers

Obviously him trying to get after LeBron on the court but like he’s had a couple of these things over his career it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out certainly a strange story and then he was arrested after the game by the Phoenix police and released so they had

Somebody has seen footage of his witnesses that uh also Eubank said it was um it was no big deal it was a soft punch which I don’t well I don’t know about that I would not mess with uh Isaiah Stewart um and then by the way then Devin Booker

Gets thrown out of that game five minutes in two different technicals five minutes into that game seemed like a pretty soft ejection to me oh my God it was crazy I mean I I couldn’t hear obviously what Booker was saying but uh so that’s that’s the other end of the

Spectrum of the character wins that we saw just to just to sort of you know underline you know not just given lip service uh to that and then the Pistons not surprisingly uh got blown out um by the Suns in that game but anyway a few minutes ago we

Were talking about um you know Boston uh bonds uh got a fair amount of reaction to the to the straw pole from couple of days ago and one of the surprises I think uh was that Jason Tatum remained six I would say that the voters were unmoved by Tatum’s play recently because

He was sixth in your first poll in December sixth in in this poll no first or second place votes um despite him having a good season um and the Celtics just having a spectacular um a spectacular uh first half more than first half first 50 games they won by 50 on Wednesday night

Against the Nets he had 40 in that game to go or he had 40 on Tuesday they played them back home at home um yeah uh Tatum is shooting the ball better this year scoring average is down but that’s not a bad thing he’s taking sort of some smarter shots um what’s

Your opinion as to why Tatum hasn’t gotten more traction in MVP voting I mean we talked about this a little bit the other day I think it’s combination of I mean I I think I think it’s less about the way that he’s he and the Celtics have played in the playoffs

And just think it’s more that you because we talked about that the other day I I think it’s more that his numbers are very good but they’re just not of the same supercharged caliber of these other guys that we’re talking about in part because the Celtics have a ton of

Talent and they’ve got Chris as porzingis getting the ball a bunch and Jaylen Brown getting the ball a bunch and Dereck white and Drew holiday getting the ball a bunch so his usage rate is lower than some of these other guys and I also think part of it is he’s

Just not quite seen in the same realm as Giannis and Luca and joic and even to an extent Jay Gils Alexander as a player now again I think he’s one of the 10 best players clearly in the league he’s probably for me somewhere between like six or seven and nine like tremendous

Player but generally you see a guy who’s in the top five win this award and I think if Boston goes on to win 65 games which they’re very capable of doing then perhaps that will change as the year goes along but I think with the the numbers that these other guys are

Putting up I just think it’s going to be difficult for Tatum to move up higher on the ballot and I sort of think this is what we’re going to see for a while for Jason Tatum frankly which is that he’s probably going to be somewhere around fourth or fifth every year which is

Basically what he’s been because he’s an awesome player and his team is is awesome but he’s just not quite seen as a top five guy in the league as of now now he’s also like 26 and has continued to get better and he could Ascend more but I think that’s

Generally why he’s I don’t want to say an afterthought but he’s farther down the list than these other guys yeah Zack L and I both picked Tatum before the season when we did in Awards pod under kind of the logic that number one you know the Celtics we thought were

The best team in the NBA and number two that some of the the players that you know traditionally have been at the top of the ballot might be ineligible because of the 65 game rules as we have now seen to come to pass with Joel

Embiid I I think part of it is not only that Tatum’s numbers are not as good as you know the the top three guys in particular they’re also not even as good as last season because of you know the additions the Celtics have made and it’s

Kind of funny I I can understand if you’re a Celtics fan it seems like from a Rec individual recognition standpoint people are talking out of both sides of their mouth where you know on the one hand Tatum isn’t seen is on the same level on the other hand we have this

Team that’s clearly Far and Away the best regular season team in the league plus 10o differential going to have a terrific you know regular season like one that Stacks with the all-time best regular seasons and they have two Allstars which is kind of funny I mean Derek white and Kristof porzingis you

Know kind of two in that next group out in the Eastern conference but uh I to go back to Tatum specifically I I did not ultimately have him on my ballot I think you know his the top three to me assuming those guys stay healthy are

Pretty close to a lock those guys you know have separated themselves from the field being yok at Giannis and SGA fourth and Below that’s Up For Debate I I think very much so and Tatum has a chance if they if he has a strong finishing kick down the stretch here and

Boston you know remains number one by a wide margin I I think fourth is probably his ceiling which is where he finished last year right that’s true now I will say that the Celtics have a number of high profile National Television games after uh the break here um including

That game in Denver there is a window for him to sort of improve his case although the way they play the depth that they have the way that they spread the ball around I mean he could play brilliantly and still not get you know

That sort of string of you know 40 or 50 or even the 60o games that some of the other guys at the top have gotten um and you know he is said you know that’s not what he’s looking for so um I’m a big believer in Tatum uh I have you know

Sort of locked horns with the other guys on this pod in the past over my belief that he can be uh you know a top five player and and and and do it at the highest level he has taken shot you know he has taken some some hits in the last

Couple years for the way he played in the finals you you know he just did not have a great finals he was being bothered by a wrist injury but you know I think he had a 13 or 14o performance in the the elimination game against the

The warriors on their home floor uh last year he had a very anemic performance on uh on game seven against the Heat again you know on his home floor he did he was awesome in game seven against the Sixers he had 51 and that game was a blowout he

Didn’t seem like he got the maybe appropriate credit for that he also was great in the fourth quarter game six so it’s not like the resume is you know full of holes he just you know even Donovan Mitchell um who you know Donovan responded you know to the the straw poll

Not directly but you know I think Donovan was a little bit frustrated that he wasn’t higher on the straw pole and talked about it a little bit um the next couple of you know like 36 hours after it came out uh even though the Cavs had

A a kind of a shaky loss at home to the 76ers that you know were missing like three top guys um Donan was talking after the game about his MVP chances but he did come on NBA today uh on Wednesday and was talking about how he thinks that

His MVP candidacy is affected by his scattered playoff record and that he understands that for him to really ever get up there he probably has to prove himself in the in the postseason fair or not so I think that that is a factor um it’s also it’s also it ALS it also just

Needs to be said that the ballot is full of ridiculous players like Kevin Durant is averaging 28 points on 54% shooting 44% from three averaging like six rebounds just under six assists and he got like a handful of OOTS I think he was ninth right like you know we’re talking about

Like there’s a lot of guys having unbelievable season so I don’t think it’s a and I’m not saying you’re framing it this way but I don’t think it’s a crime that Jason Tatum is Sixth and Donovan Mitchell is eth AG it’s just it’s a loaded it’s a loaded field it’s

Very hard to pick between these guys I agree and you know and just we’re in this such offensive era um that you know because if you’re a Cavs fan and you’re not watching the league and you’re watching Donovan put up these 45o games and you know routinely put up 30 and

Your team’s in second place in the East and you’ve won 16 out of 18 or or 17 out of 19 or whatever it is now and you know this draw poll is you know it’s really really authentic it’s one of the you know McMahon makes fun of me but

Like truly it’s a really good thing that bont temps has done and it like is a real good data readout on on the way things are and like so if you’re a Cavs fan if you’re a Celtics fan you’re watching Tatum have all these really

Good games and then you see this pull I get where you’re like what’s going on but it’s it’s hard to have that perspective I mean just for offensive perspective the Lakers okay they put up 138 at the Jazz on Wednesday night and stats Williams had this incredible

Number that over the last 11 games the Lakers have had the highest point average for an 11 game stretch since 1987 and you would never look at this Laker team and say boy that’s going to rival the showtime Lakers um but they are playing Showtime level basketball

Offensively right now so you I think there is some sort of of of grappling uh with that with the numbers and you know that that that lack of perspective can can affect the way people uh look at the MVP race because even though we’ve seen this scoring bubble over the last few

Years it’s still you know accelerating at this point um but anyway I want to talk more a little more about the Celtics um Bon Temps so they are hitting the All-Star break they’re 43 and 12 I think they’ve got a six game lead over the Cavs you know the Cavs are 18 and3

Since January 1st and they’ve barely picked up any ground on the Celtics they are kind of like in the um in the zone where the Nuggets were last year they’re like in great shape to get that number one seed all number one overall seed too um and when you look at their production

They okay in the history of the Celtics we’re going back to 1947 they’ve had five 50-point wins in franchise history two of them have happened this year okay um they are their um their net efficiency which is the what they uh relative uh to the score for every 100 possessions they’re plus

10.3 that you get Pelton you get double digit uh net ratings net efficiency uh you’re talking about some of the best teams of all time the last time a team had uh a plus 10 or better net efficiency was the 1617 Warriors which was the first first year that Durant

Came there which I will put up as arguably the most the best team in NBA history uh because they added uh a prime MVP to a 73- win team uh basically in exchange for Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogan uh that is the level that this

Team is playing at right now um but I wonder do teams after the way the the Celtics have played in the playoffs last two years bonts do you think that this Celtics team is inspiring any fear considering the way that they are playing on the numbers are putting

Up I mean fear is sort of an interesting way to frame it right like I think that the Celtics are in the same position Denver was in last year where Denver was the best team in the west all year right and everybody was sort of and like look

I I’ll be the first to say I kept saying we’ve never seen a team with a center like jic in terms of his ability to be impactful defensively or not impactful defensively be a team that wins a title it just was not something we’d seen and

So you kind of had to see it to believe it right then Denver goes out they destroy everybody in the playoffs and it you look back on well we should have sort of expected this was how this was going to go at least possibly because of

The way they played during the year and I think Boston’s in a similar place because of the way the last several years have gone the way they’ve had failures in the playoffs several times over in very similar fashion where their offense has gotten bogged down and frankly they’ve just struggled to get

Out of a lot of Series against teams that don’t have as much talent as them I think there’s a lot of hesitancy to look at the way they’re playing go hey this is going to translate to a dominant playoff run but the introduction to christas porzingis you know when the Celtics made

That move the main reason they did it was they needed need to have a different option late in games in playoffs and they had to have a way to attack mismatches in playoffs because Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown have not been super successful attacking isolations in those situations in the playoffs and the

Introduction of porzingis and his ability to space the floor and attack mismatches and force a guy like bam matab bio like we’ve talked about before to have to stay with him not be able to roam around and just do what he wants on defense it’s really completely altered

The way the Celtics attack these late game situations and doesn’t guarantee they’re going to win but they they just are a supremely talented team and I don’t think the doubs are going to necessarily go away until we see them do it in the playoffs but the way they are

Playing and the way they are preparing for the playoffs and trying different things during the season and experimenting all over the place I think it sets them up to be a different team than they’ve been in the postseason in the past and I think they had the

Potential to when we get to the end of June have won the title and for us to be sitting back saying you know we really should have just assumed this team was different than they’ve been and they are putting up they did put up a historic resume and we should have assumed they

Had a chance to be a historic team not guarantee it’s going to happen but that framework is there where it is I think a lot like Denver last year where I think until people see it there’s just going to be that hesitancy to say this is the year they’re finally going to break

Through because of the stuff we’ve seen in the past Denver went 10 and one in the to finish the playoffs last year it was like oh they’re pretty damn good now they did benefit from a little bit of a wonky way the playoffs went and they got

The Lakers who you know were play you know they got they got two playin teams you know in the in the Conference Finals and finals now they had earned their way to those spots I’m just saying though that you know but nonetheless Denver at the end was totally flexing on everybody just

Slapping everybody down and it was like oh well you know this is the way it was so I I appreciate what you’re saying there bontemps um um but I do think Pelton because the Celtics have not played to their top level at the playoffs last couple years and I’m

Saying that about a team that’s gone to the finals and Conference Finals but you know was ahead in the finals and and lost it and you know lost to game seven at home after completely just coming out flat in the front end in that front end of that Conference Finals I do think

That there’s a bit of some Scar Tissue with the Celtics as well yeah there’s only so much that they can prove during the regular season now I do think to your point at the start of this we should recognize that this year’s Celtics are Way Beyond what they did the

Last couple years what they’ve done over this run as long as they go better than you know let me double check my math here uh 15 and 12 the rest of the regular season it will be the most wins for the Celtics since 2009 since that second big three team that kg was

Injured in the playoffs and they lost to Orlando that year in a a really hard fought seven game series in the second round right now the Celtics team has the sixth the best winning percentage in or the fifth best winning percentage in franchise history which as you alluded

To at the top there’s a lot of history in Boston there a lot of banners there are what is the Celtics uh record for regular season wins 68 yeah I don’t that’s how falling this year no no I I think especially because you know it’ll be interesting to see how they handle

The end of the regular season is we talked about that comparison to Denver and the way that they really kind of coasted to the Finish Line with joic in particular that hasn’t been the Celtics MMO uh under a variety of different coaches and and continuing now through

Joe Milla they’re not a team that you know has has relied on load management other than with Al hor for and now this season maybe Kristof porzingis you know how much will they restate him and brown and and the other starters down the the stretch will be interesting clearly

They’re going to manage the centers minutes with Xavier tman Senor uh Jackson pointed out in the comments the the clutch win percentage difference for the Celtics which is what had been kind of their Achilles heel in the playoffs going B back and I think it’s interesting because you know the the

Element there kristofh porzingis I think is the biggest addition but in terms of like respect from other oppon on he kind of Y Tim kind of Y yed over the best part which is they also added Drew holid who is the yeah who is a proven finals

You know player someone who has defended the opponent’s best player through up through that point and earn a lot of respect doing it and he’s had kind of a Down regular season isn’t one of the four Celtics who figured into the All-Star uh discussion this year but

Come playoff time he hasn’t played well necessarily offensively in the playoffs in a lot of these runs but he his defense is another factor that I think could separate this group even from the ones that had the defensive player of the year in Marcus Smart on the

Perimeter the last couple of years I mean look they went from Grant Williams and Marcus Smart essentially to christas porzingis and Drew holiday right like that’s a massive Talent upgrade and yeah Horford’s Tak a little bit of a step back but still that that was why from

The beginning I was sort of laughing at people when were talking about the porzingis trade like this guy’s a really talented player and then you fast forward to get you holiday and like yeah like you could debate about stuff they gave up I me we talked about it the

Other day the Mavs have given up you know essentially three first round picks to get PJ Washington and uh Daniel Gafford on their team and the Celtics more the Celtics I think were down maybe one first round pick and got those two guys now they traded they good players

Left to help facilitate that but still like that’s a huge Talent infusion for a team that already might have had more Talent than any other team in the leag well I think one thing that you can say without any question is they sold extremely high on Marcus

Smart uh I know that that was a tough move to make for a m of different reasons and there was a lot of criticism about him you know about them trading away this you know kind of a soul of the team obviously he didn’t always get along with everybody but to get

Porzingis and two firsts in return for Marcus Smart and you know look people people weren’t 100% sold on porzingis I mean they were big Believers in him but you know there was some skepticism about him putting up kind of you know a little bit of inflated numbers in in Washington

Let’s just be let’s just be honest after the after the Dallas thing when he as we’ve talked what McMahon has talked about openly like he got basically salary dump to Washington right like he was a guy that had a lot of questions about him and it’s not like what the the

Biggest thing I heard all summer was people around the league saying is this poorus thing really going to work and is he G to be cool being the third or fourth guy on the team or how is that going to go and as I’ve said before from

The moment he showed up in Boston he’s had an earto ear smile and he has been clearly thrilled to be out of essentially NBA Purgatory with the Wizards where nobody was paying attention to them and being on one of the the iconic franchis in the league

I’m arguably the best team in the league and this he he’s a guy who going back to when he was with the Knicks has always lik the spotlight and being you know in a big market and playing on a big stage and he has been exemplary on and off the

Court for Bost yeah and look he’s got to stay healthy for it to ultimately work that was one of the reasons why it hadn’t worked before but not only did they trade for him but they and then immediately gave him a $60 million extension so they R I will say this too

Um you know Brad Stevens has acquitted himself extremely well as an executive since he’s right risen to that um remember that deal they had a deal for Balon Brogden which would have gotten them porzingis and It ultimately sent brog to the Clippers and it fell apart

Um the day before the draft or draft day I can’t remember I think it was the day before the draft and they had this deadline with porzingis to pick up his option and porzingis in his representation made it clear they weren’t extending the deadline and so they kind of were racing

Against the clock and so not only did they have to make a trade but they had to make a trade under duress um and so shout out to the Celtics front office which is you know Brad Stevens Mike Zaron Austin a Dave Luen that front office um scrambling and then putting

Together that deal that you know again Po got to stay healthy but right now looks like a freaking home run under duress um with the whole league knowing that you know the the that the that you know one of the reasons with Brogden was there was some concern over his elbow

Ended up being okay and they ended up doing a trade with him obviously and for du holiday ended up working out great for them but it would they really weren’t able to find a deal for Brogden so it was like okay figure out this trade that’s super

Important the only way you’re going to be able to get porzingis and you had you lost you know you were diminished in the ability to trade Brogden and and you know with like the clock bearing down on you so history forgets that but like that

Was and then you know like I said it’s really it was a you know it was a risk but it really looks like it’s it’s uh bearing fruit for them right now I mean I think the fascinating thing about it is the reason it was a risk is because

They were giving up smart and dramatically changing the style of play that had been very successful to them up to a point and that’s why you know it would have been really fascinating to see the version of the Celtics that they envisioned all off seon but then the Damen Lillard trade

Happens and the Celtics are kind of just dropped in their laps thanks to this EXT these extra first round picks they had from the Marcus Smart trade with the ability to go out and get Drew holiday and suddenly it’s not that we’ve changed our style of play we’ve given up what we

Did so well to get christop sportas and try to do something a little different it’s that we can still do all the same six because Drew holiday is an improved version of Marcus Smart in many senses and we’ve got this new dimension uh it is also kind of fascinating I mean you

Mentioned them selling high on Smart was there any discussion from the Grizzlies trading smart at the deadline because that’s something that with their financial crunch next year and with the emergence of Vince Williams Jr as an option on the wing was was an interesting possibility to me I didn’t

Hear anything about it um you know smarts unfortunately been impacted by injuries a lot of this year and now is out with a finger injury so um I’m not sure what his return timetable is but well the one other thing we have talked about this a little

Bit before the other thing about the smart trade that was beneficial for Boston is it sort of forced both Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown into more of a leadership role with this team Marcus Smart has always been there he’s always been the heart and soul of the team and

Sort of the emotional center of the team in a lot of ways and I wrote a story back in November about Jason Tatum getting the six guys together and sort of organize a meeting to talk about how this is going to go and who wasn’t going

To like figuring out you know let’s not get caught up in who’s starting or finishing games or not worried about any of that kind of stuff and like I’m not sure he would have done that a year earlier because Marcus would have been there and Marcus probably would have

Been saying something right and I I do think that for guys who are entering their Prime I I think it was a not a notable thing that did sort of seed the stage for them to step up in that regard and I I think Tatum has noticeably been

A little different about that this year and I think that’s helped them in a lot of respects and I think the the way they cleared the air on this stuff from the jump there’s been not one bit of any kind of drama with this team at all and

Look obviously it’s easy for that to be the case in some respects when you’re 43 and 12 or whatever their record is right now but I think they deserve a lot of credit for getting out ahead of that and that was also in part due to the trade

And due to those guys having to take on a bigger leadership role and kind of assume that mantle that they wouldn’t have had to otherwise by the way on Wednesday night as they uh blasted the the Nets it’s this is a nest Nets AED stat that I’m about to say uh they

Surpassed uh the P the Pacers as the number one offensive team in the league uh also ranking third in defense uh you got top three in both that’s pretty damn impressive that’s how you get a plus 10 net rating but they’re now the best offense in the league as well um before

We go I do want to just shout out real quick the way the the New Orleans Pelicans are playing they’re they’re sort of stuck in between where a lot of the focus has been because those front four teams in the west have really been fascinating each of them in their own

Right and then naturally there’s a whole lot of attention on the Warriors and Lakers you know in the playin spot and even the Mavericks who’ve been playing better lately and their trades at the uh at the deadline quietly the Pelicans um who really did from what I understand

Try to upgrade at the at the deadline but they really couldn’t uh they weren’t able to find a deal um they’ won seven of their last eight games now the game that they won uh going into the break they beat the Wizards in a shootout it wasn’t the most impressive Victory uh

Denny Adia had 45 points in that game for the wizards but Pelicans are seven and one in their last eight games they were just out here on the West West Coast last week they were here um and uh Zion uh had 36 points uh in that game

You now the Wizards have just traded their franchise Center and Daniel Gafford so it was not um Bill Russell defending the rim uh or more appropriately West unseld uh defending in the rim there for the Wizards uh but Zion had 15 baskets in the paint in that

Game and you know one of the things that they have gone really back to uh recently uh Willie Green uh the coach has gone back to really playing Zion at point guard that’s something that you know Stan Van gundi sort of adopted a couple years ago then they went away

From it and now they’re gone back to it and um he they have been very effective offense they’ve been a very good defensive team consistently since Willie Green got there their offense has ebed and flowed because they haven’t had good shooting Zion doesn’t stretch the floor valunas doesn’t stretch the floor they

Get a little compacted they’ve also you know herb Jones who’s gotten better as a three-point shooter but he doesn’t stretch the floor so they haven’t always had most terrific uh high efficiency offense but um in this stretch where uh Zion has been running Point um they are

Seeing a lot of uh success Pelton the number is crazy that stats Williams uh sent out today in the last nine games when Zion initiates the possession running point guard they’re averaging 1.4 points per possession one point possession one point per possession in anything whether it’s a postup or or

Anything is considered good 1.4 for a team that needs offense is considered very very good um so uh I for context we’re just for context in case people aren’t sure when we’re talking about like the Celtics having aund like the Denver lineup having 125 offensive rating that means it’s one .25 points

Per per possession right so it’s essentially 140 points per 100 possessions what we’re talking about like that’s that’s obviously pretty insane stuff over that kind of a span yeah so um I don’t I don’t it’s hard it’s it’s been hard to project the Pelicans for the last couple of years

Pelton because there’s been so many injuries um I really think they were on an upward trajectory uh after after two seasons ago but they really hasn’t paid off Brandon Ingram had was was really banged up last year for a lot of the year with foot problems

Um you know they are a team that they have some big decisions to make in the off season because they’ve got to pay some of these guys I don’t know if they’re gonna be a to keep this team together but um they are a dangerous

Team they are a flawed team but they are they can be a dangerous team I mean that’s why I was kind of fascinating what you mentioned about them potentially looking to upgrade at the trade deadline and instead of you know make some adjustments to to manage the

Salary down the road which like they’re playing too well to do that but you know you you alluded to the injuries later when you said that their offense has been up and down I I thought you were going to say because of the fact that they haven’t had their their three guys

Together until this stretch here over the last couple of months and then the other guy who’s been a huge part of it is Trey Murphy III who uh you know was part of our draft show Year friend of our pod since he came back in the lineup

They are 19 and 11 playing at you know almost a two3 clip because he provides that floor spacing and he gives them you know he’s he’s just an incredibly valuable player to have largely coming off the bench it’s an incredible luxury for Willie Green so yeah you know

There’s so many teams in the west who have been on runs and have this star pedigree and and these expectations if you look at it seven out of the 10 teams that would would make the West playoffs or play in if the season ended today have gone seven and three in their last

10 games precisely oh five of them are the teams between Fifth and 10th every team in that group other than Sacramento has gone seven and three in their last 10 games so you mentioned the strong run for Dallas you know obviously Phoenix in fifth is a team that the Lakers the

Lakers have won eight out of 11 golden state is also seven of their last 10 there’s a reason we’re talking about these teams besides just the fact that they’re the Warriors and the Lakers but they haven’t made up any ground on the New Orleans Pelicans we’re still

Holding strong to that Sixth and final spot in the the the playoffs avoiding the playin and that’s going to be such a huge cutline in the Western Conference because they going to be two really good teams that are going to get knocked out in the playin yeah and you know on the

Flip side of it I I still have doubts about the Pelicans because I just don’t know if they’re overall pieces really fit together great right like the in 3 three games 32 Games should say that CJ MC and Brandon ingerman zi have played together 20 and2 record like that is

Good but across five 58 minutes they’re minus 2.6 net rating right and their offense has just not been good and with Jonas funis out there they have struggled their fiveman starting lineup is underwater for the season couple of points negative also um it’s the 11th most used lineup in the league and like

You mentioned Trey Murphy it’s going to be interesting to see what happens moving forward New Orleans because you look at a guy like Trey Murphy and the way he fits with their guys and all of the R Us with Trey Murphy every combination is very positive and at some

Point you might need to find a way to get him out there on a more consistent basis uh and see what that looks like and it’s just going to be interesting to see what that looks like but we are finally hopefully going to get an opportunity to see this New Orleans team

At full strength in the playoffs which is what we’ve been waiting for now for feels like a decade that right knock on wood um and I hope we do because then we’ll really get some answers to what some of this stuff looks like in a playoff setting and then

I think the Pelicans you have a ton of draft assets and they’ve got a ton of interesting players on their roster can then maybe start to look at this and say all right this is the direction we need to go in to try to get this thing to the

Next level because I think a lot of what they’ve done is have to wait and see what they actually have because so much of the time it’s been well if these guys are healthy or if they’re out there or are we going to see them out there and now

We’re actually getting a chance to see that and they’re probably to me one of the most interesting teams over the final 30 games and in the playoffs just to see what it actually looks like because I mean we still haven’t seen I mean I’m not I’m correct that we still

Haven’t seen Z play a single playoff game right no no right so like play right they made the play they’ been in the playoff yeah I don’t think he played in a playing game either I don’t think he’s I don’t think he’s played in a single postseason game

Of any kind so like yeah that’s right that’s why we were so disappointed by their showing in the in Vegas because there was like the biggest game of his career and he just down yeah so like I it’s just got to be fascinating to see what they look like because that we just

Haven’t seen this full group go up against these Elite teams in a high stage like that and it’s going to I think be very clarifying for what their immediate future looks like yeah all right well a lot of things to look forward to um are you looking forward to

All-star weekend I think uh Steph Curry Sabrina yonescu is the uh is the Highlight on the menu for me uh bonts I’m not sure on the LED court at Lucas Oil Stadium where the NBA is going to be all about being back to basketball playing at a football stadium gonna be

Good on an LED Court yeah uh well we’ll see they are trying to uh in addition to going back to East vers West rosters on Sunday um uh is they are not going to according to Adam Silver not going to have a big long giant introduction ceremony and all

This different stuff so the players can properly warm up and go through their routine um Jackson is furious that you can’t shoot on the hoop at the airport they they installed a uh a faux court at the airport in Indianapolis um and can’t the NBA the

NBA spent a lot of time this year talking about how they need to have people care about the All-Star game as far as the players go and the product needs to be better than last year I am curious to see how it goes we just put

It that way now some of these tweaks they’ve made for the first year make a big difference you know the first time that we had the draft I think was the All-Star Game in La that was terrific the first year that we went to the elendi gave us the great game in Chicago

That we had it’s the year two and beyond that tends to be the issue but you know the warm-up is I think you know I think it is more than a joke that that’s a factor that throws players out of their routines I think probably the bigger

Issue is the number of parties that are held on Saturday night the NBA uh probably not going to be able to to change that that one’s out of Pand I suspect that will not be changing well Mr bontemps will be all over the social uh coverage for us we can’t wait for

Your updates um all right thank you Mr Pelton thank you Mr B and joy Indianapolis thank you to Jackson our producer thank you for listening we’ll talk to you next week

Denver Nuggets’ Sluggish Play + Boston Celtics Ready For Finals Run? | The Hoop Collective
Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Kevin Pelton to talk if the Nuggets’ sluggish play of late is a concern, a wild game in Phoenix, if Tatum can elevate to MVP status, if Boston is prepared for a deep postseason run and how dangerous the Pelicans can be down the stretch of the season at full strength.
#thehoopcollective #nba #espn

0:00 Intro
1:27 Nuggets Struggling Of Late
15:11 Wild Game In Phoenix
19:15 Can Tatum Elevate To MVP Status?
29:08 Boston Prepared For Playoff Run?
45:05 Are The Pelicans Dangerous At Full Strength?

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