Celtics or The Field? Why Jayson Tatum & Boston will ROLL to NBA Finals | Hoops Tonight

Celtics or The Field? Why Jayson Tatum & Boston will ROLL to NBA Finals | Hoops Tonight

What’s up everybody thanks as always for supporting the show it would mean a lot to me if you would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel and then follow me on social media on Tik Tok Instagram and Twitter

So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball so the Bucks are three and seven since Doc Rivers took over the Sixers are three and seven in their last 10 games obviously injuries have played a huge

Role there the Miami Heat are basically all of their top tier athletes except for bam at of Bio are currently hurt the New York Knicks entire front line is currently hurt literally they’re starting three four and five are all out and so they’ve been looking pretty rough

As of late the Pacers and Cavs have like some exciting Talent obviously the Pacers haven’t been able to really play that well under with seak in the lineup yet uh I think a big part of that is tyres Halton is still struggling to come back from his injury hasn’t looked that

Good uh but the Cavs are winning a ton of games but they don’t really check a lot of boxes that you would expect to see among a traditional NBA Contender so here’s my question for you guys at this point is it a safe for bet to take the

Celtics over the field in the Eastern Conference I definitely think so because this is a really overwhelmingly talented basketball team and I legitimately believe that there is at least five like sub Allstar caliber talents Derek white there was certainly a push for him to make it at a stretch early in the year

When you consider his incredible defensive value his secondary playmaking his pull-up shooting his catch and shooting like that’s a top 50 guy in terms of winning impact and then everybody else I would just say stamped is an All-Star caliber Talent like Drew hasn’t had the offensive production this

Year but he is doing so many unbelievable things defensively and KP I legitimately thought should have been there he’s the most efficient 20 point per game scorer in the league he has been the second most effective rim protector in basketball in terms of the field goal percentage that he’s holding

Opposing players to at The Rim so it’s ridiculous like this is a regular season Juggernaut and they are very much working their way into those conversations when we talk about the best regular season teams of the 21st century at the very least we’ve seen so much more parody in the league in recent

Years in terms of teams not having those like utterly dominant regular seasons and they could be the first 65 win team since the 2018 Rockets they’re 11th all time in point differential per game so I just don’t want to under sell how great of a basketball team this is and how I

Do think the Dynamics are at least a bit different from years past on top of them just having even more overwhelming talent because of a guy like christs porzingis because of now how truly overwhelming the offensive skill is the fact that everybody on the floor at all

Times is a highlevel shooter so any drive and kick situation when you’re forced to help somebody is going to be getting a good shot from Deep he is also the ultimate mismatch attacker like in the NBA right now porzingis is averaging 1.4 points per post up it’s obscene he

Can shoot over anybody at will he’s the most physical we’ve ever seen him getting great position and he’s drawing fouls at an obscene rate because he’s just got overwhelming physical advantages in a vast majority of those matchups and that’s the problem that teams are going to face defensively

Against Boston it’s really your weakest defender on the floor can be hunted by anyone at any time they just have so many dudes who are so skilled offensively and also so high-end athletes physically imposing and then you consider the addition of a Drew holiday who brings a little bit more

Offensive punch certainly compared to like a Marcus smt and is defending at an even higher level especially when you consider what he can do as a RoR what he can do guarding post players like the guy’s just a freak Derek white is significantly better than he’s ever been

Jason Tatum is stronger he’s more willing to post up and I know Jason that you and really we on your show have discussed often how he at times it still feels like lets defenses off the hook and should impose himself more physically and does rely too much on

Those pull-up threes at a high volume and that’s killed him in the past but he is at least a better version of himself and introducing a guy like KP I think is somebody who can allow them to break some of those stretches where they are relying too much on pull-up threes one

Pass catch and shoot threes because he really can find a mismatch at almost any time on the floor and he is that interior scoring presence and it’s a small sample size but in clutch situations this year he has been their number one score and he’s done it with

Crazy efficiency so I think this team is great I still slightly prefer Denver because I think they have the best player on the floor by a lot and I think that that offensive formula is just going to be effectively Unstoppable for them but if Jason Tatum played like a

Consistent Superstar maybe top five player kind of guy it would be tough for anybody to beat Boston and out east there are some teams that have upside but they just have a lot more questions I love the Knicks but for them to beat Boston you would need Julius Randle to

To play at a sustained level that I just don’t buy from him he is like one of the great playoff droppers of the 21st century he has fallen apart in every individual playoff series that we’ve seen him in and the the Dynamics are different there because they have so

Much more spot up shooting their defensive Personnel is so much better but at the end of the day with Randall in a volume role like you’re going to need him to deliver and I just don’t trust him and then the bucks you always have the upside because Dame and Giannis

Can go nuclear but they would need to somehow figure out a way to guard this Boston team who has all of these skilled and yet big and strong and Athletic ball handlers and I just don’t see that like Pat Bev is your point of attack defensive move at the deadline you can’t

Play a dam and Pat Bev lineup against the Boston Celtics like you’re just going to get bullied so ultimately everybody else’s flaws to me are just more significant and this Boston team is crazy talented they are crazy talented they’re big they’re physical they’re athletic all throughout the line up and like you

Mentioned Carson too they’re all super skilled I I I won’t say that I haven’t seen a starting five this talented in a long time because I think they would be selling Denver’s starting five last year really short but this is a dominant group and I think that the rest of the

East is very flawed I would take Boston out of the East but Carson I think you point to the Fatal flaw and I’m G to be that guy again the one thing that does scare me about the playoffs is the fact that Boston is attempting nearly 44% of

All their shots from Deep that’s the most in the league and they attempt just uh just below 29% of their shots at The Rim that’s 27th in the league right so when we’re talking about offensive dynamism in the clutch it’s Boston does tend to settle a little bit I think this

Year they are more well equipped to uh get rid of that fatal flaw because they have christops because they have a guy like Drew holiday Derek white Jaylen Brown Jason Tatum these are all guys that like you said Carson in hypothetical matchups against teams they can kind of get in theory the Celtics

Are so dominant physically and athletically and have these advantages is that they should be able to get whatever they want but it’s their tendency to go to those outside shots but I do think this is a different year and if we’re going to predict Boston to finally break through and get through

That ceiling it’s going to be this year because of christops because I think he breaks uh he can break up those lows you said it perfectly that’s going to be the biggest challenge for Boston to overcome it has been the past two seasons and I do think the East is just

Really far away man the Knicks are my favorite Contender outside of them but I just don’t believe in Julius Randall enough for them to get it done I still think that I want to see Boston’s offense be a little more Dynamic but they’re just too talented for me to bet

Against them so I’m so you’re taking Boston over the field as well Logan yes I will okay so I do as well and you know it’s interesting I I’m more or less exactly where I was with Boston at the beginning of the Season like I I predicted before the

Season that they would be a much better regular season team than Milwaukee I kind of saw some of these issues coming with Milwaukee the issues have been bigger than I’ve expect Ed particularly as it pertains to Dame like Dame has shot below 40% from the field in 10 of

His last 15 games how crazy is that yeah like like it’s become a safer bet than not that he’s going to have a putrid shooting night on On Any Given night that he goes out there it’s like it’s like anytime you look at the box scores or you’re looking through the nightly

Slate on the ESPN app and you click on a Bucks game it’s like you could bet it’s going to be like five for 17 for Dame like it’s just like it’s become the the the the trend here over the course of this especially as of late like it’s

It’s not one of those things where he’s gaining Rhythm and figuring it out with continuity it’s actually getting worse over time but with the Celtics I mean obviously there are still some things there that are big question marks as it pertains to like just look at their most

Recent losses like all of their recent losses have involved going up against the upper level upper echelon teams in the league and then their offense in particular falling apart that said any sort of question Mark that has risen from the Celtics this year pales in comparison to the question marks we’ve

Seen elsewhere the Bucks have defended a little bit better since doc took over but their offense has completely Fallen apart obviously I agree with you like Patrick Beverly I think as as far as the discounted options that were available at the deadline I thought he was a good

Pickup yeah and I think I think he gives them a certain look that they can go to I I think in particular matchups it’ll be super valuable like going against br pretty much anybody that’s guard Centric so like a team like New York like I’d

Love to have him to throw at a Jaylen Brunson for extended stretches of a series and stuff like that but I just think the the the question marks that have kind of materialized over the course of the season for Milwaukee greatly exceed that that we’ve seen from

Boston the Sixers even if embiid was healthy I didn’t really view them as a legitimate Contender I didn’t think they had enough shot creation uh Beyond Joel embiid not to mention obviously all the question marks surrounding Joel embiid like basically his success this year in large part has fallen on the jump shot

Which is pretty much what the success was in his MVP season last year and so that kind of raised some question marks as to whether or not that would translate to the next level the Miami Heat you know like in a weird way uh like they have it even before Terry

Rosier H his leg it it they weren’t really getting much offensive production out of Terry Rosier to begin with they’re a team that relies pretty heavily on guys like Duncan Robinson and Tyler herrow to generate offense that to me is kind of makes them along shot although I’ll never write off the Miami

Heat obviously yeah but but I have the question marks there on the Knicks front you know you know Carson you were talking about Julius Randall one of the big things that I look at with him is he’s such a rhythm player and like I almost feel terrible for him with this

Shoulder injury because once again he’s going to come back and have like 15 games to get his legs underneath him before he gets into the postseason and that specifically is the issue Julius randle’s that guy that like if he can play two consecutive months without getting hurt he kind of like just gets

In a Groove where his touch is dialed in and he becomes really gifted but like again if you just zoom out from the Knicks it’s like you need o anobi to come back and not have any more issues with his elbow he literally didn’t they literally have to remove a foreign body

From it you know you’ve got Julius Randall and his rhythm and inconsistencies and then Mitchell Robinson will he come back or not there just a lot of question marks on that front and so when you just break it down to odds it just feels a hell of a lot

More likely that Boston will win than any of these other stories even combined and you know I did a deep dive on the Celtics earlier this week talking about some of their spacing principles and you know I think there’s a pretty clear line to some of their offensive issues being

Solved like for instance when they look to attack from the wings in particular with an occupied corner it seems to kind of bait specifically Tatum and brown into really difficult pull-up jump shots because they don’t see driving lanes because guys are digging down into the lanes and all the Celtic Shooters are

Good Shooters but none of them are like like unbelievable dead eyee like you cannot leave this guy open even for a second type of Shooters they all can be a little streaky you know like like Derek white very good shooter but he’s not a he’s not a professional shooter

You know Drew holiday very good catch and shoot shooter not a professional shooter you know like that’s where it gets these guys you can kind of sit into driving lanes and close out and and and kind of just play the numbers in a lot of ways but you know you put it simply

Carson like if he plays at a top five level they’re just going to win yeah that’s the way I see it like because the one case is that a team like Denver or a team like the Clippers can just bring significantly more star power to bear in

In these sorts of situations in as much as Tatum can close that Gap they just have so much more margin for error than than than the rest of these teams and so I mean really I guess this would be my last question for you guys before we

Move on do you think with some of the implications of the second apron with the new CBA and with the rise of some of these other teams around the league do you view this particular playoff run as a as an urgent one for Boston does it

Feel like this is the one they have to win that’s an interesting question I think that there are other teams that are in position to be good for the foreseeable future I mean Denver stands out as a team that pretty much has their fundamental core in place at least through this next

Season but the Celtics at least basically have all their key guys under control through next year so I would say it doesn’t have to be this year but the pressure continues to mount like you can only be the most talented team in the league and not win the title so many

Times Boston was the most talented team in the league last year I would say they didn’t win the title and then they got like significantly more talented so in terms of is their window going to close no I don’t think so but now they have implemented right a more veteran guy in

Drew holiday who’s 33 years old and so he is not necessarily going to retain his value for years upon years KP is playing the best he ever has and it’s not that he’s old he’s only 28 but the injuries remain a concern and hopefully it doesn’t bite them this year and

Hopefully it doesn’t become like a truly inhibitive thing later down the line but it could so I wouldn’t say that they have to do it this year but I would say this year or next there’s a lot of pressure on them to get it done one of

Those years another guy a key rotation guy that’s getting older too is Al Horford you know I mean and I think that I think that every year is a must win you know what I mean but I think this year specifically with what you guys laid out about how specifically weak the

Eastern Conference is I think it has to be this year right I mean this would be the biggest indictment and embarrassment that this team has ever suffered and they’ve had bad playoff uh shortcomings against Miami and the ECF against the Warriors in the finals right uh there is

A huge monkey on Boston’s back and I feel like it’s going to continue to grow unless they get it done this year they do feel like the overwhelmingly most talented team and yeah I I don’t think the rest of the East is up to muster man

Like I said I like the Knicks a lot but there’s too many moving Parts there I completely count out the Bucks I I think they have to not that they have to get it done like you said they’re going to have these guys next year but I think

This would be the most embarrassing what like if they don’t get to the finals you know what I mean I think this would be the worst uh season for this Boston team in the past five years I I don’t think it’s a must-win type of postseason opportunity but I

Would just put it like that it’s an opportunity in the sense that like Milwaukee kind of reminds me of Phoenix last year where they’re they’re kind of dealing with some of the Fallout of making a superstar trade and some of the holes that that can open up on your

Roster the Knicks like they just feel like they’re coming in a in a big way in the sense that like they’re they’re they’re they’re really well-run they’ve got just a lot of really good basketball players on their roster and they have the means with which to make a superstar

Trade should something like that come available over the offseason like there’s just a lot of really encouraging stuff coming out of New York obviously like the the the young talented teams around the Eastern Conference whether it’s Indiana or it’s Cleveland Orlando is another team I’d keep an eye on in

The future as a team that could be a particularly could particularly be a pain in the ass in the playoffs just with some of the physical advantages they bring to the to the table so and then and then obviously out west like it’s just going to be a bloodbath out

There especially with some of the older teams on the table and like whoever comes out of the western conference is just going to be in worse shape in terms of how much they’ve had to endure than whoever comes out of the East and so I just I just view it as an opportunity

This feels like the year Tatum’s 26 or going to be 26 I think I think he he his birthday is very near either just happened or it’s going to happen soon so like to me it just is it’s the best opportunity that they’re going to have

To go get this thing and and so I I hope that you know for for Tatum’s sake that they can capitalize on It He

Jason Timpf and the guys from Nerd Sesh discuss the Eastern Conference through the first half of the NBA season. Sitting at the All-Star break, the Celtics are in a league of their own, and should be able to walk to the NBA Finals after a disappointing season from Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers missing most of the rest of the regular season with a torn meniscus. Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks may serve as the biggest threat to Jayson Tatum and the Celtics in the East.

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