We’re Out of Patience For the Phoenix Suns & The Mavs Are Thoroughly In the Mix | with Tim Legler

We’re Out of Patience For the Phoenix Suns & The Mavs Are Thoroughly In the Mix | with Tim Legler

Welcome to the old man of the three things with JJ reick and Tim legler legs it’s good to have you back man we haven’t chatt in a while no not at all man I’m looking forward to it we got this we got we’re talking again tomorrow

This is going to be good man looking forward to it we’ve got a lot of legler coming up and it’s going to be great um all right three things today uh let’s talk Phoenix Suns let’s talk Jaylen Brown and let’s talk Dallas Mavericks uh let’s start with the

Sons um I know you have some pretty strong opinions right now about where this team is at I just want to get your general thoughts about the team and also yesterday you know giving up 140 points to the bucks no Giannis where is the where are the

Phoenix Suns at right now in your mind you know JJ this was one of those situations where you know when it came together I think everybody was pretty excited about what it could look like and we know that they’ve had a very difficult time putting all three of

Their star players on the court at the same time um so I think the mentality has been for me and for pretty much everybody that that that does this for a living patience patience let’s see let’s see give them time they’ve got to develop a

Flow and a rhythm I’m just so far past that after what I watched yesterday I I I can’t take this team seriously when I watched a game yesterday in which I saw a group of guys that could not possibly be less interested in playing basketball than they were yesterday I I can’t even

Put strong enough words to it you’re playing against the Milwaukee Bucks without yanis Sant TMO and you give up 140 points you give up 24 made threes without them having that presence that draws all of that extra attention that leads to nights like that we know the

Bucks can light it up from three they take a lot they can make a lot they can put together games where they string them together but Giannis has usually got to be a piece of that and he wasn’t even out there and I just couldn’t believe what I was watching in terms of

The apathy defensively and look I’m not one of those guys that’ll just look at a box score or look at a number and say wow they didn’t play any defense because I actually thought they played decent defense against the Celtics couple games ago when they gave up a pretty big

Number but I felt like they were they were fairely energized and they were just Celtics were just playing out of their minds as they can do when when they shoot threes like that and they buried them and look that Boston Celtics when they get it going to the best

Offensive team in the NBA I felt like the suns were competing yesterday is a joke that’s an absolute joke that’s not NBA caliber that’s certainly not Contender caliber and I’m at the point now where man my patience has kind of run out with talking about this team and

Like waiting for it to come together and all the stuff that we say about teams like this WOW would you really want to play the Phoenix Suns in the first round series and you know they still have Kevin Durant like that’s all the stuff there’s all these qualifiers that we use

With the Phoenix Suns and what I watched yesterday for me right now has taking them out of that conversation so they’re gonna have to for me personally they’re gonna have to do something dramatically different here over the last you know month of the Season heading into the

Postseason to change my mind that this is a team that could be potentially dangerous because that was a team yesterday that absolutely did not feel like competing and that’s a different conversation than what we’re talking all the time with flow and rhythm getting guys together and they just need more

Time that’s that’s a different conversation than what I watched yesterday it was it was grotesque it was grotesque that’s all I can tell you because you’re you’re sitting down thinking okay I know Giannis isn’t playing but maybe this be a good barometer game maybe a measuring stick

Game for the Suns and it was it showed me like who they really are and it’s a group of guys that aren’t very connected right now and that was pretty embarrassing for me that was an embarrassing effort yesterday question for you because I know you re watched

The game you watched it uh live and then you rewatched it uh last night was there anything specific defensively in terms of their breakdowns you know you mentioned the apathy you mentioned the lack of energy did you see anything specific defensively in terms of their coverages or rotations where you said to

Yourself huh that’s interesting I think the two things that jumped out to me they were completely I don’t know if confused is the right word because you you shouldn’t be confused they’ve got they’ve got cerebral players they’ve got high IQ guys the first initial surge up the

Court by the bucks on pretty much anything make Miss turnover long rebound whatever it may be the number of times that Phoenix ran back completely out of balance in their initial just transition defense to get back to you know at least offer some resistance for that first

Push which is going to leave to a paint touch and then a kick out three or a throw ahead three whatever it may be they were completely completely lost like time and time again so so like what the Bucks got into immediately was something great whether that was a throw

Ahead and and a dribble Drive throw ahead and somebody’s just walking into a wide openen three-point shot so that was the first thing that jumped out and then the number of times they got beat off the dribble with the obvious next guy to slide over and protect on penetration

And force you know Milwaukee then to string together a couple of passes on the weak side that was pretty much non-existent if you got beat off the dribble you were toast there was nobody there no and I’m also going to say like the initial even just the pride with the

Exception probably of Grayson Allen who who competes like Grayson Allen he competes and he he was like down and ready and in his stance and he’s trying to like you know get after somebody and even if he got beat off the dribble there was no help coming but most of the

Other players on the court that initial even blowby like whatever you wanted to do quickly to get by me you have at it and they were just opening up and letting guys go and and then the the the moralization kicked in you could even Durant like the body language and just

The the head down and shuffling up the court offensively after another easy basket given up it just that looked like a team yesterday if I just JJ looked at their defensive effort their body language their lack of connectivity that looked like a team like say the Washington Wizards playing out the

String with 15 to go and guys are kind of fractured and you’re just kind of thinking about getting to the summer and guys are get putting up numbers on a given night or whatever it maybe that’s what it looked like that didn’t look like a team with three players on it

That are three the best offensive players in this league that should be you know contending in the Western Conference that’s not what I saw yesterday and so you asked for like one thing there was there was two many to count on the breakdowns I understand what you’re

Saying about this time of year and teams essentially just trying to get to the end and that’s typical of teams that are bad that are at the bottom of the standings and they just want to make sure they they essentially take care of their individual stuff right and get to

The end of the season healthy and go to Turks and caos right that that’s not that’s not the mindset of a team that and this is not just specific to Phoenix it’s not the mindset of a team that is supposed to be gearing up for a deep

Playoff run supposed to be a legitimate Contender some interesting stuff here um suns are now seven and seven in their last 14 when all three of their big three play when Durant Booker and Beal play fourth quarter still such a [ __ ] issue with this team worst offense in

The league in the fourth quarter uh bottom five defense in the first quarter they’ve tried to play faster in the fourth they were uh towards the bottom of the entire NBA in Pace in the fourth quarter over the last month or so they’ve tried to play faster uh their offense still has really

Struggled specifically to that because I you know yesterday is an example like Kevin Durant went scoreless in the fourth quarter played over 11 minutes it’s the most minutes in the fourth quarter for him and and to go scoreless that’s for that to happen that hasn’t happened since 2009 he’s got four points

In his last three fourth quarters played that is tied for the fewest points in a in the fourth quarter in a three- game Span in 15 years for him he’s got four more than I do in that same span yeah sum that up that’s that’s what we’re talking about the the offense for

Them is it’s interesting because uh it feels like at times it very much becomes all right we’re g to get the ball to this guy and we’re gonna allow him to just have his turn there’s not necessarily a ton of movement where you’re getting guys on the Move On The Run second side

Action um for Kevin Durant to have four points over the last three you know fourth quarters for him to go scoreless and it’s just it’s befuddling the way they are operating specifically in that part of the game and yeah you know you see like early in

The game there was um uh some action where they they ran a little misdirection pick and roll right into a nkit instead of rolling he set a pin down to get Kevin Durant to the Elbow there it just feels like there’s not enough of that and even when they do

Do that at times the guys whether it’s Beal Booker Durant whatever it’s again it’s the catch and then it’s waiting all right I’m in ISO I’m gonna I’m going to try to score or I’m going to try to make a a play but it’s it’s against the set

Defense and there’s just not enough oomph there’s not enough juice to their offense in the fourth quarter is that what you’re seeing absolutely and that’s not just the fourth quarter throughout the game and they’ve had moments they’ve had some games where I thought they were starting to figure it out and get it

Together together and I love them when they run whatever action they’re going to run initially and the ball goes nkit gets a touch on a slip or a dive he he’s just so important to make him touch it because he will finish at a high rate in

The paint and just the reaction it forces when Durant Beeler Booker come off that screen they’re typically gonna draw one and a half to two guys and then nkic gets that touch because it will force whether even and you could be as disciplined as you want and say hey

We’re going to let nage have as many as he wants on these slips and play one-on-one at the rim and stay home with those Corner Shooters like Allen and and O’Neal and whoever else it may be but in the moment we know this defensively it’s it’s in a moment your NE your gut

Reaction is if you’re guarding one of those Corner Shooters is to get down to at least the edge of the lane on that slip right and and you just it’s you can’t help yourself so I’ve seen them play that way where that he gets a touch

And then it will come out from there if they do rotate over it’ll come out and now be maybe it’ll be Royce seil Grayson all or maybe it goes back out to one of the stars and they attack a closeout guy and then there’s one more swing and then

There’s an on balance open three I’ve seen them play that way for short spurts and you start to think they’re turning a corner with that and this what I saw yesterday was something entirely different and look I was out there whatever that was 10 days ago whenever

It was I sat courts side I called the game against Boston at home that they didn’t have Booker that night Boston had just lost two straight and it was in Phoenix and and I thought the Suns really competed in that game I I I was not sensing wow you know they’re not

There’s no resistance here I thought actually I was actually kind of surprised the amount of contact was being allowed with with hands and forearms on the perimeter on ball handlers like that most games you don’t see it like that they were letting those guys play through contact I was

Impressed with the physicality of It ultimately Boston just had too much and they wanted to end the losing streak they lost two straight hadn’t lost three in a all year you could you could see they were definitely out they needed to get that game I thought Phoenix competed

And they just didn’t have enough ultimately in the fourth quarter um that’s not what this was yesterday I don’t know how you explain a team going through the motions defensively like that when you’re getting the bucks without Giannis ja you got to be thinking to yourself you’re precariously

Situated out there in the west like this is an opportunity that should elicit a greater defensive reaction out of you without Yannis there’s no there’s no way that you can look at this and say oh they just didn’t really you know they didn’t have Giannis so they didn’t get

Up for the game come on man you’re not positioned like that to to to come out there and play that way and so this that’s why this is like very concerning what happened yesterday because that was a that would to me that was a pre-season level effort and maybe not even maybe

I’m not even doing preseason Justice because preseason at JJ you’ll have a handful of guys out there trying to make the team that are that are just diving over loose balls and leaving skin on the floor right right so maybe I’m not even doing it justice by calling it that it

Was more like a scrimmage feel to it or like a health club pickup game that’s kind of what it felt like from Phoenix’s standpoint and then when once they got down 1820 just the lack of competitive will to say man come on timeout out of the timeout here’s a 120 run like this

Is ridiculous never saw it never saw that I just thought it was a bad sign man I I just think this time of year the year they’ve had to lay a egg like that in terms of your effort it’s going to be hard for me to erase that one out of my

Mind every time I have to evaluate the Suns uh you bring up the the key you know one of the key pieces in that offense is nurkic and his ability to playmake out of the high post playmake out of the short role uh you know I was calling the game last Saturday against

Boston and uh both Bradley Beal and Frank vogle talked about the importance of Bradley Beal as a driver just getting paint touches whether it’s a snake where he you know keeps the ball at a pick and roll but just his ability to get downhill in the paint get it in the

Paint this is a team in terms of a shot profile they take a ton of mid-range shots they don’t take a ton of shots at The Rim you know Durant and Booker are going to get the headlines on this team but Beal and and nurkic and obviously

Grayson Allen in his shooting Beal and nurkic both of them so important to try to make this offense work particularly in the fourth quarter giving giving them something other than and just Booker and Durant isos and you bring up uh the precarious Western Conference standings let’s just check in on that real quick

So Sacramento uh with 28 losses is in sixth both Dallas and Phoenix identical records at 39 and 29 Dallas in seventh uh Phoenix in eighth those guys are just two games up right now on the Golden State Warriors with 31 losses um three games up but I I only count losses

Because you still got to play all all 82 games so two games up in the L column on the Golden State Warriors Dallas with a huge win last night uh against the Denver Nuggets uh is it safe to say that that Kyrie Irving buzzer beater was it’s one

Of if not the most ridiculous buzzer beaters I’ve ever seen in my life at any level at any level and by the way I’m including three quter court heaves that go viral from from high school the left-handed 20 foot running hook shot over nicoa yic when people talk about

Kyrie Irving being the most skilled player ever and I’m not here to debate that that day or ba debate that today but when people talk about that it’s because of moments like this the confidence to shoot that shot and have it go in is just insane yeah here’s the

Thing you’re not not one word that you just said is hyperbole there’s no overstatement I don’t know that I would have enough words to accurately describe what I watched of that play because the thing is it wasn’t anything about that that was flukish he shot the basketball the way

He wanted to shoot the basketball with his left hand it was kind of a weird it was I don’t know how to describe it it wasn’t really a a jumper it wasn’t really a floater where like your palm is like behind the ball right it it wasn’t

A hook shot it was like it was like a a combination of all three of those things in one with yic with an outstretched hand and and you know look I thought a huge huge huge win for them you as well as they played and I thought they played

Really hard in this game I thought Denver came to play and you could see that by the emotion out of Mike Malone at times throughout this game like you know at one point remember him calling the timeout and scream aing at his guys as they’re coming off the court to grab

A rebound after Dallas had just had three straight possessions where they got offensive rebounds and finally one possession they got three shots and led to a bucket and you could just see the way that they played competed the way he was at like they wanted this game this

Was a big game everybody’s out there we didn’t know if Luca was gonna play he plays Denver’s got their guys like this was this lived up to it and so for Dallas if they had lost that game in overtime it’s just doesn’t get it gives you even though like hey maybe they lose

On a buzzer beater an overtime to Denver doesn’t matter like that they were hey we played really well against them it’s the same gut punch feeling it’s demoralizing they had to finish the deal in this game because I I’ve been high on Dallas since they made the Acquisitions

At the trading deadline and I’m not changing the way I feel and what you saw yesterday in the way that those two star players players played and the way Kyrie finished that game tells you why I like the new pieces they fit the the Lively fits

Um Gafford fits they they can shoot it and then they’ve got these two guys that can absolutely Trump anything that’s put in front of them defensively any scheme any matchup anything any effort whatever it may be there’s no real answer for either one of those guys and Kye

Reminded us that this is one of the most special offensive talents this league has ever seen there’s a lot that comes with Kyrie Irving a lot of things we’ve talked about have nothing to do with basketball over the course of the last you know half a dozen years or more but

There is no denying that this is one of the most Sensational offensive talents this league has ever seen and what he did at the end of that game defies any logic that that ball can go in and and the reaction of Luca was tremendous and like the whole team you know that looks

Like a team that you know just punched their ticket to the final four like that’s the reaction you get you know out of that it’s amazing so it was amazing to watch and um I don’t know that I I’ve watched that shot probably 10 12 times

Just to see am I missing something here was there anything about this that was luck was one eye closed like what was going on here nothing that was pure man he wanted to he did what he wanted to do and he made one of the most incredible

Buzzer beating shots that this game has ever seen did you did you call it maybe a throw is that what you did you call it a throw you said it was it wasn’t really a runner it wasn’t a runner and it wasn’t a jump shot it was a little bit of all

Three yeah almost like a little almost like a little baseball toss like a left-handed baseball toss and his hand kind of his hand kind of Twisted he like T interesting CU When he going that direction right shooting with your off hand it’s almost like he had to put a

Little action on it you know what I mean that’s such a great Point JJ because you’re right look I we’ve all you know you’re a great shooter I was a great shooter like we we can make all kinds of crazy [ __ ] like people would be shocked

That some of the [ __ ] we would do right messing around or whatever or even in the game sometimes going to your right like you could I could go to my left hand and shoot like a little fade similar to how I would go to my left and

Shoot a FV right I could I could do that you know but to go left with a hand coming at you this way this side of your body with you’re obscuring the rim to put that ball out to the side while you’re drifting left and not have the

Ball go left of the rim that’s that’s incredible so to do that you had to kind you had to kind of put that little twist at the end to get the inertia going back in the opposite direction from his body man it was it was Unreal and um Dallas

Has been it’s been a little bit of a wild ride for them and they were so good initially with these Acquisitions and then they struggled and now they’re playing well again so they’re thoroughly in the mix they’ve embedded themselves man and that’s a that you talk about

Dangerous that’s dangerous I want to get to that in a second I want to get to that in a second there’s a few things I just wanted to to point out number one on Kyrie Irving um over the last four seasons there are 48 players in the NBA

To take 20 250 or more non- dunk shots at the rim with both hands so 250 left-handed non- dunk shots at The Rim 250 right-handed non- dunk shots at The Rim 48 players have done that only four players have shot 55% or better uh Kyrie Irving is one of them Nicole yic Drew

Holiday you you see Drew use his left all the time the fourth guy by the way I was shocked to see this buddy healed how about that buddy hee but when we talk about you know everybody talks about Kyrie Irving finishes and sometimes with certain guys you’re like oh you know you

See a highlight tape and it’s like oh this guy’s a great finisher and then you go look up the numbers and you’re like no he’s not with Kyrie the reputation is backed up by all the data this guy’s a ridiculous finisher and an insane uh sort of uh ambidextrous player um you

Brought up Gafford and Washington found this interesting uh so prior to their debut on February 10th Dallas ranked 29th in paint points since February 10th they ranked fifth in paint points sixth in Fast Break points obviously if you score a layup in transition that counts

As a paint point so uh playing a little bit faster getting out in transition more Gafford and Washington have been huge and you mentioned Derek Lively and I thought you know in watching that game I thought by the way you’re talking about the Phoenix Suns at this stage of

The Season what a ju position against the Denver Nuggets and how they’ve looked coming out of All-Star break best record in the league 11-1 coming into Yesterday 11-2 now Boston at 10- two but Denver has had a purpose to everything they’re doing I thought watching that game yesterday there were

Times where I felt like joic was really trying to go after Derek Lively and Derek Lively to his credit more than held his own against Nicole yic joic was two for eight when Lively was the contesting Defender and there were times where he tried to you know I don’t want

To use the word Punk him but he was trying to be physical with him uh and use his body Lively held his ground I thought it was an outstanding game for him he’s been such a he’s been such a good rookie and to to your point about Dallas in the

Playoffs he’s got to be a guy who steps up and stars in his role where do you sort of View Dallas right now in the Western Conference in the playoffs here’s how I look at the West right now because you got obviously major questions about cat and what’s GNA

Happen Minnesota the Clippers couldn’t look worse than they look right now we just talked about the Phoenix Suns OKC’s been very consistently good all year um outside of of the Nuggets who I think you know I really think are in a class of their own in fact if it wasn’t for

The Denver Nuggets I think we would all just basically go ahead and say tell Boston to play a parade route right that because Boston has been so good and yet the Denver Nuggets are still there they’re still in the league they still look the way they look that’s the only

Thing standing in Boston’s way probably is is Denver and so that to me they’re they’re still on a separate shelf from everybody else in the Western Conference I think Dallas is right there now they’re laying claim with any of those other teams because there’s just so many questions about them and Oklahoma City

Just got them and look there’s a continuity thing with Oklahoma City and there their pieces fit so great together and the way that they play um you know Oklahoma City would be favored in a series with the Dallas Mavericks I believe in a best of seven I’m not sure

I would pick Oklahoma City to win that series um because of Luca and the way the extent to which he can control that everything about it and what he has already proven he can do when the when the stage is the biggest and the lights are the brightest like he he has the

Ability to just slow everything down to a pace that he wants and so I think they’re right there now JJ you could put Dallas for me in the mix with any of those teams because there’s question marks about all of them right now and I think Dallas you know they’ve won five

Out of six they’ve had three really good wins The Only You The One Loss was to Oklahoma City um so they do have to prove themselves still but I think look if Dallas continues to play out this last month and they’re playing the way they’re playing right now they’re I mean they

Can avoid Denver somehow just avoid whatever that matchup ends up being that bracket if they can avoid that bracket they’re gonna have a great chance man to to win a round or two and end up in the Conference Finals I believe because I think they they right now can lay claim

To it just as much as any team out there other than Denver Josh Green believe he’s nursing an ankle he’s got to get healthy I think yesterday they said he’s got another another couple weeks they need him his energy defensively um another guy who can knock down

Shots you know we spend so much time well I don’t know if I’m going to include we in that but I get sometimes put into these discourse conversations we spend so much time talking about Jason Tatum and the pressure of H you know never having one the big one and

You know he seems almost unflappable at times like it doesn’t bother him I I think I I’ve talked about this a couple times already this year he’s not fighting the game anymore and he’s he’s for the most part just making it easy he’s making the right read we we probably haven’t spent enough

Time on the season that Jaylen Brown has had and on the play of Jaylen Brown since the all-star break you have a pretty strong opinion right now of of sort of where Jaylen Brown is at as a player I think it’s the best basketball he’s played and look the guy’s been

Great and and I’ve always loved Jaylen Brown because he I mean he really likes to play defense he takes on that challenge they don’t they don’t hide him he’s going at whoever that is on that end of the floor and so the question with Jaylen Brown has always been about

Like the super high level consistency the shot selection um being able to make plays for people going either Direction that’s been a problem for him at times having balance in his game with all three phases you know four really you count post-ups Rim catch and shoots off the dribble stuff like just balance

There in his game so he’s making the right reads counter moves to being guarded a certain way like the these were the things and areas of growth that he needed to see out of him I think he’s put it all together JJ I think it’s all happening for him right now as we’re

Watching him um since the All-Star break he’s LED them in scoring six times Jason Tatum five times and there are nights I’ve watched them and you and I know look if I listed right now and I think I pretty sure any one of the 30 teams in the league I

Could just say the team right now and immediately I’d say who’s their best player you’re immediately gonna have a name it’s G be the same name as mine and the same name as most people because it’s an easily clearly identifiable person and it’s the same thing with

Boston like you’re going to say Jason Tatum you know what I mean you’re not gonna you’re not GNA hesitate on you’re gonna say Tatum right off the bat and and my point with this is but lately when you’re watching them if you didn’t know anything about the Boston Celtics

But you knew the game of basketball but you’ve never seen them play and you were watching the Celtics here over the last couple of weeks since the allar break there are nights you go this just looks like that guy’s team Jaylen Brown the way he has played like the self

Assuredness that he has played with and the way that things are funneling in his Direction and to some to put it in perspective what we’re talking about here since the break 26 points per game set several points above his his season average 54% from the field 41% on

Threes and here’s to me one of the most two two these last two are two maybe the most important his assist the turnover ratio and that’s stretch jaylen’s like three to one 3 to one that’s not Jaylen Brown’s strength so he’s taking care he’s never going to be a guy that’s out

There getting you know six eight 10 assists like regularly that’s that’s not really who he is but there were a lot of nights where he’d get three assists and have four turnovers you know four assists three turnovers like that was like a typical statline for him he’s

Almost three to one assist to turnover since the All-Star break so like his decision making and where he’s taking the ball is just so much better right now it’s clean and then the last one you remember the game against Denver that they lost in Denver now Denver you know

Two and0 against them on the year two of the best games I’ve watched all season those two matchups uh they lose the game Tatum struggles could have redeemed himself if he makes a corner three late didn’t on a wideopen look just had a rough night well you know Jaylen Brown did in

That game 41 points 14 rebounds that’s what Jaylen Brown did in this super high level Marquee game everybody’s watching it it’s going to be scrutinized to the ends of the Earth knowing that Boston they already lost once they wanted this game they come in there and Jaylen brown

Maybe has his best game of the year 41 points 14 rebounds against that team that defense on the road on a night when his partner is struggling so I just look at it all and I say it’s it’s come together right now for Jaylen Brown I

Think at a higher level than at any point in his career um I’m enjoying watching him I think more than I have you undersold it a little bit by the way he’s averaging 29 since the allstar break oh is that he’s played he’s played in 10 of the 12 games it’s okay it’s

Okay Tim all the other stuff was correct I think what’s interesting too is like since the All-Star break he’s taking obviously everybody on Boston has had to sacrifice a little bit uh in terms of their their usage rate there’s a you know there’s a little bit uh with with

Tatum and brown for sure but those two guys are still going to take the most shots on the team on a on on average right porzingis little bit sacrificed Drew probably is the one guy that has had to sacrifice the most just in terms of his on ball usage uh he’s fitted into

This role now as a spot up Guy where he’s shooting the highest percentage of his career but since the All-Star break uh Jaylen Brown is averaging uh two more shots per game than Tatum and you brought up his partner you said his partner and I think this is where the

Partnership between them is so solid right now yeah I don’t think it’s a stretch to say there were times over the last six years uh I guess it’s seven years now but you know in the previous six years where it felt like they fought it a little bit not that there was

Internal strife but within a game oh I I I I haven’t taken a shot in a while I’ve got to get my shot you know Jaylen just took four shots or Tatum Tatum’s taking shots I I need to take my I need to get my stuff right it doesn’t feel that way

Right now for either of them there’s like like a confidence a self-confidence and a comfort level with the partnership you you feel it watching the game Tatum now has just said all right you know what if they’re going to put two on the ball early in the game I don’t need to

Take eight shots in the first quarter to get myself going I know the ball is going to come back back around on this team and so at times I think I think Jaylen has just been the beneficiary of that and obviously he can self-create brought up the defense to me uh when I

When I watch the Celtics this year it’s the best he’s been defensively in terms of engagement on the ball and engagement off the ball like he’s lock he’s locked in defensively um I I you know I brought him up last week with the dunker spot guys I think there there’s probably n

Said 33 guys that are you know in consideration for the for the 10 for the 10 all defensive team spots I think we got to like 15 names and and Jaylen Brown was one of them I think he’s been excellent defensively of course they have a number of guys who’ve been

Excellent defensively it’s interesting because you bring up Jaylen Brown and and this is the best he’s looked and like Jason Tatum over his last five games is averaging 30 points six rebounds almost six assists shooting 45% from three it’s like we’ve just gotten numb a little bit to Tatum we

Just like to highlight oh he had a bad game against Denver can he do it and it’s like all right there’s 82 games this guy is durable he’s going to play almost every night he’s he’s he’s really [ __ ] good Jason Tatum is really [ __ ] good yeah I I brought up at the

Turn of the year uh back on January 1 we did a Islands In The League episode and we did New Year’s resolutions and my New Year’s resolution for Jason Tatum was just to drive more and stop taking pull-up threes uh he’d shot I think 29%

Uh on pull-up threes up to that point uh last year was one of the worst in the NBA in terms of the high volume pull-up three-point Shooters he’s now shooting since January 1st he’s now shooting around 40% on pullup threes when he’s making off the dribble threes this is a

Tough team to beat uh it really is and the last two points I want to make just because I looked it up this morning so I mentioned the Records Denver 11-2 since the break Celtics 10- two they’ve they’ve got the two best records in the NBA since the break the Celtics

Offensively over the last last 12 games since the All-Star break have an offensive rating of 127.85 we’ve got to give some balance got to allow a little more physicality great the Celtics are averaging 100 or have a offensive rating of 128 coming out of that All-Star break when it’s

Been mandated uh we need we need more balance we need more balance 128 offensive rating over the last 12 games that’s insane it’s insane last point I want to make on Jaylen Brown think about the playoffs right and I think about Boston one of the slowest teams in the

NBA uh in terms of pace actually I think they are the slowest team in the NBA in terms of pace in the fourth quarter I think about how the game in general slows down in the playoffs and officials allow more it’s just natural it happens every

Year I think one of the keys to the Boston Celtics playoff run and it’s this is obvious but I I just want to point this out one of the keys to me is Jaylen Brown in transition and it times that’s maybe where he’s at his best Jaylen Brown in

Transition in the playoffs if he can create those opportunities whether it’s through stops long rebounds throw ahead passes whatever it may be Jaylen Brown in transition is going to be something that I’m I’m legitimately watching for in the playoffs I completely agree with that and and that when he gets

Opportunities where they Advance the ball out of the back court up the sideline to him against a back pedaling defense and sometimes that’s after makes and I saw this when I was out there Phoenix I completely agree with you his ability because he is so strong and like

You don’t you don’t realize I think maybe even just watching him if you’re just a fan of the game watching the Celtics on TV how this dude’s put together he is so strong that when you throw it to him and he he gets that downhill you know Advance when he gets

Into any sort of Gap like his his like force field with his shoulders and the way he can just get into people’s chest and then explode off the ground and finish it’s an enormous part of his game and I think it gets him going gets him going especially if he can get something

Early in the game get something like that in the first quarter it seems to like unlock him to where he then now the whole thing he puts the whole package together you know what you’re talking about them with off with them offensively JJ it’s it’s just what

They’re doing to teams right now last night another example they played a bad team but Hower Hits 10 threes it’s like 10 threes in 23 minutes yeah they’re just you know they’re just having the time of their lives like offensively what they’re doing to people they’re absolutely destroying people and I

Always say like the three-point shot is how they end people because they’ll string together four or five of those like and it’s just like Boom game over it was a pretty good game thans were coming out it went from four to 18 in a three minute stretch because that’s how

They end you but I also think that’s like the one thing that make if you’re going to nitpick that’s that’s their one vulnerability right will they hunt that too too often too early too quickly and bail teams out of having to guard guys like Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum

One-on-one off the dribble because they’re when they get into the paint first and then they they move the ball you try to catch up to it there’s nothing you can do to slow them down with the number of guys that are shooting that shot at a high percentage

But to get into the paint to get to the rim to get up the floor early to attack early it sets a lot of that stuff up even the way the teams then have to think about retreating and getting back to stop that early attack and it leads

To really good stuff on the secondary breaks so I I agree with you it’s it’s a huge part of his game there’re I’m not going to say that I’ve always loved watching Jaylen Brown play I do now right now I love watching this dude play because he seems like it’s all come

Together for him you know and I think I’ve always said like I think like 25 to like 31 those are your best years man because you’re mature maturing you’ve gotten some money you probably got some personal accolades at that point you know if you’re on a good team you’ve had

Some team success you seem to be so you get comfortable with who you are yeah but as long as you’re a grinder you’re still continuing to add stuff like that’s what it looks like right now for me when I watch Jaylen Brown it’s all coming together for him and that’s why

There’s just such to me clear separation with the Celtics and and like everybody certainly in the East like I said if it wasn’t for the Denver Nuggets being out there I don’t think there’s any team that we would say can stand in the way of the Boston Celtics right now it’s a

Strong take it’s a strong take we’ll have more of those this week uh legs you’re coming up to New York we’re going to record some stuff tomorrow we’ll have a lot of legler over the next two weeks uh legs appreciate it man you’re the best man always great talk to soon I’ll

See you later

On this Monday’s episode of ‘The Old Man and the Three Things,’ JJ Redick is joined once again by ESPN’s Tim Legler to discuss how the Phoenix Suns have run out of time to figure it out after a disappointing loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, how Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Dallas Mavericks are officially in the mix for Western Conference contention, and how Jaylen Brown might be the best player for the Boston Celtics after the All-Star break. Let’s go!

0:00 Intro
0:25 Phoenix Suns
15:32 Dallas Mavericks
26:38 Jaylen Brown

Subscribe to The Old Man and The Three podcast w/ JJ Redick (ESPN / First Take) and Tommy Alter YouTube channel today for more NBA analysis, player interviews and highlights.