Boston Celtics nearly collapse, but still beat Milwaukee Bucks, Damian Lillard

Boston Celtics nearly collapse, but still beat Milwaukee Bucks, Damian Lillard

Not the best fourth quarter in the world but the Celtics have basically locked up the East Payton Pritchard Jaylen Brown awesome I’ll talk about it all right now on the locked on Celtics podcast Bluster it’s holiday season drop Drew in the mix and three from KP no we

Not on the knck flushing competition like Al on Yannis juice and Big D still being Town’s finest been a r team going up in the raps watch the SE game in locked on after caralis on the breakdown clut like a tip from D white on the breakdown John on the mic document and

Domination m p back B all SE Nation r j how we start a raising buiness how we finish locked on Celtics P home of the winners hey there welcome back to the lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the lockdown podcast nowords your team every day and I got you covered every

Single day plus bonus podcasts when they play on the weekends so make sure you are subscribed wherever you get your podcast however you’re listening right now or if you’re watching subscribe there on the YouTube channel get into the comment section let me know what you

Think if you’re new to the show I’m John corales I used to play a long long time ago now I’m covering the Celtics as a beat writer for Boston Sports Journal so check my stuff out there as well the Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks 12 122

To 119 a game that maybe probably should have gone a little bit more smoothly down the stretch probably uh could have been a bigger win as far as Point differential but hey look let’s start with this it’s a win the Celtics now the magic number to clinch the East is three

But it’s really kind of basically two because the Celtics by virtue of this win the the best Milwaukee can do is tie the Celtics in the season series so the head-to-head tiebreaker would be uh a wash the division winners they’d both be division winners so that wouldn’t be the

Tiebreaker then it goes to conference record and the Celtics have 36 wins to Milwaukee’s 30 so they’re gonna win the conference record tiebreaker so essentially even though it’s not official they essentially are going to win this tie breaker which means this is essentially a magic number of to and so

The next uh combination of Celtics wins uh win and loss from the Milwaukee Bucks is going to wrap up the East so uh I I guess I went out of order for my rundown over here on the leftand side over my left shoulder the right hand side of

Your screen wow I am off to a great start I am executing this podcast just like the Celtics executed in the fourth quarter qu uh but let me just finish up the Eastern Conference thing the Celtics uh 11 game lead now with 13 games to

Play so it’s it’s in the bag it’s in the bag it’s done uh as far as I’m concerned and yeah so uh the Celtics are not going to get caught and I don’t see did no we didn’t have an OKC game so Celtics gain a half game on the Thunder in the

Overall seed Chase so that’s that’s gon to be wrapped up pretty soon too so the the biggest the biggest thing for for Boston is you now have the rest of this regular season to just kind of you know try new things this is going to be an interesting finish with 13 games left

They they had on out on this road trip uh so it’ll be an interesting one but anyway fourth quarter not great so uh I got a shout out Jaylen Brown because after the game he kind of called it out he was asked the question so it’s not

Like he you know got on the mic and said hey I got something to say about our fourth quarter execution he was asked about it but I love what he had to say because the Celtics uh the the lead got up to 21 it was it was very very similar

To the Cleveland game they early in the quarter built up this this big lead it uh looked like with that Damen Lillard was on the bench it looked like the Celtics had an opportunity with the star sitting on the bench to just hit a couple of shots put this thing away and

They just didn’t and the Bucks got to come down and and you know get into transition and at least come down and start uh running their offense and and get crossmatched and they they started building some confidence and the Celtics just got a away from the things that were

Working and Jaylen after the game talked about the fourth quarter he said it doesn’t have to slow down as long as you take care of the ball you can still play with Pace still play with speed we don’t got to go into these slow isolation

Plays we can still get out and run good offense and have Pace I think that’s something we can definitely work on just because a game is in the fourth quarter doesn’t mean we have to play slower we just need to take care of the basketball but we can still play with Cas I

Hallelujah Jaylen Brown the fourth quarter execution was not the best now they did get some good looks and they missed some good looks Derek white hit a couple of Threes but missed a couple of Threes there they they did get good shots but also it was too slow and in

The way I I compared it I wrote it on Boston Sports Journal it’s like taking a multiple choice test for the opposing defense the Milwaukee Bucks all game long have had to take this multiple choice test each trip down the floor and there are five answers and it’s not easy to pick

Between those answers you can’t just guess with the Celtics who are the five answers who do you pick who do you defend is it porzingis is it brown is it Tatum is it white is whoever is on the floor and they didn’t have drew holiday

They didn’t have Sam Hower uh so not at full strength and and Milwaukee didn’t have Giannis but each trip down the floor for an opposing defense it’s a multiple choice test with five answers and it’s you you you there is no real right answer of Who You guard

But when the Celtics slow things down there’s because you have wasted so much time you’ve eliminated options you’ve basically said well instead of five answers you now have two answers so now you can kind of guess now you can load up and say well there you’ve started started your offense at

Like 10 11 on the shot clock so if you’re going to make one or two passes we know that within 10 seconds you’re going to have to do something versus when you get the ball up over the floor at you know 19 and then you start your

Offense in 19 second Anything Can Happen the ball can be passed to 10 times in 19 seconds so you you don’t know but if you start your offense at half of that then the options start to dwindle because you can only pass the ball so many times before shot clock you have to

You have to get the shot off it makes it easier you reduce the amount of choices so that’s something that the Celtics absolutely have to work on by the way Today’s Show is brought to you by fand duel make every moment more right now new customer get $200 in bonus Bets with

Any winning $5 bet that’s 200 bucks if your bet wins visit fanduel.com lockon to get started so the Celtics need to get into the habit of playing with Pace down the stretch I understand you have a lead and it’s the fourth quarter and time is on your

Side however points are also on your side and just because Milwaukee threw a a weird stupid 23 Zone which the entire time I was screaming at the TV like get somebody along the Baseline please can we have something on the Baseline when they play this two3 Zone the way they played

It because there are opportunities there to to get easy shots at The Rim if you just understand the way they’re playing it in fact let me take a second here I’ll get into it on the other side the that zone that Milwaukee played it’ll go down as being effective

But I think it absolutely sucked and Boston missed so many opportunities I hope I hope Milwaukee plays that EX exact same defense in the playoffs if the Celtics meet them in the Conference Finals I hope they play that again I’ll get into that in just a

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Fun gambling responsibly at fanduel.com locked on thanks for making locked on Celtics your first listen every day he are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day and you have to turn down the volume with all that shouting ah don’t do that make the switch to lock on

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Day long on YouTube or amazon.com loock downfire TV all right let’s get back into this zone defense where this the the Bucks backline of the Zone was in the middle of the lane and I can’t show it to you I don’t have the rights to show you all this stuff so I

Can’t I can’t really get into that I’m sorry uh visually on YouTube but I can describe it the the Celtics um the Bucks had that zone where the the the back line it was a two three and there was nobody beyond the middle of the lane so I don’t

Understand why you didn’t just have a uh cutter along the backside uh someone in the corner just cut and instead of cutting to find a a a bucket just come up and sit a back screen on that guy in the middle and have someone like porzingis set up in

The middle and just use that back screen to go up for a lob like it’s like you could have done some simple things uh some simple screens along the back line to free guys up for easy shots to collapse a defense and pass it out you

Didn’t have to settle for some of the shots that you were settling for and I think if the Celtics like I can only imagine what they’re going to say when they see that on film that they will pick that apart if the if Milwaukee does try that

Zone and I don’t even think this is gonna be like hey let’s throw this junk zone out there and see see if uh we can’t confuse them uh or or set us up for uh making them work too hard for something we’re not going to use in the

Playoffs who knows how they’re going to deploy that thing but it did disrupt it it will go down as being effective because it slowed Boston down and they were already getting slow anyway I’ll tell you what if you ever see in the fourth quarter guys like

Hurrying to get the ball over half court before the 8sec count that’s where the you know the Celtics are screwed they should never ever ever be rushing to get the ball over to beat the 8sec count that should not happen so you saw that a couple times

Anyway and then the Zone slowed them down and if if you just take a look at it and I it’s something the Celtics should be able to figure out in real time I know I’m approaching this as if they they my tone is almost like they lost

The game and I’m certainly not trying to be that way because to me a win is a win and I’m not I’m not sitting here going to be all negative over the fact that the Celtics won a game and but I am going to say that the fourth quarter

Execution was a little too a little too lazy and that zone was it was just kind of disappointing that the Celtics couldn’t figure that out more quickly and if they had just made a couple of baskets they would have held off the Bucks and who knows maybe maybe Dame doesn’t even come back

In and this game goes much much more differently but it’s something that like I said if if the Bucks decide to throw that zone at Boston again I I guarantee you that within two possessions three possessions that gets decimated if they try that again uh in

The playoffs or let’s say late in the season I don’t know how that game late in the season’s going to go in fact uh considering the fact that the Celtics are going to wrap up this Eastern Conference pretty soon the next time the Celtics play the Bucks I would sit everybody I

Would that game that’s a game where uh Shri mik starts you start like Jaden Springer starts that game like there’s no reason to go out at one another uh that’s we’re done playing the Bucks as far as I’m concerned the Celtics are done playing the bucks because there’s

No you gain nothing you gain nothing from playing them at full strength again so uh I I would I would at this point say we’re done so who cares if they show that zone again in the regular season it’s all about the playoffs uh they’ll they’ll they’ll pick that apart they

Should pick that apart because it was a garbage Zone uh and as scal said uh doc told them when he was coaching an ‘ 08 when they’re playing Zone it means they can’t guard you and and that’s true they could not guard the Celtics uh and then the Celtics did a

Nice job guarding themselves uh in that in that fourth quarter but but Jason Tatum steps up like you didn’t like how they got to that point that fourth quarter um but as I’ve said on this podcast multiple times the the the clutch uh situations that’s something that you want them to

Work on as often as possible so yeah they I I would have preferred that they didn’t get into that situation but also they did and it’s not a bad thing that they got into that situation from the standpoint of hey here’s another hard charging team let’s see if they can

Figure out how to execute and for what it’s worth after Bobby poris made it a three-point game there’s Tatum driving getting layup driving getting a foul two free throws um he scored eight points in the final two two plus minutes and someone made a comment on Boston sports joural like

Yeah but four of those were take files but like yeah four of those were take fouls but Tatum did put enough distance between them so Milwaukee had to start fouling like if Tatum didn’t execute when he did and make it a seven-point game then the spread never would have been big enough

Where Milwaukee only had fouls to give as their recourse to try to get back into the game so I understand the reaction to say yeah he scored eight points on the final couple minutes but four of them came off of take fouls uh yeah but if the if Tatum

Doesn’t make those plays there aren’t take files to give Milwaukee just plays defense so it’s all part of it so credit credit to Boston for not letting it get to tie game Milwaukee takes the lead right I just spent 15 minutes criticizing or basically kind of being on the more negative tone because

They they didn’t execute well down the stretch however the they they they didn’t let it get away from them they didn’t let it get away from them they almost did but hey almost is not actually happening and considering it’s actually happened before I’ll take the almost as a step in the right direction

So that’s where I think it’s a little bit different pton Pritchard let’s talk about we’ll get to some individual performances pton Pritchard in the second quarter was off the charts I’ll talk about him in just a second Today’s Show is brought to you by better help now I know the benefits of

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Celtics your first listen every day go check out lockdown NBA hope you enjoyed the Wednesday show with me and Jake Madison I’ll be back uh on Wednesday next week I love being there for the Wednesday shows we got rotating hosts all week long so it’s a good show it’s a

Good way to cover the league uh it’s fun so i’ hope you check it out however you’re listening to this podcast is how you can listen to or watch lock on NBA Payton Pritchard was uh really good his second quarter was amazing now he finished with 19 points seven of 11

Shooting five of eight from three he had uh three assists six rebounds two offensive rebounds including one where he just ripped it away came in under basically under Brook Lopez’s arm rip the ball away uh just a the work that he puts in P Pritchard uh was just uh the

Energy that he brings incredible I’ve said many times I admit that I wasn’t sure how was I i’ said that his regular season would probably kind of not go as well as his preseason did but he proved me wrong and continues to prove people wrong and what’s it going to be like in

The playoffs I don’t know but I can’t I can’t sit there and just outright write them off because I know it’ll be different in the playoffs but he’s continued to show that he can find a way to be effective on most nights so uh Patrick Beverly comes in hits Luke

Cornette with a couple of the two small celebrations which I’m a proponent of two small celebrations but I think uh I don’t know I think maybe just everything Patrick Beverly does rubs me the wrong way uh so I understand where uh Pritchard saw that too small was like uh uh uh uh

Uh not on my watch he had a couple of shots in Beverly’s face uh which is always fun and yeah he just kind of took over he said he saw that he took it personally so uh Pritchard was spectacular uh it it’s hard as I said on

Boston Sports Journal it’s hard to talk about Pritchard without using like cliches like oh he’s got that dog in him he just wants it more blah blah blah he he just does he just does want it more that’s that’s what he want he just wants it more that’s Pritchard he’s is a dog

Man that guy uh plays at a different speed and is I don’t know man he he’s it’s fun it’s fun to see him fire up and doing some of the things that he does obviously Jason Tatum had the big game 31 points nine of 19 four of seven from

Three eight rebounds four assists three steals two blocks one very key block late in the game that was a nice one weirdly no shots in the third quarter he said he was trying to be more of a facilitator and get other guys going he had 23 in the first half he had it

Going and third quarter look the Celtics put up 32 points in the third quarter so I’m not getting on Jason Tatum for that he he did what he was he wanted to be a facilitator other guys did get going um I thought the third quarter was incredible for Boston I think the third

Quarter was what the fourth quarter should have been and the third quarter belonged to Jaylen Brown and what I loved about the third quarter is they come out Milwaukee gets hot right away four straight three-pointers the lead is cut down from 18 down to like 10 uh or less I forget

But no Panic Celtics stay with it run their normal offense and eventually they push that lead back up to uh like they push it up to 18 21 at one point just by let’s just get get to what our off defense is not overreact we’re not going to try to match them for

Every three-pointer it’s not coming it’s not Dame hits one and now here comes Boston we gotta hit one uh Beasley hits one oh here comes jayen Brown we gotta hit one no this is this was stay the course don’t overreact run the offense and they did and Jaylen Brown got going

In that third quarter and he was awesome in that third quarter I think Jaylen Brown his Evolution and it’s something I wrote about on Boston Sports Journal his Evolution uh is impressive and I I use the term evolution intentionally because I don’t think this is just a guy that’s out there fighting

Bad habits or trying to break bad habits um I think Jaylen has evolved he has CH he has grown into a more complete just different a different player a you know not opposite or like different he’s he’s things have become second nature to him these things

That used to be bad habits I think they’ve kind of like the evolution has kind of like whittel them away I’m not as worried that he’s gonna fall back into Old Habits I think he has evolved into a different player a better player I think that’s part of his growth like

He’s just become this confident leader uh my favorite thing can you tell I tell you my favorite thing from Jaylen Brown in this game came after the game where he had that quote about playing with Pace in the fourth quarter that to me is the my favorite thing about Jaylen because he’s

Right and he’s not afraid to say that and not afraid to say it publicly and hold his team accountable to that that’s I think important so I think Jaylen with with his calm execution is has grown into a a the sort of player that I think

We’ve always wanted Jaylen to be this is the best basketball of his career and defensively taking on the challenge of Damen Lillard now you look at Dam’s numbers and you say what challenge he got you know Lillard had 32 points shot 52 and a half% six of 10 from three but

It’s it was not the easiest night for him it was a hard night for for Lillard to get those points he hit some ridiculous shots he hit some incredible shots he he scored 32 points because he’s Damien Lillard and he’s awesome and there’s no defense that’s gonna stop Lillard when he’s that hot

But I think jaylen’s just taking that challenge while also having the third quarter that he did you know having the performance that he did that’s I think the impressive part and so I think Jaylen has evolved into a better player and like I said evolution is an intentional term because

This is who he is it’s in his DNA now so uh shout out to Jaylen shout out to uh Chris thops porzingis who had a monster monster Monster offensive rebound late in the game that just reaching back coming in out out of no nowhere snatching that rebound going

Back up for the dunk I was like that when we say big boy rebound that’s what we’re talking about a big boy rebound that was incredible he didn’t shoot well but he uh did those things those little things three rebounds all offensive rebounds uh that was that was really

Good to see um Al Horford eight points four assists four rebounds plus 15 he he and Sh Mok actually had was a plus 10 but Al Horford had the best plus minus of the night Derek white 23 points shout out to Derek white because he continues like another another what two

Block shots for D white eight assists five rebounds uh and no turnovers for him Celtics only turned the ball over nine times uh that’s that’s really good and so anyway Derk white I if fourth quarter hit some big shots if the Celtics fourth quarter offense uh ends

Up leading to Derek white wide open shots like that sign me up sign me up if Tatum draws two and Jaylen draws attention and Derek white gets the looks that he got in this game if that’s what you get every fourth quarter sign me up so Celtics get the win it was

Uh a good win I mean they it’s a good win in the fact that they didn’t blow it I didn’t like the fourth quarter execution but hey it’s something that’s uh a work in progress that part they have to work on if they can just play

With their normal Pace I think that’d be uh just fine so um Celtics now uh take uh travel day go to Detroit back-to-back nights Detroit and Chicago I will give you postgame podcasts after both of those games they’ll be a little bit shorter because I don’t have to do my ad

Reads and it’s the weekend you probably don’t want to listen to too much of me talking so postgame podcast whenever those things uh are all set there those games are done so make sure that you are subscribed wherever you get your podcasts and I would love it if you

Share the podcast spread the word tell your friends that they should be listening and watching the lockdown podcast it’s right here on the lockdown podcast Network it’s your team every day M MH yes B thank the Blockbuster Brad it’s holiday season drop Drew in the mix and

Three from KP no we not on the Knicks flushing competition like h on Yannis juicing big Zo still being Town’s finest bner 18 going up in the raaps watch the SE gaining locked on after car on the breakdown CL like a TI from D white on the breakdown John on the mic

Documenting domination m p back all SE Nation Bill Russell the bird Hondo to Rondo kg in the truth all the Legends in the roof two Tommy points for Reggie and DJ I the killer with the big heart was the hardest r j how we started raising B

How we finish lock on Celtics P home of the Winners

It didn’t go exactly as planned, but the Celtics were able to hold on to get the win over Milwaukee, essentially wrapping up the race for the top seed. The fourth quarter execution was not great against a zone defense that should have been ripped to shreds. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal explains why and also why it’s okay to play faster in the fourth quarter. Also, Payton Pritchard had an incredible second quarter, Jayson Tatum stepped up in the clutch, and Jaylen Brown has evolved into the best version of himself.

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

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