FIRST TAKE | Nobody in East can challenge them – Perkins on Tatum shines, Celtics beat Bulls 124-113

FIRST TAKE | Nobody in East can challenge them – Perkins on Tatum shines, Celtics beat Bulls 124-113

Obviously been do dominant what’s the biggest obstacle to the Celtics winning the title finally getting over that hump with this rendition well I think that they can’t depend they can’t be too dependent on the threes that would be a mistake don’t go that route don’t do that

Um because if you do that then you’re you’re you’re alleviating some of the things or you’re omitting some of the things that work to your advantage your athleticism your ability to exploit mismatches all of those things come into play Boston can get too riant on the

Three at times and I think that’s a mistake against the better more Elite teams in the NBA remember they lost against the Denver Nuggets twice this year the reigning defending NBA champions well what happened when Boston is struggling they’re usually Limited in terms of their efficiency from three-point range you don’t want to

Depend on that Denver Nuggets will not depend on that the true Championship squads like a Milwaukee they’re not going to depend on that and so you got you can’t do that either yeah utilize it and what have you launch them but it can’t be at a 44 to 45 number clip that

Can’t be they can’t be launching 44 4 five threes a game like they were doing earlier this year that to me is what worries me about Boston pretty much nothing else how big is the gap between them and the Nuggets well there is no Gap as far as I’m concerned there are

People that saying the nuggets are Head and Shoulders above I completely disagree with that Boston is right there Boston to me was my favorites to win the championship this year could they lose to Denver in the finals absolutely but could they beat Denver yes and the two

Games they lost to Denver they were both Thrillers they both came down to the wire One play here and there would have determined it came down to the last second Jason Tatum missed a wide open three you know uh in Boston they lost by two points 102 to 100 I look at the

Boston Celtics particularly with Chris STS porzingis with tayen Whit brown with an elite defensive back court in white and holiday I’m like yo and along with the production they’re getting from their bench I consider Boston the best team in the NBA they don’t have joic but

They do have Tatum and brown and I think that Tatum and brown are great enough to offset what joic and Murray can do they just have to bring their aame to do that all right let’s get into some action here quick take for you who stepped up

Everyone stepped up and that’s how the Celtics get to win 124 to 113 in Chicago over the Bulls Celtics postgame live Tom G Eddie house we’re have forsberg joining us later tonight we’ll hear from Drew and scow as well but Eddie your thoughts on the Celtics and their

Ability to hang on and finish this one off against the Bulls yeah they got it done you know and guys stepped up in in in moments where they needed to Luke cornet rebounding the basketball we just highlighted that Peyton prider playing the way he’s been playing uh assisting the basketball

Getting his teammates involved the last couple games has been phenomenal the one thing I would say is that I know it’s back to back but I would like them to sh up the defense you know uh Chicago nearly shot damn near 60% from the field

I mean that’s just a little too high of a number but that’s nitpicking we still got the victory but when you’re trying to win a championship you have to nitpick and you got to stop thing before they start and and and become something that you can’t stop 57.3% uh were the

Bulls from the field yeah that that is that’s pretty good but at the same time SEL still find a way to win this game by 11 points meanwhile uh let’s head back out to the United Center Abby chin standing by with Al Horford Al this game was a battle

Chicago kept it close with their ball pressure how did you guys finally get some separation and get the win in the fourth uh I felt like we got a a great start in the fourth quarter uh that unit that was sitting there really said the

Tone for us and once we got in there we were able to just close the game out three-pointers made the difference you had five of them in this game what is it like being on the floor the way that you guys can spread and know that you are

Surrounded by Elite Shooters uh yeah I mean we’re you know we’re running our offense with good Pace JT puts a lot of pressure on on the defenses as you can tell and uh you know we’re beneficiaries and I’m taking advantage and I’m taking my shots no question about it Luke

Cornet just passed by a monster on the offensive board tonight what kind of impact is he making on this team unbelievable his energy relentless on the glass yes key offensive rebounds tapouts put backs um he’s doing everything for us down there finally Al you guys were without three starters you

Win your ninth straight game no matter who is on the floor for this team you guys have a great opportunity to win what is so special about this group yeah I think that’s how Joe wants us to be right be a team that um anybody can come

In with our system and we can kind of figure it out and make things happen and our guys were really buying into it and and we’re seeing uh we’re seeing it with with these wins and the way they we’re playing no question about it Al thank you

Congrats all right let’s bring in Drew and scow now and uh fellas I guess once again you got Five Guys scoring in double figures Luke cornette 13 rebounds and uh they just keep finding new ways to win and a new way to win here with

The 57 of the Season yeah I think the biggest thing is like tonight was cornett’s night like him hitting the glass he had a big load keeping Andre druming off the glass with the pressure he puts on the other side of the floor and everything works and

It it doesn’t work for Jason Tatum if you don’t have a guy that set a screen and roll to the basket if you don’t have space and have Al Horford in the corner or Sam Hower when you have those things we become really tough to stop and we

Should like we be it it’s average for Derek white to step up and knock down big threes in the fourth quarter but we get used to it but it’s still not an easy thing to do and Derek White lives for those moment and it feels like forever ago at this point but remember

The Celtics did miss their first four three-pointers of this game game so I’m sure there are a lot of people in their living room across New England W too many threes why do I always Chuck these threes well you see why because I know four threes is not exactly a large

Sample but the Celtics have won three games against the Bulls this year they’ve swept the season series they made 20 plus threes in all of them Joe talks about shot quality all the time and shot margin they dominate both those categories and they win again they did

Six points I think in the first five minutes Eddie six points in the first five minutes and then they ended up with 31 in the quarter it felt like it could have been one of those but then then it wasn’t yeah but I want to ask gal

Something real quick so I you know I don’t want to nitpick but when you trying to win a championship you have to nitpick right everything matters the the smallest of details 57% from the field that’s a little bit too high and was it something what what was the reason why

They were able to have shoot 57% from the field what was it that you were seeing out there because I I just felt like everything was kind of like a count slow a little bit late on things I know it’s a back to back but it’s the small

Details that wins you championships what was you seeing out there exactly what you saw Eddie I think in the fourth quarter we did go to a different level defensively but for the first three quarters I think I mentioned it a few times and I don’t know if it’s because

We were double big or anything like that it just didn’t feel like we had that same impact on the ball and you know when you’re short-handed and on a backto back you I can expect that but it was really refreshing to see them at the end

You know just rise up to a different level defensively but no what you saw was correct but what you know like it is a small sample size it’s just one game with a short-handed roster and Joe wanted to go double big in this in this game so there’s a lot of variables to

That I’m I’m curious how we play in Atlanta how we play in New Orleans and really more than anything how we play against Oklahoma City coming up because to me if you can guard that team and you can guard any team in the entire NBA any night because they’re they’re so

Aggressive driving the ball all right uh one last thing for you guys because I I feel like often times when we talk about offensive rebounding we talk about it as a negative we we never look at it the times when the Celtics are great on the offensive glass but they were great on

The offensive glass tonight Luke Corner had five offensive rebounds OA Brett had another three uh it’s just how refreshing is it to see that side of things I mean it’s a sacrifice when you’re going to play double big then you have to figure out you know where where

Those shot margins are going to come from so we did did pound the glass today was part of our you know our the way we wanted to run offense I think ultimately it did open up the three-point shot because people were cracking back but uh it’s not something that you should Bank

On it’s nice to see but it’s not something that the Celtics look at that and say this is where we’re going to win a championship is something that’s nice if you need it like on a situation like this and the Bulls are a good rebounding team too Andre Drummond’s one of the

Best rebounders of his generation so for those guys to do what they did against this team very impressive all right Drew scal thank you guys so much uh good luck traveling to Atlanta we’ll talk to you guys on Monday uh meanwhile selfies get the win here your tower has destroyed iane tower Tower

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FIRST TAKE | Nobody in East can challenge them – Perkins on Tatum shines, Celtics beat Bulls 124-113