The Unsung Heroes of the NBA Eastern and Western Conferences | OM3 THINGS with Tim Legler

The Unsung Heroes of the NBA Eastern and Western Conferences | OM3 THINGS with Tim Legler

Welcome to the old man of the three things with JJ reck and Tim legler uh we are recording this week at least I am remotely not in New York as I normally am for the old man of the three things kids have spring break this week so came

Out to LA for a couple days to do some work and then I am headed to Cabo tomorrow with the kids which I’m excited about a nice little break lots of NCAA watching in this household Tim any big takeaways for you from the NCAA tournament the opening weekend yeah I

Knew this was going to be kind of a wild ride it is every year but it’s it’s more so than ever I think I fall in love I don’t have that rooting interest you know what I mean my school’s not in it L’s not in the tournament you know and they they’re

Sporadically have been so I kind of just fall in love with these teams man that that pull off these these upsets and you learn more about them the players the teams Oakland was a great story I was pulling hard for them to get to the

Sweet 16 and my man gokl uh how about 347 out of 355 field goal attempts from the three-point line have you ever in your wildest imagination conceived that a player could could play and and just do one thing in terms of taking shots I

Want to see JJ I want to see a clip of those eight shots he didn’t take that were three strung together to find out the circumstances like how did that happen did he leak out and get a get a break away like I don’t I don’t know

Because he clear cly he’s running away he gets an allergy if he goes inside the line so like I don’t know I don’t know how that happened but you know that story was unbelievable to me and the way that he played against Kentucky you know and then I start pulling for those kind

Of teams so that’s really where I’m at every year with this thing fall in love with some Cinderella and just Roo hard and gives me a better um rooting interest in the games I love it uh yeah the one outlier on his shot chart was definitely the

Long two from the left corner that’s the one that I need to see video of like what are you thinking here um great tie in to Today’s Show because today I want to talk about unsung heroes and this is a show that is not for the algorithm

This is the show that is for people that appreciate uh every player in the NBA and what their contributions mean to a team thought the easiest way to do this today Tim was you give me three unsung heroes in the Western Conference I’m going to give you three unsung heroes in

The Eastern Conference uh we’ll go one at a time why don’t we start with you give me an unsung hero in the Western Conference well I’m GNA tell you JJ I think this is this guy is gonna become one of the huge X factors in the entire league that’s that’s how well he’s

Playing right now that’s how we their team is playing and they don’t as a group they’re they’re kind of unheralded it’s the Pelicans and I’m talking about t Murphy thei I’ve loved the guy from the beginning you know the combination of of the shooting ability he gives you

Combined with that length and the defensive tenacity like that’s that’s rare to have that in one package but it’s gone to a whole another level here in March um his numbers in March by the way this team is 17- six in the last 23 games basically since February 1 they’re

17- six they are a legitimate threat in the west they get almost no attention unless you’re kind of talking about Zion that you’re not getting attention collectively as a group in what they’re doing right now they are absolutely lurking beneath the surface in the Western Conference and if you can avoid

If they can avoid Denver I can make it an argument for them to make a run to the Conference Finals um and I can say that for about five different teams just avoid Denver in the first two rounds and maybe you’re the last team standing New

Orleans is one of those teams and in large part because of tre Murphy II third um to give you an indication of like how good he has been lately uh this guy is averaging almost 20 points a game for an entire month in the month of March almost 20 points a game that

They’ve already got three guys that are basically you know 20 plus Point scorers per night on average I mean McCollum is not quite there but every night he’s capable of going off for 25 or 30 then you got Zion and Ingram now you have a

Fourth guy added to the mix I I look at the correlation between what he’s doing for them and you look at what Aaron Gordon did for Denver when they brought him in as that fourth piece that guards and then also has the ability on certain nights when it’s required to give you

You 20 points of offense um particularly if you’re not going to get enough attention so I look at him shooting basically 50% from the field 45 from the three and a high volume three-point shooter and 19 points a game he’s also chipping in almost six boards a game so

For your small forward position to go get you six boards a game um and then the last component like he doesn’t turn the ball over he doesn’t make mistakes he’s not a high playmaker guy JJ but he’s going to move the ball where it needs to go and he’s going to be

Decisive with it to the tune of almost a three to1 assisted turnover ratio too so you’re not you’re not even wor he’s getting a little bit of playmaking in there and then just never makes mistakes with the basketball but most importantly it’s his length defensively and then the

Way that he is a pressure Rel release valow for Zion Williamson for Brandon Ingram when those guys draw blitzes Trey Murphy the third is the guy that that’s usually been the beneficiary and when I say he’s one of the most the biggest x-factors in the entire league that that

Is not an overstatement because he’s that important to the Pelicans he is going to have huge moments where we’re talking about him because he has his fingerprints all over a run that they make in an important game whether it’s the first round second round whatever it

May be he’s going to have multiple games within series as long as they’re playing where we are going to be talk he’s gonna be one of the first names we’re talking about afterwards because we’re gonna note his defense and then he’s gonna have some games where he makes six seven

Threes in the postseason because of the defensively loading up against some of their star players so I can’t say enough about how well he has played and as a result you the Pelicans are hot and they’re they’re lurking they’re a threat yeah this is a guy who had offseason

Surgery got off to a slow start once he was back on the floor missed a good chunk of time to start the season and um it pains me to say this you know because I don’t like Trey but he’s playing great basketball he’s playing great I’m just kidding I’m just kidding

He I I I like I like the call that he’s an ex Factor within a playoff series um I I certainly love him as as that like fourth option I think what’s interesting about what you just said the Aaron Gordon comparison is interesting to me because of the way that Trey

Compliments these stars on the Pelicans he can play off the ball you can have him in a spread pick and roll where he’s attacking Closeouts or shooting thre you can run some offense through him um particularly the dynamic depending on how teams match up within a playoff series him setting inverted pick and

Rolls on Zion Williamson on the right side of the floor where he can set the screen either force a switch or Zion gets around his Defender and attacks the basket or he sets a ghost screen where he slips out to the three-point line and then all of a sudden creates

Some chaos the defense has to react to that uh I I think that’s what stands out to me is the way that he complements the rest of the Pelicans uh star offensive players and C.J McCullum Brandon Ingram uh who thank God is likely only going to be out a

Couple weeks hopefully uh after that hyperextended knee but Trey has just to me has just elevated his game to another level from what we’ve seen in the past this is a this is a serious run from him and I and I love I don’t I don’t want to

Tim I don’t want to I don’t want to be these guys that are just like shouting the same thing over and over again but I am serious about the New Orleans Pelicans as are you this is a a really good basketball team if they are a healthy and whole when the playoffs

Start they’re going to be a tough out they’re going to be an Absol absolutely a tough out they’ve got so many gu that are slotted into a particular role that embrace the role thrive in the role and and they’re deep in terms of the number of guys that impact the game and

When I watch them play it’s amazing the number of names that will come up during the course of a game and and the little stretches of impact that they have and now but now Murphy has taken it to a to a different place where it’s now he’s

Like he’s like one of the guys it’s not just like Hey we’re going to get bit contributions out of him and he’ll have a little spurt here in the first half and a little spurt in the second half and there’s his 12 points that’s not what we’re talking about he had I know

He missed the beginning of the year but he played a couple of months prior to March and he had four 20o games total he’s had five in March that’s the heater that this guy is on right now and his confidence level is through the roof and

By the way another part I like what you said to kind of tie in the Aaron Gordon uh statement that I made another way in which they’re similar is they can make plays just being athletic at the end of a breakdown of a play late in the clock

You could throw the ball up to those guys like Murphy’s great as a weak side slasher running out and transition throw him a lob Aaron Gordon could do the same thing so they can go generate offense just by being athletic as well now obviously Aaron Gordon is not the

Shooter that Trey Murphy thei third is and that’s a big part of his game is he’s going to space the floor but that’s not all he is he slashes from the weak side when there’s traps he can run it um he can get on the offensive glass you

Can throw him lobs on with you got numbers on the break so he’s he’s turning into a really complete offensive player and an impactful player and I can’t wait to see if what I said turns out to be true like get them in a first round series and who knows who that’s

Going to be there’s still so much to figure out they sit there at five right now they’re a game and a half out of four they’re game and a half up on the sixth place team so we don’t really know where they’re going to be slotted but

Whatever that first round series is I can’t wait to see what the impact that Trey Murphy II third is going to have because um I just think it’s all coming together for him right now at the most important time as we head into these last 10 games or so getting ready for

The playoffs all right normally I don’t do this but because two of my unsung heroes in the East are on the same basketball team we’re going to we’re going to snake this like we do the draft so I’m going to I’m going to go with two

Of my three guys right now uh so Julius Randall got injured on January 27th against the Miami Heat since then uh the Knicks are 13- 11 they’ve had some other injuries OG was out of the lineup for a long time came back for a while now he’s

Back out of the lineup they have currently won five of their last six games they’re sitting in fourth place still just one game back of Cleveland for third place which I believe me I think would be uh uh very advantageous to avoid Boston in the second round uh

They are a game up in the Lost column on Fifth Place Orlando um just in a in a good spot right now and Jaylen Brunson of course is going to get the headlines for this team Jaylen Brunson has had an All-Star season he certainly is in

Contention for an all NBA spot he’s had a fantastic season there’s probably a little bit of buzz on him for the MVP all that stuff Jaylen Brunson gets the headlines and I have talked a lot about Isaiah hartenstein and his role and how good he has been for the New York Knicks

So I’m going to give some love to a couple guys that I frankly just have not praised this year and they deserve it because they’ve been awesome first of all is Miles McBride miles McBride just to contextualize what he’s doing right now for the New York

Knicks in November he played four and a half minutes a game in October he played even less 4.3 minutes a game in December he played 6.6 minutes a game they they started playing him in January that’s when the Knicks defense just really took off average about 15 minutes a game

February he’s up to 23 minutes a game March he’s up to 32 minutes a game over 10 games in March I just just think about that for a second though a guy who was essentially not in the rotation and is now being asked to play

30 and by the way he played 48 the other night 30 some minutes A Night to keep your playoff seating alive to keep your momentum going and he has responded he’s shooting 45% from three in the month of March 42% from three for the season after shooting

25% his rookie year and 29% his second season now some of that of course Tim you know this because we we live this at different times in our career when you are not a constant in the rotation when you don’t when you don’t know night toight what your minutes are going to be

And how your shots are going to look it’s very difficult in the NBA ba it’s very difficult in the NBA to shoot a good percentage when you are not in Rhythm and he has been in Rhythm since January and he shot the out of the

Ball and I tell you why this is so important because with all these injuries what is happened is a guy like Dante Dante d vinchenzo a guy like Josh Hart who I’m GNA get to in a second they have been over extended a little bit in terms of their role they’ve been

Overextended in their minutes and at times especially late in the shot clock they get overextended in terms of their offensive role with all these injuries bogdanovich and Alec Burks who have came over at the trade deadline they just haven’t shot well bogdanovich is at 37% from the field

34% from three Burks is 32% from the field 30% from three and I know this because I lived it it’s very hard to get traded in the middle of the season and and have sort of the same efficiency on a different team with different teammates different plays all that stuff

McBride has been so important to the functionality of this team on both sides of the basketball in particular his shooting as it’s just it’s like wow I mean I remember going to I’ve been to a bunch of Knicks games this year I obviously watched them play a bunch I’ve

Called their games and all of a sudden it felt a couple months ago you’re like oh wow this guy is coming in with this level of energy this level of defensive tenacity and he’s going to shoot over 40% from three for this team that’s a GameChanger that is an absolute

GameChanger it’s kept them in the hunt for homec court and it’s certainly earned him a right to be in a playoff rotation uh everything you said is uh so true I love the stuff about how difficult it is to have any semblance of Rhythm whatsoever when you’re a shooter scorer and you have

Played as sporadically as he has played to be able to kick it into this gear when he’s absolutely needed to because of just ABS the numbers dictated they don’t have enough bodies to play these minutes and he’s had five games in March we played 44 minutes or more I mean you

Nobody in the NBA plays those kind of minutes anymore except Josh Hart miles McBride they’re the only two guys in the league that play these kind of minutes um when you’re thinking about constantly preservation it’s you know 38 is where guys are capped out a lot of times so

He’s out there every minute because they have nobody else they don’t have a choice they have to there and man as he responded and I think look he’s taken advantage of the fact that when you go into now playing against the Knicks definitely not going to be the first

Name that you’re going to be talking about when you talk about The Scouting Report like you’re really trying to deal with Jaylen Brunson and he’s taking advantage of some opportunities where teams didn’t play him aggressively early in the game this guy can flat out string together shots so he has found his

Rhythm and we’ll see now what happens as he starts to be a little bit more of a focal Point defensively but you’re 100% right like where would the Knicks be as crazy as it sounds without miles McBride right now with everything they have dealt with and a guy just answering the

Call when they had to have it from him in a year in which he has been sporadic at best or an afterthought for their rotation you now get the opportunity you come in and capitalize it capitalize on it to this extent and now going forward like they’re going to get guys back and

We’ll see how that affects everything but you now have a guy that Tom Tibido is going to have faith in and confidence in yeah there it is there it is right there right that’s the difference now you’ve got another guy that you’re not going to hesitate to go to even in

Important moments in in a playoff series that’s what he has established for himself now with this run that he’s had over the course of of March uh and of course you said where would they be without miles MCB where would they be without Josh Hart Josh Hart Josh you still can’t shoot you

Still can’t shoot but that’s okay because you do everything else so damn well you know I I I talked about dant chenzo being a little overextended at times I think with with just Brunson as the primary option you know on the offensive end Josh Hart you

Could certainly talk about that in terms of you know his shooting numbers uh and of course his minutes they’ve really built up but look this is a guy who didn’t have any triple doubles in his career he’s had five triple doubles over the last 20 20 20 some games in February

He averaged over 10 rebounds a game 5.2 assists in March he’s averaging almost 12 rebounds a game and 5.4 assists I I always will remember this conversation I had with BJ Armstrong my rookie year he was talking about Dwight Howard we were at dinner after one of the games I

Wasn’t playing a lot we was just kind of talking about the NBA and we were talking about Dwight and he said what one of the reasons Dwight is so valuable and so good is because he rebounds outside of his area now Dwight was 611 with the wingspan and all the strength

In the world crazy hops all that stuff Josh Hart is under 66 in terms of players under 66 that rebound like him it’s only Brandon paj jimsky of the Golden State Warriors Josh Hart at his size and he’s an athlete but he’s not an Uber athlete and he’s strong and he’s

Quick but he’s not Uber strong or Uber quick he rebounds outside of his area as well as any guard I’ve seen he pursues the basketball he he gets rebounds in traffic long rebounds he ends up with basketballs that he has no business ending up with and I think what’s

Important here is the Knicks have taken on this identity they have they have embraced this gritty culture and of course it starts with tibs and and JB and all that like but they have a group now with a real identity and I don’t think there’s anybody on this team that

Has embodied it more than Josh Hart and I’ll say this you know the that stretch that stretch with Randall out 13- 11 as I mentioned their offense hasn’t been great they’re bottom third offensively but they’ve been a top 10 defense they’ve been one of the best teams all

Season in terms of creating Second Chance points and offensive rebounds this is a group that has just embraced the gritty they’ve Embrace toughness and Josh Hart embodies that as well as anyone and I sit here and watch him and I still still can’t believe the rebounding

Numbers that I’m looking at you got JJ in the history of this league or certainly in the last 20 years let’s just take it in the modern era there’s only one other guard that you can even look at to look at these kind of rebounding numbers for this long a

Period of time he’s averaging almost 11 rebounds a game for a 25 game stretch the only other guy to do that Westbrook in his prime when he was in Oklahoma City and he was getting double digit rebound every night averaging a triple double but Josh Harts had games where it

Was like 17 boards 19 rebounds in a game for a guy as you mentioned that’s basically our height maybe just a little bit taller than you and I yeah what what’s amazing about him and you talk about rebounding outside of his area the other thing that he does is the way he

Goes up with his back on a bigger player when the ball goes up he’s you know he’s he’s technically sound he’s he’s not just going and running and jum dumping after balls cuz he’s not big enough or athletic enough to do that so he does it

More like you would doing a drill like he’s going to get his back on a guy hold him there but some of these guys are you know six eight and up ball comes off it goes up both guys jump the guy behind him is going up vertically so he’s not

Going to foul him over the back both of their hands get to the ball basically at the same time Josh Hart ends up with every single one of those every one of them he’s obviously got great strength in his hands he’s got you know they’re just they glue like when he gets his

Fingertips on a ball it’s his but the fact that he comes out with these tough rebounds and what that means to your team defense when you can play a a smaller lineup which they do at times and you’re not giving up as much on the glass as you’re expecting to because of

What you’re getting out of your two guard I I just wish he could get those shooting percentages up JJ just a little bit we’re going to we’re going to work on we’re going to work on the shot this summer Tim he’s we’ve already already committed to each 2% from the three

Brother I mean I don’t get it because look I I know he wasn’t a big time deep shooter in college either but he was a very good scorer and he was more like a slasher attacker mid-range guy but you would think this many years now in the

League he’s 29 years old you would think now like he would understand like this is what I have to do and look maybe for some guys like that line at that level is a is almost like a psychological barrier and there have been other players that were that were like that

Like great from 18 feet and in you you put him out there 23 24 feet it it just there’s something about that shot that does not feel natural to them to his credit he doesn’t take as many as he could in this era of NBA because he knows that’s not s a

Comfortable shot he has found other ways to impact the game as a winner that most guards in this league would not be able to do with those shooting percentages and I’m not trying to like knock him for a shooting percent I’m saying that’s the kind of impact he’s having defensively

And on the boards and and and you know just leaving skin on floor nobody’s on the floor more to Josh har in the course of a game going after loose balls he does so many things to help you wi despite the fact that he was really struggled and had a really really bad

Year shooting the basketball all right give me uh your next unsung hero in the Western Conference all right I’m gonna go and and look this guy’s gotten he’s he’s older he’s gotten credit throughout his career but I don’t know right now what Minnesota would be doing without

Mike connley when you look at what’s happened to their front line and and and the number of bodies they haven’t had in the line they’ve had to play Mike Conley is not at this stage of his career expected to get 20 points a game like that’s not what he’s doing he’s out

There to give you you know 10 11 12 points a game run the show organize them make the game easier for Anthony Edwards so he could play more just like an attacking guard set the table for guys be smart manage the game quality possessions when you have to have it

Like that’s what he’s supposed to be doing and he didn’t have a 20-point game all season JJ he’s had three in the last five games because they had to have it all three of those were wins and they’re against two of them against good teams beat the Clippers beat beat Cleveland

And beat Utah in the other game so the fact that he is was able to do that at when he’s well past that point of his career when he should be asked to do that and it never really was his big job description either in Memphis like in

His Glory Days he was a phenomenal pick and roll player great defender but they had other guys that were more like you know the gravy train for them this is different like he’s thrust into this situation again Minnesota you talked about the Knicks like trying to hold on

With guys out to where they’re at same thing with Minnesota me they were number one seed they’ve dropped to three they’re trying to hang on right there and Mike connley is at least giving them a chance to play like 500 basketball while tals is out go Bear’s been out Nas

Reed is out and I’ve been so impressed with with what a pro he is and doing something like that at this stage of his career most guys once you trying to turn that page very hard to that back up again even if your team does ask you to

Do it and Mike Conley’s done it and he’s been great for them and as a result they’re keeping their head above water right now I don’t think it’s a coincidence Tim that going back to last year at the end of the season when he joined the team and throughout this season where they’ve

Had a tremendous regular season they’re a more than competent basketball team since the addition of Mike Conley and to me he functions as a sort of a coach on the floor he’s the the word game manager when we talk about quarterbacks gets thrown around in such a negative way but

He was a traditional point guard when he was in his prime in Memphis Mike Conley I’m a firm believer in this he if he was playing in a different system he would been would have been a 25 to 30 point per game scorer and he would have made

Multiple star games all of that thing he does what is required to give his team a chance to win it’s why you bring up these last three 20o games it was required that he had to be more aggressive he recognizes the situation he organizes and I love I

Love that he allows Anthony Edwards to be Anthony Edwards right he’s the perfect compliment to Anthony Edwards at this point in both of their careers which I think is really interesting uh I I I also just have a soft spot in my heart for guards on the other side of 30

Approaching sort of the the the the end here who are still able at at at at his size to still still able to have such an impact on the game of basketball uh just great call there all right you go you go next we’ll snake it to you last guy in

The Western Conference for you unsung hero well I have to uh you you picked two guys from the same team um and so you paired them together so I know I’m only supposed to have three but there’s no way to separate these two guys because they’re basically it’s a

Two-headed version of one player and it’s the two guys that are playing center right now for the Dallas Mavericks um Lively and Gafford and I just wanted people to to comprehend some of these numbers okay so basically this month since the beginning of the month

Take away a game or two right at the beginning but this stretch that they’ve had where they’re hot again Gafford and Lively combined are shooting 82% from the field 82% and anybody that wants to like dismiss that and Gafford had that long streak you know of 33 makes in a row

Anybody wants to dismiss that oh all he’s doing is dunking the ball like I mean do you not understand how important having that threat is for a guy like LCA donit a guy like Kyrie Irving and how dangerous that’s making their team basically I look at these two guys

As one center for the Mavericks because they’re so similar in what they do gaff’s just a little bit better at like scoring the basketball in other ways than than live who’s pretty much just going to catch it dunk it or get a pocket pass and finish it Gafford can do

A little bit more than that when he gets his hands on the basketball but for the most part they do exactly the same thing they play 41 minutes a night so they’re combining for like one Center body they’re giving you these averages 82% from the field during that stretch

24 12 and three blocks that’s what you’re getting out of your Center spot and I don’t even know I didn’t even do the math on the offensive rebounding and the second chances that they give you I just it’s 12 raw rebounds a game combined I don’t know how many of those

Are actually on the offensive man that gives you multiple opportunities they are a huge reason when I watch Dallas play now you know derck Jones J is another guy like the threat that he is to finish at any time if you turn your head or you’re overloading too much too

Early uh to Luca you’re not aware of the Baseline Cutters or the guy rolling down the lane from the top like these are bailout plays for Luca donic and to lesser extent Kyrie Irving mainly Luca and as a result JJ I’m looking at Dallas man I think they’ve got every bit as

Good a chance as anybody and and when we get there we’re 10 games away or so got a few weeks left here in the regular season three weeks from today actually the last game of the year I’m not going to be shocked if we get to that point

And again if they’re out of Denver’s bracket if they’re not gonna get them in the second round or the first round not gonna be shocked to hear me say man I think they’re going to the Conference Finals um and these two guys are an enormous reason for it and by the way

Their their record also as a team it’s best record in the league and and clutch games so you you get into a close game inside five minutes that’s the best record in the NBA and and because of those two Dynamic offensive players they have and the balance of threats around

Them with two Rim Runners and then shooting enough shooting to complement that I can’t I can’t really even fathom the numbers they’re putting up 82% from the field two players playing the same position I don’t care if that’s a three-game sample size much less basically a

Month well it’s I go back to the very first game of the season that I called which was uh opening night for ESPN so it was the second night of the regular season and I had wem’s debut in San Antonio against Dallas and and two

Things stood out to me and to piggy back off of of sort of what you just said uh number one Jay kid in the pregame meeting was talking about how hey you know we’re really comfortable playing in five-point games we feel like we have Luca and Kyrie we’re comfortable playing

In close games our defense just has to be good enough right right then I go out and call the game and I’m like holy Derrik Lively is a perfect I mean he was a monster in that game and I was like Derrik Lively is a perfect fit we

Brought him up uh I think it was last week or the week before with his defense against Nico yic in that in that game against the Dallas Mavericks uh on Sunday where where he he was I think joic was two for eight with Lively as the as the contesting Defender battled

Him was physical with him and then you get Gafford at the deadline who offers a lot of the same stuff right he’s going to put pressure on the rim he’s a backline Defender obviously a little bit more experienced than Lively to me it’s there go back go goes back to the

Compliment thing they they’re perfect compliments to Luca and Kyrie Irving and I I will agree with you I’m gonna agree with you on the sort of big picture for Dallas here um they’re in that sort of next group for sure where it’s like depending on how these matchups shake out could absolutely see

Them in the Conference Finals I love it all right let’s wrap this up I I got one more guy and like this I just feel like this guy outside of you know Celtics Twitter doesn’t get a lot of love and no it’s not Derek white I’ve given Dereck

White enough praise it’s not Derek white um you know I’m watching that uh Milwaukee game the other night and pton prri comes in the game and it’s like oh you know there’s certain guys when they enter the game the energy shifts the flow shifts and more times than not when pton

Pritchard comes in the game that energy shifts Joe Missoula always talks about his competitive nature just his his ability to bring it every single night and there were so many question marks about ah this this top six is amazing but they have no bench they have no

Bench look Sam Hower has been great Al Horford’s been great for the SE for the season and that the role that he’s been asked to have this year he’s been great pton Pritchard has been awesome this is a team I mean I was looking at the lineup data this morning pton Pritchard

Is part of the fourth most and fifth most used lineups for the Boston Celtics and both those lineups have you know a plus eight and a plus 12 I can’t remember the exact number like he’s impacting the winning now Joe moula has a lot of options for how he

Wants to stagger his starters obviously and depending on matchups he can play H play Sam Hower more he can play pton Pritcher more he can play Al Horford more I get it Pritchard night toight has been asked to do different things at times he’s he’s shooting 39% from the

Field he’s got nearly a five to1 assist to turnover ratio you’re talking about a guy who’s coming in the game coming in the game getting rebounds getting assists scoring the basketball efficiently in limited minutes in limited minutes and you know what he does he has some nights he has some

Nights where he gets a lot of minutes and more times than not the guy produces he’s a baller he is a Hooper Hooper that’s how I look at pton Pritchard the guy loves to play he loves to compete and he’s having a fantastic season by

The way I love pton Pritchard man and I when I went out there did the sun Celtics game for radio out in Phoenix and I’m watching pton Pritcher he comes in the game and I’m watching him and like you cannot really understand how quick he is until you you’re like right

There seeing it in front of you and like the sound his sneakers make and how fast his feet are moving relative to everybody else and it might not come through like if you’re watching the game on TV because he’s really small and he’s not getting a lot of separation from

Guys but that just shows you like how hard he is working to get the separation that he does at his size um shooting the ball with Incredible amount of confidence like he got his money and then they didn’t really use him a ton in the beginning of the season I was kind

Of like what what’s going on pton Pitch like I don’t understand because every time I saw him last year I thought this guy’s a spark every time I see him like like like and I don’t want to compare him to TJ McConnell but I I always felt

The way by TJ M dude BR I don’t know yeah maybe maybe I should have found a different example I don’t know but iess I guess different players different players by the way but same sentiment in terms of that spark I I agree with you on that I’m not comparing

Their games at all what I’m comparing is like you you’ll go stretches sometimes where they’re not playing as much and you don’t really understand it because every time you see them they you feel like they’re dramatically affecting the game that’s how I feel about paying Pritcher and I think by the way the

Inconsistent minutes are behind him now I he’s a he Aver 27 minutes a game in March so he’s and this is a team that is rolling and expected to win a championship he’s playing 26 minutes a game for them you talked about it as aist turnover ratio you know guy that

Size you think about the length that he is seeing which means arms and passing Lanes deflected passes he’s turning the ball over once every 26 minutes 26 minutes of playing time he turns the ball over one time a game it’s unbelievable and shooting 40 you know almost 44% from the three-point line

Again at his size that’s that’s a difficult thing to do because it’s just hard to get that kind of Separation to do it I think he he’s been one of the big stories for the Celtics honestly we talked so much about their starting five and how great they are the versatility

There Payton Pritchard has been that consistent jolt that they’ve gotten every single time he has entered the game and he’s playing the best basketball of his career right now and it’s just like another weapon you know the rich get richer the Deep get deeper with the Boston Celtics because now he’s

A problem for people I’m G tell you why this matters I’m G tell you why it matters and this is not prognosticating this is not me predicting that pton Pritchard will win the Celtics a playoff game I would say in the history of the NBA and certainly in the 15 years that I

Played and the three years that I’ve been covering it in watching the playoffs and playing in the playoffs there are times when even great teams even the best teams even teams that go on to win they need that jolt oh you think about Christian Brown in a couple of

Those games in the finals last year against the Miami Heat how important was he right that’s the type I I always think back to the 2010 NBA Finals literally Nate Robinson and Glenn Davis against the Los Angeles Lakers won a game for the Boston Celtics doc you talk about that all the time

There’s there’s a time where a guy not he’s not going to go for 45 but a guy will come in and significantly alter the energy and the course of the game and pton is one of those guys that can do that he’s absolutely one of those guys

That can do that sometimes it might mean a 10o night but those 10 points came at a time when somebody was out of the game and you’re trying to match buckets with the other team I I’ll take it a step further you say there will be times I

Actually think in almost every win that a team has you can point to somebody that night and you don’t know who it’s going to be it could be somebody different every night on the good teams but there’s somebody that gives you that unexpected surge of offense or whatever it may be

Shot making at an important time in the game hey maybe it’s a situation where you’re down 10 and you got two stars out of the game and when they check back in maybe they’re only down six but it could have been 18 and this one particular player or like two role players did

Enough in that stretch to kind of keep it and stabilize it and now allow your stars to be able to try to you know make up the difference take over the game and eventually win the game it’s absolutely right basketball it’s it’s funny cuz I think in in certain Sports you can point

To a play right a pick six a fumble at the three yard line right uh even in soccer you know it’s soccer I I think for most fans they think of it as these singular events but I know there’s a buildup to scoring a goal right but for

The average fan you say oh well it was that that cross that Messi headed in right it’s that was the that was the play that in basketball it is so much about a series of plays a series of moments the game and the tide just move along and it’s it’s

That it’s that thing that nobody’s looking for that stretch in the second quarter as you just said that that stuff matters so much yeah think about last year is it’s a great example of it Denver is awful in the non-ic minutes they’re awful right they move to Gordon

At the five once the playoffs start that’s the rotation and like it wasn’t like they were blitzing teams in those minutes but they were enough they held their own they were enough that when joic got back in the game a four-point lead was still a four-point lead a

Sixpoint deficit wasn’t a 22o deficit like that stuff matters and pton pritchard’s one of those guys that will make a difference in a playoff series Tim always fun chopping yeah man enjoyed it

On this Monday’s episode of ‘The Old Man and the Three Things,’ JJ is joined by ESPN’s Tim Legler to share their current unsung heroes — their guys who deserve more recognition right now — in the NBA. JJ shares his from the Eastern Conference: Miles McBride (New York Knicks), Josh Hart (Knicks), Payton Pritchard (Boston Celtics). And Tim shares his from the Western Conference: Trey Murphy III (New Orleans Pelicans), Derreck Lively and Daniel Gafford (Dallas Mavericks), Mike Conley (Minnesota Timberwolves). Let’s go!

0:00 Intro
0:27 March Madness
2:40 Trey Murphy
10:36 Miles McBride
17:15 Josh Hart
23:09 Mike Conley
26:51 Derrick Lively and Daniel Gafford
32:01 Payton Pritchard

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.