LIVE: Celtics vs Mavericks Game 5 Preview | The Garden Report

LIVE: Celtics vs Mavericks Game 5 Preview | The Garden Report

can you say hard hats folks hard hats lunch P seal to a boots anything show of a championship this year is a failure look at this Boomer right here you’ve just got so much talent here somebody said we need to apologize for J can I call the John what are we apologizing for what do we say what do we [Music] do welcome into the garden report you were looking at Chris STS poor zingis working out on the off day media availability uh prior to game five which is going to be tomorrow night uh John xanis and Bobby Manning here and Chris FS porzingis did not did not speak to the media today take that for what you will he walked around kind of shot kind of didn’t do much and for those hoping that christs porzingis may come and save the Celtics not that they need saving but come and Aid the Celtics in their quest for Banner 18 today may have given us a more definitive view or answer on uh what is going on with Chris STS we’ll talk about that and here we are Bobby Manning John xanis Garden report Bobby and I were at the Garden we’ll be joined by Jose way P pone Pavone in a little bit Happy Father’s Day Happy Father’s Day to all those who celebrate uh or you’re celebrating your fathers or future fathers whatever ever have you happy Father’s Day to all out there uh I hope for the dads you had a nice relaxing uh day and uh for those who aren’t dads I hope you honored yours uh in in in in the most deserving way possible but uh let’s let’s let’s get into kind of what we’re talking about today and look A lot’s changed right just in terms of Vibes and perception over the last 24 48 Hours tough to kind of rain it in Bobby like what we were thinking or feeling after that blow out because it was like so unexpected the game four blowout and I think a lot of people wrote it off quickly like okay it happens right I think over the last day or so I’ve seen people really whip themselves into a bit of a frenzy I’m seeing a lot of stuff online right now about how this is must-win for the Celtics they don’t want to go back to Dallas and then game seven blah blah blah and we went from the Mavericks aren’t on the Celtics level and this is an absolute blowout to holy [ __ ] I’m starting to get worried so where in between those two extremes are you right now and I’m curious where the people in the chat are as well I mean realistically you shouldn’t worry about them losing the series at all because the the lead is so substantial and we’ll compare it to last year obviously a different matchup Celtics heat different skill level on both sides relatively in that Series so you were in a good position as well Austin to make that run coming off the 03 deficit in this circumstance it’s a much different balance here where the Celtics have dominated this matchup now things have changed and what you don’t want to do is mess around because each night you mess around and they certainly messed around and admitted as much today in a couple different spots you putting yourself at extra risk of more things going wrong and many things have gone wrong to this point we recounting them all with Kevin oconor on our hit we did in Dallas to wrap game four John Dallas’s role players got going porzingis as you mentioned there probably out of the picture at this point you’re losing the non porzingis minutes in the series by 10 points per 100 uh so then just keep going down the line Dallas has flexed its rebounding advantage on Boston now you have to contend with that if you’re the Celtics and the worst part to me is that every Dallas role player found some sort of confidence to build on going into game five in that game four not that they’re all going to have good games again but if half to of those guys who played well in that game four that’s a much different Dynamic and you said it yourself John every game from this point on is going to be much closer to 5050 I know the line’s pretty substantially in Boston’s favor in game five and I actually feel pretty good about Boston taking care of this business with a representative effort in game five a seriousness that probably will get woken out of them by what happened in game four but Dallas is still in a decent position to steal that game given where both teams are at going into this one and some stuff’s gonna have to change on that Boston side not a ton but you’re coming out of a game as the Celtics where you did nothing well and so you’re starting again trying to get back to what you did early in the series and the tough part is so much of what you did great early in this series stem from porzingis is avail ability and his ability to just tilt the scale massively in Boston’s favor in those games one and two so game three was tough right game four was horrible and so that’s what you’re looking at now in terms of the dynamic of the series because porzingis isn’t Gonna Save them that’s kind of what I said so I mean after porzingis got hurt my my uh my thought and again thank you Louis longtime uh viewer of the show and all of you out there uh you know spending you know a piece of your Sunday um and piece of your father’s day with us today we do appreciate it we we didn’t yesterday was a travel day so we didn’t get a chance to talk to you guys so we felt it’d be worth it to come back out and just kind of you know get a lay of the land and talk about uh what’s going on here and yes please smash the like button it does uh help us out when you do that uh subscribe and follow as well uh would be great if you don’t already uh yeah Bobby that’s that’s what we said that’s what I said you know and that’s kind of my my feel when porzingis went out after game two my and they once they announced what the injury was my thinking was we’re not going to see him again or if you see a version of him it’s going to be so limited that it might not be worth it and it’s not being pessimistic he tore something he can’t move around he’s he’s he’s I we don’t know um so that was the vibe and then up 20 was great because you had a big cushion you go up three 0 winning a game without porzingis you feel good that you can win this Series without him no doubt now it’s 3 Mavs have to be perfect to win it outright so by no means do I think the Mavericks are going to win four straight games however as we said every single game they play um to me is a 50-50 without porzingis it’s you’re you’re closer to their level and there’s things you do and things that they do to you that are problems uh and bigger problems because porzingis isn’t around the matchup problem that the Celtics presented with porzingis both offensively and defensively was more than Dallas could handle and it’s why I had this as Celtics in five before this series began because I just with when porzingis was healthy and playing I didn’t think there’s any chance Dallas could stay with Celtics now it’s now it’s questionable that whether they can or can’t um so I don’t know how much stock to put in and all I do know is you know they made life hard we’re looking at from the fourth quarter on from game three and all the way through game four the Celtics offense looking like [ __ ] um bad bad bad bad and that’s the only thing that concerns me is they haven’t had one of their games yet they haven’t broken 110 they haven’t gone out and been lights out Jason Tatum is still shooting like crap um they haven’t had a 40 plus percent from three game I think that’s coming I think that could be coming in game five but it hasn’t happened yet so you you do want to start thinking how much of it is the Mavericks uh doing that to them that they’re not able to just catch fire and take off and have their offense be the way it was I mean this is again historically one of the greatest offenses statistically speaking ever um and they haven’t gone off for one of their 120 plus games yet so you’re wondering if that’s right around the corner or it’s something that you know they can’t they might not be able to get there and maybe not get there without porzingis so I do start to worry there that if they don’t have a balls out defensive effort the offense might be able to carry them as it had so many times this year and again I’m talking game by game I still find it highly unlikely that the Mavericks can whip off four straight because you’re talking about being perfect and the Celtics never having um you know a great offensive game which they’ve yet to but you know that’s game by game that’s my general feeling here is that’s my concern as you enter each game yeah and they went so cold offensively in that game four which Joe Missoula talked about today impacting their defense I know Sam Hower said today they didn’t reach an appropriate level or they the level they’re capable of on defense individually and that was another thing that went against Boston in that game of those individual efforts you were getting on Luca and Kyrie waned in a big way there and those two broke both broke loose for big games there so that’s a real strength you had over Dallas is that you could defend them one on one now there’s some level of Doubt over whether you’re able to do that you were able to ignore many guys on that Dallas side including Derek Lively in the corner you wouldn’t even given a second thought about leaving him there and all of a sudden he hits a three and then today at practice you just saw him hitting three after three after three is that a dynamic now is that a possibility in this series that he could take another one of those or maybe two in a game here there H kid talked a little bit about getting away from some of the triple teaming that they’re doing on Tatum and other guys uh to pack that lane so they’re defending a little more straight up and had some success with that took away Boston’s passing game a little bit there for some turnovers and Tatum and brown were terrible in that game so does that carry over is there any pressure to play in front of that Boston crowd that’s rearing to rearing to win the championship and is just going to be going bonkers all night the one thing that makes you feel a little bit better is they’re obviously past that point and that mindset going into Friday night that we’re doing it tonight because it was so obvious that it was going to happen that night to them and they were getting ready to celebrate and they were getting ready to do the christops thing that we talked about and I’m sure they had the places all booked out ready to celebrate in Dallas tonight today felt a little bit more back to basketball and that’s what it needs to be right because when the Celtics put the emphasis on the details that they need to and they execute at the level that they need to and there’s that level of focus it’s going to look completely different you’re just left wondering how much of what Dallas did will continue and matter coming out of that game because yes the Celtics didn’t show up but I do think Dallas did a lot of good stuff there they got a lot of good individual efforts so many guys woke up there that you expected to impact the series the way they did in that game four I think a Gafford six straight points and blocking Tatum that’s the kind of defensive presence he had during their run Lively who was so bad early in this series had that kind of energy and impact on that game Washington shot two with three from three that’s what he was doing for them so do those guys keep giving you stuff if they do it’s it’s an even game going into the game five and that’s you know where you get back to crunch time and all the rest among the things I liked that Dallas did I thought you I found it really interesting that Gafford got subbed out so quickly um for lively in the first quarter I mean that was like two and a half minutes or something um which is I don’t know if it was by Design or instantly they just didn’t like the coverage Gafford was getting because the Celtics have exploited uh him trying to kind of play that oneman zone right where he’s just staying down there and he’s trying to get out to the shooter and with good ball reversals they were and he got caught a lot of times in that last game you saw whether it was uh someone off a screen um sealing their opponent and getting a layup inside as Gafford did cheat to the corner or not getting to the corner quick enough and a and a very good ball reverse getting out to an open shooter uh and they did have him uh he did struggle kind of figuring out where to go and they were getting a lot of good looks both inside um and out Lively was anticipating better and covering a lot more ground than Gafford was uh and and that closed things off a bit where the the the driving Lanes weren’t there because he was where he needed to be and they weren’t able to get it out to open Shooters because he was anticipating better um and I thought that was a little bit of a change just in terms of the way Dall played their defense there um other than that yeah the guys hit the shots that to me I find less sustainable Bobby because we were talking about this a little bit off the air last game and maybe a little bit on the show sure like those guys got hot and some people might say like oh gez well now that they you know you’ve got better uh games out of Hardy and exom and you know Washington hits some Threes And even Lively hits one uh is that does that wake them up and even Jesus everybody was freaking out over Hardway hitting garbage time threes I mean that to me is fool’s gold which is there’s guys who play limited roles and who are on the bench that if they did it all the time they wouldn’t play in limited roles and be on the bench there’s a reason they do because doing it again is the hard thing it’s like I say I always use that golf analogy sure one day you went out and shot an 80 but if you average 98 chances are next time you’re going to shoot 105 you know like you’re not going to shoot an 80 again you know like it’s just not you that’s not who you are you’re the guy who averages you know 98 to 102 every time you go out and play That’s who those guys are or a lot of them otherwise they’d be starting and scoring 15 18 points a game it’s that’s not who they are so yeah could they repeat it sure will they do it on the road with the pressure of going home I I wouldn’t bet on it so that bothers me less it’s really whether the Celtics can un I’m not worried about Dallas and those guys it’s whether the Celtics can unlock uh their offense uh against this team oh you’re you’re muted Bobby sorry the one thing I look at with the shot making there that you mentioned is the fact that they left so many of those guys wide open in those spots prior to that game and pent up the numbers now in terms of wide open Dante X him two with three uh CER hit an open three Lively hit that wide open three in the corner good but I want to give cber and Lively those shot I want to give cber live I will live with open shots from cber Lively Jones all day long xm’s proven he can hit them but again anything that isn’t but from Kyrie and Luca is fine Washington obviously you want to defend a little bit better I think you’re conceding those above the break threes to those guys absolutely like that’s something that they’re going to give up I dare them to get hot again if they do you say well they they got hot again yeah there’s just the possibility that that continues when they’re wide open but there’s also possibility put a yeah but I mean there’s a possibility that that that Derek white has one of his you know eight thre pointer games too you know what I mean it’s like I I’d bet on Hower and white and you know even Tatum and Horford coming alive from from three much more than I would bet on those guys yeah for sure I’m just not worried about cber and Jones and XM I’m just not like I’m just not when when the answer is guys you’re you’re that are struggling to get into your rotation you know like if Pritchard had a good game I wouldn’t be saying like Pritchard is the answer to the next game it’s just it’s just not how it’s not how it works for me you know like that’s how that’s how I view it yeah for sure and that’s not going to be what dictates his success when Don is on the ball as much as he is and he has to do as much as he does well if it’s going to be him carrying them the way he did in game three but uh effect of him doing that is other guys getting freed up to do some stuff and they don’t need to do much because he can do so much of that heavy lifting and you start to wonder how much you’re going to react to that heavy lifting and the big production that he’s doing right now because your game plan through three games that worked so successfully was guarding him straight up living with the baskets he scores and trying to make sure all those other guys get shut down completely which is why as I look at the numbers here there really aren’t a ton of wide open shots that they’re giving up to some of these other guys like Jones was one for five on wide opens coming into game four green was one for four CLE bar for two that’s not a ton of shots that you’re given up to those guys just because Luc is shooting so many and in other circumstances they’re covered up so he’s not able to kick out and have the assists remember in game one Johnny had one assist luuka did so game plan was working so well if it’s crack start to form in that you obviously have quite a bit of leeway here with the three nothing lead where you don’t have to substantially react to a big luuka game but do you react to two luuka games at that point you’re in that Golden State territory a little bit again where we’re all sitting there watching Curry go crazy in 2022 against the drop but everyone else is getting limited because of it and then you switch up and actually try to address Curry and everyone else starts going crazy so that’s only thing I look at right here coming out game three and say did you overreact to Luca and what he was doing just a little bit to where those guys actually got freed up to do some stuff because they don’t need to do a ton yeah they don’t um they don’t but again like I they were doing nothing John that was the problem previously if you go from nothing to something that’s a pretty big win for Dallas at that point defensively you mean offensively oh the the the bench guys the roll guys yeah yeah again I I know it’s nothing from something but it’s again it’s if if you’re going to if you’re gonna die if you’re gonna let Dallas beat you somewhere um that’s where I want to see it happen again that’s you’re you’re living with that if you if you if you want to do that you you’re trying not to the the Joe’s game plan doesn’t change right limit lobs and Corner threes and and we will let those guys shoot if you lose that game because those that collection of players you mentioned there beat you with a bunch of above the break threes you lost that game that’s I go ahead and do it can and I dare you to do it in five and then in six and then in seven there’s no freaking way there’s no way if you if you look at it as I’m not changing my game plan because it happened once I’m gonna I’m gonna dare you to beat to beat me with this four times that’s that’s the right approach that’s the right approach in my in my opinion so I’m not changing anything in terms terms of how you defend you just have to defend better there was miscommunication all over the place and early and you don’t want to leave wideopen Shooters but they weren’t they didn’t do a good job they did they didn’t do a great job on the ball Irving was getting where he wanted to go inside the paint there as well um so yeah that’s that that that’s how I view it there um this was a theme that we talked about I’m curious from everybody you spoke to today uh on you know and I asked Tilman about it um and I know a couple of people spoke on it was this notion of uh did the Celtics like did I asked Tillman specifically were you more worried about winning a championship rather than winning game four I if that makes sense like were you’re just thinking we’re going to win the title and like all that comes with that versus the task at hand which was what you needed to do to win that specific game because some people yourself included particularly with the whole Chris DS Victory Cigar sued up but not really play thing you were obviously like I were these guys thinking about the champagne celebration more than they were thinking about the job of of beating the Mavericks in game four what do you get the sense that some people thought that that question was asked a couple of times in a couple of different things that I was in uh here so I’m not sure if the players gave that up to you yeah I I definitely think that’s obvious and whether it was thinking about the celebration or thinking they had in the bag or the more prevent thing I heard which is they had a pressure on themselves to win that game or put a pressure on themselves to win that game to get it done that night you heard them take the opposite approach today and I I know someone already pointed out in the chat is that you heard the notion that you don’t have to win game five like this isn’t game seven here you can play freely you cannot put that pressure on yourself and if you fall short or you lose a tough one you still have game six at that point and if you lose that one you still have game seven so it’s it seemed like the mindset that they were talking about as players is that the the series isn’t going to get decided on Monday you just have to show up and play your game and if you lose you lose you still have another chance at that point whereas in game four I think they felt like they played it with a do or die kind of pressure and that pressure just weighed too much on them and I’m sure it’s different for every guy right like I’m sure there’s some guys in that room who are like we got this and other guys and Joe especially who are like we haven’t won anything yet this is this is the game right here boom boom boom details all that stuff because Joe was in that right mindset obviously right and then I’m sure there’s some guys in there who it too much pressure it was our fault well I mean we’re allowed to think that way but they can’t exactly what do you guys want us to be confident or think that they’re going to blow a three lead I’m Cur again it it absolutely looked like I’m still sitting here talking like the series is over and I’m going to continue to most people are but fear has fear has crept in somewhat and people are looking for people to blame and so yeah sure yeah it was the media I don’t think you should be fearful at all until they lose tomorrow and then the Panic meter can go up to Red going back that’s the whole point is you’re jumping in your mind people are jumping ahead currently to what if they lose tomorrow Panic rather than waiting to see if they lose tomorrow you’re either going to be thrilled because they won the title or you’re G to be freaking the F out because it’s like oh my God oh my God oh my God this is going seven and that’s gonna happen to some people there’s no question about it so I you know I get it but everyone jump someone’s asking in the chat here John do you like them saying however long it takes it takes it’s not all about Monday or would you rather then be like Monday’s a game seven for us in our mind there’s no way we can leave us I don’t think it matters I I don’t think it matters we’re gonna get Jose Pavone on in a little bit as well um but I don’t think it matters and I’m gonna get Jo s’s take on this also um as soon as we bring him on first off I do want whatever works I I I’ll I’ll I’ll give you my take on that in a second we’ll get Jo s’s take as well I do want to let people know know here you got another chance to get in on the action here with prize picks if you want to get involved with the NBA Finals number one fantasy sports at more than 5 million members fun exciting get in on the 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eyes but maybe some people feel differently about it but to me it’s we’re here to win four games in a series we want to win every game but are if you start admitting that this one is a huge one because you definitely don’t want to go back to Dallas for game six and then have to return here for game seven you’re almost conceding that you’re panicked I I don’t know your thoughts joose yeah I’m kind of on the same boat man I just think it’s one of those uh it doesn’t really matter but if you act like you’re really scared about going back then it paints to it paints that you’re nervous it paints that you uh you you you have something to be afraid of but at the same time I can see why Celtics fans don’t like it but I don’t think it really matters I don’t think we’ll look back if if they were to lose tomorrow I don’t think we would look back and say oh well look at the way they were talking beforehand their head weren’t in the game they were they were think this thing is going to go seven or they they they didn’t take care of business they know what they need to do and they’ve have they’ve had experience enough experience to know uh that this thing could blow up in your face if you don’t take care of business uh Monday night but at the same time I don’t want to hear them say that either so yeah I’m with you John it’s one of those things where it’s like if you say You’re really afraid to go back then you kind of kind of sounds like you’re afraid you’re you’re scared to to have to go that that you’re not confident enough to go back and Dallas and win it but at the same time I think they know that this is your best shot get it done and these guys the Dallas Mavericks are the ones with their backs against the wall yeah yeah that’s that’s where I’m at Bobby I don’t know yeah I don’t know I don’t know Bobby if you see it differently I’m not super concerned but I I think it’s natural it’s gonna be how they play of course but what’s natural right now is what’s happening is you know again people are nervous um I think it was the manner in which they lost game four that freaked people out because yeah if you dropped if you drop a close one you be like well it’s on the road it happens whatever I do it again but when you get your ass kicked that that you remember that a little bit and I think it’s in people like I didn’t think Dallas could do that to us is how people are feeling and knowing that they could and did changes your Vibe a little like uhoh I didn’t think they had that in them yeah but don’t you think Joe likes that though I feel like Joe likes that they lost by that much like see see see how bad it can get you don’t do what you’re supposed to do you know what I mean it’s like it’s like the classic line when he said right when you think you’re about to uh uh knock somebody out is usually when you get punched or something like that choked out yeah exactly here’s the thing I’d feel bad I’d feel worse if um the Celtics didn’t play like such ass and miss so many shots um but would you have pulled your starters that early though I’m not against it but I’m just asking yeah yeah yeah yeah right my one concern heading into the game uh was Horford playing his first game of the series with only a single day rest and holding up you know and the load that he has to play not blaming the game on Horford by any means but I was I was already a little bit worried there and their bigs definitely were more impactful in this game and whether it was Horford or some of the other guys that had gotten away switching onto Kyrie and Luca warranted successful this game I do think with two days off you’re getting fresh Celtics plus the home crowd plus just law of averages in terms of getting the shooting uh variant to kind of tilt in your favor and have one of those types of games if it’s going to happen I feel like game five is a pretty good spot you don’t want to rely entirely on well let’s hope the shots fall but honestly like that you don’t have to hope with this team over a long Joe missoula’s game plan in terms of you know the math that he uses and what he wants to see happen works over a long timeline but it doesn’t work every game and when it’s not working people are like all they’re doing is jacking threes they had to Jack threes last game they had to hope that it eventually turned in their favor to have any chance of getting back and [ __ ] just snowballed because everyone was trying to do it all by themselves and it just they weren’t getting quality looks they weren’t working hard enough to get them and everything got away from them I want them to absolutely go out there and shoot 50 53s tomorrow yeah and they’re going to it’s part of how they’re going to try to navigate the lack of paint touches they have but they did a bad job getting there in the last game I think they only had like 26 points in the paint there wasn’t that urgency to get inside and that’s a big part of what made me feel like Tatum could become the MVP before that game is how consistently he got there you saw the drives go way way up you saw him make that attempt every play to get inside and kick out and that’s what is having him average six plus assists per game as you see there so to see that come to an end tells me more than anything else that this was an effort issue this was an attention to detail issue on the boards where they got killed for the first time there things happened in that game that didn’t happen earlier in the series when the Celtics paid a substantive level of attention to the things that they need to do as Jose way said there the problem to me is that it happened at that level where no one did anything right in that game and they were so caught off guard or unprepared or whatever it was that that’s the result that happened and it’s a it’s a similar circumstance here right there’ll still be that pressure to win it all there’ll be the crowd pressure that crowd’s going to be rocking they’re going to be expecting the championship to happen on Monday that pressure on Boston isn’t changing and it only builds with every extra game they play now so if that’s what impacted them or that’s what got them out out of syn mentally there it’s almost fitting that again they’re going to win this series but it would be pretty fitting for as frustrating as these guys have been yeah they’re gonna win this series he said he took a drink from his whiskey you know like well that’s the thing John wouldn’t it be so Celtics so Tatum and brown era for them to win the for them to win the championship by the Skin of Their Teeth in seven games after being up three nothing it hey that’s last year I’m not going there this is a different team they reminded they reminded us no but the old Celtics pop out every so often Jo way right yeah that’s true so I’m not going I think they get it done Monday but man that things are a little different joose way porzingis isn’t here you need those tman minut I know I know Bobby but I I just don’t I don’t trust those other guys from Dallas right the ones that going to have to they’re going to have pretty much duplicate what they did and that includes Kyrie Irving I’m not to call him another guy but let’s face it he’s not the same player that we saw in Dallas when he’s in TD Garden he hasn’t been since he left pretty much or stomped on the logo whichever side or you know you think whatever the reason may be uh clearly these fans get to him he can’t focus and even in a uh potential elimination game I don’t know if we get a a better version of of what we’ve seen in Kyrie and Boston I’m not quite sure I I that’s a big one I predict I predict he’ll he’ll play better than what we saw in games one and two but is that enough like Dallas needs a lot out of him pretty much what he did in game four which was his best game of the series is Kyrie ready for Boston John didn’t sound like it today especially a fishing Kyrie that was a fishing Kyrie in game four we’ll get into Kyrie because I do want to get to that I but the name is the Kyrie segment all right cool no we haven’t done Kyrie and we haven’t fully done Chris STS because I I do I do think it’s important because we do want to kind of discuss it um there were some Vibes about okay you know is he are they being cautious or koi did he dress up as a human Victory Cigar just to go out there walk around the court if they clinched in Dallas uh did he dress up because why not doesn’t matter and they were never going to play him up three 0 because they felt like oh what’s the need here we’ll put him in later in the series as we need to my contention has always Adam himl back tried to get him to talk today and saw but wasn’t allowed to yeah that one-on-one or was there was there other people around him when he asked or did he walk out thinking he was at the podium and realized he wasn’t and then they shut him down option it wasn’t clear from the tweet it wasn’t clear but otherwise why is he out there yeah so he went out there and as I said we saw we saw the video of him I mean when we talk about look there’s nothing going on at these things of any note it doesn’t matter like this is what we what we see is nothing nothing they’re not going through a workout and honestly even Joe Joe’s called these things walkthroughs they’re not practicing hard but porzingis was out there shooting shots over the backboard you know and just messing around really didn’t move at all and it’s fine there was a bunch of Tatum was just stretching it’s not a big deal if he weren’t injured there’s people dancing out there but yeah yeah there’s people this is not anything that he was doing you know but he’s still smiling he’s still in good spirits but really the question was you know is there any chance that he plays and that the plan was they’ll play him when they need them um and I asked DAV your Tillman uh you know a couple questions about it today I was talking you know over his Podium and here’s what he had to say um I don’t know I mean when we go through our practice and stuff like that he’s he’s doing some stuff but you could still tell that he’s very uncomfortable so like I said we don’t want to put him in any type of um uh situation that could really really hurt him you know do you see Improvement as each day goes on or it’s still kind of a tough thing it’s been pretty much the same I’m and I’m not a trainer either so yeah I I don’t really know he’s like [ __ ] maybe I shouldn’t say that but so tman tman kind of Tillman kind of gave away a lot he looks bad he doesn’t look comfortable um I don’t know that he wanted I don’t know that he should have said that I wasn’t fishing for like tell me he looks bad I I honestly thought the answer would be like yeah he’s he looks better every day like yeah he’s working hard to get boil PL he’s looking hard to get out there right instead it was he’s very uncomfortable I think that’s the reality is he’s he’s he’s not I don’t think it’s a rest I don’t think he gets better this thing needs surgery it’s not going to be better without it he he’s gonna feel this way maybe they shoot it up and he tries to play a little bit but I’d be stunned I really do believe um anyone holding out hope should not um should not hope it and again guys you got to stop with the uh everyone’s got to stop with the gamesmanship thing I don’t think porzingis I don’t think it’s in their plans to play porzingis very pleasantly surprised if he if he plays and if they got us and he goes out and plays I’ll apology cam it again I promise you you’ve got it I’m not being negative I I I he needs surgery I don’t I’m thinking the same John I’m thinking like a game seven scenario is like the only way like I don’t think want it or need it I don’t think he’s I don’t think he can possibly be effective and I think we just it it might be a distraction you might want to put it out of your mind completely the idea of poring is playing and just beat him with the guys that you have which again should be enough yeah and I don’t want to go there again but if it’s medical and he can’t play why is he questionable don’t put him in street clothes Bobby well Bobby I mean gez we had what’s his name um Jared Allen was questionable for like seven straight games and he never to play he was out before the before each game last game again I think we’ve whether or not you agree with the tactics we agree why they did it was probably because so are they gonna do it again again I don’t know that it unless you think it’s a massive distraction to the team to do it it feels like every player understands porzingis is not playing and all they’re doing is yeah dress up and sit on the bench so you can be part of this thing that’s it I I don’t think it’s a controversy with the team but I do think fans have to wrap their minds around I think fans have to probably wrap their mind around porzingis isn’t is probably not playing right and then so anyone holding out hope for it that he’s going to be a savior here I do think it doesn’t matter what we think well the the the reality is just is that the Celtics are probably gonna have to win without him that’s it yeah and so Tillman a lot of it does fall on him he’s he’s actually important now and as part of a bigger group of guys who are going to switch on the Luca and guard him on every pick and roll over the 10 minutes where you don’t have Horford out there so and of course Horford has to log the bigger minutes now at that point and hold up too so it’s tougher without porzingis joose way it certainly is and the numbers show it they’re minus 10 per 100 when he’s not out there and I think they’re like plus 27 per 100 when he is they were dominating they were up three nothing in this series in large part because of porzingis contributions in those first two games he just made it uncompetitive with how good he was yeah no question and I I think when you if you’re the the Dallas Mavericks you you know that too you know I think you’re that you’re beyond trying to game plan for a hypothetical situation where Chris DS was thrown back in and for some of these guys I think it doesn’t really matter in a sense of like they don’t want to even you know think back to what it was when when it was like when christops was out there you know I I don’t I I think we’re so deep in the series that both teams sort of know what’s up and again like I said before when Joe was was as transparent as he was I think that’s what really spoke volumes to me because that type of stuff he doesn’t he doesn’t ever say and for him to call it a serious injury I think says a lot um and then of course the caveat of yes he’s active but and it’s like oh okay so that’s that’s where he’s at but look the Celtics Tillman I mean they don’t they’re not in a situation like the Dallas Mavericks where he has Joe moua has to go deep into his bench and play guys you know like they they have enough to get this done um like you like you said earlier Bobby in sense of guys getting more three-point shots I think that’s definitely in the cards for uh tomorrow night just in the sense of how the Celtics respond historically after losses like that’s just usually like that’s what you don’t have to worry about right and I’m not saying they’re gonna go out there and have to take 53s to win it but they’re gonna be encouraged to take as many threes as they can or at least set themselves up for for not passing up those great shots and I like the chances of those going in to be honest with you you know guys like Derek white Drew holiday I think they bounced back from what we saw in game four um but yeah in terms of the front Court I I I think we see the same what we saw um in game four inste of Tillman being slotted in there getting his stin U hopefully he um you know can can give these guys some extra muscle Off the Bench but yeah I mean Al Al’s gonna be in a big spot here but I think he’s ready for it I think he’s confident you know I think he knows that um the opportunity that he has right here to get this done in Boston uh being the starter starting center I I think is is is pretty cool man for someone who’s 38 years old and has been impactful as much as Al’s been so it would be a great way to finish things off for sure we’ll see be ready Luke Stay Ready Luke officially stay ready if if Xavier doesn’t hold up because you can’t go small here and the rebounding disparity the rebounding ability of Dallas is going to prevent you from doing that in this that’s the thing people are saying things in the chat like Tatum at the five not against this team guys you know it worked f it we were begging for it against Indiana where it would have worked because miles Turner’s not a classic five either he likes to play out you know away from the basket really no interior presence you’re not worried about getting killed on the glass here these guys will murder you if you go you 65 to 29 or whatever did even when you weren’t you again you were small when when tilman’s coming in and Horford is out that’s a small team and they got murdered and there’s nothing that’s a better equalizer for you know playing good defense shutting a team down and giving them freebies on the offensive glass extending possessions that’s a killer because you try your try your ass off for you know 20 seconds of the shot clock shutting things down and then just boom you’re just giv that up so it’s going to be a team effort on the glass they got to hit it um and they can’t let up there because that’s a that’s a clear that’s a clear disadvantage for them um with that so again the porzingis thing I hate that that’s it but I think that that’s um I think that that’s that’s it for him personally um here so they gota they got to do it with what they’ve got um beyond that we’re on the Kyrie Irving Adventure train once again what does this have to do with the series nothing train is never late it’s always coming back it’s never late what does it have to do with basketball nothing does anybody actually care no but he makes it impossible to talk to not talk about because on and off he goes uh and here’s Kyrie Irving talking about again so here’s where it does matter I’ll tell you where it matters after you listen to the bizares that was Kyrie Irving today Championship pedigree here they’ve shown it for years they’re uh one of the most about playing in Boston having played in Boston so you have to show your respects here and I think that’s what I struggled with initially was figuring out how I’m going to be a great player here while winning championships while also leading a team and uh selflessly joining uh the Celtics organization or the cult that they have here uh you know and that’s what they expect you to do as as a player they expect you to seamlessly buy into the Celtics Pride buy into everything Celtics and if you don’t then you’ll be outed and uh I’m one of the people that’s on the outs that’s every organization I’m perfectly fine with that you know what I mean I did it to myself um they don’t welcome me in with warm and Brace even though I know a lot of people in organization and my friends still here some of them um but yeah it was just a doing to myself and um that’s what I was talking about in terms of accepting the choices but looking back on it definitely would have showed my respect and had more of a a counil around me from some of the Boston Celtics that had came before me to explain what the pressure is like so so uh if any player is coming here or getting drafted here or think about coming here free agency or getting traded here I just think do your homework and and make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into um you know that’s that’s something I could offer oh my God it’s freaking exhausting he’s he didn’t buy into the cult of Celtics basketball like can you try any harder to take any responsibility you dude everybody knew you’re a weirdo people didn’t even give a crap about the Flat Earth [ __ ] if you stayed and played and played well you you you you you formed a coup you left with somebody else you formed a super team elsewhere after saying you were going to sign and then you tanked in the playoffs but he never talks about that John that’s what me’s addressing everything except that all exactly you absolutely mailed it in in the playoffs because you knew you were out of here and everybody is furious over that and you pissed all over the the upand cominging stars and messed with their heads by not being a good leader everyone hated what you did to what was left not you so he’ll never get it and that’s fine I don’t care I don’t need to be right or have Kyrie Irving to think that we are right about how things ended here it doesn’t matter to me what does matter is this insufferable [ __ ] means he’s constantly thinking about this and Boston and he’s sucked here and he’s sucked in games one and two and you’re wondering whether or not he’s incapable of keeping this [ __ ] out of his head when he plays games in the TD Garden and he might be especially because of how poorly he’s played you look at six for 19 in game one seven for 18 in game two the numbers aren’t good here 413 2022 in that first round series 12 of 20 in that first game but you know the middle fingers are flying and going back and forth with guys and that’s still happening the series not as notably yeah yeah the only thing a good point George the only thing he’s ever taken responsibility or credit for yeah his time here is is is is is the Jay’s growth he’s taken he’s proud of that he’s proud of he’s proud of the role he played in their development but that’s it I just love how he he never talks about the the big why which is the situation in Brooklyn which is teaming up with Durant you know his buddy and getting another super team going just say that it failed over there too it’s okay you don’t have to explain that part but that was a big reason why you left and at the end of the day like that’s what Celtics fans soured over you know obviously the promise and the fact that you just left you know and look wherever you are on that side of the conversation okay that’s neither here or there at this point it was What freaking seven years ago whatever but the point is like any player like any allar like anyone who is positioned to be a leader of a team you’re supposed to embrace the culture you’re supposed to be you know you you whether you want to do your history or not it’s on you but yeah you’re not supposed the organization does not supposed to adapt to you it’s always the other way around and look I I credit Kyrie for for talking about maturing and saying how he’s a different person now okay if that’s part of it then okay we get that anyone could understand something like that right but go out and say it you know don’t make it sound as if like you went into this thing not knowing what it was I mean I’m sure your dad must have told you a thing or two about the Championships and the culture and the way things are expected want to hold themselves accountable all that stuff could talked to Max you could have talked to Max you I was about to say you could have talked to Paul you could have talked to kg but that’s but he doesn’t mean it so I don’t even know why we need to parse those you know over those words there’s no hidden meaning in it it’s just a child trying to trying to trying to you know you know absolve himself of any responsibility or you know or of his own behavior so none of it really matters to me but the thing you said joose I think is right on it’s like it’s expected of everywhere right like doesn’t matter where you go it’s like hey you know when you come here we want you to play Washington Wizards basketball you know like you love that with LeBron we want all I say that all the time you know like oh you know we’re playing Sacramento Kings basketball like you haven’t won anything freaking ever like but everyone thinks they do things a certain way the culture all of that [ __ ] matters to people so they say it throughout but when you do go to the Knicks the Lakers the Celtics the Spurs yeah maybe freaking understand that there’s an expectation there Beyond other places because of all of those things so duh I mean of course you’re going to lean on your past you’re going to do it as best you can so that’s understandable but again do you think it’s so in his head that he’s gonna there’s a likelihood he comes out and struggles again because he sucks here I think so I think so for sure absolutely and the last thing I was gonna say also like just if if you’re not going to say it I’m just going to say it for him uh you weren’t you weren’t and you still aren’t ready to be a number one on a championship team like that’s what you learned here in Boston like that’s really what it boils down to and maybe one day you say it in a book or something but until that happens I’m always gonna be thinking that as well so no fire I mean that’s a great take because Bobby has a Bobby’s jumping on a radio interview he had the bolt we’re gonna hang out here for a few more minutes and we’re gonna wrap it as well but um the um uh that’s 100% right that’s the irony of all of these things right you go somewhere you go somewhere you want to be the man you realize it’s really lonely as the man and you can’t do it all by yourself so you go and try to team up with superstars again when you go and form a super team with freaking Durant and Harden who where do you think you fall in that pecking order three my man you know and not even a question at that point and then you know you you you end up on another team which has freaking Luca who’s no worse than the second best player in basketball you’re second fiddle again all of these guys do it they always go places where there’s other people because it’s the NBA isn’t built on a lone like a lone Superstar League anymore you want to sit here and argue on the Tatum versus brown one versus 1A [ __ ] that’s fine but reality is is like you need a couple of Allstars and really good upand cominging players you know like a maxi you know coming up or one of those types of guys a halberton and this and that or other or a veteran team where you’ve got guys who know what the hell they’re supposed to do with white and holiday obviously porzingis this is bordering on a super team with the amount of talent that the Celtics have here you’re not winning on your own anywhere so this this you know you’re never gonna be that guy but again I I do wonder what’s going on with Kyrie and how he feels ending into this game it’s another wild card is we said this before right the Mavericks can win with this with if Kyrie and Luca both have big games they cannot if they don’t the Celtics can also still win if Kyrie and Luca have big games and they’ve done it this series um but and they did it in game three they can beat them when just those guys go off which is again what I’m counting on for the rest of the way because I as you mentioned right when you came on it’s one of the first things I hit on I dare the role players on the Mavericks to repeat this not just in game five but in five and six and seven so you can Kyrie goes soft in one of these Garden games lights out that’s they don’t have enough they don’t have enough fir power out so again the reason I point to this is without almost any prompting this guy comes in here should have been riding as high as he could possibly be riding all series and starts with this dumb [ __ ] again it’s in his head it has to be in his head and if this is his way to try to motivate himself Kyrie hasn’t been working man like he’s been doing this for years and if TD Garden takes it a step further and playing these quotes or a video clip from what you said today it’s going to get everyone even more fired up and ready to go go and that’s the thing man like guys like Lively and Gafford man they had tremendous performances in game four right you know it’s exactly the kind of uh type of play that these guys really need on a night toight basis throughout the series to be competitive to even keep up with the Celtics but can those guys do that in Boston especially if Kyrie gets off to a slow start that’s a huge ask you know that’s a huge ask for guys who already were just like stunned in game one it took them a little bit to adapt and then when they soon as they sort of somewhat found some comfort they went back to Dallas or they went off to Dallas now they’re back in Boston and honestly man if it if it’s a slow start for Kyrie in that first half it’s gonna be I I would it wouldn’t shock me if it’s the same thing for those guys and it carries over you know yeah I I I I do wonder how that’s gonna he has to have a huge mous start honestly like I I think it’s that important for these guys in their momentum yeah it is it is and I I do think you know we talked about whether Joe liked the result I don’t think so um I think Joe was definitely taken aback by the loss you could tell in the tone of his press conference today he was you know wasburn asked him a question that gets swatted 10 row deep uh you know under normal circumstances and he was and he answered it straight up I think he did it straight up yeah that’s true I’m done I’m done messing around like we but I do think he is I I think he feels good and confident that his guys got a message um that like that was freaking embarrassing you know so I do think that the you know I don’t think every single Celtics player can have the worst game of the playoffs all at once again and so that’s why I feel a little bit better here and I don’t know that the Mavericks can repeat the performance they got in game five so I feel good about it still in game five but you’re right we’re gonna be smash as much as I want you guys to smash the like button we’re going to be smashing the panic button uh if they lose game s oh man yeah look one way or the other CNS is with you all the way um keep it here for great coverage all the way through um as you know we have you covered uh whether it’s in the comfort of our home or in Arena or on the road we’re going to be there we’ll all be out in Dallas once again if it goes to a game six we’ll all be at the Garden tomorrow um covering the game so make sure you join us throughout the day uh for continuous Celtics coverage check out clns media.com for all of our written work as well subscribe to our YouTube channels uh and just hang out with us then we want you guys to bring the energy tomorrow if it’s a postgame show we are going all fraking night long okay we’re going to hang out with you guys as long as we can and enjoy it with you uh you know with you uh all the way through so we always appreciate you guys joining us and we can’t wait to see you all on mass tomorrow hopefully celebrating a win and banner 18 that’s right nothing changes it was one more whoa and it remains one more and yes perhap perhaps this ends Monday uh which will be great for the Celtics and great for the fans sad for us because we will miss you guys but yes let’s get it done Monday thank you guys again for hanging out with us Jose pavon and Bobby Manning uh took off tomorrow we’ll have the whole cast as well along with Jimmy Tuscano and sherro Blakeley so make sure you hang out with us right here on the stream as we bring you Celtics postgame coverage we’ll be doing some pregame stuff as well thank you all and we will see you tomorrow oh wait wait wait I gotta hit my little little outro we see you tomorrow take care guys wait am’s got an outro for us I think no he doesn’t he said he was going to work on an outro he had a phenomenal game phenomenal forits out I I think it’s an option that did not sound like a chair it was a freaking chair it does sound like a chair

The Garden Report crew previews Game 5 of the NBA Finals, discussing the status of Kristaps Porzingis, how the Celtics can bounce back from a disappointing loss, and Kyrie Irving’s strange remarks at Sunday’s practice.

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