The Athletic’s Joe Vardon Talks NBA Finals, Cavs & More | Full Interview | The Rich Eisen Show
Joe Bon covers it for the athletic he joins us now on the Rich Eisen show hi Joe how you doing I’m doing just fine it is beautiful here today in Boston beautiful like beautiful day to win a championship beautiful well I could tell you this Andrew uh the the Boston’s Finest are are leaving nothing to chance and already all along Causeway and all the feeder streets uh are guard rails uh Boston police and the Liquor Commission are telling the the locals here that you cannot go into a bar uh after halftime I believe uh yeah if you’re already in a bar you can stay but you can’t go into one after halftime they’re also trying to clear the streets uh immediately around uh immediately around the arena they they are there was a big crowd down here in game four while we were all in Dallas um and it made him nervous there was a a huge police force here game four I’m told and so tonight yeah I mean they as of yesterday the bar owners from here all the way past the North End all the way into the C center of the city they were all told um about you know closing your doors to new customers like preparing for uh craziness in the event of a celebration so regardless of what you and I think about the the end of the series maybe coming tonight um Boston police and City Administration certainly are preparing as though that’s the case Joe stay there let let’s bring in a card carrying Boston fan Chris Brockman hey the what bars like CL like that makes no sense I mean I get it from a safety perspective Joe I totally understand that I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anything like that heard anything like this uh seems it seems like that’s not going to go over well with the the certain certain fitzes and soes there in Boston but I’m Pera I’ve never heard anything like this Joe have you no well this is my this is my ninth finals uh I missed the year that it got pushed back and Team USA was playing at the same time um so that’s where I was but otherwise I’ve never I’ve never seen this and I’ve I’ve had some finals that were closed out at home even in Denver last year and there turned out to be some unfortunate violence uh there we didn’t see this we didn’t see the closing of bars closing of streets that kind of thing and I remember walking back from the arena to to the hotel like tonight they’re they’re talking about to get to certain hotels you’ll actually need an NBA security uh escort wow that is wild way late you know after we do all of our work wow talking to Joe V here from the athletic who is there in Boston covering uh what I think will be a Celtics closeout victory tonight you know much like with the bars the the Celtics have been you know blocking the Mavericks at halftime as well from parti ating for the rest of the game um I I I just can’t see Joe despite their Valiant effort on Friday um I mean again in retrospect it seems like Luca just kind of went listen I know I’m going to be ripped by most of the NBA media and world and doubted now heading into the next off season so I may as well just show up and we might as well do this tonight on Friday to say face I know that sounds negative and sarcastic I just can’t see them mustering that again tonight yeah I don’t know that they mustered anything more than they had given um in this series I just think Boston played a pretty undisciplined pretty unfocused first half and just you know you kind of get into that mentality of oh well we we have more chances at this uh the first two quarters didn’t go well and then they were totally run off the floor early in the third quarter you know I thought Dallas I mean like Dallas’s game plan is the same the you know the they the starting lineups they use are the same uh Jason has has sort of said like we’re not a lineup switching team that’s not in the position they’re in so I just thought Boston um didn’t do as good of a job targeting Luca on defense and running him through that grinder um I thought he played a little bit better he didn’t complain to the officials um and then offensively they just the Mavericks were able to get a couple of Runners at the rim and also get to that that corner three but the the numbers were still basically Luca Kyrie and then everybody else um until garbage time when Tim Hardway Jr made five threes in the fourth quarter like Kyrie and and and Luca and then I guess um Lively were there only three players in double figures so you know I I think I lay this a lot on Boston you know Dallas certainly didn’t quit they didn’t lay down um but this was a Celtic situation Jason kid was right he said they that the Celtics were ready to celebrate um I expect a much more focused effort tonight on the part of the Celtics but we have to remember other than game one this has been a close series and actually now because of the blowout in game four uh Point differential wise Dallas is actually leading the series so all that’s to say long witted way Boston’s going to be better tonight but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s enough to get it done and look I I understand what I said sounded negative and sarcastic and I I get it I also realized that if Luka hadn’t fouled out of game three then maybe this is an entirely different conversation and to me Joe that is the the massive what if like the massive what if hanging over this series what if he had not fouled out yeah I think so I mean there was I mean there was a bunch of time left in the fourth quarter enough time and actually they were only down three when Luca goes out they actually cut it to one another time they had a look at it they were only down two so you have to say something like that um at the same time Luca wasn’t really moving well or playing well for him uh you’d love to get him in a closing situation though so yeah I mean I the same thing could be said for Boston in the Conference Finals like they they sweep the Indiana Pacers it’s a legitimate sweep and there were some things that happened at the end of three of those four games that absolutely could have and maybe should have gone the Pacers way so you could either chalk that up to some luck on the part of the Celtics or you could say that they are making plays and crunch time when they need to which had been an Achilles heal for the the Celtics teams of the past um but they’re on the verge of doing it and um you know I think you and I both kind of have that feeling that maybe it is tonight yeah Joe what’s the deal with porzingis tonight yeah I mean he’s questionable as of now and they’re saying that the idea in four was they were going to use him in a very specific situation which to me means that they don’t have a ton of faith and how he’s moving and you’re thinking about like if you’ve got to guard an inbounder at the end of a quarter or something like that um I’ve seen him on the floor shooting and moving a little bit so like if they can get to him tonight does he do more maybe but the fact that he was active for game four and didn’t step on the court for one second tells you that you wonder how much of this is symbolic and just making sure that one of the most important players on the team is in uniform when they win a title talk to Joe vard the athletic he is in Boston in advance of game five this evening I I I don’t know that you’re you’re writing the Legacy column yet but if you were after a Celtics win tonight what would you write about Jason Tatum dear you know Andrew my job here at the finals for the athletic is I write our game story so the first thing that goes up and then we write it through and it’s the thing that sort of carries the traffic at night while we write our our think pieces um but for a championship story like this you know they there is a narrative involved and I’ve been thinking a lot about it and I just go back to Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown getting a chance now to say they are Celtic Legends I don’t think there’s any way you can argue argue it the amount of times these two players have been to Conference Finals and then have gone to the finals now twice already uh they’re both still under the age of 30 and they’re about they’re going to win a title and so now they count and you wonder what happens from there when they have that you know the proverbial monkey off their backs and now they’re um they’re they’re playing you know I don’t know if Care Free is the right way to say it but that they they have achieved the thing that no that everyone said they couldn’t get and when that happens like how many more AR follow like this team is built to last Brad Stevens has done a tremendous job and so I start there I start with Tatum and brown um together when so so many points in their careers uh there’s been suggestions made that they don’t work as a pairing and the Celtics doubled down on them and put the players around them to make this team work with those two they uh we have a Drew holiday now running the show in Boston uh he’s a great defender but also he can keep The Cars Moving On Time on offense and that has helped porzingis his presence has helped and then it’s kind of allowed Jaylen and Jason to be a little bit better themselves in crunch time so um that’s where I start and you know I it’s it’s funny I mean some of your people know uh that I’m from Cleveland I’ve covered a lot of Cavs games in my career I’ve actually covered more Celtic playoff games in Boston than I’ve covered playoff games in Cleveland now so that’s a testament to how dominant they’ve been over these 10 years and you have to suspect that there’s a lot more to lot more to follow I I love the L Horford angle as well that’s got to be part of your game story tomorrow I think so I mean he’s he’s the oldest player um not oldest is the wrong word I think he’s played the most games without winning a finals to to then finally win one um and if you think about if you think about the way that LeBron dominated the East for so long and you think about all the different Players whose careers that affected certainly Tatum and brown the beginning of their careers no question uh you think about Kyle Lowry and you think about Demar D rozan in in Toronto you think about um even going all the way back to the to the first part of the century like he ended the the Detroit Dynasty um and so on and and so forth but uh Horford was imp as impacted by LeBron as any player in in the Eastern Conference because in that span from 15 through 18 while LeBron was in the East uh with the Cavs Horford was on the Hawks teams and then he was on the Celtics teams that kept getting bounced in the playoffs so for him to kind of endured everything that he has and then he returned to this team and the city couldn’t get it done uh with the against the Warriors um so here they are now and uh and he’s on the precipice and so yes absolutely a wonderful story and Joe because you mentioned it I would now be remiss if I didn’t ask what’s going on with the Cavs even though you’re need deep in the finals before we go yeah I mean I think there hasn’t been a lot that’s changed from when from when it all ended for them here in Boston and and we had the big story that said JB was probably going to be let go and if if they signed Donovan which they think they’re going to that that Darius garland would likely ask for a trade um all of that is still on the table you know right they have dismissed JB bicker staff uh despite having improved each year under him uh they did it because they knew they had to they had to change voices in the locker room and a lot of that has to do with the future of Donovan Mitchell moving forward they think he’s to sign they think and and we have reason to believe that that’s the case too so assuming he does now you look at well okay do they uh feel like they have to trade Darius Garland they’re saying they don’t feel like they have to they’re saying that pairing works but obviously there’s some discomfort uh on the part of the players there uh on both sides I think to even suggest this so they have to go through that and what can they get for him um does the Evan Mobley and Jared Allen pairing work uh you know the the Cavs will say well there’s numbers to suggest that it does their numbers together are okay but they’re not Elite this is a team that wants to be elite can they be if they uh change their style and and get assets for one of those two so you know there’s a lot up in the air it starts with the coach um you know they they have some candidates they’ve done interviews in person with a number of them so you know I think shortly after the finals uh I think we’ll probably have a decision there too and if we we had more time we’d we’d Ponder the question what do the Guardians do when Gavin Williams hopefully comes back from his Rehab St but we’ll save that for another time uh Joe in Boston not going to be locked out of the bar he’s actually going to be in the arena this evening Joe stay safe please will you good to talk to you great to talk to you as well thanks for having me Joe V everyone from the athletic in Boston where the Celtics look in my opinion to close out I think it’s going to happen the Dallas Mavericks this evening C the rich eyes and show every single day on the Roku Channel 12 to 3 Eastern for free
The Athletic’s Joe Vardon and Rich Eisen guest host Andrew Siciliano discuss the possibility of the Boston Celtics closing out the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching search, and more.
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