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LIVE: Celtics vs Thunder Postgame Show | Garden Report



LIVE: Celtics vs Thunder Postgame Show | Garden Report

Can you say hard hats folks hard hats lunch pil steel 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 say we need to apologize for J can I call the John what are we apologizing

For what do we say what do we Do uh uh uh what up world it’s Jimmy Tuscano and the real Bobby Manning what’s going on Bobby what’s up Happy New Year Jimmy Happy New Year to you sir glad to see you survived it from New York um I survived it here in Boston the Celtics did not survive Oklahoma City

Tonight falling to the Thunder the I would say title contending Thunder 127 to 123 behind um hell of a performance um from sgaa himself uh we’ll get into we’ll get into the Thunder I’m sure uh just their their quick turnaround to the team they are today but obviously with

With Giddy and and and uh Chad hram hitting some shots Big Shots tonight the Thunder were too much for the Celtics team that just didn’t quite bring it on the defensive side of things uh certainly not for four quarters um and then it was the classic tail Bobby of of

Teams of of the past too little too late they they they clamp down on one end they start to score in bunches on the other I think they went on I saw the graphic on on TV it said it said 27 to1 at one point to to come within a few

Points 27 to1 soend think at its biggest it got to 29 to 13 to get within two so yeah 2711 may I saw the wrong thing but that makes more sense because they were down what like 20ish 18 or whatever yeah and then um making that come back late

In the fourth there behind uh some good Pritchard minutes um Tatum did a couple of things good but again uh it’s it’s so jackeline to hide with him right now um I thought it was a quiet performance from Jaylen Brown who found some foul foul trouble early on the game and just

Never got going at all this was supposed to be a good match up for him uh really your only bright spot well put your as side I thought your real your real bright spot obviously was this was in porzingis but again you can’t talk about porzingis without talking about the toe on the

Line that really came back uh to hurt the team as think didn’t get a great look at it I didn’t think the broadcast did a great job of really zooming in and letting us really get a see really get a look but it did seem that it was it was

Too close for them to overturn certainly and um you know like porzingis you had you had a parking lot to to work with you were wide open I mean he’s got those long legs you gotta get just a just a bonehead mistake I’m sure he’s kicking

Himself about it but yeah that was huge because that would have turned it into uh a onepoint possession or one possession one point game with a timeout so no matter what the unest the thunder hit a three the other way you would have been so yeah I’ll let you talk for a

Minute here Bob just your thoughts on just the way the game sort of finished up for them well I knew I think everybody knew this was going to be a tough one for the Celtics they gave up 150 and just got blown away in this building last year they gave up 127

Tonight to this uh team that just plays at a frenetic Pace an MVP candidate Frank and Sh Guild Alexander was that good tonight able to just get a shot off against anybody but you look at some of the decisionmaking in terms of just the coaching in this game they go to Payton

Pritchard late over Drew holiday feeling the need to get something different at the guard position there which is of course interesting and pitard was really good holiday early got the Shay assignment and just got blown by routinely not to say that other guys wouldn’t have in that spot but I did

Think that they were put a little bit more size on Shay in this game and that’s what they did late with Tatum so they did some things late in this game in terms of pritchard’s usage and Tatum guarding Shay that uh if they got to a little earlier might have gotten them

Going earlier in this game so it was good that Joe put them in a position to come back here but probably slow to react to the way things were going earlier in this game I thought too late whatever they did to force more turnovers really too I mean they were

Just turning over Oklahoma possession after possession uh in that fourth quarter and that’s something that they’ve struggled to it ball pressure yeah and you know it’s as simple as that Jimmy like we’ve asked Joe throughout the year why aren’t you forcing more turnovers and he’s like you know you can

Do stuff but you can’t you can’t make the other team turn it over like they have to do it and you know he’s just kind of chocked it up to happen stance that the Celtics don’t rank very high in turnovers but that was something that happened last year too so I think in

Terms of the way they’re playing defense it’s a little bit more than just bad luck the reason that they don’t rank very high in assists here in forc turnovers here so the Thunder killed them in Pace it took the Celtics like a quarter and a half to score a fast break

Bucket once porzingis got those back-to-back blocks in the second that sent Brown out they finally got on the board there so the Thunder looked more athletic they looked more explosive overall you had more guys who were able to get shots off on their own in this game Jaylen Williams killed them cat

Killed them at times and then of course Shay was the leader of the team tonight in everything they did out there giddy too it’s a it’s a really good team so I don’t think the world’s ending with this loss but you wouldn’t you don’t like going down 18

Being the best team in the league we’re gonna bring in joose pone into the building what’s up Jo how you doing dude how are we feeling about this game um we’re feeling mi great yeah we’re the chat is largely disappointed I would say a lot of a lot of people saying the

Thunder are the better better team couple people in here saying well here’s one from Kieran good loss overall which I don’t think I don’t think good loss is is ever something you want to say but it’s tough to say that this year you don’t have to act like the World Imagine

If if you line the question with that Bobby to Joe moula he would not like that no absolutely not I mean there were some players tonight that really didn’t step up to the plate so so Joe sway I’ll let you sort of run with it here you

Know me and Bobby have been able to make a couple initial takes but just your thoughts on maybe you know we talked lot about the ending but I mean this game from start to finish you know what what kind of stood out to you and what

Happened I guess for the Celtics to go down as big as they did there in that fourth quarter well what happened was sgaa went off uh the the Celtics I mean the the Thunder did a really good job just taking away everything in my opinion from Jaylen and Jaylen went back

To chucking three-pointers and trying to not put the team on his back but trying to get himself going and it just wasn’t working I thought they did a really good job defending the wings uh took tame a little bit to get going but to me it

Really came down to the other guys you know uh Jaylen Williams you know just guys who could create off the dribble even Josh giddy got going in certain spurts you know Lou D as well I just think I thought the Oklahoma City Thunder did a really good job of just

Just being more aggressive you know a lot of the times I feel like the Celtics just gave away too much space whether it was against SGA whether it was against Chad you know I thought the guys got really comfortable out there you know it’s interesting Bobby I caught the tail

End of what you were saying about Joe manoula and forcing turnovers and I think that’s pretty much it when you’re talking about what’s missing you know I just feel like they weren’t taking away enough space they weren’t in these guys faces until it mattered most you know in

That fourth quarter where they went on to that run and you know 16 to free run it was too little too late where that clock was was rolling a lot of that had to do with the with O C Thunder being able to not only you know build on that

Lead but building that momentum with guys like SGA and Chad homr on the on the bench you know to start that fourth quarter the way they got you know I was happy for Joe moua to call that timeout as early as he did but then there they win again right the Oklahoma City

Thunder and you got to give all the props in the world of course to Derek white because without him this thing is not even a game in those last couple of minutes you know oh yeah the defensive stops the threes you know uh just just getting the guys going in the the the

Back toback threes essentially is what really woke up the team in my opinion and and you know Tatum tried to do a little bit too you know I thought that he was very patient and trying to uh get his offense going but then Chris porzingis at the end you know misses the

Layup where you know he could have got the three-point play opportunity but then all that is when that’s what happens when you’re when you’re just flat out beat by a team that just had your number tonight you know that’s the Oklahoma City Thunder you know you’re

Going to point to those last couple of moments in the in the final minute or final two minutes but at the end of the day I mean OKC deserve this one and you want to see the Celtics go out there and steal one or at least Force overtime in

That last minute but you know Jaylen misses a free throw you know those little things little mistakes is what is what really did them in at the at the very end but let’s face it I mean these guys didn’t didn’t really deserve to win this game if you if you think about it

Seven losses this year Jimmy I feel like this is the third probably that was decided early so they haven’t had many games like this and it’s going to go down as a clutch loss right because they lost by four late but yeah I was gonna say because of what they did in the

Fourth but I hear what you’re saying yeah so Jimmy though and I’ll let you make your point after where do you think they rank in force turnovers the Celtics yeah don’t don’t you tell me it sounds like not high because we were talking about it earlier

He’s got a big smirk on his face yeah 27th interesting so you knew had to be bottom yeah to make his point it had to have been pretty bad but I wanted Bobby to be able to hammer it home if you go back to that eme year the 2022 team that was really

Dominant they were only 13th that year but uh the year the first Missoula year last year they came in at 26 so they’ve been bottom 510 both years here under missou after you know ranking fairly high and again there’s not a lot of separation between the teams here but

You need a few more a game and it looked like they were able to force those late early as Joe sway said just not enough ball pressure not enough intensity on the defensive end I thought their transition defense sucked in this game it was horrible yeah it was and they’ve

Done that at times this year I think they’ve cleaned it up over the last month or two here but early in the season they had some bad moments too and a team like this is able to expose that I mean that should have been number one on their priorities coming in was

Getting back but missed layups turnovers the Celtics turned the ball over a ton early I thought that was the story of the first quarter that’s just going to empower everybody on the Oklahoma side I mean everybody on that team Jose and Jimmy are fast athletic great finishers

Who love to get out on the run and the Celtics really let them do that good rebounders too I thought that killed the Celtics as well yeah yeah but they don’t rebound yeah that’s what K like isn’t that what like the the Thunder don’t rebound so if I thought the Cel were

Again I mean and I know they the Thunder they’ve got those stretch bigs now with with holr and and Giddy and those guys were hitting threes tonight it sounded it seemed like the celic were willing to give those shots up because certainly they weren’t really up in their face it

Seemed like those those are pretty wide open shots for for a lot of those th Thunder players um four seven from gidd is not normal no right so I mean you just kind of have to tip your cap I guess in that situation um but even you

Know SGA eight and then who’s this dude Wiggins Aaron Wiggins Off the Bench it’s two so I mean these shots were falling left and right for the Thunder it’s a dis you know I’m always going to be disappointed when when it’s a it’s it’s a premier sort of

Matchup and and the team Celtics fall short because these are the games that you know you can go ahead and oh they’re 26 and seven well how many of those wins don’t matter in the long run because it’s against a garbage team that you know they won’t seen the playoffs I want

To see statement win so I’m thinking okay they lose on the road in Minnesota now they lose on the road here in OKC yeah these are Western Conference teams and the and you know obviously they you won’t see them again until the finals if you do but this is where the team has

Had trouble in the NBA finals and so these are the matchups that I that I Circle and I’m sure a lot of Celtics fans circle on the calendar because these are the statement games that you w to show up and you w to prove that you know you can go on go

On the road and play tough for four quarters and not you know if you’re Jaylen Brown this this was a matchup that a lot of people thought was going to be huge for him for him to show that you know he can be uh you know a plus

Defender in the league and contain uh an MVP caliber player he couldn’t he picked up two fouls before uh the ball was even tipped off practically and then he kind of disappeared Jaylen uh Jason Tatum yeah he played commendable defense really good defense down the stretch but where was where was that before

Um you know you can’t you can’t go down 20 points and then say Oh I’m gonna start playing defense pton Pritchard is getting put in the game to spark the team that’s unacceptable as far as no no offense to pton Pritcher they do call him Sparky right they do call him Sparky

Some of the some of the greats call him that but but let’s be honest you’ve got you’ve got all we talk about is oh they’ve got the best you know five six guys you know deep in the league and you need to go to the seventh you need to go

To Pritchard and Hower and and and we need to commend Joe for for you know pulling out a r pulling a rabbit out of a hat here in in a game where there shouldn’t be any need to do that so that’s disappointing for me for sure it’s interesting too I’m looking back it

Looked like wide open the game on Shay they put Chad yeah I thought that was that was different yeah sorry go ahead B Chad they put Drew on the big so it looked like the plan was to get try to get Drew there on switches right they were expecting probably more pick and

Roll but Shay was just kind of attacking them head on yeah and the individual Defenders on Shay weren’t able to contain them until they switched to Tatum late so I think that’s an obvious second guess is not going with more size against them I actually thought you know

I think I said in the chat earlier this afternoon Jimmy that this would be a good one for Jaylen as you mentioned there just kind of falling out of this game with fouls early and you know attached to Dort who’s just kind of standing in the corner I didn’t think

That was making good use of him especially if Shay was going to attack headon because I feel like that’s where jaylen’s at his best is just kind of honing in on a matchup and sticking with it so overall we can point to a bunch of different stuff I feel like Joe just

Kind of came into this game and said let’s just roll with the same game plan and stuff we’ve been doing the last couple weeks here and it didn’t adapt well to this game where the Thunder are just a little bit of a different opponent than they’ve seen over the last

Couple weeks here they just seem prepared for it honestly Bobby especially like the Tendencies and and the way SGA was going to try to maneuver his way straight through the paint like you said because he he in my opinion could see how the southers have been defending lately especially

With guys like drick white and Drew holiday and how those guys have been interchangeable on top of the key he made sure that they weren’t comfortable with doing that especially early out you know I mean early in the uh in the uh you know first quarter you know they

Just set the set the tone in my opinion and I felt like you know Drew obviously you can see the way the fourth quarter went for him I mean he never really found that rhythm in this game and you know Missoula went with with uh with

With PR to finish out finish out the uh the comeback that came up short and it’s good timing to talk about Drew Jimmy he hasn’t he’s been phenomenal defensively this year so today’s a little bit of an abnormal result for him on that end and it’s a it’s like Again cover too

Got the other side so that’s not why Drew landed on the bench though it’s the offense right now and you get seven assists in this one but we came into this year Jimmy saying all right jaylen’s gonna have the toughest time adapting and he had a bad night tonight

But overall he’s had a great you know month plus before this so he he figured things out in terms of where he fits in on the offense Drew I’m not knocking what he’s doing talk about Drew let’s talk about Drew everything he’s done for this team has been really subtle you know obviously

Defensively he’s commanding things he’s been awesome on that end he’s passing well he’s rebounding well but he just doesn’t seem super involved in the offense and I know it’s tough when you have five stars out there but in the second units can you get him involved as a ball handler uh you know

In the starting lineup can you put him in you know screen and roll actions to kind of have him involved in the role and you know catch the ball there and make plays sometimes it just feels like he’s floating a little bit and in this

Game the Miss is piled up and he ends up on the bench late um I want to bring in our friend aerod Blakeley who’s joining us here shro what’s up fellas what’s going on you Gucci oh you and your young lingo sorry good I’m good I’m good I’m good

Sip of coffee look at you sh I like it I like your I’m just messing with you Jimmy I’m good though yeah you you knew what I meant I knew what you meant you gotta learn that you’re you’re a professor you gotta be able to to understand the the jargon the lingo

Unfortunately you’re correct he’s hip that’s why yeah he’s in it Celtics what do you think sh Celtics look kind of mid tonight um you know what this was a game that I thought was more about what Oklahoma City did than not necessarily what the Celtics didn’t do Oklahoma City’s a good team uh

They’re they’re top five in they got a top five MVP candidate in Shay gilders they’ve got probably the Rookie of the Year uh on their on their roster as well and then you start looking at the guys that contribute the guys that they have that are playing they’re a good team I

Mean and and to their credit they withi stun a they whst a serious blow by the Celtics in in the fourth quarter and came out with the win they made their free throws they got big shots they got some breaks that they didn’t uh necessarily planned for like porzingis

His foot Towing in the line um yeah again they did Oklahoma City did enough good things in this game to deserve the win and obviously I think you guys touched on it earlier Drew holiday seemed to have taken the holiday off on this one uh and just was not effective

And I will say this about Joe moula um I give him props for this game because Drew holiday was not very good and he’s he’s stuck with Pritcher longer than he normally would yeah uh and I I thought that decision gave the Celtics a chance to possibly win this game whereas I

Think yeah if you I think if You’ have stuck with Drew they probably would lose this game by 15 or 20 points uh I thought Drew was just that non impactful whereas Pritcher was making plays and and his presence alone was I thought helping them just kind of rally and chip

Away at this thing so uh I give Joe props for actually making a a I thought a pretty important coaching decision down the stretch that gave them a chance to win no there’s no moral victories Jo way but it feels like when you come out of this no seeing in December for Pritchard

Said a lot for him he really got going there but you know Hower you know what you’re gonna get more or less his role is a little more more limited when you add up all the different things pitri can do for you he’s looking like that

You know not the six man because that’s kind of alpha this team but he’s that seventh man if you’re going to cut down the seven guys in the playoffs he might be that you know guy right at the end there when you when you cut things off

And really go tight well we’ve seen in the past too when the SS are down double digits that’s been the guy that typically sort of gets that extended minutes you know what I mean when he just to kind of get him going get his flow going you know but now I feel like

This season he’s finding other ways to be effective whether it’s making the extra pass whether so good on the boards yeah the rebounds creating like he’s just constant energy on both ends and I think think that’s why you you’re able to to earn yourself a whole fourth

Quarter the way he did especially in this type of game and that type of atmosphere you know and and guys usually rally around that as the Celtics did I mean of course they fell short but you you know you look around you’re like man pton still in here Payton’s balling you

Know you want to you want to obviously complete the comeback because you know you’re on the cusp of it but also you see someone like Pritchard getting that opportunity so it’s too bad that you know it didn’t turn out the way or at least the other were unable to force

Overtime but it’s it’s a great opportunity him and obviously it’s something that’s going to that he can build off him and I don’t like yeah yeah no I don’t want to make it seem like I don’t I don’t appreciate what Pritchard did tonight or what he’s on the team to do because I

Think this was a good example of that I just think I’m a little disappointed that some of the Stars again porzingis is aside but the guys that are supposed to be you know bringing it for four quarters you know Tatum Brown who we can talk about a little bit later Drew we’ve

Already discussed Horford didn’t have uh didn’t do much tonight either obviously um and I just feel like against a mark you know a team a contending team shirad a team that you know again they’re out west so you you most likely maybe you’ll see him again who knows but um this is a

Team that the Celtics should be able to they shouldn’t go down 18 in this team you know what I mean that’s comes down to the ending yeah sure you just take a look at the final score okay yeah and it was a good game it was entertaining commend them for the

Comeback but they how many times over the last few years have we seen this happen they go down big because they don’t play complete basketball on both ends of the Court they they put a charge in there late in the game but ultimately comes up short they run out of time and

That’s this reminds me of that yeah I mean Jimmy I I agree with you the disappoint probably the the only thing I was really really really disappointed in this game things I wasn’t crazy about but disappointment was the fact that to your point they allowed themselves to dig they dug themselves a tremendous

Hole uh and remember uh OKC did a lot of good things with Shay gilders Alexander on the bench uh that that stretch where they push it up to like 15 16 points he was doing the same thing you and I were doing just sitting back chilling watching things play out and that can’t

Happen you can’t allow you know an MVP candidate on a team to sit on a bench and that team not just maintain the lead but extend it and that that was really disappointing to see that happen uh but but again you credit Oklahoma City I mean there’s a reason why they’ve been

One of the top teams in the Western Conference most of the Season they’re good and you look at you you look at some of the bodies that they’ve put to bed you know they’ve beaten Denver they’ve beaten Minnesota they Denver yeah I mean so so let’s not pretend as

If this was a t this this ain’t Detroit all right right this this isn’t this isn’t yeah this isn’t your squad that’s right this is this is a legitimate team that that beat you when you played you didn’t play a great game but you had Str just where you looked

Really good but it just wasn’t enough to get the win it wasn’t as if you played a bad team so I’m not mad disappointed that they they to your point Jimmy disappointed that they put themselves in such a a hole that they had to just

Fight and Claw just to get back in the game but as far as like the opponent and and and how things played out this is what good teams are supposed to do at home yeah you know to Jimmy’s point though you anticipated that like you know Showdown you wanted to see like a

140 to 145 typ you know you know what I mean like that type of a uh you know knock that many points defense Jo way too you know what I mean I do but look at the you look what Vegas had on on this game and just

In general the the the both both teams with the winning streak on the line you know Celtics coming in with six straight it’s just is that it was that type of atmosphere but you you want to see the Celtics match that all the way through

And I felt like it came down to the fourth quarter was just like oh man you know we got seven minutes left for running out of the time here and they kind of snapped out a bit but um yeah credit to the oklah Thunder though in in

A few weeks this could be the number one team in the Western Conference I mean they’re that close obviously uh when you look at this win that they’re on now yeah I didn’t want to get ahead of myself coming into the year but I thought they could be a homecourt team

Just based on the flashes you saw last year and this guy right here already emerging as an MVP candidate a year ago plus Chad joining the mix here K Wallace has been really good their draft pick this is a team that could make the finals I don’t think you can rule them

Out like they the way they play the way they’ve played other teams in the west and this record through the first quarter of the season they young they probably need a little bit of a veteran presence here you know I think that’s the one thing they’ve really lacked through this rebuild and it

Doesn’t seem like they are interested in adding to this group just given the picks and the young players they have here so that could limit them along with the lack of playoff experience but it wouldn’t be stunning at all to see a thunder Celtics finals no but the one

Thing Bobby that that gives me reason to pause is that uh they’re a good team and talent wise from top to bottom they’re right they’re in that mix but teams like Oklahoma City I’m not sold on them or even want to rent them based upon the fact that

Playoffs are best of sevens not one game elimination right uh and and I don’t know if they have the ability to sustain the level of play that we saw in this game and withstand the kind of run that the Celtics you know put on them over

The course of a seven game series to me they are going to be a feast or famine postseason team they’re either going to get to the Conference Finals or they’re going to get knocked out in the first round I don’t think a second round exit is in their future uh I think they’re

Going to be early early out of the playoffs or go really really far uh because to me uh I just don’t I don’t I can’t I can’t buy into this team as being pretty good and make a little bit of noise they’re either gonna go out

With a whimper or they’re gonna go out with a bang and there’s there’s no in between I don’t think with this team the wild west too sh I mean you got teams that could could be like this could be one of the best uh inseason tournaments that we I mean excuse me

Play I knew it was going to do that I knew playing tournament that we’ve seen when you look at the way the western conference is is is uh breaking down in that the the bottom portion right I mean going into the play it could be the

Lakers it could be one of those teams waiting for uh waiting for OKC so yeah it’ll be interesting for sure Western Conference it’ll be interesting but the Oklahoma City Thunder I think it’s it’s a safe bet that they’ll be one of those top two oh top three Western Conference

Maybe four teams that stays in that vicinity if you ask me so home court is is for sure in their in their uh in their future if I mean it’s it’s early but I I don’t see them dropping off into outside the top five in the west well

Let’s say they’re playing one of the winners of the of the playin tournament right uh let’s say that winner is Dallas would you feel confident that they’re going to be Dallas if let’s say it’s the Lakers would you feel confident they’re gonna be those are those are the teams

I’m talking about yeah yeah so I mean as as good as they are I don’t think anyone will be shocked if they get if they play the winner of the playing tournament and if it’s someone like Dallas or the Lakers that they get smoked in the first round right

Right what happened with Jaylen Brown tonight he was horrible he was bad in every sense of the word I mean there there’s just no even like men and words about that he was bad yeah I mean not just on offense too we’re talking about Shay gild guilis Alexander here couldn’t guard him this

Is one of the reasons why it’s this this loss in this game is dis pointing to me is because this is a this a marquee matchup right this is a game that I think a lot of people had said you know I want to look and see how this matchup

Goes and there’s a lot of people who say Jaylen Brown can be uh he can be uh a great defender in this league and he should be uh in the conversation for you know all one of the all defensive teams I disagree with that but keep going

Right right but there are some people who who feel that way and I’m sure besides Jay besides jayen like literally like Jimmy not even trying to be funny about it but like jayen is the only one who’s kind of talked about Jaylen as an all NBA

Defender yeah I don’t think no I mean I’m not talking about it you sure Jimmy you sure I’m not saying that he is but I think there I’m not seeing in print I’m not seeing it in podcast I don’t see it there’s some stats out there Bobby I

Think you showed me a stat recently that I haven’t heard one there was some article that somebody had him as like an honorable mention of an honorable you’re reading Jimmy Jaylen brown bob got the data Bobby’s got the data let’s go Bobby what you got Bobby’s like it’s my article point being boys

Point being s thr and at Bobby’s article Jo no no I know I know Bobby wouldn’t write that defense this year I mean opponents are shooting 41% against him which for a Wings really good I said at the top of the show when he’s able to hone into an

Individual assignment he can be awesome you know I think it’s the switching and some of the more team based stuff that throws him off on that end but I he’s been really good this year at least in comparison to the last two years now all all defense is a tough threshold to

Break through to but I think in terms of just leveling up his play on that end of the Court this year he’s been better it was the offense that was the problem for him tonight trying to force up shots over multiple bodies in the lane I usually like that aggressiveness but he

Wasn’t really able to get to the cup he was more you know forcing up Hooks and floaters inside missed all his threes I like the transition aggressiveness early that Drew those two free throws after porzingis his blocks but that’s about all he got here and he tried to do too

Much in isolation in the half court which can lead to turnovers which can lead to bad shots I mean he is always taking difficult shots and this is the thing for him and Tatum in this game Brown’s Pace isn’t a problem you know like he’ll turn the ball over and

Make mistakes by trying to force the issue but in certain games I think that’s appropriate in this game overall I feel like they just didn’t know when to go and didn’t know when to slow it down and execute because they had bad sets in the half court throughout this game but they

Also had opportunities to run with they just didn’t take them and you know I thought Tatum struggled in that regard early before he kind of calmed down and had a you know I thought a really good game but you know Brown does this concern you outside of

Just a bad night where with a lot of Misses like he’s been so good over the last month plus here that I’m not panicking off this one the three-point shooting as usual has been a little weird with him and that’s going back a couple years now but this one me is just

An off night and a tough matchup where the other perimeter Defenders and the switching on the you know defensive side for Oklahoma City is just so athletic and long and that Bobby that that last point you made about their athleticism and their length to me that’s what makes

This type of Team a difficult challenge for the C is something oh man well the thing about porzingis is used to being MCH up with someone that he can either take down on a block because they’re too little or he can you know just rise over

Them with the three ball and Chad is looking him basically eye to eye uh who’s basically a younger more athletic better ball handling version of himself I don’t think he shoots the ball as well as porzingis but he’s a good shooter he is a he’s a good shooter and that and

That being said porzingis still got you 30 and some change so he he was able to doas was awesome he was this was one of I thought this was one of if not his best game individually uh he took on a matchup that was not significantly in

His favor and he maximized it he was great Tatum Brown Drew holiday those three in particular were average to below average most of the game and Tatum I thought did a lot of good things especially when he switched out I thought on shade that late in the game

But part of that had to do with the fact that Shay was in foul trouble and Tatum was smart enough to take advantage of that at both ends of the floor and and so if you’re the Celtics you you’re you’re disappointed that you lost the game but when you start looking at just

The type of Team you played and just start looking out east are there any teams that look similar to OKC I say no I don’t think but Indiana doesn’t have a top five MVP candidate yeah I gonna say he just had a 20 assist zero turnover game listen listen listen like

SGA he’s a good player and and and frankly he should be in the all NBA conversation there’s no doubt but he’s Che would I consider him a top five absolutely nothing without him I agree but is he is he a top five MVP candidate I don’t think so top 10 if we’re saying

Top 10 he’s six he’s not top five I know the point you’re trying to make sure he’s very good I just don’t put I’m not quite ready to put him in that category because the one thing that Shay has done that I think people Overlook is his impact on winning he

Puts up numbers but his team wins and point in the and good point in the chat here too the Pacers defense is as bad as it gets so that’s a key difference for sure right you start looking at that that OKC roster from top to bottom and

They’ve got some good players but there no other than Chad and Shay is there anyone that you’re looking at like damn he’s really really really good not really they’ve got they’ve got good players but they don’t have solid they got nice solid role players and you look at Indiana and you know around

Halberton not there’s not a Hu to me there’s not a huge drop off in the role player that he’s playing with versus the ones that Shay is and yet you look at the records it’s a it’s a pretty Stark difference between the two that’s why I can’t put him in that category but

Halberton is a great player doesn’t I mean just because you’re not a top five MVP does not that doesn’t mean you suck I don’t think Tatum’s a top five MVP candidate and he’s really good obviously I know man how many years we gonna do this uh this is the year he’s going to

Be in the conversation man because I don’t think this is the year but anyways um what I was going to say though about jayen real quick I I just feel like teams especially teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder that have the athletic Wings they have the switchable you know

Guards that can that can play Wings guys that can cause fits on defensive end of the floor when they feel like it right and tonight was one of those games like they they were ready for this Challenge and I felt like once they saw what Jaylen was doing they wanted to take

That take him out of his comfort zone and that’s exactly what they did especially in transition forcing him to his left I feel like he that that was a big big struggle with him in this game you know he would go down the middle and

I feel like he was if sometimes if he wasn’t turning the ball over he just couldn’t find the the move he wanted to make to to attack the rim and even though he was trying he just couldn’t find his rhythm and then the three-pointer started you know it was

Sort of that pattern he couldn’t get out of I felt like guys before we move on to the next part of the show we want to remind everybody that are good friends at FanDuel yes are the reason we can bring this show to you guys today so you want

To make sure you go to fanduel.com Boston and get free hold on one second get 100 $50 in bonus bets when you place a winning $5 money line bet um we got some uh what is it the final week of the NFL season coming up here guys I know

Fantasy football’s over um but the final regular season week is coming up there’s a lot lot to play for in terms of seating uh there’s a you know what you know what the other thing is there’s some info out there you can look it up but there’s a lot of players now that

Have to perform to a certain level to hit their their bonuses right so you find those players right you put put a couple of bucks on them hitting the overs on whatever their numbers are it’s a good way to make a couple bucks but again if

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Check out those uh money lines uh for the week coming up and place your bets for that and then I want to also give a shout out to our good friends at hellofresh hellofresh.com cnsf free use the code clns free and get free breakfast for life I know Bobby is still

Working through uh his his breakfast for life um swimming in muffins right here yeah but no guys honestly hellofresh is great um you know even even though the the holidays are over um the supermarkets the grocery stores all the markets are still busy I was there today

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Breakfast for life okay guys let’s reset here for a second Celtics go into this one they drop 127 to 123 we talked a little bit about um just the being able to really put together four quarters of effort and Bobby I thought you would have screened this by

Now but you haven’t it’s the defense it’s the defense isn’t it I mean we can talk about Jaylen Brown 0 for8 from three and yeah that’s obviously a cause cause of concern but when I look at these two teams I don’t I don’t see a Thunder team that should have been able

To score as easily as they were and I know that Hol Grim had a few threes that maybe he doesn’t hit but what what’s what’s what’s this team going to do to really I guess you know clamp down I mean you talked about it earlier Bobby they don’t force turnovers

Um it seemed like OKC was able to score in Trans in transition uh whenever they wanted to tonight and so I guess we’ll start with you Bobby but I wanna I want to go around the the block on this one yeah there’s a couple issues there obviously the individual defense wasn’t

Great in this game and I think that can Wan at times for this group I think they leave the middle of the floor open a little bit too much in that mid-range area for some you know great mid-range Shooters on that Oklahoma team these kind of rosters that are a little bit

More comfortable shooting there I think give the Celtics some more issues than the teams that are just you know dedicating their offense to reaching the rim or you know getting out and shooting threes so that’s something the Celtics are willing to give up that some teams

Like taking so I think think that’s a first issue here the turnovers you mentioned the rebounding Joe sway mentioned earlier 10 offensive rebounds for Oklahoma a little bit more than you want to see and Joe talks about that a lot there’ll be possessions where the first shot defense is good and then you

Know you’re giving up offensive rebounds those are almost always going to be really good scoring opportunities off of those so that was an issue tonight can’t figure out how to force turnovers so you end up being the slower team in this game off that uh you know 14 too many

For the Celtics 12 a solid number mostly carried by what they did in the fourth quarter there and then as I mentioned earlier I think you probably needed more size at the point of attack against Shay and Celtics played a little too big at times in this game it felt like they

Went to those double big looks that have been pretty good for them but really weren’t tonight and you know then I think they made some good adjustments late in terms of just going small and you know more versatile and fast and uh perimeter based out there because the Thunder really aren’t uh

Big team inside like you’re not really worried about them posting you up or a big man in there scoring a ton at the basket Chad as sherro mentioned there is more of a perimeter based player in terms of his offense so the transition’s what killed you

Tonight and that one’s just as simple as getting back a lot of the time but it also goes back to some of the dumb things the Celtics were doing on offense tonight with the turnovers and everything else so there were a lot of issues defensively in this game they’ve

Been good on that and Jimmy this year I really haven’t had issues with their defense this season but tonight wasn’t a good night they just didn’t put up enough fight and resistance to what OKC was looking to do I mean okay they they shot what 52 53% from the field I think

They shot better than 45% for three-point range and a lot of those looks that they were getting were lightly contested to wide open type of shots and you just don’t allow that to happen against a good team like them uh Shay Gil just Alexander just just absolutely controlled the action I mean

He he went off for 30 in some change but he you you felt that if he really really really wanted to get Buckets he could get them anytime he wanted to uh that is the sign of a great player that’s the sign of a great team recognizing how to

Be impactful and you know again they they I think if they describe what what they saw in the Celtics defense they would probably describe it as we just took what they gave us they gave us great looks they gave us opportunities to attack off the dribble gave those two

Chat threes late were killers and they were both hedging away from him I mean look at the way look at the way the game started when they set the tone by knocking down those three-point shots I feel like in the past when that happens the sub the defense tends to to to try

To okay let’s stop the bleeding from the perimeter and all of a sudden you’re getting attacked you know right right down the teeth of the defense that’s exactly what OKC did and obviously with one of the better players MVP canidate style in Shay Gil Alexander but he

Wasn’t the only one right there’s other guys getting involved as well seeking high percentage shots but also blending it in with those outside shots that I felt like just really crushed the Celtics as they were kind of just you know trying to gather themselves and trying to put together the run that

They’ve ultimately did in that second half that that U that that was in the fourth quarter he mentioned it a little bit speaking of Defense I want to keep keep that theme for a second um we’re not concerned about the defense but are you concerned about this guy

Anybody true holiday um certainly when you talk about players that he’s dealing with an injury too someone not yet I’m not too concerned but yeah I I’ve got him he’s on my watch list let’s put it that way he’s on my watch I’m I’m glad Pritchard I’m glad Missoula did what he

Did in that fourth quarter with you know it’s kind of like hey man this this can happen you know yeah yeah I’m not concerned but he is absolutely on my watch list of guys that you know I’m not ready to hit the panic button but I’m

Watching your ass right now to see if you’re gonna flip this around because Drew is a really good player uh but you know these are the kind of games where you wonder is where are we where are we on this meter shiron are we at xanis level or are we closer to Bobby

Right yeah I I am probably in that yellow orange range okay yeah I thinking that’s kind of where I’m at but the thing about Drew one bad performance away from uh from from from together you put that together I give him two I give him two he’s got the

Brogden thing sherro he’s missing everything inside and that happened in Brogden last year too it’s kind of weird that those guys are both going through that issue here in yeah oh my God when he posts a guy it always goes in and out the cutting layup ear yeah he went underneath tonight and

Missed thato and I asked him about that earlier in the year and he’s like they’re just not going in there’s nothing specific he’s looking at there about the the the layups the Miss layups yeah layups yeah that is that around the time is that when the uh the ankles

Start going you know they aged that a is Drew ahead ahead of it here is this a is this a he’s getting older type thing or you think it’s an injury thing it’s it’s hard to say because he’s in that weird limbo agewise where injury

Is it injuries or is is it Father Time who who’s who’s hurting you why are you hurting uh but I I give drew the benefit of the doubt uh simply because first and foremost he’s a hell of a player we know and he doesn’t he he hasn’t been on the

Downslide consistently enough to where you feel like no he’s yeah so he he’s doing just enough to keep you a little bit off balance as to whether this is Father time or whether he’s just in a rut but like I said he’s on my watch list I’m I’m watching him

Much more closely now than I have done before because I W to have a sense of whether you know this is just again father time doing what father time is going to do to every player in the NBA or is this just more of a

Health type thing do is there do we need to talk about load management at some point with Drew he took he took the Spurs game off yeah he’s dealing with an elbow Sprint I think they’re saying so that could have played into it tonight who knows what he’s playing through night

Tonight guys are gonna admit that but I love that that that pitchard is ready though um I love I love that he’s keeping himself engaged to make the most of these opportunities I mean uh he’s going to be one of those guys that again I I I’m I’m convinced that pitchard is

Going to help them win a playoff game at some point somewhere down the line when they get to the postseason something’s going to go wrong for the Celtics in a bad way and they’re going to look at pton and be like give us a little something and he’s gonna say I’m

Not gonna give you little something I’m gonna give you the game-winning package right here I’m going to not be a shad’s watch list I’m going to be that dude or something like that right exactly exactly I’m going hit like three threes in a row they’re gonna call a timeout

And I’m going to be doing my little thing that I did at Oregon whenever I made big shots G be like another one Bang exactly bang bang bang exactly Richard so one thing for both of those guys when they’re in with this group is they need to find ways to stay involved

And that’s tough because I feel like they’re both the fifth option when they’re out there so what are you doing you’re just kind of staying off to the side Drew’s been awesome as a rebounder this year he’s never rebounded like this so you give him credit for that

Pritchard similar story you’d like to get him involved more in the screening game but I’m sure that’s you know not super familiar for him and the one thing too is they’re attacking matchups and I’m sure the best defender on the you know other team isn’t exactly on holiday

All the time so he’s sort of setting up other guys in that regard the tough thing with holiday this year and I do think the scoring needs to expand a little bit for him they got to figure out ways to get him involved in that sense but everything else he’s giving

You is just really subtle you know if it’s a screening if it’s a rebounding certainly on the defensive end I mean I feel like Joe just gave him the keys early on and said run that side of the ball because I think he’s doing everything there in terms of just

Organizing them on that end so you know me Jimmy I got labeled the Drew hater early on but i’ learn to appreciate all the little things contrarian yeah well true the thing you should be clamoring for Drew to come off I’m surprised you didn’t start the show

I’m not doing that anymore me and me and John talked about that last show feel like he was almost hinting at it but he’s not quite hey there was a team meeting between John and Bobby that so they won’t get into the specifics of the team meeting but

Everything out love that maybe someone else will say it exactly thing anys the thing I’d like to see Drew do a little bit more of is finding ways to score off the ball like Cuts along the Baseline do some of the things that Force defenses to actually

Move a little bit more when he’s out on the floor because right now when he’s looking to score it’s either with a three-point shot or he’s he’s playing Bully ball there’s no third way of him generating offense and I think he has that ability in him even at you know

This Advanced age for an NBA player I still think he can find other ways to score and I like to see them experiment with that a little bit uh because right now he just needs to find ways to get easy buckets just to to see the ball go

Through the net uh and you know again cuts to the basket particular when you’re playing with a guy like Jason Tatum who’s going to draw so much damn attention who’s showing more and more a willingness to pass the ball I mean that one pass you know where he drove late in

The game and he the behind back pass to porzingis that was a little bit off the mark but the fact that he was thinking about giving it up on a drive to the basket those are the little things that again Tatum it’s it’s subtle things that he’s getting better at uh because the

Big picture things he’s already established himself as being a lead in Joe Joe says this a lot and I know we got to nitpick everything about this game but I don’t think there’s like fundamental things here I don’t know I don’t think there’s fundamental things here that we have to

Look at and say like this guy’s doing this wrong or this guy isn’t doing enough in his role and I bet I don’t see any quotes from Joe out there tonight but I bet he said there were just stretches in this game where they just weren’t doing the little things that

They have to do to win these games like I agree the the the stretch between the third and the fourth was so bad just in terms of getting back taking the right shots you executing offensively the turn overs early like I think uh you know Joe

Sway said it you want to see more of a consistent effort front to start in this game and I do think e probably waned a little bit in this game for whatever reason um you know guys missed shots guys had frustrating plays and did that leak into their defense Jimmy we’ve heard that

From them in the past and I think we saw that between the third and the fourth quarters I mean that’s where what’ you say it was shro it was like 8ish 12ish at that point and then it got up to 18 this game never should have got up to 18

Inter feeling I think I texted you guys I was like this got out of hand like yeah that never should have happened this should have been a five to 10 point game the whole way well especially when he gets out of hand when he got chat in

In SGA on the bench you know the way they started that fourth quarter one of the better timeouts that Joe moua called today was when he called that one um and right out the timeout they got a layup you know but yeah I just feel like with the Celtics especially in the second

Half it’s like they they they’re able to fix their mistakes but there’s still that that lag you know what I mean they’re they’re able to like in this one they were able to put that put together the Brun that they did in that fourth quarter but all of a sudden it was you

Know four minutes left you know and they were still down by it was still a two possession game you know I just think the Celtics you know with the energy and and the way OKC was able to just really I mean whether the starters were out whether they were in you know whether

They’re on the floor or whatever it didn’t matter guys just kept that momentum and I felt like the STS were constantly fighting that and and that was the big run I felt like where the the Celtics finally snapped out of it but they just couldn’t it was too it was

Too uphill of a of a battle we don’t get to play it much because the CICS don’t lose a ton so I’m playing with Graphics right now I think it’s time to play wait a minute wait the hell up you got my boy Sam on this are you

Serious this is an old blame pie I don’t know how say that question mark used to be Marcus he wasn’t great I know is shot right now but smart would have been half the pie the way people used to talk about him porzingis and and Derek white are

Are not on this graphic because they’re just they’re never gonna be the reason we don’t have to ever worry about them I was saying this I was saying this the other day I can’t remember a Celtic who has a higher approval rating than Derek like you you can’t find a guy who

Doesn’t like Derek at this point right and why would you Thomas he had a campaign t-shirt on for that would be you had that be really close you probably had people who said like Thomas can’t be the first option on a great team or stuff like that oh yeah

I mean he can’t play defense and things like that yeah so like different guys Stars especially you know you’ll nitpick them all day I don’t think you can say a bad thing about Derek I at least I haven’t seen anyone say anything I don’t think there’ll ever be a game where we

Blame Sam too but oh there will be trust me yeah we’ll find one I’m just like come on y’all guys I mean Sam does not belong in this damn conversation all right let pretend he doesn’t exist Let’s Pretend Sam doesn’t put in the crust exactly obviously not actually you know

What you put tonight’s a big slight of slice of Jaylen and Drew yeah give it to Missoula yeah was knew blame changed the blame changed damn it Marcus anymore leave my guy alone man leave my guy alone he doesn’t magic right there that we just

Got a whole new blame pie just like that on demand y Marcus looks like a guy who told us to shut the f up doesn’t he look I love it that’s my guy that’s my guy I love my guy I can’t figure out why he would that’s the look he gave Max I

Think I think that’s my guy damn all right well I’m not I’m not taking it down until we get your anwers who gets the slice I’m I’m GNA give a Big Slice to our good Drew um more more so than than Jaylen only because you know the

Job part of Drew’s job in this game was to slow down Shay Gil Alexander a little bit and he didn’t do that and you know offensively he missed a lot of I thought he I thought he missed opportunities not so much missed shots but missed opportunities to put his imprint in a

Positive way in this game and Jaylen just had a bad game um but but Jaylen if you start really breaking down like the season to in terms of good jayen and bad Jaylen games the good obviously out significantly outweighs the bad whereas Drew it’s a little bit

Closer to the Mendoza Line Between the good who’s doing almond R over oh I hate y’ I hate all I thought it was Jimmy but I like this is I wasn’t gonna do it but I’m glad I hate all of you all oh is this you is this Jimmy no

I’m did this one all right but I was thinking it for sure I’m G send this to John yeah put that on a put that on a t-shirt exactly John’s Ron’s Jame blame this more than any other I’m really excited to go back and watch this game because there was definitely a lot

Of pull and tug between the coaches here good adjustments on both sides I think the Thunder caught the I thought the Thunder caught the Celtics off guard with some things they did I thought the Celtics did some really good things late in this game uh to make it close and we’ve mentioned a

Few of them so this to me there’s been a few losses this year I’ve hated the magic one certainly the Indie one really wasn’t great in the tournament uh the Hornets one was just despicable but as we’ve mentioned here tonight this game shouldn’t have gotten out of hand but this isn’t a horrible

Loss to this team especially at the end of a road trip here and you know the schedule is not going to get any easier so we’ll see where this takes them the Jazz have caught fight in a way I really didn’t notice they’re coming up on

Friday you got the wolves and bucks back to back next week you have two games against Pacers this weekend back to back which is always challenging so this could be maybe the toughest two-e stretch of the Celtics this year after a couple you know easy ones against the

Other teams yeah on my watch list along with our good friend Drew holiday is is Joe Missoula because I think this upcoming stretch is gonna say a lot about where he has grown as a coach because you’re playing teams that are feisty teams teams that are talented

Teams that are going to force you to get out of whatever comfort zone you’re in as a coach I thought he did a great job of tonight not leaning on his comfort zone which was let’s go with the fourth quarter Drew holiday Binky uh even though it’s not really working for us uh

And he got out of that he and he went with Peyton which I thought was a great adjustment on his part is he gonna make similar moves when if if if Jaylen Brown is is struggling with the shot would you go with a Sam Hower for a little bit

Longer if Sam is maybe having positive impact while he’s in the game uh is he willing to do that type of stuff those are the to me that’s where you start making that that that legitimate tangible Evolution from being a pretty good coach to a really good coach

Because really good coaches are not going to get in the feelings of themselves or their players if he has to sit a a max player if you’re a max player and you’re not playing a max player kind of game and a guy making a third or a tenth of what you’re making

Is playing better he’s gonna play he’s gonna play more minutes and it was great to see Joe step out and do something along those lines tonight with Pritchard over Drew and I’m I’m I’d be interested to see how he’s gonna handle that going forward with with a Jaylen brown or or

You know a penis or or or even a Tatum those are those are the kind of things that Joe he’s got to be better at uh and he’s gonna get opportunities I think in the next four or five games to kind of really put that particular potential

Growth spur of his to use right that’s a great Point sh Ro especially uh in this game like you mentioned you know against SGA where you you needed your you know your qb1 so to speak to to have one of those games you know like like Bobby

Said it’s a a lot of the success of this team on the offensive end of the floor Drew’s been a part of that and whether it’s you know being the facilitator and getting guys doing those hockey assist and all that and and that’s been great but it’s it’s been the defensive side of

Things where it’s like man like that’s what’s really making this team you know what I mean that back cour tough as it is with him and Derek white and that’s what we were so excited to see is obviously it’s been a success especially on that end of the floor but this was

One of those tests where you’re like you were really hoping you get a classic duel and it wasn’t quite that even though SS did make it interesting in that fourth quarter we didn’t quite get that back and forth that that we we thought we would get and I think through

Holiday um if he was able to to find his offense just off the strength of of of defensive stops and all that we would have I think we get a a much better performance out of him but you know the way SGA got going I think probably

Discouraged him and it just really he couldn’t find his rhythm but yeah like you said shro credit to Joe Mula because that’s the kind of decision you have to make because you you know what you would what you needed from him in this game and he knew it okay I’m not getting it

And I’m getting some of that energy I’m getting a guy who’s impacting the game in Pritchard I’m riding the hot hand he did it the the entire way he didn’t he didn’t falter you know what I mean that second I mean the the two-minute Mark or

Any point down the stretch he he St stuck with it so yeah I credit him for doing that for sure and this was a little bit different for uh Pritchard to get minutes because he wasn’t putting up big numbers in terms of points and things like that but he was dropping

Dimes uh had I think one turnover four assists and to me you know plus minus has always been leading but when you’re on the road and you’re playing a team that for the most part is playing better than you uh if you’re able to have a

Good plus minus which he did he was plus nine when he was on the floor better than any other Celtic uh and and to me that that was one of the few times where that stat actually meant something because it meant that when he was out there he was doing positive things or

The team as a group was doing positive things and in a game like this on a road against a team that good where your one of your best players is not playing well actually a couple of your best players aren’t playing particularly well uh having someone who can come in there and

Give you a little bit of spark with their their play and their presence and their potential yeah it was good to see so go ahead Bobby I’m I’m reading the globe and I I don’t think they mentioned this on the broadcast tonight but uh there was someone missing on the Celtics

Tonight assistant Sam Cassell he’s a little under the weather yeah missed tonight’s game with the know this I’m sure that didn’t help no it did not now we’re talking about Pritchard other than Pritchard that was weird like where the hell is where the hell is Bobby okay little little little

Tidbit from Bobby pay attention oh no laugh in the way the way Jimmy said no it did not as if like you like you were generally mad at Sam like nope it didn’t Sam didn’t help us at all tonight be less sick guys are getting sick around the league I just wanted to

Follow up on the on just to prer talk with just it it was a great call by Joe I don’t think Joe had many other options tonight when you when you talk about the lack of production he got from his bigs uh Horford I don’t want to say it Bobby

But I’m gonna say it cornette didn’t do himself any favors ton tonight um no those double big combos really didn’t work here no this is not a good team for that no I was going to say it’s not one of those you could have used some kada

In there I don’t I don’t think this is this was that night no Al and and porzingis is the best you know double big combination you could use I don’t think any other double big combination the Celtics could put out there would have been impactful he didn’t go but he

Didn’t go to Horford late either because obviously he was wasn’t very good right so it’s a tricky team that go small with two cuz you have to replace somebody if you’re going to go small and that’s what they did with holiday here you could go three guards but then you leaving out

Brown or Tatum so they’re not that small ball team that can go to this look like some of those Brad Stevens teams were back then so they’re going to be big with the Personnel they have more often than not and that’s going to be a challenge against the smaller quicker

Teams like the Thunder and you know it’s a good it’s a good little preview of this trade deadline that’s just over a month away here where I think the Celtics are going to have to look for a guy who can Bridge their bigger and smaller lineups a little bit more and I

Know you guys get sick of hearing it but I still think they’ve missed Grant this year like this is a this would have been a good Grant game to have him out there at the four play a little bit more small a little bit more flexible drink so you know can you find

Your can you find your Grant type or even from the bottle W from we call those 40s back in my day Jimmy I I got the other one t i was goingon to ask you about that earlier I was like what you this is water everybody this is the mountain

It’s a bottle new year is over you’re literally you pull out of a brown bager bag I was like damn Jimmy Jimmy rocking a 40 up in this F you ever play Edward 40 hands back in the day Shir was like is that a is that a cult 45 what you yeah

Exactly no you won’t see me drinking any alcoholic beverages on this show this week pull the tap receipt at I got people still DM me asking me for the clips of of those shows from the past I gota go find that one We’re Not Gonna We’re Not Gonna dig that out Bob’s like

Going into the AR I think we I think we’ve beat this this that that’ll reemerge at some point I think we’ve beat this game up enough boys and we’re gonna we’re going to shut it down in a few but before we do old friend Gordon Hayward made the news a little

Bit rematch April th on the podcast p man real quick I love I’m loving these podcasts by these uh by these by these players are you I have the opposite take didn’t like it it’s not that I don’t like it it’s interesting and I totally get it and I’m cool with it I

Just feel like if you’re I don’t want to go on a tangent but if you’re Paul George don’t you have bigger and better things to do right now oh you mean current players oh got you got you current players yeah that’s not you got

To be in the gym every second of every G well just I’m saying like like you is he hope players who go like four for 19 from the field and then you have this podcast on and you don’t see a damn thing about the fact that you just went

Four for 19 last night as if that didn’t happen as if that’s not they’re talking to Evan Turner like so how you been as if Paul George hasn’t won a damn thing in his career like maybe he’s won contracts Jimmy he’s a winner of I can guarantee you he’s got better

Podcast equipment than I have that is for sure I can guarantee you that no you know you know who’s a you know who’s you know who’s trending right now if you ask me man Jeff Teague man his story one of one of the few disappointments I have was that I did

Not talk more to Jeff te he is I forget this man was a s I know right I that was the co year though wasn’t it it was tough to talk to guys that year I feel like I feel like Jeff Teague just had like a like was a relative NBA player

Like he had a great career you know he average he an average and I respect above average he was above average yo that LeBron story had me in tears what you funny as hell man oh the story the story he told about Jimmy Butler yeah that one’s all time story about him and

The the Timberwolf but but anyway Jimmy what did what did Gordon say let’s talk any back to back to the anyways Paul George like less podcast more like how about wi come on we wouldn’t get we wouldn’t get nuggets like this yeah so anyways Gordon Hayward old old friend

Here former Boston Celtic jumped on the podcast and I didn’t admittedly I have not listened to the whole podcast but there’s been a couple Clips going around on Hayward specifically talking about the 2018 2019 team and he goes into a little bit of detail on the problems

That they had and why they came up short essentially too many guys wants too many guys wanted to be the guy and even though they all had including himself including himself and and everyone had their own reasons for doing so I think Hayward said he was coming off obviously

He was coming off that big injury wanted to show that he still had it Kyrie Irving was you know coming off of I think some sort of injury and just coming off of being Kyrie Irving after LeBron yeah right coming off of being Kyrie Irving you still want to be Kyrie

Irving you had Tatum Brown and and Rosier were the emerging Stars wanted to Pro themselves and we all know roier wanted to you know be in a much bigger role and well he’s trying to build off of what happened in the playoffs I don’t yeah when you when he when he made

Bledo disappear like that that step back three and and yeah you remember dreo pulled up to TV Garden man like that was a thing like that it was great supposed to make a wine together or something but sorry go ahead I know I mean but but it

Was it was it was cool cool to hear this but I don’t think anyone’s surprised to hear it I think we all knew it we all we all knew that and and you know Hayward you know I I don’t know how much he got

Into it I don’t know if he would want to get into it but his injury complicated a lot of things because no longer could you put him in the category of being better than Jaylen better than Tatum because an injured Hayward even at that point was not as good as Tatum and brown

And they knew that and that was part of their frustration like why am I taking a back seat to this dude who much respect what he’s done in his career but right now I’m better than him and if I’m better than him why why am I splitting

Time why am I not doing so I understand exactly what he’s talking about but let’s just put it in full context the fact that that injury and it was a horrible injury for those of us who were there witness it I mean it was one of the worst injuries I’ve ever heard and

That was it that see it you heard the thud oh yeah you heard that and in Cleveland where seats were they were pretty damn far away from the court and you could hear that thud so the but that being said that injury complicated the timeline and and the context and just

The relationships of all the players on that team because now all of a sudden the guy that you had in your one or two slot really toal wise was probably four or five and yet you were still treating him as if he was a one or two and for

Young guys like Jaylen and Jason I I totally understand why they want more responsibility because they again they practice with this guy afterwards they they know what he can do and what he can’t do and and you if you watch him play it was pretty obvious that he was

Not the same player he wasn’t that dude that you saw in Utah that if you slept on him for a possession he would dunk on your Dome he was not that dude anymore um and again his last year in Utah I literally watched every single game he

Played on NBA league pass because I knew that was a guy that that they were going to Target so I made a point of watching every single game he played and him and I had conversations about a lot of the different games because I watched them

All that guy was not with Boston gu uh after he was hurt and and and it’s it’s sad and it’s disappointing because he really I thought was on path to be one of the being all time great go when you think about his size his ability to

Shoot put it on the floor dunk on you on your Dome if you’re not careful but the injury took a lot of that away and he’s become he’s been a shell of himself since so his point about guys having lots of different agendas totally makes sense totally makes sense because he

Wanted to get back to where he was and Tatum and brown are like we’re trying to get to where we’re going to be and Kyrie was just Kyrie we don’t know what the hell he wanted to do Kyrie was UN mentioned here but there’s no doubt there were some implications there but

As we’ve talked about too it wasn’t all Kyrie I mean I think that was a very difficult year for Terry roer and he probably didn’t handle it the way he wanted to especially coming off the starting role he had on the run to the east finals I know Hayward mentioned

Some of the young guys there and that was you know I think Kyrie’s big gpe there too is the way you know They Carried themselves coming off the east finals run like they figured it all out and you know I saw some of the feedback here being that brown and you know Tatum

They should have just let those guys roll but those guys weren’t who they are now like they had to go through that they had to go through figuring out on their own and they had a lot of disappointments that followed this even though they might have proven to be the

Best players on that group uh you know when they come came out into their primes here so it was a tough mix even just look at the kind of players that were on that team a ton of wings a bunch of packed back court Danny a and you

Know he ended up out of a job two years after this probably should have done more to Tinker with that roster midseason and seeing how it was going especially roer who was gonna inevitably leave he wouldn’t trade Kyrie despite all the writing on the wall I think they

Waited until the last second pray and he would stay and then you know of course made his departure to Brooklyn and even Al Horford they let him go for nothing after this season which was just a disaster and I think Al getting out of there even though he got paid certainly

I think said a lot to you know what the situation was in the room that year and you know I I saw himl back talked to um you know Tatum about this at at uh the pregame or shoot around whatever this morning and uh Tatum agreed that it was

Just a terrible year like that was just an awful you know result but it wasn’t inpersonal stuff it was all on court chemistry issues and you know Joe S talks about the um you know Orlando game with Kyrie and Hayward getting into it on the final play there that was his

Jumping up and down like a little kid yeah lost his that was so funny to me seeing that y that was crazy y shout out to ESPN though they put my video on Sports but anyways Orlando’s the only place where you you get those seats right underneath the basket for The Med

You’re almost you’re right next to the photographers but yeah I mean it’s it’s um you know what shro said I think is spot on especially when you think about uh what the the the plan was right and Hayward talked about that in this podcast it was the first couple years

Kyrie and hay were supposed to guide that group and obviously Tatum and brown were gonna find their way and the injury obviously changed all that but once you got that taste of success in the form of Eastern Conference Finals making it as far as they did you know it obviously

Changed things it changed guy’s mindset coming into this season and everyone just sort of assume that oh with all this Talent everyone’s healthy it’s all gonna come together well basketball doesn’t work that way especially when you have guys who have their own agendas and I felt like that was the case you

Know and it’s a tough spot you know you you you can turn and say like a lot of people were saying around that time looking at Brad Stevens and saying oh well his tight relationship with Gordon Hayward that goes that dates back to when Hayward was in high school why is

He forcing the issue here okay well at the same time though you want to give the guy a chance to get back somewhere close to who he was was and you had to play him right you had to try to see that process through and see what’s at

The end other side of it and clearly it didn’t look good you know going into that playoff series with with the with the um you know the bubble and even the year before that or the year after rather so I just feel like it’s it’s unfortunate you know it didn’t plan out

The way obviously the way these guys wanted it to but you look you look back at it and I don’t think you say you know man you wish something gave Hayward more of a shot or you wish things were different in sense of you know it wasn’t

Going to be like this because Hayward just hasn’t been the same player ever since so it’s unfortunate but the sub were able to sort of rebuild on the Fly the way they did and trading Rosier and turning into you know um keville Walker and then having to move on from that so

It’s been a lot of looking back on it it’s impressive the way uh Danny a was able to keep this team relevant especially with these guys still in the mix still in the fold and and tat and brown yeah with with again and it’s just it’s just another example of how how

Difficult it is to to build a a team that will actually win the championship because you can put a bunch of Talent on there but they have to be able to play together they all to have the right mindset and we all know about that you

Know the the Celtics teams from 0708 and they they were at the point in their career where their agenda was to win a championship and the the players you know the rookies and the younger guys they didn’t have a big enough say to screw that up for the for the kg Pierce

Ray and then they brought in more veterans who had the same mentality so you have to do find guys and find a situation that makes sense so that’s a difficulty I don’t think this Celtics team has anything close to those uh issues I think I think there does seem

To be um you know obviously there’s a good mix of veterans now because you’ve got some of these guys who have been in the league uh some of the same players that we’re talking about on this team are a lot older now and uh they’ve been

Through the highs in the lows of of the career and I think they are more interested I would hope at least that they are more interested a winning championship at least they say that then you’ve got the veterans obviously holiday’s done it already porzingis has

Been to the lowest of lows and we can see just what winning does for him so um you can see where his priorities lie so I don’t think they’re gonna have or they do have those issues not even close and and again I think Hayward said they had

Like a bunch of players only meetings uh that year too to try to Hash things out and everybody said the right things but actually doing them uh was a whole another story yeah so anyways that was interesting and um figured we’ we’ chat about that

Before we head out any any last uh any last comments boys before we we call it on the game or or anything else I know the Celtics play Utah on Friday back home at the TD Garden so we have a couple days off before that one looking

Forward to that game um it’s it’s a different kind of test uh than what they saw tonight tonight you know they they played a team that’s among the best in the league and that’s a challenge and then you’re going to a playing a Utah team that’s not quite on the same level

Uh so are they going to have that edge that they need to beat them and you know a chance to see Will Hardy the head coach of Utah you know he’s really again that was the Derek white whisper before all almost got on I mean I just remember

When they made the trade with San Antonio and I was talking with Will about that and so much of the things that you hear people talk about now about Dereck white as far as potential to shot a guy that can play multiple positions really good Defender you

Haven’t really seen how good a Defender he’s going to be just yet will was talking about this stuff but like literally on the way to picking Derek up at the airport because that’s how tight they were he was literally the guy that picked Dereck white up at the airport

And uh it’ll be good to see him good to see our good friend Kelly oen um who you know I haven’t looked at his numbers recently but Kelly was on like a 50 40 he was on a 60 50 90 track in terms of of of shooting from the

Field and free throw lines he he’s probably cooled off a little bit since then but it’ll be good to see him as well yeah they’ve been connected to him each of the last two years here yeah I was gonna say it was those numbers that uh I think sparked those uh reports yeah

So that’s a good team good coach too yeah that’ll be fun yeah I mean that’ll be interesting I want to see how they uh how they defend the Celtics with pzas in the mix and you know how they’re able to bounce back from this because typically sou they usually give you a stellar

Performance after a game like this so I don’t think it’ll be any different but with h with Will Hardy on the on the other end uh I’m I’m curious to see how how he defends or how he uh how their offensive approach will be especially with um Kelly in there and um marking

His back and all that so but um yeah maybe we’ll get a close game but if not I probably predict the Celtics would win this one that’s a back to back too so it’ll be interesting how they handle the rest there with porzingis who’s missed three straight back to back and Horford

Of course who doesn’t play in them do they go with the rest KN on the front end against the West team against Utah there maybe because Indiana’s on the second half there travel game I don’t know be they got a they got a packed schedule coming up here guys I don’t

Know they have to be creative with the when they when they SE uh Sid guys because after F so you get Friday then you you’ve got the next one Saturday against the Pacers Monday against the Pacers both on the road come back to Boston for a big one against the

Timberwolves that’s the first night of a back toback and then you’ve got the bucks on the back Buck gamees a monster on the back to back yeah so you’ve got you’ve got a tough stretch of games coming up here you might want to flip the script and just go all in on that

Bucks game and just play your guys uh because that’s that’s on the back end of the back toback right so that means you get so that means you get the next day off you so Rockets Swit is another day off eay return’s return I will absolutely be

In the Builder for that one oh my I might have to go to that one that one’s gonna be kind of Saucy that I wonder if it’s gonna be cheers what do you we’re not even gonna talk about it right now there too many we that we’ll take but I want to say

Once again no oh that’s a good Jo wow I don’t think what a trolling comment that was from joose s hopefully it’s a tribute video and not something else all right anyways we’ll be uhit fanduel.com Boston get $150 in bonus bets when you place a winning $5 money line bet that’s

A flagrant foul Jimmy that was a flagrant foul and then hello fresh great play our friends at hellofresh guys hellofresh.com free use code C ons free and get breakfast for life we’re going to say bye before we say the wrong things anyways fres this see you guys yeah we’ll see you guys

Friday good night thanks for

The Garden Report goes live following the Celtics game against the Thunder. Catch the Celtics Postgame Show featuring Bobby Manning, Josue Pavon, Jimmy Toscano, and A. Sherrod Blakely as they offer insights and analysis after Boston’s game vs OKC.

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25 Comments

  1. KP, White, and Tatum were good. JB and Jrue were terrible. Jrue was bad on both ends. Another vintage DW late-game comeback. Them not winning after the comeback just came down to Thunder playing really well, especially Chet sinking 3s. I think if this game was at home, C's would've won; the combo of home cooking reffing and the home crowd elevating OKC's bench was too much. KP was getting absolutely mugged in the lane every time he touched it. Joe coached the 3rd terribly but made it up with the smart PP over Jrue decision in the 4th. Not a bad loss all things considered. OKC had so much go right and they barely won, even when the C's played easily their worst defensive game of the season.

  2. Brown and Holiday were horrible ball handlers. The refereeing was suspect. SGA is a superstar who does what he wants on the offensive end. OKC was the better team tonight on both ends.

  3. Nice comeback in the 4th. Holgrem made 2 big 3s and Kristaps 3 was ruled a 2. That was the difference. But good to see the Cs not bend over when they were down 18. They fought to the end and that’s all we can ask for.

  4. You think you are going to talk about my celtics and think about how you can say that you have the the solution

  5. 😭😭 stop crying stop talking, we're always in nba finals, you're the host with no most,

    33 all time best white boy ever

  6. One thing I've noticed about brown criticism everytime on here is . They don't know how to seperate the offense from defense. Yes brown was terrible offensively other than free throws and he settled even on mismatches where he shouldve playing inside and use his strength. He was 4-9 inside the arc. Sherrod was going rage mode on brown defense on shai when in reality he only took 1 shot outta 15 possesions (3:04 mins of game time) brown was on him. He had no assist, no rebounds nothing just 2 pts, brown also had 2 deflection on shai to in the 2nd qtr and in the 3rd. also brown was with him step for step no blowby like derrick or jrue shai just made a tough layup. If anything mazulla should've rotated jt and jb on shai and just stick white on chet if all he gonna do is pop on the pnr. Also brown is ranked 20th and 2nd on the team in depm while taking on the hardest wing assignment

  7. D White man, absolute stud and keeps getting better and better. When he went out for a while when he was bleeding we had a bad spell, he’s just absolutely pivotal to us winning it all.

  8. I'm with Sherrod on this one, it's a little more what OKC did right than what the Celtics did wrong.

  9. I understand that a team can't play 82 games of all out defense, but I would've liked to see at least a little bit of a better effort on that end in this game in particular. Watching Shai and others go into the paint for completely uncontested layups was tough, and same with the wide open 3's for Holmgren at the end of the game. All in all they did fine considering the bad nights they got from Holiday and Brown. On to the next.

  10. Porzingis should've easily had 40+ this game. He was the biggest mismatch. Im starting to see why other star players dont work here. Porzingis so far has because he's a 7footer who plays a different game. However, tatum really needs to stop playing like he needs to always keep up with the teams leading scorer and put the team on his back. Tatum definitely helped towards the end. However, during the 2nd and 3rd he was playing iso ball and taking bad jumpers. The game should've gone through Porzingis, and tatum needs to realize every night isn't his. He has to let brown or Porzingis shine if they have the hot hand for that certain game. Joe needed to draw more plays for Porzingis, too, when he notices him being the mismatch for the night. Not blaming tatum but a lot of moments reminded me of last year offensively.

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