What Are the Best Moments of the Celtics Season So Far? | First to the Floor
Here Pi comes up with hit the deck first to the floor making every big play for the Today get what a play by Dave card watch him die for the ball right here look at this hustle knock away welcome into another episode of first of the floor Ben Bas here thank you for joining us hope you’re doing well alongside meet Wayne spoony and Jake Eisenberg spoony how’s it going man
Dude if I could sing I would be busting out I want to dance with somebody right now I love this team they’re playing so good and like a I almost felt bad for the Nets at the end of that game dude but what a win one if you heat with
Somebody there it is yeah yeah did that that Jean doesn’t run in the family that’s for sure but I mean what a what a what a kind kind present what a thoughtful present of the Boston Celtics to give us that type of performance as we go into the break Missoula saying you
Know it could be good you know it could be bad depending on how you handle the emotions of the wins or the losses and I’m like I’ll tell you one thing is for sure I’m going to handle this six game win streak very irresponsibly I’m going
Yeah I’m I’m injecting it all in one go let’s do it all the propaganda yeah a lot of what we’ve already talked about the The Joe quotes the the Luke cornette singing on the bench going to make a reappearance in a latest segment where we cover the best moments of the so far
Which is going to be a lot of fun got a lot of Clips uploaded here in streamyard but it’s going to kick back run through them all hopefully not get kicked off YouTube and have a good time Rising on what’s been an awesome season so far but
Jake you’re in New Zealand correct me if I’m wrong and you had an interesting flight over there meeting all of Australia on the plane yeah so yeah in New Zealand um and getting ready to get on the plane and all of a sudden I just see a couple of giant individuals
Wearing Brisbane bullets t-shirts I’m like okay there’s like three or four of them there’s a there’s the New Zealand Breakers the uh team that RJ Hampton played for in the NBL and I get I’m like I’m in 7B seat 7B you know pretty close to the front no big deal um and these
But it’s it’s unclear like if if the whole team’s on the plane at this point and I see it’s like this dude coming on the plane he’s right across some across the road he’s like 610 611 it’s not bainy but um he want he want of his teammates switches with him he’s like
Hey I’ve got the exit row I’m only like 63 you can have the the exit row and the 611 dude gets up out of his chair and starts moving back but then it becomes very clear the whole Brisbane bullets team is on the on the plane and then I
See him the beautiful man the man who sets the bone crushing screens the man who decided to start hitting Corner three-pointers in the Philadelphia 76 Series in the 1718 season it was all of Australia it was Aaron Baines and my whole body is just
Like oh my God and I I I messag the Discord I messag my parents everybody’s like you have to you have to you have to tell them you have to talk to them you have to tell them to get on the podcast so I’ve got a three-hour flight now I’m
Just like okay just relax you know got a long way to go before you have a chance to actually say anything and by the time I got there I was like I don’t know man he’s he’s just been squished into this box when he’s 6’1 broad something that I
Cannot relate to and he’s got his headphones on he’s got the Bose on I’m like I just I’ll I’ll leave him be but if an opportunity presents itself I’ll I’ll play it by feel and we’re going through the passport Customs thing and I’m like right behind him I’m stalking
Him you know I’m just a few steps behind um no chance of him ever seeing me obviously um and uh somehow I make it through the Customs things first and he’s like right behind me and I’m like okay this actually could work better because I can get to the baggage turn around and
Pretend like oh oh what fancy Legends Aaron B and of course I’m wearing um my vintage Boston Celtic shirt from the 80s that says DJ all the way on the back of it and I turn around I’m like bainy Celtics Legend how are we and he’s like
Gives me a little I’ll be honest giv me a little weird look he’s like I yeah big fan of mikad Dad’s from Boston um you guys ready for the ready for the big game tomorrow push him for the pushing for the playoffs he’s like oh yeah see
How we go and he’s like so um what do you do for work and I was like funny you should ask Aaron uh yeah I do I do a Celtics podcast we we would love to have you obviously you’re a busy man in the midst of a playoff run here
So maybe after the offseason he’s like oh yeah you know maybe in the offseason I’m like okay yes sick and then yeah he’s just like where do you live I’m like in tazzy oh wow cold water being from Brisbane I don’t like going swimming down there so we like we just
Have like this chat for like three or four minutes and um I’m like all right I’ll leave you to it cuz I could I’m like I don’t want to like all of this guy for too long and um as I’m left I’m like look we we really miss your bone
Crushing screens uh on the court with Al Horford uh so I catch you later on he’s like yeah see you man and uh it was the best I was terrifying I was shaking oh man it was awesome though he was was really just gave me the time of day it
Was very nice dude that’s awesome dude love bainy obviously as a fellow Aussie uh that was a great stretch as a fan as an Australian fan having bansy on the team and um I don’t know it sounds like it wasn’t a straight up no invitation onto the Pod so I know my
Mom’s been telling me I need to get business cards for the podcast so I can just hand them out anytime I see someone wearing Celtics gear or for when I run into ex Celtics legends but as soon as I as soon as I like left I was like [ __ ] I
Should I should have said man you you CU I I looked up the basketball reference like straight afterwards I was like he had taken like 21 threes All Season M and was 14% And then he got to the playoffs and shot 23 threes and was like
47% and that was like he came out out of nowhere like he just started shooting corner 3es and like was a huge factor in the Philly series and I wish I would have researched that on the walk from the plane to the baggage CLA I could
Have been like bro you you shot like 23 threes in the playoffs two more than the whole season and he would have been like what the it actually made me worse honestly who know yeah you could have got an analytics job with the BR bullets man but uh yeah it was awesome they’re
All [ __ ] so huge like even the NBL teams and like I don’t know man just and Al I could have joked being like not quite the high life of the private jets uh around the NBA travel squeezing into these tiny economy seats but no it was
It was sick yeah that’s awesome love to hear I’ve been excited to hear that story all night so I’m glad we managed to to squeeze it into the Pod uh thanks Jake we’ve got an awesome show coming up very clip heavy as we just kick back
Here and enjoy some of the best moments of the season so far we will hit on last night’s Massacre of the Nets in a sec but first please subscribe to the first of the floor YouTube channel we’re so close I think we’re like 40 subscribers now away from 3,000 Subs which is
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Watch games with us live pretty much for every single game playback. tv/ Celtics Blog the links for all of the above are in the description below now guys before we get to the best moments of the Season 136 to 86 good for a 50 Point deficit
For all of the math nerds out there spoony what stood out to you from this game it’s a hard game to evaluate right yeah it’s very difficult to evaluate I guess I would probably say the defense number one even though we hung 136 and but I just feel like this team is
Starting to really be connected on both ends of the floor and like understand like the chemistry is really come to coming together on both ends and like the Nets just have absolutely no offensive talent I mean like that Purple Patch male Bridges had like for two months last season looks like it was
Just a hot stretch and like he’s a nice third option but has absolutely no chance of being a number number one option on like a high level team and it felt like at times they weren’t like running offense they were just like oh my God what do I do with this basketball
I’m at the three-point line and there’s four seconds left I guess I’ll just shoot it um so the defense was super locked in I mean Tatum this is the best stretch of his career I’m I’m just saying it right now like he is playing at some sort of level right now with the
Passing the decision making the defense like everything he does on both ends is just at an incredible level and I think like the biggest thing for me is just like his usage hasn’t changed his assists are way up in the last 10 games and his turnovers haven’t changed either
So he’s just like turned into I I don’t HED do turag glo’s passing with like Carmelo Anthony scoring and like kawai’s defense and it’s like this dude is on his way to like the best player in the NBA if he keeps up this pace and like I
I’m not afraid to say that so um and probably most importantly walshy we got real wal in the dude first quar wal yeah ah dude that was so good I mean I was I was watching this game like sneak watching it on my lap on my phone at
Work like typing while looking down pretending to be working but really in my mind in my body vibrating as wal she came in wondering what things must have been like in the playback room Jake as wal she comes in a surprise while she entr in the first quarter I almost
Didn’t even notice cuz like at first glance like you know I got the chat going we’re chatting away you know you’re mid time out there’s a there’s a bald Derek white there’s a couple of shiny heads rolling around like it took me took me a second to figure out that
While she was out there but once I did I was like oh my God we got to lock the [ __ ] in right now and and I mean look it was it was a little bumpy uh performance for for Walsh but the the defense like clearly the dude’s arms are insane
Like he he’s got like Rob Williams type arms like 7 foot three Wings man I think we looked up yesterday which is just just absurd for a wing and so like you you see the defense like he because he’s he’s obviously not like thick enough and
Strong enough yet as like being a 19y old kind of can kind of get bumped off some spots but he’s so athletic he kind of gets back in the play and because he’s so long can still contest stuff and man he had he had that one steal like in
The mid court and then was going one-on-one on the break and oh man you could see him thinking about what he was going to try and do and just um yeah he he got rooked on that one and but man the the garden would have just blown off
If if he would have been able to convert convert that one but I I I wonder I don’t know if it’s obviously Al was out obviously Jaylen you know more importantly was also out so like you see Walsh here potentially cuz like my favorite player obviously is gone Delo Banton tough R
Mine Lamar Steven’s actually looking all right with Memphis um but yeah um no Banton so like Walsh is kind of like is he the 11th guy 12th guy maybe like a head of SP and that’s really I guess that’s really it but um yeah that’s it and so and like cuz obviously
Tillman’s still out as well so I don’t know if it’s a sign of maybe things to come was it just a spot but KP kind of talked about it in the in the presser being like I think that was good for us we got to be a little bit more focused a
Little bit more alert we put the young guy the rookie guy in in in early in the game and we always got of be thinking about it he’s like that was good for us you know something a little bit different something a little bit more
Exciting spice it up you know on in this long season and I mean please spice it up Joe cuz uh we we want more yeah spiced up things for me it work for sure yeah this uh look first of all he’s obviously not quite the NBA Sant yet
Jordan Walsh he’s looking a little sped up there which is pretty typical of rookies particularly those who have come in the second round they’re a little bit more raw and they’ve got to get more up to speed um and he got a rough whistle as well I think that travel that he got
Called for was pretty unfair cuz on one hand you’re like come on he’s new like give him a chance like don’t don’t be so rough with the No harsh with the whistle rather that was unfortunate but this entire team was like inappropriately locked in on defense and we know that
Wsh can come in and like uphold that standard I say inappropriate because you guys mention him just kind of unfair like to be that good offensively while also simultaneously that locked in defensively against the subpar team a well under 500 team trendon Watford high scored for the brook Nets with 15 points
Mel Bridges 10 points a minus 30 in this one uh which was insane and spoony you mentioned it earlier like it was just the tatm show Again Taylor Snow had this tweet after the game Jason Tatum has logged 27 efforts of at least 20 points seven rebounds and seven assists in 491
Career games he did it 20 times in his first 482 games and he’s done it seven times in his last nine games so Tatum be cooking I believe kids would say well said I don’t know this this passing leap obviously it’s nine games or whatever but this is the best that he’s been
Passing the ball for that amount of games in his career like it’s very obvious like that that feathery lob that he had to to Chris Taps that we ran on the feed here earlier like I mean the short roll passing has become like really really good and when teams are
Constantly trapping and and trying to find ways to to make him uncomfortable it’s so valuable and so impactful that he’s able to find guys and get the off and get the defense in rotation and then you’re just firing the ball to high IQ guys like Elite scorer Elite mismatch
Guy alhf is going to make the right decisions like if he’s going to make these passes like I’m I don’t know what that means for this team like they were already the best team in the league and if he all of a sudden has taken a playmaking leap like I think it’s maybe
A little too early to like really confirm the fact that he has t no it’s not has has taken like a legit but like nine 10 games is a pretty good sample size and so we guess we’re going to see I mean it’s it almost reminds me of when
The the league shut down for Co and Tatum was in the midst of like the best pull-up shooting streak of in the history of the NBA and then we had to wait to come back and it’s like wonder what would have happened if we had never stopped playing basketball but um take a
Little break here and we come back hopefully he can continue this this incredible passing but like this last 10 games he he should be pretty firmly in like the top five of the MVP conversation I saw someone in the chat here we saw Stephen A Smith on national
TV today talking it’s really the first time I’ve seen Tatum really talked about on on national TV in that conversation so far this year and um I don’t know I’ve been seeing some MVP Bots with with like Kawai and stuff ahead of Tatum and I don’t really understand it because he
Seems to get dinged more than anybody for having a good team like kawh Leonard doesn’t have James Harden and Paul George and allegedly one of the deepest rosters in the NBA but when it’s Tatum it’s like a it’s super team he he’s he’s he’s the Brock py of of the NBA and I
Just I I looked at this earlier Jason Tatum is is in his seventh season he has missed 36 games in seven years six and a half years which is like that alone is absurd the Celtics are 16 and 20 in those games so it’s like obviously the
Sample size is small but there are below 500 Team without Tatum in his entire career it’s like he is the super team like this is all great but none of none of this is a 65 win team unless Jason Tatum is on this team doing everything
That he does like he should be smack bang top five in the MVP conversation Adit now that he’s been on this run and I think it’s just [ __ ] double standards for the Celtics always everybody’s always trying to nitpick everything about this team and that really is encapsulated when people talk
About Tatum as well like he’s doing everything at Elite level and he deserves more respect thank you Stephen A for bringing his name to the Forefront um ask me next time if you need Tatum propaganda because he was just clearly reading a sheet of paper of stats which
Included Tatum’s 37% in the non- paint in the non-restricted paint area and I’m like don’t read that that’s not the number to read off like that’s the one spot on the court that he’s not good at so stepen ages I appreciate him but come to the right place for Tatum prop please
Lead Tatum propagandist Jake Eisenberg that’s right uh with Kawai I think there’s an element of it it’s the Clippers like the forever cursed perpetually bad Clippers how could anyone you know potentially lead them to um the number one seed or wherever they’re at right now I think it feels
Like a a heavier feat for like dragging [ __ ] uphill on kawai’s part and I think he’s getting a lot of undue credit oh well he’s getting a lot of due credit as well let’s be honest um but for leading that team to where they are now and also
Given the injury history of some of their more prominent players as well I think is where at a national TV layer which is pretty shallow let’s be honest that’s where a lot of that credit is coming from back to the game here though a few other things to get to Chris Taps
Porzingis awesome again he did leave the game again inj and yes he was AV to come but it’s defitely unsurprising Trend like it’s just it’s so czy and like genuinely keeps me awake at night how much on a knif edge this whole thing is this whole shebang is with just like the
Health of Chris abs bingus and how easily injured he is and a lot of that is just there’s just so much surface area he’s a large latan man with huge clown shoe feet whenever they come down there’s just statistically a higher chance that it’s going to collide or
Come down on top of something else because of how much you know of him there is but it is happening a lot and he is just injury prone like even the eye thing in uh Indie many many games ago like he is just genuinely generally rather more injury-prone it is worrisome
Do you feel like spoony the team has a handle on it at least as far as like how to to manage it how to prevent as many hazardous situations as possible or am I just like wishful thinking here no no I I mean like there’s only so much you
Could do with a 7 foot3 guy right like he comes down on somebody’s foot the wrong way and The Season’s essentially over which is absolutely terrifying but they we at least have I I think they clearly had a plan for him a minutes load for him you know he’s getting a lot
Of rest like I think a lot of these dings that he’s sitting out for are just like you know we he can rest cuz he’s not an All-Star last year but they’re just keeping him out um just to to keep him fresh keep him for the playoffs I
Think you know there’s an argument to be made that he just shouldn’t play for the rest of this season until the playoffs I mean it’s insane but you could actually make a pretty cogent argument that it’s like why bother have him play like two games after the
All-Star break like why not um but that’s not going to happen but yeah I think they’ve done a really good job of just like managing him and kind of managing his role because not every game is he like kind of that high volume postup guy there are games where he does
It like that Houston game where we really need him but there’s also games where he’s just kind of like running picking pops he’ll post up like a you know three four times um and then we play Miami and he’s just rough houseing with bam he’s down there fighting
Everybody um so I I think as good as you can do with somebody that size that injury-prone the Celtics have done a great job I don’t think a lot of these things where he leaves the game is I think that’s just like pure caution nothing to worry about but I am
Perpetually worried every time he jumps like it’s just terrifying every time he’s in the air and sometimes he really gets up like he launches himself up for these alop and they look sick but like we’re forgetting I think like the entry level fan doesn’t understand the pain of
Like the fully entrenched like hooks in fan who’s like every time he leaves the ground you’re like oh you cower in fear as he’s soaring through the air like the laan Beast that he is dude yeah like it’s it’s the be Slayer gliding through the air is a
Sight to behold but like is absolutely a massive part of me that every time he launches himself through the lane I’m like holding my breath yeah like dude chill like save it but all that being said he is still on Pace to play just over 60 games which like if I gave you
That before the season that would be that would be more than enough really like I would you really you’re absolutely right spon it’s like can we just like can you just play once a week really like what are we doing here like but he’s on he’s on the Bill Walton plan
Like this is like he is the Bill Walton for the 2020 Celtics here and he’s taking them to a new level the 85 86 Celtics uh Bill Walton uh played 19 minutes a game and in the playoffs he played 18 minutes a game and obviously when Pingas is playing he’s playing a
Bit more than that but it’s a similar program we just got a we know the power of this guy and it’s just like without pingers this team is still really good and without this team this team can still make the without pingers this team can still make the finals it’s just when
Like if he doesn’t get hurt in the playoffs I think there’s a real chance we get to the finals and we’ve lost like three or four games yeah shorter series which is huge that’s s of cascading effects down through the rest of the team as well so he’s he’s hugely
Important but I agree that we can get it done one way or another um as a as a way of sort of moving through this game quickly and moving on to the rest of the show I’ll rattle off some topics here and you guys can each choose one of of
Them so there there’s five here there’s Derek white who has had a bit of a bounce back he shot 50% from three in this game 50 50% from three in the last game as well Hower had his best game as a starter by far we had proam p in this
One the lead scorer for the Celtics cornet dominance I want to call it like he was I mean everyone was dominant in this game let’s be honest there wasn’t a bad performance all around and then OA Bret slams down the windmill dunk in transition there which also featured a
Screaming Luke cornette which we’ll get to later if you if you hang on with this here spoon off the those topics which excites you the most all right I was critical about Hower against the Heat I thought he got roasted defensively this is just a great Hower game and I think
Like he’s starting to get comfortable offensively in a way he has not been um kind of his entire career like I don’t know if it was this Brooklyn game or the one in Brooklyn but Tatum had like a pump fake and dropped it to him in the
Short roll and he took like three dribbles and like kicked a beautiful pass to the corner and it was Swing Swing for a wide um and like the shots back like he’s just burying threes again he had one like crazy one at Brooklyn where he was just like C flying off a screen
Caught it maybe traveled and then buried a deep one um and like he’s kind of rebound I think he had five rebounds two assists a steal uh like that this was just a great Houser game and like if that’s what he’s going to give us like
He’s going to have a role in the playoffs it might not be a huge role but as long as he gets that defense back up to a level uh that we saw earlier this year and all of last year cuz teams have kind of started to figure him out
Figure out the types of guys that can attack him figured out like you got to run him through multiple screens and he gets lost a little bit um but like he he he’ll adjust he’ll adjust he’s a really smart player and like he’s more athletic
Than he maybe looks uh and he’s got good size he’s a legitimate six seven Wing so uh just great Hower game love to see it glad the shots back yep 41.2% on the season from three like guys a sniper they’re going to we’re going to get another run where like every time it
Touches his hands we’re going to be like yep time to start chugging back the other way that thing’s going in which is so it’s good to see that be look he’s doing his thing I like that he does the little things now he he’ll give you another couple of possessions here and
There with an offensive rebound like he he does the little things as well which like he’s not just purely a shooter like he is providing value on on the and the rest of the of the game of basketball but Pritchard I mean Pro MP this guy this guy was cooking dude this guy’s
Been really good lately and like there’s something special about pton Pritchard in a blowout I don’t know what it is clearly uh it’d be fun to see him on a team where he’s like a legit six-man or even like a starting point guard just to see exactly what’s
Possible because like when he has a complete green light like he’s able to pull from 30 feet he’s able to like get coming off screens and cross some guys over like man and he’s he’s talking to the like because at first everybody wants Walsh the crowd’s like we want
Walsh get the ball to Walsh but then prit starts cooking everybody’s and then the crowd’s just like no it’s all right go P let’s get him up but then he starts looking for Jordan Walsh he got Jordan Walsh on open three in the corner which he missed but um I just like seeing
Pritchard you know get a chance to to really show what he’s capable of because um he’s obviously still playing a smaller role than he would probably like and someone asked him in the in the Press like how do you feel about your role and whatever he’s like we’re
Focused on winning we’re winning I’m enjoying winning I’m looking forward to winning winning a championship winning a championship it’s like talk to him P let’s go I love it everybody’s bought in uh yeah I was tingling after that one uh look we’re going to come back in a
Moment with The Shard and fro report because there has been some Ruster movement with one of our closest Rivals but first a quick word from our sponsor get buckets with your first bet on FanDuel America’s number one sports book because right now new customers get $150
In bonus Bets with any winning WI a $5 bet that’s 150 bucks if your bet wins bet on all your favorite NBA players and teams with quick bets live same game pays exclusive props and more just visit fel.com Boston and shoot your shot Fel official Sportsbook partner of the NBA Sarah I cannot Believe [Applause] Yes that’s right it is The Shard of FR report and there has been some movement with one of our closest Rivals the Milwaukee Bucks who according to W and several others online have signed uh as out of the buyout Market rather Danilo Gallinari agreeing to a deal with the
Bucks for the rest of the season there Jake I know Danilo galinari long long covered by yourself as a potential buy our pickup by the Celtics he goes to one of our closest Rivals the Milwaukee Buck who need him for his defense I’m guessing firstly it’s
Important to note uh the intro there if you’re not watching on YouTube it’s worth just coming to check out the new Shard and Freud uh intro that Ben has pulled together I haven’t seen Kill Bill but I have seen that scene on YouTube before and it’s absolutely beautiful the
Production keeps going from strength to strength here but yeah this this is personally sad for me um for us to not be able to play we actually might still be able to play the galinari song If we get to the playoffs and they actually have to play galinari and he just like I
Think they call him yeah the the Italian rooster he just turns into a barbecue rooster it’s going to be um that might be the time we actually get to play it but like the thing about the Celtics is like you you can kind of talk yourself into a variety of players because you
Don’t have to play against the the Celtics like Andre Drummond can’t play in the playoffs if they play against the Celtics galinari I thought could play in the playoffs for us because there are very few teams that can really really like destroy I mean obviously Gall maybe
He’s going to get have issues at times but it’s like the Celtics are like the one team where it’s like a that guy probably can’t play in the Conference finals against the Celtics but that’s not a problem that the Celtics have because that’s who we are but um he
Can’t play against the Celtics so I don’t really sure um like he might help them technically like that makes them a better team because they didn’t have him before but like how’s he going to play against the the Celtics I don’t really see it yeah he can’t play against Indie yeah yeah
Like dude he he can’t play against anybody in the play look i’ I’m pretty sure I was on here when we signed him to the midlevel and saying I think he’s washed and I’m not exactly sure why we did the midlevel sign and yeah and now like dude congratulations you have worst
Bobby poris well Bobby poris is already like submarining your defense so I like I get it if you’re the Bucks it’s like okay why not like we got a open roster spot because we shipped out Robin Lopez you know he’s better than literally no one and he can still score it a little
Bit but like he can’t play against Indie I can he play against the magic I don’t think he can play against fron and Paulo like I’m I’m not sure who he can play against like Miami yeah I like it a little bit more but I think those guys
Would roast him he might give it back to him a little bit on the other end offensively but I mean he can’t play against the Heat you know SPO will absolutely scheme around he’ll be in every sing he’ll be running through seven screens of possession against Miami he can’t play against the Knicks
He can’t handle Julius Randall um and he can’t maybe against the Cavs you can try and hide him for those 10 minutes when uh what’s his name there the the wing that’s terrible whose name I am forgetting the car no not Caris L although you can him on no no the bad
Guy who doesn’t play anymore teen Wade no no you know who I’m talking you can’t shoot a decent Defender is that talking yes yes he was the aoro yes yeah like if aoro sees eight minutes Gallow can hide on him for eight minutes and that’s about it so I
Just like this does nothing for me it doesn’t move the needle at all for the bucks in the playoffs but hey just like Doc Rivers maybe it raises their floor a little bit so congratulations Milwaukee maybe he’ll win 51 games instead of 50 worse Bobby poris what what an
Evaluation and get so accurate uh yeah the extent to which I care about this is just being completely bummed out that we can’t play the G song on a regular basis and that’s that’s basically it like who who really cares and as a Celtics fan not threatened by that acquisition and
Hopefully it leads us to wait with some Poise and sign someone who can have a little bit more of an impact on the Celtics uh beyond what G would have been capable of all right I think we should get to the meat of this podcast which is
The best moments of the season so far what a season it’s been so fun the Celtics are so insanely [ __ ] good we’ve had a lot of fun there’s been tensions as a fan base particularly online and Twitter because expectations have been so high I think like the discourse has been Troublesome at times
I think just because of how high everyone’s expectations are and yet like you cannot complain about where we’re at right now and that is through all fronts of the Celtics coaching players Talent Health thank God touchwood everyone’s fine right now I hope that we can say
That in a couple of months time but things are really really good it’s been a lot of fun and so we thought with the All-Star break now um at our heels or at our toes or whatever the correct wording is U we’ll get to it we’ll get to it
We’ll get to it guys wor to co we thought we thought it was high time to get to the best moments of the season so far and I’ll throw to you guys cuz we know we we all sort of um kept the run sheet blank to keep these
Somewhat of a surprise to each other and to the members of our Discord who first of all get exclusive access to our run sheet so join the Discord you can chat with us you can view our run sheet I was live streaming me making The Shard and
Freuder intro the other day and I think one person jumped in for like 5 seconds and then jumped out again you get that kind of access it’s a lot of fun jump into the Discord there the link is in the description spoon I’ll throw to you
First what um comes to mind we won’t go in any particular order here but what’s being one of the standout moments of the season for you so far okay we trade beloved Celtics Marcus Smart for a tall lvan dude who was on the Washington Wizards last year it’s like how’s he
Going to fit how’s he going to play defense and then in the literal opening game of the season we play his former team the New York Knicks Jaylen Brown I guess has a severe concussion I don’t know passes out on the court for three minutes and just continues to play
Somehow we cough up I believe it was a seven-point lead the Knicks got to with like four or five minutes left and then Chris STS porzingis the new guy absolutely whips out as Ben said at minimum seven iner and just smashes no N9 incher yeah smashes the New York
Knicks gets like six free throws hits a huge three completely steals the game for the Celtics and we’re all thinking like this is probably going to work out just fine for stops in Boston Grimes back out in the Flor for the Knicks poring is going to shoot it and knock down a
Three back to Barrett Barrett takes no o good job by porzingis and draws the foul wait which way is that foul going it’s the foul on hardenstein I think they just teched up porzingis oh that’s a that’s a tough shot but I mean free throw for New York
And then we’re in the penalty situation so porzingis will shoot the penalty free throws when we come found white there about three and a half four on the count double team oh that’s huge that is huge unreal Tatum for Singas is bumped and he’s going to get the line hunstein going to
P the foul sorry Jake I’ll try to be more fluid getting to the clips no and you guys lead the charge on this one because I’ve been in transit so I’m not 100% on what all everything’s coming here but for him to do this immediately game one crunch time
Like perfect like every every concern every emotion that we that we had after we lost Marcus was immediately eased massaged as soon as Pingus got on the court like for him to do that in crunch time in MSG on opening night he was like oh
My God I see the vision Brad Stevens has done it and we’re on Pace to win 64 games it was great I I would add to that just as part of the the best moments of the season so far just acquiring KP and Drew and like the emotional parachute
That acquiring Chris apps bingus was versus losing Marcus Smart yeah we all maybe hoped and and some of us dreaded that one day we would lose Marcus Smart um because he you know a movable piece movable contract and while being I guess like the backbone of the organizational
Culture just due to the size of his contract and maybe needing to open up like more shots and more looks and Touches for the Jays he might eventually get moved and for that to happen you know like I said um cushioned by the emotional parachute of acquiring someone
Like Chris Pingas it just made that transition so much easier and then I’d add to that the Bucks Shard and Freo of acquiring Drew holiday like they’re so hyped about getting Damen lard and then suddenly we introduced this element of Doubt by acquiring their former Allstar
Point guard who can like d up the [ __ ] out of dam lard and just completely rains on their parade uh which was a lot of fun but going into the the preseason there after acquiring those two guys uh we get to see Brad’s Vision that’s coming up next got [Applause] It big arms the shoulders holiday kicks it Bo sis stinks it that’s nice see T clean up that board it’s going to be they going to go with a small lineup kit him at the four he’s going to have to rebound he can do that all he looks so much Bigger s gets it back sets his feet carries the three another open shot for the Boston Celtics 13d track down the dribble o after yeah this a massive lineup how Camp cor T like two guard I was trying to figure out who’s I mean Hower the three look at this
Lineup I mean that’s been all of us pretty much every game right it really has though like you’re watching holding on to the TV you’re like is this allowed is someone going to stop us from doing this because it doesn’t seem fair yeah man uh this Brad
Stevens guy knows a nose ball we’ll throw to you Jake what’s what’s been one of the standout moments of the season for you so far all right so I was thinking back and going through just some of the wins and the losses and um the the Celtics played the Sixers early
In the year uh it was the second time we had played them no PA porzingis no Jaylen Brown and Al Horford this was like the first game that we got like okay Al Horford he still has it Al Horford still owns Joel embiid he had five blocks in
This game and it starts here straight off the bat hell Horford ding up m bead strips him goes the other way and you’re like oh he still got it but late in the game 5 minutes to go Maxi beats Hower and Horford protecting the rim swats him
Pushes it the other away Swing Swing F Tatum finds Horford finds Derek Qui three Celtics go up Seven with like four and a half to go and that pretty much kind of seals the game and like that game was just like we’re still F you know early in the season finding our
Feet trying to figure out what’s going on we’re not sure like you know where Horford is um we were still kind of acclimating to the new version of Derek white we didn’t quite realize that um ter White had become what he had become yet and in that game he he was so immens
Be Horford five blocks two on embiid and was like okay the big dog still doesn’t matter Joel embiid regular season MVP regular season postseason Al Horford still has this guy under locking key and that was sh K is one of my one of my favorite games of the
Year I uh so the my favorite part of that game was going into the Sixers Reddit after words yeah it was all about like this embiid can’t even beat 45-year-old Al Warford like what do we do in here like just trade everybody so great game great Al game and like maybe
The first game where it was like that D signature Big Time shot that we needed really bad that was like kind of the first one I remember where it’s like oh this dude like he’s so good he’s done it like 20 more times this season but that’s like the first one it feels
Like uh yeah Al Horford defending Joel embiid effectively A Tale As Old As Time and uh who else is oldest time is is Al Horford who is uh maybe the one person to have defeated father time up until this point continues to to defeat father time and Jo embiid it seems It’s maybe
One of the most disappointing factors as a Celtics fan of Jo embiid being out is that there is an upcoming Sixers game and we I guess unless he comes back unexpectedly we won’t get to see that matchup but always fun and always a highlight of the season to beat the
Sixers I’ll add best moments of the season so far and Jake I’m going to be stealing some of your words here please like who would have thought that this beautiful latan man would have been the jayen Whisperer and of course I’m talking about cookies and cream like I I
Could never have imagined in my wildest dreams that this would have been like the duo I think we always would naturally expected it to be JT and KP linking up on pick and rolls and you know assists going both ways and all kinds of highlights but as you see here
If you’re watching on YouTube it’s it’s assist Central for these two assist city as they just flawlessly and seamlessly connect almost every game and then we come to realize that off the court they carpool together they live in the same building we heard on the podcast recently the view from the rafters
Podcast that they broke down in Chris Pingus 1999 Mercedes on the side thead to call a hel from the Celtics to come and extract them uh the stories just keep emerging from this situation and it’s as amazing and beautiful as it was unexpected and it’s been one of the most
Enjoyable parts of the season so far Jake yeah look I mean team chemistry is really important and I I was someone who’ watched some of the like press conference stuff from porzingis it’s like I had a kind of an idea that he was this cool funny dude but I had no idea
That he was going to come in and and like dude he’s he’s legit been like I don’t know like the he’s been the last piece of the puzzle both off the court and like I I don’t even it hurts me to even say it but like on off the court
Too like obviously everybody loved Marcus but there was definitely some some tension there a little bit and I mean Jaylen in particular dude like I’ve just never seen this guy smile anywhere near as much as he has this year and like you watched that podcast with jayen
It’s like you also a feel like Jaylen likes to keep things close to his chest when he’s in front of cameras and so like we don’t get a really which I think Tatum does as well and so we don’t get a really good idea of what these guys are
Like but to get that that glimpse of these two hanging out it’s like it’s like they’re just they’re a new relationship they’re they’re in the honeymoon face and they’re just sitting there giggling hit each other on the shoulder it’s uh it’s it’s a true Bromance that’s right yeah no you no you
I want to tell I got I got to exactly I’ll tell the proper I’ll tell the story properly after you married couple yeah yeah so Jaylen has assisted Derek white 33 times this season Derek second he’s assisted KP 48 times so like 15 times more than anybody else on the roster
Cookies and cream dude like yeah it’s such like a like a goofy Duo and I just absolutely love it them living in the same building is just such a it’s such a bizarre nugget because Boston’s a huge City and they I don’t know if he asked
JB first but the fact that he just ended up in the same place and carpol together is it’s just [ __ ] awesome man late night calls come down play some Super Smash Brothers with me play some Mario Kart I need to I need to believe that that’s happening between them uh as
Long as there’s no gardening late night gardening thenone that they can do whatever they want yeah uh spoon what do you got oh I’ve got um I think so mini beat us in overtime early in the season kind of like maybe the worst loss of the Year from a process standpoint especially that
Overtime period it was like all the things we hate about the Celtics with like the the late game isos and things like that so mini comes back to Boston it’s another overtime game and the C’s actually I think they were down seven with a couple minutes left Jason Tatum
Jaylen Brown drag the Celtics to overtime and then basically dominate the overtime period Tatum has 45 Jaylen has 35 dominant performance against like that mini team was flying at that time too they’ve since kind of cooled off a little bit but people were talking about
Them like are they the best team in the NBA um and you know the only like Mark on that is mini was coming off a backto back but I don’t think KP didn’t play on the flip side so so I cancel those two out just a great win super fun game to
Watch too like when they’re coming back and then dominating over time the garden was absolutely electric game of the season so far in my opinion we’ve got the clip they undefeated oh no oh no [Applause] T Tatum takes it down oh big rebound by white
Gets it in the hands of Tatum down one pushes off passes to Horford Corner yeah to the basket oh buried back oh yeah foul to the basket he gets to doesn’t matter Celtics with the steel Hol takes his time knocks it down and the M of that shot and the garden going
Completely [ __ ] Bonkers that makes me it brings me so much joy uh that’s that’s a great one that might be and let us folks in the chat let us know what you think like I think to me that’s that’s the moment of the season so far certainly the the best game of the
Season and just the C firing on on all cylinders without their Laing Moses um and just killing well at the time like you said SP was one of the best teams in the league oh man big plays in that one like the Drew holiday Corner 3 like
Man like you just for you forget like some of the plays you have to make to get back in the game and Tatum hitting that side step three down five to bring it back to within two or whatever it was like and then he hits the three and he’s
Bouncing on his toes he just knows that it’s in dagger and the garden and Gorman’s just in his bag in a game like that dude he’s just it’s just the names of the players for two make it got it it’s just like oh and and then the other
End like nil Alexander Walker oh big shot and and he’s just he he lets the game he lets the garden take over and if people don’t [ __ ] understand why he’s the goat then you don’t know ball and I just I’m going to miss him dude absolutely now Jaylen Brown is in the
Dunk contest coming up this week can and one of the reasons is because the fan the fan the league is desperate to keep fans engaged by having a relevant player actually included in the dunk contest the other reason is that Jaylen Brown has had some incredible posterization this season oh [Applause]
Sweet brown obliges on the blow by stops it go oh my God climb the stifled Tower get the steel Tak I mean is this the best Jaylen duning season of his career so far spoony yeah I I think so I don’t know yeah it’s got to be right just because like how many
Posters I you can remember a few posters he’s had throughout his career but like he’s slowed down recently but like that first half of the Season that was dunking on somebody’s head every single game and like the Primal roars he lets out like I start roaring in my basement
And then look around and realize how pathetic it is but like I just get so into it yeah he’s energy shifter yeah dude that’s what it sounds like in your mind but in reality it’s like the three cool white boys screaming into the abyss that’s right channeling our inner jayen Browns it feels
Good uh who who’s next I’ve lost count who’s next with um I’ll I’ll let you go you go you you guys take over I’ll just react from from here out all right I’ve got another one oh go for it you no no go ahead B go
Ahead go all right I think you guys will like this one I think you guys will like this One notably Sam Hower who continues to be awesome the house trap defensively luring people into his defensive cage he’s he’s glaring whiteness invites them to attack him and he just L and then on the other end house party house money from three every single time he’s sort
Of the most consistent Celtic I think you kicking the ball you’re welcome to take these they’re not going anywhere with Us Hower back to Pritchard Hower pulls it house money from the free throw line not talked about as much here we go heat check bam oh yeah some house money right there there 4734 we did it we did it maybe I will do my best to get house party because uh if
Nothing else maybe so house money like just in general Sam Hower has been awesome and with Grant gone entering this more prominent role and like living up to what we’ve needed from him but then you know I don’t want to like blow my own horn too heavily or Pat myself on
The back or us on the back too hard and credit to Joe TI our New Zealand correspondent for coming up with the house here he is house content I I believe house warming is being thrown around house Trap House money and then to go yeah from this little like you
Know town in New Zealand via the Pod here out to Drew Carter on the show and then out on the broadcast you know for NBC Sports Boston there and become part of like the common phrases for Celtics fans um it feels good and now it’s just
We had uh scow come out with a house money call the other day as well it’s just part of the common nomenclature for for Celtics fans and analysts clearly guys so and and if anyone thinks they thought of it first we have receipts got old receipts too it’s Joe’s it’s the
First to the floor name yeah we yeah we were doing house money like before he was getting real minutes so yes that’s uh yeah let’s remember that uh I’ve got so many more guys but I I’ll throw back to you and and give myself an opportunity to to collect my thoughts
All right regardless of why like what your opinions are on emay udoka getting fired whether you think he deserved it or not he did something that at least contemplated getting fired after he just made the damn finals with a 23 and 25y old so my best moment one of my best
Moments this year beating his ass twice whipped up Houston and they were like a good team at the time they were kind of starting their down swing and now they kind of suck but like just beating Oka just like get out of here Missoula out coached his ass at least for the first
Or that the game that KP had 34 and Missoula Justin is like we’re just going to KP um out coached him out talented him go back to Houston dude yep feels good had him to the sh flud report um I’m oh yeah uh I’m I’m
All in on Joe being the better coach in eay just because eay um calls guys losers and [ __ ] and and whatnot doesn’t make him the better Coach Joe is The Mastermind behind the defense and uh the mentality that Joe is instilling on these guys is a more sustainable
Holistic spirit Endeavor that I think will serve these guys in the long run and uh yes [ __ ] that guy dude well and I’ll add to the best moments of the Season holistically is just the gradual warm acceptance of Joe Missoula and Missoula ball and his clashing with certain members of the
Media Gary wasburn in particular and but it’s become an endearing quality of his from a personality standpoint and I think clearly the guys in the locker room are completely locked in to like what he’s putting down um the fan base has come around to him I know he still
Has his detractors Bill Simmons dad for one still calling him second Ro Joe but it’s really hard to criticize this guy at the moment and sometimes you just have you know we’ve still got a long way to go as far as getting to the chip but sometimes you just have the perfect
Coach for the perfect roster and Doc Rivers you know he has had plenty of down downward Trend career moments since the’ 08 Championship but at that moment in time with that roster with kg Pearson Al like he was the perfect coach for that team and I’m starting to come
Around to the idea that Joe moula is the perfect coach for this roster he just seems to just fit in through all the seams and just do such a good job of jelling all of the guys and keeping them aligned with the right mindset like and mindset is probably the the number one
Theme coming away from from missoula’s approach is like these guys are very very talented they have been through and seen every possible moment uh and and defensive coverage and everything you could possibly imagine seeing in one’s full NBA career Jason Tatum has seen that all up until the age 25 already and
So it’s just about keeping him on track mentally and so far he’s done a really good job of that and I think he’s been really verbose and really communicative with the press in terms of like helping us have an insight into that mindset as well so I love Joe yeah he’s really
Candid and I I love getting insight into what he’s thinking and what he wants the team to think like the whole be open-minded about things not going right and responding to things not going well which is a real issue of this team going back to the eay era like everybody looks
Back on not everybody a lot of people look back on eay with eay colored glasses and it’s like dude game four in the finals like he should get blamed for that he wasn’t able to save them either in like the most important moment um they did it
In game three against the Bucks like Joe has been the only one so far granted that includes adding Chris porzingis to the team um that has turned them into a team that looks like they’ve moved past a lot of those issues one thing I’ll say I think emay
Was perfect for that year I think they needed the hard ass for that year it’s almost like the I don’t know if you guys do that in Australia but like you go out and work for a year and then go to college like you need like the bridge
The gap year the bridge year like wow this sucks I really need to go back to school and they like needed that and now like Joe’s the per like now that they’ve kind of hardened um not James like you know emotionally Harden not Joe’s like now kind all hardened a little bit
Haven’t we yeah oh I’ve been very hardened since the beginning of this season uh Joe’s kind of the perfect coach for like once they went through that now they come out the other side like more emotionally strong and he’s more of a tactician and a guy who can
Kind of keep them motivated uh and just kind of draw stuff up well this is a bad segue but speaking of being hardened we saw Jordan Walsh’s first NBA bucket this year man Brett is a beast on that glass pass oh yeah oh yeah yeah he doesn’t always get the call
Right but the oh yeah like that’s exactly what was happening inside of my mind at that moment so I don’t know we’ve talked about on the and we’re getting close to the hour mark so we got to start rattling through these any quick remarks on wal’s first bucket
Alford is the The Supporting Cast deserves the Oscar um for the supporting actor in in that scene he’s he’s just waving the tower getting into it uh I love it give me more I’m I’m writing about this for three leaf clover it’ll be out tomorrow just like the crowd
Reaction to like wal she like he’s the 38th pick right like he’s nothing a lot of fans wouldn’t know who their second round pick is and the the Celtics fans like every time he touched his ball we go so that’s just awesome yeah uh look a couple of other ones to Rattle
Through here the Marcus Smart return was huge and I think probably the first thing that all Celtics fans marked on their calendar once the schedule came out was like when’s this [ __ ] coming back when do I need to make sure that I’m stocked up on like tissues and
Like therapy sessions and all of the above and uh it didn’t let us down there was uh plenty of marus smart um you know homage cont they got him involved in the heroes Among Us segment as well which is a really nice touch which we talked about
On the on the postgame pod for for that game and uh it was just uh warm feelings all around while and we talked about this as well as fans we were like this is great we miss Marcus Smart what an awesome tribute but like we’re very happy with the roster right now and
We’re focused on the championship right it was the best and like it was kind of good that he didn’t play just we’re able to kind of fully kick the [ __ ] out of them and just enjoy Marcus Smart for the beautiful person he was on and off the
Court and Tatum motioning to the crowd getting people to cheer louder and man what a hero bring him bring him back on a minimum one day please it it really was like kind of a beautiful tribute to him and like I it just goes to show like
He was essentially a role player for nine years you know he’s never a star and never made an All-Star Game and just the like the way the fans in the city treated him it just kind of makes you proud to be a Celtics fan mhm now also talking about Celtics Pride the Lakers
Beat down on Christmas day here was running the clips on YouTube if you’re watching that was uh about as good as Christmas present as any of us could ever hope for and uh you know unfortunately Lakers game game didn’t go particularly well when they visited Us in Boston but this was an excellent
Opportunity earlier in the season for the Celtics to demonstrate their you know their dominance on a national stage here and what better team to demonstr against then the lake of spoony yeah and and like look if there’s one person I absolutely hate in the NBA it’s Kyrie Irving but if there’s two
People it’s Kyrie Irving and LeBron James so anytime you can beat LeBron hold them under 20 points and like Austin Reeves is just so incredibly unlikable and like my family doesn’t watch basketball except for on Christmas so like not having to explain to them why they’re losing even though they’re
Supposed to be really good just makes for a much happier Christmas yeah yes absolutely yes yeah exactly it’s like those big tent pole games and then and when the Celtics lose those games you you you hear people that like you just don’t hear from being like what happened
To the Celtics dude it’s like [ __ ] they’ve literally lost one game in six weeks and this is the game that it has to be uh yeah it was um it was perfect Merry Christmas um yeah no nothing better than beating the Lakers on Christmas I hate that conversation it’s
It’s my least favorite conversation to have in life is the friend who’s like what’s what’s going on with the the Celtics and they’re looking at the last game as opposed to like the last 10 or 20 games uh it’s it’s infuriating all right so we’re going to have to cut a
Couple more for time but we’ll end on this one from yesterday three 3 1 2 3 win [Applause] concise oh I want to dance with somebody I want to feel the well you can actually see she start to to M the words of the song as well
Okay this is what we do here cool like I want to be part of the team I want to be indoctrinated what a moment I love also his celebration of how concise the the Huddle was yeah concise he’s funny man he’s he’s got a he’s got a career if
Possible doesn’t work out for him that’s for sure dude one one I know like when he had that massive block he didn’t say a word yeah that was why did they run that clip with him just like completely silent but it was just very Luke like he
Has this goofy tip in and he’s like and he has like an amazing block and he’s just completely silent was the best D silence oh I just just another one that’s very quick by beating the heat three times and it becoming like very clear that pingis makes that
Matchup like untenable for them is like makes helps me sleep at night very validating yeah absolutely yeah I had Tatum’s Masterpiece against the Heat last week where he just like almost a triple double and just was perfect one turnover yeah I had Jason Tatum blocking Grant Williams for that attempted
Half looking back over his shoulder and talking at him and thanks to everyone of the Discord for for throwing in a few recommendations for top moments of the Season uh that’s going to do it for this one uh I hope that was as fun for you as
It was for us and if it was and if you want to support the show please subscribe to all of our stuff basically everything is linked in the show notes below uh do we miss anything on the best moments of the season so far if we did
Let us know in the comments we’ll be back on Monday night 600 p.m. East live with Drew Carter from NBC Sports joining us here live on the channel spoony Jake love your work guys until next time go Celtics I love the Celtics
The Celtics concluded the pre-all-star break portion of the season in style, beating the Brooklyn Nets by 50 for their 6th straight win. How did the Celtics win this one so decisively? Plus, we break down the best moments of the season so far.
0:00 Intro
2:00 Jake meets Aron Baynes
7:20 Celtics vs Nets recap
26:10 Gallo Signs with the Bucks
30:46 Best moments of the season
Chapter timestamps for today’s pod if you want to add them to the description
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