Top 6 Reasons Celtics Are Off to STRONG START | Still Poddable

Name: Top 6 Reasons Celtics Are Off to STRONG START | Still Poddable
Uploaded: 2023-11-08T20:07:42+00:00
Duration: 45 min 49 s
Channel: CLNS Media Sports Network

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In this free edition of Still Poddable, the guys break down the Celtics 5-0 start to the season with a six-pack draft of observations from Boston's start. Topics include Jayson Tatum, Boston's offense, the Celtics schedule and Jrue Holiday's early impact. To get daily editions of the Still Poddable Tuesday-Friday in your podcast app of choice, you can sign up at www.Patreon.com/stillpoddable

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Transcript

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00:00 the show. He is Jay King from the Athletic and he is Brian Rob from MassLive.com and

00:09 I am Sam Jam Packard and together we are still. That's right is the best Boston Celtics podcast

00:18 out there and you are listening right now to the free edition that comes out every Monday.

00:24 We are a Monday through Friday Boston Celtics podcast and to listen to the rest of our content

00:29 for the rest of the week you can sign up on the Patreon. Patreon.com/StillPodable. You

00:34 can get in at the kids level for $5 and get the Tuesday and Thursday pod or you can sign

00:40 up and be a god and get every single pod Tuesday through Friday. We'll be here every single

00:47 day of the week with the best Celtics content and Celtics community out there and we are

00:51 still growing. We are coming to you on a Sunday evening and the Celtics. That was good. That

00:56 was good. Also ad free guys. Did you write that down? I completely just off the top of

01:02 the dome. Although I forgot right now to call him Brian B Rob Rob which you know it's a

01:09 mistake on my part but Jay I wanted to bring something else. When you guys were podcasting

01:13 last week you tried to call him that but just called him Brian B Rob which I thought was

01:19 an excellent take on a new nickname for him. B Rob is just his nickname. No no but you

01:25 called him Brian B like Brian and then just said B Rob and then didn't say Rob like you

01:31 like halfway committed to the bit. Well B is my middle initial so it works. Well then

01:35 it works for me. No it is not. B B Rob would be classic though. Well that's what I thought

01:43 his name was but enough of the tomfoolery. We are here and the Celtics are still the

01:48 lone undefeated team in the National Basketball Association. They've won their last three

01:55 games against the Washington Wizards which was a blowout and then it kind of got close

02:00 but it was really a blowout. A complete shellacking of the Indiana Pacers without Tyrese Halliburton

02:05 and then a much closer game but still kind of solid victory against the Brooklyn Nets

02:09 on Saturday and we are doing what we do here every Sunday or Monday podcast is a classic

02:15 case a potable six pack. That's where the three of us will draft the six things that

02:20 are most interesting most compelling or just things that we want to talk about from the

02:24 last week of Celtics basketball. Since I clearly won last week by talking about Jason Tatum's

02:31 twelve pounds of muscle I'm going to determine the draft order right now and say J King you're

02:38 going first. All right. Me Rob and then me and then we'll go back around on the snake

02:44 draft. I'm going to go with the Celtics offense during first half. They had nothing but 70

02:53 point first half this week. Last week nothing nothing but they had 75. They had 75. They

03:02 had 70. They are just scoring at an outrageous rate in the first half of games. It took them

03:10 a while to get going against Brooklyn. I didn't really think they made the best decisions

03:16 during the first half. They were like it wasn't like a crazy shooting game really didn't feel

03:25 like it at least. And they scored 70 points in the first half again. I just it's crazy.

03:32 You don't see this type of scoring very often. Hundred fifty five points against the who

03:40 was the Nets the net. No hundred fifty five was not against the against the Pacers the

03:49 Pacers make them poop. You can't call me a nigga but you're just completely blanked on

03:53 one of three options. I guess that's fair. We're we could both be naked. I think that's

03:58 more accurate. But anyway they've scored a lot of points especially in the first half.

04:05 They're starting to drive is just like I think it is true. Just like at any point they clearly

04:11 put up a lot of points in the first half but it feels like any time the starting five is

04:15 in the game they're just going to score at will. And so they might have some some downturns

04:20 when some bench players come in. That certainly didn't happen against the Pacers but it feels

04:25 like there's just a safety blanket and just the ease at which they're able to score when

04:30 any of that starting five I guess like you can put Al Horford in there because I feel

04:34 like even when he's been in there with other guys but if it's any kind of figuration of

04:38 those top six guys there's just not a lot of ways that teams can guard them or even

04:42 try to slow them down. This space has just been crazy. Like when they post up you literally

04:51 can't help. People are just stuck on the guys next to around the perimeter and the spacing

04:58 is just crazy. It's nuts. I don't think it'll be like that every single game but the spacing

05:07 stands out as much as anything else like teams just aren't able to send help when they're

05:13 down low or driving. It's crazy. Sorry for cutting you off.

05:17 No, no, no. This is because this is very pointing out that my mic wasn't in.

05:20 Well, you sound it is now delightful. Now you sound so much better. But this is funny

05:28 that you picked this because I'm going to I'm ready to jump right in with my second

05:33 pick right now because it's directly piggybacking off of this. My question here, the Celtics

05:37 are five and oh have they played anyone remotely good on their schedule right now when you

05:43 consider who obviously they've played some good teams in theory. A lot of these teams

05:48 have been really shorthanded for these games. So the Celtics are really good. I don't think

05:53 we're anyone down to that. But like in terms of what they're doing right now offensively,

05:57 have they played a semblance of like a solid defensive team yet opening night? Yes. Maybe

06:03 that was the one time they paid a full strength team the Knicks. But he had been a mess to

06:08 start the year and were shorthanded. Pacers didn't have Halliburton. I mean, Wizards didn't

06:14 have Daniel Gafford. So we know that was a huge deal. But and then, you know, the Nets

06:19 were down what, like three, three guys on Saturday. So I don't know, like it's it's

06:22 it's theory of like, they're they look like they're a wagon right now. But are they are

06:28 we seeing a little bit more above and beyond what they can actually do against some like

06:32 legitimate competition? Like, I don't know. But that's that's kind of what I'm curious

06:35 about after this. That kind of goes back to preseason to even they didn't play. Yeah.

06:40 Anybody in the preseason like the teams that they play were typically resting their guys.

06:44 I think they played like six minutes against Jalen Brunson. I do think my I would count

06:50 Miami even though they haven't started. Well, yeah, I thought Miami played at a high level

06:55 that game and was clearly like that. That was a good basketball game and a well played

07:00 game, I thought, by the Heat for the most part. So. Yeah. And there's something also

07:07 to the fact that the Celtics are not playing around with.

07:10 They have they haven't played with their meat at all. To quote Doc Riffers, they've not

07:14 played with their meat. And they kind of did against Washington and the bench really struggle.

07:19 But I do think like then they came in and really kicked the shit out of the Pacers.

07:23 And I think Brooklyn on Saturday night just was was making a lot of like good shots and

07:30 hanging around. And I thought like kind of just being an annoying team. And obviously

07:34 they didn't have, you know, the great Ben Simmons or Nick Claxton. But I do think the

07:40 Celtics kind of brought in the starters back in in that fourth quarter, extended that lead

07:45 and kind of you're right. They have we haven't really seen them test at this point, but I

07:51 do think they are just they're playing a very kind of serious basketball. And every time

07:56 they there has been some slight adversity, at least in the first five games, very small

08:01 sample size. I feel like they have responded quite well.

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08:36 partner of the NFL. Yeah, I mean, I much adversity have they gone through?

08:45 I think the first two games they were down in some they were down in some games. Plus

08:50 there's something that rating there's some 10 0 runs by the other team. You know, there's

08:54 some mild adversity. There's some definitely runs they had to respond to the next game

08:59 that they pulled one out there. I'll give you that. Yeah. And the heat came to I feel

09:04 like that's the one I think leaning against what the case here in terms of them being

09:08 tested here, like the he played really well that game, I think, for at least for the first

09:13 three quarters. And the South is kind of wet and took it from the next game. They got away

09:18 with. But yeah, the rest of these games, even the Nets game, I know they're like the Nets

09:22 played well in that game, too. But when the South, when the Stars came in, when they decided

09:26 they want to lock down, they took care of it. And then we all know what happened against

09:28 the Wiz and the Phasers. So it is it's almost like, what do you want to do right now? Like,

09:32 yeah, of course, they should like I should be knock them for like blowing doors against

09:36 these type of teams. No, it's like this is what people want them to be doing a lot of

09:40 last year. And they couldn't really do a wire to wire. And now they are. And that's like

09:44 they don't control their schedule and they don't control who sits out. And so it is what

09:47 it is. And it's kind of like two years ago when they

09:50 started their turnaround. Yeah, they were beating the crap out of just nobody, just

09:56 destroying all of the worst teams in the league or all the teams with their stars out. And

10:03 well, you could just see it. It was just the way they were playing the the toughness that

10:08 they were showing, the togetherness that they were showing.

10:10 And I feel like these five games, no matter who they were against, just the brand of basketball

10:17 the Celtics are playing is just really impressive. My first pick third pick in the draft. A lot

10:26 of me wants to go with Jason Tatum adding 12 pounds in the offseason, but I'm not because

10:30 I feel like we might have discussed that already. So I'm going to go with another trend I've

10:35 noticed and this is my first time watching this player as a member of the Boston Celtics

10:40 only played five games. But everything drew holiday does surprises me. He has no regard

10:48 for the rhythm of the game for the rhythm of a certain possession. At any point, he's

10:52 liable to take a step back three. I have no idea when it's coming. He's really throw some

10:57 crazy passes and it's just his entire game has been shocking to me. Like I know the reputation

11:04 of drew holiday, but this is the first time watching him night in night out. And he's

11:08 like, he only is taking eight shots a game, but all of them were just like, where the

11:11 hell did that come from? Drew? So it's been pretty just startling to kind of adjusting

11:15 to the drew holiday experience.

11:19 It really is hilarious. Like you really don't know what's coming next with drew holiday.

11:24 He's not like you said, like, it's not like he's taking eight or nine shots and they're

11:30 just coming in the flow of the offense. So a few of them have, but like you said, a lot,

11:35 a lot of his favorite shots are like, just pull up threes or step back threes. And it's,

11:43 it's funny to watch sometimes because he goes through a game and doesn't force much for

11:49 like a while. And then it's like the first time you've noticed him offensively in a few

11:53 minutes is just like this random step back three pointer with 16 seconds left on the

11:58 shot clock. I like how you put it. I thought that was a great way to describe it, that

12:05 he doesn't play to the rhythm of the game. Like he's, he's just doing his own thing,

12:10 dancing to his own beat.

12:11 Wild card. It's a fun wild card. Like I think, and to build on that, like he is, and I think

12:21 Marcus smart would use to do some of this stuff, but drew holiday does it cleaner offensively

12:25 to Marcus Murray in terms of like, there haven't been how many times, I mean, they've, there've

12:29 been some bad turnovers. There's some really bad pass. There's a really bad turn. What

12:33 the hell are you thinking there? Drew, right. But by and large, like his turnover percentage

12:38 for the season is only like 12%, which is honestly a clear role for him. But he's like,

12:43 he's played relatively clean games, like even with the like boneheaded turnover to in there.

12:48 And because there's three or four or five other things he does that are great over the

12:52 course of whether offensively or defensively before every one of those. So it's like, it's

12:56 just with the weapons I have this offense, like, and he, he knows, I think not to mix

13:02 it up too much in terms of like, he's not taking 20 shots per game. They don't need

13:05 him to do that. And so he, he likes to mix it up just to get involved, but he's certainly

13:09 not overstepping his bounds and, and, and just adding another tough element to cover

13:15 for this offense.

13:17 I like too, that he's just kind of slid into some of the Marcus smart role. Like, like

13:24 Marcus smart was always really good at setting screens for Jason Tatum and then kind of playing

13:29 in the short roll out of it. The Celtics just have that with drew holiday. And I, I'm not,

13:35 I think Derek White could have handled some of that stuff and will handle some of that

13:40 stuff, but to get it also from drew holiday and for him to just be able to do that without

13:46 having much time next to Tatum and just be able to just like slide in and do that stuff.

13:53 That matters. All the options you can have late game matter. And especially like Tatum

14:00 can really kill smaller guys now. And so setting screens with the guards on him is going to

14:06 be a great way to free him up late in the games. And I, I, I think it's, it's really

14:12 great for the Celtics to just have somebody who can kind of fill in the uses that Marcus

14:18 smart used to have holidays also at 50 40 and he has yet to miss a free throw. So that's

14:25 what very efficient start, even though he's just, you never know what's coming next.

14:30 He's freelancing, but he's still like pretty efficient. And when he takes that surprise

14:35 three, most of the times it's gone in, remember one against the nets. I think it was like

14:39 a, it was just like a broken play in the corner and someone kind of overplayed it. It didn't

14:43 look like he had the three point shot at all, but he just kind of ended up taking it once

14:46 they overplayed their hand. And then like, he's just done very well kind of fitting in

14:51 seamlessly to the Celtics offense and in a game where Derek white didn't play cause he

14:56 was at the birth of his second kid drew holiday steps in and like has 10 assists. Like he,

15:02 he feels like he can adjust his kind of usage or his impact on the game, depending on who's

15:07 out there. Um, but is very willing to just kind of take a more of backseat when they

15:12 do have that starting lineup out there.

15:14 Not bad. A lot of shots. He has yet to have a game without a block for the Celtics. Not

15:21 bad. Um, with my second pick of the, and the first pick of the first round, I'm going to

15:29 have to go with Jason Tatum putting on 12 pounds of muscle in the off season. He's been

15:35 phenomenal in the past three games over 30 points. Um, but just doing it, you're going

15:41 to pick this every week. If he, if he continues to play well, if he continues to be a benefit,

15:47 if the Celtics continue to be a beneficiary of that extra 12 pounds of muscle, but he

15:52 became the youngest player to score 10,000 points.

15:55 A thing that was just kind of glossed over during the game in Brooklyn. I've just continued

15:59 to be impressed with his, um, ability, like he's scoring at all three levels and we have

16:07 not been subjected to the Jason Tatum, um, horrific three point like stretch and it's

16:14 probably coming just like, that's been kind of standard with Jason Tatum and part of his

16:20 career. But I do think just him playing in the post, the way his improved vision, uh,

16:25 and kind of passing is like very quick decision-making to kind of, as soon as you take a step away

16:29 from your defender, he'll find the kind of guy in that opposite quarter. Um, I think

16:34 just it's to be expected that he's going to average at 30 points again this year. And

16:39 I think that's kind of wild just given how much more, um, I guess, uh, dynamic scores

16:45 they have on the roster adding Chris Taps forcing is adding drew holiday and Jason Tatum's

16:49 kind of like, uh, scoring, uh, is not going to take a dip.

16:53 I think you have to credit the 12 pounds of muscle.

16:57 I don't know if it's a 12 pounds of muscle or the 45% three point shooting to me, that

17:04 could be the most important part here. If, if it continues, like the first three years

17:09 of his career, he was a knockdown three point shooter. He was a knockdown three point shooter

17:17 off pull-ups. He was a knockdown three point shooter off spot ups. And the last couple

17:23 of years, he's just kind of been a league average by the numbers, three points you're

17:27 obviously with the degree of difficulty with the way they defend him, all that he's much

17:33 better than league average. But if he can get that back up, I think that's a huge, huge

17:40 deal for the Celtics. Um, and we won't know that for sure for a while.

17:45 And teams always guarded in the same way, no matter what, because they always knew that

17:50 Jason Tatum, if they weren't there was going to kill them or believed he was going to kill

17:54 them. But I, I just feel like him and Jalen Brown too, he didn't shoot the ball particularly

18:01 well last year. They both had down years and they both had down shooting series in Miami

18:07 when they lost and it was a huge, huge deal for them. So the three point shot coming back

18:13 and him starting off hot from, from that distance feels like it could be a big deal or maybe

18:20 it's nothing. Who knows? How much of that do you feel like is shot selection J for him

18:25 from three? I feel like he's still taking a lot of really

18:28 touch. Like I don't feel like it's totally shot selection. Like he has hit some really

18:35 tough off the dribble threes. He has hit, um, even one of the catch and shoot ones he

18:42 had last night. It was kind of like a sidestep with a pretty close contest. I don't feel

18:48 like he's had the easiest diet of three point shots so far. I could, I could be wrong there.

18:53 I haven't like watched them all in a row to, to make sure, but it just feels like he's

19:00 hit a lot of really tough shots so far. And then he airballed like is the most, so

19:05 that's like perfect. But I agree with you. I think he's, he's still

19:10 mixing in at least one or two of like, you like that, like the pull up sidestep, like

19:15 ones that have always been tough shots for him. Like he doesn't need to do that as much,

19:19 but the fact that you're like, he's still hitting those and hitting them at a much higher

19:22 rate now, like that just turns a really good felt it's often than to just like, Oh, what

19:28 the hell do you do with this? Because when we go that with the 12 pounds of muscle, um,

19:34 then it's, um, you're, you're looking at trouble from all angles at this point.

19:38 How do we know the 12 pounds of muscle isn't causing the three point shooting? How do we

19:42 know there's not a causation loop there? Maybe there is, maybe there is. He also is like,

19:48 he only got to the line of, I guess it's again, where it's all salt, small sample size caveat,

19:53 but he hasn't really gotten to the line as much as he did consistently last year and

19:57 is still putting up these 30 point games. Um, but I just think he's, he's the straw

20:02 that stirs the drink and he's like the Celtics offense has been very good and they have so

20:06 many weapons, but I think as we saw in the nets game down the stretch, teams are still

20:11 going to double to try and get the ball out of Jason Tatum's hands. And that feels like

20:15 a reasonable calculation because he's still like, despite how much talent they have on

20:19 the floor is like obviously the most talented person on the team.

20:23 And I thought, I thought Joe was always said something, same, same Tatum topic, but kind

20:28 of taking this a little, little somewhere else. The other day, I think it was practice.

20:33 Joe was talking about the, the off ball stuff that Tatum does and the screens that he's

20:39 setting and being able to free up other guys and really free up himself too. Um, and Joe

20:46 was like, we had that last year at the beginning of the season and then we got away from it.

20:50 And that's very true. Like the, the start, the first 21 games or whatever, when the Celtics

20:55 offense was just lighting the world on fire, Tatum was making a living off with off ball

21:01 cuts, off ball movement, off ball screens. And they did get away from that. I don't know

21:06 why they got away from it. I don't know whether it was just the, the whole offensive structure

21:12 got haywire. They didn't stay committed to the principles, whatever. Um, but like their

21:20 offense is in a really good place right now and, and keeping it that way and, and being

21:26 willing to do all the off ball stuff. Cause that's going to really make things easier

21:30 for him. Um, they needed, they need to keep that up.

21:33 Yeah. I feel like that's this sort of shit that like true contenders do. Like when you

21:38 look at teams that like get the, like that, that part of the game is always consistent

21:42 for them on top of what they do within, you know, Nick being a tough shop maker. So yeah,

21:47 I think that's a really good point for you, Jay. All right. We've had a lot of positivity

21:52 here. Understandably. So if I vote, we're going to do the, we're going to, we got one,

21:55 I guess his first, his first pick was your first pick was negative. And now he's going

22:03 with the second one. Well, what's, what do you think I asked him? What do you think I

22:06 have here? What's our area concern on the roster right now? Did Peyton Pritchard leave

22:14 all his buckets in the preseason? I just thought you liked his numbers right now. He's shooting

22:19 big 29% from the field, 17% from three. Yeah, he's, he's fine. He's going to keep playing.

22:27 Like, this is just a slump here, but it's, I look at this more in like the big picture

22:32 situation for this team right now. Like, I think the team was incredibly high on him

22:38 this summer, obviously gave him that big extension which I think should age really well, but

22:45 it's a fascinating perspective to me now in terms of like, this team is all in on this

22:49 season and next season here. Like if they were to make any kind of move to like add

22:58 like a, a seven, three guy that wasn't Pritchard, this would probably be the guy to go here.

23:03 So, but it's, I'm fascinated to see just in terms of where you guys see his fit in the

23:07 offense right now, whether there's, you know, any concern or you think he's going to be

23:11 someone who's gonna be able to give good playoff minutes when push comes to shove, or is that

23:17 going to be kind of something to watch all year long?

23:21 One thing, this, this could sound counterintuitive because the Celtics have so many really great

23:28 scoring options around Pritchard. Even when they're benches in the game, they typically

23:33 have some really good scorers in the game. I think he just needs to play with more freedom.

23:38 He needs to get up tons of threes. He needs to be looking for his shot the way he did

23:43 in the preseason. That's does he know if he's on the court, Jason Tatum, he's a career 40%

23:52 three point shooter. He should be absolutely hunting his shots. The right now it's super

24:00 small sample size for him. He's played fewer than a hundred minutes on the season, but

24:04 he's taking fewer threes per 36 minutes than he's ever taken in his career by a couple.

24:11 And I feel like there have been times when he's had opportunities to, to shoot one and

24:15 it's kind of just let the defense react to him and get back to him. And I just feel like

24:22 Peyton Pritchard is a great shooter. We we've seen for three seasons that he's a very good

24:29 shooter and he's dangerous if you try to weaponize that. And I think he's shown that I just,

24:39 to me, he needs to just, just free ball. I think he said he was free ball in one time

24:46 when he was in Portland and had like 17 points in five minutes or whatever. And he may got

24:50 mad at him. He said he was free ball. Is that the actual phrase he used somebody, it was

24:57 either him or he may say free ball and hold on, I got to find this quote, but he clearly

25:02 was doing that in the preseason. Like he was playing about like, it was his show for a

25:10 lot of those games. And like I said, you could see him playing free and taking tough shots

25:16 and making a lot of them. But it's much easier to do that when like Sam Hauser and O'Shea

25:22 Persever on the wings, when it, then it's like, I feel like he's the bench comes in

25:26 and he's playing the way the rotation works or I think the way they want it to is like

25:32 white and Tatum are the first guys out and then they come back in with Pritchard and

25:35 Hauser. And so I like, I think it's a, it's something that he definitely needs to make

25:39 the adjustment to. Cause we saw him in the fourth quarter of the Pacers game where he's

25:43 playing against their bench unit and when the rest of the bench, like he puts up 16

25:48 points there, like he still kind of has that playmaking and scoring in his game. I think

25:54 it's just about getting comfortable and picking his spots because they're just popping into

26:01 my brain. I don't know if it was against Washington or against the nets. It's just like a couple

26:04 possessions where he drove the ball and wasn't really sure what to do and got caught with

26:09 a jump ball and got tied up. And so I think it's about staying aggressive. And I think

26:15 Jay, you're right. It's probably more about a state aggressive about taking three point

26:18 shots when they're open and less about like him needing to be the one who probes the offense

26:23 or being the main playmaker. What'd you, I guess, I don't want to usurp your, your third

26:29 pick Jay, but we're talking about kind of the bench here. So unless you were going to

26:34 draft Luke Cornette, can we talk about Luke Cornette's appearance against the nets on

26:39 Saturday? Let's talk a little Luke Cornette. Absolutely. Was that going to be your next

26:43 pick though? I just don't want to step on it. That was not going to be my next. All

26:47 right. What did you guys think? Luke Cornette comes in, drops 10 points, got close to a

26:52 double double. I was, I promised to Luke Cornette double doubles by last Christmas. He's yet

26:57 to get one to my knowledge, but I think that's like when I'm talking to other people out

27:02 there who are, it was a wild prediction. Robert Williams was hurt. I thought he was going

27:07 to get a lot of, a lot more play than he did. He had sometimes we had double digit rebounds,

27:12 didn't get the points. Sometimes you got the double digit points, didn't get the rebounds,

27:15 but I'm talking to, I think Celtics fans. And I think we've seen this on the still potable

27:20 chat on the Patreon app, which everyone should be participating in. It's a fun time. Especially

27:26 during games. I think that like the consensus is that the Celtics, if they're going to add

27:30 someone, they're going to need to add a kind of a backup big. And so we saw the rotation

27:35 shift a little bit with Derek Whiteout started double bigs. That means you're going to get

27:38 more Cornette minutes. And I just thought he played a pretty solid game and showed what

27:44 he's capable of. Again, they're playing against the Nets who didn't really have, I would say

27:50 a legitimate center option. And so it was, it sounds like he was playing against amazing

27:54 big competition out there, but I just thought he did a good job rolling to the rim, had

27:59 solid hands and that's kind of what you needed to see from that bench group. I feel like

28:04 the bench doesn't need to add to leads. They just need to kind of like sustain whatever

28:08 the lead is and then just wait for the starters to come back in and they should be in good

28:11 shape. But I thought it was a solid performance from Luke Cornette that needed to be recognized.

28:16 Yeah. I mean, good game. I agree. Good game on the fundamental front for Luke Cornette

28:21 in terms of being like, Hey, this team is not playing any real big men for 80% of the

28:27 game. Roll to the hoop, catch the ball, finish it, which is a big deal. Like for someone

28:32 like he's usually passive in terms of that stuff, like looking to pass more than that,

28:36 but he took care of it. This is that game after, I think he didn't have a great first

28:40 week of the season. So I think that's like any type of progress like this for him is

28:44 something to build on. And with back to backs coming up you know, in the next couple of

28:49 weeks here, he's going to get more and more chances. And like you said, Packard, like

28:53 we're going to see what this team does with the big man situation. But if Cornette shows

28:57 he can do this, you know, semi regularly when he gets 15, 20 minutes a night, like that's

29:01 obviously a huge boon for, you know, their potential options on the line.

29:08 Is it my turn now? It depends if you want to add to the Luke Cornette chatter or not.

29:13 I have not much to add to that. Luke Cornette, that was pretty thorough. Luke Cornette conversation.

29:19 So my pick is Chris stops, pours, Zingas switching quite a bit against the nets and doing so

29:32 in a pretty promising fashion. And I thought it was a super interesting matchup because

29:37 it was the nets started Dorian Finney Smith at center. The Celtics started two centers

29:42 in Al Horford and Chris stops where Zingas. And so to be up against that team, which has

29:48 a lot of like basically nothing but guards and wings and guys who can attack you off

29:53 the dribble to use poor Zingas as a switcher, especially like late in the fourth quarter

29:59 with an eight, 10 point lead, the Celtics switched for Zingas a lot. And I just thought

30:05 he looked really good. Like he blocked Cam Thomas on one drive, like stayed with him

30:11 the whole time, angled up to the other side of the room, blocked it. He stayed up on,

30:17 I think it was Dinwiddie, but stayed up like was right there, forced a miss, forced an

30:24 air ball. He had a switch on a Cam Thomas, same thing, like force an air ball. And I

30:30 just feel like poor Zingas, most of the time they're not going to switch him, but for him

30:37 to be capable of that and for him to be capable of that in the double big lineups to allow

30:41 you to keep your structure and to do it against a team with the nets that was really a tough

30:47 matchup for that double big lineup. It was like our first super extended look at that

30:55 front court. And I thought it was great. Like they had 130 something offensive rating, a

31:02 hundred like four or five defensive rating. So it looked great. And I just feel like poor

31:10 Zingas is defensive versatility probably hasn't been utilized a ton in the past, but Joe Mozilla

31:16 a few times has said, like, if you look at the numbers, he was really good in switches

31:20 for a center and he knows what he's doing. Basically. He knows where he's supposed to

31:24 send a guy. He knows like how to play the tendencies and, and you could see it in that

31:32 Brooklyn game. And so I thought of maybe not a development because he's a 28 year old,

31:39 who's been doing this for a while, but for the Celtics, they haven't used him in switching

31:43 a ton and for him to be able to hold up the way he did in the fourth quarter, even though

31:48 the game wasn't really in doubt it was still semi-close at that point. And he just kind

31:54 of shut the nets down and in like three straight possessions when they were trying to hunt

31:59 him. I just think that's a big deal.

32:02 Yeah. There's definitely parts of that game where you wondered with way the vets were

32:09 playing, like, should they still be doing dull bigs right now? Like what are the, like,

32:13 this is kind of slippery slope, but to your point, you're like, Porzingis more often than

32:18 not has equated himself well in the perimeter in these spots. And that is as big of a litmus

32:23 test as there is, especially going like for the post-season. Cause that is going to be

32:27 the one place where teams are going to attack them time and time again, him on the perimeter

32:31 and switches. And if he can hold up, you doesn't have to be amazing. Just like fairly well

32:36 on that front. If he showcases that over the course of the season, like he did on Saturday

32:40 night there, like that's, that's taking away one potential big flaw for this team. And

32:47 there's very few to pick from based on the first five games of the year. So like it's

32:52 early, we'll see how he backs up, but I definitely agree with you, Jay, like pleasantly surprised

32:56 in that front so far.

32:57 They're not good. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

33:00 I was gonna say it's important for like you never know what the Celtics defense is going

33:06 to be. And so I feel like if for them to just have that option of like, yeah, sometimes

33:10 we're going to have Chris taps in a drop, but just at any point being able to switch

33:14 up the defense and make teams uncomfortable and not really know what's coming. I've liked

33:19 that with the zone and I just like that with Chris tab, you're not like locked into one

33:23 specific style of defense with him. And I think that just makes the Celtics that much

33:26 more dynamic on the defensive end.

33:28 Yeah. Look, there, there will be a lot stiffer tests than camp Thomas and I don't know. And

33:38 there was one play when poor Zingas just kind of backed way off and camp Thomas just shot

33:43 an easy one. But I thought more often than not, poor Zingas looked pretty good and impacted

33:50 the shot. There was one play, Mikhail bridges hit a really tough, like fade away on him,

33:56 but it took like he went at him, did a spin move, got into a fadeaway and poor Zingas

34:01 was right there to contest and made him take a really tough, like 16 foot jumper.

34:08 And you'll live with that. I mean, if he can force the opposing team's best score to do

34:14 stuff like that, then I just think the more options they have, the better. And he's not

34:19 just like a stationary rim protector. He can move his feet a little bit and he's smart

34:26 enough to just and long enough to give guys a little trouble in those situations.

34:31 A good sign that he's healthy now too. And generally like after the flip stuff this summer,

34:36 like he's just seems to be moving well. And to me, it's a long year, but this is something

34:41 I don't think we've seen much of in years past. So that's the scheme. But I think it

34:44 just part of it, like he's maybe in a better spot physically than he's been, you know,

34:49 certainly in Dallas and, you know, we saw him play people last year, but now he's got

34:53 better defenders around him.

34:57 Seems like we just completed a potable six pack. I didn't hear the noise cause I was

35:01 yelling in my own ears, but I think it's time now to clear out the honorable mentions or

35:05 any other possible notes, junk observations, bunk observations from the Nets game. I'm

35:12 shocked we've gone 35 minutes so far and have not talked about it, but Joe Mazzola is wearing

35:18 some of the wackiest sunglasses ever on Saturday night. And I, I eventually, you know, like

35:23 it was explained to me that it was for a medical condition, but every time I saw him on the

35:28 screen, it made me laugh. He looked kind of like a weird seventies drug dealer, but like

35:34 he was also very serious and still Joe Mazzola.

35:36 I was thinking more jazz musician.

35:38 Some would say both. He could be both, but yeah, I don't know what was going on there.

35:45 I just had to bring it up. This is Celtics podcast. I had to mention it cause I don't

35:48 know if we're going to get it again on Monday night, but Joe Mazzola in funky glasses, uh,

35:55 discuss amongst yourselves, please.

35:56 I mean, it was the most read Celtics article on mass life after the game. So it was wise

36:01 to show the way he's glad. So I, I believe T told reporters in attendance, it was not

36:09 related. He did not. Unlike last year when he got, you know, raked across the eyes in

36:13 a pickup game, it was not related to pick up game, but I guess just some irritation

36:17 to the eye, um, that came up. So do you think it's part of his optimization strategy? Like

36:23 we know he stopped chewing bubble gum to get more oxygen to his brain. So he made better

36:28 decisions on the stretch. Do you think this is all part of like trying to cut down on

36:33 blue light? Do you think there's some pseudoscience behind this decision? Cause that's what I'm

36:37 really hoping for. That's a full time.

36:39 I think there's real science probably behind the decision. Usually when the eyes are involved,

36:44 I feel like you could probably go with real science. That would be my guess. Fair enough.

36:50 Um, another honorable mention. Oh, shave or set hit a three. So watch out NBA.

36:55 I'm sure you said three. I was shocked. He missed a couple other ones too. Um, talk about

37:02 that. You're the, you're the negative. You're the, you're the pessimist on this podcast.

37:07 B Rob. Jeez. I have to bring up Al Horford getting the tech on the dunk. Um, so dumb

37:15 day, the officials got a lot of gruff in that game for any, for both sides. But that was

37:20 one that I think it was hilarious. I think Jalen gave Horford some crap about it going

37:24 up the floor and they could, they're just laughing about it. The game was endowed. I

37:26 know, but it was like hilarious. Like, like this man is 37 years old. Like let him land

37:31 on his legs. Ginger Lake. I feel like they've, this wasn't just this game problem. I feel

37:34 like around the league this year, they're calling all these hanging on the rim situations.

37:39 Like it's a point of emphasis when it's stupid. It's like, what do you let these guys be able

37:43 to have a take. You should be able to hang on the rim as much as you fucking want. Why

37:49 not? If you hang on it too hard, you know how the other team can punish you by going

37:54 the other way and score short of that, you probably didn't hang on the rim too long.

38:00 Like I, I, especially that it was Al Horford in transition, just hung for an extra second.

38:07 He's 37 years old. As you said, probably it was, didn't want to land funky. You never

38:14 know when you're going to break a hip and it was just such an unnecessary tech. I hate

38:22 all texts like that. Just let guys celebrate any other observations, honorable mentions,

38:31 anything that needs to be talked about here on the Monday show. I'm intrigued by the Jalen.

38:38 Oh, good. Good. I'll go ahead. No, go ahead. You first. I'm intrigued by the Jalen Porzingis

38:43 two man game. I feel like they're kind of building a connection there with Jalen obviously

38:50 being the pastor most of the time. And I mean, a lot of it's easy mismatch up, but like Jalen's,

38:55 I think showing up like almost a surprising touch to get the ball to Porzingis at times.

38:59 And I think that's, that's a weapon in, you know, in Jalen's bag that we haven't seen

39:04 in past seasons here. So that's, I think very promising news, especially for the non-tainemans

39:09 that Jalen kind of looks like he's kind of being able to run the offense a little better

39:13 in those spots and that's creating easy offense and better numbers for the team when we've

39:17 taken them off the floor. Yeah. I feel like Porzingis just makes the game a lot easier

39:25 for guys and Jalen's problem has never been at, he wants to play the wrong way. It's been

39:34 that he doesn't always know how to, and he's had to learn how to become a better pastor.

39:39 He's had to learn how to become a more willing pastor. And there's nothing easier than seeing

39:45 a seven foot three dude open and knowing that he's a great shooter and a great finisher.

39:52 And that if he's open, all you need to do is find him. It just simplifies the game so

39:56 much. Like there's, there's nothing complicated about it. Just find the seven foot three dude

40:02 when he's near the hoop. I just looked up the Porzingis numbers and Jalen has assisted

40:10 him seven times already through five games, which is a second among all players through

40:16 holiday has assisted him eight times. So you're not wrong about the two man connection. It's,

40:21 it's really, I mean really, really, I think Jalen has had some of his best passing. Um,

40:30 and that's a low bar, but I do feel like he's, he's committed to making it work, wants to

40:39 make it work. And Porzingis, like I said, like it's just an easy target. It's like seeing

40:45 Gronk over the middle, you know, like just an easy, easy target.

40:50 And when they can run a J B K P like pick and roll with Jason Tatum just on the weak

40:57 side, no one's like stepping in and stopping the rolling Porzingis there, or they can kind

41:01 of flip it around. And something I saw them do kind of more in the preseason, but it's

41:05 like Tatum at the, with the ball, the top of the key and Chris taps sets a pin down

41:10 screen for Jalen. Like that action is just going to cause so much attention from the

41:15 other team's defense. It's, it's going to be pretty hard to stop. Also shout out to

41:19 Jalen for what was it? He had seven threes in the first half against Washington. Um,

41:24 a pretty solid performance by a downtown Jalen Brown, but Jay, I believe you had more junk

41:30 or observations.

41:31 Oh, I was just going to let, I thought it was, it was funny that I saw some like Jalen

41:36 backlash after the Nets game because he went seven for 22. And I just found it funny. Like

41:44 they won by 10 on the road, but they're undefeated. And like, you gotta find something, you gotta

41:51 find something. And it was Jalen that night. I, I, I honestly think he's, he's bought into

41:59 trying to make it work and there are going to be certainly some rough times. He's, he's

42:05 always had bouts of decision-making troubles, but I just think, and the poor Zingas, I do

42:14 think poor Zingas just really helps him simplifies the reads. And then, but yesterday's first

42:20 half was hilarious. It's especially like the first six minutes, cause it was like the Celtics

42:25 did not pass. They were not passing. It was just like all no pass three pointers. And

42:30 they built like a 10 point lead. That was like, they, they really, I thought they, they

42:36 took really some zany shots early. We're not committed to zany. They were not committed

42:42 to moving the ball at all. And they haven't really been committed to moving the ball.

42:48 Maybe they don't have to be, but it was, it was pretty funny the first like six minutes

42:53 cause I was like, that's, that's a tough shot. Oh, it went in. That's a tough shot. Also

42:57 when it, and they just weren't passing or making, and I guess that works.

43:07 That's fair. When you don't pass their turnover rates way down this year. So it's like, it's

43:12 like, Hey, we have this mismatch. Let's just put it in. Let's like cut out the middleman

43:17 here. And it seems to be working. So it is like, it'll be fascinating to monitor that

43:21 the year going on. But yeah, it's, it's hilarious. Cause it's like, why would you like, they're

43:26 getting these great looks. So they're like, yeah, I don't want to turn it up, down a great

43:30 look early just cause they have it just like, just, just fire it up and see what happens

43:34 here.

43:37 It seems like that is it. We've run out of observations. I do before we get going, I

43:43 know Jay and I talked about it after the game against the Pacers, but steam high, look,

43:47 attempting a double pump dunk in the fourth quarter of a game. I just think I wouldn't

43:52 be doing my job if I didn't bring it up again. And so I just thought we needed to kind of

43:56 give it the proper respect, shout outs to speed, but you guys have been listening to

44:01 the free Monday version of still potable.

44:04 I'll be free on it's currently on the winning place feed, which hopefully is still called

44:08 the still potable feed. But if you want the rest of our content for the rest of the week,

44:12 go to patreon.com/still potable. We'll be here Monday through Friday, sign up at the

44:19 kids level, get the Tuesday and Thursday show or come in as a God level and get every single

44:25 show for the rest of the week. We've been doing post game pods. They have many games

44:29 this week. So we'll be releasing a pod after the game against the timber wolves on Monday

44:34 night, the pretty huge game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Some might say their first real test

44:40 of the season on Wednesday night. So if you want to come on down, join the still potable

44:45 show, the community hop in and talk with us on the chat. Be more than appreciated. Really

44:51 trying to build a fun Celtics community here. And yeah, we just, we've consistently been

44:56 growing since we started this since B Rob came aboard and should be pretty exciting.

45:00 So tune in, tune out, drop in tune out. What's that phrase from the sixties. You guys know

45:06 what I'm talking about. Timothy Leary. Anyone, anyone know? Yeah, nothing. Nothing. He played

45:13 for a Harvard. He was a Harvard professor. Got a real into psychedelics. No, nothing.

45:22 All right. Thanks for listening folks. Who? Timothy Leary is a pretty famous person in

45:35 what realm? Life.

45:37 [inaudible]

45:42 [inaudible]

45:47 (upbeat music)

Top 6 Reasons Celtics Are Off to STRONG START | Still Poddable

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