Celtics ADVANCE to the IST quarterfinals | First to the Floor
The Celtics absolutely decimated the Chicago Bulls, and along with a little help from their pals the Brooklyn Nets, have advanced to the NBA In-Season Tournament quarter-finals. This is great and all, but what are the major takeaways? Is Jaylen's sudden playmaking bump for real? Is Al Horford actually 25 years old? Plus, Jrue Holiday returns, and yet another battle with the Sixers is coming up.
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00:00 [Music]
00:13 Who is going to be first to the floor here?
00:15 And it is Marcus Smart as he usually is.
00:18 First round drive, scoop layup on the glass.
00:21 That's not the first time we've seen a superstar make it white and sacrifice his body.
00:26 [Music]
00:34 Welcome in to another episode of First to the Floor.
00:36 My name is Ben Vallis. Thank you for joining us.
00:38 Hope you're doing well.
00:39 The Celtics under some spicy circumstances have advanced to the quarterfinals of the in-season tournament.
00:44 We're going to break it all down along with some other trending topics Celtics-wise.
00:48 Alongside me, Wayne Spooney. Spooney, how's it going, man?
00:51 In-season tournament, it's magic, baby.
00:54 Let's go.
00:56 That was a fun night, dude. I really enjoyed it.
00:59 Yeah, absolutely.
01:00 I was freaking yelling at my TV.
01:02 I'm like, "Up!" I'm like, "Tatum, enough with these turnovers."
01:07 It felt like the fourth quarter all over again.
01:12 It was like we're pissing away our 39-point lead, dude.
01:15 Get in here.
01:17 Also with us.
01:19 Jake Eisenberg, also here.
01:22 I dropped the guard a little bit there. How are you, Jake?
01:24 I'm too excited.
01:26 I was so hyped up for-- I don't know why or what, but the IST, the marketing got me.
01:33 I'm just a poor little sheep and all of their little tricks worked on my little smooth brain
01:40 and I'm obsessed with the IST now. Let's go.
01:43 Absolutely.
01:44 It took this stage, right, where like when multiple things needed to matter,
01:48 including as I run the clip here, Royce O'Neal's three-point explosion at the end of this game.
01:54 I was angst watching the end of this game, just thinking it's not going to happen.
01:59 We can't rely on the Nets.
02:00 We've never been able to rely on the Nets other than gifting us the picks that got us the Js.
02:04 Then Royce O'Neal just goes fucking crazy and wins the game on his own
02:09 and suddenly we advance to the quarterfinals.
02:11 Amazing. That's the in-season tournament. So good.
02:13 I know. The game ends. I flip to the Nets game.
02:15 I see Spencer Dinwiddie running pick and roll and I'm like,
02:18 I had flashbacks back to the first round of the Sixers Net series
02:22 where he was just so destructive where they couldn't win a single game.
02:25 I'm like, God damn it. My fate is in the hands of Spencer Dinshitty all over again.
02:29 Came through.
02:31 Yeah, it was all good.
02:32 It was perfect timing because right when the Celtics game ended,
02:35 I'm sure you did the same thing. You flip to the Nets game
02:37 and it's Dinwiddie with like six seconds on the shot clock at the crossing over at the top of the key.
02:42 You're like, oh shit, this is not going to go well.
02:46 Thankfully the Raptors are also bad.
02:48 If we win the NBA Cup, as we'll call it,
02:51 we'll have to give Dinshitty an honorary sip of beer out of the cup in Vegas.
02:55 Hopefully we can get him on the team playing there for that one.
02:58 So the Celtics, they won this game like within a vacuum,
03:01 just a good old-fashioned blowout of the Chicago Bulls there
03:04 who looked very dreary, particularly Zach Levine, 124 to 97,
03:08 a 27 point deficit for those math nerds at home.
03:11 We mentioned the Nets, they beat the Raptors by 12.
03:14 And so the Celtics, they advance.
03:15 They win Group C and advance to the quarterfinals in Indiana,
03:19 which we'll get to.
03:20 But Spoonie, just looking at this game in a vacuum,
03:23 what were your main takeaways from the Celtics blowout of the Bulls?
03:26 Yeah, so like, you know how sort of the Doomer-inclined fans of the Celtics
03:32 talk about the Celtics offense?
03:34 Like it's just isolations, nobody passes, they just jack up bad shots.
03:39 That is actually how the Bulls play.
03:42 Dude, I mean, it was like shocking how disconnected that team looked
03:47 on the offensive end until Levine went out and then they get like DeSumo
03:52 and Javon Carter in and things.
03:54 They're like, oh, they're not good.
03:56 They lack a lot of talent, but at least they're kind of playing
03:59 actual basketball right now.
04:01 But I just--this was a performance I think we all kind of needed
04:06 on both ends.
04:07 Like I didn't love how they opened the game, but they were taking bad threes,
04:12 but they were going in, and it's like that gained them confidence.
04:15 And then like for 42, the rest of the game, well, the last 42 minutes,
04:19 like the ball was popping, they were running their sets,
04:21 everything looked great.
04:23 And the defense, man, we've been talking about how the defense has been great
04:27 even when the offense has been struggling.
04:29 This may be their best defensive performance of the season.
04:32 I mean, they were just so crisp.
04:34 It's up there, man.
04:35 It was really, really good.
04:37 And the balls suck.
04:38 I was going to say--
04:39 They do suck.
04:40 Yeah, the defense and the offense looked really good
04:43 when they were playing the Chicago Bulls.
04:45 Man, like my brain hasn't quite wrapped around how bad the Bulls actually are
04:50 because they've been one of the teams that's really played the Celtics tough
04:53 for the entirety of this DeRozan-Levine era.
04:57 Like DeSumo didn't miss a shot against the Celtics
04:59 in his entire rookie season, it felt like.
05:02 And like DeRozan, I was confident it was going to come in
05:05 and knock down all these mid-rangers, but they don't even have the ability
05:07 to stay in these games, it doesn't feel like.
05:09 Like they have dropped not only past the play-in kind of tier,
05:15 they are well into the Pistons/Wizards tier now.
05:19 Like Levine ending this game-- Was it two points?
05:22 It was two points.
05:23 Yes.
05:24 Like that's--
05:25 Yeah.
05:26 Like only taking nine shots, that's a really bad sign.
05:31 Just a terrible audition for himself.
05:34 If he wants to get himself out of there, for him to like not turn up--
05:37 Hey, it's IST night, people have their eyes on this Celtics game
05:41 and you're just going to let them walk over you
05:43 while they get this 23-point advantage.
05:47 But yeah, the Celtics defense getting our boy Drew back
05:50 and straight back into it, that was nice to see.
05:53 Like the stock exchange, like that duo of Derek and Drew flying around,
05:59 that's probably why Zach Levine was like, "You know what?
06:03 This is not the night for me."
06:05 "I don't want to be here."
06:06 "I'm taking this one off.
06:08 A fresh Drew Holliday is not someone I want to be dealing with today."
06:12 Yeah, I don't even like my job under normal circumstances
06:15 and now I'm going up against the stock exchange.
06:16 Now my life really sucks.
06:18 But yeah, that look, the look of like the dreariness,
06:20 the "I don't want to be here," like head down, walking around,
06:24 like staring at your feet, it's like one of the worst all-time looks
06:28 for an NBA player, particularly like an all-star-ish player.
06:32 Contrast that to someone in those same circumstances
06:36 who still rocks up professionally, plays professionally,
06:40 empowers their teammates, does all the right things
06:42 until the front office does the right thing by them.
06:44 Like that is conversely like the ultimate look of professionalism
06:48 and just a complete mirror of that from Zach Levine.
06:52 Someone who maybe did exhibit some professionalism in this game
06:55 and has been lately with the exception of the Orlando game.
06:58 So let's say three of the last four games, Jalen Brown,
07:01 listened to the Bill Simmons podcast, listened to the Zach Lowe podcast,
07:04 listened to the First of the Four podcast, clearly, I'm a huge fan,
07:07 and has completely turned his life around, he's turned my life around,
07:10 Spoonie, in the way that he's playing now.
07:12 What are you seeing from Jalen Brown lately?
07:14 Yeah, so even including that Orlando game,
07:17 the second half was really a disaster for him.
07:19 He was just kind of okay in the first half.
07:21 Everyone.
07:22 Yeah, exactly. It wasn't a Jalen problem. That was a team problem.
07:26 So the last four games, what I've noticed is Jalen is averaging 4.8 assists per game.
07:34 And his assists to pass percentage is the same, right?
07:38 So every time he passes it, you know, there's like a percentage chance
07:41 he gets an assist. That hasn't changed.
07:43 So what it means is he's passing more, which is awesome
07:47 and exactly what we've wanted out of him.
07:49 He's up to 10 potential assists in these last four from 6.9 for the season,
07:55 14 assist points created up from 9.8 and the best stat 2.3 turnovers.
08:01 So he's over 2 to 1 assist turnover ratio in the last four games.
08:07 Finally, including that Orlando game.
08:09 It took seven years. Seven years.
08:12 I just think he's starting. I think we've been talking about it a lot.
08:17 Jalen's had the biggest adjustment period with all the addition of talent with Drew
08:21 and KP coming in. My one concern is, well, he's doing it without KP.
08:26 Is that related or something? But I don't think so.
08:29 Him and KP have that great chemistry.
08:31 I think he's just finally understanding where his spots are on this team,
08:35 where within the flow of the offense, he should be getting the ball, taking shots.
08:39 And I think he's just been more willing to pass the ball.
08:42 Like he had one play, I think, in the third quarter, second quarter.
08:46 He posted somebody up. He hop stepped.
08:48 And I was like, oh, here comes a tough, contested, mid-range jumper.
08:51 He just moved it. He just kicked it.
08:53 And I think it was to Pritchard or Hauser. They buried a three.
08:55 And it's like, that's it, Jalen. Just bottle that up and chug it, buddy.
09:00 Because that is the formula right there.
09:02 So I love how he's been playing.
09:04 And I really think this is the version of Jalen we're going to get.
09:08 This team is going to be, we're going to the finals. We're winning the finals.
09:11 Oh, we're back. Here we go.
09:14 Fire up the duck votes.
09:17 Play the Hawks and the Bulls.
09:19 And you're going to feel real good about yourself really quickly.
09:22 It's better than any therapy session, though, Jake.
09:24 To just play to sort of mid-line.
09:26 I mean, the Hawks were good and we shut them down.
09:28 Their offense has been on fire.
09:29 And we limited them to the lowest scoring total of the year.
09:32 Yeah, better than any therapy sessions.
09:35 I didn't mean to interrupt you on the Jalen Brown front.
09:37 It looks like you're bursting at the seams there.
09:39 Oh, no, no, no.
09:40 I think we're all bursting just in general when it comes to Jalen Brown right now.
09:45 Look at the thumbnail.
09:46 [Laughter]
09:50 Ah, big Al.
09:52 But yeah, Jalen, it reminds me of the Stretch Post All-Star break last year
09:59 where there was that Rockets game.
10:02 And interestingly, it's coinciding again with Tatum kind of sleepwalking
10:07 and his turnovers going up and him kind of not looking super locked in.
10:12 And Jalen's really raising his level here across the board.
10:16 And the most important part is just making the right play thing.
10:20 The assist numbers are better, but it really is just, I swear,
10:25 just a little bit of a mentality shift of just like I just need to look a little bit for the pass.
10:30 And I think you said that in the post game the other day.
10:32 It's like I've got to balance making good passes and being myself,
10:37 being like what's gotten me to this level in the NBA has been my aggression.
10:41 And absolutely, how many years did we sit here and be like, "Yes, aggressive Jalen.
10:46 We love aggressive Jalen," getting downhill and attacking the rim.
10:50 We obviously still want that because that is who Jalen Brown is
10:54 and what makes Jalen Brown Jalen Brown.
10:56 But just the mentality of just making the right play
10:59 and just keeping his head up a little bit.
11:01 It's just because teams are helping off everybody else.
11:07 One, because he has such incredible scoring gravity.
11:10 But two, the scouting report is kind of out and that if you crash down on Jalen Brown,
11:14 you're going to get turnovers and he's going to struggle to make simple passes.
11:18 And if he's just, he surveys the floor just for half a second before he attacks.
11:23 And so he at least has some idea of where some other guys are.
11:27 And then you surround him with guys that are flashing into open places.
11:30 I mean, Al Hoffa we're going to get to.
11:32 But guys are making themselves available like Derek and Drew.
11:36 I love the game from Drew, the glue guy kind of game, filling in the gaps.
11:40 And if everybody's able to understand where Jalen's going,
11:45 I think that's part of it too, is that the rest of the team is understanding
11:49 where Jalen is able to find them.
11:51 And sometimes he raises for those mid-ranges or those around the basket shots
11:57 and it's contested and guys are cutting along the baseline
12:00 and he's able to find them down there.
12:02 It's just a global effort to improve Jalen's playmaking,
12:08 which just improves everything else.
12:12 Yeah, I think Jalen might be legitimately a good cutter.
12:15 I think last year when they were doing all those backdoor cut plays with Marcus,
12:20 it was like, it's all Marcus, he's the maestro, he's the orchestrator.
12:23 He's using his eyes to set up Jalen and yet it's continued in lieu of Marcus Smart.
12:28 So Jalen, he understands his role in that play
12:33 and he's setting up not famously good passes like Christoph's Porzingis
12:38 in setting him up in those backdoor cut plays as well.
12:41 So that's really good to see.
12:43 The other thing, this is an advanced stat that I haven't been able to find anywhere,
12:46 is Celtics fan pants shittings per dribble into a double team.
12:52 So Jalen Brown, last four games, if I can just attempt to quantify this,
12:57 has been getting himself caught up in double teams.
13:00 Defenses have been swarming him, particularly when Tatum's on the bench
13:03 and you kind of mentioned it, Jake, he's heads up, he's making good decisions,
13:06 he's picking up his dribble if he needs to, he's getting rid of the ball.
13:10 Often he'll recognize the trap and dare I say it,
13:14 a teammate will cut into open space and he'll find them for an assist
13:17 or at least a potential assist.
13:19 Who is this guy? This never happened before.
13:22 This wasn't on the roadmap and suddenly out of nowhere he's doing it
13:25 after scaring us just earlier this season
13:28 and suddenly he's a completely different guy on that sense.
13:31 That said, we've had these blips throughout the last seven seasons
13:35 of Jalen Brown's existence on the Celtics where it's like,
13:37 "Oh wow, he might be better than Jason Tatum. Wow, he's incredible.
13:41 Is he going to make an All-NBA First team?
13:43 Is he going to make the All-Star team?" Which he has,
13:45 but we've had these high hopes for Jalen before
13:48 and then he's inevitably let us down in the long term
13:51 in times that matter more like the playoffs against the Heat for example.
13:55 Does this feel different to you guys at all?
13:57 I know it's a crazy small sample size.
13:58 I need to believe, I want to believe that this is a different approach
14:01 from Jalen Brown.
14:03 You go, Smootie.
14:05 Don't let me down.
14:08 This isn't the first four-game stretch of his career
14:11 where he's averaged five assists.
14:13 That's not insane, but I think the flashes have been there.
14:17 I think he had an 11-assist game earlier this season.
14:21 It just seems to me like that version of Jalen
14:26 was always combined with he's also absurdly hot from three
14:31 and he's just feeling it, period, no matter what.
14:35 He's just very hot and cold in that manner.
14:38 He was three at eight last night from three, which is fine.
14:42 That's great. We'll take that all night.
14:44 It's not like absolutely flaming hot Jalen.
14:47 He's totally unstoppable, and he's also finding guys with passes.
14:50 This felt more repeatable of a performance
14:55 than some of his hot streaks earlier in his career.
15:00 I'm with you, Jake. It's a mindset thing for me.
15:05 He's averaging six more passes a game in these last four games too.
15:09 It's just a commitment to moving the ball, doing things quicker,
15:15 and being more active off ball too.
15:18 You said it with the backdoor cuts and coming off screens harder.
15:22 I feel like he's doing that.
15:24 Until he does it for a season, I'm probably never going to believe it's real,
15:29 but I do think there are some things that you could lean on
15:34 to say this isn't just an aberration.
15:37 We're going to get to that in a second.
15:40 We've got to see it consistently against good defenses.
15:43 I think for us to really see if it's a real thing.
15:47 You don't want to take it away from him that he did it against the Bulls and the Hawks.
15:53 You still have to do it against those teams,
15:55 but a better defense against Philly coming up.
15:58 I think for Jalen, inevitably he's going to just be off
16:04 with some of the reads on certain nights.
16:07 Teams are going to get ahead of him.
16:09 Can he just not force it and do the other things and not be destructive?
16:13 Or it's like, "Okay, I'm just going to make this really simple play.
16:16 Just swing it to the wing and then cut."
16:19 To your point, Eric Weiss in the chat, Jalen dunking more than he has in years.
16:24 I looked this up yesterday.
16:26 This year, 17 games, he has 22 dunks.
16:29 That's 1.29 dunks per game versus last season,
16:33 67 games, 64 dunks, 0.96 dunks per game.
16:38 I have just some great dunks.
16:41 I got some of my favorites from the season here.
16:44 Yes, please.
16:45 Just to talk about some Jalen dunks.
16:47 Crosses Jalen, Trey Young up, poster on Capella.
16:51 Our boy Porzingis back to a cut versus the Bucks.
16:54 Windmill, no chance for Middleton.
16:56 Our back to a cut versus the Knicks, two-hand Tomahawk.
17:00 Everyone's finding him on these cuts.
17:02 Just cooks Townes, monstrous poster on Gobert.
17:07 I think it doesn't stop.
17:08 And then some Jada Jake crime on the trampoline, dude.
17:11 He's just getting up this year.
17:13 And then yesterday, fakes the handoff.
17:16 Thacklavine wants no part of this.
17:18 And then Nem Hard and Miles Turner trying to deal with the handoff game
17:22 with Porzingis, no chance.
17:25 It just doesn't stop.
17:26 And then Dave Vincenzo breaks his ankle on the ground in the garden
17:30 against the Knicks.
17:31 There's more.
17:32 First play of the game versus the Bucks.
17:34 It's like a movie.
17:35 Cooks Giannis off the dribble and then first play of the game for two.
17:39 He's been-- I don't know what's gotten into him dunking-wise,
17:42 but he's just murdering everybody so far.
17:46 Well, he's been banged up the last few years.
17:48 Maybe he's finally totally healthy too.
17:51 And real quick, sorry, Ben, not to cut you off.
17:53 He didn't have an 11-assist game earlier this year.
17:55 I don't know.
17:56 Yeah, yeah.
17:57 We can dream.
17:58 We can dream.
17:59 Maybe he's got that unicorn dust that Mary in the chat said,
18:01 or unicorn magic.
18:03 Go ahead, Ben.
18:04 Well, I'm just getting to some comments here.
18:06 We'll be free in the chat.
18:07 Best Celtics dunker since Ricky Davis?
18:10 Fair?
18:11 Probably.
18:13 Yeah.
18:14 Sam Houser.
18:15 Of course.
18:16 I mean, it's close.
18:18 It's definitely close.
18:19 Yeah, man.
18:20 But actually, though, this has become something that he's really good at.
18:24 And he developed the chemistry with Marcus.
18:26 But now everybody else, like Derek and Al and Drew,
18:31 everyone else can make this pass, right?
18:34 And it's kind of ironic because if I'm a defense,
18:37 I'd much rather Jaylen get the ball kind of coming off the handoff
18:41 and kind of go under his screen as opposed to overplaying it
18:44 and then letting him get this free zero dribble attempt at the rim.
18:50 But teams are scared of his ability to do everything.
18:53 So he's actually really smart with feeling when the defenses are overplaying him.
18:59 And if they're underplaying him, then he takes the handoff
19:01 and then he gets downhill coming over the screen.
19:04 I think he deserves a lot of credit for developing this skill,
19:06 which is not something that he had two years ago.
19:09 Yeah, absolutely.
19:10 And just the wide openness of his dunks.
19:12 Yeah, he's had a couple of these courts and bodies, Rudigo Bair most notably.
19:15 But to be in that position, to have whether it's a wide open layup
19:18 or a wide open dunk, that's the most sought after shot
19:21 outside of maybe a wide open corner three in the NBA.
19:23 And he continues to get himself into that position,
19:26 which can't be said for most NBA players, I guess.
19:29 I don't know.
19:30 Anyway, Al Horford moving on.
19:32 And we are going to get to the in-season tournament at a macro level
19:35 and why this game was so fun and looking forward to the knockout stages here.
19:39 But Al Horford and the bench, but Horford in particular.
19:42 What if I told you guys that our 37-year-old backup center
19:46 would have his second best defensive season of his career,
19:50 according to Defensive Box Plus Minus ever,
19:54 coming off the bench 37 years old.
19:57 I don't know what else to throw in there.
19:58 It's amazing.
19:59 And then the three is going down.
20:01 He's playmaking.
20:03 He's the ultimate luxury when it comes to filling in for Chris Tapp's Porzingis Spoonie.
20:08 It's just, I don't know, let's just gush over Al for five minutes, if we might.
20:12 Gladly.
20:14 So I just think last year, especially near the end of the year,
20:19 it felt like he had lost a step on the perimeter.
20:22 And I think that that is probably true.
20:24 But I think that he has now had enough time to understand,
20:29 okay, I'm not that guy anymore,
20:31 so I have to defend these quick guards a little bit different.
20:34 I have to give him a little more space and just use positioning and smarts.
20:38 And you saw it with that Trey Young block where he just,
20:41 like I think you tweeted, Ben, he literally sunned Trey Young
20:44 because he blocked it to his son.
20:47 He's not like up and like completely in his airspace.
20:52 He's almost like herding him, just like, no, come back to help towards the middle.
20:57 Yep, no, you're coming this way. I'm there.
20:59 And then when Trey goes up for the layup, he just pounces on it
21:02 because he's still got great vertical lift for 37 and he's long as hell.
21:07 So it's like he kind of had a down season last year as he got older,
21:13 and now he's so smart and such a good basketball player.
21:16 He's adjusted to his oldness and it's turned back into a strength.
21:20 It's like, it's crazy.
21:21 He's wise.
21:22 Yeah.
21:23 I made the comparison last episode to LeBron as well,
21:26 but LeBron went through the same transformation as well
21:29 in just understanding, okay, my body has changed in these ways.
21:33 How can I still use some of the best basketball IQ that's ever existed
21:40 and just transform my game?
21:42 And that's turned into LeBron in the post
21:44 and just really being able to pick his spots.
21:47 And I think that's a really great tech experience
21:50 is that he's really just figured out, okay, my body is able to--
21:53 not quite able to do what it was in that '21-'22 season
21:57 where he was the switch heaviest big in the league.
22:01 So I can't quite defend how I was that year,
22:03 but now I know how to get these guys to take certain contests.
22:08 Yeah, I mean, especially once you add in his ability to hypnotize people
22:11 with his eyes while guarding on the perimeter.
22:15 But no, he has been on an absolute heater,
22:18 and it coincided, I think, with the Philly game
22:23 that both Jalen and Porzingis missed, but the Celtics won.
22:27 And that was the game where Horford had 15 rebounds, 6 assists.
22:32 He had that block on Maxie at the rim,
22:35 which led to the Derek White dagger 3 on the other end.
22:38 Last seven games, 8.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.5 steals,
22:45 one block on 53-42-100 splits, also 0.7 turnovers.
22:53 Beautiful.
22:55 The three ball is up to 35% from three on the year,
22:58 and that's all we need.
23:01 But I'm very interested to see where the three ball ends up, right?
23:04 Last year, he was at a ridiculous level in that 44% range.
23:09 I don't know for sure it gets quite up there, but last seven games,
23:12 he's back into that range again, and he's getting the cleaner looks.
23:17 Earlier in the season, when he was adjusting to his role,
23:20 I was like, "I don't feel like I'm worried about his ability to shoot still.
23:25 He's just not getting clean looks.
23:28 People just aren't finding him early enough in the right spots.
23:31 He's really contested, and now he's getting clean looks,
23:35 and now he's starting to knock down the contested ones
23:37 off the back of finding his rhythm and being the level of shooter
23:40 that he was last year.
23:42 He's getting smaller guys matched up on him at times on the perimeters,
23:46 late shot clock, and he's still able to shoot over the top of them.
23:49 Get a little pump fake going.
23:51 He had the back down yesterday on a small defender, into the lane, fade away.
23:55 I mean, it's kind of incredible he's able to do this.
24:01 He looks really confident.
24:03 Remember, was it a year or two ago we played the Warriors in Boston,
24:08 and we hadn't seen much from Al for a little pocket there,
24:10 and then we came up against the Warriors.
24:11 I guess it was after we lost him in the finals,
24:13 and he was playing like a 25-year-old who's just springy,
24:16 and he was everywhere.
24:18 In this last stretch, he's kind of looked a lot like that,
24:20 and he's so confident.
24:22 I wonder if reconciling with his oldness
24:25 and just kind of having to figure out a re-approach to the game is a part of that
24:30 because, first of all, his three-point shooting going up to 35% on the season
24:34 is wild, given he-- I think he had like an 0 of 7 game.
24:37 He's had some really poor shooting to start the year.
24:39 For it to climb up to that level is really impressive.
24:43 But then, yeah, to start shooting them over contests
24:46 and make them at a regular clip is great.
24:48 And then just the defensive end, everything that he does to help the team
24:52 that doesn't necessarily show up on the box score,
24:55 and then the vibes.
24:56 He's a top three vibesman on the team,
24:59 and that definitely cascades down to the other guys.
25:01 We've talked about the eyes and how if Al's playing a drop
25:05 and you're a ball handler, you come over a screen
25:07 and it's just like Al's eyes there twinkling and waiting for you.
25:10 How could you possibly do anything from that point on?
25:13 Would you be frozen on the spot?
25:14 I mean, it's kind of like the beautiful version of the basilisk
25:17 from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
25:20 You can't look directly into his eyes,
25:22 otherwise you're going to be frozen,
25:23 but just with beauty as opposed to terror and stuff.
25:26 It's literally stunning.
25:27 You are stunned in that moment.
25:30 We've talked about continuity with the team
25:32 and how that sort of experienced a drop-off to begin the season
25:35 given the changeover in the offseason,
25:36 but Al and Jason Tatum do have continuity
25:39 and they do have some nice tandem playmaking.
25:42 Not a lot, like you wouldn't necessarily look up
25:45 their two-man game at a high volume,
25:48 but they do have some really smooth moments together
25:51 where you're like, "Oh, that's right.
25:52 These guys have been playing together since Tatum's rookie year
25:54 minus one and a half years there for Al."
25:57 And no wonder they know each other so well.
25:59 Jason Tatum, though, 21-7-4 in this game,
26:03 it felt like actually a good game for Tatum
26:06 in terms of he picked these spots,
26:08 he didn't over-assert himself anywhere
26:10 and he was just the backbone of the team,
26:15 it felt, in terms of just being a defensive anchor
26:18 and setting up guys to score
26:20 and not being too selfish and trying to get his.
26:22 And the end result was that we won the game
26:24 by as many points as we needed to.
26:26 Jake, are you happy with Tatum's performance in this game?
26:29 Obviously, magic game, not so good,
26:31 but since then he's kind of turned things back around again.
26:34 He had a good game against the Hawks.
26:35 I don't know.
26:36 I feel like he's being so careless at the moment
26:38 with the turnovers at the moment.
26:40 He has four yesterday.
26:42 His turnovers are up on the season,
26:44 especially lately the turnovers have been up.
26:46 I don't know.
26:47 I honestly, and this is all relative
26:50 because of how good he is now,
26:53 I actually don't think he's played that well as a whole now
26:56 for the season relative to what I know he's capable of.
27:00 Like, he shouldn't be having three turnovers a game.
27:05 How many turnovers is he even averaging at this point?
27:08 I think it's like 3.4, which is--
27:10 I was going to say 3.5.
27:12 Which is not--
27:13 Like last year it was 2.9.
27:16 It's got to be below 3.
27:17 I think it was 2.4 in the playoffs last season.
27:22 And I don't know.
27:24 I feel like you can just tell with Tatum.
27:26 The version of him that is surefire first team,
27:30 all NBA, the version of Tatum that comes to mind
27:33 where in the Brooklyn Nets series where he's--
27:36 The defense, I would say, has been really good though.
27:40 I would say offensively has been--
27:43 It's just a little careless and not quite as purposeful
27:46 and decisive as I'd like him to be.
27:48 Like, he's not--
27:51 When he's getting the ball,
27:52 he's doing a little bit too much dancing.
27:54 We're getting flashes of him being incredible.
27:56 And again, he's averaging like 27.7 points,
28:00 nine rebounds, four assists.
28:02 He's a career high in true shooting.
28:04 I had a look the other day.
28:05 His field goal percentage is actually the highest
28:08 it's been in his career.
28:10 So true shooting is obviously going to be higher
28:11 at this point relative to earlier
28:13 because of how many threes and how many free throws.
28:16 He's taking more and more free throws.
28:18 But field goal percentage,
28:19 his highest previously coming to this year was 47.5.
28:23 His rookie season because he was just like
28:25 a 3 and D guy catching a shoot, he was 43% from three.
28:29 And it's been much lower since then.
28:31 For him to have his highest field goal percentage,
28:33 I think speaks to what we've talked about in the post.
28:36 And that's probably the most important development
28:39 is that like that's become a real part of his game now.
28:42 So like when he does get into the flow of things,
28:45 like, you know how we would always deal with Tatum
28:47 at the beginning of the season,
28:48 it's like, what's wrong with Tatum?
28:51 This is the version of, to me, of what's wrong with Tatum.
28:54 It's just, he's gotten so good now
28:56 that the what's wrong with Tatum
28:58 is like still an all NBA guy.
29:01 And which is, I think, almost a good thing
29:03 because when we're gonna have a stretch sometime soon
29:07 where he's gonna go supernova again
29:09 and we're gonna be like, oh, right.
29:12 This is what we're talking about.
29:14 - I think he's coasting.
29:16 I really do. - Yeah, big time.
29:18 - I think, yeah, I think he's just like,
29:20 look, I got so much talent on this team.
29:22 Like if they really need me, I can't, was it the Philly game?
29:26 - Yes, it was.
29:27 - Yeah, when he just like dominated in the fourth quarter.
29:30 But it might've been a Knicks game too
29:32 where he was just like, all right,
29:33 time for me to take this over and win this game for us.
29:36 Like, I think since those flashes are there,
29:39 it's like he can just decide
29:40 when he wants to take a game over with, you know,
29:43 once in a while he won't be able to do it.
29:44 But for the most part,
29:45 I think this is kind of intentional on his part
29:49 to just like, let's let the team kind of gel
29:52 and gain some chemistry around me
29:54 because I know if I want the ball,
29:56 I'm going to get the ball in my spots.
29:58 And that, you know,
29:59 Joe will make sure I get the ball in my spots.
30:01 So let's get these other guys comfortable
30:03 as they're joining the team because yeah,
30:05 like he, when he wants to turn it up defensively,
30:09 I think he's one of the very best defensive players
30:11 in the league, but like that magic game was pathetic, dude.
30:14 Like he was not playing defense in that game.
30:16 Like you could tell he's like,
30:17 I'm not banging with Paulo for 48 minutes.
30:20 Like I'm just not doing it tonight.
30:21 Yeah, and like this Franz, this German dude's huge.
30:25 Like, I don't got it in me tonight.
30:27 So I just, I think he's a hundred percent coasting
30:30 and the turnovers are just pissing me off, man.
30:32 Like he had one pass where he just like slung,
30:35 it was like a pick and roll
30:37 and he was hitting Al on the short roll
30:39 and he just kind of like slung it over his head
30:41 and it just like went right to a ball.
30:43 It's like, dude, I come on, man.
30:45 Like you just gotta be better than that.
30:47 There's no need for it, but.
30:49 - You know that sick pass to Banton though
30:51 in like that pick and roll,
30:52 he like kind of spun it around that defender.
30:54 Like that's the thing, he's still been so good.
30:57 It's just levels here.
30:59 - He had a great pocket pass to Derek White as well.
31:02 Which is just an insane like needle thread.
31:05 So you know who else averages a high amount
31:07 of turnovers in this league?
31:08 Nikola Jokic, because there's so much required of him.
31:12 Yes, and I will make this comparison offensively
31:14 as a creator that occasionally he needs to put himself
31:19 in high risk playmaking scenarios.
31:21 And I think Jason Tatum is maybe experimenting a little bit
31:25 or feeling out what's possible,
31:27 both individually from his own playmaking potential,
31:30 but as far as like what his teammates are capable of
31:32 and him setting them up in certain situations as well.
31:34 And yes, like some of the turnovers are just dumb,
31:37 like you mentioned, like that dumb hook pass one.
31:40 I almost, and this just says more about me as a fan.
31:42 Like I almost don't count them, you know?
31:44 'Cause it's just like, oh, that was dumb.
31:45 That's not you being you.
31:47 That's just you trying to figure shit out.
31:48 And I won't hold that against you.
31:50 - That's true, he's never thrown a dumb turnover
31:52 in the playoffs before.
31:53 (laughing)
31:55 - Suffice to say, you know, elite players
31:58 who have a lot asked of them as far as, you know,
32:01 whether it's just getting the ball, drawing two
32:03 and making a play, which is often the case with Tatum
32:05 or just generally being a playmaker that is required
32:08 to set up their teammates for success,
32:10 they are naturally going to have a high turnover rate
32:12 because of the usage that is demanded of them, I suppose.
32:15 So, call me a Tatum apologist.
32:17 Could he be better?
32:18 Yes, absolutely.
32:19 But there are other elite players in the league
32:21 who are suffering from exactly the same ailment.
32:23 - Well, let me tell you, Ben.
32:25 Jason Tatum, 3.2 turnovers per game.
32:28 Nikola Jokic, 3.2 turnovers per game.
32:31 - I may have verified that before that very remark.
32:33 - And there's no other statistical differences,
32:36 that's for sure.
32:37 - There is a championship disparity, unfortunately,
32:39 as my Nuggets friend, Dice, will tell me on a daily basis
32:42 via text message.
32:44 - I mean, it's a testament to how frigging good Tatum is
32:47 that we can sit here and be like,
32:48 "We don't think he's taking it 100% serious,"
32:51 and the way he's getting defended,
32:53 and he's still able to put up the numbers he's putting up.
32:56 Like, just look at when he catches the ball on the wing,
32:59 what the defense does, dude.
33:01 They just like, there's like five guys on his side
33:04 the second he's got the ball.
33:05 And the fact that he can like half coast his way
33:07 to 21, seven, and four in a 30-point blowout,
33:11 it's like, this dude is, he's really good, man.
33:13 Like, he's a superstar.
33:15 - It's how I approach my job.
33:17 I just tell my employer, "Just call me Jason Tatum.
33:19 "Just call me the MVP."
33:21 - When it's important, when you really need me,
33:24 I'll be there.
33:26 - I'll pull through.
33:27 - I'll be there.
33:28 - Absolutely.
33:29 - Otherwise, I'm working from home.
33:31 - That's right.
33:32 Maybe both, maybe both.
33:33 I'll still be effective from home.
33:34 - Yeah, game six of the Philly game, look,
33:36 first three quarters of the week,
33:38 you're gonna want more from me,
33:40 but that Thursday afternoon, Friday morning,
33:43 no one's ever worked harder in that little period right there.
33:46 - Yeah.
33:47 Now we are gonna get to a word from our sponsor, FanDuel,
33:50 but I just wanna take a break to say,
33:51 first of all, thank you for everyone joining us
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34:48 - Mate, get in there.
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35:38 - Now I'm one for one on my bets,
35:39 so I don't wanna go again.
35:41 You guys got anything?
35:42 - I'm sorry, I haven't been keeping track.
35:44 I'm assuming it's going really well,
35:46 but I've got Nuggets Rockets.
35:48 Oh, it's the end of the first quarter right now.
35:50 I was gonna say it's minus 10.
35:51 Live bet Nuggets minus 10 against the Rockets.
35:55 Rockets on a back to back.
35:56 Jamal Murray is back.
35:58 Jokic doing his thing.
35:59 Or just take the Kings against the Clippers.
36:02 I don't care that the Kings played a tough game
36:04 against the Warriors last night.
36:06 The Kings are gonna run,
36:08 and the Clippers are so old, so old,
36:11 and they're gonna run them off the court.
36:14 - Great, there you go. - Love it.
36:17 - Yeah, love it.
36:18 I have been keeping track, I'm 0 for 4, so.
36:20 (laughing)
36:21 - Gamble responsibly.
36:23 That's the only disclaimer you need.
36:25 - It's probably fate, like probably fate, Spoonie and I.
36:28 That'd be, that'd probably, to be honest.
36:30 - Look, we've got a few more player details
36:35 to get to before we get to the in-season tournament.
36:37 And namely, Luke Cornett, who,
36:40 I don't wanna spoil the stats
36:42 for whoever's added them to the run sheet here,
36:43 but suffice to say, they are fucking awesome.
36:47 And I was taking a look at his cleaning the glass profile,
36:50 and I think he's like leading,
36:52 he's like top 100th percentile in,
36:54 like is it at the rim field goal attempts
36:56 or two point field goal attempts or something?
36:58 So, Luke Cornett, elite in certain areas, Spoonie.
37:01 - Yeah.
37:03 - This is, sorry, this is exactly what
37:06 the term divorce level research was created for.
37:10 - Correct, sir.
37:12 Allow me, as I get my lawyer on retainer.
37:16 I'm writing about Luke in Three Leaf Clover,
37:21 should be out on Friday, so check that out.
37:23 - Awesome.
37:24 - Okay, so I think the first place to start with Luke is,
37:26 we only get three points worse per 100 when he plays,
37:30 which is pretty good,
37:31 because he's replacing actual good players.
37:34 So we're plus 6.5 net rating with him on the court.
37:37 So we're beating, we're crushing teams.
37:39 That's like a 55 win team pace.
37:42 Teams shoot 2% worse from the floor when he's on the court.
37:47 But the big thing is, from zero to nine feet,
37:50 when defended by Luke Cornett,
37:52 field goal percentage drops by 12%,
37:55 which is pretty ridiculous.
37:57 And that's 11.5% between zero and five feet.
38:00 So people, if he's contesting you,
38:03 you're basically just not making shots.
38:05 And look, he doesn't get to all the contests
38:08 that like a KP does, but look, he's doing his job.
38:11 He's being big around the rim.
38:13 I think the fun stuff is that he is the most efficient shooter
38:18 in the NBA from less than five feet.
38:20 He leads the NBA in field goal percentage
38:23 at less than five feet at 85.7%.
38:27 And I think he showed it off last night
38:29 where he had this-- no, they do not test the eye test,
38:32 but it's real.
38:34 [laughter]
38:35 Look, Luke's problem is he just doesn't get to enough shots.
38:38 That's where his weakness is.
38:40 But when he gets there in his in position,
38:42 he's very difficult to finish over.
38:44 He does a really good job of keeping verticality.
38:46 And I think as a pick and roll finisher,
38:48 he's really improved.
38:49 Like he made a few nice catches recently
38:52 where he's getting the ball right up to the rim,
38:55 no hesitation at all.
38:56 And that's a big improvement from like three weeks ago
38:58 when he wouldn't even look at the rim, basically,
39:01 when he touched the ball.
39:02 Or catch the ball.
39:03 Or catch the ball, yeah.
39:04 So I think he's really coming along.
39:05 He's kind of finding his role.
39:07 He's getting more playing time.
39:08 That definitely helps.
39:09 The one massive bugaboo, the Jake Eisenberg trademark,
39:13 "Luke, please get one rebound" challenge.
39:16 Please.
39:17 The threshold.
39:18 Our defensive rebound percentage gets 7.2% worse
39:23 when Luke is on the court.
39:25 So we are by far the worst defensive rebounding team
39:29 in the NBA when Luke is playing,
39:31 which does absolutely match the eye test, in my opinion.
39:34 But look, he's a third big.
39:36 He's going to have weaknesses.
39:37 If he was good at all this stuff,
39:39 he would be a starting big and we couldn't afford him.
39:41 Yeah, I think that's really important.
39:43 Like talking about it on Twitter with some people today
39:45 about trying to upgrade the third big position,
39:47 it's like it's a third big.
39:50 Like the Sixers' third big is Mo Bamba.
39:53 Luke Cornett is absolutely serviceable.
39:56 And dude, yesterday he rebounded well.
39:59 He has a couple of games here and there
40:00 where he's like getting him, getting mixed up.
40:03 Definitely you have to play him big minutes
40:05 in these IST tournaments
40:06 because Luke Cornett is fighting for his family out there.
40:09 He wants his 500K bad.
40:13 And yesterday you could definitely tell.
40:14 But yeah, dude, it was the first half of which game was it?
40:18 I forget which game, but it was the game that Cater played.
40:20 Was it the Hawks game?
40:22 Yeah, the game where we got getting killed on the boards.
40:24 Yeah, in the first half, the reason he got benched for Cater
40:27 was, as we were saying, the rebounding.
40:29 Couldn't grab a rebound.
40:30 But in the first half, the pick and roll chemistry
40:33 with Tatum was really good.
40:34 He gets in the right spot, he gets on the short roll.
40:37 He's comfortable now, like finishing around the rim
40:40 and he makes some nice passes.
40:41 Like he makes quick decisions, passes out back to the perimeter,
40:44 finding Tariq White for catch and shoot threes.
40:46 I'm okay with Luke Cornett absolutely as a third big
40:50 just because I think he makes the right decisions.
40:52 And again, on a team that's this good, your job is easy.
40:57 It's just rebound, well, try your best to rebound and roll.
41:03 And by the way, he's missed one free throw this year.
41:06 It hasn't taken a lot, but he's like seven for eight
41:09 from the free throw line.
41:10 He likes to make those free throws, which have been an issue
41:14 for the Celtics this year.
41:15 Yeah, and he has that Bill Cartwright free throw release as well.
41:18 So for him to go down to that clip is impressive.
41:21 Yeah, I felt like it was playing like he was about to default
41:24 on his mortgage.
41:25 That was a response to the Nias Keita's or Keita Ruther's performance.
41:30 But I can only imagine like he was in the locker room
41:32 before the game fielding a call from the bank being like,
41:34 I'm sorry, Mr. Cornett, but we're going to have to repossess
41:37 all of your valuables and your home.
41:39 Immediately he's thinking, hang on a second,
41:41 I've got an in-season tournament game coming up.
41:43 Just wait, turn on your TV, go to TNT or NBC Sports Boston,
41:46 watch the game and just wait, wait till I come on the court
41:49 and you'll see how motivated I am to repay this debt
41:52 that I owe you, bank X.
41:54 And he did that, he did.
41:55 So hopefully him and his family have a home
41:58 and all their possessions for a little while longer.
42:01 I'm just seeing it in the chat here.
42:03 Everybody is like so obsessed with the Luke Cornett,
42:07 because Al's old and KP's healthy, which like I understand
42:12 where we're coming from.
42:13 At some point, you guys are going to have to accept
42:16 that Al Horford's going to be totally fine in the playoffs.
42:19 Like he's proven it over and over again.
42:22 And you only need really, you only need one of KP or Al
42:26 to still make a deep run.
42:27 Look at their Miami Heat last year,
42:29 their backup bid was Cody Zeller.
42:31 Like look at the backup bids around the league.
42:34 Like even Bobby Portis can't play like deep to the playoffs.
42:38 He's been a real issue on this team, on these teams.
42:41 The Nuggets don't have a real...
42:42 Like DeAndre Jordan is their backup big.
42:44 Yes, he destroyed the Clippers with Reggie Jackson yesterday,
42:47 but that's a Clippers thing.
42:50 If Al and Pauls Ingers go down, I don't care
42:53 who your third big is going to be, it's not going to matter.
42:55 They actually have like the deepest center position,
42:58 probably in the NBA of a team that like can actually win the title.
43:02 So it's just not going to change really.
43:06 Yeah. And like, who can you get that can play in the NBA finals?
43:10 Right? Like we played Drummond off the court yesterday.
43:13 Like, and that's probably the level of guy.
43:15 Who's good.
43:16 Right. That's the level of guy you probably say is an upgrade
43:19 that's actually obtainable and he can't hit free throws.
43:22 So guess what? He can't play in the playoffs.
43:24 So I just don't see where the upgrade's coming from.
43:27 Yeah. And I'm with you, Jake.
43:29 I think I'd probably rather target another position
43:32 if we're going to reinforce the bench for the trade.
43:35 Yeah. Well, speaking of Andre Drummond,
43:37 there was Haka Drummond happening.
43:39 And as we zoom out to talk about sort of the IST format here,
43:42 Haka Drummond up 30-ish, fourth quarter,
43:46 but still the differential still in question there.
43:49 And then there was some post-game comments about, you know,
43:52 didn't think that was necessarily cool,
43:54 maybe a little disrespectful to the game.
43:56 I would argue that the basketball gods clearly still hold us in favor
44:00 because how the fuck else does Royce O'Neal go on that three-point explosion
44:04 unless the basketball gods are looking down on us
44:07 with all their glory and mercy?
44:09 But, you know, that said, it was a little bit of a shift
44:12 from what we're used to in terms of the ethics of the game, Jake.
44:15 So how did you feel about the sort of finer points of the IST?
44:18 Me, personally, couldn't give two shits
44:21 about running the score up on your opponent.
44:24 Like, it's a small window for this tournament
44:27 where point differential matters.
44:29 And look, Chicago, don't lose by 30.
44:33 Like, you'll be given a point differential of 23.
44:36 You know the deal.
44:39 There's 500K on the line for some guys that it really matters to.
44:42 And for anyone, I don't care how rich you are,
44:45 like, 500K is 500K.
44:47 People want to go party in Vegas.
44:49 Like, there's, like, real incentives on the line.
44:51 Also, these people are competitors.
44:53 You know, I'm a competitor.
44:55 I'm screaming in my living room
44:57 wanting to get through to the tournament and be part of this thing.
45:00 Like, I understand there's probably going to be a disconnect
45:02 between fans and players at first, especially,
45:05 because there's, like, this code of, like, not running up the score.
45:08 And Tatum talked about it after the Magic game.
45:11 But that always feels like sour grapes,
45:13 one, when you're the losing team.
45:15 But I will say, give the Celtics credit,
45:18 that Drew and Jalen were like,
45:20 "I don't love the idea that we have to run up the score
45:23 "in certain times to get this done."
45:26 But I do think that there's ways they can tweak the in-season tournament
45:30 where we're not so focused on running the score up.
45:33 Where point differential becomes so important.
45:36 Whether that's, like, you know,
45:38 scheduling all the games at the same time
45:40 so you can't scoreboard watch quite as much,
45:42 or there's, like, an extra game or two.
45:45 Yeah, Simmons had a good idea, make the groups bigger
45:48 and make them play an extra game.
45:50 And then there'll be less, like, three teams at 3-1.
45:52 There'll just be a bigger differential between the records.
45:55 But you want to get mad at somebody, Chicago,
45:57 get mad at the league for making score--
46:00 for the score difference to matter.
46:03 Like, that's who you should be mad at.
46:05 The Celtics were doing what the league incentivized them to do.
46:08 We had to win by 23 if we want to move on,
46:11 so we're going to do anything we can to win by 23.
46:14 And if that's hacking Drummond in the beginning of the fourth quarter
46:18 in a 29-point game, that's what's going to happen.
46:21 I did like that Joe went over to Billy Donovan and was like,
46:24 "Hey, man, this is why I'm-- I'm not just being an a-hole.
46:27 Like, we have a reason I'm doing this.
46:30 We need to win by 23. Sorry. This is a 7-point game to us."
46:34 I did see a good take on Twitter from Trey being like,
46:36 "It's a good thing we have Joe Mazzuolo as our coach for the tournament
46:39 because Brad Stevens wouldn't have the heart to hack a Drummond."
46:43 No, yeah. Well, be mad at Andre Drummond as well.
46:46 And this goes back well beyond the IST, but like,
46:49 "Hi, I'm Andre Drummond, professional basketball player."
46:52 "Oh, cool. Hey, take this basketball.
46:54 And can you shoot it from this line here?"
46:55 "No, I cannot. I can't hit free throws."
46:57 Like, "What are you doing, man? You're professional."
46:59 "Four in a row."
47:00 "You've been playing the game all your life."
47:01 Yeah, ridiculous.
47:02 So, I think that's where the origins of the madness should be.
47:06 But yeah, it was against the ethics of the game or whatever,
47:09 but that's why I say the basketball gods still hold us in favor
47:12 because the game has changed and this was within reason
47:15 as far as the approach to this game.
47:17 It was interesting, Joe saying in his postgame presser,
47:19 which was great, by the way, that he essentially had assigned
47:22 at least one member of his coaching staff to be like
47:25 the in-team IST consultant.
47:28 And like, "If we get to a certain threshold,
47:30 I want you kneeling down behind me being like,
47:32 'We need three points,'" or whatever it is,
47:35 to get to a certain point.
47:36 And it seemed like that was happening
47:38 and there was some connection there between the conversation
47:41 with Billy Donovan and the little angel on his shoulder,
47:44 the IST consultant on the coaching staff as well.
47:46 So, cool little wrinkles here with the IST.
47:48 I love it.
47:49 Yeah, and DJ Daniel, great point.
47:51 Like, for the fans, dude, like you talk about respecting the game,
47:54 these fans, tickets are so expensive now to come and play
47:57 and this game would have been over halfway through the third quarter,
48:01 really at halftime, and instead, everybody's into it.
48:05 The crowd was lit, dude.
48:06 You could feel it through the TV.
48:08 All game, everybody was into it.
48:10 Against one of the worst teams in the league on a random night.
48:14 Perfect.
48:15 And everybody gets their money's worth.
48:17 We got Sam Houser dunking.
48:19 Everybody wins.
48:20 Like, the vibes, the energy, the feelings,
48:23 everyone's going to live like 12 months longer
48:25 because of this game tonight.
48:27 I'll take the extra 12 months.
48:29 Well, look, here's the knockout bracket.
48:32 So, if I try and get rid of that comment there, thank you.
48:35 So, we play the Pacers in Indiana on Monday night, 7.30 p.m. there,
48:40 December 4th.
48:41 We've got the Bucs against the Knicks.
48:43 So, if we do win, and Tyrese Halliburton will very likely be back
48:46 to play against us for the first time this year.
48:48 If we do win that game, we'll play the winner of the Bucs or the Knicks there.
48:51 And then we've got the Lakers and the Suns and the Kings and the Pelicans
48:54 on the other side.
48:55 So, if we win the next two games, we're likely to play one of those four teams.
48:59 So, just looking at a bracket, really, in November,
49:02 and that bracket being related to the NBA is like all I really need from this.
49:05 It's fucking awesome, guys.
49:07 Dude, look at these match-ups.
49:09 You've got, like, Lakers-Suns and you've got the Bucs are in it,
49:12 the big franchises.
49:14 I mean, you're going to have Zion and the Kings that are up and coming.
49:17 And, like, Halliburton and the Pacers have, like,
49:19 one of these craziest offenses the league has ever seen.
49:23 And you're like, "Okay, yeah, someone in the chat here is like,
49:25 'We could easily end up with Lakers-Celtics here.'"
49:27 It's like that, which, as a Celtics fan, I feel fantastic as an option.
49:33 Maybe win.
49:34 And, like, I feel like if we win, we might get some good reffing
49:37 along the way here to make sure that that happens.
49:41 Yeah, I mean, this is just unequivocally a success, right?
49:44 I mean, I kind of-- when it first came out, I was like, "All right, whatever.
49:48 You know, it's regular season games.
49:49 I'm going to care."
49:50 But, like, the players clearly give a shit.
49:53 And, like, so, of course I'm going to give it.
49:55 Like, if they care just a little bit more, I'm going to care just a little bit more.
49:58 Like, they were playing hard as hell in the beginning of that fourth quarter.
50:02 Then they kind of trailed off.
50:03 And then Pritchard comes in with, like, six minutes left.
50:06 And that dude's flying around like it's game seven of the NBA Finals.
50:09 We're up 30.
50:10 Like, this is awesome, man.
50:11 Like, I just don't see what there's not to like about it, really.
50:14 Because it's just also regular season basketball with a little bit extra kind
50:19 of fun and craziness mixed in.
50:21 There's, like, no downside.
50:22 Helps that we advanced.
50:24 Feel a lot better about it.
50:25 That, too.
50:26 That, too.
50:27 I was like, "Oh, I'm going to care so much less if the Celtics don't get in."
50:30 Yeah.
50:31 But, yeah, they're in.
50:33 And, like, the matchup with the Pacers, thank God we get to play them in the IST
50:38 where it actually matters because that's the team that went up 30 on us last year
50:42 because we did the whole "we don't care" thing, which I'm hoping they don't do
50:47 this time because that it's actually going to matter because the Pacers will be
50:51 up 20, like, instantly.
50:53 So this is a great matchup, especially, like, in Indy.
50:56 You know, they're going to be hyped for this.
50:58 Yeah, absolutely.
50:59 Eric Weiss had a great comment in the chat as well that we should always play
51:03 with a point differential because the third quarter nightmares were no more.
51:06 It was just, "Okay, we have no reason to relax.
51:09 We actually have to keep pushing here," and they did exactly that.
51:12 So it was nice to just watch a full game end to end where, aside from the first
51:16 five minutes where they were just jacking up threes, already playing like they were
51:19 down 23, which technically they were, aside from that dodgy start, they always
51:24 kept the foot down, which is what you want to see.
51:27 It's not realistically possible, as we've learned as long-term Celtics fans,
51:30 but it was great to see it within the vacuum of a game.
51:33 Oh, yeah, absolutely.
51:34 I think this is a success.
51:37 And, yeah, what we should do is to try and get them to play with a point
51:41 differential.
51:42 Someone should tell them that all of us, you know, keyboard warriors,
51:45 agenda pushers, like, the point differential matters for our propaganda.
51:50 Like, if you blow these teams out as opposed to pissing away these fourth
51:55 quarter leads, we're able to put together all these awesome graphics,
51:57 everybody's going to be talking about you, great.
51:59 Instead, we have to hear about, you know, the concerns rolling about the Celtics
52:03 here and there.
52:04 Yeah, Tatum, how am I going to make a net rating argument about you being
52:08 the MVP if you don't have a crazy net rating?
52:10 Yeah, dude.
52:11 You're going to blow these guys out.
52:12 Stop throwing these dumb turnovers.
52:13 And, DJ Daniel, I can't say that was my idea.
52:15 I got that from the UNO Ball podcast.
52:17 The NBA Cup, though, is a much better name than the IST.
52:22 Especially if they're drinking beer out of it while they hoist it in Las Vegas
52:26 there.
52:27 That would be ideal.
52:28 I just had an idea.
52:29 If we win the tournament, we're going to have to create a replica of the trophy,
52:34 which does have something to drink beer out of.
52:36 And then when we all meet in Vegas for Summer League, which everybody in the
52:39 chat, please come to Vegas for Summer League, too, and we'll all drink beer
52:43 out of the IST trophy.
52:44 And it's going to be great.
52:46 Get your COVID vaccine before you come.
52:48 Yeah.
52:49 Yeah, that sounds great.
52:50 That's an awesome idea.
52:51 Now, look, we're at 53 minutes.
52:53 We typically like to wrap up after an hour.
52:54 We've got two more things to get to before we wrap up here.
52:57 We'll do this quickly, guys.
52:58 We wanted to do an around the room on the NBA fear rankings.
53:02 And folks in the chat, let us know who sits atop or at the bottom of your NBA
53:06 fear rankings.
53:07 This is as a Celtics fan, sort of loosely based, what team concerns you the most?
53:12 Which team are you happiest to not see any time soon?
53:15 Which team are you dreading seeing sometime soon?
53:18 I'll start.
53:19 For me, it's an easy one.
53:20 It's the Orlando Magic.
53:21 They're 12-5.
53:22 They have an incredible defense.
53:24 They have a long-term sort of demonstrated level of effectiveness against the Celtics,
53:29 as Spoody's cat makes an appearance for all the Bingo players at home.
53:32 I never want to see these guys again.
53:34 And yet, we play them twice in two weeks' time, back to back.
53:38 Am I right in thinking that these guys rightfully sit atop the fear rankings?
53:44 I have them in my two spot.
53:46 I can't put them ahead of the heat.
53:48 I thought you were going to go there.
53:50 It's Miami every day of the week.
53:54 These Floridian teams.
53:56 Yeah, god damn, dude.
53:58 Enough.
53:59 Yeah, screw everything from Florida, Mary Poppins.
54:01 Couldn't agree more.
54:02 The Miami Heat, number one, the Black Magic, they've now--
54:09 the draft pick that they've got, Javier Marquez Jr.,
54:11 I knew it as soon as he was drafted.
54:13 He's probably going to be third in the Rookie of the Year race this year.
54:18 And, yeah, they're going to be excellent.
54:20 And then the best way to beat the Celtics is always short circuit their offense.
54:24 The Heat and the Magic have the best way to do that over the Bucs.
54:28 Like the Knicks, you could almost even put ahead of the Bucs.
54:31 I feel like I can't quite go that far.
54:32 I think I have the Bucs at three, then Philly, then the Knicks.
54:36 So I'm with Jake.
54:37 I have the Heat, number one.
54:41 I don't know, man.
54:42 I think I'm picking between the Magic and Philly, too,
54:45 because I think this is a different version of Philly.
54:47 It's a different version of Tyrese Maxey.
54:49 And they actually have competent wings now with Batum and Rocco,
54:56 which is just something they never--
54:58 Yeah, yeah, and Oubre.
54:59 That's just something they never had.
55:01 And obviously the Jays are much better than those guys,
55:04 but they've never had anybody to throw at the Jays.
55:06 Now they at least have like-sized defenders they can have match up.
55:10 So I think I might have-- well, but we also kind of own Philly.
55:14 So I think I'd go Magic, too,
55:17 but I also think there's a little bit of shooting luck with these Magic--
55:20 like last year the Magic shot way above their head against us,
55:24 and we shot way below our normal averages against them,
55:27 and maybe that's partly match up.
55:28 But like Banquero can't shoot threes.
55:30 He doesn't miss against us.
55:32 There's kind of some funkiness going on with these Magic games,
55:35 but they still whip our ass.
55:38 So at some point that's just real.
55:40 So let me go-- I'd go Heat, Magic, Philly,
55:43 and then probably Bucks-Knicks.
55:45 The Knicks don't scare--
55:46 I've always been lower than everybody on the Knicks, I think.
55:50 Sure.
55:51 It would go six, though, against the Knicks.
55:54 I think we would win, but it would be stressful.
55:57 Yeah, Julius Randle just seems way too much of an implosion risk,
56:01 particularly throughout the course of a playoff series.
56:04 I had his cup of tea there a couple of years ago in the playoffs,
56:06 but for the most part I don't trust his productivity in the playoffs.
56:10 So the Knicks don't scare me that much.
56:11 As much as the primal screaming of Tibbs on the sideline,
56:15 I think it's pretty imposing and intimidating at home through the TV.
56:19 I can't imagine what that's like in the arena there,
56:21 particularly in New York.
56:22 So yeah, they're definitely in the top five of the fear rankings.
56:26 We've got here in our run sheet, so Heat, Bucks, Philly, Magic, Knicks.
56:31 I think at the very least we're agreeing that they are all within our top five,
56:35 and it sounds like Heat, Magic are kind of up there for all of us.
56:39 Yeah, this is very clivable if you're a Bucks, Philly person.
56:43 The fact that we've got the Magic above both Philly and Milwaukee,
56:47 but that's just understanding how you beat the Celtics.
56:51 It's like really you screw their offense up, and that's how you beat them.
56:55 If you're the Bucks, I just don't fear you if you can't guard the perimeter.
57:00 I can't.
57:01 Yeah, I understand the Dame thing, and in clutch time they might be better,
57:04 but if you're down 12 going into every fourth quarter,
57:06 I'm not sure how much it's going to matter.
57:10 Well, the fear is out there.
57:12 The fear is strong with these teams,
57:14 and while it's been a good week with the IST advancement and everything,
57:17 these guys are lurking in the shadows,
57:19 particularly the Magic we have to face very, very soon post-IST,
57:23 whatever happens there.
57:24 Now, guys, let's wrap it up there, I think.
57:28 What do you guys think?
57:29 Anything else you want to add?
57:31 We'll save the random trade stuff for the next episode,
57:35 which we've got cooking.
57:38 Yeah, great. Love it.
57:40 Well, look, an exciting week coming ahead.
57:43 We didn't even really talk about the Philly matchup.
57:45 I mean, they exist within our top five fear rankings.
57:48 That's coming up.
57:49 We've got some special guests coming up next week,
57:52 which we'll keep anonymous for now,
57:54 so make sure you subscribe to the channel.
57:56 We've got a lot coming up.
57:58 We've got playback, and Jake's just firing up another playback room as well,
58:02 which, as I'm saying this now,
58:03 I don't know if I'm even allowed to say this, Jake.
58:05 So shake your head if I shouldn't.
58:07 I don't really know either, but yeah, we're going to be doing playback.
58:10 We're going to be doing playback.
58:12 Let's leave it at that.
58:13 All right, that's going to do it for this one.
58:15 Thank you so much for joining us.
58:16 We'll be back very soon with another pod, more live streams, more watch parties.
58:20 So follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all of that great stuff.
58:23 If you're subscribed to those channels,
58:25 you're going to be notified about what's coming up on our schedule.
58:28 Spoonie, Jake, love your work, guys.
58:30 Until next time, go Celtics.
58:32 I love the Celtics!
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