The Celtics welcomed in Ime Udoka and the Houston Rockets before proceeding to blow them out thanks to hyper-efficient performances by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. How did players and fans react to Ime's return? Is Derrick White back? Plus, All-Star returns and a look at the upcoming schedule.
0:00 Intro
1:50 Rockets recap
5:30 PRIME Jaylen Brown has arrived
13:50 Welcome back Kristaps' 3-pt shot
21:00 Is Derrick White back?
25:30 Reactions to Ime Udoka's return
29:00 Al Horford remains awesome
32:50 Reacting to Tatum's ejection
36:40 Do we really need to upgrade the Pritchard position
42:30 Brushing off the Bucks loss
45:20 Upcoming Schedule
Check this week's underrated plays vid: https://youtu.be/0OF-FHU78qo
️Subscribe to the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/first-to-the-floor-a-boston-celtics-podcast/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firsttothefloor18/
Watch live Celtics games with us: https://playback.tv/celticsblog
✍️Read Wayne Spooney's weekly column: https://bit.ly/48v132b
Please LIKE this video and SUBSCRIBE to the channel!
#bostonceltics #nba #jaysontatum #jaysontatum #jaylenbrown #celtics
0:00 Intro
1:50 Rockets recap
5:30 PRIME Jaylen Brown has arrived
13:50 Welcome back Kristaps' 3-pt shot
21:00 Is Derrick White back?
25:30 Reactions to Ime Udoka's return
29:00 Al Horford remains awesome
32:50 Reacting to Tatum's ejection
36:40 Do we really need to upgrade the Pritchard position
42:30 Brushing off the Bucks loss
45:20 Upcoming Schedule
Check this week's underrated plays vid: https://youtu.be/0OF-FHU78qo
️Subscribe to the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/first-to-the-floor-a-boston-celtics-podcast/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firsttothefloor18/
Watch live Celtics games with us: https://playback.tv/celticsblog
✍️Read Wayne Spooney's weekly column: https://bit.ly/48v132b
Please LIKE this video and SUBSCRIBE to the channel!
#bostonceltics #nba #jaysontatum #jaysontatum #jaylenbrown #celtics
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:27 Welcome in to another episode of First to the Floor. Ben Vallis here. Thank you for joining us.
00:31 Hope you're doing well. The Celtics, they absolutely crushed the Rockets last night.
00:35 145 to 113, recovering in one fell swoop from a net rating perspective from that disaster class
00:41 against the Milwaukee Bucks. Wayne Spooney and Jake Eisenberg are both here.
00:45 Spooney, how's it going, man?
00:47 I'm doing great, other than I got a new camera and it looks like I just crawled out of my coffin to do this podcast.
00:53 Vampire spoons.
00:56 I've got to adjust the settings, but great win, great game, fun time on the playback.
01:01 Yeah, it's tough. In this reverse hemisphere thing, me and Ben are out in the sun every day as the winter creeps into the north.
01:11 The skin tones are slowly getting further and further apart here.
01:17 Yeah, absolutely. Before we get into it, we're so close to 3,000 subs here on the YouTube channel.
01:22 I'm putting the subscribe link in the description for the audio pod, so take a moment, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
01:28 like the video, help us navigate the evil algorithm. Why?
01:32 Well, the better our numbers, the better our chances of luring high profile guests onto the show.
01:36 Scal, for example, apparently doesn't get out of bed for less than 20,000 subs, so that's the immediate target for us.
01:42 Help us hit 3K in the meantime. A couple more things.
01:45 Check out Wayne Spooney's latest column on Celtics blog, the three leaf clover,
01:49 and watch Celtics game live with us on Celtics blog's playback room.
01:53 All links are in the description below. All right, guys, let's get into the game.
01:57 Jake, at halftime in the playback yesterday, you said, "If we just don't play like dickheads in the second half, we should win this game."
02:04 What did you mean by that and did that occur? It seems like it did.
02:07 Here's the thing. The Celtics are so good where all they have to do to win most of these games is not play like dickheads,
02:15 which basically means defend close to your ceiling, like 90% of your capabilities, don't turn the ball over, and rebound.
02:24 You do those three things against a team like the Rockets, who also played on a back-to-back after having a 10-point lead,
02:30 it takes insane outlier shit for the Celtics to lose those games.
02:35 So they came out, I'm not even sure what they really did besides just be superstars and hit threes,
02:42 but it felt like they cranked up the defense a little bit and Houston was just like, "Yeah, that's enough for us and these Boston guys.
02:50 Sorry, E-May, we tried for you for like a half, but that's all we got tonight."
02:56 Yeah, I turned up my mic a little bit, Jordan B., so let me know in the chat if it sounds better.
03:01 But yeah, the Celtics got out, both teams got out and transitioned quite a bit.
03:06 It was kind of a hectic up-and-down game. Both had 26 transition possessions.
03:10 The Rockets scored one point per possession on them, which is absolutely terrible.
03:15 Celtics, 1.54. Most of that was Jalen Brown, who scored 1.76 points per possession in transition,
03:22 which is basically like a guaranteed bucket every time he was in transition.
03:27 I thought the big thing that stuck out to me was the Celtics made a lot of threes, but they took a ton of them.
03:33 They're up 47 threes to 30 for Houston. I just think with the disparity and the shooting coming back recently,
03:40 there's almost no way a team like Houston can compete with the Celtics if they're getting outshot from three like that.
03:47 Tatum was just like awesome for most of this game, I thought. He had 1.4 points per possession on pick and rolls.
03:54 He got trapped a couple times and just swung it, opened threes all day.
03:59 So it was ultimately just, yeah, the defense was lackluster in the first half,
04:05 and we were talking about that quite a bit in the playback.
04:08 And then you're right, Jake, they just turned up the intensity and Houston just has no answers, man.
04:13 I don't believe in that team. Fred Van Vliet is like a fine player, but he's got nothing for Derek White and Drew Holiday
04:19 and Chris Stapps at the rim. So it was just the better team shot hot from three, and it was a blowout.
04:26 Yeah, there was a lot more intent in that second half. I thought I wrote this down.
04:30 I'm just scrolling through our run sheet here, but clearly it didn't save or something.
04:33 But we had somewhere along the lines of 13 two-point field goal attempts in the first half
04:38 and somewhere along the lines of 32 two-point field goal attempts in the second half.
04:44 So really changing up the shot diet, really getting downhill, getting to the hoop and putting a lot more pressure on a pretty decent,
04:50 I think the sixth ranked on the year Houston Rockets defense, but just carved them up in this game.
04:56 And I thought that this was one of the more like big three, for lack of a better term, like big three-ish looking games,
05:02 where it was just the Jays and Chris Stapps dominating on both ends.
05:05 Chris Stapps looked so good in that drop defense as well with either one of the stock exchange just like harassing the screen.
05:12 And then Chris Stapps just like perfectly positioned with the personnel on the Rockets team.
05:17 He doesn't really have to come all the way up to the level of the screen and he can just sit back on his heels a little bit
05:22 and operate as the big, beautiful Latvian bear slaying man.
05:25 Do we have the picture here? I think we do. Here we go.
05:29 Here's the bear slayer. - There he is.
05:32 - Big, beautiful Latvian man. Awesome.
05:34 But in this game, prime Jaylen Brown, like if you couldn't say that he has already arrived,
05:39 like this is prime Jaylen Brown. He just looked so good.
05:42 That third quarter, guys, holy shit, like just a bit of a sequence here,
05:47 like massive, beastly offensive rebound off a Tatum corner three-point miss
05:52 and just straight back up with it, just like completely physically dominating everyone on the Rockets,
05:57 everyone on the court. Fucking sick crossover on Jabari Smith Jr.
06:01 A couple of possessions later, that transition Euro later on in the quarter as well
06:05 through two defenders with a reverse lefty English layup.
06:09 I was re-watching the highlights from the playback room earlier this morning, Jake,
06:13 and you guys and Eric Weiss all reacting in real time to that.
06:16 It was amazing. He had another block on Jabari, excuse me, Smith Jr.
06:22 at the rim and then the big scream, like as soon as he gets it,
06:25 just completely dominating on all fronts, emotionally, physically, etc.
06:30 I won't rattle off the rest of the sequence there in the third quarter for Jaylen Brown,
06:35 suffice to say it was an incredibly entertaining game from that point alone.
06:39 What do you guys think?
06:41 This guy's on an absolute tear right now.
06:45 And I was definitely someone who thought that we'd basically reached the Jaylen Brown ceiling
06:51 more or less after last season.
06:53 I thought, you know, the shot making, that's his calling card and it obviously still is.
07:00 But the defense has gone to a level that I don't think it's really been at, maybe ever.
07:06 I actually don't think it has been, just because of the size that he has
07:09 and the strength that he has relative to maybe his best defensive season
07:12 probably being his second year, even when the Celtics made that run to the conference finals
07:19 or the year after that.
07:21 But the defense, bringing that aspect to his game where it was a legit weakness.
07:27 He wasn't a bad defender last year, but just because of how athletic he is
07:31 and how strong he is and how big he is.
07:34 But there was so much left to be desired on that end of the court.
07:37 And he said he was going to bring it and he's been bringing it
07:40 and it feels like he's been getting better.
07:42 The rejection on Jabari Smith, who's like a 6'10" super long dude,
07:46 and that hook shot thing had just no chance.
07:49 And then he recovers with Jabari Smith coming off a pin down or a handoff or something
07:55 and Jalen recovers and just completely destroys him at the rim on the other end.
08:01 And then by the way, he's kind of like Jose Alvarado type steel
08:07 coming off another corner, which leads to--
08:10 The Rockets actually defended it well in transition.
08:13 And then you just drew at the JB at the top of the key who had Jalen Green on him,
08:16 who just crosses him over and hits this Kobe step-back fadeaway.
08:21 Who by the way, like in the two possessions earlier,
08:23 just a recitative hit's like just a ridiculous pull-up three in their face.
08:27 And I'm just sitting there being like,
08:29 "It's pretty cool to have these two superstars on our team, huh?"
08:32 Yeah, we've got that sequence here. Check it out.
08:35 [music]
08:42 [crowd cheering]
08:45 Now JT giving you the Jordan Shrug.
08:48 He's 22, you can shrug all your life.
08:50 Oh, give me that.
08:53 First double-digit lead for Boston.
08:55 [crowd cheering]
09:01 Step away.
09:05 [crowd cheering]
09:14 Dude, I mean, second quarter, third quarter.
09:16 But amazing, just any time the Jays just like stack plays consecutively like that,
09:20 like we cut off a little bit of time to save time
09:22 and hopefully not get demonetized for the CLNS guys here.
09:25 But any time they stack plays like that, it's just amazing to watch.
09:30 Dude, that Tatum 3 barely hit the net.
09:33 It was so muddy.
09:34 It almost went just like straight through without even touching net.
09:38 Jalen also, I think, in the second quarter had this like fade away from like 21 feet
09:43 on the right side that he just silked pure net.
09:47 And I have absolutely no idea how you can make a shot like that
09:49 from that far away over somebody.
09:52 But he did.
09:53 Okay, so I've got some play type data for Jalen Brown, right?
09:57 This is all where he ranks in the NBA in points per possessions on certain plays.
10:03 12th in the NBA in pick and roll.
10:05 32nd in ISO, so elite pick and roll, basically elite ISO.
10:09 That's crazy.
10:10 20th in post up, so basically elite post up.
10:14 And 14th in off screens.
10:16 So like what do you do with a guy who's an elite pick and roll player,
10:20 elite in ISO, elite posting up, and elite coming off of screens?
10:24 Like he's just on an absolute absurd heater in every single way.
10:29 And he's got his turnovers down, his assists are up,
10:32 and he's finally shooting threes, man.
10:34 Like there's just nothing you can do with this guy.
10:37 And like Jake said, his defense is finally awesome.
10:41 So like he is playing at such an absurd level.
10:44 Like all NBA second team might have bet.
10:46 Like there's arguments for him not making second team last year.
10:49 I could see them.
10:50 If he keeps playing like this, there's absolutely no argument.
10:53 He's all NBA second team.
10:54 He can't be first team just because of who's in front of him.
10:58 But good Lord.
10:59 He's leveled up again, and he's 27.
11:02 It will be interesting purely all NBA wise just because of the positionless aspect.
11:07 I feel like he kind of benefited from like a weak forward class.
11:12 But that being said, and Judah Tunes in the chat here,
11:15 who's calling me out, telling me I can't believe he thought that was a ceiling.
11:19 Sorry, sorry for believing that the 27-year-old dude was like--
11:26 And like shame on me, dude, because he has truly never stopped getting better.
11:31 Last year was probably the first time that he didn't develop a huge amount
11:36 relative to the year previous.
11:38 Like I didn't think there was a massive jump from the year they went to the finals
11:41 to last year where he made second team all NBA.
11:44 Like even though he was really good the year before,
11:46 he just made more shots really last year.
11:49 The defense, we always kind of thought it could maybe be better,
11:53 but the decision making and the playmaking,
11:57 that taking a legitimate jump was not something that I really thought
12:01 he was going to do.
12:02 But man, like death, taxes, and Jalen Brown committing to developing his game.
12:08 And it's just a rarity in this league that so many guys, they get better.
12:14 But like for them to keep getting better at the 27-year-old age that Jalen is
12:20 and at the certain stuff that he's gotten better at this year is quite rare.
12:24 And it's absolutely a credit to him and him in the post-game press conference
12:27 being like, "I feel like I'm playing the best in my career,"
12:30 which is I think a fact.
12:32 And he's like, "I'm not going to stop."
12:35 And I'm like, "You know what?
12:36 I'm just never going to stop thinking he's going to get better at stuff
12:39 because I would--
12:41 The Avery Bradley trajectory.
12:43 But look, players do tend to reach cruising altitude at around 26, 27, 28.
12:49 Judah tunes in the chat here saying, "Yeah, man, I get it."
12:52 But when you see a guy training in the pool, working on the left hand,
12:55 putting on weight, and going against JT in practice,
12:57 like got to be patient.
12:58 I mean, we do have to try and appear somewhat objective on this show.
13:02 So to say something objective like he's probably hitting his ceiling
13:05 rather than resting on our laurels as fanboys and being like,
13:08 "No, they're always going to get better until they're the GOATs,"
13:10 because that's really internally how we feel.
13:12 Sometimes we need to present a somewhat objective argument.
13:15 So I was with you there at the time, Jake.
13:17 But one of those things, so happy to be wrong.
13:19 So happy to be wrong.
13:20 Yeah, great news.
13:21 Like Jason Tatum, could he ascend to being better than Jokic somehow?
13:24 Like there's room in my heart for that reality.
13:26 Do I think it's going to happen?
13:27 Probably not, but I would certainly leave the door open for that one.
13:30 You mentioned the three-point shooting as well.
13:32 For both the Js, and we'll get to Tatum in a little bit
13:35 because he had an incredible last couple of games,
13:37 but 41.2% from three from Jalen Brown in January as well.
13:41 So firing on all cylinders lately, both Js to say the least.
13:45 Speaking of threes, we've been celebrating the return of Tatum's three
13:49 and Jalen Brown's three.
13:50 Can we prepare the welcome party, Spoonie,
13:52 for the return of Chris Tapp's Paul Zingas' three?
13:56 Obviously, I'm going to overreact and say absolutely we can.
14:00 The welcome party's already begun, baby.
14:02 So three of five from three.
14:03 But what was kind of bizarre about this game was he missed a 25-footer,
14:08 missed a 26-footer, and made a 28 and 27-footer,
14:12 which kind of makes no sense.
14:14 But I feel like he misses the shorter ones long,
14:17 so maybe he's just like his stroke is somehow better for a longer distance.
14:22 I would know nothing about that,
14:24 but some people I'm sure are very familiar with longer distances.
14:28 And what I love about KP is absolutely how confident he is in the fact
14:35 that he can make basically any shot in basketball.
14:37 Like a 7'3" guy catching, firing from 28-foot,
14:42 often with a hand in his face, which should be a terrible shot.
14:46 But for KP, it's really not.
14:48 And the beauty of him is that we can get to that shot anytime, anyplace,
14:54 any point of the game in the fourth quarter, in the first quarter, period.
14:58 He's just got to set a pick, and he pops out.
15:01 And if they hyper-focus on KP there, something else is going to open up.
15:05 And that's why he fits so well with these two dudes.
15:09 It's great to have these guys back playing like a normally-type schedule.
15:14 Like that five games and seven nights thing, just have a night off,
15:18 and have, I think, a little bit of extra juice.
15:24 I honestly don't think the EMA thing was that much.
15:26 It was just they got the crap kicked out of them the night before.
15:29 It felt like they really wanted to come out and play well.
15:31 And because of that Bucks game and only playing half of it,
15:35 it feels like I haven't seen Paul Zingas in so long
15:38 because he didn't play in the Tee Wolves game, did he?
15:43 That's right? Am I remembering that correctly?
15:45 Yeah, it was the Horford show.
15:47 So we hadn't seen him since the second Pacers game,
15:51 which feels like a while ago.
15:53 And, yeah, so for him to-- if you can get his three-ball back,
15:57 that feels like the last thing right here.
16:00 Can you do three for five?
16:01 It has to be coming.
16:03 The sample size of him being a good shooter is just so large.
16:06 And every other shot that he's taking, he's making.
16:10 So I don't see why he wouldn't make that one.
16:13 And one of the first observations that was made collectively
16:16 across the Celtics podcast space was that we weren't really getting
16:21 Paul Zingas the ball at an efficient pace
16:25 at the beginning of possessions or whatever,
16:27 within the flow of a possession.
16:28 And now it seems like there's a lot more flow to just the integration
16:32 of Paul Zingas into the offense, just in how we're getting the ball,
16:34 when we're getting the position,
16:36 like literally the location of the pass.
16:38 Like his chest is a good two feet higher than the average chest height
16:41 to make sure you deliver that pass on target,
16:43 little things like that.
16:44 So I wonder as we start to get more of a flow there offensively
16:47 with the integration of KP, if we start to see the shot come back
16:50 as a result of that.
16:51 And speaking of people's shots coming back, Jason Tatum now, February,
16:55 and it's like not that small a sample size.
16:57 It's the 15th of February, at least here it is in Australia,
17:00 halfway through the month, sorry, January.
17:02 Thank you.
17:03 55.6% from three on 7.5 attempts for Jason Tatum.
17:07 Just an absurd number percentage-wise from the on the arc,
17:11 but very much on track.
17:12 We talked about it last show with the very famous meme of Jason Tatum
17:16 that this is the trajectory of his seasons always.
17:19 And you mentioned earlier, Spoonie, that that shot we played a moment ago,
17:23 barely touching the sides of the rim as the ball goes through.
17:26 So just like crazy efficient, crazy locked in.
17:29 Can it hold, Spoonie?
17:31 Can we get this in the playoffs?
17:32 I want the playoffs to start tomorrow.
17:34 The team is looking so good.
17:35 It feels like torture to have to wait this long for another half of the season,
17:39 essentially, for the playoffs to start.
17:41 Look, 55, 56% for three is obviously not sustainable.
17:45 I know you're not suggesting that would hold then, but there's no reason.
17:50 Okay, so I heard through the grapevine that he recently had worked
17:54 with Drew Hanlon and his balance on his three-point shot was off.
17:59 And since he had that workout or that session with Drew Hanlon,
18:03 he's been back firing from three.
18:06 It has looked really clean recently, so I think there's probably
18:10 something to that.
18:11 I'm buying it.
18:12 I'm buying it, Jake.
18:13 I'm drinking the Kool-Aid, baby.
18:15 Here we go.
18:17 It's like, yeah, I also believe that it looks better,
18:20 but I'm a simple, smooth-brained man.
18:23 When it goes in, I'm like, yeah, obviously it looks better now.
18:26 That's what it's all about.
18:28 But I can't honestly-- I need to go back and watch all the threes
18:33 from November, December, and then these ones and actually try
18:38 and see if I can notice anything different.
18:40 But I guess it worked.
18:42 Yeah, Mitch in the chat, Drew Hanlon needs to stop focusing on a bead
18:45 and give his attention to Tatum.
18:47 Couldn't agree more.
18:48 Hire that man.
18:49 You've squeezed all the blood from that stone that you're going to get
18:54 from Embiid.
18:55 He's won the MVP.
18:56 You've got to move on to bigger and better things.
18:58 We're trying to win a championship here.
19:01 Stop with the Embiid propaganda.
19:02 He's embarrassing you by chasing this 30.10 streak anyway.
19:07 And not playing.
19:08 And not playing.
19:10 Your brand is pure sweat.
19:13 Who lives that brand more than anybody else?
19:15 It's Jason Tatum.
19:16 Enough.
19:17 I would say Embiid is pure sweat after two laps up and down the court
19:21 as well, conditioning-wise.
19:23 In a minute we're going to come back.
19:25 We're going to talk about Derek White, if the slump is over.
19:27 We're going to talk about the whole Emei Udoka situation one last time,
19:30 and very briefly because I think we're just sticking to talking about it,
19:32 and some other miscellaneous points from the game.
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20:07 Jake, do you want to follow up your ASMR ad read with a couple of tips,
20:13 betting-wise?
20:15 - Yeah, it's going to drive me insane.
20:17 And I always forget that I've done it until the next time we record.
20:21 I'm like, "Dang it."
20:22 I don't really have anything right now, but the Chiefs,
20:28 just like I'm on the Chiefs.
20:31 I bet them to win the Super Bowl every year.
20:32 It hasn't looked awesome this year, but they dominated the Duffins yesterday.
20:35 - Now it does.
20:36 - Yeah.
20:37 Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, just ride those boys,
20:42 would be my tip, responsibly.
20:45 - All right, sounds good.
20:47 Let's move on.
20:48 Slump Derek is still good Derek, it seems.
20:51 It's so Derek White to have not the comeback game,
20:54 but rather just the quiet, slightly improved,
20:57 slightly refinding his groove into the offense in this game.
21:01 We saw the threes going down early.
21:03 He had that one crazy quick trigger Ray Allen three from the far corner
21:07 in the first half.
21:08 Then subsequently, his two-point bunny started to go down.
21:11 He had a couple of very earlier season Derek White floaters go in.
21:15 It's one game, but I think we're so eager to just call it,
21:18 and especially with regards to the JJ Reddit curse,
21:21 just say that it's over and move on.
21:24 Spoonie, are you ready to make that call,
21:26 or is this just one data point in the journey to get to that point?
21:29 - It's been rough for Derek.
21:31 I'm sorry, Jay, but it's been pretty rough for Derek White recently.
21:34 Over his last 10 games, his true shootings dropped from 65% to 55%.
21:40 He's still in the 60s on the season.
21:43 He's down to below league average efficiency, but you know what?
21:47 It's Derek White.
21:49 He's still plus 16.5 net rating in these last 10 games.
21:53 Even though he's playing not as well as we expect this new version of Derek White to,
21:58 he still has a massive positive impact on the team.
22:01 That's why he's so valuable, right?
22:04 Because you can ride those hot streaks when he's on them,
22:07 and he could basically win you games.
22:09 And then when he's not playing his best, at least shooting scoring-wise,
22:13 he's still super helpful.
22:14 He's still moving the ball.
22:15 He's still making the right play.
22:16 He's still playing defense.
22:17 He's still blocking shots.
22:18 He's still somehow protecting the rim, even though he's a 6'4" guard.
22:22 It makes no sense.
22:25 So, you know, I got to see it more than one game, but, like, that's the beauty, dude.
22:31 It doesn't really--like, it'll matter in a playoff series,
22:34 but I trust that he'll make shots four out of seven games.
22:38 Yeah, and look, I think on some level--firstly, it's obviously J.J. Reddick's fault,
22:43 but on some level he was probably due for a stretch where he was not literally perfect.
22:52 Like, he, up until the last five games or whatever, has been playing like a legit all-star.
22:59 There was a reason why this campaign started and why all this hullabaloo has been going on
23:04 about Derek White becoming an all-star.
23:06 And, like, Tatum had his struggles.
23:09 Every player in the league, except for, like, Jokic, has stretches where they struggle,
23:15 and Derek White hasn't had one yet.
23:17 You know, Jalen was early in the year.
23:18 Drew is maybe quietly having one as well.
23:22 And Derek White, as you said, as long as he's making the right play--
23:25 and that's what's incredible about this team--all of a sudden,
23:29 Derek White's been struggling a little bit.
23:31 K.P. carrying for parts of the year.
23:34 Great timing. Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum look like first and second team all-NBA players,
23:38 so it doesn't matter.
23:39 And what's great about Derek White is that he doesn't force it.
23:42 He's not going to Dion Wade as his way out or attempt to Dion Wade as his way out of this slump.
23:47 He's going to just make the right play.
23:50 The most encouraging thing has been how the quick trigger on the threes hasn't gone away at all.
23:55 And I'd say that's probably the most important thing.
23:57 He's still confident. At least he still appears to be taking the same shots.
24:01 And that one that he hit with 3.5 seconds on the shot clock coming around that screen
24:06 and just almost obliterated the net. It splashed into it so hard.
24:10 That filled me with incredible confidence.
24:13 He hit one of the wonky floaters that he typically hits.
24:16 When I was watching the game, I was like, "Okay, the three looks good.
24:20 He hit one weird wonky floater. I need him to make one more,
24:23 and I think I can declare the curse dead.
24:25 He didn't attempt another one, so that might be good."
24:28 So that's maybe the other piece. Because the weird part was not only was he missing threes,
24:32 but the weird Derek White floater that doesn't really come and go.
24:36 That's usually one of his more consistent shots.
24:38 That also fell apart. So great to see him hit one, but that is something I'm still tracking.
24:44 Yeah, fair enough. We always celebrate low-variance offense on this show,
24:48 or low-variance play types, and Derek White is such a low-variance player in that sense
24:52 that even his floor is still so high during a slump,
24:56 where against the Timberwolves, he's making these literally game-saving or game-winning plays,
25:01 like that offensive rebound, coming across the lane there after the missed free throw
25:05 and restarting the possession for ultimately, I think it was a game tying,
25:09 or a go-ahead bucket in the corner there for Drew.
25:11 The fact that he still has a nose for how and when to assert himself in a game,
25:16 even when his offense isn't flowing as it normally would,
25:19 it makes him such a high-value player.
25:21 I hope that we get that extension done. I guess it has to be in the offseason now.
25:25 It's going to be a costly one, given how awesome he is, even when he's technically in a slump.
25:29 Good to see a little data point there as far as him maybe emerging out of that,
25:33 but still a very survivable state to be in, given how effective he can still be.
25:38 We should switch to the Adoka situation so far.
25:42 We've already talked a lot about it, really since the whole incident occurred,
25:46 and then obviously subsequently in the lead-up to this game.
25:49 For me, guys, it didn't feel that significant.
25:53 It didn't sound like there was much of a pop from the crowd either way when he was introduced,
25:57 or at any point during the game.
25:59 He's maintained good relations, it seems, with the players, and vice versa there.
26:03 There didn't seem to be any animosity going either way also.
26:07 It ultimately, for me, just felt good to get it out of the way.
26:10 Now when he comes back, it won't be such a big deal, and we can all just move on.
26:13 A little bit of closure there, I think. What do you think, Spoonie?
26:17 It almost felt a little anticlimactic in some ways,
26:21 but also, it's been a year, it's been a year and a half almost at this point,
26:27 and the game was a laugher.
26:30 It wasn't super intense, but the flip side is,
26:34 did you guys see J. King's tweet about Pritchard when he threw the off-the-backboard alley-oop to Brissette,
26:41 which was fucking awesome?
26:43 That was sick.
26:45 He said Pritchard got pulled for goofing around with Yudoka two years ago,
26:51 and he thought it was kind of an F you to Yudoka,
26:54 but I'm pretty sure Pritchard was dapping up Yudoka after the game was over.
26:59 I don't know, I just think globally, it just seemed like,
27:03 "Okay, we beat this guy, the players clearly still like him."
27:07 His pregame comments were really strange, I thought, about "They lied to you."
27:11 It's like, "Dude, just let it go, man."
27:13 Did you guys get the feeling that that was an F you from Pritchard?
27:17 Not at all.
27:19 Okay.
27:20 Yeah, I think subsequently, just given the context,
27:23 I'd be happy to interpret it that way just to give the whole situation a little bit more pop.
27:27 But I don't know, in that moment, how much can you really stop and think,
27:31 "Yeah, I'm going to do this as a fuck you to my old coach,"
27:34 as opposed to, "We're way up, we're out in transition, there's no defenders anywhere near us,
27:38 and O'Shea gets even less playing time than I do.
27:41 I'm going to go and get a free kick from something nicer for his own personal highlight reel."
27:44 So I think it's probably, you know, we talk about Occam's Roger on this show,
27:47 that's probably the most likely explanation.
27:49 Someone in the chat asking what I'm drinking, I'm drinking water.
27:52 It's the middle of the day here and I'm technically working,
27:54 so it's water for me right now, guys.
27:56 Moving on to, I guess, just getting down the list.
27:58 Oh, go ahead, Jack.
27:59 I was just going to say that this comment here is absolutely accurate
28:02 in that it was just obviously media hype wanted it so badly.
28:06 In the pregame, the postgame press conferences,
28:09 everyone's asking them multiple questions about it,
28:11 and everyone up there is just like, specifically Tatum, being like,
28:15 "Yeah, I spoke to him a year ago and every now and then, but like,
28:20 I think we should just all move on. It's in the past. No one cares.
28:23 We're literally talking about playing the Raptors now."
28:27 I will just say that, quietly, the Rockets are five games below 500
28:33 since their 8-3 start, and everybody is romanticizing Imei, Doka.
28:41 He's not having an insane coaching year at all.
28:45 That team, they paid so much money to upgrade that roster.
28:50 All the young guys are young and getting better.
28:52 For them to be 500 is very much just at best meeting expectations.
28:59 Whereas Joe, on the other hand, currently on track to exceed
29:02 at least regular season expectations.
29:05 Speaking of exceeding expectations,
29:07 I don't know if you could even put this in that category,
29:09 but Al Horford was a +30 in this game, by far.
29:13 Actually, Derek White was a +29 as well,
29:15 but beyond that, led the team in plus/minus.
29:18 They had a couple of great little post-up possessions in this one.
29:21 I don't know about you guys, but you could feel the energy,
29:23 the whole crowd, everyone on the bench.
29:25 It was picked up on the hoop mic there,
29:27 but both of these possessions where Al was posting up,
29:30 "Come on, Al! Come on, Al!"
29:32 The whole world was behind him, cheering him on
29:35 to show us a bit of old-school hoop there
29:37 and backing down a smaller and much younger defender,
29:40 whichever one of the inexperienced Rockets defenders
29:42 you want to pick out there.
29:44 That was awesome to see.
29:45 Also going up against another old head in Uncle Jeff Green,
29:48 former Celtic.
29:50 The block from Horford on Jeff Green.
29:53 Just two dinosaurs, just biting heads.
29:56 Two T-Rexes just growling at each other.
29:59 And just a massive showdown there,
30:01 kind of like Godzilla and Mothra, I suppose.
30:04 Anything stand out from your guys' perspective on that matchup
30:07 or from Al Horford in this one?
30:09 I just love Al.
30:11 Off the back of the Minnesota game,
30:13 our New Zealand correspondent Joe,
30:16 tracking the magic number of the Timberwolves game,
30:18 pointed out that the three-pointer that Al Horford hit
30:21 with about three and a half minutes to go
30:23 to cut the lead from nine to six
30:26 was arguably actually the biggest shot of the game
30:28 because there was not going to be enough time
30:30 if he did miss that shot to actually come back.
30:33 All due to the magic number formula,
30:36 which if you're not familiar with,
30:39 get with the program.
30:41 Subscribe.
30:42 Yeah, subscribe and watch the playback
30:44 where you have time to just rehash that more often.
30:47 But then that just led me to go back
30:48 and kind of look at Horford in the clutch this year.
30:51 He's 50% from three in the clutch this year.
30:55 Pretty good.
30:56 Solid.
30:57 And absolutely matches the eye test.
30:59 But also the clutch numbers like that three that he hit
31:02 to cut it to six doesn't count as a clutch bucket
31:05 because it's not within five points,
31:07 which is, again, clutch stats are so misleading
31:11 because they're so specific.
31:14 I always went back and had a look.
31:15 Like, monster three against the Warriors game
31:17 that they lost to cut it to one with 40 seconds to go.
31:21 Like, against the sixes, they're up five.
31:24 He hits a big three to push the lead to eight
31:25 with two minutes to go.
31:26 He's just nails.
31:28 And I love him.
31:31 Like, how does he keep doing it, dude?
31:33 You know what I mean?
31:34 It just seems like every time I'm like, oh,
31:36 it's a swing to Al.
31:37 This is going in and we really need this shot.
31:40 And I feel like he's activated old man strength.
31:43 Like, he had-- one of those post-ups was on Cam Whitmore.
31:47 Go and Google Cam Whitmore shirtless
31:50 because I do it pretty often.
31:52 That sounds like something I would like.
31:53 That sounds like something I'd be interested in.
31:55 Yeah.
31:56 Dude, like, that dude is an ox.
31:58 He's like six, seven, wing, absolute monster.
32:03 Al just, like, put him into the basket,
32:05 easy little post-up layup.
32:08 And it's like, he just keeps, like, impressing me somehow.
32:13 I'm just impressed by Al Horford from everything he can do
32:17 and his eyes, which are obviously the most impressive thing
32:20 about him somehow.
32:22 Yeah, like, he just-- just the way he bails us out so much.
32:25 It's like, what are we going to do without this dude?
32:28 Don't worry about it.
32:29 It's never going to happen.
32:30 I used to fantasize about Smart hoisting the trophy,
32:34 and that is, like, well and truly being replaced
32:36 by Al Horford being that guy.
32:37 That is, like, a daily fantasy of mine.
32:40 Has old man strength kicked in for you guys yet?
32:43 Has not for me.
32:44 I'm still waiting for it.
32:45 About to turn 37.
32:46 Has not happened.
32:47 Feels like it will not happen.
32:49 Folks in the chat, call in.
32:51 Let us know.
32:52 Other missed points from this game, guys.
32:54 Tatum booted early from this game.
32:58 Rather early in the fourth quarter.
33:00 We do have the play here of the quote unquote foul
33:04 that led to the riffraff of the referee there.
33:06 But that one I'm not sure.
33:07 Let's take a look.
33:09 It's getting downhill, elevates.
33:11 Oh, yeah.
33:12 Guys, clear foul.
33:16 Am I wrong?
33:18 I'm so sick of these refs, dude.
33:21 Oh, my God.
33:22 Like, one, this ruined a very likely Jalen, Jason,
33:28 30 and 30 game.
33:29 And as we creep closer and closer to overtaking Jordan
33:32 and Pippen and Shaq and Kobe, that is probably, like,
33:36 one of the most important, like, records that I want
33:39 to actually achieve at some point.
33:41 So, firstly, we were robbed of that.
33:43 And Tatum, you know, came back in.
33:45 He got fouled on the two offense.
33:46 It was just an egregious three missed calls in a row.
33:51 And he was like, no, sorry, I'm sacrificing the 30 and 30.
33:54 I'm getting ejected.
33:55 And I wish he would have just -- he's just not an asshole.
33:59 And so, like, the way that he does it, he's just like,
34:02 he's like, chirpy.
34:03 He's like very -- like, relative to how demonstrative
34:06 a Luka or a Draymond or, you know, a Lebron.
34:09 Like, he's just -- he's angry, but it's so toned down
34:13 relative to these other guys that it's not even that exciting.
34:17 But I wish he would just -- he would play it up a bit
34:19 or, like, I don't know, throw a ball up in the air
34:22 or something to get your money's worth.
34:25 Yeah, for sure.
34:27 It seems like if you get in the ref's face and yell at them,
34:31 they're totally fine with that.
34:32 But, like, Tatum's like, get some fucking glasses
34:35 or whatever he said, like, while he's turning around
34:38 and, like, does, like, a little wave of the arm.
34:41 And it's like, you're out of here, buddy.
34:43 That's completely out of line.
34:44 But, like, I watch a Mavs game and Luka's like, oh, my God.
34:47 You know, he's just screaming in the ref's face.
34:49 And they're like, all right, Luka, have a good one, man.
34:52 We'll get you next time.
34:53 Like, it doesn't make any sense to me.
34:56 Yeah, and you could see Tatum getting increasingly frustrated
35:00 in this one, and he had been barking at the refs
35:02 as a result of that in the lead up to that ejection.
35:04 We've got one notable play here.
35:06 Check this out.
35:07 [INAUDIBLE]
35:10 Come on.
35:11 [INAUDIBLE]
35:13 Come on.
35:15 I can clearly hear.
35:18 Hell no, something bleeped my face, I think,
35:21 is clearly what he said there.
35:23 I thought he said that's not clean or something like that.
35:26 Now, I don't know.
35:27 I heard, like, hell no, something in my fucking face
35:29 is what I heard.
35:30 Which, if you watch the play over, like, clearly,
35:32 there was some face grazing going on there.
35:34 So rightfully angry, Jason Tatum.
35:36 And we side with you, obviously, which is we would never do.
35:39 But in this particular case, we love you, Jason Tatum.
35:41 And we think you were wrongfully ejected yet again.
35:45 Other missed points, guys?
35:46 Anything else stand out to you from this one?
35:49 No, it was just good to get back on track here
35:53 and get ready for--
35:55 we got a couple of easier--
35:58 easier stretch between the Rockets, Raptors,
36:01 and Spurs with not crazy stuff.
36:03 Just come in, take care of business.
36:06 No one plays in the fourth quarter.
36:08 Get the net rating back on track.
36:10 Everybody feels good again.
36:11 And we can just be the wagon that we've been.
36:15 Pritchard's just been playing really good recently.
36:17 Yeah, I know, right?
36:18 Like, he's been awesome.
36:20 And obviously, he racked up some points in garbage time.
36:23 But even before that, I thought he was great.
36:25 Does a good job just sticking with people defensively.
36:28 His size lets him down.
36:30 And the shooting is all the way back for Pritchard.
36:34 And he doesn't turn it over.
36:36 And he's diming people up, which is seemingly out of nowhere.
36:40 So just shout out to PP.
36:42 Yeah, I know we've sort of talked
36:44 about that position being maybe the most in need of an upgrade
36:47 as far as-- if we were going to tinker
36:49 with the theoretical playoff rotation,
36:51 it would be Peyton Pritchard.
36:53 And yeah, he's got some defensive issues,
36:55 particularly through the scope of the playoffs,
36:57 where he could be exploited.
36:59 But I just don't see us getting a better player in replacement
37:03 for Peyton Pritchard.
37:04 And maybe, Jake, we can combine this.
37:06 We've got on the Ryan sheet here.
37:07 There was a trade today between the Wiz and the Pistons, Gallo
37:10 and Mascala, the Moose, off to the Pistons.
37:13 The Wiz, I think, looking to dump some salary.
37:16 Or maybe it was the Pistons with what they sent back.
37:18 Regardless--
37:19 It was the baggily salary they were trying to get rid of.
37:22 Got it.
37:22 That's right.
37:23 Yeah, thanks for reminding me.
37:24 So Gallo and Mascala, they're now eligible to be Celtics again,
37:27 essentially.
37:28 So talking about maybe upgrading a certain playoff rotation
37:32 position there, and these guys becoming available again,
37:35 do you see any movement there with the involvement of Pritchard
37:38 and maybe getting someone like Danilo Gallinari back in green?
37:42 I think Gallo would be a great buyout guy as someone
37:46 that they utilize.
37:47 Because I assume they will utilize the 15th roster spot
37:50 at some point.
37:54 He hasn't been shooting the ball well with Washington.
37:57 But I kind of feel like I have to throw out the stats when
38:02 it comes to Gallo.
38:03 Yes, I wouldn't be in a trade for Gallo.
38:05 But as a buyout guy, I think he'd be great.
38:09 I mean, I really watched a Wizards game where Gallo was actually
38:15 playing pretty well.
38:16 And I saw the vision.
38:18 I feel like I was transported back to Brad Stevens.
38:22 And he hit a pick and pop three.
38:26 He put someone in the post.
38:28 And then I was like, "Oh, my God."
38:30 Brad just, instead of doing the Gallo thing,
38:33 he just got the all-star version of Gallinari in Porzingis.
38:38 But it's like, we have Luke.
38:40 You know, Kader is essentially just Luke, but different.
38:44 He's just like a drop big, rebound, and play defense.
38:47 That's just his job.
38:49 So if you're going to bring in another big,
38:51 have someone that can come in and play the Porzingis,
38:55 Al Horford roles in a pinch,
38:57 obviously he's not going to play anywhere near to the capability of those guys.
39:01 But yeah, can stretch the floor, can still punish mismatches.
39:04 Ironically, like another similarity, he's a great grifter,
39:07 like free throw rate and gets himself to the line.
39:10 And so him as your 15th guy for like the odd game where Porzingis misses
39:14 or Al Horford misses, defensively, it's not going to be anywhere close.
39:19 But that's why he would be a buyout guy and a 15th guy.
39:22 And I think it would be just nice.
39:24 It would be good vibes to bring Gally back and him not have a 20 seal.
39:29 Do you think you'd want to come back?
39:31 He was like weird about when he got here.
39:33 And he's like, this is my revenge game.
39:35 We're like, okay, buddy.
39:36 But yeah, there's just like zero downside to bringing either Muscala or Gallo.
39:40 If either of them get bought out, there's like,
39:42 they can eat some minutes for you.
39:45 And you're basically just taking up a spot on the roster.
39:48 That's not been filled the entire season.
39:50 So like, why not?
39:52 But on a Pritchard trade.
39:54 Yeah, I think you're right, Ben.
39:55 Like, I don't see a viable trade that's an upgrade,
39:59 especially the way Pritchard's been playing lately.
40:01 So I just think that would be really difficult.
40:04 And he's got that weird, like he's not poison.
40:07 Yeah, it is poison pill.
40:08 Yeah.
40:09 So like his salary going out is different than his salary coming in.
40:13 So then you're trading for teams who have cap space, essentially.
40:16 It's just really tough to manage that type of trade.
40:19 You can do it for sure.
40:21 And I just like, are you going to give up a first round pick to upgrade your third guard?
40:24 That seems aggressive, but maybe it's worth it.
40:28 I keep going back to the Caruso thing.
40:31 Yeah, fair.
40:32 He's the guy.
40:33 And that's the guy, because he can play guard and really he can play upper position as well.
40:39 And so you send out Pritchard plus, you know, Sfee and Stevens and whatever picks it takes to get it to happen.
40:48 And so like he makes $9 million the next two seasons and then Drew Holiday has like this $36 million player option.
40:54 Or they, no, you can make the Caruso deal work in the chat here.
40:59 It really makes $9 million this year.
41:01 You can easily get there with like Pritchard plus two or three of the bench guys.
41:07 And instead of potentially, you know, extending Drew, or you extend Drew and Caruso is on $9 million again the following year.
41:17 Drew Holiday is the big salary that you actually end up trading away when the team starts getting really expensive.
41:23 And Caruso is actually someone that I might actually trust more in crunch time.
41:31 Yeah, I think it's worth, yeah, decision making wise ball in his hand guy.
41:35 I think Caruso, I think is actually, you know, slightly higher basketball IQ.
41:42 Yeah, you can make that work either way. People in the chat yelling at me here.
41:47 Yeah, if you think, you know, two first round picks is too much to pay, then you think the price is too high.
41:52 I don't necessarily think the price is too high for someone like that, especially when you get both of those guys this year.
41:59 Yeah, I do think that there's no excuse for not doing absolutely everything you can to ensure a championship this year.
42:05 And if that includes, you know, if the possibility does present itself of getting Caruso, you do have to stack a number of salaries to include essentially like most of our deep bench.
42:14 And I think we've had enough time to not grow particularly attached to any of them and to feel somewhat indifferent about them all.
42:20 So that part of things doesn't feel particularly complicated.
42:22 And as guys continue to shake loose from a buyout market perspective, where suddenly that looks more replenishable, if there is such a word, then from our side, it seems a lot more of a viable option.
42:33 There was a talk here of opening up the required amount of roster spots in Chicago to make that happen.
42:40 You probably would have to, that would be complicated from their perspective.
42:43 So in order to incentivize them, you would have to probably splash a couple of extra second round picks to make that happen.
42:48 But we do have all those picks because of crazy old Brad Stevens during draft night earlier in the year.
42:54 And again, if you're not doing absolutely everything you can to ensure a championship is won this year, then you're failing the fan base.
43:01 And you've got to do something with those second round picks.
43:03 So I would be for including the vast majority of them in a Caruso acquisition if we can make it happen.
43:10 But all that said, there's so many other teams out there better positioned to make that trade happen for themselves, notably the Sixers perhaps, which is terrifying.
43:19 So hopefully we can get it done if for no other reason than to prevent another contender in the East getting it done as well.
43:25 I guess we should move on.
43:27 One thing I wanted to ask you guys was about the Bucks game and whether or not you have any feelings one way or the other about it.
43:34 It seemed like it was collectively, and this is through the national media as well, brushed off, which is quite a relief to see.
43:41 Spoody at the time, obviously a devastating blowout, but doesn't feel like anyone other than the very annoying Bucks fan base are really drawing much from this one.
43:51 Yeah, I did just feel that sometimes everything goes wrong and sometimes everything goes right for the other team.
43:58 And you take the rest advantage into play as well.
44:01 And Jake and I were talking about it on the playback to like, especially Dame having like four or five days off.
44:07 And like, this is a Simmons take like he's got some bad ones.
44:10 This is what I think he's like spot on with like those mid to late 30s guys can bring it like once a week, but they can't bring it every game or they can't bring it three times a week.
44:20 And we got it from Dame like he brought it.
44:24 They looked faster.
44:25 They looked up for it.
44:26 They needed that game way more than the Celtics did, too.
44:29 So I don't take a ton from it.
44:31 We beat them by 40 last year.
44:33 Well, they lost in the first round.
44:35 Maybe that's not a good example.
44:37 But I don't take much away from it other than it's annoying to be on the Internet after it.
44:43 Yeah, it was annoying to be on the Internet after it.
44:46 But what's great is that pretty much everybody besides Bucks fans didn't take the game seriously, which was great.
44:52 And to listen to the podcast of Zach Lowe and Chris Herring where they can just be like, yeah, it was really hard to take anything away from it.
44:59 And I'd be really annoyed if I was a Bucks fan, which makes me extra happy.
45:04 Yeah, that's so good to be able to draw Schadenfreude energy from a 40 point blowout loss is huge and just stacks on to this amazing team.
45:12 Stacks on to this amazing season that we're all having and having so much fun and that we can have these enjoyable, humiliating losses as well.
45:19 Let's wrap up with the upcoming schedule, guys.
45:21 The Raptors, obviously, in Toronto tomorrow.
45:23 I believe it's a public holiday, MLK Day in the USA.
45:27 They're heading up to Canada for that day off where I believe that is not celebrated.
45:31 Spoonie, can you confirm?
45:33 I don't think so.
45:34 It wouldn't make a ton of sense for Canada to celebrate it.
45:37 But maybe.
45:39 I mean, they copy us a lot.
45:41 Do they get a day off in lieu for being overseas for a public holiday?
45:45 No, I will find out.
45:47 Colin, if you know, Google it.
45:49 Look, Jaylen Brown.
45:50 Jake is questionable heading into this game with a left knee hyper extension.
45:55 Thoughts, predictions for this one.
45:57 Just looking through the last two weeks, as you know, I love to do cleaning the glass stats.
46:01 And it's not looking good for the Raptors at 27th in defense over the last two weeks per cleaning the glass overall on the season.
46:08 16th ranked offense and 21st ranked on defense.
46:11 So, they're a bad team.
46:13 We should feel good about this one, right?
46:14 Yeah, we should.
46:15 But there is something about the Raptors where I'm just like, I'm just a bit, I'm not worried about the game, but I'm like, we need to take them seriously.
46:21 But again, so they made this quickly RJ Barrett for OG and an OB trade.
46:27 And I think in a vacuum, like, probably that's a good trade for Toronto because they needed a point guard.
46:34 And like, really badly.
46:36 But as far as dealing with the Boston Celtics, those defensive numbers really surprised me.
46:41 I didn't think that it would drop that badly.
46:44 So, that's pretty much just post quickly, post a quick quickly trade, sending out OG and an OB.
46:49 It's like, they always struggle with the Celtics anyway.
46:51 And now they don't have OG and an OB to deal with Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum.
46:55 That's going to be a concern.
46:57 If we don't have Jalen, obviously that's not ideal.
47:01 And evens the scales a little bit.
47:03 But yeah, I'll be on my toes for this one.
47:05 I'm predicting a 12-point win.
47:08 I like this specific point total.
47:11 That's beautiful.
47:12 It felt like last time we played the Raptors, Scotty Barnes was super hot from three.
47:18 And that was kind of the only reason it was within touch for most of the game.
47:21 So, I mean, Scotty's actually shooting really well from three this season.
47:25 But on some of the attempts he was taking against us, I don't think that's kind of his normal production.
47:31 I used to be a big RJ, but I have some embarrassing RJ Barrett defense takes.
47:37 He's going to be awesome.
47:39 He's going to be really good.
47:40 Give him time.
47:41 Not looking too smart on those.
47:43 But if you ask Knicks fans, he defends Jason Tatum really well.
47:47 I don't know where that take comes from, but I've seen it multiple times.
47:51 So, yeah, I mean, Barrett's kind of a poor man's OG.
47:55 And quickly's good.
47:56 He's lit us up a few times.
47:58 He adds a dynamic aspect to their offense.
48:04 We got that.
48:05 Spoonie glitch!
48:06 Yeah.
48:07 That they haven't had just because they haven't had a point guard.
48:12 So, they do scare me a little bit, and they always play really hard, which is very annoying.
48:17 So, a 12-point win, I like that, Jake.
48:20 I'd probably be fairly comfortable Celtics win.
48:24 Yeah, they're 3-4 in the last two weeks of play in their last seven games.
48:27 So, hovering just below the 500 mark there, appropriately so, given those stats that we just referenced.
48:32 Coming up after that, we've got the Spurs on Wednesday night.
48:35 I feel like we know them well, so we probably don't have to touch too much on that game, having played them recently.
48:39 And then, guys, game one of the Denver Cup against the Nuggets, fortunately at home in Boston.
48:45 Last two weeks, they are 5-2, seventh offensively, tenth defensively.
48:51 Pretty good team, obviously, reigning NBA championships, best player in the league.
48:55 Nikola Jokic, my mate Dice's favorite team.
48:58 If you've been listening to this show for, really, not even that long, because I talk about it all the time,
49:02 you would know the ongoing rivalry between me and my best mate, Dice, there, regarding the Nuggets and the Celtics.
49:07 Spoonie, you feeling confident about this one?
49:09 It's a timely measuring stick game for the Celtics, I think.
49:13 Yeah, so, I always feel like we used to defend Jokic really well, and a part of that was Grant Williams.
49:18 It's insane to say, but he always did okay against Jokic.
49:23 KP, I think, historically has not been great against him.
49:27 But, yeah, who the hell's not great against Jokic?
49:30 So, be fascinated to see.
49:32 I feel like it's going to be high scoring, since we can pull Jokic out of the paint and really attack that Denver defense.
49:37 And they can't really hide Gordon on anybody to let him do that, like, Romer roll stuff.
49:42 And then, obviously, the Nuggets offense, when they want to play really well, it's like they have a switch.
49:48 They're like, "Oh, okay, we've got to go on a 12-2 run right now. Let's do that."
49:52 So, I feel like it's going to be high scoring, going to be really fun.
49:55 I don't know, man, not super confident about that one.
49:58 But it's at home. We'll protect the record, right?
50:01 Yeah, these Western Conference games are more exciting and fun than emotional for me.
50:09 Like, the games against the Bucs and the Sixers and the Heat just mean a lot more,
50:14 because you see those guys all the time, and they're part of your path to the final.
50:18 It's like, you can't really worry too much about specific teams in the West, as good as Denver is.
50:24 It's honestly more likely than not that something happens where they don't make the finals.
50:28 The odds reflect that, them being like +250 at the +300.
50:33 You're not getting minus odds on any team ever making the finals, really.
50:38 So, it's just more of a fun game, like the OKC games, just like a sick matchup.
50:43 So, I'm specifically excited to see how the Celtics deal with their offense.
50:47 I think that's the key to a series, if those two guys are going to match up.
50:53 Because I think that the Celtics' offense is going to actually match up pretty well against them.
50:58 Aaron Gordon's typically always been too slow for Tatum, and KCP kind of too small for Jalen and Tatum.
51:07 Those are their two best defenders, and they're legit good,
51:10 but the way that those guys are kind of... what they do best doesn't play super well at the Jays.
51:16 And I always say, if you can't shut down the Jays or the Celtics' offense in general,
51:21 then the Celtics are always going to have a chance.
51:23 But watching what the Nuggets did against the Pelicans, who were fully healthy the other day,
51:26 and they just tore them to shreds.
51:29 The Pelicans' defense technically got a good rating, but I don't buy it in a real setting like that.
51:36 But they just slip-walked to a 20-point blowout.
51:40 Yeah, I'm expecting to be sent the Jack Nicholson psycho-nodding meme about five times during the game.
51:46 So I'm not looking forward to this one.
51:48 But look, the Jays, they always cook the Nuggets.
51:50 And it just comes down to, like you guys have already said,
51:52 can we mitigate what they do so well offensively and slow down Nikola Jokic?
51:58 And maybe can Al Horford step up as the primary replacement Batman, now that Grant Williams is elsewhere?
52:05 So I think that's an exciting, spicy matchup, actually.
52:07 The veteran knowledge of Al Horford against the basically current GOAT, that is Nikola Jokic.
52:12 That's going to be really fun to see.
52:14 Anything else, guys, at all on your mind regarding Celtics before we wrap this one up?
52:19 Feeling good. The Boxer up one or two.
52:24 Let's see if Giannis makes his free throw against the Kings right now.
52:26 So I'm intrigued to see how this goes.
52:28 I thought you looked a little distracted.
52:30 I saw something pop up. I was like, "Hang on a second. What's going on here?"
52:34 Yeah. So that's exciting.
52:36 Awesome. We'll keep an eye on that one.
52:38 Well, look, that's going to do it for this one.
52:39 Thank you so much for joining us.
52:40 We'll be back later in the week, so make sure you sub to this channel and/or the audio pod so you don't miss anything there.
52:45 We did have Richard White, Derek's father, lined up for Thursday night,
52:48 but that's been rescheduled to next Tuesday, I believe.
52:51 So again, subscribe so you don't miss that one.
52:53 Can't wait for that one.
52:54 Spoonie, Jake, love your work, guys.
52:56 Until next time, go Celtics.
52:57 I love the Celtics!
53:00 [Music]