LIVE: Celtics vs. Mavericks NBA Finals FINAL Preview

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Transcript

00:00:00Can you say hard hats, folks?

00:00:06Hard hats, munch pails, steel-toed boots.

00:00:09Anything short of a championship this year is a failure.

00:00:11Look at this boomer right here.

00:00:13You've just got so much talent here.

00:00:15Somebody said we need to apologize for Jaylen.

00:00:17Can I call the John?

00:00:18What are we apologizing for?

00:00:20What did we say?

00:00:21What did we do?

00:00:21Check it out.

00:00:30Bobby Manning, NBA Finals Media Day.

00:00:33We were there taking it in as the Celtics and the Mavericks

00:00:36warmed up, did their thing, took to the court.

00:00:40Everybody talked.

00:00:42Everyone had a good time.

00:00:44And we got some news and notes, but for the most part,

00:00:47it was just kind of like day one slice of the NBA Finals.

00:00:51CLNS crew there in full force with Bobby, Joe Sway, Nick,

00:00:56the Boomer, Jelso, Ahmet, Richie, myself.

00:01:00It was a fun time.

00:01:01Joe Mizzoula shooting threes.

00:01:02Joe Mizzoula probably got more run

00:01:04than Porzingis, Brown, and Tatum for the portion

00:01:06that we were out there.

00:01:08But anyway, good stuff is it kind of like it's

00:01:11the beginning, right?

00:01:13And this is day one, and we got to talk to everybody.

00:01:16And we're here to talk to you guys.

00:01:18NBA Finals Media Day was today.

00:01:21Game one of the Eastern, of the Eastern, of the NBA Finals

00:01:25is tomorrow.

00:01:27So we made it, guys.

00:01:28It should have tipped.

00:01:29It'll tip off in 24 hours, right?

00:01:33Yes, it will.

00:01:34Well, unless they do like a 9 o'clock start,

00:01:37as they're prone to do, despite the 30 listed time.

00:01:41But yeah, we're finally there.

00:01:44And it's been ridiculous, John.

00:01:46You know this from Super Bowl week.

00:01:48This is even worse than that, it feels like.

00:01:51The lead up, and just all the talk,

00:01:53and all the pods we've done, and 100 interviews,

00:01:57and everybody just asked the same question

00:01:59over and over and over again.

00:02:00I'm ready for these damn games to tip off.

00:02:04Like this has been out of this world.

00:02:06I bet this year, John, is going to make them move it up

00:02:09in the future, if they ever have a,

00:02:12and you know, it's probably tough with international travel

00:02:15and stuff like that.

00:02:16But man, this was a brutal layoff with both teams

00:02:19getting it done under five games.

00:02:21So I'm thrilled we're finally here.

00:02:23Yeah, we did it, we made it,

00:02:25and we're happy that you guys made it as well.

00:02:27And we know that the real stuff starts tomorrow.

00:02:28So in keeping with the tradition

00:02:30of everything that we've been doing,

00:02:33we wanted to jump back on here and talk with you guys.

00:02:36And we'll start with some news and notes

00:02:37from practice today.

00:02:39This comes as no surprise.

00:02:41Chris Dabs Porzingis confirmed he's playing

00:02:43in game one of the NBA finals again.

00:02:45Pretty much confirmed it and said that was the plan

00:02:48when we spoke to him yesterday at the RBAC Center.

00:02:51Came back out there today, a little bit more of the same.

00:02:54Again, he's stopping well short of saying he's 100%.

00:02:57We did talk to some other guys about how he looked there.

00:03:01And Bobby, I want your impression

00:03:02on what those guys said there as well.

00:03:05You were in there when I asked Al about it,

00:03:07and I know Luke talked about it a little as well.

00:03:09But here's KP once again,

00:03:11just kind of talking about his readiness

00:03:13and availability for tomorrow's game one.

00:03:17It's tough to say.

00:03:18I haven't played.

00:03:19I haven't played for a while,

00:03:20and tomorrow will be my real,

00:03:24first real minutes in a while, you know?

00:03:27So I did as much as I could to prepare for this moment,

00:03:31but there's nothing like game minutes and game experience,

00:03:35you know, that I'm going to get tomorrow.

00:03:38It'll be tough, but to jump into the finals like this,

00:03:41you know, but I did everything I could to prepare for it.

00:03:44And we'll see you tomorrow night.

00:03:46Does that make you apprehensive at all

00:03:48about playing and the uncertainty

00:03:50of knowing if you're quite 100% to go?

00:03:53What does apprehensive mean?

00:03:56Kind of cautious.

00:03:57Cautious? No, no, no, no, no.

00:03:58Not cautious.

00:03:59I'm going to be out there like-

00:04:00Nervous.

00:04:01I mean, no.

00:04:03I, no.

00:04:04I do this.

00:04:05I've came back from multiple injuries.

00:04:08I've had these first games back.

00:04:09Of course, not at this stage,

00:04:11but at the end, it's just basketball.

00:04:12And of course, the intensity is a little bit higher,

00:04:14but I have to go out there and play like it's,

00:04:18like it's a basketball game

00:04:20and an important basketball game.

00:04:21And that's it.

00:04:22I don't need to, you know, think too much or,

00:04:25or, you know, yeah, just overthink out there.

00:04:27Just go out there and hope.

00:04:30So first off, I want to ask,

00:04:31who's the translator there

00:04:33that said apprehensive means cautious?

00:04:36It doesn't.

00:04:37It means a little bit fearful, anxious.

00:04:40She switched to nervous.

00:04:42She switched to nervous.

00:04:43That's fine.

00:04:45But yeah, I mean, there is a little bit of fear there.

00:04:49Now my question to you, Bobby,

00:04:50and I don't want to spend the entire show

00:04:52reading into KP.

00:04:53I think we're well,

00:04:55I think everyone has reached the conclusion.

00:04:57Yeah, he's coming in less than a hundred percent,

00:04:59whether it's less than a hundred percent health

00:05:01or whether it's less than a hundred percent conditioning

00:05:04and or confidence there.

00:05:06But that's kind of my question to you.

00:05:08How much is confidence versus like,

00:05:12I don't know what I can do

00:05:13because I haven't tried yet

00:05:14versus knowing I'm not there.

00:05:17You know, like which one do you think

00:05:18is more in his head right now?

00:05:21It's definitely, I'm not there.

00:05:23Like personally, not having the reps,

00:05:27not having everything he wants to do

00:05:29to be able to prepare and ramp up for an NBA final series.

00:05:33And he talked a little bit about there

00:05:36that he's done this before, but not at this level.

00:05:38And so there's certainly a environment factor here.

00:05:42Like, I wonder, would he be saying all this

00:05:44if he was coming back into the second round?

00:05:46You know, there's probably more of an ability

00:05:49to feel things out and less pressure in that situation

00:05:52to come back and play it.

00:05:53It's obviously, it's make or break now.

00:05:56And you're going to be called on to play much more minutes

00:05:59and greater minutes against the opposing team starters.

00:06:03All this stuff we talked about yesterday.

00:06:04So you came up with that here yesterday, John,

00:06:07that this is more mental conditioning,

00:06:11his own preparedness personally,

00:06:13rather than anything stemming

00:06:15from the actual physical injury here.

00:06:17Because he's not even on the injury report anymore.

00:06:20So there's clearly nothing medical here

00:06:24that he's on edge about.

00:06:25It doesn't even seem like there's a question

00:06:27about his ability physically.

00:06:30That's the thing is like, from my perspective,

00:06:32if the only thing dusting off here is rust,

00:06:35health is not an issue.

00:06:37He's fine.

00:06:38He's just not sure because he hasn't gone full tilt

00:06:42and has to go from zero to 100 fast.

00:06:44And it just isn't sure how he's going to be able to compete

00:06:48at this level, almost kind of like,

00:06:50well, I missed six weeks and I'm just thrust right into it.

00:06:53Apprehension over performance is different

00:06:56than apprehension over how is my body,

00:07:00like, is my injury healed enough for me to go out there

00:07:06and put myself on the line like this?

00:07:08That's what I'm not sure what he's worried about.

00:07:11Totally natural to be like, I don't know how I'm going to be

00:07:14because I got to jump in and play in the NBA fricking finals

00:07:16after being off for six weeks.

00:07:18That's fine.

00:07:19That could be a feeling you have

00:07:21if you just had like a stomach ache or something like,

00:07:23you just, whatever.

00:07:24And it's better, right?

00:07:25Because I don't think there's going to be a-

00:07:27That's better.

00:07:28That's better than, I'm not right.

00:07:31They're saying I'm right, but I know I'm not.

00:07:33So I don't know what's going to happen

00:07:35or how my body's going to react.

00:07:37I don't know if he's reacting to injury or rust.

00:07:39Rust is much better.

00:07:41Yeah, that's what Joe-

00:07:42And the greatest con of all time

00:07:43in the first Apology Cam in the history of Zanis,

00:07:46he comes out and he just starts,

00:07:48he starts doing everything and just looks over and winks

00:07:51like, yeah, I fucking fooled you guys.

00:07:53Hold on.

00:07:54There you go.

00:07:55That's not happening right now.

00:07:56We'll see.

00:07:58We'll see.

00:08:00We'll see. We'll see.

00:08:02So get it off the screen.

00:08:05It's all right.

00:08:06So we'll see.

00:08:07But that would make me feel better if it's simply a,

00:08:10yeah, man, I don't know.

00:08:11I haven't played ball at this level in a while,

00:08:13but I'm okay.

00:08:14I wish he would have said something along those lines.

00:08:17Like, the leg is fine.

00:08:18I'm good.

00:08:19I can move.

00:08:20I can spring.

00:08:21I can do all the things I was doing before.

00:08:22I'm moving well.

00:08:23I feel great.

00:08:24Like, if he'd said that to allay some concerns,

00:08:27you'd feel better about it.

00:08:29But he didn't say that.

00:08:30He just said,

00:08:31I've done everything I could possibly do to this point.

00:08:33Meaning, I did the rehab.

00:08:36I'm as ready as I'm going to be at this point and let's go.

00:08:38So that's kind of where we're at.

00:08:39Well, Joe used that word rust specifically

00:08:41is the main thing they're looking at here.

00:08:43And if it's rust, I don't care.

00:08:45Yeah, if it's rust and game shape, I don't, that's fine.

00:08:48You'll live with that.

00:08:49If he's just physically limited, like I said,

00:08:52you mentioned OG.

00:08:53I'm not comparing the two injuries,

00:08:55but we mentioned OG being so obviously physically limited

00:09:00to the point that one, two trips down the court,

00:09:02you're like, he doesn't have it.

00:09:04If Porzingis is so physically limited,

00:09:07he's getting smoked on lobs.

00:09:08He can't get any lift on any of his shots

00:09:11and this and that, and it's evident,

00:09:13you'll be like, uh-oh, that's a different story.

00:09:16Then you're talking about whether he's playable, period,

00:09:18as opposed to, okay, he's not in game shape yet,

00:09:21but he can go out there

00:09:23and give you five good minutes right now

00:09:24and then take a breather and then back out here.

00:09:26So yeah, that would be great.

00:09:29Yeah, and that means there's no physical minutes limit,

00:09:31which makes sense because we keep asking about that

00:09:34and what the plan is medically,

00:09:35and Joe doesn't have the answer

00:09:36and Chris Steps today didn't have the answer on that

00:09:38in terms of whether there would be

00:09:40some specific minutes limit or something like that.

00:09:42So if there isn't one,

00:09:44you would think there would be one day before the game

00:09:46that you think they'd have that planned out by this point.

00:09:48So there might not be one at this point.

00:09:50It might just be full go for as long as you can go,

00:09:53for as long as you can play well.

00:09:55And that still enters the concern I had yesterday

00:09:57of does Joe have the right feel for he has it,

00:10:02who should close, when should he play against who,

00:10:06those sort of things.

00:10:07Cause I think it is a little different

00:10:08integrating a guy like that to this position.

00:10:11But according to Joe,

00:10:13in the times we've talked to him so far, it's just full go.

00:10:16Yeah, you go in there, you know how to play.

00:10:19Chris Steps said the same thing

00:10:20that Joe said previously today

00:10:22in terms of I've played basketball my whole life.

00:10:24I know how to do this.

00:10:25I've come back from injuries.

00:10:27It's not any different other than the environment here.

00:10:29So it's good news certainly.

00:10:32And we didn't see a ton of them today.

00:10:33It looked like he was trying to shoot off each leg

00:10:35and get a feel for that as practice was beginning.

00:10:38We'll see what Joe says in terms of how

00:10:40this practice went today

00:10:42and what they actually were able to do here.

00:10:43But I did talk to Luke for a little bit

00:10:45about just what those practices looked like,

00:10:47the higher intensity ones that he was able to go through.

00:10:50And it was, you know, defense.

00:10:52It was getting up and down the court more often.

00:10:55It was just putting him in those positions,

00:10:57the physical positions that he had been in previously.

00:11:01I got a Luke bite.

00:11:02Let's put it up and see if it's what you're talking about.

00:11:05Yeah, he's been doing great.

00:11:07I mean, it's just been like a-

00:11:08Where's his head?

00:11:09Gradual ramp up, you know, the entire time.

00:11:11And he's been able to have like a good stretch now

00:11:13of like getting in some high intensive days.

00:11:15He's too tall.

00:11:17Yeah, I think he's ready for it.

00:11:18I think he's ready for the moment.

00:11:19Obviously they've been in the weight room

00:11:21and treatment and all that stuff.

00:11:22Like there's a whole lot that goes into that,

00:11:24but there's a bit of ability to kind of

00:11:27build the body back up and then,

00:11:30yeah, really get to being able to play

00:11:32and actually get up and down and stuff like that

00:11:34has been great for him.

00:11:34And I think he's ready and we're ready

00:11:37to welcome him back and have him back in the lineup.

00:11:39What were some of those high intensity days like,

00:11:41especially preparing for a series like this

00:11:42for you guys as a whole, you know, the last couple of days?

00:11:45Yeah, I mean, like it started off with him

00:11:47just ramping up like on-court workouts

00:11:48that were more individual and then kind of progressing

00:11:51into, yeah, just playing live and getting in defensive work

00:11:54and more physical type stuff.

00:11:55So, I mean, the training room does a good job

00:11:58of kind of scheduling all that up and ramping it up

00:12:01to getting into like live play and stuff like that.

00:12:04So, yeah, I'll be ready.

00:12:06How has Chris Epps looked to you in these few days

00:12:08that he's been back?

00:12:09Obviously you talked about-

00:12:10There's John's first question of the year.

00:12:11How has Chris Epps looked to himself?

00:12:13It's enormous, but does he look to be moving okay?

00:12:16Does he feel like close to 100% to you

00:12:18from what you've seen?

00:12:21Yeah, I mean, I felt like he's looked good,

00:12:23you know, and Chris Epps, he's more of a gamer.

00:12:29So, I know when the game comes around

00:12:30and if he says he's playing, he's gonna be ready to roll.

00:12:35So, Al's bite was less confidence-inspiring than Luke's.

00:12:40Al dodged 100%.

00:12:42He's like, ah, well, he'll be good in the game, you know?

00:12:45That was my read off of that.

00:12:46That was a classic Al answer.

00:12:49Yeah, yeah.

00:12:51Yeah, I was just gonna say stay tight to the vest with-

00:12:55But I got lost in his eyes.

00:12:56I couldn't follow up.

00:12:57I couldn't follow up.

00:12:58I wanted to.

00:12:59Well, I will say the first-

00:13:01Al, 38 years old now.

00:13:03The first three questions were like TV questions.

00:13:05Like, isn't it awesome to be here?

00:13:07And then the next three were in Spanish.

00:13:09So, we got like two Al Horford.

00:13:11There were like three total Al Horford questions in there.

00:13:14So, it was-

00:13:14A lot of Spanish for Chris Epps too.

00:13:16Everyone was kind of in the scrum.

00:13:17Like, he speaks Spanish and then they just fired away.

00:13:19Luka too.

00:13:20Luka's, you know, Luka's good like that.

00:13:23Yeah, it was one of those kind of days.

00:13:26Which is fine.

00:13:26But when you're on the clock with 10 minutes,

00:13:28you're like, I gotta get my questions in.

00:13:29So, yeah, we didn't get much with Al.

00:13:31He was out there early and then left early.

00:13:33And yeah, he's got dreamy eyes

00:13:34and that's all that matters here.

00:13:36But Al's geeked up.

00:13:37Al seemed pretty happy talking to X-Man.

00:13:40He was really geeked up today too.

00:13:43He might get some minutes.

00:13:45He's such a good dude.

00:13:46I'd love to get something.

00:13:47You got that sense from him?

00:13:48Oh yeah.

00:13:49But he was just, he's in a really good mood.

00:13:52And like, he's thought all of his answers are thoughtful.

00:13:54And like, I don't know if he's gearing up to play,

00:13:56but like, you know, they put him out there on the podium

00:13:59instead of with the Stay Ready crew.

00:14:00And, you know, the guys, you know, out there, you know.

00:14:04Again, this feels like a Tillman series potentially

00:14:07in the sense that like, he might rotate in a little,

00:14:11especially if Porzingis is limited in the early going,

00:14:14but we'll see.

00:14:15I like playing big in this series.

00:14:18I think he's gonna, I think you can see him with Al.

00:14:20I think he can do that a little bit.

00:14:21I think he's switchable.

00:14:23So I think defensively, they like that,

00:14:26but we know that Joe hates the fact that he can't shoot.

00:14:28He even joked about it, Tillman.

00:14:31Like, hey, have you just been kind of like,

00:14:33have you been practicing a ton of threes here

00:14:35during this layoff?

00:14:35And he was like, but not really.

00:14:36And he goes, actually, yeah, yeah, I have.

00:14:39So I really think they want Tillman to be able to camp out

00:14:46in that corner and hit, let's say hit 35% of open threes.

00:14:51He's never gonna get enough attempts to even get to like,

00:14:54you know, whatever, you know, the 35% mark.

00:14:57But like-

00:14:58Yeah, and that was the tough part

00:14:58of gauging who he was as a shooter,

00:15:00because he just didn't get enough up.

00:15:01Just didn't get enough.

00:15:02It was like one in a game.

00:15:04Yeah, so it'll be tough.

00:15:06Yeah, I mean, the series is gonna start, I think,

00:15:10with trying to integrate more guys in rather than less,

00:15:13especially if you don't have a good feel

00:15:14for where Porzingis is at.

00:15:16You try to go a little easy on him.

00:15:17I think you were talking about the five minutes since, John,

00:15:21and then at that point, you're going into the bench

00:15:22and playing some double big or going with a Hauser.

00:15:25I know Hauser today was talking about

00:15:27having some confidence that he's gonna be able

00:15:29to get some spot opportunities here in this series.

00:15:31So that could be part of easing in Porzingis

00:15:34is utilizing the bench a little bit more early

00:15:36in this series.

00:15:37But as we've said, John, the finals are like

00:15:40you're six, seven guys playing 40 minutes

00:15:43and you're not gonna see much

00:15:44of the other team's bench, right?

00:15:46So if you're going with a Hauser, Pritchard, Toman lineup,

00:15:50you're gonna be seeing Luka and Kyrie on the other side

00:15:53and it might not be pretty.

00:15:54So I don't know how long you can do that.

00:15:57And Joe has obviously said 500 times

00:15:59the regular season and the playoffs are the same.

00:16:02That might've been true so far,

00:16:03but the finals are a little bit different at this stage.

00:16:05Like it's a dead sprint.

00:16:08Yeah, you're matching minutes here.

00:16:11It's gonna be like hockey changes.

00:16:12You see their guys go over the boards.

00:16:15You're gonna send your guys back out over.

00:16:17Like you're not gonna allow yourself to be in a position

00:16:20where you're gonna have Luka and Kyrie out there

00:16:23at the same time against the lineup

00:16:25that they're absolutely going to exploit match-ups.

00:16:27So they're gonna be smart.

00:16:29And as you said, the beauty of the first three games

00:16:32is the days off in between

00:16:34and the amount of rest that you've had.

00:16:36You can comfortably play all of your starters 40 minutes

00:16:39each of the first two or three games and be okay.

00:16:41And that's what I expect that they're gonna do here.

00:16:43So I'm not super worried about rotations or who comes in.

00:16:47It really only is the trickle-down effect.

00:16:49If Porzingis starts to play,

00:16:51realize early that he doesn't have it

00:16:53and they really reduce his minutes

00:16:54and have to change the rotations on the fly.

00:16:56Because again, Bobby,

00:16:57you have to assume at this point, right?

00:16:59They've got an idea.

00:17:01They're gonna start Chris Dapps.

00:17:02They're probably gonna get him out at that first break,

00:17:04which means-

00:17:05I think Chris Dapps starts, yeah.

00:17:06I think he starts,

00:17:07which means Al's gonna probably come in

00:17:08and close that first quarter

00:17:10and then it's gonna be in there.

00:17:11And then what?

00:17:12Do you go with a double big

00:17:14and X-Man with Al to start that second quarter

00:17:16before you rotate Chris Dapps back in at some point?

00:17:18How is that gonna look?

00:17:20That's fine.

00:17:21You might have an idea how that's gonna go.

00:17:23But if Chris Dapps on that first stint

00:17:24doesn't look like he has it,

00:17:26and you're like,

00:17:26I don't know what I'm gonna do on the second one,

00:17:28or you start to realize he's limited

00:17:31and I'm gonna have to change how I use him now,

00:17:34then it's gonna mess things up a little bit

00:17:36and create a weird little trickle-down effect

00:17:38where all of a sudden you might start needing-

00:17:40It's almost like foul trouble, you know?

00:17:41Guy gets in foul trouble,

00:17:42you gotta blow up your rotations and figure it out.

00:17:45Porzingis could end up in that situation

00:17:47if he's not himself.

00:17:49So we'll see, we'll see.

00:17:51Yeah, and there could be some foul trouble here

00:17:52potentially too, real foul trouble.

00:17:54So that's a factor as well as they try to attack Matros.

00:17:57But you know how it's gonna go.

00:17:59They're gonna go at him right away,

00:18:01maybe even on the first possession.

00:18:03And the Celtics are gonna try to integrate him pretty early

00:18:06and try to get him a good look and just get him involved.

00:18:08I think that's pretty obvious here.

00:18:10When you go back and look at that first game,

00:18:13they switched Luka onto KP, first two plays,

00:18:18two of the first plays of the game,

00:18:20and he drew fouls on both of them.

00:18:22So boom, two, three minutes into the game,

00:18:24four, five minutes into the game.

00:18:25Oh my God, that's happening instantly.

00:18:26I mean, immediately, if KP starts,

00:18:29they're going right to that one-five pick and roll

00:18:32and they're gonna put him in an action there and get-

00:18:33Yeah, I'm saying on the other end too though.

00:18:36Like they're gonna utilize him to go at Luka and-

00:18:38They are, but the Mavericks are gonna attack him

00:18:41right away, like a lot, and they're gonna test him

00:18:44and they're gonna test him if he drops on the lobs

00:18:48and if he can get back there and what that's gonna be like,

00:18:50they're going right at him.

00:18:52So he's not gonna have time to ease into it.

00:18:55You could get a pretty good feel

00:18:56for how this game's gonna go

00:18:58off the first three, four possessions,

00:19:00because you know where you're going

00:19:02if you're both of these teams and who handles it better,

00:19:05who stays out of foul trouble,

00:19:06who's able to defend straight up.

00:19:08It's gonna be a hard series to hedge for both teams.

00:19:11Washington and those guys can make you pay if you're Boston

00:19:14and they're gonna try it,

00:19:15but they might make you pay early on in a game like this.

00:19:18The Celtics, certainly.

00:19:19Are you trying to like hide Luka on Drew?

00:19:21Drew might be able to give it to him a couple of times there

00:19:24or you can send Chris Stapps at him

00:19:26in some screening actions.

00:19:27So those first couple,

00:19:29beyond like how excited we are to see this series get going,

00:19:32you are gonna see a lot.

00:19:34You're gonna learn a lot

00:19:35from the first couple of possessions here.

00:19:37I know we talked to Perk today

00:19:39and he, like many nationally,

00:19:41is saying this is gonna be really tough for Boston.

00:19:43Like this is not gonna be an easy series.

00:19:44This is not gonna be an easy win.

00:19:46Well, why are you saying it?

00:19:48Why don't we let Perk say it?

00:19:50Yeah, I'll follow up on it after.

00:19:54Here's, we did get a chance to catch up

00:19:58with Kendrick Perkins, who was there with ESPN

00:20:01with his own makeup person, I'll have you know.

00:20:04That was pretty cool, right?

00:20:07He was looking ESPN ready on the Garn report.

00:20:09He's ESPN ready.

00:20:10He's getting all dolled up.

00:20:11Perkins of Locker Room and whatever.

00:20:14What was it?

00:20:15Was it Locker Room when we had him on?

00:20:16Locker Room, yeah, our sponsor.

00:20:19Of Locker Room fame back in the early days

00:20:21when we would chat with y'all the whole time.

00:20:23Perk did multiple appearances and they were awesome.

00:20:27But Perk remembered us now that he's a big ESPN star

00:20:31and started it up and he talked with Bobby

00:20:34and Joe Sway, here it is.

00:20:37How's the city been treating you

00:20:37since you've been back the last 24 hours?

00:20:39It's been great.

00:20:41I mean, in person, obviously, you know,

00:20:43you had the trolls on the internet,

00:20:45which I could care less about.

00:20:47But in person, it's been a lot of love.

00:20:51You know, I'm staying at the Encore,

00:20:53great casino, great restaurant.

00:20:55I ate good.

00:20:56I had a great time.

00:20:57I've been having a great time.

00:20:59Wait, why did we play that bite?

00:21:02Jay, the first bite, not the intro, guys.

00:21:06Perk had a good steak.

00:21:11Yeah, but he went on to say.

00:21:12Let's get the first soundbite and not the greeting

00:21:15and then we'll talk about it in a little bit.

00:21:17He went on to say it's gonna be tough here.

00:21:19We'll get it, we'll get it.

00:21:20That's what I was about to get into here, John.

00:21:23I think the first game could surprise us a little bit.

00:21:27I think it could surprise people

00:21:28in terms of just the firepower,

00:21:31the punch that Dallas throws here.

00:21:33Because every series, right,

00:21:36that Heat series, you know,

00:21:37you're going into it and you're like,

00:21:39ooh, it's the Heat.

00:21:40I don't know.

00:21:41And then, like, they just mash the Heat,

00:21:43that first sequence.

00:21:44And Spolster's running on the court calling timeout

00:21:46and they're down like 12 to two.

00:21:48Same thing happened against Cleveland.

00:21:50Same thing happened against Indy.

00:21:52You go back and look at game one of all three series,

00:21:54the Celtics shot out to, like, 12-2, 15-2 leads.

00:21:58Like, big, big leads right off the bat

00:22:00in each of those series.

00:22:02You might actually see it go the other way in this series.

00:22:05Like, Luka hits a couple of threes.

00:22:07They get a couple of those lobs to go.

00:22:10You're ignoring, like, a Washington and he hits his shots.

00:22:13And so, this is gonna be a series of constant adjustment,

00:22:16as Joe talked about.

00:22:17Like, you are just gonna constantly be shaking up

00:22:20what you're doing here defensively against this team.

00:22:23And so, again, that first impression you get

00:22:25in this series, I think, is gonna mean a lot right here.

00:22:27And it's not gonna decide the series,

00:22:29the first five minutes,

00:22:31but you're gonna get a pretty good feel here

00:22:32of, ooh, the Celtics are in control here.

00:22:35They're ready for this.

00:22:36Or, ooh, Dallas has something to say in this series.

00:22:41Like, you're gonna get a pretty good tone setter.

00:22:44You will, but I think there's gonna be,

00:22:45I mean, not to be super generic about it,

00:22:48there's gonna be a lot of,

00:22:50I wouldn't be too, I'm not gonna get too high

00:22:52when it goes up or too low if they go down.

00:22:55Because, I mean, a lot can change.

00:22:56And also, obviously, the Luka factor, the Kyrie factor,

00:23:01any of these guys can get hot.

00:23:02You've seen Luka start a half going three of 12

00:23:08and then just absolutely catch fire.

00:23:10And, you know, I mean, there's guys capable of that

00:23:12on both sides of the ball, obviously, with the Jays, too.

00:23:14So, there's talent out there that can erase leads fast.

00:23:19It really comes down to how are you defending them

00:23:23and how are they defending you, you know?

00:23:24And whose offense is able to operate closer

00:23:27to its highest level and which defense is disrupting,

00:23:32disrupting things here.

00:23:34We'll get into that in a little bit.

00:23:35I also wanna talk about a couple of our fine sponsors here.

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00:23:53Are you cool, Bobby?

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00:23:57It's like 88 out.

00:24:01But again, we're excited to cover the NBA finals.

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00:26:59What are you laughing about?

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00:27:04Yeah, Nick, just get us the duck.

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00:27:23Back to the series here and back to the Perk Byte.

00:27:26We're calling this the real Perk Byte.

00:27:28And here's Perk.

00:27:30He ruffles feathers.

00:27:31You know why?

00:27:32Because he doesn't just say,

00:27:33Boston's gonna win it all, I'm with the Celtics.

00:27:37He's not just a straight up homer.

00:27:39And anybody who's not a homer,

00:27:41we have learned over time is what Bobby?

00:27:44A hater.

00:27:45Okay.

00:27:46So some people think Perk's a little bit of a hater,

00:27:48but here's his honest opinion.

00:27:49And I believe he has picked the Celtics,

00:27:51but he doesn't think it's gonna be easy.

00:27:53What about these Celtics?

00:27:54How are you feeling about their chances in this series?

00:27:56Well, I got them picked to win this series in seven.

00:28:00You know, a lot of people around town have been asking me,

00:28:03you know, is it going to be in five?

00:28:07I'm like, no, it's gonna be a tough series.

00:28:09Like, you know, do not disrespect the Dallas Mavericks.

00:28:13They're here for a reason.

00:28:16And I just feel like, you know,

00:28:18embrace the moment.

00:28:19Nothing is a given, right?

00:28:20When it comes down to the NBA finals

00:28:23and you gotta go take it.

00:28:24Everything is earned, nothing is given.

00:28:28There it is.

00:28:29Kendrick Perkins hanging out with Bobby Manning.

00:28:31Celtics in seven.

00:28:33You can check out that full interview

00:28:36on our Celtics all access channel.

00:28:38Please subscribe to that channel.

00:28:40Subscribe to our main channel.

00:28:42You can go either place to catch us live.

00:28:44And I'm sure many people are both places.

00:28:47Tons of content on both channels,

00:28:48press conferences and all of our segments

00:28:51from the garden with Bobby.

00:28:54You're gonna see Nick Jelso in one, okay?

00:28:55So go check out Nick.

00:28:57He's on the Celtics all access channel.

00:28:58Jumped up there.

00:28:59He wanted to show the record,

00:29:03to let the record show,

00:29:04Nick Jelso is at the NBA finals.

00:29:06The happiest guy in the world right now

00:29:09hanging out, covering the finals

00:29:10with the rest of the CLNS crew

00:29:11and it's gonna be a lot of fun.

00:29:13So get back to it, Bobby.

00:29:14Where did we, which directions did you wanna go in here

00:29:17before I got into the sponsor stuff?

00:29:20Yeah, Perk said Celtics in seven

00:29:23and I don't agree.

00:29:26I have them in six.

00:29:27I do think they'll be able to handle Dallas

00:29:30a little bit more manageably than that.

00:29:32But if it is a seven at home

00:29:36with everything on the line,

00:29:38that's where you get a little nervous at that point.

00:29:42I mean, you'll have lost three games at that point.

00:29:46You're probably gonna have some issues

00:29:48going on defensively or in some other area,

00:29:51maybe Porzingis isn't himself.

00:29:53This Celtics team, have they lost three games

00:29:56over a six game stretch all year?

00:29:57I can't imagine so.

00:29:59So if you're going to a game seven in this series,

00:30:02something went wrong or Dallas just played

00:30:06so far over their head

00:30:08that they rattled off three victories over you.

00:30:11And all of a sudden you're at home with that pressure,

00:30:13with the crowd, maybe a little tense.

00:30:16You're playing a little tense in that case,

00:30:18depending on how it goes the game before that.

00:30:22I wouldn't love that.

00:30:23If you're in a game seven in Boston

00:30:25a couple of weeks from now,

00:30:28I don't know, John,

00:30:29would you be feeling good at that point?

00:30:33I mean, no, but I never feel good.

00:30:36I mean, I don't.

00:30:40You don't feel good right now?

00:30:42I do, but I think this, look,

00:30:45people will hate hearing this

00:30:46because it's going to sound like it's a dig,

00:30:50but it's not.

00:30:51The Celtics are better front runners.

00:30:52That being said, I know they've done well

00:30:55in the clutch here,

00:30:56but against lesser opponents who are somewhat limited,

00:31:00but they've played well in the clutch,

00:31:02which is great to see.

00:31:04But look, I like them out in front of the pack,

00:31:06just dropping the hammer on people,

00:31:09having the threes rain down,

00:31:10focusing in on defense and just putting teams away.

00:31:13They did that a lot.

00:31:14I mean, you look at the ridiculous statistics.

00:31:16I don't have them in front of me, Bobby,

00:31:17but the amount of 20 point leads

00:31:19this team built up all season.

00:31:21I mean, that's what they did.

00:31:22They just came at you so hard and fast,

00:31:24so many different ways.

00:31:26And all of a sudden,

00:31:26sometimes you'd feel that you were in a game

00:31:28and then you were down 22 points

00:31:30and you're like, what happened?

00:31:31So when they kind of just drop the hammer on people

00:31:37is really where they go.

00:31:38I don't want to see them in battles and in wars.

00:31:41I mean, recent success notwithstanding,

00:31:46I like them when they're running out ahead of the pack

00:31:48and getting their shots

00:31:49and everything's kind of flowing and falling.

00:31:51I don't want to see them tighten up.

00:31:53I don't want to see them going ISO.

00:31:54I don't want to see Tatum trying to match Luca,

00:31:56putting the ball in his hands and letting him do it.

00:31:59He's not the same guy.

00:32:00He can't do what Luca can do offensively in that regard,

00:32:03controlling every single aspect of things.

00:32:05I want to see them play their team game,

00:32:07build those leads, make other teams chase them,

00:32:09and then just be able to hold them off.

00:32:11And that's, I'd rather see that,

00:32:13but I don't know exactly how it's going to go.

00:32:16Because again, there's so much with the KP factor.

00:32:17I'll ask you this though.

00:32:19What's your biggest fear for the Celtics here in the finals?

00:32:21Like what's your nightmare scenario?

00:32:22Like if this happens, oh man,

00:32:26this is going to throw the whole thing.

00:32:27And Porzingis is an easy one.

00:32:29So let's skip that.

00:32:30Porzingis not being right.

00:32:32And or, you know, literally just playing himself

00:32:35off the floor and not being able to compete

00:32:38is the biggest fear.

00:32:40But beyond that, just in terms of how the Celtics play

00:32:43and how they approach this.

00:32:45I think it's the shots turning off

00:32:47because in this series,

00:32:49you're going up against the Dallas team that shot

00:32:51the second most threes in the NBA, you know,

00:32:54out of their attempts.

00:32:55So they're a team that gets up

00:32:56as many threes as you fairly easily.

00:32:59They get them up in a different way.

00:33:00I know Jared was on Celtics Beat talking about that.

00:33:03Like you might be going around a screen

00:33:05closer to half court.

00:33:07You might be catching the ball in odd positions

00:33:09if you're Dallas.

00:33:10And certainly those rollers put heavy pressure

00:33:13on the basket in a way that could lead to some kickouts.

00:33:16You're going to probably be ignoring one of those shooters.

00:33:18So that opens the door to a wide open shooter

00:33:21that may be getting going in this series.

00:33:23So the shooting thing always scares you

00:33:25and not to boil it down to make shots, miss shots,

00:33:28but your reliance on the three in this series

00:33:30is going to be interesting to watch

00:33:31because you haven't gone to the post

00:33:33as much in the playoffs, it feels like.

00:33:35You haven't had that Porzingis factor in there.

00:33:37So is he able to get going to go back to that concern

00:33:41that you have here in this series?

00:33:42But to me, it is, what are you looking like

00:33:45if your shooting turns off a little bit

00:33:47in a couple of these games?

00:33:48Because particularly in the isolation,

00:33:51I'm going to be watching Dallas's defense, John.

00:33:54Have they really improved to the point where, you know,

00:33:58in the final 15 games of the year,

00:33:59the number one defense was Dallas.

00:34:01Playoffs, I think they're in the top five, six

00:34:04of defenses out of the playoff teams.

00:34:06So is that for real?

00:34:07Is this a different defense than you saw on March 1st

00:34:10with the new personnel and everything else?

00:34:12You know, Daniel Gafford only played five minutes

00:34:14in the last game that these two teams

00:34:15played against each other.

00:34:16Is he taking away the rim from you?

00:34:18Those kinds of things you're looking at here

00:34:20and you're saying, are the Celtics going to go through

00:34:22some stagnant periods here in this series?

00:34:25Because, you know, let's look at the points per game here.

00:34:29You know, the offensive average,

00:34:30beyond what we're talking about here, John,

00:34:33with like the increased physicality that they've allowed

00:34:35in the second half of the year.

00:34:37You know, the Celtics have kind of slid down

00:34:41just a little bit efficiency wise into the playoffs.

00:34:43It feels like, you know, they're hovering

00:34:45around the same points per 100,

00:34:49but it's 122 in the regular season.

00:34:53So that's the number where you're just like mashing teams

00:34:56and running away from them and dominating everybody

00:34:59to 119, which is still second in the playoffs,

00:35:02but it's just that little rung below

00:35:04what you're doing in the regular season.

00:35:06So that's a little bit of periods of lapses.

00:35:10That's a little bit of going against some tougher defenses

00:35:13that made it hard on you.

00:35:14That's a little bit of Tatum shooting worse, right?

00:35:16In different periods of this post season.

00:35:18So if all those things come back into play here,

00:35:20that's when you're playing in close games.

00:35:23That's when you're, you know,

00:35:24maybe going down to the last shot

00:35:25with a Luca in that situation.

00:35:28The game just being a little bit tighter here in this series

00:35:30and obviously that's what we're shooting would do.

00:35:33If that's happens here, here,

00:35:35that's where you start to worry about this being

00:35:38a seven game series.

00:35:39Cause again, Dallas, they can get hot.

00:35:42Dallas shoots more free throws than you.

00:35:45Dallas gets more offensive rebounds than you.

00:35:47So some of those things you rely on,

00:35:50if you're not shooting hot from three,

00:35:53those are things Dallas does well.

00:35:54So those might not be there for the taking

00:35:57as much as they usually are

00:35:58against a different kind of opponent.

00:36:00And you know what?

00:36:00I think they're decently coached too.

00:36:02I got the two coaches here in this series.

00:36:04I take Joe, but I don't think kid's done a bad job.

00:36:07I think he's done a solid job with this team,

00:36:09especially on the defensive end.

00:36:10So that's mine, John,

00:36:13the shooting coming down there just a little bit.

00:36:14What would be yours?

00:36:15I think so.

00:36:16It's well, so what's interesting is like,

00:36:17I thought I had one in my head

00:36:19and then the chat just dropped 40 of them on me.

00:36:21And I was like, those are all good.

00:36:23So I, look, I, this is why, and again,

00:36:27just to explain like almost, you know,

00:36:29my entire, you know, essence and being as a, you know,

00:36:34someone who has covered and, you know,

00:36:36been a fan of Boston sports my entire life.

00:36:38Yeah, I'm that, you know,

00:36:40I'm one of those guys that worries about everything

00:36:44because I worry more, Bobby,

00:36:48when I think the, when I think like the team should win it,

00:36:53you know what I mean?

00:36:53Is like, if like you go in against,

00:36:56you go in way over your head, you sweat it less.

00:36:59You're like, all right, puncher's chance.

00:37:00Let's see what happens.

00:37:01If they play great, you know,

00:37:02maybe they can win this one, you know?

00:37:04And there's some situations where that happens,

00:37:06but you go in feeling you're the better team.

00:37:08And you're like, don't screw this up.

00:37:10And I feel like we felt that way two years ago.

00:37:13I, well, you did because we all declared us like,

00:37:15we think they're better,

00:37:16you didn't give Golden State credit

00:37:18for being Golden State, you know?

00:37:20And how much that mattered.

00:37:22At that time, very wrongly, I was saying,

00:37:27I don't buy the, you know,

00:37:29it's a game is a game is a game.

00:37:31I don't buy the experience thing here.

00:37:32They're going to go out, they're going to play.

00:37:33And if they're better, they're going to win.

00:37:36But it really mattered.

00:37:38And then the Celtics, you could see wore down.

00:37:40A lot got to them.

00:37:41They started pressing, things got ugly.

00:37:43Golden State asserted their will.

00:37:45And you knew when they took game four there

00:37:47that everything had changed.

00:37:49So that was that.

00:37:50But I would say my biggest fear is,

00:37:54the shooting variance is a really good one

00:37:56because that feels almost fluky.

00:37:58Like Celtics get their looks and nothing falls.

00:38:01And then you have, you know,

00:38:02you get a Caleb Martin situation out of, you know,

00:38:07out of Washington and Jones

00:38:09and they start frigging hitting everything.

00:38:10And you're just like, you know, and that's it.

00:38:15And so like, that'll bum you out.

00:38:16You know, if they have a Miami Heat series, right?

00:38:18Where they hit everything and you hit nothing.

00:38:21That's always a fear,

00:38:21but there's nothing you can do about that.

00:38:23My actual fear is that, that,

00:38:28it's really comes back to-

00:38:29Jones is 40, by the way, in the playoffs.

00:38:31Yeah.

00:38:32My biggest fear is Tatum.

00:38:35Struggling shooting and pressing.

00:38:38My biggest fear is Tatum not getting

00:38:40out of his hole a little bit.

00:38:42Because I think it impacts other aspects of his game

00:38:45and it drags the team down in a lot of ways.

00:38:48I'm praying Tatum comes out, doesn't try to force,

00:38:51doesn't straight up match up Hunt,

00:38:53doesn't do those things.

00:38:54I do this all the time,

00:38:55but I think the ripple effects off of both

00:38:58trying to force it, trying to match up Hunt,

00:39:02what it does to the overall offense,

00:39:03slowing it down and standing everybody around

00:39:06and it not going in.

00:39:07And then the impact that has on team defense,

00:39:12always, always freaks me out.

00:39:14So I don't want Jason Tatum to feel

00:39:16that this is a Tatum versus Luka legacy series.

00:39:19I want Jason Tatum to just go out there, play

00:39:22and not worry about that aspect of it.

00:39:26I don't want him to worry if Jason,

00:39:27if Jalen Brown gets MVP.

00:39:29I don't want him to worry about like,

00:39:31what are people going to be saying

00:39:32if Luka's scoring 40 and I'm scoring 20?

00:39:34And I'm not saying he will,

00:39:35but like you're the guy, you want to be the guy.

00:39:39So that's how he views it, right?

00:39:44Like that's how I view it,

00:39:45is that I don't want to see Tatum get bogged down

00:39:49and caught doing some of that stuff and start out slow.

00:39:53So that's kind of in the back of my mind.

00:39:55That's the one that gets me a little bit.

00:39:58I don't want to see that.

00:39:59Everything else is what it is.

00:40:02Celtics coming out flat,

00:40:03not finishing quarters just so that,

00:40:05but that always holds, right, Bobby?

00:40:08No one wants to see any of your teams

00:40:10suffer from lack of focus or lack of preparedness

00:40:13or lack of readiness.

00:40:14I don't think that's going to be the case this time.

00:40:16Will there be lapses?

00:40:18Sure, no team is perfect.

00:40:19You're not going to play a perfect game,

00:40:21but you definitely don't want to see one of those

00:40:23where like we weren't ready for it sort of moments.

00:40:26I don't think you will this time around.

00:40:28They might play an imperfect game,

00:40:30but I don't think it's going to be because of that.

00:40:33I don't think it's going to be because they came out

00:40:35and weren't mentally ready.

00:40:36I actually think two things I like a lot.

00:40:38I feel pretty,

00:40:40I feel like their head is really in the right place

00:40:43this time, like really in the right place

00:40:46just from talking to them

00:40:48and the way that they're approaching things right now.

00:40:50And I actually feel pretty good about Joe right now.

00:40:52I really do.

00:40:53I think he's really, really locked in to the task at hand.

00:40:57I think he really has an idea.

00:40:59Yeah, I really, all of a sudden,

00:41:01I've really flipped on Joe.

00:41:03I think he knows we do this, we win.

00:41:06And that's Belichickian to me.

00:41:07Like this is the Belichick sort of thing.

00:41:09And I hate comparing the two

00:41:10because one's the greatest of all time.

00:41:12There are some similarities in it

00:41:14because I do believe Joe is a legit basketball savant.

00:41:17And I do believe that we make fun of the numbers

00:41:19we talked about him being inflexible.

00:41:21He's right way more often than he's wrong

00:41:23about what he thinks needs to happen,

00:41:25what he's willing to concede,

00:41:27what he wants to see his team doing

00:41:29and how he wants to see them going about it.

00:41:32And I think he knows right now,

00:41:34we do this, we don't lose.

00:41:36I think he knows it.

00:41:38I really do.

00:41:39Yeah, and they buy into it and they respond to it

00:41:41and they attack those areas that Joe emphasizes.

00:41:45Like their ability to use those margins,

00:41:49the free throws, the rebounding,

00:41:51all that little stuff that they do

00:41:53to separate themselves in these games,

00:41:56in these series in particular here.

00:41:58Because again, these are series that could have gone

00:42:00six, seven games in different cases

00:42:03based on how different games were looking.

00:42:05But they were able to separate themselves

00:42:07or winning key moments based on

00:42:09all the things he's always emphasizing.

00:42:11And even some of the weaknesses we saw progress in,

00:42:14the crunch time stuff, last series,

00:42:17maybe some of the defensive concerns we had,

00:42:19particularly last year have turned around 180

00:42:23and there's just a flexibility there.

00:42:24He just has a great pulse on this team.

00:42:26He really does.

00:42:28And you're wondering the matchup here against Kidd,

00:42:32what kind of things is Kidd gonna be able to

00:42:34fire up to disrupt Tatum?

00:42:36That still is probably the one area

00:42:38where you look at Joe and say,

00:42:41all right, can you get Tatum going?

00:42:44Can you get him easier looks?

00:42:45Can you just get him out of some of these shooting struggles

00:42:49he's been in?

00:42:50But to Joe's credit,

00:42:52he keeps drilling that it's not about Tatum shooting.

00:42:56We're gonna win this as a team.

00:42:58We're gonna do all the little things

00:42:59to make the right reads and find the right guys

00:43:02in their spots to succeed.

00:43:06And if Tatum's doing all the other stuff

00:43:07while shooting 40%, you're still gonna win.

00:43:11That's how true in pretty much every series to this point,

00:43:13except the last one where he definitely was able to get

00:43:15going, but again, that's the matchup.

00:43:17And I don't feel like this is gonna be a series

00:43:20where Tatum's able to go off and get whatever he wants.

00:43:23I think Dallas is gonna show him crowds

00:43:25just like other teams have.

00:43:26I think you got those great room protectors in there

00:43:29who are gonna try to take that away from him.

00:43:31He might get hot from three

00:43:32and then it's series over in five,

00:43:35but that hasn't been a great shot for him

00:43:37throughout these playoffs.

00:43:38So for him, I like everything he's doing.

00:43:40I don't worry about the East final stuff

00:43:42and him not liking that he didn't get that award.

00:43:45I don't worry about him trying to get his own shot

00:43:48and get his own points and play Luka one-on-one.

00:43:51I just think he's in a different place.

00:43:51I worry about him taking the shots they want with Tatum?

00:43:54Yes, it's shot selection.

00:43:56I worry about them baiting him

00:43:59into the shots they want him to take.

00:44:03And that involves, look, he's missing these,

00:44:05not because he's cold, he's missing them.

00:44:07I don't worry about his mentality though.

00:44:09The pull-ups, the pull-up threes aren't as good

00:44:13as they were in the regular season.

00:44:14So there's a bit of just coldness going on there.

00:44:16But the rest of it is he's taking contested step-backs

00:44:21way more often than he should.

00:44:23And when he drives, he's driving into traffic.

00:44:27And that's what's bogged him down,

00:44:29his offensive efficiency

00:44:31and why his shooting percentage numbers are down.

00:44:34Don't do that.

00:44:35You know, don't follow those steps.

00:44:36We can say the same thing about Luka though.

00:44:38Luka was miserable for two rounds, miserable.

00:44:42Luka was terrible, terrible.

00:44:45He couldn't shoot at all from three.

00:44:47From three, he's been dreadful.

00:44:48So yes, you're a Mavs fan.

00:44:50You're like, what if he's ice cold?

00:44:52We're dead.

00:44:52Here's the thing.

00:44:54The difference, biggest difference, I think, not different.

00:44:58Tatum and Brown play well in the series, the entire series.

00:45:02The Celtics can't lose.

00:45:03Luka and Kyrie play well.

00:45:05Mavs could still lose, okay?

00:45:07I really believe that.

00:45:08So that's the thing is like, it's so important

00:45:12that the Jays do what the Jays do best.

00:45:16And I don't think you can lose the series if that happens.

00:45:19I really don't.

00:45:21So-

00:45:22You're making the right-

00:45:23That's why I think so much is key to Tatum here

00:45:26because it just flow, everything flows off of it.

00:45:31Absolutely, yeah.

00:45:32And I don't worry about Tatum here.

00:45:34He might get cold.

00:45:35He might not have the best individual performance,

00:45:37but if it's still playing into the team's advantage,

00:45:41the mindset and the approach he takes here,

00:45:44if Brown's able to succeed at the highest level off of him.

00:45:49Great.

00:45:50I really don't think John,

00:45:52he's gonna care if he doesn't win finals MVP.

00:45:55Bobby, I never thought that.

00:45:57I didn't think he cared in the sense

00:45:59that I never believed Jason Tatum-

00:46:02I think he just wants that ring.

00:46:05I want two things.

00:46:06I believe he absolutely wants to be the guy.

00:46:13And so like when they win it, he wants to be the face of it.

00:46:16I don't believe he's out there with his goal in mind

00:46:19to win series MVP, but I still think he wants it.

00:46:23I do.

00:46:23You've said he thinks that's his job.

00:46:25I think that's fair.

00:46:27Yeah.

00:46:28And so that's still what we're looking for here.

00:46:31What's his job?

00:46:33If his job is it's gonna change every night

00:46:37and you're gonna look like a different guy every night

00:46:39and teams are gonna play you different every night

00:46:41and it's gonna be a different thing

00:46:42that leads to your success.

00:46:44I think that's hard.

00:46:45And I think that's why the game looks so hard

00:46:47for him sometimes because it's like,

00:46:48all right, what am I doing here tonight?

00:46:50Am I shooting 13 threes?

00:46:52Am I trying to get 15 rebounds?

00:46:54Is it defense?

00:46:56You know, is my job to be the best defender

00:46:58on the court tonight?

00:46:59Am I the passer here?

00:47:00Because again, he had seven assists a game

00:47:02in that 2022 series,

00:47:04but he just didn't lay an imprint on the game.

00:47:06So that to me still is why we come out of these series

00:47:08and games saying like, ooh, you know, what's Tatum do?

00:47:11Like, did Tatum play well?

00:47:13It's tough to tell because he's just,

00:47:15he has such a different impact any given night.

00:47:17So that's the challenge for him.

00:47:19He does.

00:47:20A line of questioning today I wanted to get to was,

00:47:23you know, I think Gary was the one digging on it,

00:47:26but it's been something that's been talked about

00:47:27is disrespect and scrutiny that the Jays have gone over.

00:47:33And I have a lot of thoughts on this,

00:47:34but I'll save some for later.

00:47:36Tatum, I thought gave a pretty good answer here.

00:47:38Here's Tatum being asked about the kind of scrutiny

00:47:41that he receives and how he deals with it.

00:47:44You've probably been the most scrutinized player

00:47:47during this post season.

00:47:49Think so?

00:47:49Yeah, I think so.

00:47:51I disagree.

00:47:55You're telling me Rudy Gobert, Kat?

00:47:59How has that motivated you for this moment?

00:48:01Have you, do you turn off social media

00:48:05when your son says something

00:48:06or your friends like your mother?

00:48:08What, how have you dealt with the scrutiny

00:48:10and how has this kind of built you for this moment

00:48:13that you're about to face?

00:48:16I think more so than me, right?

00:48:18It's like my mom, my grandma, my family and friends,

00:48:23you know, they're more bothered by it than me.

00:48:28And, you know, I understand like if Deuce

00:48:31was to make it to the NBA

00:48:32and people were talking about him every single day

00:48:35as a parent, I wouldn't be able to separate

00:48:38the superstar from the child.

00:48:41So, you know, my mom was, took it a little tougher

00:48:45than maybe I did.

00:48:46But for me, I don't take it personal, right?

00:48:51This is a long break without NBA basketball.

00:48:55So they had to overanalyze every little thing

00:49:00and have something to talk about.

00:49:04Did it get old?

00:49:05Yeah, but, you know, it's the finals.

00:49:11They wouldn't talk about me if I wasn't good.

00:49:13So, you know, try to take some positives out of it

00:49:17and change the channel.

00:49:21All right, Bobby, I have many thoughts here

00:49:23and I'm gonna share a few of them in a little bit

00:49:25because I know that this has been a constant thing

00:49:28that we talk about here,

00:49:29about these guys and the disrespect they get.

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00:51:43Bobby, I'm going back to this question here

00:51:44about are these guys disrespected?

00:51:48Look, I don't know if they're dis...

00:51:52I think that this is like a fan created thing

00:51:58and it exists in every market.

00:52:01And you follow a team and you hear people say things

00:52:04other than your guys are the greatest

00:52:05and everybody thinks that their guys

00:52:06are the most disrespected.

00:52:08In every market, people are having this conversation too.

00:52:11They all are.

00:52:12Because everybody thinks everybody hates their guys.

00:52:14And if anybody says anything critical,

00:52:16then it's disrespect.

00:52:19I've never understood it with these guys in my life.

00:52:21And I've also never,

00:52:22I don't know what people talk about disrespect more

00:52:26than these guys.

00:52:28And I don't, I've never seen it.

00:52:30Jason Tatum's All-NBA, first team, three years running,

00:52:34fifth in MVP voting, sixth in MVP voting.

00:52:38That's not disrespect.

00:52:40Jalen Brown, yeah, 16th overall this year,

00:52:44second team All-NBA next year.

00:52:46You average those together.

00:52:47Jalen Brown is somewhere between in people's eyes,

00:52:50in the voter's eyes, based off of his accolades,

00:52:53Eastern Conference Finals, MVP, three-time All-Star.

00:52:55Based off his accolades,

00:52:56he's no worse than the 12th to the 20th

00:52:59best player in the NBA.

00:53:00Are either of those things remotely insulting?

00:53:03Just because somebody somewhere says Jalen Brown's overrated

00:53:07or craps on his contract

00:53:08doesn't mean you're being disrespected.

00:53:11You gotta take a step back

00:53:12and look at that these guys have been

00:53:14kind of certainly locally treated with kid gloves.

00:53:19There's a lot of expectation on them.

00:53:20And the further they go in their career, a bit of pressure.

00:53:22I've never quite gotten the disrespect and scrutiny,

00:53:25but hey, whatever gets you to, you know,

00:53:28motivates you and gets you to play harder, that's great.

00:53:30I've just never fully get it, fully gotten it.

00:53:33Yeah, I don't think disrespect's the right word

00:53:36because certainly I don't think either of these guys

00:53:38get pigeonholed as-

00:53:41Hey, this is insane that people think this,

00:53:43but yeah, that's fine.

00:53:44Anyway.

00:53:45I don't think these guys get pigeonholed as losers

00:53:48or parts of their game get scrutinized

00:53:53in a way that's wrong.

00:53:55You know, Brown certainly, I think,

00:53:58received excessive criticism last summer,

00:54:01especially for the left-hand stuff.

00:54:03And, you know, Utatum, I think,

00:54:06could be ranked low relative to the other stars.

00:54:10Is Brown better than the 14th, 15th, 16th best player

00:54:13in the NBA?

00:54:14Like, let's say he made it as the 14th best player.

00:54:16Is that a fair ranking?

00:54:18It's a pretty fair ranking.

00:54:20I think where he got voted is fair.

00:54:23It could have been 14th or 15th.

00:54:26Let's say he just makes it.

00:54:28Yeah, it's fair.

00:54:29Like, disrespect would be everyone left him off the ballot.

00:54:32That's disrespect.

00:54:33Disrespect if he should have been first team

00:54:35and he doesn't make it.

00:54:37It's not disrespect if you just narrowly missed something.

00:54:39Like, it's about where you would expect him to be,

00:54:43give or take, you know?

00:54:44It's not disrespect.

00:54:45They're using the wrong word here.

00:54:47Like, I don't think they're disrespected.

00:54:49And I think the national narrative with the Celtics

00:54:51is straight up boredom.

00:54:53Like, they've been the best team all year long.

00:54:55You watch them futz around with some lesser competition

00:54:59and say, you know what?

00:55:01I think they're soft.

00:55:02That's garbage, bullshit TV stuff.

00:55:05And it's also not everyone picking them.

00:55:08It's a small group of people picking them,

00:55:11a vocal minority.

00:55:13The majority of people are picking the Celtics

00:55:18because they should be the favorites.

00:55:20They've been the best team all year.

00:55:21It's just boring.

00:55:23Yeah, and they, I think they've collectively

00:55:27been scrutinized in a way that's excessive here.

00:55:30And some of it's paying for their past mistakes, right?

00:55:34Because two years ago, you're still talking about that.

00:55:37It's a different team, different roster,

00:55:39but certainly these two guys came up short

00:55:42in different ways during that run,

00:55:44especially when you had a golden opportunity to win it then.

00:55:46And Jason even talked about that today.

00:55:48Like, I didn't love the fact that I had to lose that one

00:55:51if that's what it's gonna take to win this one

00:55:54because that certainly was there for the taking, right?

00:55:56And then we're talking about these guys

00:55:58or maybe even that core at that point

00:55:59winning a second championship at this point.

00:56:02But here's the thing.

00:56:03And here's where the conversation flips, okay?

00:56:06And this is where everyone's gotta chill

00:56:09because you're gonna miss it.

00:56:10Like, hold on one second.

00:56:13Tatum and Brown have gotten a lot of credit

00:56:17for being successful.

00:56:19Everything is about youngest players to this,

00:56:21five conference finals, six conference finals,

00:56:25blah, blah, blah, and this and that.

00:56:26There's been a lot of,

00:56:28they get credit for coming close.

00:56:30Most people don't, okay?

00:56:32If they lose this year,

00:56:34the conversation around these guys is what,

00:56:37if you guys think it's disrespect now, earmuffs, okay?

00:56:41They lose these finals after the Celtics put together

00:56:45a team to surround them with more talent

00:56:47because the front office felt they couldn't get by

00:56:50with what they had before.

00:56:52And they lose to a two-man team,

00:56:54Luka and Kyrie, with just, with role players.

00:56:59Say goodnight to respect.

00:57:01And you'll be chasing it the rest of their careers

00:57:03until they win one.

00:57:05This is the year it turns on the Jays.

00:57:08They have to win or else the narrative, guys,

00:57:11I'm sorry, you thought it was disrespect before.

00:57:13It's gonna get crazy, but they do win it this year.

00:57:17Everything changes, they're cemented, everybody eases off.

00:57:20So, so much is riding on this.

00:57:23I'm sorry, they've gotten a lot of personal accolades

00:57:26to this point.

00:57:27They are nationally respected, very much so.

00:57:31Doesn't mean you're not gonna have some detractors,

00:57:33but they lose this year.

00:57:35They lose this year, it is going to be grisly.

00:57:39So yes, there is where the pressure comes.

00:57:42And there is where,

00:57:43you're gonna call it disrespect or not,

00:57:45people are going to make a big, big deal about it.

00:57:48They are.

00:57:50Yeah, and that's where I have a tough time

00:57:52grappling with it a little bit

00:57:53because those expectations are certainly fair.

00:57:57But to this point, have they done anything to scare you?

00:57:59Have they done anything that makes you think like,

00:58:01ooh, they might not do this?

00:58:04To this point, they're 12 and two in the playoffs.

00:58:07It's not, they should win.

00:58:08I'm picking them to win.

00:58:10I think they're the better team by a considerable margin,

00:58:13which is why, again, I'm not gonna call it a choke job,

00:58:16but it's going to,

00:58:18if you lose with this team against this opponent,

00:58:21then people are gonna be like,

00:58:24I don't have faith in these guys

00:58:26that they're ever gonna win, you know?

00:58:28So I was curious what their reaction's been to the coverage,

00:58:32because it's been tough, John.

00:58:33I think you can agree with that.

00:58:34It's been a little, nationally,

00:58:37it's been a little strong,

00:58:39the concerns, the panic, the criticism.

00:58:43And again, I'm far from my fan days, John.

00:58:45This isn't me fanning out right here.

00:58:47I'm just watching the stuff people say

00:58:48about this team every day nationally,

00:58:50and I'm like, really?

00:58:52This team that won the East by 15 games

00:58:55and is 12 and two in the playoffs,

00:58:56there's huge concerns about this group?

00:58:58I'll tell you this, okay?

00:59:00We've done it before.

00:59:01You saw an Atlanta Hawks team a few years back

00:59:04put up a terrific record,

00:59:05and people say like, I don't know.

00:59:07I'm not sure if they're all that good.

00:59:08And then they lost.

00:59:09You saw Phoenix do it.

00:59:10But they didn't make the finals.

00:59:12They didn't.

00:59:12Phoenix did and lost.

00:59:15And what do you say about them?

00:59:17I don't know if they've got it either.

00:59:18You know what I mean?

00:59:19It's easy to knock down the top team.

00:59:23People said it about the Ravens this year,

00:59:24and then they lost in football.

00:59:26You see it all the time.

00:59:27A team looks dominant, and you're like,

00:59:28yeah, but I haven't seen them do it on the biggest stage.

00:59:31And until I do, I'm dubious.

00:59:33And that's what you have around the Celtics,

00:59:34plus boredom and recency bias.

00:59:38Dallas, again, looked really good down the back half,

00:59:42down the stretch in the regular season,

00:59:45second only to the Celtics in the last 35 games

00:59:49or since February or whatever.

00:59:51And then they looked good in the playoffs,

00:59:53dispatching three high-quality opponents

00:59:55where the Celtics had three cupcakes.

00:59:58So it is different.

00:59:59And that's why everybody's grabbing on it.

01:00:01It's just what's happened recently.

01:00:03If you ask somebody before the playoffs started,

01:00:05who's better, the Celtics or the Mavs?

01:00:08They'd be laughing about that, even be asked that question.

01:00:11And a lot of it has to do with recency bias

01:00:13and general boredom.

01:00:16Yeah, I think that's where it stems from.

01:00:17And if you want to say, as many have,

01:00:20that they haven't been tested yet,

01:00:22I disagree, but you can make that case, certainly,

01:00:25that they haven't gone against a fully loaded team.

01:00:27That's a fact.

01:00:29They haven't gone against an opposing star

01:00:30for the entirety of the series.

01:00:32That's a fact.

01:00:33And that this will be their biggest challenge,

01:00:37by far, as Perkz said there, right?

01:00:38I think Perkz's commentary, the brief one he gave us there,

01:00:42was 100% fair.

01:00:44I just think when it grows to an extreme,

01:00:46like the Mavs are clear favorites here

01:00:50or the Celtics just aren't ready for this

01:00:52and stuff like that,

01:00:53like that's where it just gets a little silly to me.

01:00:55And so if that's what you want to call a disrespect here,

01:00:58I think that's fair.

01:00:59If you want to fall back

01:01:02on Brown and Tatum's past disappointments,

01:01:04I think that's fair

01:01:05because we just haven't seen them yet at this level yet,

01:01:08see if they're capable of changing what's happened.

01:01:11But all we have in front of us with this team,

01:01:14with what they've done in 23-24,

01:01:17is the record so far, the net rating so far,

01:01:20their offense and defense so far.

01:01:23And to me, it all passes.

01:01:24I don't have concerns about them losing this series.

01:01:27And maybe I'm overconfident in them.

01:01:29Maybe I should be a little bit more respectful of Dallas.

01:01:32Maybe I should be a little bit more nervous

01:01:34that this team and their past slip-ups

01:01:36and their past issues could come back to haunt them.

01:01:38But I just haven't seen enough evidence of it this year,

01:01:40John, and you know,

01:01:42I was on here every day last season saying,

01:01:44this isn't right.

01:01:45This defense isn't right.

01:01:47This team's not right.

01:01:49They have some issues here

01:01:50and it's worse than it looks on paper.

01:01:52Every round of these playoffs so far to me,

01:01:55they've checked the box.

01:01:57And I know that there were some easy series,

01:02:00if you want to call them that,

01:02:01and breaks that they caught.

01:02:03But every team that wins a championship gets those.

01:02:06And yes, you have to get it done here

01:02:08and it's not going to be easy here.

01:02:09But I think they're more than capable of doing it.

01:02:12And in turn, John, if you want to say it this way,

01:02:16it would be a monumental all-time failure

01:02:19if they lose this series.

01:02:21I'll agree with that.

01:02:22Of course, barring like one of these two going down

01:02:24or something ridiculous like that.

01:02:26If they just straight up lose this series,

01:02:28I do think it's a massive failure

01:02:30and the athletics that will follow them at that point

01:02:32will be deserved.

01:02:33And they'll have to eat it at that point, right?

01:02:35Like, I don't think any of them will be saying at that point

01:02:37like, oh, they better not say at that point,

01:02:40oh, we had a great year and we learned a lot of stuff.

01:02:43But they're not underdogs and most people are picking them.

01:02:46They're the third biggest finals favorite since the merger.

01:02:50They are, they are.

01:02:51So they're the favorites.

01:02:55Like I said, it's better content.

01:02:58Guys, don't fall into the content trap.

01:03:01The guys at ESPN don't actually think

01:03:03the Mavericks are gonna win.

01:03:04It's a content trap.

01:03:05You're falling for it.

01:03:07It's more interesting and provocative

01:03:09if they pick the upset because it's fun to talk about.

01:03:12It's, they don't think it.

01:03:14Then nobody thinks Dallas is better than-

01:03:17We are fair, John.

01:03:20I think me and you are fair.

01:03:23And sitting here today off what we've seen so far

01:03:26and put the Chris Stapp stuff aside

01:03:28because I think that's a legitimate uncertainty

01:03:30that you can mention here

01:03:32in terms of how the series might go.

01:03:34But just this team being 100%, what they've done so far,

01:03:38what they've done to this point,

01:03:41aren't you confident in what we've seen?

01:03:46Yeah, like I said, it's to me-

01:03:47You can nitpick but-

01:03:49No, to me-

01:03:50It's all good.

01:03:52It's unforeseen things, Porzingis being a zero,

01:03:55crazy shooting variants,

01:03:57or just an unthinkably bad series

01:04:00from one of your two stars that could tilt it.

01:04:04I don't see another way they lose.

01:04:06I don't.

01:04:07So I'm just, if they played 100 games,

01:04:11I would think the Celtics would come out on top on 60 plus.

01:04:13You know what I mean?

01:04:14It's like, I think they're just better.

01:04:16But again, seven game series sounds like long

01:04:19but one or two games flips on something weird happening

01:04:22and it gets a little interesting.

01:04:23So that's why I don't think it's a slam dunk,

01:04:24but I think the Celtics are clearly the better team

01:04:27and clearly the favorite.

01:04:29My pick, Celtics is picked.

01:04:32I think one or two games could flip the wrong way.

01:04:34I think you could lose game one

01:04:36just because of all the weird stuff going on here.

01:04:38But I just don't see, something's gonna have to go wrong.

01:04:41They're gonna have to underperform to lose three games.

01:04:44And then that's why, like with Perkz saying Celtics in seven,

01:04:47if you're in a game seven, I think something went wrong

01:04:50and you're gonna be at home feeling nervous

01:04:52and you're gonna be in a shaky spot at that point.

01:04:56I said this, Catherine, as well.

01:04:59I did.

01:05:01And I've been tilting between five and six for the Celtics

01:05:05and I'm not there.

01:05:06I'll write something up, we'll have it printed tomorrow.

01:05:08But I mean, I'm firmly Celtics.

01:05:10I'm not, and I have been the whole way through.

01:05:13So, and Catherine, thank you for watching

01:05:16and thanks for the comment.

01:05:17Yes, we said this, I said the exact thing earlier.

01:05:21The Celtics two stars play well.

01:05:23Celtics will win this series easily.

01:05:24And that's why that was one of my biggest fears

01:05:26is that something weird happens

01:05:28and Tatum has one of the like, oh no, type of series.

01:05:33And I'm not saying he has or will.

01:05:36And that I believe that if the Mavericks play well,

01:05:39if the two best players in the Mavericks play well,

01:05:42that the Celtics can absolutely still win.

01:05:44So yes, I agree with that.

01:05:46It's two players

01:05:47and some good role players versus a team.

01:05:50So yeah.

01:05:52Thank you, Luis.

01:05:55I don't know what I'm thinking.

01:05:56I'm ready to get this thing started, man.

01:05:57I'm looking forward to it.

01:05:59I think it's gonna be good.

01:06:00It's gonna be a really good series.

01:06:02It's gonna be a really exciting series.

01:06:03I'll get my thinking tomorrow.

01:06:05Yeah, yeah.

01:06:07So, we'll see how it goes.

01:06:11I'm feeling pretty good about it.

01:06:12We sat here two years ago and felt pretty good about it.

01:06:17Yeah, are they different?

01:06:18This series is finally gonna tell us, right?

01:06:21This is what it's all about.

01:06:23You're different if you win the title this time around

01:06:25because you have everything you need.

01:06:27It's a good matchup and you've done it all year.

01:06:33So I don't think there's enough here to really scare you

01:06:36and say that they're in trouble here.

01:06:40Dallas has something on them

01:06:42that they're not gonna be able to figure out.

01:06:44Even the guards, right?

01:06:45They're challenging.

01:06:47They're gonna be a load on some nights.

01:06:49They could steal a game or two, but it's not enough.

01:06:53I mean, this isn't LeBron and KD in their prime here

01:06:57on the other side that you just don't have answers for

01:06:59that are miles and miles better than Tatum and Brown here.

01:07:04If Tatum and Brown are disrespected in any way,

01:07:06to just go back to them individually,

01:07:10there's a real case Tatum's better than Luca.

01:07:13I don't think Luca's miles better than Tatum here

01:07:16and that's something you have to bridge a gap on.

01:07:17They're different.

01:07:18They impact the game in different ways,

01:07:21but there's no huge difference there.

01:07:23And Brown, I think is right there,

01:07:27pretty sizable lead above Kyrie at this point.

01:07:31I don't think there's a gap between these duos.

01:07:35It's not, it's how you scale offense

01:07:39versus being able to do more things.

01:07:42We can't call, like, here's the problem,

01:07:44and everyone's getting mad at me again.

01:07:46Like, there's nothing like Luca offensively.

01:07:49I'm sorry.

01:07:50His ability, he'll kill you

01:07:52in almost any defensive coverage you play.

01:07:54Can he play bad games?

01:07:55Sure.

01:07:56But he's, you double him, he'll make the perfect pass.

01:07:59He can, you know, his pull-up numbers this year

01:08:02were insane, pull-up three, just lights out.

01:08:05I mean, he scored 35 frigging points.

01:08:06Guys, he's another world above most everyone else

01:08:13in the league offensively.

01:08:15Then it's, well, do you like the two-way aspect

01:08:18of Jalen and Jason, you know,

01:08:19more because they play defense?

01:08:20Absolutely.

01:08:21That makes a great, that makes a big difference.

01:08:24And yeah, you've got guys on the Dallas side

01:08:27that you gotta hide a little bit, for sure.

01:08:29So yes, being a two-way player is a great thing,

01:08:32but like, look, Luca does everything offensively,

01:08:37and the difference between these guys is, you know,

01:08:40he's that alpha star where when everything's going wrong,

01:08:42you just put the ball in his hands and say, save us.

01:08:44Tatum's not that guy.

01:08:46It isn't.

01:08:47It's just a reality of it.

01:08:48Tatum affects the game in a lot of different ways,

01:08:50but he's not a just give it to Tatum

01:08:52and everything will be all right sort of thing.

01:08:55He's, like we said, he's working well as a screener.

01:08:58He works well, you know,

01:08:59doing a bunch of different other things,

01:09:01making the hockey assist when he passes out of a double

01:09:03early when he recognizes that it's coming,

01:09:05different types of things.

01:09:06Luca's an assassin, you know,

01:09:08not that Tatum can't be, but they're different.

01:09:10So, but yes, Tatum can dominate a series in other ways,

01:09:14you know, because of the defensive, but like,

01:09:17I mean, Luca can pass, Luca, he's a big, you know,

01:09:19I mean, he can do so many things.

01:09:20So it's, you know, Tatum's,

01:09:25Tatum really got hurt because of his jump shot,

01:09:27you know, last couple of years,

01:09:28not being more deadly and being able to just get there.

01:09:31When he's getting to his spots

01:09:33and he's knocking down what he wants to go,

01:09:34you feel really good about that.

01:09:36But it's, again, Luca has had a miserable shooting series.

01:09:39And I think people are remembering

01:09:41a couple of games recently.

01:09:43He's been pretty bad and Luca's also been hobbled.

01:09:46So we'll see what he's like too.

01:09:47He's battling like seven-

01:09:49He is on the injury report for game one.

01:09:51He's battling like seven injuries.

01:09:53So, yeah.

01:09:55But again-

01:09:56Luca probable, Celtics clean injury report for tomorrow.

01:10:00Yep, clean injury report.

01:10:02So we're ready and we are here

01:10:04and we are, you know, psyched at this point

01:10:09to get started, Celtics versus Mavs.

01:10:13We've done enough preview.

01:10:15We've done everything that we want to do here.

01:10:17The game is tomorrow and that's it.

01:10:22Yeah.

01:10:23Like I said, Celtics could drop this one.

01:10:26You've thrown the poor Zingis uncertainty here.

01:10:30I think there's going to be a Mavs punch right away

01:10:33that knocks you back a little bit.

01:10:34Maybe this little rust here, two weeks,

01:10:37the length of this layoff,

01:10:38just being that much longer than some of the others here.

01:10:41And just the height of this moment,

01:10:43the crowd, the atmosphere, those sorts of things.

01:10:47You might get knocked back a little bit in game one

01:10:49and that might be good for you.

01:10:50You know, you might need that early on

01:10:52to have a little bit of a wake-up call in this series.

01:10:54See what's going to work, right?

01:10:56Because again, I don't think we're sitting here.

01:10:57I don't think Joe's sitting here right on this night, John,

01:11:00and saying, boom, here's the game plan.

01:11:03This is going to work.

01:11:04This is what's going to beat them

01:11:06and straight shot to the win.

01:11:08There's going to be a lot of adjustments.

01:11:10There's going to be a lot of different things

01:11:11they have to try here to beat this team.

01:11:13And I think they're capable of it,

01:11:15but you have to feel it out to some degree.

01:11:17These two teams just haven't seen each other enough.

01:11:19Yeah, Celtics have beat you in a lot of ways.

01:11:22And it's again, you're playing a situation

01:11:26where your A game beats their A game.

01:11:31And so it's just whether you bring it, you know?

01:11:34So yeah, it's fun, it's exciting, and you're right.

01:11:36They haven't seen each other.

01:11:37When they did play last, Celtics won by 28 points.

01:11:39That was post-trade deadline.

01:11:41It's the same roster you're seeing with Dallas,

01:11:43but they're playing totally differently.

01:11:44They had not put Jones and Gafford

01:11:46in the starting lineup at that point.

01:11:48And when they did, that kind of opened up a lot of things.

01:11:50Their defense got a lot better.

01:11:52Those guys were playing great.

01:11:53The lob threats there.

01:11:56You were getting a lot of action from Lively as well.

01:11:58Lively and Gafford have been great.

01:12:00The recipients of Lucas' generosity.

01:12:00Did you see the crowd around Lively today?

01:12:03He had like a Porzingis-sized crowd,

01:12:05a 20-year-old there, a lot of love.

01:12:08He was interesting too.

01:12:09I actually listened to him talk.

01:12:10I liked him.

01:12:11So, but yeah.

01:12:13And yeah, look, there's-

01:12:15They're saying he's who Rob would be if he was healthy.

01:12:18Yeah, I like him a lot.

01:12:21I like him a lot, I really do.

01:12:24It's gonna be fun.

01:12:25So again, we're there.

01:12:26We're probably gonna do something tomorrow

01:12:28previewing the game.

01:12:30Follow us all on Twitter and Celtic CLNS

01:12:32for notifications as always.

01:12:34Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

01:12:36Give us a like.

01:12:37Share it.

01:12:37Start telling people.

01:12:39Finals are coming.

01:12:40We're ready.

01:12:41We're gonna be down there.

01:12:41Most of us are gonna be transmitting live

01:12:43from the Garden Post game.

01:12:45Bobby and I will be down there as well as Sherrod

01:12:49and Josue.

01:12:49You might get a little boomer report

01:12:51as Nick Jelso jumps in there as well.

01:12:54So we're gonna be all hands on deck, Celtic CLNS.

01:12:57We are at the finals

01:12:59and we will be there all the way through

01:13:01sending a large contingency out to Dallas as well.

01:13:04And we are and should be hopefully your home

01:13:07of Celtics coverage all the way through the finals.

01:13:10Hopefully on the way to Banner 18.

01:13:13We love you guys.

01:13:14We thank you for hanging out with us as always.

01:13:16We can't wait to see you tomorrow.

01:13:19So everybody rest up, big game tomorrow, okay?

01:13:21Get your sleep.

01:13:22A lot of time for a nap tomorrow too.

01:13:24I think that that's important.

01:13:25I'm gonna nap tomorrow, Bobby.

01:13:26I'm telling you that, okay?

01:13:28Yeah, I'm probably just gonna sleep in, but same thing.

01:13:32I can't sleep in.

01:13:32I got kids.

01:13:33Anyway, we'll see you guys tomorrow.

01:13:34Thank you guys for hanging out.

01:13:35Wait, Amit's got an outro for us, I think.

01:13:38No, he doesn't.

01:13:39You said he was gonna work on an outro.

01:13:41He had a phenomenal game.

01:13:43Phenomenal game.

01:13:46I'm poor for dough.

01:13:47Now that I think it's an option.

01:13:49That did not sound like a chair.

01:13:51It was a freaking chair.

01:13:53It does sound like a chair.

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