Celtics One Game Away, Remembering Jerry West | Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast - video Dailymotion

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Bob Ryan, Jeff Goodman, and Gary Tanguay discuss the Celtics' Game 3 win over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, Luka Doncic's endless complaining to the refs, and remembering the late Jerry West.    Prize Picks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy! Go to https://PrizePicks.com/CLNS  Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply. Go to https://gametime.co !  Elevate your style game on and off the course with the PXG Spring Summer 2024 collection. Head over to https://PXG.com/GARDENREPORT and save 10% on all apparel.  Nutrafol Men! Take the first step to visibly thicker, healthier hair. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to https://Nutrafol.com/MEN and enter the promo code GARDEN!   #celtics #NBA #BostonCeltics The CLNS Media Network is the leading provider for video/audio content. CLNS is a fully credentialed member of the media with access to all NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB teams & venues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------  CLNS' rebuilt their YouTube community in less than 12 months, during a pandemic that attacked sports. Wondering how? Find out here (and support our channel) - https://www.tubebuddy.com/clnsmedia  Visit the Official Home of CLNS Sports Coverage -  https://clnsmedia.com  Twitter -   / clnsmedia   Celtics -   / celticsclns   Patriots -   / patriotsclns   Bruins -   / bruinsclns   Red Sox -   / redsoxclns   Non-Sports -   / northstation   Facebook -   / clnsmedia   INSTA -   / clnsmedia   INSTA Celtics -   / celticsclns   INSTA History -   / nbahistoryclns

Transcript

00:00It's going to take it.

00:03Got it!

00:04Boston wins!

00:06Two legends in basketball analysis with over 70 years combined experience.

00:13This is the Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast.

00:17NBA, some college, a little bit of everything.

00:20You know, what can I say?

00:21When it wasn't going to happen here with him, I was OK with it.

00:24Time for the Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Tagway Along for the Ride pod.

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00:31CLNS Media.

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00:34OK, last night on the text chain, I said after one quarter, this game was over.

00:38Bob Ryan, the veteran, told me to relax.

00:41It's not over yet.

00:43And it was.

00:44And it went right down to the wire.

00:47Bob, they made it difficult on themselves.

00:50It's part of their.

00:51Apparently, it's an irreplaceable part of their DNA.

00:55The important thing is that the two times in which they have dissipated leads

00:59in this series at the right moment, they've made the right place,

01:03that they made the right place and got it done.

01:06I'll live with that.

01:07I don't like it.

01:08I wasn't happy that, you know, it drives me crazy in these comebacks.

01:11It's the sloppy turnovers.

01:13They seem to get mental lapses there.

01:15And, you know, it's the NBA, the three.

01:20They're not the only team that's ever lost a 20 point lead in the history

01:23of this league or even this year.

01:24I guarantee you that.

01:26But I just don't like the way that they sometimes just get careless in that regard.

01:32That's all.

01:33And I know Jeff felt they were stagnant on offense.

01:35They were.

01:36But carelessness doesn't drive me crazy.

01:38But the big thing is they made the big plays.

01:40And God loved that backcourt.

01:43I am just getting more and more enamored of those two guys

01:46and how fortunate they are to have them together.

01:50One of them would be, I keep saying, would be fair to have both of them.

01:54It's like it's almost unfair.

01:58Yeah.

01:59I mean, to me, it was all about Tatum in the first half.

02:02When he came out, he had 20.

02:04And then all about Jalen Brown in the second half.

02:06I can't say enough about Jalen Brown.

02:09I tweeted this last night.

02:11He doesn't look like the same player that we saw last year in the playoffs.

02:14It's like a completely different player that we're watching from the fact

02:19that his handle's much better.

02:22His confidence in his game is much better.

02:25And he actually, again, what did he have?

02:28Eight assists last night?

02:29And they were good assists.

02:31He actually passed the ball to Tatum.

02:33Which, again, here's the thing.

02:37Everybody's like, well, they've learned how to play with one another now.

02:40And they have.

02:41They've gotten a lot better in terms of moving the ball,

02:44passing it to one another, playing off one another.

02:46But as much as anything, too,

02:48it was the addition of Derek White and Drew Holiday

02:51that helped them play well together.

02:54They're just connectors that Tatum and Jalen have matured.

02:59Part of the reason is because you've added White and Holiday off the court

03:04and on the court.

03:05They just, like you said, Bob, you just watch Derek White,

03:10and you're like, all right, he didn't put up great numbers last night.

03:12But don't look at the box score.

03:14It is not about the box score when you look at Derek White and Drew Holiday

03:18and their impact in the game.

03:20How about White's defense on Irving, making Irving go left?

03:23Not that he doesn't go left very well, but he'd rather go right

03:27and making him take shots he did not want to take when he started that move.

03:33Twice.

03:34Very important ones.

03:35And that's just, you cannot take this stuff for granted.

03:37And shouldn't not.

03:39People should not take this stuff for granted.

03:40You're right.

03:41You always think of offense, but, boy, that defense was crucial, too.

03:47And they won without Porzingis.

03:49And who's Tillman?

03:51Yeah, well, Tillman was, you know what?

03:53That was another Brad Stevens.

03:55Pat in the back.

03:57We're on it here.

03:58He picked this guy up.

03:59He saw this guy.

04:00It was this guy as opposed to who knows how many other guys of that

04:04in that category in the NBA were available at that time.

04:08And he picked this one.

04:10And he made a few contributions during the season, too.

04:13And he's one of the reasons why I say they're not only the best 1-5,

04:16best 1-8, they're the best 1-10 in the league.

04:19They may be one of the best 11 because Cornett is not as stiff.

04:23He just doesn't fit in this game.

04:25If they were playing somebody else, you'd be using Cornett.

04:28You know what you have, too?

04:29You know what you have on the bench?

04:31Guys that completely know their role, accept their role,

04:34and are great energy givers, too.

04:37You don't always have that.

04:39You don't always have that.

04:40You can have some malcontents on the bench

04:42that think they should be getting more.

04:44Now it's hard for anybody to think they'd get more.

04:46But even like a Malcolm Brogdon, right?

04:48If Malcolm Brogdon is your sixth man,

04:50you don't know what he's thinking up there.

04:52These guys, it's clearly defined.

04:54And you can tell on the bench they're having fun.

04:58They're having fun.

04:59Even Tatum when he was on the bench with that Jalen Brown slam last night.

05:02Oh, that reaction was priceless.

05:05It was great.

05:06By the way, speaking of which, I'm glad you made the bench.

05:08I was going to get into this.

05:10In the midst of all the points, what was the final score?

05:12I don't even know what the final score was.

05:14But however many points we scored, 200 plus points total.

05:17All right, fine.

05:19You often find key baskets that aren't in the fourth quarter.

05:23They aren't in the third quarter.

05:25But they are key in the moment to help either stifle some team's momentum

05:30or help team gather its momentum and just set them on their way.

05:35Sam Hauser's two threes should have been cited in every account of this game

05:41as maybe the two most important buckets of the whole,

05:44certainly in the first half.

05:46Those two threes at that time were welcome because, A, they were what they were.

05:50But, B, it was him telling us that, you know, you knew he'd come back.

05:54Sooner or later, his shots are going to fall.

05:58But those two baskets were key.

06:00I'm telling you, I want him to cite that.

06:03Jeff, do you think Tatum answered the critics?

06:07Yeah, I do.

06:08I mean, again, it's about winning.

06:10It's about winning.

06:11And, yeah, he wasn't good in the second half offensively.

06:15He kind of reverted back to how he'd been a lot of the series, you know,

06:19missing threes, missing bunnies around the rim.

06:21But he did enough to help him get that lead in the first half.

06:26And, again, just plays the right way for the most part, right?

06:31Again, he's not taking too many.

06:33There are a few threes that I think he would like to have back.

06:36Like, there are a couple contested threes that you don't need to take.

06:40But he was on.

06:42He was on his game in the first half.

06:44But, like, to me, I'm telling you, the assists that went from Tatum to Brown

06:49and vice versa last night were more than I've seen maybe in any game that I watch.

06:56They were a bunch.

06:57They were a bunch.

06:59That just shows, again, their maturity.

07:03And, again, we got to get to it.

07:05I hope you have this on the docket to talk about, Gary.

07:09We got to talk at some point about Lucas whining and crying

07:13and blaming and not being accountable.

07:16It's honestly.

07:18Well, yes, it is on my docket.

07:20So we can move there.

07:21So the Celtics, to wrap up the Celtics, I just want to say they've been exemplary.

07:27They've answered all critics in every facet of the game.

07:30No one, I mean, no one can complain about the Boston Celtics in any arena.

07:38Yes, they gave up the 21-point lead.

07:40But it's almost like the mentality now of the NBA player today that, oh, well,

07:44they're going to make a run.

07:45Okay, yes, we wish they hadn't done that.

07:48But they stepped on their throat and they won the game.

07:50So we'll move on from the Celtics.

07:52Go ahead.

07:53Go ahead.

07:54One more.

07:56In terms of the lead thing, it's always, I think,

07:59people should focus on how they got the lead to remind themselves

08:02of how good they are and can be.

08:03I know.

08:04More than worrying about the leads dissipating in a league

08:07where leads do dissipate for various reasons.

08:09And they did stem the bleeding when it mattered, A.

08:12B, I'm asking rhetorically, perhaps, is there any other franchise

08:17in which a guy as good as Jason Tatum would have to listen to the crap

08:21because he's being compared to somebody else that retired 31 years ago?

08:26In other words, people are unfairly comparing him to Bird.

08:31He's not Bird, all right?

08:33Okay, I'll say it categorically.

08:35No, but he's Jason Tatum and he's damn good.

08:38And he's broadened his game in a way that we wanted him to.

08:42And he is what he is.

08:44And stop worrying about whether he's as good as Bird.

08:46That's not the point.

08:47And I have to point out, you know,

08:48I did point out that Larry had three terrible shooting performances

08:52in the middle of his 81 finals.

08:54But he also did exactly what Tatum was doing

08:57when he wasn't going well in the series,

08:58which is grabbing rebounds and handing the ball out in assists

09:01and playing good defense.

09:03So stop damning him because he's not Larry Bird, okay?

09:07He's not.

09:08He's Jason Tatum and we're lucky to have him.

09:11Well said.

09:12Now I want to go to what Jeff was talking about

09:14because what I've seen, Jeff,

09:16and now it's making me think that if Luca is the best player in this game,

09:20he's out of shape.

09:22He looks tired.

09:24He's hurt.

09:25He's hurt.

09:26Okay, fair.

09:27Go ahead.

09:28Your points on Luca.

09:29You know, my point, I'm watching Jason Tatum and I'm watching Luca.

09:33And two things stand out.

09:35Jason Tatum's defense has gotten much, much, much better over the years.

09:39And Luca's, I thought, started to, and then he regressed.

09:43And again, listen, Mizzou is smart.

09:45Go after him.

09:46Go after him.

09:47You can't hide.

09:49Again, you're a little banged up, but you're not a good defender anyway.

09:52You got to get in better shape, like you're saying.

09:54You got to get in better shape.

09:56Offensively, the dude can do whatever he wants.

09:58He can do whatever he wants.

09:59Nobody can stop him.

10:01But defensively is where you become a liability.

10:03Kyrie was like that for a long time.

10:05He got better this year.

10:07The other part is I'm watching Tatum this series and I'm saying,

10:12and Tatum has a propensity to whine to the officials.

10:16He does.

10:17We know that.

10:18We've been talking about it for years on this spot.

10:20How many times has he whined this series?

10:22Never.

10:24A few times he's put his hands up.

10:26Not much.

10:27But nothing.

10:28Minimal.

10:29To me, it's league-wide.

10:31Yes.

10:32No, Jason Tatum's been no worse than the average superstar in this series.

10:38LeBron, go down the line.

10:41LeBron, Draymond.

10:43I don't know about Steph.

10:44I don't know.

10:45I haven't noticed it.

10:46Go down the line.

10:47They all bitch.

10:48But the problem is, okay, Luka does it at the highest.

10:52And I remember I've talked to Tatum about this at length when he was younger

10:57and saying, if you do this over and over and over,

11:02the refs are not going to give you those close calls.

11:06And that's where I think they are with Luka.

11:08I think, obviously, everybody respects his ability.

11:11How can you not?

11:12I mean, at the highest level offensively,

11:14what he can do to make people better and score in a way that nobody else does

11:18right now in the league.

11:19But, again, if you whine, complain after every single call.

11:25Like there was one call last night,

11:27one foul that he committed that he actually didn't complain about.

11:30Every other call, every other one, the dude complains.

11:34Enough.

11:35Throw up.

11:38No.

11:39He's been hearing this incessantly, but it doesn't seem to register.

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13:00Bob, should they have fouled him out?

13:02Should the refs have said, wait a minute, this is a star.

13:04I got to keep him in the game.

13:06Well, he lost the battle in the end, though,

13:10and he didn't get stayed in the game.

13:12No, I agree with everything Jeff said.

13:14It's so self-evident that it's detrimental.

13:17And it's really, you know, I don't know who can get to him.

13:20You wonder.

13:21I mean, certainly Jason couldn't,

13:23certainly must recognize this as well as anybody on earth.

13:27And he can't.

13:28Carlisle couldn't, right?

13:29Carlisle couldn't.

13:30He hasn't been able to.

13:31Right.

13:32Hasn't been able to change him.

13:34I mean.

13:35Now's the time, though.

13:36I actually think losing this way and everybody coming out and it's

13:41Brian Whitehorse absolutely crushed him last night with Scott Van Pelt.

13:46Other people will certainly pile on.

13:49That is something that he's going to hear a lot about this offseason.

13:54So I think if he's smart,

13:56he looks in the mirror and tries to change because, you know, again,

14:01he's been enabled and rightfully so in some regards, but again,

14:05it's like at some point you got to look at your defense.

14:09You got to look at the fact that why am I not getting these calls?

14:12Because again, like he's such a likable dude off the court.

14:16You hear him talk.

14:17He's so much fun to watch.

14:19It's just, you got to grow up at some point.

14:23I think Tatum grew up this year.

14:25I do.

14:26I think Tatum.

14:27There's clearly a difference.

14:29Now, again, does he throw his arms up at times?

14:31Yes, but not nearly as much.

14:33He's gotten better with the officials.

14:35You know something, guys?

14:36I think it is also the position.

14:38And Jeff, I'll ask you to go in on this first.

14:42I think it's the position.

14:43When you have a guy like Luca, who's playing a point guard,

14:45he's playing that position offensively.

14:47So defensively, he's going to be out there and he just doesn't have the feet.

14:53Now, the file that he filed, the blocking file at the end,

14:58which I believe is the one he filed out on.

15:00Yeah.

15:01I was like, okay.

15:02I looked at that and I said,

15:04is there any way that they could have made that a charge to keep him in the game?

15:08You know, I'm thinking TV ratings, keep this stuff.

15:11And I'm like, maybe, but he's moving his feet.

15:16He doesn't have position, you know, and good for Brown.

15:21He exploited it.

15:22I mean, and that's the risk you take by having a big man play on the perimeter.

15:27And that's a brutal matchup for Luca, like Jalen Brown.

15:31That's a brutal matchup because you've got one of the most athletic dudes

15:34in the entire league against, you know, let's face it,

15:37an average athlete in Luca in a lot of ways.

15:42But yeah, I mean, listen,

15:44it'll be interesting to see how he comes out in game four.

15:47First of all, I want to see that, right?

15:50I want to see if this Dallas team comes out with some real fight.

15:54Like Kyrie was really good.

15:57I mean, he was really good for the most part,

15:59keeping him in the game and 20 points at the break.

16:03Like Kyrie showed up, at least in this one.

16:06And will they show up?

16:08What they didn't have, again, and this is the differentiator.

16:13Their top two can go up against Tatum and Brown any day of the week.

16:18The problem is they got nothing out of anybody else until the end

16:21when P.J. Washington came alive.

16:23Nothing.

16:24Derrick Jones, Tim Hardaway Jr. doesn't do anything.

16:28He was their third leading scorer in the regular season.

16:30That is the difference with this Boston Celtics team

16:34from every other team right now in the NBA.

16:37It isn't their stars.

16:39It's their third, fourth, even their bench.

16:42And we were talking earlier, and they trust each other.

16:47And it's completely across the board now.

16:50Now that Tatum and Brown have evolved into what they've evolved,

16:54we know the guards get it, but they trust each other.

16:56And it goes, Al, throw Al in there.

16:59And of course, when Przingis was in there, throw him in there.

17:01They all trust each other.

17:02It's a dream scenario.

17:04And when it's all said and done and they got it,

17:07something that had never really occurred to me during the season at all,

17:11which is we're going to have a healthy discussion

17:14as to where they rank in the all-time Celtic teams.

17:16And that's something that I wasn't willing to answer until this week.

17:21I'm serious.

17:23Bob, I thought about it last night.

17:26I totally thought about it last night.

17:28Well, I've been resisting it out of caution.

17:32And we'll get into it once the series is over

17:37because we're going to need stuff to talk about.

17:39But the one thing I could say about this team, Bob,

17:43is that what I've finally become accustomed to with possibly one game left to go

17:48is there are going to be times during a game that they just look awful.

17:53It just happens.

17:56When they blew the 21-point lead, I'm like, what just happened, Bob?

18:03I know. It didn't take long.

18:04They just quit. They just stopped.

18:06It's like they just stopped.

18:08And then they go, oh, OK, all right, sorry, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, win.

18:13You know, it's just in their DNA.

18:15Yeah, apparently it's going to be part of the tournament.

18:18Well, let's enjoy it. People should enjoy it.

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20:04So do you want A, you want it to go five so they win at home?

20:09Or do we want to sweep?

20:11No, I want them to do this.

20:13Let's make their history, be the first Celtic team to sweep since 1959.

20:17And one of the very few sweeps ever in the finals.

20:20Period.

20:22I can only think of two off the top of my head.

20:25The other off the top right now, 75 and the Lakers.

20:31I mean, the Pistons swept the Lakers.

20:33Oh, 83 was one.

20:34Okay, except with the Sixers, right?

20:36In both cases, the Lakers were absolutely injury-ridden in both cases.

20:41There's no way if they had had their people,

20:43they would have been swept in either one of those.

20:45It'd be the 10th team, Bob.

20:46The 10th team.

20:48Warriors, Cavs in 18.

20:50Spurs, Cavs in seven.

20:54Lakers next.

20:55I'm fuzzy.

20:56I'm good on ancient history.

20:57I'm fuzzy on more recent history.

20:59That's true in all sports, particularly in baseball, too.

21:02So, okay.

21:03But we're the first Celtic team since 1959 when they swept a Lakers team

21:07that didn't even have a 500 record.

21:09That's the only one.

21:10Yeah.

21:11And the last nine championships have been six or seven.

21:14And I think that streak will surely be broken.

21:17That's for sure.

21:21So, guys, do we have anything else to say about this team right now

21:25before we move on to Jerry West?

21:27No.

21:29I think we've said it all.

21:31And one of the things I've enjoyed about sports radio listening is that

21:35these poor guys have nothing to complain about.

21:38And it's killing them.

21:40Well, I could complain about the 21-point, you know.

21:44I guess.

21:45But, I mean, the other day I was listening to my guys

21:47and they were complaining about Joe Mizzoula saying

21:49how he praised Pritchard's shot, you know.

21:53I said, this is all you have to complain about, fellas.

21:56This is it.

21:57God, I don't miss that world at all.

21:59Before we get to Jerry West, I want to take an opportunity

22:03to offer my condolences to the family of the late Guy Minnella,

22:08who was truly a pioneer in Boston sports talk radio.

22:13Started it all.

22:14Starting all sports in 1969, folks.

22:18And, you know, was a major presence in Boston sports media broadcast lore.

22:25And, you know, then he went on to – he was a fascinating guy.

22:29You've got to read the Chad Finn story in The Globe.

22:31I don't know what the Herald's done.

22:33But about the host broadcast life.

22:36And I knew he had something to do with solar heating.

22:39But, yeah, there's a lot more.

22:40The man was a very complex and bright person.

22:43But I knew him, you know, got to know him because he also did Celtic games,

22:48you know, for a while there.

22:50And got to know him, and he was a very interesting guy.

22:53But that calling all sports was a must-listen every night.

22:57Every night.

22:58Of course, that's when WBC was a colossus then.

23:01And they were – so he occupies a significant spot

23:07in the history of Boston sports broadcasting.

23:09So my condolences to the Manila family.

23:13And now there's twos, all sports radio stations.

23:16But we've gone from one talk show.

23:18We went from one show.

23:20One show.

23:21One show.

23:22And, of course, there were, you know, the Sportscope guys up on the end of the dial

23:25at 1600, Eli Schleifer and Teddy Sullivan and George Penn,

23:29which I was there for a while.

23:32But one show, and they did once a week.

23:35Guy Manila was four nights a week.

23:37I forget why he didn't do Friday.

23:39They did Monday through Thursday.

23:41And, of course, long ago, though, the Voice of Sports,

23:44you guys are both probably too young to remember that,

23:47but on WHWH on Saturday night, WHDH, 850 on Saturday nights.

23:55And that was – but Guy Manila.

23:57So, you know, sorry to hear about Guy.

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25:57Bob, I will let you start about the passing of the logo, Jerry West.

26:04Well, it's interesting.

26:05We're learning the story of the logo,

26:06and the man who did, in fact, come up with the logo and do it,

26:09said he can't specifically say that it was Jerry West,

26:12except he used a picture of Jerry West.

26:14So, of course, it was Jerry West.

26:15I don't know.

26:16Anyway, Jerry West.

26:17And Jerry was always a little uncomfortable with that one, by the way.

26:20But for some reason, because that's the guy he was.

26:22Jerry West was basketball royalty.

26:26Complete basketball royalty.

26:28A part of our basketball consciousness since he was at West Virginia,

26:34losing the championship game in 1959 on a tip-in at the buzzer by Darryl Imhoff.

26:39And that set the tone for his 60s frustration of losing six finals to the Boston Celtics.

26:47Jerry West, in my opinion, and I think was shared by anybody who's been around,

26:51was the most revered opponent in Boston Celtic history.

26:54The one guy that Johnny Moose had nothing bad to say about,

26:59that did not wear a green and white uniform.

27:02Gentlemen, Jerry.

27:03And I think people picked up on that around here, too.

27:07He played hard.

27:08He played fair.

27:11You couldn't hate him.

27:12I was terrified of him as an opponent.

27:14Yeah, every time the ball was in his hands.

27:17And, you know, then when you get to know him,

27:19you find out what a complex person he was.

27:21Oh, my God.

27:23It's one of the darkest autobiographies of any celebrity that you'll ever read.

27:27He was an internally tortured person, didn't enjoy his life,

27:31didn't enjoy his celebrity the way he should.

27:33He just couldn't.

27:34You realize that when he was the general manager of the Lakers during the heyday

27:37with the Showtime team that he put together, for the most part,

27:40that he couldn't watch the games, that he would drive around in his car in L.A.

27:44listening to Chick Hearn and then get back to the office.

27:49Because he just couldn't bring himself.

27:51Then, part B is, he would never come back to Boston all those years.

27:56And I, among others, would just kid him and say,

27:58Jerry, you would be so gratified to come back and find out how well you'd be

28:02treated in Boston, how well respected you are.

28:04But he never did it.

28:06Never did it.

28:07It was just part of his package.

28:09His DNA was very weird in that sense.

28:11But his contribution to basketball, you know, as a player, a coach,

28:15better coach than I remembered.

28:16I was wrong.

28:17I didn't think he was as good a coach as he was.

28:19But he really wasn't cut out for coaching.

28:21He was one of those superstars that had an impatience with the lesser mortals.

28:25You know what I mean?

28:26One of those guys.

28:27But brilliant general manager, obviously.

28:28His eye for talent and his ability to attract people to come to the Lakers.

28:32And then what he did with Memphis was one of the great chapters of his

28:35history, giving them an identity and bringing Hubie Brown out of retirement

28:40and putting together a competitive team.

28:42And then, of course,

28:43he was a consultant with the Warriors in those glory years and is now ending

28:46up with the Clippers.

28:47But his contribution is enormous.

28:51Enormous.

28:52And to basketball and, you know.

28:55Give me your favorite.

28:56Hey, Bob, give me your favorite Jerry West story.

28:59What's your favorite Jerry West story?

29:01Oh, you'll love this.

29:02And I wouldn't tell this story while the person of the second part was

29:04alive because it wasn't, you know.

29:06I was in LA for whatever reason, I don't recall.

29:09The Celtics, I was on the road, but I went to the game.

29:12The Celtics weren't playing and they were playing.

29:14I don't know who they were playing.

29:15It doesn't matter.

29:16So after the game, I have a one-on-one in the corridor outside the locker

29:20room at the Fabulous Forum.

29:23And Lou Hudson was on the team.

29:26He was in his last, you know, stretch.

29:29His days were over.

29:31And he's playing out the string with the Lakers.

29:33And Jerry West says to me, Lou Hudson, Lou Hudson.

29:36He said, if he were a horse, I'd have to take him out and shoot him.

29:39Now, I wouldn't tell that while Lou Hudson was alive.

29:45But I'm telling it now.

29:49You know, that's my favorite.

29:50That's my little moment of individual Jerry West remembrance, okay?

29:55But he was always accessible to us in the media.

30:00He was a return phone call kind of guy.

30:03And, you know, and of course, insightful as all hell.

30:05Look at the tributes he's getting from the likes of Michael Jordan and

30:07Magic Johnson and how much they respected and revered him.

30:10Michael, who didn't play for him.

30:12Magic, of course, who was, you know, he did, of course.

30:15But you're going to get nothing but tributes.

30:19John Havlicek loved him.

30:21He told him he loved him after he lost that game in 69.

30:24And they told him right on the court that you deserved to win.

30:26I'm sorry we beat you.

30:27You know, I'm glad we won, but I'm sorry we beat you.

30:30And let's talk about 69.

30:32Game one, 53 points to get them off to a start.

30:37He averaged 37 a game for the final seven-game series.

30:40And in game nine, game seven, which they lost, as you know, by two points.

30:44He had a triple-double that started off with 43 points.

30:47In 1965, when they were outmanned by the height of glory Celtics and

30:54Russell, they gave him a five-game series in which he averaged 40 points

30:57a game against the Boston Celtics.

30:59So for people who, the young'uns that don't know, never saw him,

31:02we're talking about an offensive machine.

31:05Two titles?

31:06Did he win two titles?

31:07Just one, 72, as a player.

31:09As a player.

31:101972, he was a part of that team that won the 33 straight games,

31:14won the then-record 69 games.

31:16And he and Gerald Goodrich each averaged 25 points a game as guards,

31:20which you'll never see that again.

31:22And he played 14 years and averaged over 20 points, 13 out of 14.

31:29The only one he didn't was his rookie year in 60-61.

31:32He averaged 17 points, six points a game.

31:34He went out, though, scoring 20 points a game,

31:36something that I don't know how many people,

31:38but I only know two other off the top of my head who did that going out.

31:42And their names were identical by their first names,

31:46first names being Michael and Larry.

31:48And they averaged 20 points a game in their final season as well.

31:52But not many people had done that.

31:54He was a great defensive player, assist guy.

31:59He was just a fantastic player, absolutely.

32:04And literally broke his nose, reported nine times.

32:08I saw a quick quote from him in which he said,

32:11because he broke his nose nine times, he said,

32:13his wife married nine different people.

32:15So there'll be no end to the tributes to Jerry Western.

32:21They're all justified.

32:23Bob, great stuff as always.

32:25Jeff, thank you very much.

32:27Bob Ryan, Jeff Goodman, thank you very much for the ride.

32:29Pod right here on CLNS Media, brought to you by PrizePix,

32:32the exclusive daily fantasy partner of CLNS.

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Celtics One Game Away, Remembering Jerry West | Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast

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