Celtics reporter Noa Dalzell goes live to discuss Celtics Banner Night and the subsequent thrashing of the New York Knicks. Noa will answer all your questions and share observations and takeaways from a very special evening at TD Garden in which the Celtics received their 2024 championship rings and saw a brand-new banner float to the rafters. We'll dive into the off-court happenings around the Garden, as well what we learned about this team from the blowout performance.
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00:00What's up, everyone?
00:27This is Noah DelZell, and I'm here with a Banner Night recap episode of You Got Boston.
00:32I'm going to spend a little bit of time sharing some of the insights and just kind of what
00:36the experience was like to be in the building.
00:39And then obviously what we saw on the court as well, which I thought was perfectly fitting.
00:43I wrote a story for Celtics blog about how really the banner ceremony was kind of the
00:48perfect segue to the game.
00:50And the game was kind of a tutorial on why the banner was raised in the first place.
00:54So you can check that out.
00:56But really just an awesome experience.
00:58I've been watching the Celtics since I was a little kid, and I've never seen a banner
01:02ceremony.
01:03I actually started following the team, like, right after they won the championship.
01:07And so I missed that, that blip of time, you know, 2008, 2009.
01:11And so it's been something that's been quite elusive to me as well.
01:14And a lot of the players talked about what the experience meant to them and what it was
01:17like to actually just be there in the moment, get their rings, see the banner kind of raised
01:22to the rafters, and then play the game and then play the game and blow out the Knicks
01:26and almost break the three-point record for most three-pointers ever in an NBA game.
01:31And they did not break that record.
01:32And those of you that tuned in last night, assuming most of you saw how frustrating that's
01:38frustrating and hilarious, I would say, in one, that scene was.
01:43And so I wanted to just start off by not the basketball piece, because the basketball we'll
01:47be talking about all year.
01:50And certainly the basketball pieces is interesting, and it's relevant here, but I thought the
01:53last night was bigger than basketball.
01:56The things that stood out to me the most was just how important it was for the current
02:01Celtics that the previous Celtics were in the house.
02:05You know, Bob Cousy, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Cedric Maxwell, who was always
02:10in the building.
02:11And it was just those five.
02:13And, you know, certainly you think they could have brought more, like I was thinking, you
02:16know, it would be nice to have more representation from the 80s team, but I don't think it really
02:20mattered.
02:21I think it was just Bob Cousy's presence alone, and the fact that he was on this team for,
02:26you know, before Red Albrecht, you know, this is a guy that really kind of spans the entire
02:30history of the Celtics organization, and having him be wheeled in there, and, you know, he
02:35addressed the crowd, and he, you know, just kind of did the two peace signs, and he had
02:40said, you know, he was interviewed a little while ago, he said, you know, I really want
02:43to live to watch them win this championship, and then he said, I want to live to watch
02:46them win, you know, actually see the banner get raised.
02:49So having him in the building, I thought was super cool, and it was something that
02:53both, you know, the stars, you know, Jason Tatum, Al Horford, Jalen Brown, they talked
02:58about it, and then Joe Mazzullo, you could just tell, it was the thing that was the most
03:02meaningful to him, was not winning the championship, was not his individual or even the team accomplishment,
03:07but more the franchise.
03:10And something that I'm going to ask Joe Mazzullo about next time we have practice, which won't
03:13be for a little bit of time, because the Celtics are hitting the road now, is what it would
03:18be like for him to coach a team that wasn't, he didn't have these like deep-rooted ties
03:24to, like, he grew up a Celtics fan, he grew up in Rhode Island, he's in love with the
03:27organization, he finds the whole thing very kind of spiritual, he kissed the parquet when
03:32it was his time to get the ring, and so that was pretty unique, I didn't know what to expect,
03:37a lot of people I saw were saying that they thought that he was going for push-ups, I
03:42would not have been surprised if that's what he was doing, but he said he kissed the parquet
03:45because he can't go out there and dive on the floor and grab loose balls the way that
03:49other players do, and so, the way that the players do, as the coach, he's just on the
03:53sideline, and so for him, it was a way to kind of feel like he was really a part of
03:57things, and he had a really beautiful pressure, I would say, he's just been on fire.
04:16Okay, I'm in a different room in my house because I got a lot of complaints about the
04:22shoes being in the background, so if I cut out a Wi-Fi, it's because I tried it in part
04:26of my house that I'm not usually in, so next time I'll go back to my bedroom, not in Brockton,
04:32I live in Cambridge, but still, you know, one Wi-Fi box, four rooms, you know, sometimes
04:38it can't go everywhere, but right now it looks like we're back in business, so yeah, I just
04:43think that the Joe's, like, spiritual connection to the Celtics and the fact that he is, you
04:47know, grew up a fan, grew up so connected to the team, really believed that the Celtics
04:51are a way of life, like, I don't know what it would be like for him if he was the coach
04:54of a regular organization, like, if he had just, you know, as things had lined up, if
04:59he got a job offer in any, you know, the Wizards, like, some team that doesn't have the story
05:04history, I wonder how he would relate to it, because so much of what he preaches and what
05:07he talks about is his connection to the Garden, his connection to the building, to the history,
05:12to the legends, and so he's just, it's just a perfect fit, and it's honestly something
05:17that's, you know, it's hard for me to imagine, I've only ever covered this team as far as
05:21NBA teams go, and so I can't really imagine what it would be like to cover a team that
05:25didn't have that story history, but for him, you know, he's coaching this organization,
05:29like it's completely different, and so I thought that was just a, it was just a beautiful night,
05:35I had my dad and my brother there who don't usually go to games, and it was really nice
05:38to see them, and really nice to see them be in the building, and then I was also really
05:41glad the game itself was so enjoyable, because in my family, blowouts are considered enjoyable,
05:46I know some people want to see it go down to the wire, but I thought that on the eve
05:50of the championship, you know, the championship, you know, rings and the banner raising and
05:55all that, I thought that it was really special that, you know, then they go out and they
05:59blow out the Knicks, and that Jason Tatum in particular, who has been the subject of
06:02so much controversy, and he's been the subject of so much discourse around whether he could
06:07still shoot, and whether he's good at basketball still, and I thought that his reputation was
06:11just so unfairly denigrated this past summer after leading, helping lead this team to a
06:16championship, he comes out and has the best opening night performance I think we've seen
06:21in years, you know, 37 points on 14 of 18 shooting, 8 of 11 from 3, and then he obviously
06:28also has the 10 assists and one turnover, which I thought was like maybe the most remarkable
06:32part of the stop line, only played 30 minutes, and certainly with 18 minutes, he could, you know,
06:3718 shots, he definitely could have taken more, but he just wasn't forcing the issue, and that's
06:41what was making him so effective, and so all of that stood out to me, you know, I thought
06:46that Tatum's performance was kind of the fitting bow on that, on that night, and so you have
06:51both the championship celebrations, you have all the emotions that come with that, and then
06:56you have the game starts, and it's like the show is just beginning now, Tatum from the
07:01jump was feeling it, he hits the first shot of the game, and I will say I watched the game in
07:06person, and when I'm there in person, I'm usually, I'm talking to people, I'm watching, you know, I'm
07:10looking at the bench, because those are things you can't see later on, and in the actual game, you
07:15can always go back and watch on TV, and so I re-watched the game today, and what really stood out
07:20to me was like how different his shot actually looked, and I've been on this bandwagon, I'm not
07:26going to talk about his shot form, because I really don't think it's my place, and I'm not an expert on
07:30shot mechanisms, and I've said this a couple times, but if you search my name on YouTube and
07:35basketball highlights, you can see my, my high school highlights, and you can understand why I
07:38don't like talking about people's shots, and so I, I just thought that when you're on, on a second
07:45watch, and I went back and looked at some of his film from the playoffs, like there is a clear
07:49noticeable lack of a, of a hitch, and you know, I know it's everybody's been talking about it, but it's,
07:53it's true, and so I don't think he's going to be 8 for 11 on, on a regular night, that's a pretty
07:59absurd stat line to begin with, and he's, he's not going to go for 11 most nights, but if he can
08:06make 5 or 11, like that's a jump up from what we were seeing in the postseason, and I do think that
08:10he's going to be more consistent now, and so I'm going to continue sharing just some of my thoughts
08:15and observations from this, this kind of really a beautiful emotional ceremony, and this second
08:20game, and also just from training camp, and just being around the team these past few weeks,
08:25I've been busy covering the WBA finals with an also self-expertise in the training camp,
08:28and now things are going to slow down a little bit, but I've also been around and talking to
08:33Joe, talking to the players, and so happy to shed light on anything that people are wondering as
08:37well, so feel free to put questions in the chat box, and if you're watching this on a rewatch,
08:41feel free to put questions in the YouTube comments, I'll respond to those accordingly as well,
08:46and just a quick moment before we continue on here, I just want to send a quick message from
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09:34create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again,
09:39create an account and redeem code CLNS for $20 off. Download GameTime today. What time is it?
09:46GameTime. And I actually used GameTime to buy my dad and brother tickets, and the cool thing is
09:52you can kind of look and check every single day, and that's what I was doing, and I got it on the
09:55cheapest day, so I was happy with that. But I'm just going to scroll through here. Appreciate
10:02those of you tuning in live. I know it's kind of an awkward hour. I'm going to kind of test out
10:06different hours and see what's most popular here, and this show will be mostly on off days,
10:10so as you guys, those of you that follow CLNS, you can find my post-game coverage on The Garden
10:15Report. Right after games, we go live, and then usually Bobby Banning and I will do a stand-up as
10:21well for the morning, and so this is kind of an off-day thing, and so as long as you all are kind
10:27of looking for coverage, looking for further analysis, you're able to tune in on days when
10:31public aren't playing, and we'll have a live show to kind of discuss the previous games and answer
10:35any questions that have come up. And also, I'm always happy to, if there's things you guys want
10:39me to look into, like I'm happy to ask questions and kind of go that way as well. I think that
10:44sometimes you guys probably watch pressers and you're like, why are all these questions so bad?
10:47Because honestly, it is hard to come up with unique questions that are also fitting for the moment,
10:52so it's like a lot of times I have questions I'd love to ask, but they just don't fit the context,
10:55and like you have to think about the implications of what you're asking as well. But if there's
11:00anything that you guys are curious about, I'm always happy to kind of poke around and see if
11:04I can get answers. My intention as a reporter for this team is to be able to kind of be a
11:08segue between like the team and things that are happening on the ground and the fan base,
11:12and so that's kind of how I view this position, and I'm really grateful to be in this role to be
11:16able to do that. And so, I'm seeing a question here was a couple of times asked about the Knicks
11:23and about whether the Knicks was, were the Knicks just not physically ready for the new season,
11:29or are we just that good? So this is an interesting question, and it's one we discussed a little bit
11:33on the Garden Report. I really do think that this Celtics team is in the beginning of a dynasty,
11:39or maybe I should say in the middle of a dynasty because they've already won a
11:41championship. I had that feeling last night when I was sitting in the Garden, and it wasn't just
11:47that they were hitting everything, which like obviously that's always going to make teams look
11:49good. It was just, I was thinking like what teams in this league have the personnel to match up
11:55from a shooting standpoint to be able to get off as many threes with so many weapons, and then also
12:00have no defenders on the floor that are attackable, really. Like even Sam Houser, I know he's the guy
12:07that he gets picked on. Like, as far as I'm concerned, teams pick on Sam Houser all day,
12:11and like I don't think that that's a helpful defense, and the numbers would back me up there.
12:15And so when you're watching this team, it does feel like you're watching a historically great
12:18team, and it did last year as well, but now it's like you have the validation of the championship
12:24banner hanging. You know, it's not speculative anymore. It's not what they could end up being.
12:28It's like what they've already shown that they are. On the flip side, you have a Knicks team
12:32that I think has a lot of hype, and it's because they were involved in a couple major trades this
12:36summer. One was for Mikal Bridges, and it's the five first round picks, and all the buzz around
12:41that. And then the other one was trading Julius Randall and Dante DiVincenzo for Carl Anthony
12:46Towns. And both of these trades I feel like kind of conflicted about. I didn't have an obvious,
12:51like, okay, this is who the winner was, this is who the loser was. The Carl Anthony Towns,
12:58Julius Randall one, I was particularly conflicted about because I'm not a huge fan of either of
13:02those two players. But I think that the key in that one is the Dante DiVincenzo bit, and he's
13:07in Minnesota, and he's going to be a loss for New York because he really emerged as a superstar in
13:12the playoffs last year. And so what I realized watching the Knicks, and this might be like
13:17kind of obvious, but we were all excited about this team because they were already a pretty
13:21magical team last year, and then they have these new pieces that could elevate them to the
13:26next level. But in reality, I do think that two of the most important pieces to why they were this
13:33magical team are gone now. And that's Isaiah Hardenstein and Dante DiVincenzo. And Julius
13:39Randall just wasn't a part of that playoff run, and I also don't think that he's really ever fit
13:42with that team as well. So it's just, I think it's more of an indictment on, like, how important those
13:48other guys were, and maybe in the analysis around this team and all that they were gaining, there
13:52was also a little bit of overlooking on what they were losing. And so, yeah, it's kind of a weird
13:58situation because watching this team yesterday, it didn't seem like they knew who they were.
14:02They didn't have a clear identity. Obviously, the Celtics were coming out, guns blazing. It was going
14:06to be really hard to beat them regardless. Josh Hart said, you know, these dudes need to be drug
14:11tested. Like, I thought that was a funny quote. He always is good for a good quote, but it really
14:15did look like this team is playing out of their mind. But that aside, like, I don't know how they
14:20were using Karl-Anthony Towns. It wasn't quite clear to me what the intention was, why they were
14:25using him mostly as not really a spacer, when, like, that's really what he can bring. And then,
14:31besides for that, like, Jalen Brunson is a guy who I think is enormously talented,
14:35somebody that I'm personally a huge fan of. But also, like, he has to find a way to play
14:41great one-on-one basketball, which is what he can always do, and also make sure that the team's
14:45offense and everybody's involved and kind of maximized. And they're going to figure it out
14:49to a better extent than they did last night. But I also think that watching them, we did jump the
14:53gun a little bit on kind of saying what this team was capable of doing and what this team was,
14:58you know, what this team had accomplished and how that would reflect into this year. Because
15:02this is the same thing as last year, you know, the Celtics got rid of Marcus Martin and Rob Williams.
15:07And yeah, I think, like, you know, that's right, ended up working out, obviously. But
15:13you, there's a question mark around how that's going to go. And usually, when you assemble a
15:17new team and grab a new pieces in the offseason, usually you don't win that year. The Celtics,
15:21what they did last year was unusual. It's much more common to see what's happened with the Phoenix
15:25Sun, where there's a lot of hype, and there's a lot of momentum. And you get Kevin Durant and
15:29Devin Parker, and these guys together and Bradley Beal, and then you don't win. That's the blueprint
15:33for how it usually goes. And so I do think I'm a little bit lower on New York, not because I saw
15:38something last night that was so alarming, because in reality, like, last night was just one game.
15:43But because I think last night served as a really helpful reminder that the identity of this
15:47team is completely different than what it once was. That's just my perspective. I like New York,
15:52I hope they're good this year, because I think that it's always fun when Boston and New York are
15:55good. I'll be at the games in Brooklyn and in Madison Square Garden, and I want to see good
15:59battles. But certainly, I think that if you're a Celtics fan, John Brown was asked if he was,
16:04like, worried about the Knicks by Stephen A. Smith, when he did their sit down, and he said,
16:07like, am I worried? And I don't think that they have reason to be worried right now.
16:12I'm just going to acknowledge some of these comments. I do think this is about Tatum. Tatum
16:18looked much more decisive and confident. Comment here about Derek White. Derek White's defense was
16:23phenomenal. I also thought Derek White's offense was phenomenal, and he's just one of those guys
16:28that kind of goes underrated, under the radar. Last night, he had 24 points. He was, you know,
16:33Tatum was hot, but Derek White was also really hot and was also really efficient. And I think
16:38that that's a great sign because he had such a positive year last year that you want to make
16:42sure that that's not a one-off, and that in reality, like, he's going to do this again and
16:46again. And certainly, I think what you saw from Derek White is the confidence of the guy that
16:52helped them win a championship last year, the guy that scored 38 first Miami in the first round.
16:56And so on both ends of the floor, Derek White is, you know, so, so important to this team.
17:01He can create his own shot. He's a good facilitator, and he also doesn't need his.
17:05And that's really what's so important. And we talked about that a little on the Garden Report
17:08as well, but this idea that if you can be versatile and also, like, provide when you
17:13need to, but you also don't need to always be providing is just so helpful because there's so
17:16much on this team. So I'm going to continue going down here. This is a good question. A question
17:22about O'Shea getting his ring. Any news on how O'Shea will get his ring? I know Steve will get
17:26his in March from the Jaffa Celtics. Yeah, so I actually don't know. I don't know what O'Shea's
17:31plans are. I've loosely heard that there's a good chance that he might end up in Europe.
17:36I follow along on his blog and his YouTube and everything, and there hasn't been any
17:40real insight, but certainly this point of the year, if you're not on an NBA roster,
17:44the odds are that you're probably not going to be on an NBA roster. There's going to be
17:48some guys that break out of that, but the odds are against you at this point.
17:52And so unless there's something substantial that I'm missing that, you know, would change my
17:56perspective here, I do think that the decision to opt out of his player option this year,
18:00that would have been a minimum contract, guaranteed money on the Celtics. It didn't
18:05age well and probably it was the wrong choice. But also I'm looking at this from a perspective
18:09of somebody that doesn't have the full pictures. I want to disclaim that. But I was thinking to
18:13myself, you know, he's on a team. He could have been there last night to retrieve his ring and
18:18to be a part of the ceremony and everything. I don't know what the precedent is for a player
18:22who's like retired or just out of the league altogether. I'd have to look into that, but it
18:26did cross my mind. Like he's somebody that could just be here because it's not like he's on another
18:30roster right now. And that's why he's not able to be here. And so I don't know all I can poke
18:35around and ask and I'll report out if I find out anything about what the plans are for him.
18:40I did see that to be tweeted last night, like, does anybody have a connection at UPS,
18:44you know, insinuating that he wanted his ring shipped out to him as fast as possible,
18:47but he'll get them. He'll get his ring only in March. Really late in the season is the first
18:51time. It was the only time that you took comes to Boston, but happy for speed that he got a
18:54multi-year deal on the jazz and I'm sure he'll be a good rotation player there.
19:02Yeah, this is a comment about Tatum slowing down the game. I think absolutely like I talked about
19:06this last night, but really like above the shooting, it's the process and it's the decision
19:10making. And that's the things that can be carried on from night to night. It doesn't have to change
19:14just because shots are falling. And last night it was just so automatic.
19:19It was really, really helpful to see.
19:23And then, yeah, just the ball movement. Like, you know, I don't know that you can find another team
19:27that has the ball movement that the Celtics do and the personnel to execute upon like what they're
19:33trying to accomplish. Yeah, I agree that OKC, a lot of people right now have OKC as the biggest
19:39threat in the West. It almost feels like an unoriginal pick, but the signs certainly point
19:43there because they were so promising last year. And I love what they did this offseason. Unlike
19:47the Knicks, where there was a give and take, I actually feel like for them, the additions of
19:52Alex Russo and Isaiah Hardenstein are just huge. And then Josh Gady, who exited, went to Chicago.
19:58I didn't think he fit that team. I don't think he really elevated what they were able to do.
20:02And so, yeah, that's that's kind of my perspective on that. And, you know, we'll always see it.
20:07Sometimes these teams have a really good season. The Wolves didn't all look great last night after
20:10a great regular season last year. And so we'll see how that goes. You know, it's just one game.
20:15But just because you have one good year doesn't mean that that's sustained success. So I don't
20:18want to get carried away with OKC. I'm already hearing people say like the next Dynasty or
20:22whatnot. But yeah, certainly I think in this position, in this moment, in this position,
20:26you just have to you have to you have to be optimistic about that group and where that
20:30organization is headed. OK, question about what do you think are the main challenges for the team
20:36this season? I think health and not because they're particularly unhealthy, but just because
20:41it's an existential challenge in the NBA. I mean, how many teams last year did we see
20:45enter the playoffs and were just missing one of their key players or multiple of their key players?
20:50And so, yeah, it's super bizarre what's going on right now. Even in the preseason,
20:55I felt like there was more injuries than usual. And I don't know if that's statistically accurate,
20:58but it feels like it's just totally changing the landscape of the NBA. And they were healthy last
21:03year outside of Christoph Porzingis. And so being able to replicate that health will be so important
21:10and also just being able to reintegrate Porzingis when he comes back. I think this team without him
21:14is really good. And they showed that last year in the playoffs. And so figuring out how to deal
21:20with that kind of in and out of the rotation, that's really the biggest challenge for me.
21:23I don't think there's going to be a mental thing. I know people are going to ask about
21:27whether mentally he's what they're going to get bored if they're winning a lot.
21:32I think we got to move on from that narrative because it's just not what we're seeing. It's
21:34not what we're hearing. And so I have all the reasons in the world to think that that's not
21:39team's DNA. It's not the culture around this organization. They're going to stay locked in.
21:42And so I'm really looking at it from a more from that sense of just like,
21:47can you replicate the success you had just from being available last year?
21:52Okay, this is a good question. What do you think will be our best sixth man this year?
21:57I think the top sixth man will be assuming that Al Horford starts like half the season.
22:03I'm going to say I'm going to consider him a starter because he's going to end up starting
22:06quite a bit. So outside of Al, probably Sam Houser. I think he's just been consistently
22:16a really elite scorer off the bench. He just seems super comfortable in preseason,
22:20the regular season. It's close between him and Pritchard. They both shown that they can
22:24create and I think they're both kind of due for bigger leaps right now. But yeah,
22:29I would say probably Sam Houser is the one that I'm the most optimistic about.
22:33And then the second half of your question, is there a reality where we re-sign Walani Walker?
22:38I do think the Celtics are would be interested in him. I've kind of poked around. I haven't
22:43heard any confirmation about whether or not he'll be on that main Celtics team.
22:46That roster will be finalized by the end of this weekend. And so keep your eyes out for
22:51information around that. Most of that team is going to be a lot of two ways. So Anton Watson,
22:56Baylor Shryman will be there even though he's on a two way. J.D. Davidson, Drew Peterson,
23:00those guys will be in Maine. And then whether or not Walani Walker goes is anybody's guess right
23:06now. He's not going to be signed by the Celtics right now. And from what I'm hearing, he hasn't
23:10been picked up by anybody. So that's a guess. I would guess that he's going to be in Maine to
23:15begin. But I don't think that he's officially made that decision or at least it's all public.
23:21I'm going to take a break from answer. Feel free to continue putting these in,
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24:54So sorry about if my video is freezing in and out. I tried to switch to my hotspot. It's just
24:58because I'm in a different part of my house than usual. So I won't go here again, even though I
25:03think the background's a little bit less distracting. But I appreciate everybody for bearing with me
25:07here. I see a lot, there's a lot of new comments and questions here while I was kind of catching
25:11up on these. So I'm going to try to go through these quickly. And then we'll do, I'll do another
25:16show probably on Friday since that's another club's off day. Okay, so yeah, just some comments
25:22on Josh Hart. I resonate with these. Josh Hart looked uncomfortable. He talked about it in
25:26preseason that he looked uncomfortable. Carl Anthony Towns agree that they kind of weren't
25:30really leveraging him as much as, as much as he probably will end up being leveraged. And then
25:35yeah, certainly the Knicks lost some physicality like Ihar, Randall, those are two of the guys that
25:39were kind of some of their enforcers. So we'll see in all that. I'm seeing a couple of Lonnie
25:45Walker related questions. And I, as I just said, you know, I'm not sure exactly what the situation
25:50is going to look like for him. I would love to see him in Maine personally because covering games
25:55in Maine are awesome. I think the fans in Portland would be really excited to have him there as
25:59clearly the fans here are just so excited about him in general. And then I think that it gives
26:04him a chance to be on an NBA team. From my experience, talking to players that are overseas,
26:08like it's just a lot harder to come back to, you know, come back to the NBA once you've already
26:14made that move overseas, like you're kind of viewed as an overseas player at that point.
26:18And so yeah, all that being said, I'm optimistic that Lonnie Walker will find a spot in the league.
26:23I think that he's talented enough. I think that he's skilled enough. I think that he seems like
26:27a great guy and maybe just hasn't been able to kind of string together the kind of success or
26:32commitment or whatever else it is so far in his career. But I'm a believer, maybe I'll be wrong.
26:37Sometimes I get excited about these guys that can score effectively and just seem like nice guys
26:40overall. So maybe I'm being biased here, but I hope that he can find a spot and you know, whether
26:44or not it's in Boston, TBD right now, it looks unlikely to be in Boston, at least in the short
26:48term future. But we'll report out anything that I learned about that situation. And we'll see.
26:58I'm seeing some comments here. Yeah, the banner ceremony was absolutely awesome. I thought that
27:01it was just great. The only thing that I did see people complaining about, which honestly,
27:04like I did think that in real life was that the banner was wrinkled. I don't know if you guys
27:09noticed that on the TV. It really did look like the banner was wrinkled. So it was kind of weird.
27:15And I have to imagine that they like maybe didn't realize or they're going to iron it now or
27:19whatever. But if you look at like, I was choosing the feature photo for my story and I was like,
27:24okay, this is kind of wild that legitimately like all the photos have a wrinkled banner in them.
27:31So not the end of the world, but that was the one complaint that I saw prevalent online.
27:36Being there in the moment, all I could think about was just like, I can't believe this is
27:38really happening. Watching the players reaction, the coaches reaction, just the fans going insane.
27:43I actually wasn't sitting on press row for that. I went to like a balcony section where there was a
27:47better view. And so was talking to some fans there who were just like super emotional. Couldn't
27:51believe that it was really happening. So, yeah. And then obviously there was this whole situation
27:57with the 30th three-pointer. With eight minutes and 30 seconds to go, the Celtics had 29 threes,
28:05which was pretty insane. And they needed one more to break the all-time record for most three-pointers
28:11in a single game. And normally I don't know that the crowd would have cared like that much about
28:15that record, but it's banner night and they just won the championship and it's their first game of
28:19the season and everything was kind of perfect. Tatum was on fire. Everybody was there. It was
28:24just like kind of this perfect sequence of events where it just kept getting better and better.
28:28And then they were about to break this record, which would have been like kind of the cherry
28:31on top. I already know from a writing standpoint, like how easy that story would have been to tell
28:35of like the manifestation of Missoula ball in this record and all that. And then they missed 13 in a
28:42row. And it was kind of hilarious to watch because they were getting clean looks, but they were also
28:46taking unnatural shots because there were points in time where like Pritchard and Jordan Walsh,
28:51they were getting rebounds and they were just kicking them out. Like they were down by three.
28:53That was the energy. It was like a down by three clock winding down type of situation.
28:59And yeah, they just couldn't, they could not hit. It was Pritchard. It was Hauser.
29:02Jordan Walsh got in there with an air ball. Xavier Tillman got in there with an air ball.
29:07So it was kind of a brutal watch. The crowd is freaking out. They just want them to shoot.
29:11And then they, they dribbled out the clock at the end and the crowd started booing as they realized
29:17they weren't going to take a final attempt. And that was, that was kind of the trigger on top of
29:22just kind of capturing this Boston crowd. Sam Hauser joked about a post game of like,
29:26this is pretty wild that like we're up by 30 in the banner ceremony and like this crowd is cheering
29:30as it was booing us. So, you know, that's just the, that's just the way that it goes. But I
29:34thought that it was kind of a, you know, Jalen Brown talked about post game. Like this is kind
29:37of what happens when you start to force things like, you know, it jinxed us a little bit.
29:44So yeah. I thought that was, it was an interesting sub story there. I wish someone had asked Joe
29:51about how he felt about that whole record chasing moment. Maybe someone will ask him
29:54practice. I can ask him in practice, but really the post games were all about the banner ceremony
29:58and just kind of the experience of that less so about the game itself. Like nobody really talked
30:02about how like Drew Holliday was on Carlin Hoodie Towns for a while and how effective that was and
30:06all those things. So yeah. And this is a great point. They left Missoula ball and went off on
30:12their own. Absolutely. They were good looks, but the basketball guides decided it was off the night.
30:16And I think that a little bit of that was just the idea that like, they were good looks, but they
30:21also were like not the right process in a way. And I think that it was more of like a, it really was
30:26like a basketball gods moment. I hate to say that, but I really did feel that way. So, and then,
30:32yeah, someone here said about, was talking about earlier about injuries. Like, did we not, didn't
30:35we not have Drew for a while? Drew missed, I don't know off the top of my head and I'm worried about
30:39my wife right now, so I'm not going to search, but I don't know off the top of my head how many
30:42games Drew missed, but I don't think it was a lot. I would guess he probably missed 15 games
30:45last season. I'm talking about like really more substantial things. Drew was available.
30:49He had a dead arm for a second, then he had an ankle sprain here and there.
30:53Oh, this is cool. Somebody here from Latvia. Oh, I'm sorry about this, guys. I saw people were
31:00complaining on TNT about why did they cut the commercial at the moment when the banner was raised.
31:05I did not realize, first of all, that TNT was the only media company broadcasting this. I thought
31:11it was also the local channel, so I didn't realize that that was the situation. But then also,
31:16I could not believe when I watched the Twitter replay and the banner is literally raising and
31:20they cut away from it into commercial break. It's like you'd think that the one rule that the
31:25production, you know, the producers had going into the night was we're going to play the whole
31:30ceremony, like just play it through and then go to commercial. So I was pretty stunned by that.
31:35Hopefully you can find, I think, a couple of different places. CLNS has like on YouTube,
31:39the full banner ceremony. So if you want to watch like a more uncut version,
31:44sometimes it's cool to watch that. It's not going to be like as professionally cut, but it's going
31:47to have the actual unfiltered order of events. We have the same thing up there from like the finals
31:52and the Eastern Conference finals. And I think those are worth seeing, honestly. But yeah,
31:58it was really it was it's really disappointing to see that. So sorry. Sorry for everybody that
32:02was watching on TV and had to cut away from it. Hopefully Twitter was useful to you in the moment.
32:07OK, and this was and I'm seeing some people here resonating with the wrinkled wrinkled banner
32:11comment. So we shall see if they if they do anything about that. I'll see if I hear anything
32:17on the facilities. It's like a joking matter. I don't think anybody really actually cares much,
32:21but it is pretty funny that that was it was a very overt thing. Like it looked like when I
32:25tried to look at it, I don't iron my clothes usually. And sometimes I'm just like, OK,
32:29hopefully this is not as obvious. And it's like, obviously, it is obvious. And this was kind of
32:32the situation with this banner. Yeah. And then, yeah, sorry that the media coverage was not great
32:41on TV. I have one video that I posted that was I thought was just the best part of the night.
32:46And it was when they went back and they showed how every single player ended up in Boston that
32:51was like of the key players. So they had the original trade that got them the draft picks
32:55that became Tatum and Brown. Then they had Tatum's draft night and Jalen's draft night.
32:59And then the trades that landed Al Horford back and bringing back and bringing Drew Hall
33:04and Porzingis. And each one of those was like cutaways from the TV and the announcing
33:09and the SportsCenter news. And then when you saw who the player was, like the crowd was going wild.
33:14And so for me, like I don't I do get chills quite a bit just being around the Celtics and being
33:18around basketball and same for the WNBA finals and everything. But this was one of those moments
33:23where I was like, holy shit, like this is incredible that they this this was like a
33:27journey that I was following for so many years. And we all were. And then now you're seeing that
33:31translate into the banner racing. And like it sometimes feels like, OK, like especially when
33:35I'm doing my job, I got to get my story out. I got to get my tweets out. I'm like getting my
33:39interview in. And I had this moment of like, this is like such a storybook finish to what was
33:44a very up and down seven years. And that's kind of what makes it more beautiful. I think if it
33:48was one of those things where it was just like from the beginning, everything was really easy,
33:52then you, you know, you just wouldn't mean as much. And so it was showing all the times they
33:57came short that that was really special. You can find that on that tweet on my Twitter.
34:03Trying to think what it was called. I can't remember, but I'll I can post it in the comments
34:08of this video as well. So you guys can see it later. But it was it was super, super cool just
34:12to kind of see that. And I wish there was a way to get all those videos that were on the Jumbotron
34:16like out somewhere that the actual videos because I'm taking a video of them, you know, and I was
34:19getting like moved around. But but yeah, it was pretty cool. Okay, and then I did not see that JB
34:28dropped the top part of his ring or almost drop it. I did see that he was making fun of Tatum at
34:32one point for saying that we did it comment, but I saw that he was saying it in the background of
34:36Tatum making his speech. And then Drew started laughing and jumping up and down. So that was
34:40pretty funny. It gives you a little bit of insight into like the way they kind of make fun of each
34:44other or their relationship. So that was pretty cool as well. And then, yeah, for sure. These are
34:51comments about the the three point shooting like they definitely were pressing. And I'm seeing
34:59people are recognizing Okay, yeah, so this was emotional for people. Like I think that video
35:02really hit everybody that kind of watched. It did have this kind of coming of age feel,
35:08certainly. And yeah, and then the TNT crew was in Boston. So if you're in Boston,
35:12if you saw them at City Plaza, I didn't make my way over there. I was going to and then I realized
35:16that it was too close in time to when all the Celtics pregame things were happening. And Joe
35:20Missoula was speaking earlier, and I wanted to kind of watch all of that. But that being said,
35:25I thought that the night as a whole, you couldn't have asked for a better sequence of events.
35:30The fact that it was not just a win, but it was a resounding one. The fact that Jason Tatum had
35:33such a spectacular game. The fact that all of the winners pretty much with the exception of two guys
35:39that we've talked about, were in the building, and they were there and retrieve their ring. Like
35:44it's so much more fulfilling that way. I was thinking like, after the Raptors won in 2019,
35:49the following year in the ring, you know, Kawhi Leonard, he's not there. And so those things are
35:53just so it changes the complexion of like the entire event. And the fact that all those guys
35:57are not only there, but they're there, and they're looking to do this again. And Tatum said afterwards,
36:01like, I had a whole speech prepared, I was gonna say it. And then instead, I kind of was like,
36:05the crowd was so excited. And I said, fuck it, let's do it again. And so I thought that that
36:10whole experience and kind of how he really went off the cuff at that point. And it was just clear,
36:14you're not supposed to talk about repeating on this team, it's been very clear, nobody's talking
36:18about it. But instead, you know, his emotions kind of kicked in. And I think everybody's thinking
36:24and everybody's thinking, everybody that was there, I was talking to a lot kind of fans around
36:28other reporters, everybody has this feeling that this team is going to do it again. This is not
36:33just like the team won a championship. And you know, maybe they'll be good again, like you have
36:37this energy of like, something really special is brewing in front of us. And honestly, I'm just so
36:41grateful that my journalism career is overlapping with that. Because I have a feeling that when it's
36:45all said and done, this is going to be an all time great team. And it's going to be a historic
36:50couple of years here in Boston. And the fact that I get to cover it, I'm super grateful for. And you
36:54guys, you'll be grateful you get to watch and tune in because I think like people can be fans of
36:57teams for 30 years and not ever see the heights that this team has already achieved. And so it's
37:02just so special. And it's so fun. And also just, I think the players themselves make this team so
37:06fun to follow and to cover because you really are just focusing on basketball, you don't have to
37:10deal with like off court things or things like that. So it just makes the job easier. My plan
37:16over the next couple weeks is I'm going to be covering the next few games from home, though,
37:20with some of these away games that I'm hitting the road for the next couple of road trips.
37:24And so please do subscribe to You Got Boston. I'm going to do these as much as possible on days
37:30where I'm not doing the postgame show just because the postgame show is very long. And so
37:33by that point, I have no more words to say. But you know, games, days where they're not games,
37:39sometimes I'll do these from practice as well. And as I said, feel free to message me if there's
37:43things you want me to look into. I am still thinking about how to do like a fan episode
37:48where we have people call in or join or whatever else. And then also, if there are questions or
37:53things that you kind of want me to look into, I'm happy to look into those as well. But I really do
37:57appreciate everybody for tuning in. It's been super fun to be able to kind of talk about this
38:02team. I mostly now do it for CLNS. And so you can check in, check out the Garden Report, check out
38:08all the pressers on CLNS as well. And then you can check on my writing on SBNation.com and Celtics
38:15blog. I have a new story out on Celtics blog today about kind of Banner Night and a lot of what I
38:19talked about today. But thanks, everybody, for tuning in. I know it's kind of a little bit of a
38:23weird hour, but I appreciate it. And I wish you all the best weeks moving forward.
38:28And we'll have some post-game coverage tomorrow after Celtics Wizards.