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  • 2/23/2024
The Garden Report goes live following the Celtics game vs the Bulls. Catch the Celtics Postgame Show featuring Bobby Manning, Josue Pavon, Jimmy Toscano, A. Sherrod Blakely, and John Zannis as they offer insights and analysis from Boston's game in Chicago.

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Transcript
00:00:00 (upbeat music)
00:00:03 - Can you say hard hats folks?
00:00:05 Hard hats, munch pails, steel tool boots.
00:00:07 - Anything short of a championship this year is a fail.
00:00:09 - Look at this boomer right here.
00:00:11 - You've just got so much talent here.
00:00:14 - Somebody said we need to apologize for Jaylen.
00:00:16 - Can I pull the John?
00:00:17 What are we apologizing for?
00:00:18 What did we say?
00:00:19 What did we do?
00:00:20 (upbeat music)
00:00:27 - All right, welcome in guys.
00:00:30 Sherrod Blakely, John Zanis, brand new sponsor
00:00:33 joining the Garden Report.
00:00:33 We'll tell you about it in a little bit,
00:00:35 but you're looking at it right now.
00:00:36 Nutrafol, little hair stuff, hair stuff.
00:00:40 Not for everyone Sherrod.
00:00:42 - I heard, I heard, not for everyone.
00:00:45 - It's not for everyone,
00:00:45 but on a main like mine, it works great.
00:00:49 We'll get into that.
00:00:50 We'll get into the game.
00:00:52 We'll look back at All-Star Weekend
00:00:55 and we'll kind of, you know, just kind of look ahead
00:00:57 a little bit the rest of the schedule
00:00:59 and what it's going to look like here.
00:01:00 I think like in the easiest, simplest way possible
00:01:04 to put this, I think this game is indicative Sherrod
00:01:08 of what we're going to get a lot of down the stretch here,
00:01:10 which is, and again, when you're as good as yourself,
00:01:14 it's not a lot of teams are going to pose a challenge.
00:01:17 I think I counted about, I think there's eight
00:01:19 contending teams left on their slate of 27 games
00:01:22 or whatever it is in this second half,
00:01:25 not really a half season, you know,
00:01:27 pretty much two thirds of the way through here.
00:01:29 You know, so one in three games,
00:01:30 you're facing a real team, you know,
00:01:33 and then, you know, you just got a lot of cupcakes here.
00:01:35 So like, yeah, there's enough on the schedule to, you know,
00:01:40 litmus test sort of games, OKC, Denver,
00:01:43 you've got Phoenix a couple of times,
00:01:45 you're going to play the Knicks,
00:01:46 you're going to play Milwaukee late.
00:01:48 Those games exist, but you got a lot of these
00:01:50 on the schedule as you're just kind of almost
00:01:52 sort of coasting to a one seed.
00:01:56 And what are you going to get?
00:01:58 You're going to get games like this,
00:02:00 incomplete games with a lot of highs, not too many lows,
00:02:03 but enough to just basically beat up on
00:02:06 an inferior opponent, which is what they did here.
00:02:10 And here we are seven game lead,
00:02:12 seven games up on Cleveland, nine games up on the Bucs,
00:02:17 who you consider to be your biggest challenge.
00:02:19 And 44 and 12, and they're just coasting.
00:02:24 I mean, it almost doesn't even matter
00:02:25 what you do in these challenge games.
00:02:27 Those are just like, how do we feel about ourselves
00:02:29 against upper echelon teams
00:02:31 that we might face in the NBA finals?
00:02:33 And a lot of those teams that they're going to play,
00:02:34 those big test teams are out West.
00:02:36 So it's just interesting.
00:02:40 But again, you get that kind of first game
00:02:43 back off the break sort of vibe
00:02:44 where they come out looking good,
00:02:47 and then they let Chicago in it,
00:02:48 a little sloppy with the ball,
00:02:50 little slow on some rotations.
00:02:52 Defense wasn't great in that first half,
00:02:54 and then predictably, they're like, okay, we'll try now.
00:02:57 And then they keep them at arm's length,
00:02:59 and they go to win.
00:03:00 All around great Derek White game,
00:03:02 a necessary spurt of Jalen Brown offense
00:03:06 that carried them for a period of time.
00:03:08 Tatum gets a little bit hot when he needs to.
00:03:11 And that's basically all you needed.
00:03:13 That's all you needed tonight.
00:03:15 You got a Cornette celebration
00:03:17 and a little Xavier Tillman action.
00:03:19 We'll talk a lot about those guys as well.
00:03:21 But just kind of overall takeaways
00:03:23 on the first game back from the break here.
00:03:25 - Well, I think what we saw tonight,
00:03:27 this is going to feel like "Brown Hogs Day,"
00:03:29 the movie for a lot of people.
00:03:31 Because I think you're going to see a lot of these games
00:03:33 as we close out this portion of the season.
00:03:36 60 wins seems highly likely for the Celtics at this point.
00:03:41 When you look at the teams they're playing,
00:03:42 you look at how they're playing,
00:03:43 and you look at, as we get to the very end of the season,
00:03:46 how basically they're going to be home
00:03:47 pretty much the entire month of April.
00:03:50 And the Celtics, this is exactly what they're supposed to do
00:03:54 against the team of Chicago.
00:03:55 Play well enough to where you don't leave any doubts
00:03:57 as to who the superior team was.
00:03:59 Obviously, you're going to have those low stretches
00:04:02 where you're just not going to look very good,
00:04:04 which is, it's a combination of both the opponent
00:04:07 playing up a level or two from where they really are,
00:04:09 and you playing down a level or two.
00:04:11 You're going to have that dynamic.
00:04:13 But Derek White did what Derek White, I think,
00:04:16 has done more times than not,
00:04:18 and that's give the game what it needs.
00:04:20 Tatum wasn't crazy about the way he played.
00:04:23 His numbers look better than his actual play.
00:04:25 The eye test wasn't nearly as good
00:04:28 as his final numbers, 25, seven, and five.
00:04:31 And Jalen, I thought was good.
00:04:33 I thought Jalen, but this,
00:04:35 the only knock I had against Jalen in this game,
00:04:38 and it's really, it seems like it feels like
00:04:40 we talk about this a lot.
00:04:41 He'll have a stretch where he's far and away
00:04:43 the best player on the floor,
00:04:45 and then he'll just disappear.
00:04:46 He'll just completely fall off the face of the earth.
00:04:49 And it's not like he's all of a sudden
00:04:51 starts playing poorly.
00:04:52 He just stops making an impact.
00:04:54 And I don't know whether it's him,
00:04:57 it's kind of his own version of load management,
00:04:59 but the minutes that Jalen plays,
00:05:01 he's been very impactful.
00:05:03 It's just that he has a stretch
00:05:04 where he's just kind of out there.
00:05:06 - Luis has thoughts.
00:05:08 - Okay.
00:05:09 - Yeah. - Okay.
00:05:10 And Porzingis, I just thought he didn't have a good game.
00:05:13 - Yeah.
00:05:14 No, low key, you know,
00:05:17 we kind of ignore this with Porzingis
00:05:19 'cause he's been so great
00:05:20 for so many of the things that he does,
00:05:22 but you do get to a point,
00:05:24 you do get to a point where-
00:05:28 - Wow.
00:05:29 - I know.
00:05:30 You get to a point where it's hard to ignore
00:05:31 how bad he's been from three.
00:05:33 And when teams, I'm not gonna say discover it,
00:05:40 but when that's what they push him more to do,
00:05:44 or it hasn't been great from there.
00:05:49 He has not been knocking those down with enough regularity.
00:05:53 Today he had a tough time with Vucevic down low,
00:05:58 both defensively and offensively.
00:06:00 So he did get, he definitely got a little bit bullied there.
00:06:04 He couldn't dominate in the post like he normally wanted.
00:06:09 Poor Porzingis, but the shot hasn't been great
00:06:11 for him throughout.
00:06:13 And I think that's a little bit concerning.
00:06:16 And again, when we're talking about anything
00:06:18 Celtics related here, everything's gonna be nitpicky
00:06:20 because again, we're talking about what can derail them
00:06:23 from winning a championship,
00:06:24 which is the only acceptable outcome for this season.
00:06:27 So you're just gonna be looking
00:06:28 for these things throughout here.
00:06:29 But these games, again,
00:06:31 you're not gonna read much into it.
00:06:33 These are tune-ups, you know,
00:06:34 these are all playoff tune-ups here.
00:06:36 This, you know, this is not super, super important,
00:06:41 you know, game for them.
00:06:44 - No, these games, you're just hoping to get out
00:06:47 of these games, get a win and stay healthy.
00:06:48 I mean, that's really the only objective
00:06:52 that matters at this point,
00:06:53 just win, stay healthy and move on to the next one.
00:06:56 - Yeah.
00:06:57 Yep, and that's what-
00:07:02 - Right, the thing about this matchup though,
00:07:04 that for me, it's just kind of one of those things
00:07:06 that I talk in the back of my mind
00:07:07 is the way he struggled against Vooch,
00:07:11 who is a, you know, very good inside scorer
00:07:14 and has developed to be, you know,
00:07:15 moderately decent perimeter threat as well.
00:07:19 This is the kind of matchup that you'd have to deal with
00:07:21 if you play Philly,
00:07:22 only you're dealing with a better version of Vooch
00:07:24 when you talk about Joel Embiid.
00:07:27 So for me, it's one of those things
00:07:29 that I am absolutely paying attention to
00:07:32 because this is the kind of matchup
00:07:35 that might give you some insight
00:07:37 into what might be the kryptonite for Chris Stapps.
00:07:42 Bigs who can play both inside and out,
00:07:44 who basically, similar to him, only bigger and stronger.
00:07:47 And that's kind of what, you know,
00:07:50 if you're dealing with Philadelphia
00:07:51 and you got to deal with Joel Embiid,
00:07:52 that's kind of what you're looking at
00:07:54 'cause more times than not,
00:07:56 Chris Stapps is gonna have a mismatch
00:07:58 at one end of the floor.
00:08:00 And Philadelphia is one of the few teams
00:08:02 that has a guy that he will not have that against.
00:08:05 And so when you play a team like Chicago with Vooch,
00:08:08 he's not Embiid, but he's Embiid-like
00:08:12 as far as scoring around the basket
00:08:13 and also scoring from the perimeter.
00:08:15 And for Porzingis to struggle the way he did,
00:08:18 not crazy about that look.
00:08:20 Not crazy about that at all.
00:08:22 - Not crazy about it.
00:08:25 And I have to amend my Porzingis stuff
00:08:27 because he shot really well in January
00:08:31 to bring that average up,
00:08:32 but he just didn't, definitely looked a little bit like,
00:08:35 like I said, he got bullied a little bit tonight
00:08:39 by Vucevic, and he was on kind of both ends of the floor.
00:08:43 And that wasn't super great to see from him tonight.
00:08:48 But again, that's a minor, minor, minor thing.
00:08:50 Rest of the game was basically, you know,
00:08:53 what did you need to do to make sure
00:08:56 that this wasn't gonna be a slip-up sort of game?
00:08:58 Scal kind of said it in the game as well.
00:09:03 He's like, "I feel like this is gonna be
00:09:04 like a 17-point lead coming out of the third quarter."
00:09:07 And it was.
00:09:08 That's kind of what happened here.
00:09:11 And so they got hot at the right time and put it together.
00:09:14 And again, I just don't have tons and tons and tons
00:09:16 to say about this, 'cause it's Chicago.
00:09:18 They're almost beneath you, right?
00:09:20 I mean, it's just not anything
00:09:22 that you're super concerned with.
00:09:23 I would have liked to see them cash it in earlier, Sherrod.
00:09:27 So we could have seen a little bit more
00:09:29 of Tillman and Springer.
00:09:31 I'm not upset that they waited this long to get him in,
00:09:35 but I think it's gonna be a little while
00:09:36 before you see these guys crack the rotation.
00:09:38 And then Cornette comes in and he just does Cornette things.
00:09:41 And that's what we're gonna be talking about.
00:09:43 That's what we're gonna be talking about
00:09:46 as soon as Bobby gets in here too, and Bobby's in Chicago.
00:09:49 - Yeah, please let's save that for Bobby.
00:09:53 I don't wanna extend the-
00:09:54 - I love the guy, I really do.
00:09:56 - I love the fact that he, I gotta put this.
00:10:02 He knows who the hell he is.
00:10:06 And he's not trying to be anything more than Luke Cornette.
00:10:12 I'm the number three center on a really good team.
00:10:15 There are certain things they want me to do,
00:10:16 and I'm just gonna do those things and just leave me alone.
00:10:19 That's who I am.
00:10:21 I like the fact though that Luke
00:10:23 is starting to look to score more.
00:10:24 What used to frustrate me about him
00:10:26 was when they signed him initially,
00:10:28 he was supposed to be a stretch big.
00:10:30 Who could give you, he could help space the floor.
00:10:33 And he never shot the damn ball.
00:10:36 How the hell are you gonna help space the floor
00:10:37 if you don't shoot?
00:10:38 You have to at least pose like you're a threat.
00:10:40 I like the fact that he's looking for his offense
00:10:42 a little bit more now.
00:10:43 That's (laughs) the Nasus manning.
00:10:46 I love that.
00:10:47 I like the fact that Luke's looking to score more
00:10:50 because I do think he has the ability to do that.
00:10:53 It's just that he may think the team
00:10:56 doesn't need him to do that, but I think they do.
00:10:59 I think they need him to look to score more,
00:11:00 to do some of those things that we talked about
00:11:03 when they first got him, which is help space the floor.
00:11:05 The Luke that we've seen the last few weeks,
00:11:09 I think has been a much better version
00:11:11 than what we saw early on in his tenure as a selfie.
00:11:14 - Luke Cornette update from,
00:11:18 of course I'm looking at a Bobby Manning,
00:11:20 Luke Cornette clip on Twitter as I'm talking through here.
00:11:22 He thinks that Hauser is okay after the elbow
00:11:25 and that he didn't break his face or anything like that.
00:11:30 So he should be back and that should be fine.
00:11:33 - Well, that's good.
00:11:33 'Cause that's, you know, Sam's another guy that, again,
00:11:38 I think has the ability to,
00:11:40 in a playoff series best of seven,
00:11:42 Sam Hauser could win you a game.
00:11:44 When he gets hot,
00:11:47 there's not a whole lot you can do about that
00:11:49 because you can't pay too much attention to him
00:11:52 because you gotta worry about Tatum and Brown and D. White
00:11:55 and Drew Holiday and for Zingas and all those other guys.
00:11:57 So when he gets a role and he can absolutely take over a
00:12:01 game for a three, four minute stretch
00:12:03 and be the difference in you winning or losing.
00:12:05 And so it's good to know that he's not gonna miss any
00:12:07 significant time.
00:12:08 'Cause initially it looked, I mean,
00:12:10 your initial thought is that he may have broken his nose
00:12:14 and you just don't know how players are gonna respond
00:12:17 and react if that happens.
00:12:19 And then they have to play with a mask,
00:12:20 which every player who's ever had to play with a mask
00:12:22 talks about how uncomfortable it is.
00:12:25 And for a guy who's strong suit is shooting the ball,
00:12:28 you wouldn't know necessarily how that,
00:12:30 how he would respond to having this plastic all on his face
00:12:34 all game long.
00:12:34 So that's good to hear that, that it's nothing serious.
00:12:37 And it's not a broken nose.
00:12:39 'Cause that was my biggest fear when I first saw him,
00:12:41 you know, holding his face like that.
00:12:43 - Well, let's get off.
00:12:44 Like I said, I want to give, you know,
00:12:45 people get mad when we don't give people their flowers
00:12:47 and we'll do that, we'll move on.
00:12:49 But I'm more interested in kind of, you know,
00:12:52 I did want to see,
00:12:53 if you're not gonna play these guys against Chicago,
00:12:59 I don't know.
00:13:00 - When are we gonna see those end of the bench guys?
00:13:02 - I'll get into it in a minute.
00:13:04 But like, first off, you know,
00:13:07 definitely good to get Derek White's a guy who
00:13:11 was a little hot and cold
00:13:12 entering the all-star break there.
00:13:14 He kind of rode that for a while.
00:13:17 It was like, you know, is this guy,
00:13:21 is this guy our second best player type of talk
00:13:23 coming from the fans?
00:13:24 And then he cooled off a little bit
00:13:27 and he didn't have these Derek White type games.
00:13:29 He had, I would say the most complete player
00:13:31 start to finish tonight was probably White.
00:13:33 I mean, it definitely started with the three blocks
00:13:35 in the first quarter was really tone setting,
00:13:38 you know, just from there,
00:13:40 but just the all around game and that everything that he did
00:13:42 and he just came in and, you know, he's gunning freely.
00:13:46 And when that shot's falling, he just looked great
00:13:48 start to finish.
00:13:49 And it's like, yeah, this version,
00:13:54 you want the best version of these guys
00:13:56 when it matters most.
00:13:58 So you're not really gonna care with like little dips
00:14:01 in and around the season, but like,
00:14:02 this is definitely the Derek White you wanna see
00:14:05 the rest of the year and entering the playoffs,
00:14:07 even after that small cool down period.
00:14:10 - Yeah, but for Derek, I mean, you know,
00:14:12 in his defense, he needed to have a cool down period
00:14:15 because he was incredibly hot for way longer
00:14:18 than anyone thought he could be.
00:14:20 And so for him to cool off a little bit.
00:14:22 - Just a little bit, just a little bit.
00:14:24 It wasn't ridiculous.
00:14:26 - And they were still winning
00:14:27 and they were still winning games,
00:14:28 even though he wasn't playing great basketball
00:14:30 and you still look at his numbers
00:14:32 and they're still career highs, damn near across the board.
00:14:35 So for, to me, every player,
00:14:38 I don't care whether you are, you know,
00:14:41 Adonis Jordan or Michael Jordan,
00:14:42 you're gonna have a stretch
00:14:44 where you're not going to be great.
00:14:46 So can your team find ways to win?
00:14:48 And, but more important, can you find a way to recalibrate
00:14:51 whatever it is that you were doing to work well
00:14:53 and start doing that again?
00:14:55 And Derek, it looks like he's coming out the break
00:14:57 looking like, you know, all-star Derek White.
00:15:00 And that's a good thing for you to see
00:15:02 if you're the selfish.
00:15:03 - Yeah, yeah.
00:15:04 Holiday, again, small, you know,
00:15:07 contributions at least tonight, but he's still stroking it.
00:15:10 I like everything I see from him right now,
00:15:13 just the way that he's playing.
00:15:14 And I think that's just who he's gonna be on this team.
00:15:17 It's again, it's a five shot night for him
00:15:20 and that's just it.
00:15:21 Like, that's just all that was needed from him tonight.
00:15:24 But he's still, I mean, when he has the opportunities,
00:15:27 knocking down the threes.
00:15:28 So he looks good.
00:15:29 So again, you just feel good
00:15:30 about pretty much everything there.
00:15:32 I thought Hauser, before he got slammed in the face,
00:15:34 made some terrific plays.
00:15:36 - Yeah.
00:15:38 - You know, just the way he got his shots off,
00:15:40 he had a nice finish at the rim
00:15:42 where he could have,
00:15:43 could have, should have been an and one there,
00:15:45 but strong in transition.
00:15:46 He looked off Tatum, got off a quick shot,
00:15:49 you know, on a three.
00:15:50 I thought he looked great.
00:15:52 And then obviously you had the Luke minutes as well,
00:15:54 but, you know, I will kind of ask the question again,
00:15:58 you know, what is the, what's the goal?
00:16:03 I don't, I don't actually know
00:16:06 when it comes to guys like Tillman and Springer.
00:16:08 Is the goal that they,
00:16:10 'cause Tillman did an interview today and he said,
00:16:12 "Look, I'm part of the Stay Ready crew."
00:16:14 So they've already kind of told him, you know,
00:16:16 that they went through the whole sorting hat process
00:16:19 and they said he's on the, he's in the Stay Ready house,
00:16:22 you know, like that's where he's going to be.
00:16:24 So if that's the case, fine.
00:16:28 But if your goal is to see whether he's going to sneak in
00:16:32 ahead of Cornette and take those Cornette minutes
00:16:35 and you want that gritty presence
00:16:38 and that defensive presence
00:16:39 and the guy who's going to, who you can call on
00:16:41 and, you know, it's not just Stay Ready,
00:16:44 but he'll be ready because he's playing in a little bit.
00:16:47 You probably need to find a way
00:16:50 to start working him in before he's ready
00:16:52 because you don't have that much time, right?
00:16:55 There's only 27 games left.
00:16:57 Like if you're going to use these guys
00:16:58 as anything more than break glass in case of emergency,
00:17:01 you got to integrate them.
00:17:02 If your plan is not, and they are,
00:17:04 like they might be viewing Tillman as Brissett right now,
00:17:08 you know, big man Brissett.
00:17:09 If I need it, I'll go to it
00:17:11 and I think I can trust them out there for a few minutes,
00:17:13 but I'm not really counting on anything significant.
00:17:16 I don't know Joe's philosophy there.
00:17:19 - No, I think Joe sees Tillman as just another guy
00:17:24 that I think he's going to stay in that in case of emergency
00:17:27 unless there's an injury or unless frankly,
00:17:31 Luke plays his way out of the rotation.
00:17:34 And I don't think that's happening.
00:17:35 Luke is doing more than what they are necessarily
00:17:38 needing him to do.
00:17:39 And that's going to keep him in the mix.
00:17:41 Tillman is going to be that in case of emergency.
00:17:43 And there's certain matchups that you can absolutely see
00:17:46 Tillman probably seeing some minutes
00:17:49 in that top nine ish rotation,
00:17:53 which they won't be using much of in a playoffs.
00:17:55 It'll be very situational.
00:17:56 If you're playing Philadelphia,
00:17:58 Tillman is more likely going to play.
00:17:59 If you're playing Cleveland,
00:18:01 you're probably going to use Tillman.
00:18:02 If you're playing New York,
00:18:03 you're probably going to see Tillman
00:18:05 in those particular matchups.
00:18:07 But I don't think Tillman is under any false impressions
00:18:11 that he's going to come in here
00:18:12 and get a chance to be in a rotation.
00:18:14 I think what his whole thing is,
00:18:15 it goes back to what I think has to be the stay ready mantra
00:18:18 that when I get a chance to play, I got to play well.
00:18:21 And I thought tonight Tillman got in there,
00:18:23 did some really positive things.
00:18:25 He got a bucket, he made a play at the rim defensively.
00:18:28 I think he had maybe one assist.
00:18:30 So for him, for a guy that played two and a half minutes
00:18:34 and get a bucket assist or block, it was a good start.
00:18:39 But to your point, John,
00:18:41 you want to see what he can do
00:18:44 if you have to play him more than just two and a half
00:18:46 minutes of garbage time.
00:18:47 What can he do when Al Horford picks up two fouls
00:18:52 and Porzingis picks up two fouls in the first quarter
00:18:55 and you're playing Philadelphia,
00:18:56 are you going to throw Cornette out there
00:18:58 to deal with Joel or are you going to throw Xavier?
00:19:00 More likely you're going to go with Xavier
00:19:03 because physically speaking, he's a better matchup.
00:19:06 So do you wait till you get to that moment
00:19:10 to see what he can do
00:19:10 or do you actually try to put him in situations
00:19:13 on the front end and then get a real sense
00:19:15 based on what you see as opposed to what you think
00:19:17 you're going to see?
00:19:19 I do hope that Joe gives him a chance to play
00:19:22 some decent minutes.
00:19:23 And we're not talking about 25, 30 minutes,
00:19:25 but can we get to double digits against a bad team?
00:19:29 Like this, I would have liked to have seen him
00:19:31 get in earlier in the game,
00:19:33 kind of similar to what they did a few games ago
00:19:38 where you had like our good friend Jordan Walsh
00:19:41 get in the game in like the first quarter.
00:19:42 I was hoping that we'd see something like that,
00:19:44 just throw him out there early on,
00:19:46 see what he does with the regular rotation of guys
00:19:49 against a regular rotation of an opponent
00:19:52 and just see what happens for like two, three minutes.
00:19:54 And then that's all we want.
00:19:56 - Yeah, we like new things.
00:19:58 Like I wanted to see it.
00:19:59 And again, I want to see him play with other players.
00:20:01 I mean, I loved, I mean, even two and a half minutes,
00:20:05 he loved everything you saw.
00:20:06 Defensively, the way he was moving with people,
00:20:08 he gets a good block there,
00:20:09 offensive rebound, the kick out to the other new guy,
00:20:12 Springer, nice finish and one,
00:20:14 he actually had about five moments
00:20:16 in two and a half minutes of play.
00:20:18 And he really does look like he's 47 years old.
00:20:20 It's so funny, but-
00:20:23 - Yeah, the oldest 25 year old I've ever been around.
00:20:27 - I want to get him in there.
00:20:29 But again, I'm not delusional.
00:20:32 It's not like, by no means do I think Brad went out
00:20:37 and traded for this like 25 minutes per game guy
00:20:42 that it's criminal to not be playing.
00:20:46 But I am curious, I am curious what Brad meant
00:20:53 when he got this, was it like,
00:20:54 "Hey, Joe, use them if you want, it's your show."
00:20:58 Or did he get them and like,
00:20:59 "Hey, I got guys better than the guys we have.
00:21:03 Here they are, use them."
00:21:05 Like, I'm not sure if Brad's mindset in this.
00:21:08 When he's getting Tillman, is he thinking like,
00:21:10 "I got you your third big now, we can feel good about this.
00:21:13 You don't have to play,
00:21:14 you don't have to rely on Cornette as much."
00:21:16 And Joe's like, "I'm cool, I like the guys I have.
00:21:21 I don't really know, I am curious there."
00:21:24 Because I think if you leave it up to Joe,
00:21:26 based off what we saw last year,
00:21:28 I think he's gonna stick with what he knows.
00:21:31 - Yeah, and I think he will at the end of the day.
00:21:33 But the one thing I will say about Joe
00:21:36 that I think as we inch towards the end of the season,
00:21:40 Joe as a coach is evolving.
00:21:42 There are things that he's doing now
00:21:44 that he would not have done last year.
00:21:46 Things that he's recognizing that he needs to do now
00:21:48 that I don't think he saw as being things to address.
00:21:52 And this, I think is part of that growth.
00:21:54 Understanding that you've got some pieces
00:21:57 that may not necessarily be
00:21:58 what you need to go to every night,
00:22:00 but there are gonna be times
00:22:03 where you need to be proactive and get guys in situations,
00:22:06 as opposed to waiting till,
00:22:08 Joelle puts four fouls on three on Porzingis and one on Al,
00:22:13 and then throw them out there
00:22:14 for the first time to see significant action.
00:22:16 You got 20 plus opportunities
00:22:19 between now and then to play this guy.
00:22:21 And to not just play him
00:22:23 because you think he's better than Luke,
00:22:25 but play him to see what the hell he can do.
00:22:26 And that to me is going to be the value
00:22:30 of this final stretch.
00:22:31 Is Joe Mazzullo gonna evolve enough as a coach
00:22:34 to recognize the need to play the guys
00:22:36 at the end of the bench?
00:22:37 Not because you think they're better
00:22:38 than the ones that are playing now,
00:22:39 but to see whether they might be better fits
00:22:43 than you initially think they are.
00:22:45 - Let's tell me, to your point, John,
00:22:47 he looked like he'd been with this team all season
00:22:50 in those two minutes.
00:22:51 I mean, his passes were crisp.
00:22:53 He made his presence felt around the rim.
00:22:55 He took advantage when he had a chance to score
00:22:57 of doing just that without any hesitation,
00:23:00 no second thought.
00:23:01 There didn't seem to be any part of his game
00:23:04 where you thought he was thinking
00:23:05 more than just reacting and playing.
00:23:07 And that to me is, for a guy that's just joining a team,
00:23:11 that's one of the better compliments you can give a player
00:23:14 that he doesn't seem like he's thinking out there.
00:23:17 He's just playing.
00:23:18 And for those of us who are watching this game,
00:23:21 we wanna see more of that
00:23:23 because we wanna see whether this was just a fluky thing
00:23:25 where he just, it was the right team at the right time
00:23:27 and he was put in the right situation,
00:23:29 or whether this is kind of who he is
00:23:31 against anyone that they play.
00:23:34 Let's see what he does if, let's say,
00:23:35 you're playing a team like Golden State,
00:23:38 'cause you know what he's gonna do against the team.
00:23:39 You know what to expect from him
00:23:41 against a fully healthy Philadelphia team,
00:23:43 a fully healthy Cleveland team.
00:23:45 But what about some of those teams
00:23:46 that maybe don't have that natural big
00:23:49 that you worry about?
00:23:50 How does he play against the average NBA team?
00:23:53 You're gonna get lots of opportunities
00:23:54 to see that in action between now and the end of the season.
00:23:58 - And just to address it here,
00:24:00 'cause I wanna put this in perspective,
00:24:01 nobody's saying there's a crime to not play these guys,
00:24:05 and no one's saying that just the fact
00:24:07 that they didn't play, that Tillman didn't play tonight
00:24:09 is going to be representative
00:24:11 of how the rest of the season goes.
00:24:12 I'm just curious how it goes,
00:24:14 because we're talking about what you're looking for
00:24:16 in the back half here.
00:24:17 You're really looking to just fine tune it.
00:24:20 What are we gonna do?
00:24:22 Like the wins, you're almost at a point
00:24:24 where the wins and losses don't matter anymore.
00:24:26 And this is like a longstanding argument in the chat.
00:24:31 And guys, in the chat, lay off one another, please.
00:24:36 There's no reason.
00:24:37 It's just, if you think something's a bad take,
00:24:39 it's a bad take.
00:24:40 Please, come on, be nice to each other.
00:24:42 Please, seriously.
00:24:45 It's really all about what are we gonna do here?
00:24:50 What's it gonna look like?
00:24:53 Is there anything else we could try that might work?
00:24:55 You don't wanna mess with like a perfect golf swing
00:24:59 and see if you can get another two yards on that.
00:25:01 But you might try a thing or two
00:25:03 just to see how it looks, okay?
00:25:08 And you did bring in new people late into the season
00:25:12 and they didn't have a chance to play right out of the gate.
00:25:14 You gotta figure out if you're gonna use them or not.
00:25:16 You gotta try some stuff out here and like lock that in.
00:25:20 And really, you're running out of time.
00:25:23 You can't just do it in the load management games
00:25:27 when you sit everybody
00:25:28 'cause you're not gonna learn anything.
00:25:29 - Right, and the other thing too,
00:25:31 and you gotta keep in mind is,
00:25:33 you got a seven game cushion on the best record in the East.
00:25:36 So it's not like you're in this race
00:25:39 where you gotta play your best players to win
00:25:41 in order to keep pace.
00:25:42 You obviously wanna win every game,
00:25:44 but it's not like you're in a situation
00:25:46 where you have to absolutely put your best unit out there,
00:25:50 night in and night out,
00:25:51 so that you give yourself a chance
00:25:53 to have the best seating in the East.
00:25:55 You got a seven game cushion to play with.
00:25:57 Now, obviously you don't wanna play with it too much,
00:26:00 but looking at your end of the bench guys,
00:26:03 getting them a few more minutes here and there,
00:26:05 maybe throwing them out in the first quarter
00:26:06 as part of the rotation,
00:26:08 versus waiting till the end of the game
00:26:10 when it's a blowout.
00:26:11 You think about that if you're Joe Mazzullo.
00:26:13 I think you have to think about that
00:26:14 to see what they can do.
00:26:15 And again, real competitive.
00:26:18 The game isn't a blowout type situation.
00:26:21 - Yeah.
00:26:22 - And I didn't expect him to play tonight,
00:26:23 to be honest with you.
00:26:24 I didn't think he'd get out there.
00:26:25 - I actually didn't either.
00:26:27 And I agree with this comment here from Celtics guru.
00:26:30 I don't know that it's negative necessarily,
00:26:32 but I think we've been saying this all year long.
00:26:34 It's like, you're really nitpicking things now
00:26:37 because the standard is, I can't say it enough,
00:26:41 it's championship or bust.
00:26:43 - It is.
00:26:44 - This is not like, whoa, you know,
00:26:46 like to hang a participation banner.
00:26:49 And if you get to the conference finals
00:26:51 and caught a tough break, it's still a good season.
00:26:55 It's not, it's not.
00:26:56 I'm sorry, no, it's not.
00:26:58 This is like, you're trying to run perfectly right now.
00:27:03 That's all you're trying to get is this machine to run,
00:27:07 you know, as efficiently and smoothly as possible
00:27:11 entering the playoffs.
00:27:12 So there is no letdown.
00:27:14 So it's not negative or critical.
00:27:17 It's, and it's not, no, it's not pessimistic either.
00:27:19 It is, maybe anxious is the best word.
00:27:23 You just, you know,
00:27:25 you just want to make sure that it works.
00:27:27 - Right.
00:27:28 - Yeah.
00:27:29 - You know, I'm just going to say,
00:27:30 and the way that Brad has approached building this team
00:27:33 at the end of last season up to this point,
00:27:36 there's no doubt that they're going all in on this season.
00:27:38 I mean, when you look back at how things
00:27:40 just kind of broke down, they needed, you know,
00:27:42 a stretch big, they needed another guy
00:27:45 that can kind of give them some juice in the back course.
00:27:47 So what do they do?
00:27:48 They go out and get Drew Holiday,
00:27:49 the best on-ball defender in the NBA.
00:27:51 And that's not me talking, that's players in the league.
00:27:53 That's how they view him.
00:27:55 And then you go out and get Porzingis,
00:27:56 who's one of the best stretch bigs out there.
00:27:59 And then on top of that, during the season,
00:28:02 and when you've realized that maybe you could use
00:28:04 a little bit more physicality,
00:28:06 you go out and get Xavier Tillman,
00:28:07 who that's who he is, that's what he does.
00:28:10 And knowing that you're looking so much
00:28:13 towards the post-season this year,
00:28:15 you also have an eye out for the future.
00:28:18 So then you bring in a guy like Springer,
00:28:19 who's probably not going to do anything for you this year,
00:28:21 but you were able to acquire a player
00:28:24 who you can develop down the road
00:28:27 while you're still competing
00:28:28 at the highest level for a championship.
00:28:30 And so I think folks are just eager to get to the big show.
00:28:34 I mean, this, all of these-
00:28:36 - That's all I've been, yeah.
00:28:37 - The season is kind of like the opening act
00:28:39 to like the main attraction, which is the playoffs.
00:28:42 And I give the players a lot of credit
00:28:44 for playing with a level of focus
00:28:46 I just didn't think they had,
00:28:48 'cause they want to get there too.
00:28:49 - I think so.
00:28:51 - Yeah, but they're not allowing the usual trappings
00:28:54 of the regular season to limit them
00:28:57 from being the absolute best team in the NBA.
00:29:00 - And this is a good comp here.
00:29:02 The '08 team was clearly the best team in the NBA
00:29:05 that year through the regular season.
00:29:06 Didn't mean they didn't have ups and downs as well.
00:29:09 - Remember Atlanta took them to Al Horford
00:29:11 and the Hawks took them to seven games in the first round.
00:29:13 - It was the most lopsided seven game series in history
00:29:17 because the four wins were like
00:29:19 by an average margin of like 28 points,
00:29:21 but they still, they lost the three games in Atlanta
00:29:24 and they had to go to seven.
00:29:25 And that was, talk about anxious.
00:29:28 You're like, what the F are you doing here?
00:29:31 You're struggling with these guys.
00:29:32 And it got easier as time went on, you know?
00:29:34 So like, that was, you had to white knuckle it a little bit
00:29:39 and enter the possibility of like,
00:29:42 we just went seven with these guys and that sucked.
00:29:45 So yes, it is anxiety when it's like, don't blow it guys.
00:29:50 Don't do this to us.
00:29:51 That's where fans are a little bit here.
00:29:53 One, you've been burned a little bit
00:29:54 in the sense that, yes, going to conference finals
00:29:58 and finals and falling short has a price.
00:30:01 You know, some people pose it as, you know,
00:30:05 an accomplishment, but other people might look at it
00:30:07 as a blemish, which is, we've seen what happens
00:30:11 when you get there and I don't love it.
00:30:13 And so that's, what's in the back of people's minds.
00:30:15 So there's definitely a little bit of anxiety
00:30:17 as far as that's concerned.
00:30:19 There's a little Joe anxiety, there's injury anxiety,
00:30:22 there's all that stuff, but you're right.
00:30:24 You can't play perfect all season long.
00:30:26 And I don't think anybody's necessarily expecting that.
00:30:29 You're just kind of looking at, you know,
00:30:31 what could possibly knock this team off?
00:30:33 Because you just said it, Sharad,
00:30:36 the focus they've played with is remarkable.
00:30:38 They keep churning it out.
00:30:39 There's not, there's not, what are the dips, you know?
00:30:44 Like not many that they haven't been able to-
00:30:46 - I'm just shocked.
00:30:47 - That they haven't been able to correct
00:30:49 throughout the year.
00:30:50 You know, they go through a stretch where it's like,
00:30:51 I don't love the way they're playing right now.
00:30:53 And then they rattle off seven straight.
00:30:55 You're like, well, okay, you know?
00:30:57 So they've won a lot of games that they would have lost
00:31:01 and they're playing a lot better and that's great.
00:31:03 So, you know, there's nothing you can say about,
00:31:06 you know, about, you know,
00:31:09 there's nothing but good things to say
00:31:11 about how this team's responded
00:31:12 to pretty much everything so far this year.
00:31:13 So it's an overall positive vibe,
00:31:16 but I think people are ready, as you said,
00:31:17 for the playoffs more than anything else.
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00:32:12 We've got coach Joe Mazzulla here talking.
00:32:15 Let me see, what's he talking about?
00:32:18 Winning, it's what I do.
00:32:21 Oh, here we are.
00:32:23 We are talking about what we were talking about earlier.
00:32:27 And that is Derek White and the game that he had today.
00:32:30 And here's Joe Mazzulla talking about D. White.
00:32:32 - Again, he's in the category with Drew.
00:32:37 And those two guys, they have a tendency
00:32:39 to affect the game in ways that, you know,
00:32:42 people might not see sometimes,
00:32:43 but also it just goes under looked.
00:32:45 And so they're-
00:32:47 Hold on, we're going to put Joe back up here.
00:32:48 We had a little glitch here.
00:32:50 We're going to put Joe up again.
00:32:52 - Play is even the play at the end of the half
00:32:53 where the two of them kind of flew around the entire court
00:32:56 and Kobe White got a contested three.
00:32:58 Like they just have an innate ability to affect the box score
00:33:00 but affect the momentum of the game on both ends.
00:33:03 And I thought the two of them did that to start the game.
00:33:06 And, you know, I thought Jason and Jalen did a great job
00:33:09 in the middle of it.
00:33:10 And then I thought Derek's pick and roll execution
00:33:11 at the end kind of, you know, sealed it for us.
00:33:14 (silence)
00:33:16 - All-star break.
00:33:20 I didn't know where any of the buttons were.
00:33:21 So that's on me.
00:33:23 I pressed all the wrong.
00:33:24 I, Joe got tango-ed.
00:33:26 I pressed all the wrong buttons.
00:33:28 - Yes.
00:33:31 Joe, yeah, he,
00:33:35 the coolest thing about Joe Mazzullo right now
00:33:40 is just the ridiculously blatant obvious comfort level
00:33:45 he has with everyone.
00:33:46 And talking about his players,
00:33:48 even when they're playing well,
00:33:49 and just not trying to overemphasize the humbleness
00:33:54 that he likes to do from time to time.
00:33:56 Just, your guy is kicking ass.
00:33:57 Own that.
00:33:58 Speak that truth.
00:34:00 Don't hold back on that.
00:34:02 And right now, you've got a number of guys
00:34:07 who are playing at career levels on almost every metric.
00:34:12 And so when you should have the best record in NBA,
00:34:15 when you have good players
00:34:16 who are playing their best basketball,
00:34:19 the thing that they've really been good at
00:34:20 is the consistency.
00:34:22 Even when they've had like not so great games,
00:34:24 they've found a way to have enough good stretches,
00:34:27 more nights than not, that they can find a way to win.
00:34:30 And this was another example of that.
00:34:31 I mean, they didn't play their best basketball
00:34:33 against Chicago, but they played well enough
00:34:35 not to just win, but to leave no doubt
00:34:37 as to them being the superior team.
00:34:40 And that, again, that's a testament to these guys.
00:34:44 It's a testament to Joe,
00:34:45 figuring out this kind of the different combinations
00:34:47 and the cheat codes to go with
00:34:50 to get the best out of these guys consistently.
00:34:52 But to me, the only hurdle that seems to be unclear
00:34:57 is what do you do at the end of the bench, guys?
00:34:59 Can you make sure those guys are ready to go
00:35:02 when they get an opportunity?
00:35:03 And are you going to give them opportunities
00:35:05 in this final stretch to play?
00:35:07 Because you know what Tatum, Brown, Porzingis,
00:35:10 and all those guys can do.
00:35:11 But what about Tilghman?
00:35:12 What about Springer?
00:35:13 What about, you know, Brissett?
00:35:14 Guys that you don't anticipate seeing action
00:35:18 throughout the playoffs consistently,
00:35:20 but you may need them on a night or two
00:35:23 to give you something more than just
00:35:24 a warm body on the floor.
00:35:26 You might need O'Shea to give you, you know,
00:35:28 a couple offensive rebounds that gets you four or five points
00:35:31 in a game that ultimately decided by the last possession.
00:35:35 You might need Tilghman to come in there
00:35:37 and give you some good interior defense,
00:35:38 block a shot or two, get a rebound and put back
00:35:41 on a night when you're having trouble,
00:35:42 when other guys are having trouble finishing at the rim.
00:35:45 But don't wait till those guys
00:35:48 actually are in those situations.
00:35:49 If you can have a chance to simulate them being out there
00:35:52 by simply playing them in games now.
00:35:55 Games that frankly you want to win,
00:35:57 but you don't necessarily need to win
00:35:58 in order to be the best team record-wise in the NBA
00:36:01 when all is said and done.
00:36:02 - Yeah, we said it in the first half
00:36:04 when they were trying to figure out who among those people,
00:36:08 Banton, Stevens, Brissette might've been a keeper.
00:36:10 I mean, obviously you've got, you know,
00:36:14 two casualties there with both Banton and Stevens traded.
00:36:17 Brissette was the only one who kind of was able to step
00:36:20 through a little bit, but they didn't give him a chance.
00:36:24 And again, when you're this good,
00:36:26 there's just not a lot of opportunities there,
00:36:27 but you did feel like part of the job should have been,
00:36:31 you know, what do I have in these guys?
00:36:33 And again, I know they've gone to inferior teams,
00:36:35 but when you see Stevens putting up decent box scores,
00:36:38 you know, in his first game there, it's like,
00:36:41 well, look, I know it's for a crap team,
00:36:43 but this is competent NBA play.
00:36:46 And that's all you need.
00:36:47 That's all you needed.
00:36:48 That's all you needed from your ninth or 10th guy,
00:36:51 competence.
00:36:52 And like, it's really, really, really hard.
00:36:56 It's actually a great lesson for what you can expect
00:36:59 out of guys like Tillman and Springer.
00:37:01 If they're not playing semi-regularly,
00:37:03 it's really hard to call on them.
00:37:05 If you ever end up needing them and expect much.
00:37:10 Staying ready sounds good,
00:37:11 and it's a great euphemism for bench scrub,
00:37:14 but the reality is you can't get into any sort of rhythm
00:37:18 if you're not getting a little bit of run.
00:37:20 It's really, really hard.
00:37:21 You see how fast that game moves.
00:37:22 You get in there and you haven't played
00:37:24 any real game action for a long time.
00:37:26 It's tough.
00:37:27 I mean, they run around, they hustle, they do their best.
00:37:31 They may grab some boards and make some energy plays.
00:37:34 The ball gets in their hands
00:37:35 and they don't know what the hell to do with it
00:37:36 because they're just like, "Oh!"
00:37:38 So it gets hard.
00:37:41 Tillman strikes me as the kind of guy
00:37:42 that's not gonna be a problem for,
00:37:44 because of his style of play.
00:37:46 - No, I think he's the least of their worries
00:37:48 when you talk about guys at the end of the bench,
00:37:50 'cause you have to remember the situation he's coming from,
00:37:53 where he, I mean, on and off the court issues
00:37:58 with that Memphis team.
00:37:59 So for him, that being an organization,
00:38:02 to be with a team that has a clear mission to win it all,
00:38:06 and realistically that mission is very possible.
00:38:08 And for him to have even a small part in that,
00:38:13 I think he embraces,
00:38:14 he knows that he's not gonna play every game.
00:38:17 I don't think he's under any disillusioned
00:38:20 or idea or concept that that's gonna happen,
00:38:23 but he knows that when they call his number,
00:38:25 he better produce
00:38:27 because he's not going to get many opportunities.
00:38:29 And that to me is what a true vet,
00:38:33 that's what you want from your guys at the end of the bench,
00:38:36 to understand that there has to be a sense of urgency
00:38:39 when you get on the floor to make a positive impact,
00:38:42 because you're not gonna be out there for long stretches.
00:38:45 And we've seen this throughout the season
00:38:47 where guys have had really good stretches of play,
00:38:50 and when they go to the bench, they don't come back.
00:38:52 And right or wrong, that's just the reality
00:38:56 of how Joe coaches his team.
00:38:58 He has an idea of what he's looking for from guys.
00:39:00 And when he gets that, if you're at the end of the bench,
00:39:03 that may be your night in a nutshell.
00:39:05 You may not get an opportunity to go above and beyond
00:39:08 what the expectation is of you.
00:39:09 So for guys like Tillman, your job is real simple.
00:39:12 Make an impact, be a difference maker,
00:39:14 and know that even if you achieve those goals
00:39:17 and check those boxes off,
00:39:19 that doesn't necessarily guarantee
00:39:20 you're going to get more minutes,
00:39:22 either in that particular game
00:39:23 or in some games going forward.
00:39:24 So, and I think Tillman is built for that.
00:39:27 I think he, from a mental standpoint,
00:39:29 understands that, embraces that.
00:39:31 And I genuinely think he's just happy to be part of a team
00:39:34 that actually has something to play for
00:39:36 other than a damn lottery pick.
00:39:37 - Yep.
00:39:38 There's no doubt about it.
00:39:39 And I think, you know, Bobby was at shoot around,
00:39:42 he did talk to him today,
00:39:44 and that was kind of his general vibe.
00:39:46 Cornette, again, Bobby taking big victory laps
00:39:50 on Twitter over his game.
00:39:51 And what's not to like about it?
00:39:53 What's funny is like, you would never think
00:39:56 you would put the words Cornette and electric
00:40:00 in the same sentence, but like-
00:40:02 - Unless you had the word not involved.
00:40:05 - I think.
00:40:06 - Oh, wow.
00:40:07 - Someone told me there's like a thing.
00:40:11 Someone told me why that is.
00:40:15 Like, if you give it a thumbs up, it does something.
00:40:17 Yeah.
00:40:18 It's like a, yeah.
00:40:22 - Yes.
00:40:23 - I don't know.
00:40:25 - Wow.
00:40:26 - Anyway.
00:40:27 - Electric.
00:40:28 - Electric.
00:40:29 Electric.
00:40:30 But he was, and he's fun.
00:40:35 And I love the guy and I hate that Bobby
00:40:37 oversells his importance
00:40:38 and then makes me say bad things about him
00:40:40 'cause that's not what I wanna do.
00:40:41 But his energy and his vibe and everybody just likes him.
00:40:47 I think they like him if he's playing or not playing,
00:40:49 honestly, because he's the same guy on the bench or not.
00:40:52 Bobby did catch up with him in the locker room
00:40:53 asking him here about the Tillman addition
00:40:57 and whether that kind of factors into his mindset,
00:41:01 going down the stretch here
00:41:02 and how he approaches his minutes.
00:41:03 And here's Luke.
00:41:05 - Added motivation for you,
00:41:06 just kind of competition for you at that position.
00:41:10 - To be honest, I'm not really concerned about that at all.
00:41:16 I mean, we're excited to have Xavier here
00:41:18 and I think he adds a piece that is great for us,
00:41:20 especially like having the versatility in the playoffs
00:41:23 and stuff that's really important.
00:41:24 So we're happy to have him
00:41:26 and I'm excited to have him as a teammate.
00:41:29 I like the element that he brings for our team.
00:41:32 So I think it just makes our team better.
00:41:33 It makes us stronger.
00:41:34 I'm happy to have him and happy to welcome that
00:41:38 for our team to be better
00:41:39 and have a better chance of winning.
00:41:40 - Both teams play hard.
00:41:44 - Both teams play hard.
00:41:45 Bobby trying to start controversy.
00:41:47 - Exactly.
00:41:48 I mean, what is he supposed to say?
00:41:49 No, I don't want that guy here.
00:41:51 I think I'm afraid that he's gonna take my minutes, Bobby.
00:41:55 Come on.
00:41:56 I get why you asked the question and Cornette,
00:41:59 he said exactly what you're supposed to say in that situation
00:42:02 but to be frank and candid,
00:42:04 Cornette doesn't have anything to worry about
00:42:05 because there's nothing in Joe Mazzuolo's track record
00:42:09 that would indicate to him
00:42:12 that he has something to worry about,
00:42:13 especially if he's doing exactly what Joe is asking him
00:42:16 to do night in, night out.
00:42:17 So if I'm Luke, I can look you straight in the eye
00:42:19 and say, I'm not worried because my coach
00:42:23 has not given me any indication that I need to worry.
00:42:26 And we all know it takes Joe a minute
00:42:29 to be completely comfortable trusting guys
00:42:32 that aren't named Tatum and Brown and Holiday
00:42:35 and Porzingis and Al.
00:42:37 So there's nothing really for Cornette
00:42:42 to be worried about now.
00:42:44 To me, it becomes an issue when they play Luke
00:42:48 and maybe he doesn't play great
00:42:49 and they play Xavier same type in the same game
00:42:53 and he does play great.
00:42:55 And if it gets to the point where you're saying
00:42:56 like two, three, four games
00:42:58 where they're kind of mixing up the minutes
00:43:00 and Xavier is significantly outplaying him,
00:43:03 that's when you're gonna have to start asking that question
00:43:06 and seeing if it's asking that question of Joe,
00:43:10 actually more so than Luke.
00:43:12 But right now, no, Luke has absolutely nothing to worry
00:43:15 about 'cause he's doing his job, the team is winning,
00:43:19 there's a great chemistry and flow and rhythm
00:43:21 to what they're doing.
00:43:22 And Joe, I just don't see going out of his way
00:43:26 to mix that up unless again, the play and the performance
00:43:30 of guys forces him to shake that up.
00:43:33 - I'm gonna posit that Tillman was more impressive
00:43:35 in his two and a half minutes than Cornette was.
00:43:38 But that's just me, that's just me, but it doesn't matter.
00:43:41 I would say Cornette is bordering on cocky
00:43:43 in that sound bite.
00:43:45 Not quite.
00:43:47 - I know what you're saying.
00:43:48 Yeah, I know what you're saying.
00:43:48 I heard it too.
00:43:50 I heard it too, John.
00:43:51 - He's like, "I'm okay, I got my minutes.
00:43:53 Like X-Man's cool, but like, I think I'm set.
00:43:57 I think I'm still likes me.
00:43:58 Joe likes Joe and Bobby likes me."
00:44:01 - He's right.
00:44:02 I mean, he's absolutely right about that.
00:44:03 - I think I can get balloons if I do that, yeah.
00:44:06 Thumbs up fireworks, peace sign or victory sign balloons.
00:44:13 - Well, first we need to get lemon cakes
00:44:15 just flowing up from behind you, John.
00:44:16 That's what we need, the lemon.
00:44:17 - But I love every time if I say Luke
00:44:19 and give the double thumbs up and we just get fireworks,
00:44:22 that's gonna be great for everybody.
00:44:25 Yeah.
00:44:26 Yeah, that's gonna be great for everybody.
00:44:28 Bobby is making his way through the locker room.
00:44:31 Cornette has spoken.
00:44:32 I don't know what it is that he's waiting for.
00:44:35 He's waiting on Tatum maybe to do his thing.
00:44:39 And as I said, we're gonna get Tatum, Brown,
00:44:41 little all-star stuff.
00:44:42 Tatum's done a couple of interviews recently.
00:44:44 They're interesting.
00:44:45 And I'm curious your take on them as well.
00:44:49 And then we'll talk a little bit, like I said,
00:44:52 everyone's kind of right now sizing up the East.
00:44:54 Who scares you?
00:44:56 Is it ridiculous to say no one?
00:45:02 - No, 'cause I mean, you're basing it on facts.
00:45:05 I mean, the facts are,
00:45:07 you start looking at the teams near the top.
00:45:09 Cleveland has had a great run of late,
00:45:11 but I just don't feel that's a team
00:45:14 that I'm concerned about.
00:45:15 'Cause I think there are a number of teams,
00:45:17 including the Celtics,
00:45:18 who could knock them out in the first round
00:45:20 if it came to that, to be honest.
00:45:21 Philadelphia, you don't know about Joel and his situation.
00:45:24 So they become a bit of a wild card.
00:45:27 New York is playing well, but again,
00:45:29 I'm not really trusting them
00:45:31 just because of just their track record of being New York
00:45:34 and their best player.
00:45:36 No disrespect to Jalen Brunson,
00:45:38 but I'm not sure you're built to lead that team.
00:45:42 And that's no knock on you.
00:45:44 It's just that you're basically
00:45:47 like a slightly bigger version of Isaiah Thomas.
00:45:51 And as much as I love IT,
00:45:54 and as much as I love Jalen Brunson as a player,
00:45:57 I'm looking at Tatum, I'm looking at Brown,
00:46:00 I'm looking at Al, I'm looking for...
00:46:02 There are just too many weapons
00:46:03 on the green side of this equation
00:46:05 that makes me not fear the next.
00:46:08 And beyond that, the team that I worry about,
00:46:11 and not so much beating the Celtics,
00:46:12 but just making them work harder
00:46:14 than I think they would want to early on is Indiana.
00:46:17 I don't wanna see Indiana in the playoffs.
00:46:19 And it has nothing to do with them beating the Celtics
00:46:22 and everything to do with them forcing you
00:46:24 to go deeper into your bag of whatever
00:46:28 than you should in the early goings of the playoffs.
00:46:31 They're not gonna beat you in a series,
00:46:33 but they're going to make you work.
00:46:34 And I'm not sure you wanna do that early on.
00:46:37 You expect that in the conference finals
00:46:39 and maybe even the second round,
00:46:40 but first round, I wouldn't wanna see them
00:46:43 'cause I just think that they are going to...
00:46:45 And even in the second round, I wouldn't wanna see them
00:46:46 'cause they just make you work.
00:46:49 And you don't wanna do that in the playoffs,
00:46:51 particularly when you've had the kind of dominant season
00:46:54 that the Celtics look like they're having.
00:46:55 I mean, they could potentially wind up winning the East
00:46:59 by double digits, which is kind of crazy
00:47:02 to have like a 10 game cushion,
00:47:04 but it's very possible, very possible.
00:47:06 (silence)
00:47:08 - You're on mute, John, I believe.
00:47:13 - Bobby Manning threatening to come in.
00:47:18 He popped in and he left.
00:47:19 What's funny is how split people are
00:47:21 on a lot of this stuff.
00:47:22 I think, you know, if everyone's ruled out in Milwaukee,
00:47:26 I wouldn't do that.
00:47:28 Knicks, some people think they're the scariest team.
00:47:31 Some people think that they're posers.
00:47:33 Miami is kind of that whole, I don't respect them,
00:47:36 but I fear them sort of thing, or vice versa, depending.
00:47:40 I don't fear them, but I respect them.
00:47:42 I'm not really sure,
00:47:43 but it seems like it's kind of a mix there.
00:47:45 I really think ultimately it all comes...
00:47:48 Let's assume everybody levels up some in the playoffs.
00:47:52 The question is, will the Celtics do it as well?
00:47:56 You know, and can they meet their energy?
00:47:58 'Cause I'm not super worried from a talent perspective
00:48:03 that any of these teams are there,
00:48:05 but you're gonna play, you know, again,
00:48:08 Dame is scary, Giannis is scary,
00:48:12 Indiana and the way that they can get hot if you're not,
00:48:15 if your offense is clunky, you know,
00:48:18 it's a team that can run you off the floor.
00:48:20 You know, there's definitely landmines there.
00:48:22 Nothing to be worried about,
00:48:23 but like Miami's a first round landmine, potentially.
00:48:26 Philadelphia, if they fall all the way back in the pack
00:48:29 and Embiid comes back in the last couple of weeks
00:48:31 of the season and they're an eight seed,
00:48:32 that's not great.
00:48:34 Like that's not a traditional eight seed.
00:48:36 That's not super fun too.
00:48:37 So I think you gotta worry less about who they play
00:48:41 and more about how they play.
00:48:43 I think being the bigger issue there.
00:48:45 It's not like, and in the past I've always made this,
00:48:48 I've always taken this stance with the Celtics,
00:48:53 how far they've gotten.
00:48:54 I think people made a bigger deal out of,
00:48:56 well, look at all the conference championships.
00:48:58 I think in many of those cases,
00:49:00 it was just simply a matter of the road
00:49:02 and how they got there.
00:49:03 Had they faced different people in different rounds,
00:49:06 they could have been first or second round exits
00:49:07 in all of those years.
00:49:08 To me, all of those years are failures.
00:49:10 Getting to the conference finals and losing
00:49:11 is no difference than a first or second round loss.
00:49:14 Honestly, like the heat loss to the Bucs in the first round,
00:49:18 Bucs lose to the Heat in the first round,
00:49:19 you lose in the conference finals.
00:49:21 If you played them in the first round,
00:49:22 you think you beat them or you lose the same way,
00:49:25 you might lose the same way.
00:49:26 So, and then you're the loser who fired your coach.
00:49:30 Everything's a disaster and you fire your coach
00:49:32 and all of that stuff happens
00:49:34 because you had a disappointing first round exit.
00:49:37 I don't see that this year.
00:49:39 There isn't that team where you're like,
00:49:40 I'm worried about the matchup per se.
00:49:42 You're really just worried about how the Celtics play.
00:49:44 We're gonna bring in Bobby Manning.
00:49:45 What's up, Bobby?
00:49:46 Bobby, we can't hear you.
00:49:50 And you got a double name thing going on there.
00:49:52 - How are you?
00:49:58 - Yummy.
00:50:00 - Yes, we got you now.
00:50:01 - All right.
00:50:02 Yeah, that was a fun game.
00:50:04 Good way to get out of the break.
00:50:06 Little bit of a strategic matchup both ways.
00:50:08 And I thought the Celtics look good on both ends there
00:50:11 and handle business.
00:50:12 So this ends up being,
00:50:15 I think a solid way to start the second half here
00:50:17 against a team that I think sort of built you up
00:50:20 for that next matchup on Saturday,
00:50:22 which is gonna be the real challenge.
00:50:23 I know you guys were kicking around
00:50:25 some of the East teams there.
00:50:26 This Bulls team,
00:50:28 I think is starting to creep into that category
00:50:30 of potentially annoying first round opponent
00:50:33 that I think challenged them in a lot of ways tonight.
00:50:37 Kobe White's tough.
00:50:38 I thought he really had Derek White working throughout.
00:50:41 The double big thing,
00:50:43 Porzingis' fouling in this game against all that size,
00:50:47 I thought was a challenge for the Celtics here too.
00:50:49 So, they had to sort of scheme their way out of this one.
00:50:53 Defend harder.
00:50:54 I mean, they had some awful defensive stretches in this one
00:50:56 and they made some adjustments mid game
00:50:58 as some of the guys were talking about
00:51:00 and Joe led the main one, apparently.
00:51:03 So, this is a good win.
00:51:05 I think the Bulls,
00:51:06 this is a completely different team
00:51:08 than the one that the Celtics blew away
00:51:10 in that tournament game earlier this season.
00:51:13 So, I was pretty impressed with the effort
00:51:15 in this one tonight,
00:51:16 despite some real lapses in the middle of the game.
00:51:18 I love the start,
00:51:19 forcing all the turnovers to a million blocks.
00:51:22 I love the finish,
00:51:23 going up by 20 and basically slamming the door on them.
00:51:26 So, this is a good one
00:51:28 and some good stuff out of the post game and all that too.
00:51:31 It sounds like Sam's fine.
00:51:32 They were joking about that
00:51:34 and I think Tatum's still caught up a little bit
00:51:39 on the MVP thing.
00:51:41 I think it's time to probably stop talking about that.
00:51:44 Even, you do get asked and you do answer,
00:51:47 but I think that's probably time to move on.
00:51:51 - Why do you say that?
00:51:51 Did that come up again tonight?
00:51:53 - Yeah, Bobby.
00:51:54 Elaborate.
00:51:56 - Yeah, he got asked again
00:51:57 and went on a little bit of a soliloquy
00:52:01 about how he doesn't have to be first in the race,
00:52:03 but he didn't like what ESPN said
00:52:06 about losing in the finals two years ago.
00:52:09 Eliminates from the race.
00:52:12 As I believe Brian Wynhorse was talking about.
00:52:14 I didn't see the clip myself,
00:52:15 but I think that's what he was kind of getting at
00:52:16 or the perception is that that is what's keeping him away
00:52:21 from ranking higher in that race.
00:52:23 And listen, John, I'd probably have him third, fourth.
00:52:27 I think that's fair.
00:52:28 I think consensus is probably a little lower than that.
00:52:31 I think would he come in a straw poll like fifth, sixth,
00:52:34 or somewhere in that range.
00:52:36 So he's not gonna win.
00:52:39 I mean, there's just too many gaudy numbers
00:52:41 at the top of the race.
00:52:42 Jokic does too much for that Denver team.
00:52:44 So that's what's really stopping him here.
00:52:46 I think he has a comparable case to Shea.
00:52:48 I don't think you take too much away from him
00:52:50 for being on a loaded team
00:52:51 'cause oftentimes this award goes to best player
00:52:55 on the best team.
00:52:56 That's what he is here.
00:52:57 So I do think that's what bumps him up a few spots for me
00:53:00 over Giannis, over even Duluca certainly to me.
00:53:05 But if he's behind Shea to me,
00:53:08 he's behind Jokic definitively.
00:53:10 - Regardless of that, it's less about where he ranks in it.
00:53:12 And I'm gonna put this up and this is Ben,
00:53:14 first to the floor, terrific podcast coming up
00:53:17 right after the Garden Report here.
00:53:20 Tune into the Aussies, Ben and Jake
00:53:22 for some more basketball talk.
00:53:24 Look, this is a fair thing to say, Ben.
00:53:26 - Yeah, that's what I said to him.
00:53:28 - But, but, but, but there's also really easy ways
00:53:33 to answer this to kill the narrative.
00:53:36 If you don't wanna talk about it, just say,
00:53:39 and I mean, God, this is just 101 stuff.
00:53:44 Just say, it doesn't matter.
00:53:47 I don't care.
00:53:48 - I just wanna win.
00:53:49 - We just wanna win.
00:53:51 Talking about it, you're speaking it into existence.
00:53:56 Lots of questions get asked
00:53:58 and they don't become narratives
00:53:59 because people just bat them away.
00:54:02 This is a real easy one, but every time it's answered,
00:54:06 there's a little weird victim mentality going on here,
00:54:08 which is the league's down on me
00:54:10 because I'm being penalized for losing.
00:54:13 So I guess I have to win.
00:54:14 And maybe if I win, then I'll get MVP consideration.
00:54:18 Just swat the question away, man.
00:54:21 It's not that hard.
00:54:22 - But here's the thing.
00:54:24 Here's the thing about that, John,
00:54:25 'cause me and Vinny Goodwill from Yahoo Sports,
00:54:27 actually on podcast last week, we talked about this
00:54:29 and Vinny had a theory and the theory goes something
00:54:33 to the effect that Jason Tatum has been
00:54:35 at a certain level forever.
00:54:38 It seems like it since he's been an NBA
00:54:40 and he really hasn't taken his game
00:54:43 to a significant level higher than that.
00:54:45 Not that he's been, 'cause Tatum--
00:54:46 - He's been so good for so long, right?
00:54:48 - Exactly, it's to the point where people are like,
00:54:50 they discount him as an MVP because he's just really good.
00:54:54 Remember, Joel Embiid was putting up good numbers
00:54:56 for his career and then he took this major leap forward
00:54:59 and what happens?
00:55:00 He individually, he was the most dominant player.
00:55:03 Team wasn't great, but he was great.
00:55:05 He gets MVP.
00:55:06 Tatum is a victim of his own success in many respects
00:55:09 because he's been so consistently elite
00:55:12 that his game, statistically speaking,
00:55:14 hasn't taken that significant bump
00:55:17 that a lot of MVPs do.
00:55:19 And again, that is wrong in many respects
00:55:23 because you're kind of supposed to be really good.
00:55:25 - It's not fair.
00:55:27 - No, it's totally not fair.
00:55:28 And so I get why when he brings it up,
00:55:30 he plays, he falls into the victim way,
00:55:32 which I hate to see that.
00:55:34 - Talking about it, talking about it
00:55:36 tells people that you care about it.
00:55:38 - You do care about it, absolutely.
00:55:39 - And that's the point.
00:55:40 It's not that, yeah, it's so easy to see the media's asking,
00:55:44 what's he gonna do?
00:55:45 Not answer, it batted away or lie.
00:55:48 It's like, it's such an easy thing.
00:55:52 Like how many athletes have been asked
00:55:54 about individual awards in the history of sports,
00:55:57 even ones that were runaway winners,
00:56:00 like they knew they were gonna win and just say,
00:56:03 we're focused on one thing
00:56:04 and that's winning individual awards don't mean a thing.
00:56:06 It's like, just write it on a notepad,
00:56:09 pull it out of your pocket and just read it.
00:56:12 - Go back and look at the comments.
00:56:13 - Or else you're opening up the,
00:56:15 or else you open up the conversation to like,
00:56:17 wow, he really is thinking about this a lot.
00:56:20 You know, like you just leave it.
00:56:22 It doesn't, even if you do care, leave it alone.
00:56:25 - Jokic has given you the blueprint for how to do that.
00:56:28 'Cause I mean, he is very clear that he's like--
00:56:32 - I don't even know if Jokic cares if he wins the title.
00:56:33 He's just like, I go back and I drink and I, you know.
00:56:36 - And I ride my horse to the night.
00:56:37 Yeah, exactly, exactly.
00:56:40 But that's the blueprint.
00:56:41 If you are seriously not wanting to talk about that
00:56:44 or you really don't care about that, that's how you do it.
00:56:47 You absolutely shoot it down every time it comes up
00:56:50 and make it clear that you care about winning.
00:56:52 You don't really care about that other stuff.
00:56:54 - It's pretty--
00:56:54 - He wants both.
00:56:56 I think that's pretty clear.
00:56:57 - He does, however, however, look again,
00:57:00 this is simply just from a fan perspective.
00:57:02 'Cause I'm not saying, I actually, I've never,
00:57:04 I've always pushed back on the Jason Tatum is selfish thing.
00:57:08 I don't believe he's chasing stats.
00:57:10 I've never thought that.
00:57:12 I've always believed that.
00:57:13 And I think he's been really honest about it.
00:57:15 The evolution of his game, he thought he had to do it all
00:57:18 and he had to come out smoking
00:57:20 and he would search for a shot.
00:57:21 And now he's learned to be more patient,
00:57:23 let the game come to him, you know,
00:57:24 read and react and stuff like that.
00:57:26 And you see that paying dividends
00:57:27 in kind of a more complete all around game.
00:57:29 But I've always thought in the past,
00:57:31 his flaw was that he thought,
00:57:33 like that's how he could best impact the game,
00:57:38 to just go off, to just be top five Tatum.
00:57:41 And yes, I do think he's concerned with legacy
00:57:43 and this and that, but it's a little backwards
00:57:48 the thinking, right?
00:57:49 Of the, I guess I have to win to be considered MVP.
00:57:53 No, you shouldn't, you just wanna win to win.
00:57:56 And if anything else happens, that's great.
00:57:57 It's like, I wanna be great,
00:57:59 but I guess I can't be great until I win.
00:58:01 So I'll go win.
00:58:02 It feels backwards.
00:58:05 It should be like, no, no, no, no.
00:58:06 I just wanna win first, not I wanna win
00:58:09 so now I can be considered, you know, an MVP caliber guy.
00:58:14 I don't know why that needs to,
00:58:16 everybody's fueled by being great.
00:58:18 Everybody's fueled by being the best
00:58:19 and everybody deep down wants to be the best.
00:58:21 But it is a strange bordering on obsession.
00:58:24 It feels like where I think he's very attuned to it.
00:58:27 I'm not saying it's his biggest thing,
00:58:29 but it is interesting that, you know,
00:58:31 that all of the talk with it
00:58:33 and feeling like he's being unfairly criticized
00:58:36 for losing and this and that.
00:58:38 I mean, I don't know, like I said,
00:58:42 you could live without it.
00:58:43 - Yeah, I mean, in totality,
00:58:45 you have heard him say that the championship's
00:58:47 more important that--
00:58:49 - And I believe that too.
00:58:50 It's just he's wired this way to think about, I don't know.
00:58:54 - Yeah, there was just something about that single slight
00:58:56 that he didn't like.
00:58:58 And again, I didn't hear the comment in full.
00:59:00 I think it was Wynne Horse who said it.
00:59:02 I think that was more just about the perception of him.
00:59:05 And I do think Wynne Horse's comment rings true
00:59:09 in the sense that when Tatum lost that finals,
00:59:12 it became a big hit on him because of the way he performed.
00:59:15 And then I think he just ended up under bigger microscope.
00:59:18 And, you know, if we're talking about the reason
00:59:20 that he's not gonna win MVP, yes, as both of you said,
00:59:24 he's not stacking up the stats the way some other guys are.
00:59:27 He's not the center of the universe
00:59:29 that a guy like Luka is.
00:59:31 And that was usually end up being big factors
00:59:33 in who ends up winning this thing.
00:59:35 But I also think, you know, he does get a strike
00:59:38 for being on the best possible team.
00:59:40 And that's probably not super fair.
00:59:42 And there's an inconsistency factor, I think,
00:59:46 with him a little bit too, that is fair.
00:59:48 In that, you know, even in this game, John,
00:59:50 what was he, he was sitting at like seven points
00:59:52 through like two and a half quarters.
00:59:53 - He was seven shooting, something like that to start.
00:59:55 - That in and out thing with him, and we see it less now,
01:00:00 you know, but games like that Philly game last year,
01:00:04 you know, you start three of 13 or whatever it was
01:00:07 in that game or one of 13, game six,
01:00:10 turn around a dramatic way, as you said, John,
01:00:12 by just going off.
01:00:13 You need a more complete profile here.
01:00:17 And the standard is high, you know,
01:00:18 winning MVP is an enormously high standard.
01:00:21 You gotta be able to do it all the way that Jokic can.
01:00:25 And again, that's an enormously high standard
01:00:28 that's set by a guy like that.
01:00:30 Maybe in a different area,
01:00:31 he has a better shot at winning an MVP
01:00:33 rather than playing alongside a guy like that now.
01:00:36 But that's still the biggest thing, right, John,
01:00:38 the consistency factor.
01:00:39 Like he has to come out and put up gaudy numbers every night
01:00:43 and be productive and consistent.
01:00:45 And that's just the standard
01:00:46 that the guys in front of him set.
01:00:48 So I don't know, like what will get it done,
01:00:50 you think, for him?
01:00:52 - Nothing, that's the point.
01:00:53 I think he's, the reality is this, he's gonna be,
01:00:57 Sharad put it this way, he's been an outstanding player
01:01:02 pretty much at this level now for three years, four years,
01:01:06 first team, all NBA type guy.
01:01:08 And that's where he lives.
01:01:09 And I think that's where he'll continue to live.
01:01:11 He might not ever get the gaudy stats.
01:01:13 And part of the reasons behind it is
01:01:14 because now he has a better team around him.
01:01:17 Like there could be a version of Tatum five years from now
01:01:20 if the Celtics take a step back four years from now
01:01:22 when they have to kind of reload on the fly
01:01:24 and he's the only guy on the team.
01:01:26 And he might get his 34 points per game
01:01:28 on a team that ends up as the second seed
01:01:29 and might get an MVP there,
01:01:31 but the team's probably gonna be worse for it.
01:01:33 Reality is, and we've said this about Tatum from the get-go,
01:01:36 best version of him is 26, 10 and seven.
01:01:41 You know, like, and that can win you an MVP, honestly.
01:01:46 Like, I think you gotta not worry about
01:01:48 pouring it entirely into, you know, the points.
01:01:51 And I'm not saying necessarily is,
01:01:53 but the best version of him is the one
01:01:55 that takes a step back offensively
01:01:56 to make his teammates better.
01:01:57 People will recognize it
01:01:59 because he's playing good defense this year.
01:02:01 And he is a more complete player
01:02:04 than some of the other stat hounds, not all of them,
01:02:06 but you know, certainly someone like Luka
01:02:08 and guys who just put up, you know,
01:02:11 there's certain people that, you know,
01:02:12 there's some empty calories behind some of those stats
01:02:15 that they put up there.
01:02:16 Or, you know, I'm not gonna say Embiid,
01:02:18 Embiid's a force, but also he's the whole ball game
01:02:23 over there, you know, I mean, not entirely,
01:02:24 but they lean on him so much.
01:02:26 So yeah, you want like a, I mean,
01:02:29 saying having a Jokic stat line is ridiculous
01:02:31 because nobody-
01:02:34 - No one's doing that.
01:02:34 - No one's doing that, and no one's doing that
01:02:36 with that level of efficiency, but you know-
01:02:39 - At this point, Jokic could be MVP every year.
01:02:40 - MVP LeBron is like, was like a 27, nine and eight guy,
01:02:44 you know, 27, nine and seven, you know, type of player.
01:02:47 It's gonna be hard for him.
01:02:50 It's gonna be hard because they're better
01:02:54 when he does a little less.
01:02:55 It's a fact when they share the ball
01:02:57 and when they work it through
01:02:59 and let everybody get involved,
01:03:01 or when he's trying to involve his teammates,
01:03:04 they're better.
01:03:05 So it's hard for him.
01:03:06 I think he's stuck a little bit,
01:03:07 at least for the next couple of years around a team
01:03:11 that doesn't need him to go off for 30 plus
01:03:14 every single night.
01:03:15 And he's still putting up really outstanding numbers.
01:03:19 It's just probably gonna be short of MVP.
01:03:21 That being said, I think he will get some consideration
01:03:25 'cause I think people will look around.
01:03:27 Embiid goes down, Jokic is gonna get a crap ton of votes,
01:03:30 but there is some Jokic fatigue.
01:03:32 I think Tatum statistically might fall below SGA and Luka,
01:03:36 certainly in the points per game and this and that,
01:03:38 but he's gonna get the best player on the best team nod
01:03:42 and might get more consideration
01:03:43 than I think people are thinking.
01:03:44 A lot of people are saying five, six here.
01:03:47 I think he finishes top three this year for sure.
01:03:49 I really do.
01:03:50 - I think he'll be third.
01:03:51 - Yeah.
01:03:51 - I think he'll be three.
01:03:52 - I think he finishes top three.
01:03:54 - And you look at what's going on with Luka.
01:03:56 It's impressive production.
01:03:59 - He's got the plus minus.
01:04:00 They're gonna have the wins.
01:04:01 They're gonna blow away the competition.
01:04:03 And you're gonna be like,
01:04:04 how are we not thinking about this at least?
01:04:06 So I think he's gonna get some legit consideration.
01:04:09 And you're talking about like one injury to like,
01:04:12 you know, somebody dropping off
01:04:14 and falling behind a 65 game threshold
01:04:16 or something to vault him up.
01:04:18 I don't think it's ridiculous.
01:04:19 The bigger story to me is whether is that it's on his mind
01:04:23 and it's something that's been talked about quite a bit.
01:04:25 The face of the league stuff, you know,
01:04:27 that article been out there.
01:04:29 Who cares?
01:04:30 You know, is that something that you, you know?
01:04:32 - You know what's a big benefit for him now
01:04:34 going forward though,
01:04:35 is the fact that you're gonna factor in availability
01:04:38 in games played because yes,
01:04:39 you're eliminated if you fall below 65.
01:04:41 But in my mind, if you're playing,
01:04:43 I don't know what he's on track for
01:04:45 'cause he's resting a little bit more this year,
01:04:46 but you know, 75 plus certainly.
01:04:49 I think that's a big stat in your favor if you're him.
01:04:52 And he's consistently a guy who's capable of playing 78
01:04:55 plus 80, even 82 if he really needed to,
01:04:58 I think he could do it.
01:05:00 So I think that works in his favor now too,
01:05:03 where the NBA has actually started to emphasize that
01:05:05 as part of your case.
01:05:06 So I go back and forth on it.
01:05:08 Part of me early this year,
01:05:09 especially when he had that hot, hot start
01:05:10 and then tailed off again,
01:05:12 it was sort of the same story as last year.
01:05:14 He was the MVP for the first month and then he tailed off.
01:05:17 Same thing last year.
01:05:18 That made me start to think,
01:05:20 he might just be in that mix for a long time at least
01:05:23 and never quite get there.
01:05:25 But when you do think he's that top piece on this top team,
01:05:29 that is gonna, I think,
01:05:31 create a avenue for him to get into the conversation.
01:05:34 But again, the guys in front of him are just,
01:05:37 or at least the guy in front of him in Jokic is so daunting.
01:05:40 I mean, you look back on last year,
01:05:41 he probably should have won it last year too.
01:05:44 So it's like the Jokic award at this point.
01:05:47 Can you do something that compares or competes
01:05:49 with what Jokic is doing every year?
01:05:50 And it's tough.
01:05:51 - It is.
01:05:53 Sorry, I muted myself.
01:05:54 Nobody can.
01:05:55 It's all gonna be Jokic fatigue, if anything.
01:05:57 - That's kind of what happened last year.
01:05:59 - Yeah.
01:06:01 - I've seen the great ones.
01:06:01 I mean, it happened with Michael, happened with LeBron.
01:06:03 It's just the reality of when you're that great
01:06:08 and you're consistently great.
01:06:10 Which is to me, that's the calling card of Jokic.
01:06:12 Not that he puts up these numbers,
01:06:13 but he puts these numbers up every night.
01:06:16 - He does things no one else can do.
01:06:18 No one's capable.
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01:08:00 Better health. - I used to watch that show.
01:08:04 By the way, I know we're still talking
01:08:09 about the game a little bit here,
01:08:10 but I do wanna get into some All-Star Weekend stuff too.
01:08:12 - We will let you do that a little bit
01:08:14 and then Sherrod, it's gonna be Sherrod's bedtime.
01:08:16 - Well, Sherrod, I'll throw this at you
01:08:18 'cause I could probably name my top five moments.
01:08:22 Bottom five moments probably a little easier
01:08:24 'cause I didn't love the weekend overall.
01:08:27 But definitely in my top five was running
01:08:29 into none other than Isaiah Blakely,
01:08:32 one of the nights after the games.
01:08:35 - Also known as tax deduction number one, my son.
01:08:37 Yes, TD1, my guy.
01:08:39 - It's great to see him out there.
01:08:40 I haven't seen him in a minute.
01:08:41 So he was doing his thing.
01:08:43 I guess he took off before the game, which is a smart move.
01:08:46 But I did run into him, I think on Saturday night
01:08:50 after the dunk contest, so that was fun.
01:08:52 - That's what tons of people do at those big events.
01:08:54 You go and you cover the whole brouhaha leading up.
01:08:58 Ton of people leave the Super Bowl,
01:09:00 Super Bowl week on Friday and Saturday and miss the game
01:09:03 'cause all of the stuff and all of the work
01:09:05 that you have to do is in the lead up.
01:09:06 So it's the media frenzy and all of that stuff
01:09:09 that people are there for.
01:09:10 But yeah, he was there doing ringer stuff.
01:09:13 That's cool.
01:09:13 - Yeah, he was there doing his usual audio podcast
01:09:16 editing stuff.
01:09:17 - So let me try to rattle this off real quick.
01:09:21 I guess top five, we'll throw the Isaiah meeting in there,
01:09:23 but just meeting, catching up with people in general.
01:09:26 A lot of celebrity sightings, which was awesome.
01:09:28 And we did catch up with Jalen Rose after the dunk contest,
01:09:31 which was cool.
01:09:32 Joe Sway got to interview him for a couple minutes.
01:09:35 I did enjoy the dunk contest.
01:09:37 I thought it was cool to watch in person.
01:09:39 The crowd was good.
01:09:40 I know got lackluster reviews
01:09:42 and it wasn't certainly among the greats,
01:09:44 but I thought it was solid.
01:09:45 The Steph Sabrina thing really came through.
01:09:47 And then honestly, I enjoyed the food out there generally.
01:09:52 Like it wasn't amazing, but I did enjoy it.
01:09:56 Some of the like Harry and Izzy stuff
01:09:58 that was going on out there.
01:09:59 But bottom five, the madhouse media experience.
01:10:04 I've never seen so many reporters, John.
01:10:07 Like it was out of this world.
01:10:09 You couldn't get an inch near any of these guys.
01:10:12 A blizzard rolled through on top of it, which was not fun.
01:10:17 They did not clear it well.
01:10:19 Downtown came to a standstill.
01:10:21 Really not a ton in the way of events this year,
01:10:24 at least that I kind of had access to.
01:10:26 And some of them kind of got ruined
01:10:29 by the weather too this year.
01:10:30 And the game stunk.
01:10:31 That has to be in the bottom five,
01:10:33 just all time bad all-star game.
01:10:37 And then we'll round it out with the Friday stuff
01:10:41 kind of stunk too.
01:10:41 The G League team beat Wamba Nyama
01:10:43 and celebrity game was kind of a waste of time.
01:10:46 So I hate to say it.
01:10:48 Those are supposed to be wastes of time.
01:10:49 Yeah, they are.
01:10:50 It's just-
01:10:51 I hate to say it.
01:10:52 Overall a net negative.
01:10:54 It was fun.
01:10:55 It was cool to experience, but-
01:10:56 Wow.
01:10:57 Not the best all-star weekend.
01:11:00 Well, next year is gonna be in the Bay.
01:11:03 So there's hope.
01:11:06 I like that.
01:11:08 There's hope.
01:11:08 That's back to my roots.
01:11:10 Do you think they got to mix it up, John?
01:11:13 There's a lot of talk.
01:11:14 Is it or is it just what it is?
01:11:15 So I'm in the camp of it is what it is.
01:11:20 And like, when did...
01:11:22 I didn't get the memo
01:11:24 like when the all-star game was supposed to matter to me.
01:11:28 Like, I don't understand why everyone got so mad.
01:11:30 Like, these are all jokes, guys.
01:11:34 Like, it's bad business to go out there and try.
01:11:38 It doesn't make sense.
01:11:40 It's not supposed to be competitive.
01:11:42 It's so people can see their favorite guys
01:11:45 and be like, "Look, there's those guys."
01:11:47 And that's it.
01:11:49 Like, that's it.
01:11:50 Do I wish...
01:11:51 I wish, like, I wish the dunk con...
01:11:55 There's no reason the dunk contest should be that bad.
01:11:57 Like, none.
01:11:58 That should be...
01:12:01 If you wanna do...
01:12:02 Live with the fact that the all-star game
01:12:04 is gonna be a joke.
01:12:06 But put big-ass prize money into the friggin' dunk contest
01:12:11 and make it an eight-man field and let...
01:12:13 And honestly, you can't enter with anything short
01:12:16 of a 38-inch vertical.
01:12:18 You know, like, I want high flyers in there and go.
01:12:23 That would be great.
01:12:25 'Cause that alone would restore a little bit of credibility
01:12:28 to the weekend to have the best...
01:12:30 Like, that was a big deal.
01:12:32 The all-star game sucked,
01:12:33 but Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins
01:12:35 were in the dunk contest every year,
01:12:36 and that was cool as hell.
01:12:38 And the best shooters do the three-point shootout,
01:12:41 and that's kinda cool.
01:12:42 So you actually get to see the best
01:12:43 at those two most exciting places.
01:12:46 - And you still kinda have that with the three-pointer.
01:12:47 - Yeah, the three-pointer's always gonna be hot.
01:12:49 You're gonna have the best people
01:12:52 at the most exciting things that they do in the game
01:12:56 actually out there competing.
01:12:58 The dunk contest has become a joke.
01:12:59 What's funny is, I don't agree with much,
01:13:01 but Stephen A. Smith actually did nail it
01:13:03 when LeBron was the first superstar
01:13:06 who could jump through the roof,
01:13:07 who was like, "I don't want any of this."
01:13:09 And then it really did feel like it dipped after that.
01:13:11 - I still don't get why he did that, Sherrod.
01:13:13 - I do agree.
01:13:15 - Yeah, I mean, I don't understand why that...
01:13:18 I mean, think about this.
01:13:19 We've never seen Zion Williamson in a slam dunk contest,
01:13:22 and yet so much of the hype and buildup
01:13:25 of him coming into the NBA
01:13:27 was the fact that this 275, 80-pound-
01:13:31 - It's a crime. - Ridiculously athletic guy
01:13:33 could play above the rim like no one we've ever seen.
01:13:36 They have to figure out a way
01:13:38 to convince those type of players
01:13:40 to be in a dunk contest.
01:13:42 And finally, I mean, think about it.
01:13:45 Jalen Brown was in a slam dunk contest
01:13:47 with three other guys who literally were not in his league.
01:13:51 - Yeah. - Literally were
01:13:53 in a different league. - At least a year ago.
01:13:55 - And that just shouldn't happen.
01:13:57 That just should never happen.
01:13:59 I mean, Jalen is the most highest paid...
01:14:01 He's the highest paid player in the NBA,
01:14:02 and you don't even get the best topping, brother.
01:14:05 You get the back up, brother.
01:14:06 - Yeah.
01:14:07 So I think that number one to restore it
01:14:10 would be really monetize or incentivize somehow
01:14:13 that dunk contest and get the stars back in it.
01:14:16 Or how about this?
01:14:19 Have the fans vote on the dunk contest participants,
01:14:22 and let them decide who they wanna see out there.
01:14:24 And I'm sorry you got selected.
01:14:26 You don't wanna go, you don't go.
01:14:27 But if you were also an All-Star,
01:14:29 you don't get to go to the All-Star game either.
01:14:30 You're there, you're dunking.
01:14:31 I don't give a crap.
01:14:33 Figure it out.
01:14:34 This isn't a type of thing that requires much.
01:14:36 Spend a weekend, come up with a few dunks,
01:14:38 and go out there and give the fans what they want.
01:14:40 It's a joke otherwise.
01:14:42 So I wanna see those guys.
01:14:43 I wanna see those guys.
01:14:44 That's more important.
01:14:45 You'll never make the game competitive.
01:14:47 If you did wanna make the game a little more competitive,
01:14:50 I would do a hybrid of what they did before.
01:14:52 There's two options you would do.
01:14:54 One potential thing would be to go to like the NHL does,
01:14:59 where you get a captain of three or four different teams
01:15:02 and play smaller games and have them compete in shorter form
01:15:05 and have them go to 20.
01:15:06 I think you start to have the games go to a point total.
01:15:10 - Going to the whole game was such a bad idea.
01:15:12 - You start to sweat a little bit
01:15:13 when you know you're down like 12-0 in a game to 20.
01:15:16 So you don't have time to screw around.
01:15:18 You're gonna get embarrassed and run off the court.
01:15:20 So you have to try a little bit more.
01:15:22 - Remember they played to a score in every quarter
01:15:24 that year, 2020 I think it was.
01:15:26 And then they played to like the target score in the fourth.
01:15:29 - That worked well.
01:15:29 - So I would do something like that.
01:15:31 Or what else you could do is add four spots,
01:15:36 four all-star spots for scrappers.
01:15:39 Okay?
01:15:40 And put one of those guys on each team.
01:15:42 Draymond, Derek White, put in some-
01:15:44 - Nesmith?
01:15:45 - Put it, yeah, put in a couple of guys who will go to-
01:15:47 - Oh my God, Isaiah Stewart while you're at it.
01:15:50 - Yeah.
01:15:50 - Once he's back from suspension, yeah.
01:15:53 - And I agree, plenty of role guys
01:15:54 have won slam dunk contests,
01:15:56 but they were also competing against,
01:15:58 people didn't run from the dunk contest.
01:16:00 They did not run from it, okay?
01:16:03 If you were a good dunker, you dunked.
01:16:05 That's just what you did.
01:16:07 And they don't anymore.
01:16:08 So it's not just stars, but yes,
01:16:10 it's people who are known for this.
01:16:14 And did anybody know,
01:16:15 had anybody seen Jaime Jaquez dunk before?
01:16:19 Like- - No.
01:16:20 - You know?
01:16:21 - No.
01:16:22 I, as many times-
01:16:24 - Two G-leaguers was ridiculous.
01:16:27 When Jalen announced it, you were like,
01:16:29 "Oh, here we go.
01:16:30 He's gonna bring the stars."
01:16:31 Then you see-
01:16:32 - No, I did not think that. - Jaquez, Taupin.
01:16:34 - Yeah, I did not.
01:16:36 - But- - There you go.
01:16:36 I'm gonna keep my Jalen takes to myself.
01:16:39 - Fair enough.
01:16:41 - Okay.
01:16:42 - He did say he's gonna do it again next year though.
01:16:44 - He shouldn't.
01:16:45 - Well, there you go.
01:16:47 You let your take out.
01:16:48 - Find a way to get like Zion Williamson
01:16:51 and like, you know, just some legitimate, Joe,
01:16:55 legitimate NBA players.
01:16:57 Can we get NBA players?
01:16:58 There should be a rule where you have to be in the NBA
01:16:59 for like, I don't know, 10, 15, 20 games
01:17:02 to be in a slam dunk contest?
01:17:04 Is that asking a lot?
01:17:05 - I think you'd have to tie it in with the rookies
01:17:09 'cause you just, you're not gonna force-
01:17:12 - I like USA versus the world,
01:17:13 especially if the other team,
01:17:15 you're looking at the best players,
01:17:16 but also nobody takes the game less seriously
01:17:19 than Jokic and Luka.
01:17:20 They don't give a crap.
01:17:22 They could not care less.
01:17:24 They care even less than everyone else.
01:17:27 - Jokic was hilarious though.
01:17:28 He was like holding Jalen's arm at one point
01:17:30 trying to defend him.
01:17:31 Threw down that reverse dunk attempt at the end.
01:17:36 He was just goofing off the whole time.
01:17:38 It was funny though.
01:17:39 - Yeah, but like, yeah.
01:17:43 Yes, I want Ant to do it.
01:17:45 - That would be, yeah.
01:17:47 I mean, Anthony Edwards, Zion Williamson, Jalen Brown.
01:17:49 - It's gotta be the younger guys.
01:17:51 Like maybe it's like a rookie rite of passage or something,
01:17:53 like the top picks or whatever have to do it.
01:17:55 Or you just once.
01:17:58 I don't know.
01:17:59 There's gotta be something like,
01:17:59 you're not gonna force LeBron to do it at this point
01:18:01 and the older veterans.
01:18:02 - Don't wanna see LeBron do it at this point.
01:18:04 - No, no, no, not anymore.
01:18:06 - Yeah, shit.
01:18:08 - And there's also,
01:18:08 there are guys who are better game dunkers
01:18:10 than like fancy, you know, contest dunkers too.
01:18:13 And that's different.
01:18:14 Like if you look at LeBron's highlight reels of dunks,
01:18:17 almost every single one of them is a ridiculous pullback
01:18:21 where his head's up near the rim
01:18:23 or the kind of scoop reverse.
01:18:26 Almost all, look at every dunk he's ever had.
01:18:29 It's all the same.
01:18:30 So I wonder if he like,
01:18:32 he just dunks with such power and it's really impressive.
01:18:37 And maybe he's like, I can't do this whirly,
01:18:39 you know, twirly, whirly shit.
01:18:40 So like, I'm just not gonna bother.
01:18:42 And that was it, you know?
01:18:44 And that was it.
01:18:47 I'm not a JB hater, guys.
01:18:48 I'm trying to be nice.
01:18:50 He just did it.
01:18:51 He just did four of the most ordinary,
01:18:53 like dunks that like 80% of the world can do.
01:18:55 - But there was some showmanship to it.
01:18:57 - That doesn't matter.
01:18:58 Like, I think he wanted points for it,
01:19:01 but ultimately people just want good dunks.
01:19:03 And they were pretty, pretty, I mean, look, man,
01:19:06 this isn't one guy, like just,
01:19:09 if you took to Twitter and you put Jalen Brown's name in it,
01:19:13 there wasn't a lot of positive, you know?
01:19:15 It's like- - He's getting booed badly.
01:19:16 - It was not- - It was like draft night
01:19:18 all over again.
01:19:19 - The world reacted to it, okay?
01:19:23 It wasn't, you know, that.
01:19:25 It was, they were bad.
01:19:28 - You didn't even have to say anything, John.
01:19:30 - It was, they were bad.
01:19:32 - I liked the glove one.
01:19:33 We were joking about it with him.
01:19:34 - What was the, that was a cell phone.
01:19:37 It was like, look, people think I can't use my left hand.
01:19:41 I'm gonna do a really basic dunk with it.
01:19:43 - I like that.
01:19:46 I guess he could've, we were joking with him,
01:19:48 he could've moonwalked after.
01:19:49 Maybe that would've gotten another point.
01:19:51 - Oh, man.
01:19:53 - But he's, you know, he came away from it okay.
01:19:56 He said he's rolling with the jokes
01:19:58 and he's gonna do it next year if they want him to, so.
01:20:02 - Yeah, and then- - At least he's doing it.
01:20:03 He gets credit for, he put himself out there, John,
01:20:06 in a way that absolutely nobody else would've done.
01:20:08 - I applaud him for that.
01:20:09 I'm gonna give a bigger knock to Tatum,
01:20:12 who couldn't be bothered to take off his coat,
01:20:14 throws a horrible frigging lob to him,
01:20:16 and then leaves! - Bounced.
01:20:18 - Exactly.
01:20:19 - And then leaves!
01:20:20 - He didn't stay for 10 more minutes.
01:20:22 - He didn't stay for 10 more minutes
01:20:24 to watch his boy in the finals.
01:20:25 Oh my God. - But John,
01:20:27 that to me symbolized what the Slam Dunk Contest has come to.
01:20:32 Even the best players who are asked to participate
01:20:34 and they don't wanna stick around for that stuff.
01:20:37 - Yeah.
01:20:38 - I mean, he literally did not have time to,
01:20:40 it was just like, okay,
01:20:42 my Uber's gonna be here in three minutes.
01:20:44 Let me just throw this up here real quick,
01:20:46 and I'm out.
01:20:47 I'm out.
01:20:48 - This is-
01:20:49 - I couldn't believe what I saw.
01:20:50 - I'm out of the night.
01:20:51 - I can't be mad at him about that.
01:20:53 (laughing)
01:20:55 - That was a nice one.
01:20:57 - It was, that was awful.
01:20:58 I'm sorry.
01:20:59 It was awful.
01:21:00 I'll give props to Jalen for trying.
01:21:03 I'll give props to Jalen for trying to make it creative.
01:21:05 I'll give props to him for being the only guy
01:21:07 with any name and any reputation
01:21:10 to possibly put on the line,
01:21:11 and he did it.
01:21:12 He did all of those things.
01:21:14 But yeah, I thought,
01:21:17 again, all Tatum has to do is pretend a little bit there.
01:21:21 But you're right.
01:21:24 The star's not even staying to watch it.
01:21:26 I mean, holy crap.
01:21:27 It's gotten gross.
01:21:29 - Can we just completely ban Duncan on Shaq as an option?
01:21:34 - How many times are they gonna pull him out there?
01:21:36 - Not, apparently every damn year that they have this.
01:21:39 Stop, just stop.
01:21:43 Stop.
01:21:44 Stop.
01:21:46 - Yeah, yeah.
01:21:47 - Yeah, and that's it.
01:21:48 So yeah, those are brief thoughts.
01:21:50 It wasn't, like I said,
01:21:51 I think Jalen did handle it well.
01:21:53 I think he definitely caught some heat.
01:21:55 I think he, you know,
01:21:56 jumping over a five foot guy in a chair.
01:21:58 I think he definitely-
01:21:59 - Why'd he try to do three things?
01:22:01 That was so-
01:22:02 - He definitely memed himself there a little bit, yeah.
01:22:04 - And Tatum didn't help him.
01:22:05 I don't know what was with those glasses.
01:22:06 - Tatum didn't help.
01:22:07 Yeah, Tatum didn't help at all.
01:22:10 - And then don't,
01:22:10 the slippery floor.
01:22:13 (laughing)
01:22:16 (coughing)
01:22:18 - Yeah.
01:22:23 - Why?
01:22:24 - Yeah.
01:22:25 - Why?
01:22:27 - The floor was slippery.
01:22:28 It's all good.
01:22:29 It's all good.
01:22:30 Again, it's fine.
01:22:32 It's fine.
01:22:32 Who dunked over Taco a couple years ago?
01:22:35 - Who was that?
01:22:37 Was that Gordon?
01:22:39 Zach Levine, maybe?
01:22:40 Or was that different?
01:22:42 (gulping)
01:22:44 - Okay, we could try this one.
01:22:48 - It was Gordon.
01:22:52 - Yeah.
01:22:53 - Yeah.
01:22:54 - Okay, so the very short answer to all of it,
01:22:57 how do you fix it?
01:22:58 Throw a lot of cash behind it.
01:22:59 If the NBA wants it as a big weekend,
01:23:03 and they want ratings,
01:23:03 and they want all of that stuff,
01:23:05 and they think it's super important
01:23:06 as a showcase for the league,
01:23:08 then they should 100% put a ton of money behind it.
01:23:12 You know, $500,000 to each participant of a winning team.
01:23:16 You know, whatever it is.
01:23:17 And if you're gonna play for it in a plan,
01:23:21 you'll play for it in an all-star game.
01:23:22 You want competitive, you gotta put money behind it.
01:23:24 That's basically what it comes down to.
01:23:27 Big cash prize for the dunk contest,
01:23:29 for all of that stuff.
01:23:30 - Would Luke do it?
01:23:31 - Luke Cornette?
01:23:34 The dunk contest?
01:23:36 - Would he allow himself to be dunked over?
01:23:39 - Yeah, maybe that would have helped Jalen,
01:23:40 getting him involved.
01:23:41 - Yeah, yeah, who knows?
01:23:44 But yeah, anyway, we are gonna wrap,
01:23:48 but thank you guys for hanging out here.
01:23:49 We're back on what, Saturday?
01:23:51 - Yeah, big game Saturday, Knicks, Celtics, MSG.
01:23:55 - Cass coming in with a little boomer take, I like it.
01:23:58 You're right.
01:24:02 I hate being the kids these days.
01:24:05 I don't do the kids these days talk, I don't.
01:24:08 I hardly ever.
01:24:10 I do think they're too cool for school.
01:24:13 Nothing bothers me more than one of those
01:24:16 skills competitions, when it's a race around stuff,
01:24:19 and they jog.
01:24:19 Don't do it.
01:24:22 That kills me.
01:24:23 It's like doing a dunk contest,
01:24:25 but shooting layups instead.
01:24:26 Why did you enter?
01:24:28 - Did you see Edwards shooting lefty?
01:24:29 And then Barnes just throwing it over his head?
01:24:31 - Over his head, that stuff.
01:24:34 - Are you that worried?
01:24:35 Is everyone just, everyone's just worried
01:24:38 to be memed, right?
01:24:39 They just don't want to embarrass themselves.
01:24:41 - That's what Jaylen's saying.
01:24:43 - I think that's it.
01:24:44 It's like, just, if you're gonna talk about it,
01:24:47 it's really kind of social media nowadays.
01:24:51 - Has anyone ever been made fun of for giving it their all?
01:24:52 - And that stuff's just gonna be immortalized
01:24:54 if you do something silly.
01:24:58 - Would you really be made fun of
01:25:01 if you went out in one of these things
01:25:02 and just gave it your all?
01:25:05 - You don't have to be diving on the floor,
01:25:07 but we're not asking for much.
01:25:11 We're really not.
01:25:12 - No, it's silly.
01:25:13 It's silly.
01:25:14 So we got, do we have the Knicks, Bobby?
01:25:17 - Yeah, MSG.
01:25:18 We're going to New York.
01:25:19 - We got something fun to talk about.
01:25:20 Bobby's on his way to MSG.
01:25:22 That should be cool.
01:25:23 We're back with the Garden Report on Saturday.
01:25:25 What time's that game?
01:25:26 - 8.30.
01:25:28 - You can't do that to me.
01:25:29 - That's a tough one.
01:25:31 Eastern.
01:25:33 - Yeah.
01:25:34 - 7.00 Central.
01:25:36 - Come on, guys.
01:25:37 It's not Central time.
01:25:39 Anyway, yeah, enjoy yourself.
01:25:41 Enjoy yourself.
01:25:42 We are gonna wrap it up.
01:25:43 Thank you guys for hanging out here.
01:25:45 Second half kicks off with a resounding Celtics win
01:25:49 over the Chicago Bulls.
01:25:52 Didn't have them all the way.
01:25:53 I mean, you know, it was close through the half,
01:25:55 but they put them away when they had to.
01:25:57 Nice games from Derek White, Jalen Brown,
01:26:01 and Bobby's boy, Luke.
01:26:04 Bobby's boy, Luke.
01:26:04 And the debut of Xavier Tillman, which was,
01:26:07 Bobby, I'll ask you.
01:26:08 Sure, yes.
01:26:09 Luke had some awesome highlight moments
01:26:14 and super fun to watch.
01:26:17 Tillman in two and a half minutes
01:26:18 did about five or six impressive things,
01:26:20 albeit in garbage time.
01:26:21 - Yeah, I think you know what he's capable of,
01:26:23 and that's the defense, the rebounding to some degree.
01:26:27 He's not the best rebounder,
01:26:29 but he can be active on the offensive glass.
01:26:31 And then, you know, some of the high dribble handoff stuff
01:26:34 that Luke does too.
01:26:35 So there's an interchangeability there.
01:26:37 I just don't know where they're gonna utilize him
01:26:40 'cause when he looked up this morning, John,
01:26:42 and said, you know, I'm in the stay ready crew,
01:26:45 (laughs)
01:26:47 he kinda knew what we were gonna see tonight.
01:26:49 - Yeah.
01:26:50 - So he's staying ready, him and Springer.
01:26:53 And who knows when they'll break them free.
01:26:55 But I said this before the break,
01:26:56 and right after they got him,
01:26:58 he's not displacing Luke.
01:26:59 Like, and that's not even me.
01:27:01 That's, you know, that's, I think, their perspective on it.
01:27:03 They like what Luke does, they trust him.
01:27:06 And maybe there'll be situations
01:27:07 where you need to go to a Tillman
01:27:09 against a physically imposing center.
01:27:12 Like maybe if Vucevic was just killing you tonight,
01:27:14 and Porzingis was marred in foul trouble,
01:27:17 you go to him for a change of pace.
01:27:19 But it's interesting, right?
01:27:21 'Cause, you know, Brad probably goes to him,
01:27:23 adds him as a guy that he wants
01:27:26 to see them utilize a little bit.
01:27:28 And is Joe gonna do that?
01:27:30 At least for now, it doesn't seem like.
01:27:32 And you really don't have a ton of time left this season
01:27:34 to integrate him.
01:27:35 So it's gonna be interesting to see,
01:27:36 'cause I do think you'll need him come playoff time
01:27:39 in a spot, Sherrod.
01:27:40 And you don't wanna just have him have
01:27:42 three real games under his belt.
01:27:44 - That's what we talked about a bit.
01:27:46 This is the time to tweak it, to experiment a tad.
01:27:49 - Right.
01:27:50 You've got that big cushion, and you know,
01:27:52 for the best record.
01:27:53 And you've got enough bandwidth
01:27:56 where you can throw him out there.
01:27:57 Like what they did a few games ago with Jordan Walsh,
01:28:00 where Jordan came into the first quarter
01:28:02 and played a few minutes and then--
01:28:03 - That's with a couple guys out there.
01:28:05 - Right.
01:28:06 But I still think that you need to look
01:28:08 at those possibilities with a guy like Tillman,
01:28:10 just to see what he can do with your regulars.
01:28:13 To your point, and the point that you made, Bobby,
01:28:16 about trust, I think that more than anything
01:28:18 is why Luke isn't gonna go anywhere.
01:28:21 Joe has a very short window of players he trusts.
01:28:24 Ask Grant Williams, you know about that all too well.
01:28:27 And Luke is in that circle of trust.
01:28:30 Tillman is not.
01:28:31 And that's not that Tillman did anything wrong.
01:28:32 He's just the new guy.
01:28:34 He's gonna have to play his way
01:28:35 into seeing some form of a role.
01:28:37 But even, again, that role,
01:28:39 as we talked about before you came on, Bobby,
01:28:41 is probably gonna be spot duty.
01:28:42 Play against like New York, play against Cleveland,
01:28:45 maybe play against, you know,
01:28:46 teams that have Philadelphia with Joel.
01:28:48 But other than that,
01:28:49 you're probably not gonna utilize it much,
01:28:51 if at all, in the playoffs.
01:28:52 - Yeah, that might be fine.
01:28:56 You know, again, don't break what's working right now.
01:28:59 I think that big man rotation's been really good this year.
01:29:02 And Tillman has his limitations,
01:29:04 especially in the offensive end.
01:29:04 - And this is what we talked about,
01:29:05 is you know which games you can do this.
01:29:08 It's not just in games people are out.
01:29:10 There's about seven or eight games
01:29:12 against contending teams left
01:29:14 among the 27 or so games that they have.
01:29:16 And then there's just these games.
01:29:19 Like, mess around a little bit.
01:29:21 Like, just put Tillman in the loop.
01:29:26 In the Luke spot.
01:29:27 Like, give him his 15 minutes
01:29:29 just to see how he does with them.
01:29:30 You know what I mean?
01:29:31 Give Springer Pritchard's minutes
01:29:33 just for a night to see how he does with them.
01:29:35 You're not talking about starting them
01:29:37 and playing them 35 minutes,
01:29:38 but you gotta see them rotate in
01:29:40 like they would in a normal game,
01:29:41 if you ever have any shot of using them and playing.
01:29:44 You know, if they're anything more than break glass
01:29:46 in case of emergency, guys.
01:29:48 - We have a fan here in the chat
01:29:50 who says he's gonna rescind his Celtics fandom
01:29:52 if Luke plays over Tillman.
01:29:55 I saw that.
01:29:56 - Wow.
01:29:58 - I saw that.
01:30:00 Yeah.
01:30:01 - It amazes me.
01:30:01 - Yeah.
01:30:02 Anyway, we are gonna wrap it.
01:30:03 We'll see you guys on Saturday.
01:30:04 Thank you very much for hanging out.
01:30:07 Thank you to Amit behind the scenes,
01:30:09 making it happen as always.
01:30:10 Hardest working man in the business.
01:30:12 We will see you guys back here on Saturday.
01:30:14 We should have a little bit more of the crew in place
01:30:18 and should be a good one.
01:30:19 The new, well, still no Randall.
01:30:22 So you're not getting the full Nick experience, right?
01:30:24 - Yeah, OG's out too.
01:30:26 - Yeah, so you're not getting the full Nick experience.
01:30:28 This is another problem too.
01:30:29 Some of those games you just might not get,
01:30:32 you might not get it.
01:30:33 You know, you might play some of these teams
01:30:35 without some of their guys too, but we'll see.
01:30:37 It's still, it's always fun in MSG.
01:30:38 It's a good environment, Celtics, Knicks.
01:30:40 We'll be back on Saturday.
01:30:41 Thank you guys for watching.
01:30:43 (upbeat music)
01:30:45 - Wait, Amit's got an outro for us, I think.
01:30:51 - No, he doesn't.
01:30:52 - You said he was gonna work on an outro.
01:30:53 - I didn't.
01:30:55 - He had a phenomenal game.
01:30:57 - Phenomenal game.
01:30:58 (laughing)
01:31:00 - Porfrit's out, I think it's an outro.
01:31:02 (laughing)
01:31:05 - That did not sound like a chair.
01:31:07 - It was a freaking chair.
01:31:08 It does sound like a chair.
01:31:09 (upbeat music)
01:31:12 (upbeat music)
01:31:15 (gentle music)

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