LIVE Garden Report: Celtics vs Clippers Postgame Show on CLNS Media

LIVE Garden Report: Celtics vs Clippers Postgame Show on CLNS Media

What’s going on? We’re live. What? Let’s do this. Sherrod, what happened there? That was That shouldn’t have been as close as it was, right? No, but is But listen, this is the roller coaster known as Celtics 2526 season. Let’s go. Lot lots lots going on. Celtics blow a 24-point lead. James Harden a chance to tie it with a last second shot that goes out. Uh Jaylen Brown took 47 shots. Anthony Simons is officially broken. Joe Missoula has broken him. Baylor Shman Baylor Shyman is a thing. Jordan Walsh might be real. There’s a lot to discuss on the Garden Report, which starts now. Always has to be a shot at somebody. I know they’re never clean. They have to run. That’s the only shot they have. They do it for 82 games. We’re about to find out. He already has shown what he’s capable of. Did surprise me. I thought we were going to hang in there. This makes me think that we do need to be humble. I actually think you’re the only one who deserved that beating. And we’re back. Wow. Celtics hang on as we said 12118. They climb back to 500 after starting the season 0 and3 and everything is well because you’ve got backto backs coming up with Brooklyn and this was a little stretch where you knew that the Celtics were going to get right in terms of wins. Um so again a good win. I look I I I don’t want to qualify everything but it’s the third win against a crappy Western Conference opponent without their best player of the season. And again, things are everyone’s talking about the Celtics should be better than their record. A lot’s broken right for them. They faced a lot of teams without that have been depleted. They themselves have not suffered any injuries. And right now, you have to imagine they’re going to beat up on Brooklyn two days in a row, jumped to nine and seven, and all of a sudden, we’re going to be talking playoffs and beyond. But let’s just get into this game and what we liked about it, Sherrod. And again, there’s some funky stuff that went on here, but I do have I do think you got to start with Payton Pritchard, at least on the offensive end, uh, knocking down all of his shots. However, fairly surprising. Who do you think had the worst plus minus on the team today? Oo, off the top of my head, I’m going to go with Peyton. Payton Pritchard. Minus 15 in 33 minutes. A lot of that had to do with James Harden uh getting hot and uh cooking him a few times. Broke his ankles. I’ll say this right now. If he had if Anthony Simons had this statline and got dusted the way Pritchard did in the fourth quarter by Harden, everybody would be freaking out about you can’t play this guy. I’ll tell you that he’s horrible. Get him out of here. You can’t play this guy. Can’t play him. Um but yeah, no, but Pritchard is everybody’s favorite fan favorite. So, he’s going to be okay. But again, you make eight three-pointers in the first half, you get a lot of rope. And uh you know, and he was great. He was great and again, you know, did a good job controlling the ball, controlling the offense, uh, you know, and doing what he does. 30 points is nothing to sneeze at. No, no, but to to me, you know, of all the things that he did in this game, I think the most important thing he did is one of the least significant stats in terms of its magnitude, and that’s playmaking. You know, when they were pressing at the very end there and he was in that corner, I’m thinking, please don’t stop the dribble. Please don’t stop the dribble. And he didn’t. So, what happens? Jaylen Brown gets a wide open layup. They’re up by five at a critical moment in the game. That’s the kind of playmaking that we don’t see a lot of from Peyton. And to be frank, you didn’t really need it in this game because of the way he was shooting. But it’s good to know that when he w when they absolutely needed that particular facet of his game, he was able to deliver. So kudos to Peyton for for coming through with what they absolutely needed when they needed it most. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And uh he was good. We’ll hear from him. We’ll hear from Joe Mulan in a little bit. Bobby and Noah are also down. You guys don’t like it, you don’t like it. Guy finished minus 15 and he was awful defensively. You don’t want to hear it. Go somewhere else. Okay, go go go somewhere where they’re just going to talk about Pritchard’s three-pointers. He was great. He was great. He was great offensively. I just I just love the fact that he was actually not just jacking up shots, but he was making them. And he and he he stayed with it. I mean, he found a rhythm and he did not deviate from that. obviously would love to have seen her do a better job defensively, but if you’re going to not be great defensively, give me 30 points because I can I I absolutely I can absolutely roll with a 30point scoreer who’s not a good defender because frankly, you don’t have anyone another other I like offense. So, here’s my thing. I liked Pton Pritchard’s game tonight because I like offense. It’s the hardest thing to do. And eight of 13 from three is a skill is a skill. And I want I want you to utilize that. So Payton Pritchard played my Anthony Simon Simons game today and I loved it. I did. I loved it. I’m not saying he played a bad game. You’re saying he played a bad game. That’s you guys. Okay. In the chat, you’re saying he played a bad game because apparently you have to be elite defensively to play on Joe Mazula’s team. That’s what I’ve learned over the over the course of the last few weeks. Oh boy. Poor poor poor Baylor Shy. Hey, and we’ll talk more about Baylor at some point. Actually, let’s save Baylor for the Noah portion of the program because there was something that happened in this game with Baylor and Joe Mazoula that I thought would never ever happen. And when he he trusted him. He he you know what for that it was like one of those like you know when you sign up for a service and you know it’s like a seven-day trial and it’s going to go away. It felt like this was a circle of trust, one game only trial for Baylor. He got in. He’s probably not going to get in again, but damn it, tonight. I’ll leave this one up for a little bit. Okay, I’m going to leave this one up for a while. Okay. I love the fact that he he we put his trust in Baylor for that nancond and it paid off. Let’s go Baylor. Let’s go. Yeah, I enjoyed the hell out of this game. I I really did. And even though they were up big obviously and you would have loved to have seen them just kind of pull away and this was a this was a game that you really want found yourself engaged because you’re thinking please don’t tell me they’re going to blow another big lead uh and lose a game in the clutch and and to their credit they made so many frank plays that they have not been making consistently and now I think the record in clutch games is like three and five uh which is nothing to to you know write home about but hey they got it done when they needed to get it done against a team that frankly was as vulnerable a team as they’re going to see in the next couple of weeks. So, good for them. Yeah. And again, a a w a win is a win is a win and and that’s what you’re gonna that you know that you can only play the schedule that’s that’s there in front of you. Um so, again, yeah, Payton Pritchard, I just wanted to have fun with that one. I thought it I I just I couldn’t help I couldn’t help myself there. Uh on that uh on that front, what I what I will say as well uh is uh the Jordan Walsh thing might be a real thing um at this point. Um I don’t you know we’ve now this is our third iteration. What I will say is really interesting about how this has gone down uh in terms of uh in terms of this kind of shuffle, right? like we don’t just have um like multiple starters uh in terms of this, you know, the way it’s gone here. You started with Hower, you started with Minot, and then you’ve moved to Jordan Walsh. It’s not just multiple starters. It’s that each person after they’ve been removed from the starting lineup has been relegated to no man’s land, and they’ve been completely marginalized, dare I say broken. And I I am gonna talk about this a little bit on this show because I am a little concerned with Joe Mazoula being a little bit impulsive uh with some of this stuff and he’s doing what he thinks is best. I I don’t like what I see and I’m going to switch it out. But you’re trying to maximize your roster and develop things as things go on throughout the year. Jordan Walsh lives but everyone else around him dies as a result. Sam Hower disappeared today. Seven minutes did nothing. He’s in a miserable shooting stump. Josh Minot is back into spot minute duty and this is a guy who started and gave you major contributions. I would like to see Joe figure it out a little bit in this regard. But that being said, I do like that. I do like what I’m seeing out of Walsh. I I’m going to get into some of that other stuff a little bit later, but it’s he’s right now he’s I I can’t see him relinquishing the starting job the way he’s playing right now because he’s given them everything that that that they need out of that at the moment and he’s locking down other guys best players. He’s playing in closing stretches. He’s really doing kind of everything you need him to do right now. So, I’ve been impressed. And this is a guy two weeks ago I had written off as like he’ll be playing in Europe in a few in a couple of years. So I I’m I’m as surprised as I am impressed by it. Yeah. I mean he’s the former captain of the passport ready crew because I mean he looked as if he was in that Romeo Langford Jawan Johnson lane of guys who just weren’t going to be uh Celtics or in the NBA for that matter very long. But I give I give him credit. he has found a way to get himself not only on the floor, but put himself in positions where his value is significant to this team’s chances of success. I thought when he f the first uh couple starts, I thought he did a really good job because the guys that he was defending, their strength was their quickness, their speed. This to me was an ultimate challenge for him. A guy who is not going to beat you with his speed. He’s not going to beat you necessarily with his power. He’s just great footwork. And how is Jordan going to handle this matchup? And I thought, you know, for most of the game, I thought Jordan did a good job. And even on that that foul that they called on him late in in the game where they they it was a pretty clear and obvious kick, but Joe Missoula because he’d already had two challenges and won both of those challenge. He didn’t have any, so we couldn’t challenge that. I thought Jordan did a really good job defensively on a guy who one of the greatest scorers to ever play the game. Uh, and you’re right, John. I I think it’s going to be very difficult to see him be unseated because in addition to defense, he’s getting them those the cheapy points where he’s causing things or he’s bene bene uh he’s benefiting from things happening defensively that’s leading to easy buckets, lifts, and things like that is there’s a lot to like about what Jordan is doing out there, and he’s not getting in the way of what anyone else is doing. He’s just playing the role that he’s supposed to and doing at a really high level, especially relative to the guys who have been in that position previously. Yeah. And again, he had a career-high 29 minutes a couple of games ago. 33 minutes playing tonight. So, he’s I mean, we talk about that circle of trust all the time. He really is. And you can kind of really see that circle tightening right now. Uh, and who’s in it and who’s not. Uh, the the surprising guy getting into it tonight was Baylor Shyman. And I’m not quite sure why um what you know what it is that he did to earn those minutes, but maybe it’s that other people are playing themselves out of the rotation. He’s gone with Baylor. But like Baylor ended up being a plus 12 today. He’s not super involved in the offense. He just he you know he had he had you know a single three-pointer I believe was it. Yeah, three points. Uh and that was it. But 18 minutes in this one and again that the ultimate circle of trust where Joe Mazula trusts him on a challenge. uh which was another which was another surprise to me that was if if I had to go down what were the three biggest shockers in this game that would be one of the three uh one that that Joe would use one of his precious challenges on Baylor who was pretty clear said you know they they had that that conversation and you know Joe looked at the back of the bench and they said let’s go for it and and they won and and Baylor the thing that he did in this game I thought was most important thing he could do was do the job don’t let James Harden get easy layups. Keep a guy in front of you. Don’t make turnovers. Uh and if you get a great look at the basket, great. And if you don’t, keep the ball moving, but just make sure that you’re not going to be a problem out there. Uh and he did that. I mean, he he was able to keep things steady at the position and role that he was expected to play. And they were they were doing a lot of good things when he was on the floor. So, this was the kind of game to me, this was kind of like one of the first games where we saw Jordan Walsh thrown out there. and we really weren’t sure what he did to to deserve to be out there. And Jordan was able to use that and build on it going forward. We’ll see if Baylor can do that because if he can play defensively as steady as he did tonight, he wasn’t great, but he definitely did not suck. If he can be solid defensively and knock down a few more open shots, now all of a sudden he those Jordan Walsh minutes may drop down to 2025 and then Baylor’s minutes might go think around 1820. And then you got to start asking questions about my eye. Then you got to start asking questions about Sam Hower and what what does that mean for them? But the one thing John I think you touched on which I think is is spot on is that Joe Missoula is playing a real game of musical chairs where whoever has a seat you’re good. If you’re not sitting next to him speaking of Joe. Yep. Let’s hear Joe Misoula right now. Bunch that some of some of that’s going to be accepted because of the style of defense that that you would play but still feels like there is still too much fouling while you’re defending. How how do you guys clean that up? Uh again, it’s situational. Uh we forced 14 turnovers to R six and we got 15 more shots than they did. And so it’s situational. Obviously, you don’t want to give up a flagrant foul uh at the end of the game. You don’t want to foul a three-point shooter, but that’s easier said than done. He’s one of the best foul creators in the league. Um so, yeah, I mean, regardless, there’s always going to be uh four or five uh you know, situational fouls, but at the end of the day, we got 15 more shots uh forced 14 turnovers for 27 points. And so, we just have to continue to play the way that we play. and at the same time uh have good situational execution. And then in in that same regard, you missed I think 12 uh shots in the restricted area. Um how did that play into their ability to come back and make it a game? Yeah. I mean, again, that’s uh you know, everyone thinks that just because the closer you get it, the easier that it is and and you know, you have to be able to knock those down in a restricted area. Usually when you miss those, it starts a five on four at the other end and you have a guy or two behind the defense. So uh I thought our reads were pretty good. We got to be much better when we get the ball in the paint uh of making those and then regardless we got to sprint back. So I thought we made some good reads. Uh you know they forced us to play in the seam a little bit. Mimi uh you know made some good plays on both ends but uh you know we have to be great. We got to be physical. We got to be great in the restricted area and then we got to sprint back on defense. Joe, those hardened threes at the end there. Were you happy with the contest? Was that just tough shot making for him? Like again, he’s a guy that uh he’s one of the most the best elite foul draws. So, uh you know, you have to pick and choose how you’re going to try to do that. So, um just like you know, again, uh we’re all going to focus on the last couple possessions, but you know, we gave up 15 points on second chance in the third quarter and uh you know, there was uh we got a great look by Payton. Um, you know, in the quarter we got a layup by Nimi and then we had a Dwight pullup shot. If one of those goes in, it’s a different game. So, you know, we just got to continue to execute uh possessions throughout the entire game. But, you know, he’s a guy that’s is tremendous foul draw. So, there’s no right answer. That’s there was there was obviously a flip a switch flipped. It felt like like they wanted a big run at some point. I think it was second or third quarter. Was there something that you noticed that changed in the game or was it just you guys missing shots that led to that? Like was there anything that changed that changed the momentum there that you know? Uh they put James Harden back in uh in the six-minute mark and then they went to more of a shooting lineup to where you couldn’t really double from anywhere and uh he made some plays, right? And then, you know, like I said, uh we fouled him on a three-point play. We fouled him uh driving to the basket and so it’s those situational ones, but uh they did a good job going to a particular offensive lineup which gave them great spacing and then he was able to go to, you know, he was able to uh to create plays for himself and at that point you have to decide, you know, with the the shooting that they have out there. Um so yeah. Bobby Peyton said after the Memphis game that he’d been in a mental funk recently. What have you seen these last two games as he’s played more freely and more instinctively? Uh yeah, I mean I think he’s uh it’s just part of who he is. He’s very hard on himself and wants to be great all the time and uh that’s just it’s a compliment to who he is and you know that’s why you trust him completely. If he has a bad game, a bad quarter, even if it’s a bad five games, it doesn’t matter. He’s uh he’s always going to come back uh to who he is because of his work ethic and and that’s it. So the last two games I think he’s playing the same way. Uh you know, he’s just um the game’s coming to him a little bit easier. He’s competing on the defensive end, but you know, you could always count on him. And from Jordan overall, what did you see from him against Harden tonight? Yeah, I think again he’s the best one of the best foul drawers in the league. I think it was, you know, he did a great job. I I prefer not to get a flagrant foul on a three-point shot, but it’s easier said than done when you have to guard him for uh you know, for as long as he did for 33 straight minutes. So, I thought he was very good. Uh and I thought he made some winning plays throughout the entire game and and uh that’s the role. That’s what you have to become is a guy that can guard anybody on any given night and and he’s embracing that. Uh Joe, in the last two games, Peyton and Derek are both now shooting really well from three. I think you’ve maintained all season that that was just they were just missing easy looks. Um, how much does it change for you guys now that those shots are going in? Does it feel like it opens things up for other players? And did it feel just kind of inevitable that it was coming and now it’s like we’re all just seeing it? Yeah, it was definitely inevitable just because of who they are as players and how hard they work. And, you know, I think it also just changes the way that teams have to defend us in pick and roll. And so, that’s a correlation to the restricted area layups that we got is because those guys are playing better. They’re up in pick and roll and we’re putting we’re getting behind on the two-on-one and then we’re making seam reads either for a kick out or for a layup there. So, there’s a correlation to how well they’re playing the pick and roll coverages and the type of shots they were getting. So, uh, but it’s inevitable. They work too hard and they’re too good to players. They’ll they’ll go up, they’ll go down, but at the end of the day, they’ll make plays and and, uh, we just got to execute as a team. And then Jaylen had 13 rebounds tonight. I think that’s his high for the season. Um, two steals in the fourth quarter. Like, what did you see in addition to the scoring, but what did you see from him in this game? Yeah. Uh, you know, he had a two great days of practice uh, this week and and just making conscious effort to be a well-rounded player. It’s a, you know, it’s a really a compliment to a guy that can get his shot at any point in time to rest on the defensive end. Uh, but he does the opposite and like you said, uh, he’s get I thought he went on a run there in the fourth quarter that that kind of got the lead to where it was. Uh, but the the the two steals, uh, in the fourth quarter and his ability to rebound, just playing both ends of the ball and that’s how he’s leading for us. He’s got to continue to do it. Yeah. I also wanted to ask about JB at 13 in the fourth. What can you just say about him being a steadying force on this team? I mean, he’s done it for years prior, but just now that he’s more in the limelight as the primary option, just what can you say about him calming the team down in those runs, the Clippers? Yeah, he again, um, the only thing he cares about is winning and so he’s finding a great balance of putting us in position to win uh empowering his teammates and doing what he needs to do uh in games for us to give us a shot. So, like you said, 13 in the fourth quarter. Um, you know, at the same time, playing defense, getting steals. He’s just all he cares about is winning and going about it the right way and and that’s that’s a credit to him. Final question, Joe. When Harden finishes with 37, but he I think he had one field goal midway through the third quarter. Yeah. What do you tell Jordan when he looks and goes, “Dan, the D had 37.” Uh, how do you kind of console him, but tell him he did well defensively? I’m never going to console him. Uh, that’s not He doesn’t No, I’m never going to do that. uh he’s earning opportunity. I thought he did a great job. Like I said, it’s one of the best foul draws in the league. I’d prefer not to have a flagrant, but if you guard him for 33 minutes, you’re going to follow him, you know, two or three times. Uh it’s just Jordan’s ability to stay disciplined throughout the entire thing. And and he’s just showing a a true mindset into uh taking that on and having the professionalism and the toughness to do there every night. So, we don’t tell him anything because of all the other stuff he’s done. and he had six defensive rebounds, two offensive and and he’s doing more than just guarding other team’s best player, uh, you know, and I think some critical rebounds that he had. So, you pat him on the back and tell him to get better. Is there a sorry, is there a mentality he has to have guarding elite players because he’s going to sometimes give it up? Yeah, I mean, you got to have thick skin, you know, you got to have thick skin. Uh, you got to have, you know, a level of vulnerability to know that at any point in time it could not go well and you just have to you just have to do it. And I think that’s uh the developing the mental toughness of the young guys is like, you know, you’re a target every single night. You got to have thick skin and and I think he’s developing that. We have one final question from Sports Illustr. It’s kids day here at the Garden. How do you balance pushing players to improve while also keeping the game fun for them? Uh yeah, I I struggle with that. I wish Joe told him off to be honest with you. Um, if we don’t have fun, we’re gonna win. Fun. And, uh, it just, you have to find one as a team. And, you know, I think fun’s a copout sometimes when things aren’t going well. Everybody likes to say, “Well, let’s just have fun.” And it’s like, “Well, you know, what does that mean?” You know, and so, um, you know, I think you have to define what fun looks like uh, as a team, you know, and then you kind of have to go after that. But, you know, that phrase can be a copout sometimes. So, as you get older, kid, don’t use it, you know. It’s like, I just want to have fun. It’s like, what does that mean, you know? So, you know, you just got to define that. It’s a good question. I struggle with that. Thank you. Yep. Love it. Zero. Yeah. Zero fun, sir. Holy crap. That needs to be a t-shirt. Fun is a copout. Do you even know what fun is, kid? You know what fun is? Winning. That’s Joe. Joe Mazula hates kids having fun. I love that speech. I love that speech. God, that was awesome. Thank you, Joe. Thank you. Yeah. What is a copout? Joe Misoula wins that press conference after that one. Don’t don’t have fun, kid. Don’t have fun. I love that. That was just the everything is awesome press conference brought to you by, you know, you know, Joe Mazula. Joe Misula. How a how awesome was this guy? How awesome was that guy? Um, I’m not going to console Jordan. He gave him 30 seconds. I’m not going to console. No, he did bad. I want him to feel shame. You know, pat him on the back say do better. I would never console him. Those last two questions and answers were great. I’m never going to console anybody. How do you define fun? I wish he did like a Bobby like a Bobby uh thing. We got Jaylen up. Let’s hear a little bit from him. Yeah, I lost him. know in those moments. You know, there some benefits, I guess, to playing a bunch of closed games that you um you get some more experience, get battle tested a little bit. So, we was able to finish some plays down the stretch. Uh Jaylen, 13 rebounds for you tonight. Joe said that you’ve been making a concerted effort to be a well-rounded player, not take plays off defensively, that sort of thing. How did you see kind of that manifest in tonight? two steals in the fourth and how much of an effort has that been for you to not be more than just a scoreer for this team? I mean, that’s just who I am. That’s kind of, you know, it comes with being in shape and, you know, throughout the the journey of a season. Every game is different, but you know, I’ve been I played multiple roles in my career. Been a lock down defender, been scorer, been a catch and shoot guy. I’ve come off the bench. So, you know, I feel like, you know, I’m a allaround player. It’s just this year is more of a challenge on, you know, your uh endurance. That’s it. Jaylen, you were talking about momentum at practice the other day. Was there a point in this game where you felt like they got momentum? It felt like in the third quarter there that the game kind of flipped. Was there anything you noticed that led to that happening? Yeah. um they kind of, you know, converted on some of our our our misses and um some of those came for me, you know, um just at the rim, you know, I missed a a few layups. Well, I missed a bunch of layups tonight at the rim and they was able to convert in that third quarter and I think that, you know, kind of got them going, you know, just shots that I I got to make or, you know, go up a little bit stronger. Jaylen, they they um cut it from like 24 to three really fast and you know it’s had a miss and the ball was kind of bouncing out of bounds and it looked like a couple Clippers were kind of just letting it go and you chase it down, jump saved it and end up going out of bounds off them. You guys get another possession, score and kind of ride yourself. Um what is kind of how have you kind taken upon yourself this season uh particularly this season kind of valuing each possession and and making sure guys understand the importance of each one? um and how they’re going to matter down the stretch. Yeah, that’s a uh that’s super important. I think we valued the ball today. You know, we only had what, five, six turnovers, seven turnovers. So, we valued the ball today. I just think that uh defensively we could have been a little bit better and um really just me. I got I mean, they my team counts on me to to play a little bit better and tonight I didn’t really play that well, you know. Um so, I’m looking forward to the the next two games. um kind of bounced back, but you know, great win overall. What did you think of the job Jordan did against James Harden? And then in the fourth, as he’s starting to get to the free throw line and make more threes, are you talking to him or do you just let him kind of figure it out himself? Um we sit next to each other on the plane, so I talk to him all the time. And uh that’s what this team needs is somebody um that can go out and guard the best player every single night. And even when Jordan wasn’t playing, I was telling them that guy could be you. Um and he’s got his opportunity and he um he’s he’s playing well right now so we got to keep that going. Uh Jaylen to your left um season high 33 shots for you tonight. I’m just wondering like what’s the balance there I guess for maybe like taking over the game and being a clip and just kind of trying to put your will on the game a little bit there. Just winning. Got a a bunch of good looks I felt like. Um and just missed a bunch of shots at the rim tonight. A bunch of layups. So, I wonder how many layups I missed tonight. Um, but just not a great game, you know, for me, you know, uh, get some rest and get ready for the next one. Jaylen, Jordan’s always has now guarding the other team’s best player and Harden finished with 37, but Jordan did a good job on him. Even you’ve been in that position where you’re the best player and the guys guard you and he do you kind of like credit the defender? you like, “Hey, I got you, but good job there.” Like, how do you kind of like uh approach a guy when when you’re kind of scoring on him, but he’s playing good D? Because it just seemed like in the second half, Harden was able to get some shots, but Jordan did a a really good job. Yeah, he did a great job. Um, you know, there’s some room for improvement. You know, you don’t want to give a guy free throws and I think we put him on the line a lot in the second half. That kind of gets guys going when they see a bunch of free throws. I think we sent him to the line three straight possessions and then that got him going. Um, but I thought Jordan has been doing an excellent job. I think his his energy level, his physicality has been good. You just got to keep building on it cuz we we need a guy like that that’s going to, you know, guard our best players night night in and night out. Whether it’s Josh, whether it’s Jordan or Hugo, um, that role is is needed on our team. So, I think Jordan is doing great right now. Thank you, John. So, so, so a lot of people make a big deal out of the field goals, Sherrod. I don’t care at all. Like, no, that’s exactly it is like Jaylen Brown is clearly not decided. I’m I’m Tatum’s gone. If we if this happened, it would have happened all year. Like, Jaylen’s gone. Give me the ball. Get out of my way. MVP season incoming. I’m going to get my stats. I’m going to lead the league in scoring, putting up 30 a game. That’s not what he decided to do. I think he took he took shots he felt he could make and that’s usually what he does. And some of them are high degree of difficulty, you know, mid-range shots or, you know, that were considered once upon a time low percentage. And now he’s kind of leaning into more, which I love because I love I love the mid-range and I think we went a little bit too far. I’m not an anti-repoint guy. I’m an anti not take a good shot guy because the math says I should be taking a different shot. A good shot is a good shot is a good shot. And if you think you can make it and you think you can score, it’s a good shot. I don’t care. And that’s what Brown Brown is taking things that he thinks he can score on. So I got no problem with the 33. This would be an easy statline to like make fun of like, oh geez. But like, no, that wasn’t that wasn’t it. He didn’t have a great game because the ball didn’t go in the hole as much as it could have. You know, he gets a few rolls, hits a few of those bunnies, he’s got a 50-point game tonight. So I I had no problem with it. No, no. No, I mean, when you look at his shooting, if you take out the three-point shooting, he was 50% from the field. Uh, and and that includes him missing a significant number of shots around a basket that should have just dropped in. Uh, he knows that. And he understands that as good as his numbers might look in terms of scoring, rebounding, he could have been better. And I think that that’s kind of the the mindset. And to me, that that’s the trickle down effect of having a Joe Missoula. Even when you have a game that on a number of metrics looks really good, the mindset of this particular group is that we can be better. Uh Peyton Pritchard at some point, you know, when he’s talking about his game, he’ll talk about how he can be better. Jaylen has talked about that. That’s what Joe, you know, when he is asked about the way that Jordan Walsh is playing, he’s making it clear that’s the message he has for Jordan, you can be better. And you know, this team, they’re 500, which is which for them, you know, in the eyes of many is good, but there’s room for growth. and that grow and it’s not necessarily this exponential pie in the sky. They got to get significantly better. It’s little things that they can do to be better and and and that’s that I think that for Joe Missoula and I think for this Celtics team is the most gratifying part of where they are now. They’re a 500 team that many didn’t think would be that good. And even though that in the eyes of many is is a good 14 game start, there’s plenty of room for them to get better and we’ll see if they can meet that moment. But so far, you know, this was a a good game and Jaylen had a really strong game, I thought. Yeah. Again, none of that stuff bugs me. It really doesn’t. Like it and it it never has. I think it’s I think it’s uh I think it’s kind of lowhanging fruit there. Yeah. And the one thing, John, about this game that I I for me at least, it was one of the few games where I felt that the athleticism that Jaylen plays with when he’s playing Jaylen basketball was there. I mean, I saw him attacking the rim. It seemed like he that, you know, the things that may have limited him earlier on are no longer issues. I mean, he’s trying to dunk on people, which is when to me when he’s trying to put you in a body bag. That’s when Jaylen Brown is playing Jaylen Brown. He’s trying. It’s still not there. I’m I’m not going to lie. I I’m definitely He’s trying though. I’m definitely I I I didn’t want it this to turn into that this conversation. I am holding my tongue because I’m hopeful it comes back. I’m a little worried it doesn’t. And then what’s Jaylen gonna be without that? He’s still able to use his body and he’s been really smart about protecting the ball. It’s not like he’s like going up against the trees and getting swatted, but like that extra juice he gets off of being able to get up and throw down and how he is in transition and to be super athletic puts him on a different level. Doesn’t mean he can’t be a really good player without it. I would just I want to see it come back and it hasn’t. And I am starting to worry that it’s not the hamstring, it’s the knee that he had the in the surgery. Again, he was sapped of his athleticism late last year because of the knee. It’s I don’t think this is lingering hamstring. I’m waiting to see if that responds from that and you know the procedure he had this off seasonason or if hey this is the new normal for Jaylen and if it is you recalibrate what you know your expectations for at least his athletic ceiling. M I have plenty of people who are telling me right now, you know, we’re having conversations about it that um the slightly I I don’t want to say hobbled, but slightly less explosive Jaylen is a better Jaylen in the sense that he’s forced to slow down a tad. So he’s not like rushing things and he’s not as frenetic and just trying to do it all with speed and athleticism that he’s really working on getting to his spots, you know, almost like, you know, Jimmy Butler style, you know, in terms of how I’m going to get to where I want to go and and use, you know, use whatever he has and still has strength and still has the ability to get a shot up around the rim even if he’s not posterizing people left and right. So, I don’t know. Maybe. Well, I just like the fact that he’s it looks like he’s at least putting forth effort to at least move in that direction. Whereas I thought the first, you know, five, six, seven, eight games of the season, it is it felt it looked as though he wasn’t even trying to be explosive. And whether that was him being overly cautious or whether that was him just kind of recalibrating trust in his body, it seems that right now he’s starting to get closer and closer to at least putting forth that kind of I’m about to put you in a body bag tonight that I just didn’t think he was looking to do or at least put forth the effort to do. And he’s and you’re right, he’s not there yet now. There’s clearly he’s not that guy yet. But I do like the fact that there are signs pointing towards him at least trying to beat that guy. And it may very well be, you know, at some point this season where he just kind of embraces the fact that I’m not going to be that guy that’s going to dunk on on on guys the way I’ve done before. And I think who, you know, whoever you’re talking to is spot on that it forces him to be more of a thinking basketball player than a guy that relies on his athleticism, which means more of those uh finding your spots in the mid-range game, which I to me he’s one of the best at that. And if that’s the case, I’d much rather him spend more time thinking about knocking down those shots. Uh which is which again, it’s a different kind of challenge for a defense than him trying to dunk on folks when reality his body just may not be built to do that anymore. I Yeah, I don’t know. It’s It’s a shame because it wasn’t that long ago. I’m being sent something. Oh, yeah. That’s for later. Uh my guy Bailey communicating as he does. Super producer. Actually, Baileyy’s trying to be a super producer, but he’s close. He’s there. He’s down there with He’s down there with Amit, who’s like, “Here’s how I here’s how I became a super producer if you want to try um doing what I do.” And Bailey’s like, “Yeah, I can do that shit.” Um so, yeah. No, good stuff going on. Um the uh sorry, I wanted to uh pivot over here. We didn’t talk about it. Uh, but I will say one of the more steady consistent consistent things um that we’ve seen from the Celtics pretty much over the course of the season is probably Neus Kada to me. Um, and his and again, Kada’s stat line also suffers from missing a couple of bunnies around the rim. Uh, otherwise he was really close to having a monster game. He’s so freaking impactful right now. And again, we keep talking about his onoff numbers. I’m almost shocked. I can’t remember who posted it. Maybe it was Jack Simone. And I totally agree with it. Like I don’t know that we ever thought that Kada would be this player this fast. You know, I think the hope was I think a lot of us like Kada. I was captain of the Kada over Cornet fan club and I had to eventually concede um because Luke was playing so well, but I always thought Ne’s uh ceiling was considerably higher. I always thought he had like kind of mini Rob potential. I think he has things and aspects of his game that are overlooked like his hands and his uh and his passing. Um and also, you know, you you we see him on the boards and he’s certainly, you know, at least a deterrent in terms of being back there on the back line. Uh but you know, he’s shown little nifty things around the rim, little push shots, little hook shots, you know, being able to finish with both hands. Um but they’re so it’s not just there’s so much they’re not just better with him on the court. I mean, there’s an obviously massive gap between him and the next man up. The value over replacement on this team is astronomical, but like like when he’s out, you know it. Like, and you’re like, you got to find a way to get him back in there. And you see it, you know, Joe’s trying to 33 minutes. You know, Kada, you see him sometimes getting winded at 26 27, you know, like I I think this is where Joe wants him to be. He wants to be able to rely on him for 30 plus minutes a game solid. Um, and you know, when he goes out, it’s like, get your get a blow. Let’s get you back in there. You know, he doesn’t disappear for a long or he didn’t tonight. You know, it was really important to get him in there. He’s been like, he’s been amazing. Yeah. And I I was I was nervous for him and the Celtics when Luca Garza filed out with eight minutes and they’re like, “Hey, Kada, you you’re back in.” And the plan was for him to, you know, be out there for the rest of the game. And the thing I like about about Kada now is that he he’s figuring out how to help this team uh while not only doing the things that you expect him to do, but also showing some signs that he can do a little bit more than that. There was that there was a play in the second half where Jaylen Brown uh kept the possession alive and ultimately the ball wound up in Kada’s hand with the shot clock winding down and Kada wanted to pass it out to a to a teammate in the corner, but that path was taken away. So he made this kind of funky fake pass, took two steps and laid it in. And it was one of those things where a week ago, two weeks ago, a month ago, I think he would have still tried to make that pass would have been a turnover going the other way. He’s doing the little things that I think are making his teammates more comfortable and I think more confident in his ability to be a steady contributor. Uh the rebounding you love the scoring around the basket especially the fact that he’s shown the ability to score in a multitude of ways as you pointed out with the left hand and sometimes the right but in the fourth quarter and I would love to see what the numbers what his field goal percentage numbers are in the fourth quarter because I’d bet money that that is his worst quarter in terms of field goal percentage. uh he for he’s just one of those guys that just hasn’t been able to kind of really put together a full four quarters of steady play particularly on offense, but he’s given you so many things uh besides scoring. Uh whether it’s the fourth quarter or the first quarter, you like what you’re seeing. And the fact that again he’s still got plenty of room to grow, which again for the rest of this team, that’s kind of the mantra. Uh they’re playing pretty good, but there’s lots of room to get better, which is exactly if you’re a 500 team, that’s that’s kind of where you want to be. Hey, you want to be a team that’s doing some good things but with room to grow. Yeah. Um, so I’m going to get to the elephant in the room, Sherrod. I don’t want to lead the show with this, but like I said, is, you know, for for those of you who know me, you know, and and know the way I do shows. I’m not like I I find it really boring to be like, rah, they won. This guy did good. This guy did good. We all saw it. We saw what was good. We saw what was bad. I want to talk about what’s interesting and what’s a story. And I mentioned it a little bit at the top. So, I’m going to ask you your opinion. I’m curious to chat’s opinion. You can and again I think people struggle with this conversation because they make it about the player and not about the process right now. So like I am not here advocating for Anthony Simons to play more. I thought he was abysmal tonight. I thought he was abysmal. I thought he looked lost. I thought he looked disengaged. I thought he’s in his own head. He’s confused. Like he’s doesn’t know where to be on defense. He’s standing around a lot guarding. No, just guarding no one. Can’t quite figure out what he’s supposed to do, you know, there. And I do think team defense is much harder for people than individual defense uh to play. He’s an athlete. He should be able to stay with the guy in front of him, you know, sometimes physicality will come into play. But whether it’s him or whether it’s Hower to a lesser degree or whether it’s um you know, May not also who again may not I think is actually at where he should be. I think starters minutes in 26 27 a game was a little bit past where he should be. I think 11 12 14 50 he should be in Hugo land. Energy guys off the bench who come in in spurts, you know, and you fit into lineups that have other people around them that can shoot and play and this and that, but I don’t know that those guys could play large minutes. And I I I honestly don’t know if Walsh can either, but I think you can share between those guys and always have that type of player on the court and it’s going to help you sometimes, too. I I think what’s going on with Anthony Simons right now is malpractice um by Joe Mazula. It we’re not arguing that Anthony Simons is a complete player, a well-rounded player, or a good two-way player. I don’t think he ever will be. What we’re talking about is you have limited talent on this team in terms of people who can do either, you know, one thing or another or a little bit of both or a little bit of, you know, multiple things. And Anthony Simons has proven in his eight years in the NBA that he is a very good scorer. Okay, so the job of the coach is to figure out a way to maximize your roster and to get the most out of it. And to be getting zero out of Anthony Simons, while people want to blame, I get why Joe isn’t playing him because of blah blah blah. That’s a failure of coaching in my in my estimation, you know, maybe it’s a long con, maybe it’s a long play, maybe this tough love here bears fruit later on and he needs to break him, you know, in order to get him where he needs to go. We saw it with Shyman in the preseason a little bit, you know, and we are seeing it now. I’m not saying Hower’s in the doghouse. I think he likes Hower. He’s just not playing him. Like I I don’t know what’s going on here. And from a management standpoint, if this is a guy you expect or you’re hoping to potentially trade, you know, you’re not doing yourself any favors here. You’re just basically destroying an asset both that’s not helping you on the team. It’s not going to help you, you know, roll it into anything else that you want at the deadline or beyond if you don’t want them to be a longterm part of your team. I just think it’s criminal right now that we’re at this point 14 games in the season and this guy, he looks absolutely mentally broken right now. Simons is a tough one, John, because he’s tough and I don’t love his game. I don’t I really don’t. I value his skill set because it’s the hardest thing in my mind in to to do like to to be able to generate your own offense and to be an elite scorer, an elite shooter. It’s hard, but he’s very incomplete. But I right now like you got to find a way to get what to maximize what he can do for you instead of focusing so hard on what he can’t. But you know what John this is the kind of the musical chairs that we’re seeing with with with this particular team at Joe Missoula. I mean think about it when when my not was in the starting lineup that meant no Jordan Walsh and limited Sam. When Sam was in the lineup limited my not Jordan. Now that Jordan’s playing we’re saying limited those other guys. Pton Pritchard now all of a sudden is knocking down shots. Now, we’re not seeing Anthony Sims. It’s as if Joe has not yet figured out how to just kind of create a nonmusical chairs rotation where you’ve got multiple guys who can play relatively the same position and they can play well on the same night. Uh it’s almost as if there’s a feast or famine. You’re either playing or you’re not playing. And for a guy like Anthony Simons, he’s not built for that. Uh I I do think that he’s one of those guys that he’s got to be out there playing. Uh because I don’t think he’s he’s the kind of guy that can sit for two or three games or see his minutes down to like 8 n 10 minutes and then all of a sudden throw him out there for 20 minutes he’s going to get you 20 points. I don’t think it’s going to work. Yeah. Scorers who need to kind of get into rhythms cannot be playing for five minutes and then sitting for 20. It just doesn’t work. And Judah, I think, nails it. This is exactly where I’m coming at it. And this is exactly exactly right. You know, it’s you’re going to be what I want you to be. You know, as Judah says here, seems the Celtics want Simons to reinvent himself rather than put him in a role he thrived in in Portland. That’s the thing. I say this all the time. I hate this in any sport. I hate it in football. We play a system and you play my system or not. Well, how about you you adapt to the to the players that you have here. Like that’s kind of what you’re supposed to do rather than round peg square holes, you know? Um so that’s what you’re trying to do here. And it’s like until you get to do this, you don’t get to play here. Or or figure it out. And he’s right. This is a problem that may not have a solution. Three guards on this team, two of them unders sized in in in Pritchard and Simons, uh, and not able to hold up defensively. Someone’s going to be the odd man out. And there’s no question you’re going to trust White and Pritchard better defensively. And each of them offensively are his equal or or better. So the that’s what’s keeping him out of there now. But I mean, my goodness gracious, you have a guy who can score 20 points in eight in in four minutes and like you’re just not if you’re going to play him in short stints, at least run some offense through him, you know, get him involved in some way. Like I didn’t notice him. Like I went back at halftime, you know, I went back in the middle of the third quarter. I paused the game and I went back to watch the entire seven minutes he played in the second quarter to try to get a sense of what was it he did that was so bad. And like yeah, he looked he was floating on defense a couple of times. He overhelped at least once in a stupid way. Came all the way across the baseline leaving his guy in the opposite on the weak side corner which I thought was silly. when somebody coming down the baseline to what to stop ball. Very bad judgment uh and timing. Whoever it was was being defended too leaves a shooter open. It also was every every time he came off a shooter uh they made it too. So you could see Joe Joe was there and immediately Joe just goes he does the quick silent turn to the and walk that way. He did it like three or four times with Simon as I watched it each time. Then he had those two turnovers late. He didn’t get a quick hook to his credit. He just was awful. But then he didn’t play the entire third quarter and then came in in the fourth and in the fourth he was freaking invisible. They didn’t do anything for him. They didn’t run anything for him. He’s just I don’t know if I’m kind of open. I’ll jack one and that’s it. Yeah. I I just think that’s bananas, you know? Like you want to you you want to try you want him to succeed, right? You know, like try to get him going a little bit. That’s the only thing that’s the only way it works for you. Like if he’s gonna be Sam Hower on this team, which is to say if the shots don’t fall, he’s useless. So be it, you know, and that’s what Sam is. If the shots don’t fall, he’s useless. But he’s not even I mean on this night, he didn’t he didn’t even take any. He was just he was just nothing. He was completely invisible. So again, I just He’s a guy who’s clearly you he you see him Sherrod talking in in his in trying to figure it out. Like a guy in his eighth year shouldn’t be figuring out what it is he’s supposed to be doing on a basketball court. Like you you are what you are. You’re pretty fully baked at this point. Like he’s really confused right now. Yeah. And and and the whole concept of reinventing yourself is just it’s it’s frankly it’s just not realistic when you’ve been in the league as long as he’s been. Uh there are very few players who have played a certain way for as long as he has who now all of a sudden play different. Uh and so to me it’s one of those things where you need to at some point make a decision if if you are seriously looking at just developing uh the this team. You need to make a decision. You’re either going to play him legitimate minutes or or cut him loose. Uh this whole season, and I’ve said this before, is going to be like Hunger Games. Not everyone is going to make it to the end. And so if you’re the Celtics, uh the more you kind of yo-yo his minutes like this, the more his value becomes very not great. Uh and so that there’s a lot of things that I think Joe really and the Celtics need to give some thought to going forward as it relates to Simons because he’s a guy that without question there are ton of teams that could use a guy to come off the bench and get you 15 or so minutes or excuse me, get you 15 or so points in 15 20 minutes. He’s one of them. If you’re not going to use him that way, what’s the point of keeping him around at this point? Yeah. And and again, I don’t I don’t get it at all. I mean, keeping him around is because right now he has his trade value is zero. Coming here, he was at least a 20 point per game scorer, albeit one with a high price tag. Now he’s a guy who’s who’s a wreck. He’s useless. Like nobody, you know, you don’t want him. Why would anybody else want him? You know, it’s it’s it’s terrible at this point. So, um you know, we’ll see what happens. We’re going to get Bobby Manning on in just a little bit. We want to tell our folks at home about the terrific deal that you can get over at Omaha Stakes, uh, which is a sponsor here of CLNS Media and the Garden Report. But right now, we’re running a campaign on our Patriots channel. And if you haven’t, uh, jumped in there already, you should check it out because it’s a really good deal. You see, you see it on the screen right now. sitewide. Uh there’s a 50% off sale through Black Friday, so it’s going to run out pretty soon. 50% off sale plus 20% off certain items. And when you go to omahastakessakes.com, if you order one of those food packages, you get an extra $35 off when you use the code Patriots. Once again, you see it on the screen, omahastakessakes.com. terms do apply. 50% off sitewide plus an extra 35 when you use the code Patriots. And again, check it out. This is my favorite part of the show. Throwing this up there on the screen. H good stuff. It’s not just stakes. It is good. 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Visit omahastak.com for 50% off sitewide and an extra 20% off select favorites during their early Black Friday sale. And for an extra $35 off, use promo code Patriots at checkout. terms to apply. See the site for details. That’s 50% off at omahastakess.com. Promo code Patriots at checkout. Uh so here we are. We’re gonna bring in this guy and that gal and we’re going to talk a little bit more Celtics tonight, guys. Uh you can lead it off. What did you What did you like from tonight? Yeah, the closing out a close game. I I think even though you got the biggest scare possible at the end, you did get enough stops, hit enough free throws, execute offensively enough to win your third crunchtime win of the year. And as we’ve talked about, John, they came into tonight two wins below where they should be statistically. Now, you would have been talking about three if they blew this one um in what was a 24-point lead at one point, right? So, I I don’t feel like they’ve blown leads to that degree throughout this year. know, I feel like the games that they’ve gotten into and lost late have been close games throughout for the most part. This is one where they dominated. I thought did a good job stopping runs when they needed to and then at the end got the probably lucky stop on the final set play there that they needed. So, you need a little luck, you need a little execution, you need a little um, you know, free throw shooting to get stuff like that done late in these games. To Joe’s credit, he’s talked about it too, right? Like a eight nothing run at the end of the second, huge run at the end of the third also contributed to what was a close game at the end. So, they got to get better at this, right? Because we could be talking about a season now where we go, “Oh man, they’re top eight in offense, they’re top eight in defense,” but they lose at the end every single night. And the tanking fans might love that. But if you want to be a good team, you do have to win these games. Yeah. Yeah, the thing I’ll say I think sometimes with these close games you have, you know, did you blow the game or did the other team go out and make great plays in the end? Like I thought they made enough plays to win this game in that fourth quarter down the stretch. like they they did execute enough um and had Harden made that final shot, it would be like, well, Harden won Sickleham, they kind of pulled that one out. But they I think they did enough to win. And through the first three, you know, three quarters or two and a half quarters, they were doing things defensively that were like, okay, this is one of the NBA’s elite defenses, which is what they’ve ranked to be pretty much throughout the season. Um and then Harden kind of did what he does and that’s what that’s why he’ll be in the Hall of Fame. But I thought overall you saw a lot of good things on the defensive end from him. I continue to be really impressed with Jordan. I thought that Jaylen put probably his best defensive game that I’ve seen in a while. Like he was super active in this one. Um I think just you’re starting to see the vision of like what this defense can look like and I think that will be their identity. And then you’re also seeing what happens when Peyton Pritchard and Derek White can make shots because they they lose this game by 20 if that doesn’t happen in this one. Um and it’s not going to be, you know, eight of 13 for Peyton every night, but the the shooting earlier the season was an aberration. And I don’t know if you guys have played his sound, but he has he made clear like he was overdoing it. he was trying to overcorrect and over speculate how to improve his shot. Now he’s just kind of going back to instinct. Um, and you can kind of see that too, like he was hesitating. He was in his own head. And I think that if him and Derek are shooting normal now, like you’re going to see this offense rise a little bit in the standings as well because they were near the bottom of the league all season so far in points scored and three-point shooting and all these categories that don’t really make a lot of sense based on the personnel. Yeah, I thought that was the silliest thing um that anybody got uh worried about, right, all season long. And I think you Noah, you and I were were actually pretty much in lock step on this. Like I Derek White didn’t worry me and and Payton Pritchard didn’t worry me. I I just I just didn’t I I just Bob because Bobby Bobby’s always Bobby’s the king Bobby’s the king of small sample sizes. Um, so you know whether it’s whether it’s good in a small sample or small sample sizes bo a twoame streak to you Bobby is is is is is a big one. I I was counting the uh guars at a three-point stretch over the last couple games tonight. So yeah, you are the And that actually is probably the biggest difference between us. There’s a lot sample sizes. No, but I need like I need like 80 games to have any sort of opinion. Yeah, we’ve been dogging Bobby. I said with the Celtics, too, I was like, “Stop yo-yo.” I’ve been saying this for for weeks now. Stop yo-yoing every game. Give me 25, 30, 35 games to get a better sense of who they are. Like, again, I guess we’ll do a postgame show after game 35. But I mean what I’m saying what I’m saying is Bobby Bobby I know how the game is played and and I’ll we got to we got to find something to talk about but I don’t want to I’m not hanging my hat on all of these things because I think it’s ridiculous to be like this guy’s great. No wait this guy’s bad. It’s going to take a while to be able to really settle in on any of that. And again we have to be reasonable. They’re seven and seven, which is great, but you’ve got three games against three crap Western Conference teams missing their best player in each of them. I almost feel like in the early preseason where we’re like, “Oh god, we want to see what they’re about.” And they kept playing these nobody rosters. So like, you know, you’ve run into now a depleted Cleveland team, Memphis and and uh New Orleans who are bad to begin with without their best players, the Clippers who are scuffling without their best player. You’re just I want to see a stretch where you can really start to see what’s real and what’s not real because again I don’t know like we can look at offensive rating, net rating, defensive rating and that’s fine. I don’t know that that matters yet one thing only one thing matters to me through 14 games. One can you guys guess? No. How Jaylen looks? Effort. Effort and buy in. Those are the th those things are keeping them alive and and helping them beat bad teams and always have an edge every night because they’re competing their asses off. That’s the one thing that I think you can say. This team’s here. This team’s going to compete all year. And I did say Kada. I think Kada has been a revelation. And I do feel pretty good thinking that this version of Neimus Kada is who we’re going to see or somewhere close to it. Yeah. And I think what I’ll say to that is we came into this year knowing next to nothing. So, as we see them blow out teams, I wouldn’t know if they’d be able to blow out anybody. Yeah. So, the fact that they’ve done it against three different teams now, I like it separates themselves from the worst teams in the league and the teams that are under health. Health health is going to be a part of their outcome this year if they’re healthy and other teams aren’t. So, I do take that into account. Um, I do take their ability to defend given some of the questions we had on that end. Their ability to rebound since the awful start in that area and figure out the offensive stuff, which I wasn’t panicking about the shooting, but it’s like as it goes on and on and on, you start to wonder, all right, is this the pressure those guys are facing? Is uh the load that they’re handling on both sides of the floor now, stepping into a bigger role, like why was everybody on this team struggling shooting the ball and now we are just seeing them work through it and figure it out. So, um, we’re just learning stuff as we go here. None of it’s definitive, but we didn’t know anything going in. So, now that we see some things happen multiple times, the defense, the rebounding get better, the the blowouts happen, that matters. And I I do take the crunch time stuff into account, Noah, because they haven’t been great at that throughout Missoula’s tenure. And I know he thinks it’s a crapshoot. I don’t totally disagree with that. Analytically, they were great at it last year. They were. Yeah. And when you’re in that position with that team, a couple teams they had, you can be in a crunch time game. I mean, it’s a complete it’s you’ve you’ve completely turned out your team. Whatever they were last year doesn’t doesn’t apply, just to be fair to this era. Like this is the first year where they’ve actually been bad at it. And I think with some of those games with that team in the past, it’s a five-point game with five minutes to go and then they just pull away and that’s a crunch time win. like the games that go down to like the last possession, I haven’t loved from them over the last couple years. The last shots, the final plays, I still want to see them get better at those things. And listen, I don’t disagree with Joe that other parts of the game matter just as much, maybe not totally equal, but close to it, but what’s the answer going to be for these games where you’re literally going down to the last play? And tonight, Noah, like I don’t want to get caught up in the result. Like, should you have fouled there? Should you have done something else to stop that play? Like if Harden hits that shot, we’re not sitting here saying this team’s great. Like they’re figuring it out. It’s another crunch time collapse effectively there. So I don’t want to get caught up in the result here necessarily when that lead did dwindle fast down the stretch. Yeah. And again, I think they made enough plays to win that game. I don’t think they I don’t think it was like sometimes you could look at the other team and say the other team just made no winning plays down the stretch. So, the Celtics won this game, but it was more that the other teams didn’t. Like, I honestly thought that Philadelphia 76ers win they had where uh they, you know, they think they won that one by one the first time they were in Philadelphia, they were up 20 something in that game, too. That was an example of like Philadelphia just didn’t make winning plays down the stretch and so the Celtics kind of I don’t want to say they looked into it, but they easily could have lost that close one. Here, the Clippers won, but the Celtics have made enough plays where it was fine. The biggest thing though, John, to your point about like what do we actually know about this team through 14 games? And to to me, the only thing I’m really certain about is that they’re not bad. Like, they’re not going to be a bad team. For them to be a bad team and for fans that want to see them draft AJ or one of these other guys, like they’re going to have to have some major injuries. And I know AJ’s only in play. I agree. I mean, no, look, I put it in my predictions. I had them as an eight seed and I said AJ or or Tank Palooa is only in play with a major injury or two, but they’re going to be able to compete in a week Eastern Conference if especially considering the level of buyin that you’re getting and some nice surprises through 14 games in terms of where you’re getting contributions. I’m not sure how many of them are sustainable, but you know, Joe’s kind of riding a hot hand, so to speak, in terms of that starting lineup position where he’s shuffling guys in and out there, you know, from Hower to Minot now to Jordan Walsh, uh, and getting useful minutes. I think ultimately it’s going to all even out. I actually think Walsh, May, and Hugo are all going to kind of even out over time where one’s not going to clearly be I don’t know if Walsh is a 33 minute per game. How do you feel about the early Walsh stuff? you’re not getting cut, you know, blown away by it. Again, I gotta see it because I felt great about my not too when he was playing 26 27 minutes a game because of the energy, because of the rebounding, and you know, he was able to knock down a couple of threes and and hang in there. I think Walsh is giving you kind of close to the same stuff, but his on ball defense, particularly for perimeter players, has been great. May not probably has the edge offensively, but those two guys plus Ugo, very limited offense, terrific, high energy, frenetic defense. They’re very much in the same kind of they’re all in the same bucket for me. And I don’t know that one needs to emerge over the other. I think that you having those guys is useful, but I think leaning on any one as your go-to option when they really can almost do nothing for you offensively is probably not the answer. So, I think you just kind of play it based on matchups or combos or hot hands or whatever you feel there. And I’m actually okay with any of it. I am definitely concerned with uh the marginalization of the offenseonly players and that began. We’ve talked about Simons and I’ve t I’m gonna bring in Sam Hower who at this point didn’t have a chance to talk about it really with Sherrod, but I do think there’s a I I’m going to be critical here of of Joe’s handling of things like you’ve got guys who can only do certain things. He’s been able to maximize what Walsh does well or what May not does well or what Ugo does well, but he’s completely just buried and possibly destroyed Anthony Simon’s confidence and not maximize what he does. So again, we’re talking about maximizing your roster. Why are you getting only the best out of the guys who play defense and just burying the guys who are only offensive, you know, offensive players right now? Because that’s kind of what’s happening here. And I don’t probably That’s not good for them because you’re gonna possibly need them later. Ultimately, you got to find a way to make it work to utilize what they can do instead of being so obsessed with what they can’t do. And we were having this this conversation with Sherrod. I thought the Howard thing was super surprising tonight. I thought Simons didn’t deserve any of the minutes he played tonight. I thought he was dreadful. But I also think he’s I al he’s completely broken. Yeah. And the Hower thing’s tough as we keep talking about the shooting thing here, Noah, because it could he come out of that slump with more attempts, more looks, more minutes. He’s in a tougher spot because he’s not starting, he’s not finishing, he’s just playing middle minutes with the bench that doesn’t have a ton of playmaking and he’s got to make the most of however many shots he gets in that spot because the priority on this team right now clearly is rebounding, defense, energy, and he’s a good defender. We’ve seen that to this point. uh he’s not a great rebounder and that’s why he ended up out of the starting lineup and outside of that and the shooting that’s pretty much his game. So they are leaning toward Walsh because of his versatility. They are leaning towards Minot because he fills a bunch of different areas on the floor and you do start to wonder what is Hower’s job here if he’s stuck with that bench unit if he’s not playing a ton of minutes. Clearly he can get going. Clearly, he’s one of the best shooters in the league right now. But this is the state of that bench that we talked about last game. If you end up here and you’re not playing with the starters and the playmakers and all the guys who are driving this team, you are pushed to the side a little bit. And once you push Simons to the side, too, that hurts a guy like Hower even more because who’s making plays off this bench? You’re just staggering some of the starters and they’re getting more defensive pressure. The bench minutes were really bad in this game. and that’s where they lost the leads uh pretty routinely here tonight. So, um love the starters right now. Have loved the starters for a lot this year, Noah, but I don’t know how they’re going to get the Simons and Howers and even Garza to some degree who has shown those flashes going without staggering their lineups a little bit more. What do you mean? Like you think there’s not enough talent when those guys are playing that that’s why they’re struggling offensively? Yeah, because and you know, I don’t have the rotations right in front of me here, but you’re bringing Brown, White off the floor for those minutes. The ball’s in Simon’s hands a lot of the time. Obviously, you cut Simons out of the third quarter tonight. Um, so I forget exactly who was on the floor during that stretch. I think Shyman was in his plays. So, you’re just getting deeper into the bench. You’re having less talent and playmakers for guys to be freed up off some of those main contributors. That’s that’s what happens when you have a relatively thin team in terms of offensive creation and that’s where they’re at, right? Like their starters are going to be bloated with that and the bench isn’t going to be able to put up points easily. And that’s why not to make this assignment show again I waited 40 minutes to mention him on the with Sherrod. So again, again, he was bad tonight. So So I get it. But there is a big picture where you want him and you’ve liked the passing Noah. Some of the playmaking offensive ability he has is gonna benefit everybody, not just him. Guys, I got to jump in. Um, you guys are continuing this show without me. I am afraid I have to dip out so you guys can close it out. I do want to tell people before I leave that the entire show is moving, at least if you’re watching it over on Celtics All Access, it’s moving over to our main YouTube channel. Please start making the migration now. when we see those numbers down to just a handful of people, uh, we will eventually pull the plug for good. But start making it over. There’s a couple of benefits to this. Uh, number one, and again, right now there’s about 150 of you over there. Next show, do me a favor. Go over to the main channel. Subscribe there. You still get a ton of content on the All Access channel, but we’re moving the stream. One of the benefits of that is when you’re chatting, you get to chat with everybody. right now. If you’re chatting on YouTube on one of them and not the other, you’re only seeing the stuff that’s on yours. So, come over to the main channel, hang out there. We’re going to be switching the stream hopefully within the course of the next two to three games, but we’re going to be reminding all of you, you know, each game that this is something that’s about to happen. So, please start making your way over. Also want to tell you that if you want to support the gar garden report through super chat donations, that’s great. We appreciate it. It’s not necessary, but it is totally welcome. after you leave, John. You get none of I get none of it if I leave. If you support Les Xanis, drop super chats as soon as I leave. That’s what I would do. Okay, that it’s a referendum on me. Uh but let’s give out a couple shout outs to uh Jakari back at 500. Shout out to the Garden Report crew and Jay Lions. Keeping it simple. Stake with an exclamation point. It’s hard to argue with that. Uh, so thank you guys for uh for uh for uh for uh contributing and and and jumping in there. I’m out of here. Flood these guys with super chats and we will see you uh next time. Bobby, no. Take it from here. Bye, John. What are we gonna talk about? We’ll keep it rolling. We We’ll keep it rolling with the bench there. What do you think of the bench right now? Tonight was a tough bench game. Um I thought that there was a big defensive drop off when Kada subbed out. Can I Can we talk about Kada’s defense for a sec? I know that’s not what you just prompted, but I was so impressed. Go ahead. You sound excited about it. Some of the plays that he had on the perimeter were so impressive. Just the way that he’s able to now guard guys and drop coverage like this. I would not have seen this coming a year ago, like what he’s able to do defensively right now. So, a big part of I think the disparity is when he subs out, the defense takes a a hit for sure. And now you have Garza and Anthony, both guys that have some defensive deficiencies playing alongside each other, which is a challenge, right? That’s where I think a lot of the challenges are coming from is that you now have multiple defenders, uh, that have some, you know, they’re not they’re not terrible. They’re not, you know, they have they have some upside, but it’s definitely a downgrade from where you were before. Uh, Gars, I thought offensively gave you is more than you could ask for. I mean, what did he have? 13 points in 14 minutes, five of six shooting, made both of his threes. Like, you’ll take it. you had three offensive three coming around. It’s It’s starting to look like a little bit of a weapon. Yeah. And so to me that like that you got as much as you could out of him. I’ve just I it’s so hard right now to figure out like what it is that we want to see out of the rotations that I just don’t really have complaints. Like I feel like Joe is maximizing this roster. On one hand I’m like I would have loved to see Ugo play tonight. Like what happened to Ugo guarding opposing teams best players? But then it’s like Jordan’s doing great and I think that to to give him 30 minutes is a really good thing for his development and it’s a really good thing for him to actually get into a rhythm guarding guys. On the other hand, I’m like I would have loved to see Sam play more than six minutes, but it’s also really good that Baylor got 18 minutes. Like what’s the point of burying Baylor who’s in the second year of his career who’s shown good flashes and I thought Baylor did some good things tonight and played with a lot of energy and a lot more confidence than we saw earlier in the year. So, it’s like it’s really easy to nitpick and look at the guys that didn’t get as much run as we would have liked, but at the end of the day, with Jaylen Brown playing 30 39 minutes and Derek White playing 39 minutes, this is what you’re going to see. Like, that’s the that this is how it’s going to look. So, I don’t have qualms with the minute distribution tonight. I think what we want to see is some consistency, you know, something develop and that might not be possible with this roster with this team that because you want someone like Walsh, someone like May not someone obviously Kate has been able to get that at the five in the starting role to carry something through this season, build on it and then bring it over to next year. You don’t want this Walsh stretch as starter right now to just be two weeks where he’s great starts to tail off a little bit and then UO goes in there and we don’t see Walsh in any effective capacity again. You know what I mean? Like the there just isn’t a consistency to the way that they’re one doing the rotations every night and two getting stuff out of certain players and that’s what we knew it was going to be this year, right? But don’t you think that’s lended to the inconsistency of great night, bad loss, great night, inconsistent stretches throughout the flow of games here? Like the bench has been fine statistically. Like I’ve actually been surprised when I look at some of the numbers on that unit. But just watching them, it doesn’t feel like they get as much out of the second unit as they do the starters. Obviously, right? Like there’s just more talent with the starters. But I do wonder if they’re maximizing everybody’s minute distribution and role, right? Like did you feel great about May not tonight in the minutes we saw him? No. May not I’m a little bit confused about what happened to him because the last week he went to the bench. Yeah, but but Bobby, going to the bench is not like you’re going to jail. Like you’re going to the bench you can still play with the same pep in your step. I don’t know if he got a little rattled by the relegation, in which case like there’s obviously always the pro and con of hyping guys up and and giving them opportunities and pulling them when they make mistakes. Like that’s a whole science slash art that I don’t know if it you know maybe maybe Joe’s been too hard on him. Like I’m I’m not sure. But it’s evident right now that Jordan’s playing a lot better than him. Like would you say that that’s fair to say? Absolutely. Yeah. And he earned it. He has I just don’t view it’s like just because you’re coming off the bench doesn’t mean that you can’t play just as hard and just as energetic on the boards and like it’s one thing like here’s what I’ll give Sam Howard being 0 for three when he played for seven minutes he’s not going to get in a good rhythm if he gets three shots and play seven minutes when he’s already in a massive slump like that if we want to get him out of a slump like he’s going to need to get some more extended run just he has to play hard and he has to like make great plays happen it’s not like he played lazy tonight but he doesn’t have that like electric pep in his step that he had two weeks ago. Um, and I don’t know why. Maybe he has a little maybe he has a little bit of an injury. Like maybe he’s just down on himself. But I don’t know. I just I I don’t have answers here. Like I look over at Joe sometimes during the game and I’m like I don’t even know what I want him to do. I don’t know if he knows what he wants to do. Like this is a very confusing lineup and it doesn’t help. You look at the starter minutes tonight. Like everybody played 33 or more minutes because they had three days off. This is the first time all season I think that the starters have gotten this much run. So, it’s like you got to just do them as much as you can with those opportunities. Like Garza fouled out. I don’t I thought defensively he made some mistakes tonight and that’s part of why they were much better with Kate on the floor, but he did everything he could offensively and that was critical, right? Like his 13 points were critical tonight. Um thought I thought Baylor was pretty good honestly in his 18 minutes. I thought he he made plays like not you know he’s not going to jump off the box box score, but he was chasing down loose loose balls. He was active defensively. Um, I don’t know. Well, I’ll go over Simons because in a month I’ll No, in a month I’ll be I’ll have a better sense of like I want to see this guy play and I don’t want to see this guy play. Why did play today? I don’t know. Cuz they wanted a lot of Jordan obviously on hard and that worked out. Like they were able to limit his scoring. The passing hurt them at times, but this stuff’s working right. Like they’re efficient offensively. They’re efficient defensively. They’ve been great by and large through the season. And I know that’s what we’re going to talk about later in the standup is like, is this team great? It’s tough when small stretches of games are tilting you below 500 and obviously now to 500. And this is a confusing conversation, Noah, because for the people who want to tank and who watched AJ last night and are like, get into that lottery, this might be the perfect scenario where you look great, Jaylen’s awesome, Pritchard and White take some steps this year and a young guy or two take strides in their careers and you are in the lottery and you get lucky and you get a top prospect. Like that might be the ideal scenario for a lot of fans this year. If you do want this team to be much better than expected, you do have to figure out some of these stretches of games, the rotations, and obviously crunch time to be able to improve your record because they’ve been better than a seven and seven team, but that’s where they sit right now. That’s their reality, and it’s because of those stretches. Last thing I got on the bench for you because we didn’t get to talk about it, but what happened with Simons tonight from your view? Um, I mean, he was part of that unit to close out the first that was that just wasn’t great. I thought he made a couple of bad defensive plays. And I don’t think that Joe feels, this is not reporting, this is speculation, but I don’t feel that Joe feels like his offense is critical right now. Like, I think that as much as we have been critical of this offense and the numbers are have been great and all of that, like I look at look at their shooting tonight. They were 16 to 39 from three. Derek shot 50% from three. Peyton was eight of 13. You know, they got scoring from, you know, Kada had 14. Like I they just didn’t they didn’t need his like, you know, going for his mic. No. Okay. Because he did come back for the fourth, but after that minus 11 stretch you mentioned there, pretty much boxed out until the beginning of that fourth and didn’t do a ton there either. He didn’t he didn’t get much opportunity. He was pretty similar to Howard. Yeah, the the stint the times where Joe’s turned to him is when this offense has been really in the mud and they’ve just needed something and it’s like this is a guy that at any point can get you baskets like literally at any point he can come in and create his own shot and there were moments like that Magic game the one that they lost he came in the you know fourth quarter had he had been scoreless I think and he had 11 points in the first five minutes like he has that ability I didn’t feel like there was ever a moment tonight where they couldn’t get exactly what they wanted offensively they didn’t, you know, they’ve missed a ton of shots in the paint. They missed a lot. Like I Jaylen had so many good looks that he missed in this game. This was the first night, first game of the season where I’ve been like, Jaylen’s just missing layups. You know, he really has. He’s been so good around the the basket so far. But if I’m Joe, I’m not turning to my bench being like, I need points. We’re struggling to score. So, I kind of get it. I don’t know. Um, it was a matchup thing tonight. And that’s that’s where we’re at with him. He’s a matchup guy. No, exclusively. It really is is that they played Dererick and Peyton heavy minutes. Like they for so long those three games were terrified of Harden tonight. Yeah. Like that was a big part of it I think is you didn’t want this guy in actions. You didn’t want him lined up by Harden again and again and again in those actions. And I won’t knock them for that. And here’s what I’ll say too like I know people are always like why, you know, why didn’t you guys ask about Simons? Why didn’t you guys ask about this? There is no world where Joe answers that question. I’ve asked him about Simons like five times this year after games where he didn’t play a lot or whatever. Like he’s just not answering that question. So, I’m just putting that out there. We disagree on though. I’m always Well, go ahead. We’ll come in next time and ask him, but he’s just not he’s not going to say, you know what, thousand% fair. James Harden is going to uh exploit him defensively, so that’s why I didn’t play him in the third quarter. Like, he would just never answer that question. I can’t have Joe hate me anymore, Noah, than he already does. Well, come in and ask him that question, and he will. But but again, it’s like if there was anything to glean there. I’ve like there was the game that he played eight minutes in last a couple week couple games ago. I asked him about it and he was like, “Yeah, you know, it’s working. He’s working on it.” Like he’s just just not he’s not going to give us that. So we can read between the lines. We can talk to people behind the scenes. We can try to do that. But if for those of you that are wondering why an entire press group does not ask that question, I’m sure that answer is not sufficient to fans, but it’s the truth. He has never answered a single rotation question about why a guy didn’t play. Um no matter no matter how you ask, it’s a valid question. Yeah. I I I don’t I don’t want to I don’t want to make this a Simon’s argument because we’re going to be doing this over and over and over again. I feel like as long as he’s here, but is this where he’s at? Not a matchup guy quite because more often than not, I think he’s going to be getting regular minutes for this team off the bench. But is he closer to oh, it’s a Simon’s night. Oh, it’s not a Simon’s night tonight than he is a core part of this team into the future. And then that obviously raises the long-term question of is there any chance he’s part of this team’s uh plans into the future the way they’ve utilized him so far? I don’t think so. I mean, there’s always a there’s a chance for everything, but I don’t I I It doesn’t feel like it, does it? I mean, he’s on a 28 million expiring contract there in the luxury tax. Like there I I would be surprised if he’s a part of the team’s future, but we didn’t necessarily think so when he got traded here. Um I don’t think he’s been bad. I think he’s been better defensively than he was in Portland. I think that he has shown his shotmaking abilities. He seems like a great locker room presence. He has said all the right things. He seems to be bought into what they’re doing. I haven’t seen a hint of like attitude or resentment from him even after games like he’s cleaned 11 minutes tonight on a 500 team. Last year he was the the guy in Portland. Like you could see frustration and he has he hasn’t sh if you know if he feels it it’s completely obscured which credit to him. So, I just I nothing that I’ve seen through these first couple weeks has shown me, okay, this is a piece for them longer term. Um, but again, it’s November right now, so a lot could change and I don’t want to overreact to anything, but I I think this early on is the biggest topic of this team that we disagree on most to begin this year. So, we’ll continue to debate it. What’s the disagreement? I think they need to fully explore getting as much as you possibly can out of him this year and figuring out if he can be part of this picture into the future because what’s going to happen is you’re either going to be dumping him at the deadline for tax relief maybe with assets or you’re letting him walk at the end of the year and that 28 just goes poof and you have nothing to show for Drew Holiday or Chris Dasporzingis which maybe was part of the point of those extensions and you know getting that extra year out of two and you knew you weren’t going to be able to pay those guys long term, but that’s tough. It’s a lot of money coming off the books that you don’t have anything to show for there if they can’t figure out something with Simons. I said, you know, I I said it over the summer, we look around the league, you can’t find a single team. It’s like, who needs Simons? No, no, no, no, no. And that’s why he’s still here. The Celtics need him. That’s how I feel. I might be wrong. He might be more flawed than I’m giving credit for here, but I just don’t think a couple games where he’s sitting out entire quarters or held to two minutes and a half and doesn’t get to play through struggles the way other guys on this roster do is fair to him or for themselves trying to find value in him because again, you just said it no, it wasn’t a very good Portland team last year, but he was the best player on an NBA team last year and I get that he was he was top scoreer. top score, right? Not necessarily the same things. I’m not looking past the flaws here. I just don’t think the flaws are big enough to warrant him being marginalized completely on on numerous nights through the beginning of it. Like, did you picture it going this way where he was going to be a non-factor in certain games? Kind of. Okay. We have we have two different views on him. That’s fine. Yeah. Listen, and I and again, no nothing against him. He’s incredibly gifted scorer and seems like again he’s doing all the right things, playing hard, but um I have no problem with the way this year has gone so far. I love the investment and the opportunities that guys like Jordan, Josh, Ugo have gotten. I think they need that for the future. They need multiple guys that can guard and that are athletic, that can rebound, that can do those things. And this team was starting to become one of the less athletic teams in the league. And this trio here, and it’s been different guys every night, has really been like the revelation for me. Kate has been the revelation for me. No part of me is like worried about this in particular. We’ll see how it pans out. Maybe he turns things around and starts to as he gets kind of his hands on the defense a little bit more and you know it’s only been a few months only been you know a couple weeks of regular season basketball like it’s possible that in if he’s still here in March he’s playing he’s defending at a much higher level. Like I think we’re seeing progress. Um but I don’t have any qualms with how it’s been so far. So I guess yeah we can agree to disagree on that one. And listen I don’t want to be totally critical like they’ve have found pockets for him to get going. He’s had some monstrous stretches. So, it hasn’t been all bad here in terms of how that you’ve you’ve utilized him. And we’ve heard the quotes from him and the coaching staff and everybody that they’re trying to figure this out. I don’t think they’re just throwing him to the side and marginalizing him completely. But like tonight, that’s what ends up happening. And I thought that was fine. They won the game. It wasn’t a great matchup for him. They got a ton out of Walsh. So, I’m not criticizing what they’re doing here. I’m just assessing it because to me, it’s a little surprising that he’s in this position. We’ll move on and rap with Pritchard because we talked to him in the locker room and he came out of that crossover with Harden. All right. I love how he laughed at himself for it. He was like, I haven’t gotten like that in a long time. Um, what do you say? I touched Earth. Yeah. Yeah, he touched Earth. He was messing with the shoe after. We’ll see how he comes out of that. Looked like he was fine to close this one out, but wow, did he get going here tonight. And this is the Pritchard we imagine. uh for a lot of the start of this year coming into the season. The shooting hasn’t allowed him to be this, but here you go. Eight for 13. You asked him about the uh mental process he’s continuing to go through here, and he’s talked a lot about that over the last week here. Is he past this? Yeah, I think so. You know, listen, it was a 10ame slump. It wasn’t all he he was able to find ways to score amid that. I was impressed by the fact that he was averaging 15 a game while shooting 18% from three. Like that’s that’s pretty impressive for a guy who’s been so reliant on the three ball, but it was inevitable that it was going to come around. I asked Joe that. Joe knew it was inevitable. It was inevitable that Derek was going to come around. Like this is what happens. And it’s inevitable that Sam was going to come around. Like these guys were not they did not start playing basketball two years ago, right? They have a whole lifetime of of shooting behind them that’s solidified that these are guys are great shooters. Um and so to me, yeah, he’s in a great rhythm now. His shot looks very natural. looks like he’s not overthinking. Last, you know, he’s five of 10 last game, eight of 13 tonight. He’s going to have more LOLs. It’s not going to be eight of 13 every night, but overall, he’s going to finish the season near 40% from three the way that he always does. Um, as is Derek and as is Sam. And so, it’s a it’s a season of of, you know, highs and lows, but usually if you’re if you are who you are, like Sam Hazard had a terrible stretch last year. He still finished above 40%. Like, it’s why we look at their career numbers, right? Um, and it’s why when Jaylen Brown started the season 50% from three, like that’s going to come down too, right? that’s just inevitable. So, you’re seeing now when Pritchard shoots the way that he is, like how much of a more lethal scorer he is because at the end of the day, like that has been the bulk of his scoring. He scored 24 of his 30 points from three tonight. Um, but he’s not satisfied. I mean, I’ve been asking him, this is like my fixation question. I’ve been asking him after all of his games if he’s satisfied with his offense and he keeps saying no. And today he was like, “How many assists did I have?” Two. Like, no, I’m not satisfied. You only have one fixation question. Well, I have one. Like last year my question was I would ask Porzingis what percent healthy he was after every game. It just turns into like a [ __ ] between myself and maybe the player but maybe just mostly myself and Porzingis would be like 85 and then he’d be like 73 and like I would be like this is funny. But um but yeah, I think he’ll be this is going to be more similar to what you see from him the rest of the year. He’s not going to score 30 points a game, but the shooting is gonna the shooting is going to be fine. Um and Derek too. I mean Derrick was what four of eight from three. like he looks like he’s finding a rhythm there and that is all the difference for this team. They were near the bottom of the league in three-point shooting. They are not going to finish there. They have too many good shooters. The number one thing that I knew was going to happen this year was that those two guys were going to have big scoring seasons and it just wasn’t the case over the first few weeks and it was just they were just missing good looks. Like they really were, especially Peyton. Peyton had got so many open threes. Like he’s he’s going to be bad about that probably forever how many open threes he missed. Yeah, for sure. And I don’t have too much to add there. Definitely just shots falling for him at this point. We had that debate. What’s wrong there? And for him in particular, I do think it was shots not falling. Some different stuff for White, but the way he’s persevered defensively is out of this world. He’s just exploding the stat sheet with steals and blocks pretty much every single night and impactful plays as well. The assists are up. Uh he’s orchestrating things. He’s getting Kada involved, too, which I like. We’re seeing a little bit more of that. So, lot to like offensively from this one. They figured things out defensively as they went. It was a tough matchup the way Harden and Zubats were rolling coming into this one. It wasn’t a great Clippers team. So, I’m pretty impressed by the way they separated themselves for stretches of this game. Held on when things started to go sideways. Then again, I’m not going to give them too much credit at the end because it almost went into overtime on a otherworldly play by the Clippers. Certainly, credit to them and credit to what Harden did down the stretch. This was old. Three of five in clutch time now. Is that their record? Yes. Okay. Yes. So, coming around, it is a win. You do check the box for that. Um, and they are taking advantage of what’s about to be an easier stretch here. Brooklyn’s coming up on Tuesday and then again on Friday. I looked it up, Noah. They have two double figure scorers, Michael Porter Jr. and Nick Claxton. You really think there’s a greater than 0% chance that the Nets win one of these games? No, you can’t do this to me right now. Yes. Anything can happen in a basketball game. If I was advising somebody to make a prediction, yes, the Celtics are going to be heavily favored. But you cannot say there’s a 0% chance. Why do we keep having this conversation? Because I don’t think the Nets are here to win. I think they’re Okay. So, put a million dollars on the Celtics winning this game if you’re that confident. I don’t know if you’re We can We can talk about what the total It’ll It’ll be between me and you. Maybe you you will bet on the Nets. Yeah. A million dollars. Yeah. Let’s do it. Okay. knows has the Nets for a million dollars. I will take the Celtics. So, clip that out. She’s got the Nets this week. Get wrap wrap the show. We still have to do a stand up. And we are on to Brooklyn Tuesday. We have coverage down there for CNS Media. Of course, show some love to our sponsors prize picks. Use the code CNS over there for $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. As well as Omaha Stakes, use the code Patriots over there. Get $35 off your order. Terms apply. Celtics beat the Clippers tonight. a lot of good sound out of this one. Hey, Bobby, hold up. Can you officiate this person’s wedding? Absolutely. I’ve never done it before, but I’m excited to try. D You can DM You can DM Bobby on Twitter. He’ll He’ll get that arranged. Do you believe in my abilities? Yeah, I I do too. I think I’d be good in that role. All right, Celtics win. We are about to record. Are the Celtics good this year? It sounds simple, but I think it’s a good conversation based on what we’ve watched so far. And then we’re back on Tuesday against the Nets. Anything you got Boston that comes out after every game. So check that out as well. No podcast. Also check out Derek and Dererick and Peyton play both spoke in the locker room. I don’t think we played the sound on the show, but uh I think they’re always always insight. Good stuff. Yeah, mention that. And um of course check out all of Noah’s work over on Celtics.com. Check out clsdmedia.com for all our coverage. And that’s it. Good night everybody. We will talk to you Tuesday night after Celtics Nets. Heat. Heat. [Music]

The Garden Report goes LIVE right after Celtics vs Clippers as CLNS Media’s John Zannis and Sherrod Blakely break down the game. Then CLNS’ Noa Dalzell & Bobby Manning joins from the TD Garden with postgame reaction.

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