LIVE Garden Report: Celtics vs Wizards Postgame Show on CLNS – Jordan Walsh has Career Night in DC
We’re live. Jimmy Tuscano. No hard hat. It doesn’t This isn’t The Wizards don’t deserve hard hat. I thought about it, but it’s the opponent. It’s the opponent. The The performance was hard hat worthy of the opponent. No, it wasn’t. They was walking through this. Please, Jimmy. We ain’t Jimmy. We could have covered the spread on this game. Okay. You know who You know who would have won this game? Celtics media would have won this game. Celtics media. I put up a poll. I put up a poll. Up 40 with six minutes left. Could Celtics media have held the lead? Overwhelmingly, the answer was no. Amit can put that one in the thread. The Garden Report starts right now. Always has to be a shot at some 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 humbled. I actually think you’re the only one who deserved that beating. Speaking of deserve a beating, the Listen, wow. We’re going to get it like obviously it’s a Celtics post. Washington deserves a beating, but I do want to just get it out of the way here. You Washington should be contracted. Um, at this point, relegation. There should be relegation. You We need NBA needs relegation. Okay. Boomers like Nick Jo want to remove the three-point line. I want to start relegating teams. Okay, that’s what we need. Expand and then relegate. That’s what we need to do because this is this is a disgrace. Disgrace. And I will also say if Chris Bush can’t get into a game like this, wow. He might not he might not be getting into any any games at all. He might not be long for this. He might he might be on Washington soon actually. But uh yeah, what have we learned? Okay. What’s what’s the thesis from this game? Well, if Jaylen Brown excels without Jason Tatum, then Derek White excels without Jaylen Brown. It’s that simple, right? Addition by subtraction. It’s almost like all these players are amazing at what they do when they when they get the opportunity to do it. Like, who would have thought NBA? Who Yeah. Who would have thought that they would have made it all the way? I cannot wait for Giannis. I cannot wait for Giannis and Thanos in Boston. This is when you want to know when I start going to media availabilities. when you when you import a couple of Greeks over here and then I’m going to go over and I’m just going to start chatting it up with those guys. Yep. You know, Jiannis, Janice, Danis, you know, we’re just going to go back and forth. Couple of Yannies hanging out. That’s how we do it. That’s how we’re going to do it. Um, but anyway, I mean, look, headlines, Derek White’s still good. Everyone chill. But I don’t know how we can go anywhere else but but Jordan Walsh to start this uh show. Wow. And again, I you know, I tweeted this as well. Not like my tweets really matter that much, but I mean, I said Jordan Walsh is better is twice as good this week as he was last week, which is twice as good as he was the week before that. Like it’s it exponent. You’re seeing exponential inseason growth right now from this guy. Doing things that like he wasn’t doing yesterday. uh finishing with the left, making making good passes while on the move. You know, deep what what a menace he was in the second quarter. An absolute menace. Completely disrupted anything Washington was trying to do. Absolutely. Jimmy, I don’t know where what I don’t know how many shares of Walsh Stonk you have here. You need more. Okay. Buy high. You got to buy high at this point. Yeah. I didn’t have any to be honest for for like at low. I did not have any zero. I not going to pretend. Yeah, I’m not going to pretend that I was like in on Bitcoin like when it was like at pennies. I wish I was. And I I wish maybe I had some some Walsh ston early on here. But this is this is too low. Not 90% of Celtics fans. 99% of Celtics fans. I would have traded him for a bag of pickle flavored chips, which I think are the worst things on the planet. Disgusting. And I would have done it. Yes. Yeah. No, we we were we were qu the whole the whole not the whole but a huge reason why I wasn’t high on the Celtics series because I didn’t think they had anybody after, you know, Tatum. I mean, Jaylen White and Pritchard, you know, I really didn’t think they had much at all. And so, I’m I’m happy to be wrong. Listen, it’s not, believe it or not, it’s not the first time I’ve been wrong. And and I’m happy to be wrong if these guys are NBA caliber players and and they have shown to be. um what Walsh has given them right now is exactly what they need. And it’s going to sound cheesy or corny or whatever, but confidence, you know, goes a goes a long way uh in in in in this league and in really any league and and in any in any in anything in life really. you start to build confidence in what you’re doing and you start to believe that you belong and that you are good at this and you stop questioning yourself and you start to to say, you know what, I belong here. I I know what I’m doing. I’m the one of the best in the world for a reason. I made it this far for a reason. Everything starts to fall into place. And I think for Jordan Walsh, that’s all happening. and he’s really I think focusing on the things that he’s good at which is effort, energy, defensive tenacity and the everything else has kind of fallen into place. So like the offense is not something that you expect but tonight it was there and I think the defense for him leads to offense and just kind of like you know there’s no other sport in the world that like when you start to feel it and you start to get hot like it starts to roll for you. I I actually think like there’s something to be said about like some of the guys on the Patriots, not the cross sports, but you know, Drake May, basketball player, kind of feel like as the game goes on with Drake May, he starts to get get hot. He starts to get warm and he starts to feel the flow a little bit. And you see it out there in the field. And I think that’s obviously the case with guys like Jordan Walsh. You know, they make a big block or they grab a good board or they or whatever. Something happens and they just kind of roll from there. Well, you’re you’re always looking for guys to give you something that sets them apart in a good way from the other guys on the team. And Jimmy, the point that you made about Jordan Walsh’s defense really seems to kind of get his game going. That sets him apart because think about Jaylen, you think about Tatum, you think about most of the guys on his roster. When they get buckets is when they start feeling good, when they start really significantly impacting the game. But with Jordan, I thought one of the biggest plays he made to kind of get him going was when he had that steal at half court that he was able to go coast to coast in for the easy bucket. Those are kind of plays that it seems for Jordan Walsh to really activate him and get him to be a a guy that’s on the floor making a difference. It starts at the defensive end of the floor. And they when you look at this roster again, they don’t really have many guys who have that capacity on the perimeter now than they than obviously last year when they had multiple guys like that. So Jordan, this was a per this was the perfect storm of a game for him to break out and put up big numbers because his defense was really uh good. And you know, you got to put it in context. You’re playing a team that gives up a ton of points. Uh and there’s a reason why because they’re not very good. Uh and to Jordan’s credit, he made the most of what Washington lacked by getting his game going and making an impact. I I’m going to I’m going to go right ahead and tell you uh what Bobby Manning’s eventual take is going to be regarding Jordan Walshes. When Tatum returns, should we consider playing him off the bench? Um, that’s where Bobby’s going with it 100%. Where were you the night that that dropped Tatum? I would consider bringing Tatum off the bench. Think about it, John. No, Bobby. I will not. I will not think about it. Not for one second. We’re not We’re not there yet with with Walshie. I don’t know. I know. We we’ve been trying to get nicknames for the guy here. But, uh, we’re not there yet with with starting him over Tatum, but the fact that, you know, he’s putting up these types of numbers and he’s just playing hard and playing the right way in the spot starts or in the in in in the not even the spot starts, he’s just he’s like the fifth guy in the lineup on on the Knights now. Um, it’s crazy. What’s this? Jay Walsh is at third center. He’s at third center. He’s your third center. Luke’s having a time too on San Antonio. He’s your third center. Oh, I missed that. What do you want for your third center? [Laughter] I love that [ __ ] The qu the question is right. The question always is with that comment, is that a Bobby comment or a Jimmy comment? You know, like He’s your third center. What do you want, John? What do you want from him? What do you want from him? We keep talking about Luke like he’s supposed to be, you know, Jack, but he’s a big Santa. Before Before we keep moving on, just a couple things I want to tell you guys. Of course, you are watching the Garden Report on the CLNS Media Network. We’re proud members of it. We’re founding members of the We’re We all the CLNS Media Network. Yeah. So, uh, let subscribe to this channel. We keep trying to tell you we’re moving the stream. Damn it. But you won’t but you won’t leave. As soon as I freaking press the off button, it’s coming. Get over here over to the main channel. The stream is moving. But I will let you know, subscribe to this channel, subscribe to our Allaxis channel for terrific Celtics content, live content. Turn on your notifications. Uh, and you know, when new videos drop, which is often, you’ll be notified. But on top of that, terrific Patriots content on the PA Patriots press pass channel. Uh Bruins ringside, great Bruins content. Three terrific hockey podcasts over there and a lot of other stuff going on. Little bit of Red Sox. Yeah, we dabble. Our history channel booming with Boomer material. If that’s your thing, if you want to get after it, get after it. You got to mix it up. You gota Boomer’s got to boom. Uh so make sure that you check that out and subscribe to the Garden Report. uh you know and uh and and just CLNS media in general. Please uh make sure that you check it out. Uh also quick shout out to our sponsor over at Prize Pickics. Download that Prize Pix app. Use code CLNS. Get 50 in your lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. It’s the number one daily fantasy sports app in all of North America. Pick more, pick less. It’s that easy. Prize picks. It is good to be right. Uh let’s get back into this game. And Jimmy Yeah. Yeah. What’s getting me laughing? Yeah. Well, I was I was thinking this and I’m glad that walk Francis asked it. What What’s going on over here? My daughter made me wear it. Yeah, I thought that might be it. I thought Well, it looks very nice. So, tell her I did a good job. You know, it’s the kids. You know, it’s the kids. Yeah, the kids. It’s the kids. Yeah, that was what I was laughing at. But anyways, back to the game. I mean, we talked all about Walsh, but this is a game that like Noah must be grinning from ear to ear, right? Because she got a she got like the Walsh game. the Ugo, the Ugo game. I mean, Ugo in the fourth quarter, he was playing like it was a one-point game. There’s no off button on that guy. Um, you got the help from May not so you’re getting a lot of help from the kids and a lot of help from the role players tonight. But, um, no, Dirk, don’t unsub to the other channel. There’s still a ton of Celtics content. Don’t Don’t leave that. It’s not a dead channel. We’re just going to instead of having the live stream two places, the live garden report is only going to be one place. That’s all we’re trying to do. That’s all we’re trying to do for you. Also, to be clear, most of you are watching on the correct channel. So, you really don’t really don’t have to do anything. We’re just trying to consolidate, get you all in the same place cuz the chats that it it’s more robust over on one channel than the other. So, I want you guys over there. You’re usually looking at four times the amount of people on one channel. So, we just want the smaller crowd to join the big crowd and join the big party. when the when the podcast or when the YouTube cast goes to YouTube after there’s two different posts of it and there’s two different comment sections on the YouTube. So that’s also an annoying thing. So that’s why we’re trying to get it all into the people are slowly slowly slowly trickling out their apologies about thinking that they would suck here. Um and again I would I would be one of them. Um, I’m not going to do it yet though because it’s still too early. But well, the the reason I won’t do it is one, I refuse to uh ever admit that I’m wrong. But really, number two is that uh everyone is wrong about why they’re good. And so, I’m sorry you did it on blind faith because you wanted to believe, but nobody thought nobody thought it was Jordan Walsh or Neimus Kada developing from a fourth center to a legit starting center or contributions for Ugo. Everyone thought it’d be the Derek White ascension and Pton Pritchard playing like an all-star, you know, and uh, you know, Anthony Simons being a bucket getter off the bench and not those things haven’t happened. Those things have been among the worst things that have been not really the worst, but like those aren’t the things that propelled them to being good. It’s the pe the people may not the people who nobody expected anything from. It’s an insane amount of contributions they’re getting from guys that we thought were zeros and Walsh is Walsh is among them. Not only not only before the season, when it started, Walsh was nowhere. Walsh and Baylor were at the end of the bench when this season started. Baylor, you can understand because of certain elements or certain things about his game that doesn’t fit what Missoula wants to do. But Walsh very much fits what Missoula wants to do. And he still couldn’t find a way to play his way into even a few minutes early. Then he gets inserted into the starting lineup and everything changes. It’s crazy. Again, I keep coming back to it. It’s crazy the level of confidence he’s playing with. He just seems so much more in control. As we said, all of the things that he did today, he finished, you know, finished with the left hand, you know, like, you know, up and under, patient, not just kind of throwing his body into people. Just really good stuff. Yeah. And it wasn’t just us that that felt these guys were were, you know, basically, you know, one stop away from playing for, you know, middle of nowhere Europe. You look at the fact that so many of these guys that are stepping up, they got those guys pennies on the dollar. People forget that Jordan Wess was a second round pick. So, it’s not like there was a huge investment on the Celtics part in terms of draft capital to get him here. Uh, and he has exceeded all expectations. And the expectations weren’t that great to begin with, but give him credit. He is just whatever switch he had to flip, they found it. And to this day, it still doesn’t make sense why it happened. It wasn’t as if he was making the most of the minutes that he was getting and then you just say, “Well, just give him more minutes.” That’s not how this happened. He just literally went from, you know, the doghouse to the penthouse with no rhyme or reason as to how the hell that happened. And I give him a lot of credit for doing his part to make sure he does not go back to the bench. Uh he’s made it very difficult for them to do that. I mean, they’re he’s I think this was game number 10 that he’s been a starter in the lineup and they’re eight and two with him as a starter. So, you can’t knock what he’s been able to do. And, you know, I give him and I give Joe a lot of credit for just figuring out how to make this work and make it work at a level as John, as you pointed out earlier, he’s getting exponentially better. He’s like that little, you know, those little toys where you put a little bit of water in them and then all of a sudden they just start expanding ridiculously fast. That’s kind of how his game has been. It just doesn’t make sense how he’s been able to get so much better so quickly with no real rhyme or reason as to why other than he’s just opportunity. I think we forget too real quick, John, that you know, Noah brought this up and I was kind of forgot. He came in he came into the league at 19, you know, as a second rounder, probably shouldn’t have, right? Probably needed another year or two. His game’s just developing. I think that’s part of it. I think he’s just getting better in front of our eyes and it’s happening in real time. I think, you know, they go super hard in practice and that’s probably helping him out a lot. And, you know, he’s finally getting an opportunity. You know, preparation and opportunity meet, success can happen, right? So, I think that’s kind of what’s what’s we know all the work he putting up in Maine from Bobby and Noah because they were the only two people that watched it happen. And, uh, you know, they’re they’re start they’re starting to see or we’re starting even Noah was giving up on this early. Even Noah early on with board or was she just like, “All right, her stock was on the market.” She was done. She was out. She doesn’t get to claim this one. She was out on She was out. She was out. She still has She still has Baylor stock. I’ll give her that. She had She had some stock. I I’ll say I haven’t seen this kind of inseason improvement since a young Sherrod Blakeley came over to NBC with no television experience whatsoever and in almost no time was just a vet out there doing solo, standups, what have you. Had it all locked down. So again, amazing amazing uh stuff. Yeah, amazing. How about that? Walsh is the next Sherrod. Unbelievable. Yeah, let’s raise the bar, please. Can we raise the bar for Jordan Wall, please? Thank you very much. Thank you. Yeah, Sherrod’s a goat. Sherrod’s a goat. 100%. Uh we’re gonna hear from Joe Missoula in a little bit. Um down the hell is taking so long in Washington, right? Got it. Washington DC. Shout out to Drew Carter who had a great line about Jordan. W the the Washington Monument and that was some good stuff. There’s something there. It was good. It was good. I liked it better the first time than the 47th time. But yes, all all of those Washington uh references were pretty good. He did he did talk and then when Derek White was going good, Drew also dipped into his bag and called it the White House. Um which was good. Okay. I liked it. I like it. This was this was a Drew game. This was the game. If you if we’re gonna slice up the credit cake tonight, it’s going to be Jordan, Derek, and slice. Exactly. No question. No question about it. The White House. Uh Joe Mazoula uh did uh speak to reporters after the game. And as we said, uh we will be hearing from uh multiple Celtics, but we’ll also get Bobby and Noah on from DC uh who did make the trip down. But here’s a little bit of Joe what he had to say about tonight’s win. Like you talk about see one three go in, the next will go in. Is that does that apply to steals and and defense and stuff like that too, you think? Uh, no. I I never thought about that. I think uh guys just did a good job executing the game plan. It was good attention to detail um by the players. I thought their their physicality and their ball pressure was great and and when you’re when you have that type of ball pressure, you force guys into, you know, poor spacing and then you’re able to kind of make plays. Uh I just thought they get the guys did a great job um you know, executing the details of the game plan and you know, I thought we played with a good level of energy throughout the entire game. you know, everybody that played and then with Mimi, it feels like guys are finding him more and more um in in the pick and roll. What have you seen from him in terms of his ability to sort of like navigate space like that on the court? And then also from the ball handlers like getting used to Yeah, I mean it’s just it’s a relationship. It’s a two-man relationship that you have to constantly build, but everything just depends on how you’re being defended, you know. So, um he’s doing a great job screening, creating two-on ones, and then uh like you said, we’re finding them in the scene. Um you know, but you know, depending upon how teams are guarding us will always dictate uh the reads that we make. But, you know, he’s he’s doing a great job developing as a player and then I think, you know, those two man relationships, uh, they’re building well. Joe, what are you seeing from Derek? Just seems to be kind of slowly getting back to himself. What What are you seeing from him? Yeah, I mean, I think, uh, he has a lot of responsibility. I think, you know, he’s carried us um, you know, for a while as far as leading the team in steals, leading the team in blocks, doing everything defensively. uh he he does a really good job of just you know knowing when to kind of you know take over and when to kind of facilitate and and he can be a steadying force so he can go on a run by himself and you know but he he’s got that uh it factor at times so you know tonight I thought uh in the middle of the second quarter is kind of when he went on his run you know and uh you know I just kind of felt like we put the ball in his hands we’ll make great things and and he started out the half in the third quarter uh doing a lot of that but he’s playing well offensively for us and then in terms of like with Jaylen out it just seemed this is maybe a good opportunity for other guys to kind of show what they can do and just play different roles. I mean, how important is that for to give guys, you know, maybe an added opportunity? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don’t um you know, I think the two things that stood out to me was besides our our overall team effort and physicality. I I thought Jordan uh set the tone for us, you know, defensive on both ends of the floor. Um you know, he had uh he only had two offensive rebounds. I felt like he had more. Uh but I just thought he he set the tone like he he was just he was unscreenable. Um did a great job making plays defensively. I thought offensively he did a great job there. And then I thought uh Anony’s physicality defensively um was was brought to a different level. And so I don’t know that it was much about guys playing different roles as much as it was guys uh you know making sure they do their job and and they get they play their absolute best and and stick to the game plan and play with a level of physicality there. And I thought everybody did that. I thought those two guys stuck out in particular. for Jordan when he’s twice today. You just Bobby off Bobby with the elbow. Called him out. When he’s rolling, when he’s driving, when he’s playing around the basket, can’t get a win. How have you seen him improve in that area? Is is it poise? Is it decision making? Like how is he finding more success inside? Uh I think it’s mostly just uh you know, again, for two being defended by different uh matchups. Uh you have to just really get good at screening techniques and screening reads. And uh you know, I think he’s he’s he’s you know, slowly mastering uh being able to understand um who his matchup is, what type of screen he has to set, uh and what that read is afterwards. And so I think he’s doing a really good job of that. But uh you know, he’s had a lot of reps and some time of of knowing is the five on me, is there a small on me, is there are they switching me, are they maintaining? And you know, he’s doing a real good job in real time uh of understanding what those reads are and what the screening technique that goes with it. How do you get better at that? especially for him where he wasn’t playing a ton the first two years. Like are there certain drills, reps? Yeah, just reps, reps, drills, reads, have an understanding. I think, you know, he takes a lot of pride in that. I mean, I think it’s an underrated thing, but you know, also our player development staff does a great job of putting him in situations to where you got to read day. Does it every day um but it’s something that he’s gotten really good at. Joe, also on Jordan, from where we sit, we don’t see the progress the guys are making behind the scenes, right? for you it kind of feels like this kind of came out of nowhere this past month of play that he’s had but from your standpoint has this been like a progression over the past two years that this was just the natural next step or do you feel like you kind of had this moment where he turned a corner and everything kind of clicked? Um I don’t know if there was one moment but it hasn’t come out of nowhere. I mean, I think you’re always evaluating like you said, I’m uh you know, to to me, you know, obviously the games are the most important and that’s what you guys cover the most, but you know, the workouts, you know, we practice at, you know, if we shoot around at 10:30, the workout that starts at 9:45 is just as important as the game. Um, you know, the 30 minutes before practice are just as important. The the way you um do a shoot around is important in film session. It’s just he’s he’s chipped away at just taking advantage of every possible moment that he he knows he has to get better. and you know, so it hasn’t come at a surprise at all, but he takes uh very seriously if it’s a 15-minute workout, a 30-minute workout, he takes that seriously, and that’s just as important as the game. And and you’re kind of seeing that, you know, with him. Sorry, Joe. Uh nearly 20 minutes of small ball tonight, Josh playing a role in each iteration. What are the kind of responsibilities he’s taken in those lineups and how’s he stepped up in that role? Yeah, he’s in that same category, right, of uh, you know, matchups being switched constantly, understanding, having full awareness. It could change every play, could change every dead ball, you know, who’s on me, what should I, what type of screen should I be sending, what’s the spacing, where should I be, and uh, you know, he’s he’s been diligent in his understanding of what that is, too. And he’s getting more comfortable with that tonight. Played this particular coverage, he had to do a little bit of the dirty work with, you know, screen setting and rebounding, and I thought he did that well. And, uh, he’s just, you know, he’s continuing to grow, you know, in that area. But, um, you know, that that’s, uh, it’s big for us when he’s able to execute that. Thank you, Joe. Thanks. That’s it for Joe. I’m going to translate Noah’s question for Joe. What what Noah was actually asking is, did he just get good all of a sudden like all the casuals believe or has he always been good like I’ve known all along? That’s basically what she asked Joe just there. And I love her. I love her for it. It was a great question because that’s exactly what it was. I saw it. I should definitely get the question off after Bobby boxed her out. Yeah, exactly. I saw it. I’ve seen it. Joe, you probably seen it because you know ball like I know ball. These guys don’t. So, which is it? Can you let the people in the back know what you and I know, Joe? Yeah. Help us help them, Joe. I love that. I love that. She just sunned the whole press room right there. Love it. Even after the Bobby box out, Bobby Bobby took like three L’s in like five seconds in that within that question, which is tough. Our guy needs a win. He needs a win. That guy needs a win. Let’s go. Let’s go. Got to get him a win before Christmas. Got to get Every time he asks a question, I’m like, “Please let this one be good. Let Joe answer Let Joe answer it sincerely.” Breaking in my seat. I’m like, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.” Okay. I hope this lands. I hope this one lands. Please don’t hurt him. Joe, please don’t hurt him. Don’t be nice to Bobby. I need him. It’s a long season. Um the the the attempts at the Walsh nickname are are struggling like Joe Nameoth right now on a few. But yeah, we’re going to we’re going to I got one. I I have the best one. But I would like to not point out that he’s bald because drawing attention to Alipcia, which is an affliction. And it’s I don’t want to make every single nickname something that’s bald related. So like you got You guys spirit. It’s not in the spirit of things. You guys have to dig a little bit deeper there, I think. And that’s where we got to be more creative. There’s a couple people nibbling around the edges here, getting close to stuff, but we’re not there yet. Keep keep plugging, fam. I I I have faith in you guys. We want to let you guys know. Yeah. Before we get there, another quick shout out. Our our sponsor here, our frontline sponsor at the Garden Report and the CLNS Media Network, of course, as you know, is Prize Picks. and it is the number one daily fantasy sports app in all of North America. And by now, you know the deal. So, I’ll just I’ll be quick about it. I’ll let you guys know. But again, it’s prize picks, baby. Don’t miss any of the excitement right now, this season. And again, doesn’t matter what sport you follow or if you follow all of them, which I know a lot of people do, particularly Boston fans. Nobody’s really just a fan of one thing. You guys are fans of everything. And that’s the cool thing about prize picks. You can mix and match sports. Two to six player stat projections. Wherever you want, doesn’t matter. Basketball, football, hockey. Throw it all in there. Pick more, pick less. Two to six players up to 2,000 times your cash. Lots of cool options. You can stack stats on one particular player. You can uh you get injury reboots if somebody goes down. You get a flex play where if you want to cash out a little bit early, if your lineup isn’t perfect, and you can do that. And it’s easy. You see it right here. Download that app code. Get 50 in your lineups when you play five instantly. Once again, go claim that $50 bonus when you play a $ five dollar lineup after you download the app and use code CLNS prize picks. It is good to be right. We are back here with Sherrod Blakeley and Jimmy Tusano. And yeah, let’s talk about the Derek White uh situation here. A lot of people were very afraid and I we do look understand that every single piece of analysis we offer or anything we talk about regarding tonight’s game, we absolutely fully understand. You could just assume at the end of the sentence or at the beginning of it, we’re putting in the disclaimer. Of course, this came against the Wizards. We understand. So, we’re not overreacting and we’re not going to pretend it wasn’t against a glorified GLeague team. We know what h we know who they are and we know what this is. But Derek White is Derek White. You know how I know when Derek White’s got it? When he starts hitting those late in the clock, everybody screwed me and I have to do something with it, you know, or else the shot clock’s going to expire threes or, you know, end of quarter threes or end of H. When he starts dropping those ball game and that’s what it was. He just started knocking them down. his first 30 piece of the season, 30 points, five of 12 from three. If he plays any amount of time in that fourth quarter, he’s getting a triple double. Uh because he had all of that wrapped up by the third quarter. There was just no need. So, I mean, he could have had a four he could have had he could have had a 40point triple double tonight if they left him in there. It just wasn’t necessary and it was fine. But do you feel a little better? I don’t know where you guys were on the panic meter. I never got there. I never even got past uh past no never. I was the great I was the Derek White defender. You guys might have flipped out, but that’s okay. I I just imagine at some point at some point he was going to move a little bit closer toward the Mendoza line where he’s not going to be 40 point Derek W, but he’s not going to be this guy that we’re watching out here who’s getting you like eight nine points or 10 points and just not being impactful shooting like 25 30% from three. he’s going to be somewhere towards the the middle and this I think is another step towards that because again Washington is a horrible team. One of the wor one of the worst teams not only in the NBA this year but maybe one of the worst teams we’ve seen ever. Uh and against teams that bad you should do what Derk White did and and that is when you get opportunities make the plays that you know that you are capable of making. Now, I like the idea of him doing that on the eve of playing a team like the Lakers, who they’re probably going to be short-handed a little bit. Uh, and he’ll have an opportunity to take advantage of that. This was a good more than anyone else, Derek White needed to see Derrick White do this because we know what he can do. But I I think as a player, if you’re not doing the things you’re accustomed to doing, at some point it has to wear on you to like, have I lost it? Am I not that guy anymore? And Derek White reminded us, “Yeah, I’m still that dude.” Uh, I still hit shots when everyone is basically scrambling for the door uh to get get away from the shot clock winding down. I can knock down those shots. Uh, so this was good for him. This was really good for him. Yeah. I mean, I I I definitely was concerned about Derek White. And I’m not I’m not saying that I’m not concerned anymore. I’m glad to see him pick up from the way the season started because he was really shooting, you know, horribly. And he was way off. It wasn’t just mi he wasn’t just missing shots. He was like really really missing shots like they weren’t close. So again, was that just a was that more just him starting the year off slow or was that way teams were defending him or or you know the attention that he was getting, you know, no no longer being sort of like the third option. I still have a little bit of those concerns and and again tonight I mean John at some point you’re the only you’re the only option, right? So, I mean, you’re going to get your you’re going to get your points, you’re going to get your shots off, you’re going to get your stats. I think that a little little bit to do with with tonight’s performance, just, you know, being the fact that Jaylen Brown missed the game. So, I’m glad to see him put those numbers up, but I I think I expect it a little bit more in that type of situation. Go-to guy against one of the worst teams, if not the worst team in the league. Um, so I’m I’m happy that it happened, but I think I would expect that a little bit more, I think, on a larger scale, a more macro scale. trying to not be Bobby here. Um, there’s still some I still have a little bit of concerns about him in this expanded role. Um, because I and listen, I was a guy who came into the year thinking that he he was going to like be a top 20 player in the league. I just, you know, but something changed a little bit, Jimmy, in my opinion because you’re right, that was the concern was everybody elevating one notch up. And we said that, too. Like I that I think both things can be true. like Derek White’s the same player he always was. But the role of clear-cut number two scorer, you know, is, you know, trying to be Jaylen Brown when, you know, when Jaylen Brown is the the alpha isn’t, you know, as as Brown was to Tatum isn’t in his bag. Playing the type of basketball that he plays all around B. He’s the same guy. So, I wasn’t worried about the player, but the role was tough. The reason it changed after the first five, six, seven, eight games is everyone else started playing better. They started figuring out their rotations. They were now getting contributions places they weren’t getting them before. So the onus on him to do that wasn’t as uh wasn’t as big. And so now you’re getting, you know, as we said, you know, you know, Kada offensively has provided you something. Josh Min is knocking down corner threes with regularity. Uh Payton Pritchard started to heat up again. So that was good. Simons when he’s in there, you know, could heat up like crazy. Still haven’t really unlocked that potential, but like from you started to get more offense and you were getting offense through defense after you switched out the starting lineup and you put Walsh in there and all of a sudden buckets came a little bit easier and it wasn’t all on White to try to create off the dribble and do all of the things he was trying to do, which was trying to force the issue a little bit early on. So, I think now he’s kind of rolled back into a a natural state of being and that might be why you’re seeing him kind of ease into it a little bit. Uh that that that’s just, you know, that’s my kind of snapshot take of how, you know, I think he’s kind of turned it around over the last several games here. And yes, I always I always got to thank Irene, my Irene, coming in here and reminding everyone, yeah, hit the like button. We like it. We like it when you like us. We like it. Just like me. It’s all I need. They like me. They really, really like me. And speaking of like me, John, we should say this, and I tweeted this, but anybody check out your Spotify wrapped, right? Cuz that came up. You’re a Spotify fan and you listen, you can also listen to our podcast on Spotify. And if you do, and if we are your top podcast on Spotify, like we are with uh Rebel Without a Cause, Rebel Without a Cause, send us a little proof. Wait, who switched to the merch? I didn’t I Yeah, I wasn’t trying to do that. I was trying to do this. It’s okay. Whatever you’re going to do works. Um here we go. Um here’s an example of somebody who, by the way, thank you very much. If you’re if if we were in your top podcast or your top however many podcasts, thank you. Uh, but if you do, send us proof. Shoot us a screen grab of of of the graphic on Spotify and I will shoot you a code for 40% off the merch store as a sign of thanks. 40%’s the most we’ve ever given. Yes. Damn. And I just thought of this last night, Sher. Otherwise, I would have given you the code, but I just thought of this last night when the Spotify uh wrapped came out and I got a couple texts and tweets from people saying, “Hey, you’re in my you’re in my Spotify rap this year.” Send it to us. Send it to us right now. We’ll we’ll put we’ll make a graphic. Yeah. Also, we’ll give you a shout out on the show. Yeah. Give a shout out. I like that. I don’t know how to get rid of this. It was a good I don’t know how to get rid of this. 40% off on the hard hat. By the way, guys, this is a hard hat season. We’ve talked about it. Fine. Fine. Now you can do that. Okay. We had this Black Friday still going. Yeah, that’s that’s still alive. 30% off for anybody who code Black Friday. But if you’re a really really loyal listener, you get the 40% off. You get a little bit extra, which will probably get you like the equivalent of like free shipping or something like that. Yeah. Which is nice. It’s good to have, which is nice. Check it out. Check out all the good stuff uh over here. Um so yeah, so I’m feeling good. I’m feeling better about things. I’m feeling You know what else, Jimmy? Like I said it last show, just I’m feel like I didn’t want to do the garden report this year. I really didn’t. I was like, I this I don’t want to I want to sit it out. I can confirm. I I wanted to I I really I was thinking about red shirting the entire season. You and Tatum. Me and Tatum. Um I like it. I’m I I’m enjoying it. I’m enjoying uh you know, like I said, and I do want to explain this because people still have this horribly wrong what team tank means. team tank meant we believe that there would be tremendous benefit to them taking a step back this season because it would be a shortcut to returning to a top team in the Eastern Conference by just cutting the line exploiting the fact that you had to eat it this year by shedding salary and with Tatum being out and if you find your way into a top whatever pick how the Spurs got Duncan because then you just bring you see it you’ve seen it before it’s not people are comparing it to like look Look at Philly. Look at this team. No, you’re not saying shed all of your pieces and be crap and then just amass picks and hope that those hit. You’re saying you’ve got a good nucleus in place. It wouldn’t have been the worst thing, but I think we’re past that at this point. Barring a major injury, I think that that conversation’s officially over at this point. Um, it’s not going to happen. I mean, could they end up as an 8 n 10? It’s still, of course, possible. If things go wrong, if people get hurt, it’s a long season. Like, yeah, that’s eight, nine, ten is still extremely possible. That’s probably still a front runner. It’s It’s still in play, right? Exactly. But that’s what that meant. So, people are like, “Pro althletes don’t tank, dude.” Like, that’s not what we didn’t mean. I want Jaylen Brown to go stop trying. But all I’m saying is the tank the the the tank tanker has sailed or sunk at this point. And honestly, one of the reasons that sunk is one of the reasons it’s sunk is because there’s teams like the Wizards in the league. Yeah. I mean, and and they’re not the only ones, right? There’s right there’s there’s like five or six teams that are just really really really bad and there’s Celtics are just are not going to they’re just not going to be remotely close to as bad as those teams are. So, at that point, you know, you’ve got to you’ve got to hit you’ve got to hit the lottery, right? if you end up not uh in the playoffs, which it looks like the Celtics might might be in the playoffs. And great for them if they are, but if they’re not, they’re going to just miss the playoffs because there’s not they’re not going to be anywhere near uh one of these bad teams that are going to end up with a top, you know, three to five pick. They’re just And the other side of the spectrum, Jimmy, is the teams that we expected to be just head and shoulders above the rest are not. I mean, Cleveland, hot mess. Knicks hot mess. Orlando injured, banged up guys as usual. And so Milwaukee is about to be a hot mess. Or they already are, but they’re about to be Trey Young and Atlanta Hawks. Trey, you know, he’s hurt. They’re they’re a hot mess. And so all the teams that you had on paper ahead of the Celtics have a significant issue that they’re dealing with that is frankly has closed the gap uh for them and the Celtics. And so yeah, it’s it at this point no one should be shocked if the Celtics are a playoff team. in large part, not so much because they’re really, really good, but because a lot of the teams that were supposed to be significantly better are not. And so, yeah, the Celtics are in it. And even if they were intentionally trying to tank, they couldn’t uh because of what a lot of those other teams are doing. And by the way, by the way, the Celtics next opponent, the the Lakers, uh coming in, and there was a bit of drama, uh you know, with this game for people following online. LeBron James was sitting at six points in the fourth quarter and his ridiculous uh double-digit streak was in jeopardy. Uh and uh he was he was either at eight or nine points, I’m not sure, right at the end of the game driving the lane in a close game and he instead of shooting to keep it alive kicked it to Ruie for a buzzer beating three to win the game. So LeBron haters might have to eat that one. They might celebrate that the streak died, but it Wow. He he killed it for a noble cause which was winning and they did and they beat the Raptors who’d been playing good ball. They’re coming here tomorrow. It’s such a LeBron thing to do though. Like yeah, you will revel in the fact that the streak is over but damn it he made it happen. Not you, not the other team. LeBron did. Yeah. Such a control freak. That is a LeBron way to He did. It was a tie game. Yeah. He could have he and now guess what the worst case the worst thing is now that now he’s due for a double digit point game. Now he’s absolutely due. So here you go. Yeah. No, LeBron. LeBron LeBron is electric still. I mean, that’s gonna be a fun that’s gonna be a fun one tomorrow. It always is, but yeah, he’s you’re seeing it now. This is the first year where he’s actually looked close to his age. Um, but again, it’s early and he’s coming off an injury, so I’m not writing them off. He’s barely. wouldn’t be it wouldn’t be surprising if he finishes out over the last 40 closer to his career averages uh of like 258 and 8. So I’m I’m not ruling him out yet because the guy’s super human, but yeah, they’re coming in tomorrow. We’re hoping Luca is going to be there uh as well. We’re not entirely sure. Uh and this was the poll that I had put up there. Celtics up 40 uh with six minutes to play. Could team Celtics media hang on to this lead? Uh yes, 19%, no, 35. They’d lose by 20 45%. That’s the correct answer. That That is the correct. They would get Dude, are you kidding me? You know how fast 40 points would would disappear? That’s not even a It would be in seconds. Literally in seconds it would disappear cuz the minute they inbound a ball, layup. Inbound ball layup. Steal layup. Turnover. Exactly. They could have played all of them at once. like all 15 of them plus Bob Shron, you know, and and and I and I still don’t know leave Bob out of this. Bob’s got more talent than half the rest of the media probably. I think it would have been good. Yeah, it would have been a 40 run in like literally two two minutes, I would say. Yeah, really fast. Yeah, really really fast. Anyway, that would have been it would have been fun to see. Wouldn’t it have been great if all of a sudden Bobby and Noah just came out of the stands and Jack Jack. All right, guys. Hold it down. You know what? If Carales is in the lineup, maybe maybe they maybe they’ve got a slight chance. What would be great interesting is how long could Joe have left them in until the lead whittleled down to close to nothing where he’d have to bring the starters back and walk shame them right back to their press seats. Two, three minutes, three and a half. That would have been amazing. Just to make a point. That’s what he would have done. Just to make a point. Yeah, it’s going to be good, man. It’s going to be good. Uh it’s going to be good. Uh we got, like I said, those guys coming out of the locker room in a little bit and they will join us uh here tonight. Uh other things you guys like to see. And again, uh the offense early in this game was was was there was a lot of Neus in this one. Um I thought he was going to go for a freaking 40. I thought he was going to go for 30 tonight. Um, you know, I I don’t know what it is with the Celtics and their centers. When they’re cooking, they just sometimes forget they exist. Um, they cook early and all of a sudden it just goes away. He was solid again tonight. Again, plus 29 in 21 minutes. His impact is undeniable. Washington really had no beef uh down below, you know, or really an interior presence. Um, so it’s not super surprising. Again, the caveat, yes, we know it was the Wizards. Dude just keeps he just continues to impress. I I’m really curious coming off of like, you know, Luke got himself back into the spotlight. He’d been hurt. He came back. He had that awesome block last night to save the game for San Antonio. I’d be really curious what would be going on between a Luke and Neish battle this year uh in uh if if they if they both remained. I assume Luke would have started and he’d be holding it down and they’d be doing well. But Celtics could have survived with those two bigs like period, right? Like that’s crazy to think, isn’t it? Yeah, it is. It is. But I in fact, not only that, you might make the case going forward if they if you looked at their four bigs from last year, Luke, Neas, Al, and and uh and and and Porzingis, that the two they should have kept were Neimus and Luke. Based on what we’ve seen this year, Crazy to think, right? Crazy, right? Yeah. Yeah. Because I mean Al can’t make a shot it seems in Golden State. That is interesting. KP can’t stay on the floor healthy enough to play which Yeah. What’s Al been up to? Not much. Not much. Shooting like 30 30 32% on threes. And basically that’s all they’re looking for and he’s not he’s not shooting anywhere close to what he’s accustomed to shooting from three-point ranger in general. So it hasn’t worked out well so far for him and the Warriors. Uh and and KP hurt again. Shocker. illness. Shocker. Not right. Um Al’s Al’s I mean again Al’s he’s only you know he’s only played in you know 12 of their 20 something games. Uh also and he’s been playing about 21 minutes a night five points. So again he’s yeah he’s just kind of he’s not being utili he’s not being utilized as he was here. I thought he’d be a real X factor on that team. And again you never know if it’s father time or just simply that nobody outside of Boston knows how to use Al Horford correctly. That might be the case. Yeah. Yeah. It’s crazy. Every time Every time he leaves, he’s like, “Ah, [ __ ] It was so much better over there. Ah, d what did I go for? Why did I do this again? I fell for it again. God damn it. He’s he has so many of those damn Charlie Brown Lucy moments. Like, Al, yeah. What are you doing? You think you think Al’s not going to end up here for for for his final go?” He absolutely finished. Absolutely. Not not in a ceremonial way. He actually plays another season for the Celtics before his career is over. That’s going to happen. Yeah, I can see back in Boston next year. I can see him back in Boston. You don’t think this is his last season? He’ll find a way. He’ll find a way to get back here. He might just sit out until the playoffs. Yeah, just come back to the playoffs. He’s good. Uh earlier we Sorry. Go ahead, Jimmy. No, this is this w it’s too too early to ask the question I was going to ask. So, okay. I I want to circle back. We were talking about I thought you know we all we all agreed everyone but Noah who has no more Walsh stock uh that Walsh was the story of the game tonight. Yeah. And uh and uh you know he uh those guys caught up with him in the locker room after the game. We’re going to listen uh listen in on Jordan Walsh. [Music] Jordan knowing JB was going to be out tonight. What was your mindset? I didn’t know he was out till I didn’t see him before the game honestly. Um, yeah. I didn’t Yeah, it was crazy. I actually didn’t notice until I I kind of looked at the shooting times when I got here and was like, why am I shooting so late? And I was like, I didn’t see I saw JB’s name wasn’t on there, I guess. But I didn’t really think about it. Do you think about it before the game? Did you try and do any more or was it just a matter of being a star in your role again? you know, starting to roll again, you know, trying not to force it, trying not to chase it, trying to get thirsty, you know, just staying solid, staying the course, doing the things that, you know, I’ve had success doing so far. Joe has taught him well. I haven’t seen I haven’t seen Jaylen. I haven’t talked to Jaylen going inside. Who is Jaylen? You know, in the art. Um, I mean, I think confidence is a big part of it and getting reps. Um you you do so much with coaches in practice and so much in you know workouts but like it’s different when you’re in the game going full speed downhill against a guy. Um then it’s like all right how you going to actually perform in the scenario? I think being able to be in that scenario over and over again now I think is what made the biggest leap. What allowed you to become more confident as an offensive player? Like if you were looking at like those opportunities early in your career compared to now like what is the biggest difference you would say that’s allowed you to be effective? Um I would say it’s pretty much similar to the same answer. Um but then that I mean Joe has him well I have a shot is more from the coaches building that in me more than me seeing it opening the game. You know it’s them telling me you got to shoot it every time you’re open like cuz you got to make it respected then it opens everything else up in the game. So that is definitely more of a coaching like advice for sure. For a lot of players, it seems like they get they kind of feed off of made baskets, but so far this season, you’ve been feeding off of defensive plays, it looks like. Do the made baskets just kind of feel like a bonus or how does how does like for you as a player? Like what’s really energizing to you? And when you look up and you have 20 points now, is it just kind of cherry on top? Um, honestly, I’d be forgetting what happened to offense. Like when I score, I lowkey forget what happened. Like I’m so focused back on defense. Yes. So then I it leaves my mind but then whenever I get like a steal or like a rebound like that stays with me. I don’t know why but that’s weird for me but that’s how it happens. I just kind of forget and then move on to defense and then defense always sticks with me for some reason. Has it always been like that or is that just something you’ve developed as a Celtic? Like is when you were younger was it also like that? Yeah. And I don’t know why it’s it’s weird. I feel like everybody’s always excited when they dungle somebody hit a three. Obviously, if you dunk on somebody, it’s different, but like if I just hit a shot, like I’m immediately like I never celebrate. Like I always immediately just run back to like my defense or like pick up. Do you know that you had a careerhigh tonight scoring? No, I did. I do know now. Yeah, I know now. But like in the game, I didn’t feel like I was like scoring that much, which was weird, but I looked up and saw it. I was like, “Oh my goodness.” Was that like an opportunity thing? Follow up. Bobby, did you know you had a career high though? 22 tonight. Is it just a matter of opportunity, you think? um mixed with a lot of the teammates like scoring coaches putting me in positions, you know, it’s um with JB being out, it opens up a lot for for not just me, but everybody to come in and you know, get a little bigger piece of the pie. Um and for me, it was I just happened to take feel those minutes a lot just cuz I was on the court. Did you say pie? Um but it’s definitely more my coaches and the players making me available looking for me in those moments to try to give me the He said, you mentioned the defense sticks with you. Do you feel like there’s like defensive momentum in that way? Like the the same way that they’re getting, you know, hyped up after a three, like you get a stop or you get a steal, like does that influence your confidence? Like do you think that’s how it sticks with you? Like do you think that it’s momentum in that way or is it just like you remember it? Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s momentum cuz if I press up on press up on you and get a steal then now the next three possessions I’m going to do the same thing and I’m going to try and get another steal and if I get another one another three more possessions and I’m going to do it. I’m just gonna keep doing it until it’s like stops working and like I’m gonna eat off of it. The team feels the energy off of it. They’re put in a mood where it’s like, “Oh my goodness, like who’s gonna bring up the ball?” Like we got to switch it up. So, it’s just kind of like more like disrupting them, their their pace, their rhythm that makes a difference. This new style of defense has done a lot for you guys this season like the the help and rotate and go for turnovers. For sure. Yeah, we usually I feel like we’ve in the past two years at least since I’ve been here, we’ve kind of been a sit in our shift kind of like let him play oneonone. We’re not really helping too much. And now this year, um it’s all about helping the other guy out. Like we’ll live with a kick out three. If you can get a good contest, we can live with it, but we’re not allowing everything in the paint or anything in the paint for the most part. Lakers, can I do one more Lakers tomorrow? How cool is it for you to be able to be a part of that rivalry and then looking forward to the match up coming off the second half? This is every huge that rivalry as long as time, you know, so to be able to go in there and then play against those guys in the bright lights, that’s a huge moment. Um I know before we played them on Christmas Day and that was huge, too. Um but every every time we get a chance to play Lakers, we always want to dominate. Thanks, Jordan. Nice. And there we go. Jordan Walsh with a careerh high. Didn’t even know he had 22 points. Didn’t know Jaylen was playing. Didn’t doesn’t know anything. Don’t ask me any questions. Damn it. I don’t know anything. It’s just like two. That’s so That’s so Gen Z. Whatever. I don’t even care. You guys care about points. I don’t care about points. I don’t even I don’t even think about it when I when I score. Like, what are we even doing out here? Look how cool he’s got so cool so fast. I love you’re here watching me. What is like guys, we’re really going to talk about me scoring when there’s people are starving? I loved it. And like I said, we’re gonna be we’re gonna be joined uh in a moment by both Noah and Bobby. Uh once they’re good uh setting up over in uh DC. Uh when I get a thumbs up, I think I’ll bring those guys on. Bobb’s close. Bobby is close. He’s close. Bobby, how close are you? Hopefully not close. One second close. Hopefully he takes off that jacket and tie before he comes. No, he’s good. He’s good. My dad Washington physical today. A with with a new PCP and and he d and he wore he wore a jacket and tie for it. He’s old school. Bizarre. He did. I love that. He’s like, I’m he was like want to present. He’s like, I can’t meet a new doctor in my You going to like take it all off? I I went to the door to help him like zoom it up for him, you know, and get him on his patient gateway and this and that and he’s just sitting there with a freaking jacket and and a shirt and ties like, “Hey, like am I on he wanted to look good for the doc? We’re bringing in Bobby and No, before we do, we’re going to hear quickly from Joe Mazula again. Everybody did that. I thought those two guys stuck out in particular for Jordan when he’s just keep box out when he’s roll. Bobby, what are we doing? Bobby, you need to win so badly, man. And you know what we’re going to do? I’m so glad we started here because we’re going to do a playbyplay of what was happening behind the scenes. Bobby, take it away. Please do. So, you got to take a first. Just got the water out. I was on the right side of the room. I was on the right side of the room. Mike started over there. Goes to the left. Probably Gary or whoever. Then you would think it would go back to the right. Right. Right. Left. Right. I I don’t know. I don’t play I don’t play these mic games. But yeah. Can you Can you be I fired away. Let these I fired away. Noah wasn’t paying attention to who had the mic on the other side. So, she cut me off in traffic. Oh, she cut you off. And I just, you know how it goes when you’re driving, right? You just got to keep going. You know, you don’t do the little break break. You just, you just go. So, avoid the collision. And so, I avoided the collision. Bye, Bobby. And uh I’m out of here. There you are. Okay. So, hold on. What What is happening? Okay. So, from my standpoint, to avoid the collision, you just This is perfect. He’s gone. But I can explain my part of the story. Okay. Yeah. Now, now tell us what really happened. I’ll keep them out. I’ll keep them out. So, from my standpoint, I’ll take full ownership. I wasn’t really keeping track of what which side of the mic which side of the room had the mic and would gone first. I just went. Bobby, however, as soon as the press conference ends, he told me I knew you were going to go first. So, I tried to beat you to the spot. So, he knew I was going first. So, I was like, I had no idea he even had the mic in his hand. Meanwhile, he created the situation because he told me definitively that he knew that I was going to be asking the next question and he wanted to beat to it. So, we can act like I should have known. We could act like it was the left, right, left, right. But the reality is is that one of us knew that the other was going and it was on. Oh my god. Bobby, defend yourself. I felt bad for him when the press conference ended. I felt bad for him. I felt bad at what had happened. And then once he explained to me, he was like, I knew you were going to do that. So, I had to jump in. Then I was like, I don’t I anticipated it. So, why did you go then? So, why did you go? That’s what I don’t understand. You jumped the route. He did. Play the judge duty music. Whose turn was it? We got to It doesn’t matter. The point is it doesn’t matter whose turn it was. I had the mic in your hand. Well, if you knew that I had the mic in my hand and I was going to go, why wouldn’t you just want me to get to go? All right. This isn’t fun anymore. You guys seem actually move on. trying to push through and prevent the collision, but obviously we crashed into each other and now we have a situation. This is the situation here. But I will say this, you guys missed pregame probably. Me and me and Gary crashed into each other. Me and Gary crashed. I want you and Noah on opposite sides of the room for the rest of the problem. Yeah, we were both sides and and the turns got screwed up. Now, pregame, me and Gary crashed into each other. That was all my fault. Um, Jesus, Bobby. And this you’re all over the place. That’s one. There’s one common thing in these two crashes, Bobby. There’s only one thing that they have. Well, that’s why Joe said that. There’s one driver here that keeps crashing. Yeah, that’s why Joe said it’s the second time. Yes. Wow. Noah, we can’t hear you. No. At least I got At least I got a good answer. Did Bobby take your mic again? Yeah. He’s boxed their mic out, too. He went in there. He just pulled the plug on our computer. They’re unbelievable. He’s just driving just the mic plug out. Yeah. To close, I’ll take I’ll take ownership for not paying attention to who had the mic. That being said, I think Bobby should take ownership for deliberately creating that situation. Okay. All right. Bobby, take ownership. Blame pie. We’re going to blame pie this whole situation at the end of the show. I promise. uh when when the question finally so Noah because I’m going to own up to it because I I I I I I called something out here. When Noah did get her question in, uh here’s what she asked uh Joe Misoula about Jordan Walsh. Jordan, from where we sit, we don’t see the progress the guys are making behind the scenes. Right. For it kind of feels like this kind of came out of nowhere this past month of play that he’s had. But from your standpoint, has this been like a progression over the past two years that this was just the natural next step or do you feel like he kind of had this moment where he turned a corner and everything kind of clicked? Um, I don’t know if there was one moment, but it hasn’t come out of nowhere. I mean, I think you’re always evaluating like you said. I’m uh you know, to to me, you know, obviously the games are the most important and that’s what you guys cover the most, but you know, the workouts, you know, if we practice at, you know, if we shoot around at 10:30, the workout that starts at 9:45 is just as important as the Okay, so Noah, translation here on this question. All of you newbies out there think Jordan Walsh just got good overnight. But Joe, you and I you and I know he’s been he’s been good all along. Right. Right. Tell me I’m right. And then Joe told you you were right. Yes. Some No. Oh, is this what this told me to be prepared? No. He and I You and I have seen this. No one else has. Right. And yes, of course, of course he took your side while Imagine if I said that while slapping Bobby around. Yes. Exactly. See, people like Bobby don’t understand that. Yeah. People like Exactly. So, you take another swipe at Bobby and all of us who just Whoa, Jordan Walsh is actually good. Yeah. Okay. But that’s that’s all right. Maybe not. Maybe it wasn’t. You You tell me. I It actually wasn’t. To be honest with you, I was a huge fan of Jordan Walsh. person. I enjoyed covering him. I thought that he could become a good a good NBA player eventually. I did not see this coming. I never claimed to. I did not see this turn coming a month ago. I wasn’t sitting there saying, “Play Jordan Walsh. He’s going to become a great 2-way beast.” Like, so I I was including myself in that category to be honest, which is also why this happened. Oh, all the work he putting up in Maine from Bobby and Noah because they were the only two people that watched it happen. And uh you know, they’re they’re start they’re starting to see or we’re starting even Noah was giving up on this early. Even Noah early on her stock or was she just like all right her stock was on the mark. She was done. She was out. She doesn’t get to claim this one. She was out stock was she still has she still has Baylor stock. I’ll give her that. She had she had some stock. I I’ll say I haven’t seen this kind of inseason improvement since a young That’s it. That’s it. Her true Noah. You sold all your stock. No, I was not out on Walsh. But there’s there’s some nuance, right? Like I think that I still saw the upside, but I didn’t see I did not see this kind of leap, you know. So, we should do like a we should do like a a monthly stock report where everybody can say how much stock they have in these guys. That’s a good idea. Great idea. You don’t remember the years of Rob Ston. You should have been there for that. Ultimate The ultimate pump and dump. I would say Rob stock. The ultimate John was afraid to sell. He bought low, pumped it all, and then he just dumped it all. I don’t know, Jimmy. Were you scared to dump it? I was. I was, but I I saw it. Like I said, my attachment at the end was emotional. I I liken Rob a little bit to Pedro Martinez uh when when he was a free agent only in the sense that I love Can you take that back immediately? Well, you if you listen, you’ll you’ll get it. But Pedro, I Pedro I loved like no other athlete and I loved Rob Williams. Like and I wanted it to work. But when it was time for Pedro to resign and he ended up taking the money and going to the Mets, I was devastated. But also I knew like he he’s done like I think it’s over. But I still didn’t want to let him go. Like I could it was really hard to let Rob go. It’s but he was done. He was done. And poor guy. Yeah. I don’t think anyone remembered. Why did we mention Rob tonight? You know what I mean? is like that you like you you never want to let go of some stalker. It’s like you Yeah, that was it. That was it. Why did we mention Does anybody have a stalker? Before. Does anyone have what? Stop. No, Bobby. I’m deferring to Bobby tonight. Okay, Bobby, why don’t you just Why don’t you just talk? Bobb’s asking a question about Rob. I love that shade that that she just threw your way. I like that’s not shade. I I do feel bad about how it played out. That’s why. He still hates the comparison, Jimmy. He’s on your team. Bobby, go. Go ahead, Bobby. I said what I said. How did we talk about Rob tonight before Luke Cornet? We talked about We talked about Luke. We missed it. You want You want to know our Luke question right now? Not only that, Bobby, I’ll take you deep into the Luke conversation. We talked about We talked about Luke. We talked about his block. And we said if they had kept Luke and Neimus right now, cuz Kada has been playing so well, who would be starting? Would it definitely be Luke or could Neas have made a play? And we also said this, if you had your choice of the four big men that were on this team last year between Horford, Cornet, Neus, and Luke, I might say that the two they should have kept based on what we’re seeing right now are Neimus and Cornet, which is crazy, right? Am I Am I crazy? It’s not crazy anymore. It’s It’s accurate. It’s Bobby, you got to do the pronunciation, though, because apparently we’ve all been saying Nimi’s full name wrong. And the other day, it’s Neimish, isn’t it? Can you do it, Bobby? Namesh. Namesh. Namesh. Namesh. Yeah. Namesh. He asked He asked Mike Brown about him the other day, and Mike Brown was like, “Oh my god, I’ve been saying his name wrong this whole time.” Like, cuz he coached him on. He was very confused when I asked. I’ve had a lot of press conference incidents lately. I think we were told this early in the year, but we just kind of settled into what was easy. But I think that that I think that was in there. Yeah. I don’t feel great about saying Nimi cuz like it’s not my buddy, but I think everyone just defaulted to that. And his name is Ne. I hate too. Crop that. Also, the the Portuguese fans in the chat are going to say, “I got it wrong.” One one hour and four minutes and 40 seconds. I hate Nimi. I killed I killed Earl Milton. So it’s Neish. Um uh you should just say Nimi, Jimmy. Easiest. It’s easier that way. I’m gonna call him How about this? I’m gonna call him Kada. Yeah. What’s wrong with that? That’s his last name. Don’t we used to call these guys by their last names? Now you guys you guys act like you know you’re going out going out to the bar with them after. That was perfect. John, that would have been better than I did it. I think so. I think I’d heard it and I thought we just kind of defaulted back to what was easy. But I remember that extra little kind of niish that in there. Yeah. The first time I ever met him. You take it for a ride. No, the first time I ever met him as the whole way. Nish. Yeah. Yeah. No, the first We have the video. We have the video somewhere. Um I asked him the first time I met him how you pronounce it. So yeah, I hope I’m getting it right. Have we talked about anything basketball related since you guys came out? Wizards. Has viewership plummeted since we joined? No. It’s This is what the people want after Celtics Wizards. Yeah. Yeah. What are you going to do? Break. break down the game. Come on. We don’t Do you want to hear about No, but let’s talk about the Jordanance because you guys were you were beating each other back trying to get in there asking asking questions about him. That’s the funny part. You were obviously really you’re obviously really interested. Okay, I’ll give one more I’ll give one more credit to Bobby since I did come on kind of strong at the beginning. He did want to discuss what we were each individually asking ahead of the press conference and I shot it down. So that’s on me because then we would have had different things. So fair. I think I win this one two to one now. But what do you guys credit it to? And again again you know it’s you know I I I we talked about it earlier in the show and I and I I I I tweeted it out kind of you know semi- jokingly but like not really and it was like you know Jordan Walsh is twice as good as he was a week ago which is twice as good as he was a week before that. like the exponential growth that he’s experienced since I mean again think about the beginning of the season it was sad Baylor and sad Jordan Jordan Walsh your last two draft picks at the end of the bench couldn’t get a minute right and then Walsh chips away and gets a a couple of sparky minutes and then all of a sudden he’s starting and then he looks pretty good and now he looks really good and like it’s rare to see that type of exponential growth over such a short period of time in someone’s game. Could it be fool’s gold? Yeah, possibly. Obviously, the caveat that it’s the Wizards and we we’ve qualified almost everything that we’ve said, which is you have to take into account the opponent, but the level of confidence and the types of things he’s adding to his game, are not things any of us thought that he would that he had, not on a not on the regular and not at this level, not at the NBA level. So, what do you guys attribute it to? I know, you know, Noah, you asked, Joe said, “Yeah, you know, I see it behind the scenes. He’s got that. But it’s like you’re getting a lot more out of him than just straight energy at this point. He’s he’s a he’s a more rounded player than even he was a couple of weeks ago. To be honest with you, I think there is a ton of player development going on that we don’t really keep tabs on that we see a little bit pregame. I mean, his shot has looked better and better. I think he had a really good summer league from a scoring standpoint compared to the previous two. Like that was kind of an under the radar thing because, you know, it was his third season. Nobody’s going to go crazy over a guy like looking decent on offense, but what this league is about, and I know a lot of people have said this over the last few days, they excited when I asked him about it tonight. Tatum said it yesterday, I think, on a live stream, but it’s just about opportunity. And there are probably countless guys that have been in the NBA that just were never in the right spot, never with the right coaching staff and teammates around him. And obviously, right now, he’s getting a more extended opportunity than he ever has in his career. I mean, Derrick literally said to me like he has never got had an opportunity, you know. Um, so anything that we have seen, we’ve seen an incredibly small sample size. Even a bad summer league is four games. It’s a week of basketball, right? And then the other piece is the defense that they’re playing right now perfectly suits his style. Um, and so last year, he said it a little bit and I think this everybody knows this, but last year it was all about guarding your guy. You’re not playing a lot of help. Like you’re not going to foul. And they’ve kind of 180ed it. And that’s that was they you know they had to do that because of the personnel changes but it makes it so that Jordan’s defensive skill set is completely accentuated whereas someone like Sam Hower probably fit in better last year and so that opportunity of both the minutes that are available, you know, the shots all that but then specifically now this play style fits him much better than last year. Everything kind of lined up perfectly for him that that style stylistic change happened in year three when he was ready to go and his player development had improved and all of that. And he did spend a year in Maine, you know, like they it wasn’t like he was just sitting that first year. It was really just last year that he was sitting. Um, but all that being said, even even all that being said, I I still didn’t think this was going to be the product. Like, we’re seeing a legit very good basketball player. And that’s that’s pretty impressive considering where he was a month ago. Yeah. Put this in the chat real quick. I’m going to throw it out there. I I I would have never thought this. Um, and I don’t necessarily Oh, you agree. I don’t agree with this, but it’s an interesting comparison um of of what you’re seeing out of uh the Thompson twins. And again, uh, you know, Aean has a more polished, uh, offensive game, uh, than his brother, uh, right now. But like that that type of impact that those guys bring, which is chaos, disruption, athleticism, you know, active hands, and then being able to uh, you know, finish in transition and be athletic and, you know, and and do some of the things he’s doing. I I’m not putting him there at all. But I it never that never kind of crossed my mind that there is some similarities there I think to to what those guys are doing. Yeah. And his pedigree is huge. He was a five-star high school recruit who got buried at Arkansas who didn’t have the year you hoped he would have there. Had to come off the bench. There’s a lot on his background that I do think projected toward becoming what we’re seeing now. And it’s why I love the draft pick at the time. uh this relentless energy on ball defense to the point of fouling was what he did in college and I think Noah makes a great point there that it’s no mistake them switching to this approach now unlocked him to some degree at least on defense and that you know the offense is a bonus right now and that’s obviously what he talked a lot about in the post game there the defense reaching this level is the real story because yes it’s nice you get 22 from him here it’s great that he can do that and that that upside is there with him on that end, but what’s his NBA scale right now? And it looks like it could be a potentially elite one on ball defense against some of the best players in the league. And the numbers are out of this world at this point against Maxi and all these players. Chris Middleton actually gave him a decent amount of trouble tonight um as we were talking about on press row, but um he hit some tough shots most matchups. Yeah, most matchups he is not just fared well in, he has exceeded in. James Harden, Paulo, all the way down the line. Ty, he didn’t get beat by Middleton, but Middleton made some pretty difficult shots uh up and over him. I thought you know why he why he entered the draft like when he did like obviously reason a lot of guys do. But don’t they get I mean yeah a lot of guys like right before NIL too, wasn’t he? I want to say, you know who else was a fivestar recruit for the Celtics? I know who you’re gonna say. Go ahead. Romeo. Yep. Yeah, we don’t need I mean, that thinking is not wrong. And I like we Well, that’s why you like that’s why you like players like that because maybe they just had a down year or something like that. You like the p the p if the pedigree says superstar, you’re hoping that they’re more than just like, you know, a one-dimensional player who can only do one thing. The idea was when Jordan Walsh came out of high school that this is going to be one of the best players in the country. Didn’t work out for him. He slips into the second round. You know, the Celtics go there. And again, we have to take into consideration, which Noah pointed out a zillion times. He, you know, over the course of the last couple years, he’s he’s he comes into the league at 19. You know, like he’s younger. He’s like seven years younger than Baylor Shyman, you know, like he’s he’s you know, he’s a kid. He’s a kid, right? No, I just being a fivestar recruit having a down year. I just wonder why he went into the unless and I mean, yeah, I know Bobby, you’re right. Like there are a lot of players that do it, but I think a lot of them probably are guide misguided in that. So, I was just wondering if he ever talked about that decision, but maybe that’s a question you want me to ask him. You guys can fight over next time. Uh, one of you two. Both. Actually, both. You got it, Bobby. It’s all you. Yeah. Just It would be Bobby. It would be interesting to know if you could if you can word it in the in a in the right way. That could be a nice feature, Jimmy. There you go. Sidebar for you. Down goes Bobby. Um, but yeah, I said earlier, I mean, I think he’s just getting better before Rise. I don’t know if that’s due to the way they practice. If that’s due to just confidence and just feeling like he belongs now and it’s just, you know, obviously he’s the talent’s there. You know, you don’t get this far. You don’t get this far in in that sport without having some level of talent. I think he’s just tapped into what he does really really well. And now it’s he’s he’s owning it like he’s like he said, like he doesn’t even think about scoring. he just thinks about the rebound or the block or the, you know, getting back on defense. And like if that’s what is going to keep him going, then that’s ultimately what’s going to keep him in the league. There’s two other things that I I think are are worth noting. One is the Celtics have a really good player development system at this point. I think it’s there’s a lot of evidence of that between seeing how many guys in in recent years. Again, it’s this a different staff from, you know, the years that I’ve covered the team, the staff that’s been here. Like, I think they there’s a pretty good track record of how minutes in Maine transfer over into minutes in Boston. Kada and Walsh who are so critical to this season success. They were main teammates, you know, Sam, Luke, all these guys. You know, I think there’s a good track record there. But not just that, but also seeing guys improving their shooting abilities. You know, the same way that Derek and Grant and those guys, I think you’re seeing a little bit of that with Jordan and guys that came in kind of inconsistent shooters. I think they know what they’re doing. It’s not going to save everybody’s shot, but there’s a pretty good track record there. And then the other pieces, I do wonder if it was motivating to see Josh start in, you know, get the starting spot basically being an energy wing rebounding crashing guy and then seeing Ugo come in and get a start in his third ever NBA game basically based off of his ability to defend in Madison Square Garden. and you know are those you we talked a lot about how it can be a little bit demoralizing for those guys if like you’re being pulled from the starting lineup or all of a sudden you get a DMP but there’s there has to be an upside there of you can’t take one possession off or one possession for granted because Joe has three other energy guys that can come in and do exactly what you’re doing. So even to begin this game, I thought Jordan didn’t have like the best ever start to this game. But the second that you get pulled, somebody else comes in and can do that exact role. It h there has to be a motivating factor there. And all those guys are good friends and I think there’s a I’m sure there’s some level of competitive spirit, but it’s an interesting dynamic that it’s not like there’s the one energy guy. Then if you don’t have it, you’re still the energy guy. So you still get your 25 minutes. Like not not on this team. If you don’t have it on this team, there’s three other energy guys that can do exactly what you’re doing. And I think that’s upping everybody’s game because you’re seeing you’re kind of you’re seeing that like I thought Josh was awesome tonight. His defense was awesome. He was crashing. He was helping. And like Ugo comes in later in the game and he had his like quietly had a career career night. That’s the most point he’s ever scored in an NBA game. So I kind of like this dynamic of all of these guys fighting for minutes but also you know it creates this system where you can’t ever rest. Yeah. What was our knock on on any of these teams guys like uh in the past as good as they were? It was always kind of, you know, the the the the athleticism uh and just being, you know, you know, you know, they you would see them not suffer, but they, you know, there were certain times where, you know, they weren’t able to match other teams athleticism. Having those guys fly around here has really changed the dynamic. It’s just something we haven’t really seen here. And again, you mentioned Ugo, you mentioned Walsh, you mentioned May not uh just really excellent athletes. And even Kada compared to the centers that they’ve been rolling out there certainly has uh you know more athleticism to him than some of those other guys. Did you see him on the fast break? Yeah, that was something. Yeah. Yeah. Their ball pressure is incredible and you see it game after game after game. It almost takes teams by surprise because I’m sure they see it on film. I’m sure they anticipate it coming in. But uh there was a point in the first quarter tonight where they were just sending a second guy over every single time and they were getting steals over and over and over again. So they got back to their disruptive ways in this one. There’s obviously a lot of guys that can do that job as Noah mentioned there. We’ve seen it in action them switch from I mean we just saw it against the Knicks Walsh to Ugo back to Walsh late. So there’s an interchangeability there. It is why we asked this question with Walsh. Is he about to emerge into a starter potentially next year alongside Tatum and Brown and this momentum just keeps building and building and building here or is it going to be like May not who we were calling a game changer and you know that kind of potential impact player through a nineame starting stretch for him only for it to switch over to Walsh right after that. So it’s a long year. I’m super high on what he’s doing right now. Especially the fact that that defense does carry night to night tonight. I think that is a potentially big part of him carrying this forward, but we’ll have to see because this is right around the mark where Minot lost his job, right? Yeah. Well, you know what I forgot up until like a minute ago? Um Sam Hower started this game. Legit completely forgot about that. And it’s this isn’t a knock on Sam, but you’re talking about like what was what we thought was a an area of concern with the Celtics with Sam Hower as your only viable wing behind Jaylen Brown and now him being kind of usurped by other players at that position who are bringing something that this team appears to need more than what what he’s able to bring. And that’s not to minimize some of the good stuff that he’s done. I thought he was, you know, he was he was good last game and we talked about in the Knicks how they tried to switch and pick on him and he held his own defensively. But it is interesting how the entire kind of dynamic of what you thought you were going to get from some players on this team is different than than than you know than what we expected. I was thinking about that a lot during this game because it does feel like this system if if somebody’s not going to benefit from it like I think he’s talked about this a little bit like full pressuring pressuring full court is not like his bread and butter. Right. Right. Um the challenge for him so far this season has been that these other guys are shooting the ball better than him and obviously his shot quality is harder and you know he is still going to draw more defense. You know everybody in the league knows that Sam Hower is one of the best shooters out there but his his advantage should be that he’s a more reliable shooter. Meanwhile Josh Josh shooting 43% from three this season. You know Jordan Walsh Ugo they’re both shooting like 38% from three. And so it’s just that like that’s been the kind of an unpredictable dynamic here. And I still think his shot’s going to eventually kind of progress towards the mean of around 40% where he always is. But it’s been interesting to watch all these guys kind of become three-point shooting threats because that would have been his most distinguishing factor and it just hasn’t quite played out like that through 22 games, right? Yeah, it’s interesting. I I’ll ask you guys before we uh put a bow on this game. Are your uh Derek White concerns, whatever however significant they were, uh have they been uh allayed at this point? Yeah, I I think so. I had I was holding out a little bit after last game. I know we discussed it briefly last time and and Noah had mentioned that she feels like he’s through it. I think I’m there now. This was a I mean borderline best night in a Celtics uniform statistically. Like this has got to be right up there in terms of approaching a triple or a 30-point triple double. Not to call it his best game, but um he was excellent and assertive and feels like he’s getting his shot off from every level. We saw the floater in this game. We saw him create his own shot at the buzzer. Um, his ability to lead offense right now, I think, has gone underrated through the start of the year because of the fact that he hasn’t shot well. He’s run a lot of good pick and roll. He’s racked up a ton of assists through some of these games where he might not have shot as well as he usually does here. So, you know, you know me, John. I get a little scared, you know, worried about guys when they’re going through shooting slumps, especially when they extend over a long stretch. And I mean, his lasted nearly a quarter of a season. Small sample sizes. We like those small sample sizes. Yeah. Yeah. Quarter of a season’s decent, but uh he’s he’s on his way there. And you know, he talked a little bit about tonight, you know, getting down on himself and having to stay above that, feeling like he he’s done a better job of that over the years because we saw it on his on his face though when he was missing shots earlier in the year. You’re not seeing it as much now. Yeah. Yeah. You can you can tell in the way he runs like it’s almost less about what the actual stat line or whether the shot goes in. It’s so visceral whether he’s feeling it or not. And from the first couple plays of this game, it was clear that he had it. And I think for the last maybe week and a half, he’s he’s looked pretty different. Ever since that, maybe that Nets game, um, he’s just looked like a different player, playing with a different level of confidence. And, you know, he was averaging 20 points per game, shooting 40% from three. The four games entering this one. Obviously, those numbers are going to continue to rise up, but he he I think for him more than anybody else, because he expresses what he’s feeling so much, it just looks worse when he’s struggling to, like beyond the numbers. And I’m sure it exacerbates the situation. You kind of laugh when you asked him about that, Bobby. But he said he was used to be a lot worse at that. But I think the the big thing is is that our expectations collectively, myself included, fans, national media were so high of Derek that like Jimmy Yeah, we’re so high of Derek. I mentioned his last show that he he might not reach those expectations, but I definitely think when the year is said and done, it’s not going to look too dissimilar from his production the last couple years. All right, before we wrap it, we’re going to throw this out here and we’re gonna ask Jimmy Tusano, the number one Giannis lover, out out there. Number one, it has to be Bobby. Bobby said, “It’s a joke.” Jimmy Jimmy hates him like like like like you and you and John, which is crazy. I just think he’s a little boring. He finds this game boring. Anyway, um Giannis Adetakumbbo may want to trade, may not want to trade, may be talking out of both sides of his mouth, may be hurt, may have a partially torn Achilles, may just have a calf strain. Nobody knows. I know. I know. I know. They do know. They do know. You know, those calf those calf injuries are always concern me. I like that was really bad. Hallebertton had a calf injury and then he you know, like it looked bad. Anyway, he might be out there. So everybody starts thinking, what can I do to get in on this? My question is, do you want a piece of this action, Jimmy? And everybody, do you want the Celtics are not mentioned among the teams that would be considered uh there? You’re talking Spurs, Rockets, teams who are okay. I’ve got a whole bunch of young stuff and picks I could I could load up right now and I could go get another superstar to add to my team. Celtics are not in this conversation. Should they be? Do you want them to be? How old is Giannis? 30. I I’ I’d pick up the phone. I mean, I think I think it’s it’s you’re talking about a top five player. It’s Ken Brown. Who’s going? It’s got to be trade everybody and it’s just three guys. Who is everybody? Walsh and Mot. White. I mean, they got Richard. Some respect on their names. John, I think you got to do your diligence if you’re the Celtics. You got to do your due diligence. I I think um and you’re talking and it’s not a knock on it’s not a knock on who on anybody to if you’re in a trade for Giannis and it’s close to a one for one situation like it would be or it’s you know relatively close to that. It doesn’t mean that you you know like I don’t mean it as a disrespect. I just think you got to pick up the phone and at least see Yeah. what it’s going to take because this is this is a rare very rare opportunity to get a guy that’s considered by many, you know, top five, top three, depending on the year, MVP, uh, NBA champion, a guy that can play like five positions practically. Um, so yeah, I I think it’s not going to happen, but be foolish to say no. Yeah, you you you got to keep the phone lines open to have that conversation, dude. Everyone’s going to like like if they’re giving them away for Hower salary matching and a bunch of picks, yeah, you’re going to listen. But I’m saying, let’s be realistic. If you’re picking up the phone, the words coming out of your mouth are either going to be Tatum or Brown. Are you still picking up? I think Are you still pick Are you still picking up the phone? Yeah. Yeah. I am. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. For Brown. I’m not. Yeah, you’re pick you’re you’re picking up the f and I don’t want to be prisoner of the moment with what Brown’s doing right now because it’s been incredible and it probably should influence what they do if that was going to be a conversation there. And obviously I brought this up earlier. Noah and I talked about this on a video people should check out. But I was all for the Durant thing years ago, remember? Like I just love Durant and where he was at and just seemed like a no-brainer to had a player of that caliber. And when you look back on it, it would have been the wrong move and it could have been a potentially costly move, cost you a championship uh with where things went there. So, this feels like a similar conversation except the value of Jaylen is that much more now. And if you want to do something like this, here’s Bobby’s three trades. Here’s the no Browner Tatum trade that works out moneywise. No point. It’s just so much ugale. There’s a very important detail here. Yeah. You gotta get The Nasis to Boston. So, oh my god, I want that. I want I I I want John will pick him up at the airport. The Nasis and Bobby one-on-one to 100. I want to see that game. This is This is the This is the trade everyone trade. This is the Jaylen one that Bobby put up there. Giannis Jaylen player in there. But yeah. Yeah. And then here’s the here’s the Tatum one. One for one. Wow. Well, nobody said that I had to add Tilman to the deal originally when you brought her up, Sean. So now I’m not sure. Game changer. Game changer. Um Bobby, would you make any of those trades? This This kills me. You know, I want to be bold. I want to go, “Yeah, do it.” But I can’t. Like, and there’s a couple reasons. One, Giannis’s age and the stage of his career. to what you have to give up to get there, which certainly would be all your future first, which I actually value more. I know my my original stance on this show, my biggest stance was trade all the picks, go for it. But they’re not at that stage right now. They got to develop guys. They got to draft guys. Our whole show so far has been how great they’ve developed. They’re young players. So, you want to see them use these first round picks on the next stars of the league right now. And it feels like the Jaylen Jason thing, if as we talked about last show, if they can get back to that and surround them with some talent, that feels like their best path forward to contending. The the intriguing thing’s the Tatum Brown Giannis thing. If you’re trading everything else and can combine those three guys together next year, but I think we just saw that in Phoenix with with Durant and Booker and Be that having three stars with absolutely nothing around them doesn’t work. Uh so I’m probably a no here, even though this is my favorite player in the league and I think the best player in the league. Oh, so you’re not scared of him going elsewhere right now, right? Like who who cares if he goes to a different team? Like that’s not where you’re at as a as a team right now trying to make those decisions. So Noah, do you want any part of this? No. In in a million years, I would not want to see Jason Tatum or Jaylen Brown be traded for Giannis right now because I think as we’ve said a million times in the show, as long as you’ve had those two guys on your roster, this team has been the team to beat in the East. And so you can hypothesize on how combinations would fit, but historically that’s it doesn’t play out the way that reality does. Same way I felt about trading Jaylen in the offseason for a stash of picks. Like what’s what you know works works. And at the end of the day, these two guys have worked well together. And the other thing is I like Giannis a lot. Obviously, he’s an incredible talent. But I do think that it’s possible and I don’t know this for sure but it’s possible that the best his best days are more behind them than we realize just because of again he’s 30 is not that old but he is a guy that relies quite a bit on his athleticism and I think that you’ve seen in the last couple years he dealt with a bunch of injuries like I don’t know that that’s the case. I hope it’s not. I’d love to see him play lots of great more basketball in the future but I I I just would not blow something up like this. Not to mention the fact that there is the reality of like like just you don’t want to trade one of your the hard and of your team the way that franchises have done in recent years and you’ve seen how that play that has played out. Yeah. I wouldn’t feel good about it. Don’t it’s not like something easy that it would be able to do but yeah the only the only the logic the logic Jimmy is the is the hedge on the Tatum Achilles situation. Like that’s there’s the the gamble right now would be Giannis’s age versus Tatum’s Achilles. Um I have no problem with splitting them up if you were to get positional versatility out of the deal. split up the Jay’s. But but I I don’t know too. I might agree with Noah on that that like I am a little worried that like he’s 30, but that’s a hard 30. You know, like he came in as a he came in as a kid and he’s a an aggressive physical player that takes a beating. It’s dad ball with him. You know, we talk about the whistle Jaylen Brown doesn’t get. Giannis gets fouled a hundred times, you know, every single time he touches the ball because people just bounce off him. like he’s a really really physical dude. That definitely that definitely is going to wear on you. Plus, he just he’s not a shooter. I don’t know. He fits in the Missoula situation. I I think it’s a tough trade to make here. I don’t think they do it. And you’re right. The shooting thing is a problem. And didn’t Big problem. Wasn’t there something between Was there something between Mazul and Giannis or did I make that up? There’s been a lot of There’s been a lot of There’s been Jaylen and Giannis. Giannis Jaylen called. Yeah. Yeah. There’s been Jaylen fake high five. Someone did that to me. And Jaylen said Jiannis is a child. He said Giannis is a child. You did say Janice is Yeah. Yeah. Yes, that’s what it was. Yeah, that was good. Um, yeah. I I’m not I’m certainly not beating down the door to make that. I’m not going to like pump that trade up. You have to look into it. I mean, every single team in the NBA is going to look into it, right? He’s amazing. Oh, man. Kills me that just didn’t work out. Hey, I felt that way about Durant, too. Like these are two of my favorite players in the league and you would love to see them in Boston. I mean the vibe of it, right? But 2021 when that vibe was at its peak was a little while ago now. Not to say he’s declined overly, but you’re right. There are age concerns and declined concerns with his style of play, John. That worry me, but who who is there more concerned about physically long term? Him or Jaylen? Because they’re both similar. We thought Jaylen also we thought look they’re close in this area early but um yeah Tatum has the Achilles. Great point. We did think Brown was entirely reliant on his you know athleticism uh for his success and he’s shown this year that you know with either slightly reduced or just simply not using his uh you know his his athleticism to its fullest uh he’s been as or more effective than he’s been in a couple of years. You know, I don’t know if Giannis would necessarily be the same because he is such a bulldog. So, I don’t know that his game can evolve or adapt without his physicality into something that’s that’s going to still be of the same quality. So, that would be a concern of mine. Lakers come in tomorrow. We talked about it. We don’t know if Luca is going to play or not. Uh he’s uh with his wife overseas uh for their I think second child um for second or I’m not sure actually. Uh but they don’t know if he’s going to make it back. I think uh the hope was that he might make it back for this one, but uh that would definitely take a put a damper a little bit on uh on the matchup uh tomorrow when they take on the Lakers. I have I have a hot take for tomorrow, and I said this at the game tonight. Yeah. I think it’s going to be LeBron’s last game at TD Garden. You think the 43y old might retire? Whoa. Yeah, he’s 41. I think what we’re seeing the Lakers situation. You saw what he did today, right, Bobby? Incredible. I was locked in every second of it. I was Bobby, you don’t think LeBron’s going to go. He sacrificed his streak. He sacrificed his streak for the W. He could have just floated that up there, tried to hit it and gone to overtime. Sacrificed it for the dub. You don’t think that LeBron’s going to get the farewell tour, Bobby? Come on. Give me a break. I I It’s a great story for everyone but Nick. But yes, it is. I don’t I don’t I think he and the Lakers are done. He will have the opportunity after this year to go elsewhere. I don’t think he’s going to go elsewhere. There’s no way he doesn’t do a full-blown retirement tour. Bobby, I think he does. There’s no way. There is a way. Small percent chance. No. No. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. You said no percent chance. No. No. No. I corrected it myself. I corrected myself. We got her. We got her. We got her. Now it’s definitely happening. True. If my word has anything to do with Bobby’s, then yes. Anyway, as we said, tomorrow these guys are coming back. We’ll have the full crew again tomorrow night, I believe, for the Celtics and the Lakers. I can’t believe I didn’t get a press pass, idiot. Which is that? Jimmy, you got to tell me a little earlier. I get you in there. Uh Celtics once again defeat the Wizards 146 101. Uh it was just a ridiculous game. uh here. Big Jordan Walsh night. Big uh big uh Derek White night. Big Ugo night. Nice night from Necada as well. Uh and again, no team in the NBA should lose by 45 points. So I mean, this is just, you know, certainly not to another team missing its best player. This was just a disgusting display by the Wizards. We think we didn’t read any of the super chats. Oh jeez. Let me get through some of them. I apologize, guys. A few super chats in here. What’s the official Walsh nickname? Oh, Desert Vulture. We’re trying. We’re trying. We’re still looking. Keep sending them in. The Wizards. Yes. Send all your nickname ideas to John Xanis on Twitter. Thank you. These guys are tanking. They’re tanking. It’s tanky. Uh they know they know how to do it. It’s not It’s not working, but they know what they’re doing. In a tank game. They know what they’re doing. Jaylen not know number one option over Tatum ever in his life. I don’t know. We weren’t even talking about that, but thank you, Tom, for your contribution. I don’t even know what that my brain my brain won’t let me comprehend that. Uh uh Damon Crab real question is Kada showing he has a spot in Boston long term. Yeah guys, right? Send him 20 million. 20 million everybody. And you get 20 million. You get 20 million and you get he’s your third center. They already let Luke go. He’s your first center baby twice. Are they? He deserves first center money. Yeah. Um, let’s throw this one out from Thomas. Don’t think JT fans will come to see him be a number two. Last show, y’all said he would be that behind JB. We didn’t really. Uh, what I Bobby, you know what I said that your take is going to be because Walsh is playing so well when Tatum returns, my my Bobby Manning prediction is you’re going to suggest that he comes off the bench. I’ve already said it, Tatum. Yep. That is such a crazy That’s not crazy for like a day. You know how like you know how like political satire became impossible in the last four or five years because it was too close to reality? Like I can’t even skewer Bobby over the ridiculous things I think he might say because he’s actually saying them. You know thing to say. It’s Bobby. It’s an insane thing to say. I should have ended this stream. I can’t believe the face of your franchise. when he gets believe this is on record. When he gets back, he’s going to have to ease his way in. I think that’s a great way to do it, especially if they’re heading into the playoffs. Will he be back? He said yesterday he’s not going to come back till he’s 100% ready. So, yeah. Uh, and we’re going to throw this out here. Uh, Gregory, fun show. Thank you. And it was a fun show. We were We were We were definitely a little goofy. Uh, having fun show. That’s a wizard show, folks. It’s a wizard show. That’s how you do wizard shows. Hour 40. Who does that on a 45 point game? Who does that on a on the first night of a backtoback against the Wizards? We do. And we’ll be tomorrow. Send in your Spotify or YouTube proof of viewership and listenership and discounts will be flying. Yeah. Who controls the British crown? The merch to the merch store right now. Who keeps the metric system down? We do. We need a Patriot shirt. We need a Patriot shirt, by the way. No, we don’t. Not today. Yeah, we do. Yeah, we do. Sherrod, more than more than You don’t want to see the Eagle. You don’t want to see the Patriots this year, Sherrod. If you’re the Eagles, do not want to see the Are you an Eagles fan? Sherrod is an Eagles fan. We’re in that smoke. He’s not. They’re kind of struggling. We’re bored. He’s not afraid. Oh, Syracuse lost to BC. That’s bad. We talk about that. Oh my god. I was there for that. I was live and in person for that one. Did it make a sound? Oh, you were there for that? They got their doors blown off. That’s We had a walk on quarterback. So, that’s another story for another day. Yeah. And they stinger. Yeah. We we we we do have to end it. We are going to end it, but we’re back tomorrow. So, we’ll see you in less than 24 hours. Celtics Lakers postgame show. Friday night. You might get Friday Night Jimmy. It was a Lakers game when It was a Lakers game when Friday Night Jimmy was born. doesn’t know about this one. Historic game. That was a historic night. You know what? I might have the eggnog. I think I might have the eggnog flowing for tomorrow night’s game now that I’m thinking about it. You’re not at the game. They call it now. Get some eggnog for the game tomorrow. How about that? Yeah. Be nice to each other. Don’t Don’t interrupt one another. Everyone be friends. Hang out. We’ll see you guys tomorrow. Take care.
The Boston Celtics without Jaylen Brown steamrolled the Washington Wizards 146–101 on Thursday night in one of their most dominant wins of the season.
The Garden Report went LIVE right after Celtics vs. Wizards with CLNS Media’s John Zannis, Jimmy Toscano and A. Sherrod Blakely — followed by Noa Dalzell and Bobby Manning checking in from D.C. after postgame interviews.
00:00 Instant Reaction
1:00 Jordan Walsh is BALLING
18:00 Joe Mazzulla Press Conference
23:00 Funny Bobby & Noa Presser Moment
26:19 PrizePicks
27:50 Derrick White GOES OFF
36:15 John Zannis: I didn’t want to do the Garden Report this year
1:00:00 Bobby and Noa Join
1:08:00 Bobby and Noa on Jordan Walsh’s recent surge
1:21 Bobby and Noa on Derrick White
1:23:20 Giannis Antetokounmpo wants out?
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12 comments
This "show" is just self indulgent nonsense. As a fan of the celtics I want to watch content but this is horrible. John and Jimmy are particularly unprofessional.
Good win
Jordan should be called the washer
It’s nice that JB got a night off
As far as nicknames for Walsh, what about Lockdown Island, Dirty Work, Mr. Clean, The Reaper, Seek and Destroy, Sticky J? I prefer "Dirty Work".
The Boston Celtics without Jaylen Brown steamrolled the Washington Wizards 146–101 on Thursday night in one of their most dominant wins of the season.
The Garden Report went LIVE right after Celtics vs. Wizards with CLNS Media’s John Zannis, Jimmy Toscano and A. Sherrod Blakely — followed by Noa Dalzell and Bobby Manning checking in from D.C. after postgame interviews.
00:00 Instant Reaction
1:00 Jordan Walsh is BALLING
18:00 Joe Mazzulla Press Conference
23:00 Funny Bobby & Noa Presser Moment
26:19 PrizePicks
27:50 Derrick White GOES OFF
36:15 John Zannis: I didn't want to do the Garden Report this year
1:00:00 Bobby and Noa Join
1:08:00 Bobby and Noa on Jordan Walsh's recent surge
1:21 Bobby and Noa on Derrick White
1:23:20 Giannis Antetokounmpo wants out?
Follow us on Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/celticsclns & https://twitter.com/thegardenreport
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celticsclns
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CLNSmedia/
Join Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/2vxNKH9Qr4
The Garden Report on CLNS Media is Powered by:
💰 Prize Picks – Sign up at http://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS & Download the app today and use code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.
Bobby taking that swig of water and then wiping his mouth like a four year old is the funniest thing I've seen all week
1:15:45 Walsh, Scheierman, Hugo and Minott are the four energy musketeers
Jordan Walsh is on you and annoying like Poison Ivy…
Walsh’s world good nickname
48:27 LMAOOOO at John laughing at Bobby’s stupid question LMAOOOO Bobby’s hilarious man
Haven't listened yet, but time for an epic gloat-rant:
Anfernee Simons
I hope that all you Simonistas out there have noticed just how badly the object of your devotion played in the first half of that game. You can't play this game any worse than he did. John Zannis' "borderline superstar" entered the game and within seconds fouled a 3-pt shooter. He was just getting warmed up though! John Zannis' "elite offensive player" then proceeded to miss his first 8 shots, including getting a shot blocked by some Euro-retread who wouldn't have been in the game if their starting center weren't injured. Yes, that's right, against the lowest-rank defense in the league, against the defensive juggernaut that is the Washington Wizards, he couldn't score a mother-loving point in 8 tries.
And How many fouls did he commit? IDK, I kinda lost track. Now, I see he did manage to score some points in garbaaaaaazh time, so his stats will not with full accuracy reflect just how inept he was. He put on a clinic on how not to play basketball, and at both ends. He stunk the joint out tonight. So the next time he scores 25 points in a half, which he does every 2000 games or so, I want you Simonistas to remember this game before you start howling that "he should be starting" or "he's an elite player" or "he's a bucket." Anybody who wishes to learn how to play offense stupidly and be a sieve on defense, should study Simons in this game carefully. Tonight, he wrote the book on how to suck.