Celtics BEST TEAM in NBA? w/ Keith Pompey | A List Podcast - video Dailymotion

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Join The A List Podcast with veteran Boston Celtics and NBA reporter A. Sherrod Blakely who welcomes Keith Pompey Sixers beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Sherrod and Keith react to the Celtics shorthanded win over the Sixers and Keith explains why he thinks the time to beat the Celtics was last season.  FanDuel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! So, visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, Official Partner of the NFL. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.  ODDS-R! Ever wished you could navigate the betting field with the confidence of a pro? Enter OddsR. They're not a sportsbook, but they're the sports betting advisor you've always needed. It's like having a playbook for smarter bets right in your pocket. Especially since CLNS Media listeners get a 30-day free trial! Elevate your game day and join the smart betting revolution! Go get it at https://oddsr.com/celtics  With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Go to https://HelloFresh.com/CLNSFREE and use code CLNSFREE for FREE breakfast for life! One breakfast item per box while subscription is active. That’s free breakfast for life at HelloFresh.com/CLNSFREE with code CLNSFREE!  #celtics #NBA #BostonCeltics The CLNS Media Network is the leading provider for video/audio content. CLNS is a fully credentialed member of the media with access to all NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB teams & venues.

Transcript

00:00 And I think the Celtics have the Sixers number.

00:02 And let's face it, in the playoffs, it ain't about who's the deepest team.

00:06 It's about, because you know, you reduce your rotation.

00:10 Right.

00:11 I think it's just going to be, I think it's a tough draw for them.

00:14 I think the time for the Sixers to beat them was last year.

00:17 Yeah, absolutely.

00:20 The Atlas Podcast is brought to you by FanDuel,

00:23 the exclusive wedgerig partner of the CLNS media network.

00:26 [Music]

00:31 Welcome to a special edition of the Atlas Podcast.

00:33 I'm A. Sharron Blakely, and I am joined by special guest,

00:37 Keef Pompey, Sixers beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

00:41 Keef, how you doing today, brother?

00:43 Oh, I can't complain.

00:44 I'm doing well.

00:45 I'm doing well.

00:45 Thanks for having me.

00:46 Wish I could have been there for the game down in Philly between the Celtics and the Sixers

00:51 the other night, but I wanted to just kind of chat with you about that.

00:54 And Sixers and Celtics and all that good stuff is something tells me that once we get to the playoffs,

01:02 we just might be crossing paths again, but we'll talk a little about that later.

01:06 But the last night's game, Jason Tatum had a big, big second half.

01:11 Derek White had, I think, 14 and a fourth quarter, finished with 27.

01:14 You know, Joel had a Joel and B kind of game.

01:17 You know, his numbers, he's always going to get 20s and change.

01:20 Maxie was the guy that I want to talk to you a little bit about off the bat.

01:25 He has been playing some pretty damn good basketball.

01:28 I mean, he's looking like one of the most improved, if not the most improved baller in the league.

01:32 So take me through what's been the key to his, you know, just really strong start to the season.

01:38 You know, I think that his ball handling has been the biggest thing and his court awareness.

01:45 I mean, Maxie had several games where he had 10 plus assists and zero turnovers.

01:51 And, you know, if you look at it, if you would have said that before the season started,

01:56 like I would have slapped you like, come on, bro, wake up, wake up, wake up, right?

02:02 Like, but, but yeah, I mean, I think that's been the biggest thing.

02:06 And also, you know, addition by subtraction, you know, James is a good player,

02:13 but I think what not having James has enabled Maxie to take a larger role and he's able to

02:20 showcase more of his skills because he's not the third guy anymore. If that makes sense to you.

02:27 Yeah, no, it makes perfect sense. The thing about Maxie, you touched on his ball handling

02:32 and you know, that that's the part of his game. I don't think he gets given much credit for it

02:37 because when you watch him play, he's one of those guys that has a certain skill set that

02:41 separates him from others. And for me, when I watch him play, it's that end to end speed.

02:46 I mean, I mean, Drew Holiday, you know, Drew from being a, Drew is a really good defender,

02:52 arguably the best on ball defender in the league. And there were multiple times in that game where,

02:57 I mean, Maxie just hit the beat button and just blew right past Drew.

03:01 How has he been able to continue to do the things that he's shown the ability to do,

03:06 but still get other guys involved? Because it's playmaking, as you pointed out,

03:09 that's been one of the things that I think a lot of people have been surprised at how quickly he's

03:13 been able to kind of fill or at least address that void left by Harden's departure.

03:17 You know, and that's a great question, because right then and there, that's the biggest thing

03:22 that he still has to figure out because it's like it comes to a point where he is getting people

03:27 involved, but it's coming to a point where Nick Nurse is saying, nah, bro, like, yo, it's great,

03:33 but we need you to score. We need you to do more. And like, so that's the biggest thing that he has

03:40 to figure out because he wants to be a point guard. He wants to show everybody that he can get

03:45 his teammates involved. But with that top end speed that you talked about, they know that that's

03:51 a mismatch, you know what I mean? Especially in the open floor. So instead of him passing the ball,

03:57 they would love for him to shoot the ball a lot more. But, you know, I will say, I mean,

04:02 it's different because what he is, is if you ever held a conversation with this guy,

04:08 he's a selfless person. So he's a selfless player. And it's one of those things where

04:15 he's not happy unless everybody else is happy. So he is distributing rock, but they want him to be

04:21 more of a selfish player for them to be great. That's crazy to think about because when you

04:28 because you look at that roster, you know, when James was there, it seemed like he would have

04:32 been that ideal add on piece because James is very aggressive, very, you know, I got to get

04:37 mine and Joel the same way. And it seems that, you know, Maxie was that guy that can be cool

04:44 with everyone trying to get there. Just give him a little slow, slow, little reply. He good.

04:48 And now you need him to be more James Harden, like, to be honest with you, I mean,

04:53 where he's looking for his how I mean, how much of a challenge you think that's going to be for

04:58 him? Because to your point, Chief, that's not really something that comes naturally to him

05:02 to be that kind of deal. You know, I think the one game that we saw was when they played

05:09 Indiana. Well, you know, not the second, not two nights ago, but on Sunday, right? Yeah. He shot

05:15 the ball 3032 times. They got to a point where he had 50. He scored a career high of 50 points,

05:22 right? So, you know, right then and there, that was kind of like a little bit of the progression

05:27 where you can see it. But, you know, I feel like with him, he realizes that there's going to be

05:34 certain times where teams are going to be extremely physical with him. And when that happens,

05:40 he doesn't really want to shoot. He wants to get others involved. Right. He's looking at it as if,

05:45 you know what, I'm not scared. But what it is, is they're bringing bodies at me and other guys

05:51 are open. But right then and there, the Sixers still want him to attack. And that's the hard

05:56 part, because, you know, you look at a guy like Tobias Harris, who is having a pretty good year

06:02 when Kelly Oubre comes back beforehand, he was averaging more than Tobias. So that are there

06:08 in lies where that was the hard transition. I think that but Tyrese, the one thing that I will

06:15 say is Joel is always in his ear saying we need you to shoot more. Nick Nurse is always in his

06:23 ear saying that. So I feel like by the time the you know, we get in February and all that,

06:30 that I think that he'll have a little bit down pat. You know, I mean, to be a little bit more

06:36 aggressive. Yeah. Yeah. And you just touched on another key piece of six with a fast start.

06:43 And that's Kelly Oubre, who reportedly was hit by a car. And at first they said he might. I think

06:48 there was the reports that he missed a significant time. And now it's like maybe back much sooner

06:54 than that. What's the latest on Oubre? And, you know, speak to what he's meant to this team,

07:00 you know, getting off to such a good start. You know, first I talk about like the latest. Well,

07:05 you know, it's funny because like this is significant time. And then, you know, I was

07:09 talking to a source yesterday who said, yeah, we think he'll be back in a couple of weeks.

07:14 Right. And you're like, oh, OK. All right. Yeah. OK. That's good. Like my microwave injuries

07:22 now with the right. But but but but significance has been crazy because, you know, you look at it

07:30 and it's like two teams that need each other. Like Kelly Oubre, the Sixers were the only team

07:35 that really offered them anything. And that was a minimum. That was it. Right. And you look at

07:40 the Sixers, the Sixers needed a score. They needed another guy to balance things out. So what he

07:46 meant to him was, you know, Kelly, when he was at other places, he was known for taking awful shots.

07:51 His shot selection has been better. He was also known for someone who could play defense,

07:57 but didn't play defense. So now it's like when his shot isn't on, you see Kelly getting a still

08:03 you get him, you see him trying to, you know, be real physical and have a presence on the defensive

08:10 end. So he meant a lot to him. And the funny part is they were rolling with him. And then

08:16 then all of a sudden, you know, he didn't play the last what, three games. They won the first one.

08:23 But then they didn't have Nick Baton the next game, next two. And without Nick Baton and

08:29 without Kelly, they're a completely different team and they lost. So, I mean, I would have to

08:35 say that Kelly outside of Maxie, right, you would have to say that Kelly has probably been

08:44 the most exciting player that the 76ers have had in this early stage of the season.

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09:30 Globe, it pisses him off that Kelly Oubre ain't playing somewhere like Boston. Because Gary,

09:35 even before Philly signed him, Gary, I will give Gary his props. He was tooting the horn of,

09:42 you know, Oubre as a guy that you could get for minimum wage. But I didn't think,

09:46 I thought you would have to pay more for him because he's a good player. And so,

09:51 Gary, you know, if you see him at the game and Oubre is balling out and he look a little soft,

09:56 you don't know, you don't know why. He was looking soft yesterday because he ain't seen Oubre.

10:02 So you're right though. I mean, when you talk about teams that are like going to be in the

10:08 hunt for championships and contending for deep playoff runs and stuff like that,

10:12 they usually have one or two cats in their squad that plays well above their fair market value.

10:18 Oubre seems like he's one of those guys for them. I got another cat too that I thought played really

10:26 well against the Celtics. And, you know, not a lot of people know who he is because he's still

10:31 a young player. It's Springer, the kid from Tennessee, Jaden. Has he been just as big a

10:37 revelation for those who know, watch him as for the folks there in Philly? Because he really seems

10:42 like one of those late first round picks a couple of years ago. That's just kind of coming to his

10:47 own right now. Yeah, he has. He's been a major revelation. It was like he was one of those draft

10:52 picks when they drafted him. You knew it was going to be for the future, but you didn't know if you

10:57 didn't know like how long they were going to stick with him. You know what I mean? Because they want

11:01 to win and maybe you could trade him and get something. I'm just going to share this about

11:05 him. He's one of those guys who he was the second youngest player in his draft, but he was a guy who

11:13 he started the first grade when he was five. So he was a young dude. So he was a McDonald's

11:19 All-American. He's one of the top guys in his class, but he was extremely young. So the reason

11:24 why a lot of people didn't know about him or haven't heard from him is because now he's starting

11:29 to grow up. He's getting stronger. He was just a young dude. The thing about him is it was weird.

11:36 Like when Doc was here, Doc Rivers, the former coach, you know, Doc had more of a veteran team.

11:42 So this guy wasn't going to get a lot of time, not a knock against him. He just wasn't ready.

11:47 So he spent a lot of time in the G League, but he really didn't put up great stats. Right. But then

11:53 all of a sudden last year, it was like he led the league and stills in the G League. Right.

11:59 And then after that, it was like they put them, they brought them up to play in the last couple

12:04 games of the regular season with the real team and dude was out there, balling, locking people up.

12:10 So, you know, you, you hear of it, but right now it's kind of like, you know, he's a young cat.

12:16 He doesn't want to sit the bench. He wants to be in a rotation. And whenever he gets in there,

12:23 he's trying to make something happen. The one thing I will say about this ride is like a lot

12:27 of these young cats don't know their role. He knows his role. He knows the best way for him

12:33 to get on the floor is to make something happen on the defensive end and use his athleticism

12:39 as far as crashing the boards and going out in transition. So, you know, he's the type of guy,

12:45 he knows he's not going to be the man, but he knows that he can make things better for Tyrese

12:50 by playing defense. So he could be a guy like you look at it with a lot of these older guys

12:56 on the team who could be someone that's going to supplant a lot of guys in the rotation.

13:01 Yeah. Cause the one thing that I loved about his game, you know, last, you know,

13:06 the other night against the Celtics was just how, you know, when he got into the game,

13:10 you probably didn't expect him to play a ton of minutes, but it seemed that the longer he was out

13:15 there, the more he was impacting the game. He only had nine points, but he was like plus 20 when he

13:20 was on the floor and 20 minutes of action. So, I mean, literally every minute out there, the Celt,

13:26 or excuse me, the Sixers were getting better with his presence and having guys like that on your

13:31 bench. I mean, that is a major luxury that most teams don't really have. But just kind of keeping

13:39 things moving with the Sixers and we're here with Chief Pompey of the Philadelphia Choir Sixers

13:45 Speedwriter. The guy that is always going to be a focal point for Philadelphia when it comes to

13:51 success or failure is Joel. Coming off, you know, one of arguably his best season as a player in

13:58 the league, accolades out the wazoo. Are there things about his game that you see as being

14:04 better or just as good this year? Because I'm looking at him play and he's doing Joel things.

14:11 I don't know if he's gotten better or whether he's just kind of at that plateau point in his game,

14:16 which again, if this is like the worst that you're going to get out of Joel, you're doing all right.

14:21 But are there signs that you see of him being any better or is he pretty much the same player

14:26 now that we saw a year ago? You know what? I'll say this. Like, I think yesterday was a bad game

14:32 for him or when they played the Celtics, it was a really bad game for him. You know,

14:37 he looked like he was tired. He was fatigued. This and that the whole night.

14:43 But I will say this before that, before this stretch, Joel seems like he was more aggressive

14:50 on the defensive end. There was times in the past where, you know, Joel would just like,

14:55 yo, bro, go out here. Like, you know, he was always on like cruise control.

15:00 And he's been a pretty good rim protector this season. He wasn't that way too much in the last

15:08 game against the Celtics. And I think fatigue factor in. But I would have to say that his

15:13 defense is hustle. He's typically been hustling more. Now, the one thing I will say

15:21 that I guess is an improvement. Joel has yet to miss a game. Now, I know it's only been 11,

15:28 but they had two back, two sets of back to backs. Joel has played in every game in the past.

15:36 Huh? That's shocking. Exactly. So he played in a lot. But I think that right now he has to get

15:43 his body conditioned for this because, you know, he was he was rolling at one point and then all

15:50 of a sudden the last two games, he looked like somebody had a piano on his back. Like he just

15:56 looked bad. You know what I'm saying? So and then I'll say something else. I got to give the Celtics

16:02 credit. He was a minus 25. That's right. Do you know he's done that six times in his career?

16:12 Three have were against the Boston Celtics. I don't know what it is, but whenever he like

16:20 they got three of his all time worst games and like again, I'm not I'm throwing statistics.

16:26 I'm talking about defensively. Three of his all time worst defensive performances

16:30 have come against the Celtics. That's crazy. Well, it's I mean, for those of us who watch

16:38 you watched him play beyond just when he plays Boston, there's it's it's different most of the

16:43 time when he plays Boston. And I don't know whether it's just the Al Horford factor or

16:48 whether it's just, you know, for some reason, it's a mental thing with him where, you know,

16:53 he knows that this is a team that has kind of had his number throughout his career. And he almost

16:57 almost plays himself out of some games mentally. I don't know. But there's there's a definitely

17:04 different energy that he comes to the game with and executes with against the Celtics.

17:09 It doesn't really make a lot of sense. But something else that doesn't make a lot of

17:16 sense or maybe it does, you would know this better than I do. Your boy, James Hart.

17:21 The trade hasn't quite worked out the way to clear for starting. Now, I think we all we all

17:31 were thinking there'd be a little bit of an adjustment period for James, but damn,

17:35 they catch four L's right out the gate with James right out the gate. And now and now the thing

17:42 about the losses, when you start looking, you know, you start sipping through the weeds,

17:46 you start looking at the numbers. They're like minus 67 in those first four games when he was

17:50 on the court. And the plus was a significant number when he was off. Are you shocked, surprised

17:58 at all by the struggles that he's had in kind of really immersing his game in with with flippers?

18:05 Yes and no. Like, you know, for the role that they want them, they need them to be

18:12 like being a scorer or this. I don't think he can do that anymore. Like, I think if James had

18:19 some other guy, like if James was just a facilitator getting out and go, yeah, he's good.

18:25 But but like, I don't see like I think the problem with James Harden is, you know,

18:30 James Harden is that type of guy now in his career. He's getting older. He'll give you

18:36 like every fourth game. I think he'll like step out and give you a dominant performance.

18:41 But on a nightly basis, he's just not that guy anymore. And also, I feel like in order for him

18:48 to excel the way that he wants to, you got to get him the way that he wants to. You got to get him

18:54 out there with a lot of like maybe shooters, rebounders, like it got to be like a 2001 76ers

19:02 where he's just going to chuck it up a lot. Right. But when you plan with when you're playing with a

19:07 bunch of other guys and then you got the ball in your hand and you got Russ and Russ can't shoot

19:13 either. I mean, Russ can't shoot. It's kind of like all it does is create space and issues.

19:19 Right. And I just don't I don't know, man, like it's a reason why. The Clippers were the only team

19:27 willing to really trade for him, give up something for him. So when you ask me if I'm surprised,

19:32 I am because just because you didn't think it was going to be as bad, but I'm not surprised

19:41 because James, again, I said, like he was winding down and a lot of those elite games he had,

19:49 like they were like, you know, I mean, like once a week, they were like once a week. Yeah. Yeah.

19:55 Because, I mean, there was a point in time where I mean, pretty much whatever you do,

19:58 the beard was going to be in the building. You chalk him up to 25, seven and not before he even,

20:03 you know, before he even combed through the beard to get somebody to get some of the food out of

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21:50 But, you know, the Sixers, to the credit, I mean, there was a lot of questions about whether they

21:57 got fair market value in return for him. And when you look at the players that it seems that

22:03 the Sixers were able to get not necessarily better players, but a better fit of players

22:08 for what they're looking to do. Is that fair to say?

22:11 I agree. And I agree. And if you and this is no knock at PJ Tucker, is no knock at Danny Green,

22:20 right? No knock at Philip Petrasad. But when you look at that, they did get better quality

22:27 of players. I mean, they did like because you got to take James Harden out of the equation,

22:32 right? Like you look at it and you say, OK, so is Nicholas Batum better than PJ Tucker right now?

22:40 Yeah, I think he is. Right. Yeah. Would you say Robert Covington might be a little bit more like

22:47 a little bit closer to him, a little bit better? Yes, I will. Right. So, you know, Marcus Morris,

22:53 is he better than like Philip Petrasad and this and that? Yes, he is. So it's like to me,

22:59 it was an upgrade. But you are right. It is a great fit because see, when you look at this team

23:05 now, right now, you don't have anybody competing with Joel to say this is my squad. What you have

23:14 is you have a lot of dudes who know how to play defense. Right. And then you got Marcus there

23:20 who can shoot. Right. And what they're doing is they're like they know their roles. And Joel

23:27 is the man, the unquestioned man. So when you look at that, he is a fit. He is also a fit on

23:33 the defensive end. Nick Nurse likes these long wings forwards who, you know what I mean, who can

23:39 get deflections and everything. They have a bunch of those guys. They're not asked to shoot. They're

23:45 asked to come in and provide defense. So, yeah, I think that what they did is it was a good

23:51 create from that standpoint because you're able to bring in these these bodies. Yeah, we we talked

23:58 a little about Jaden Springer, one of the newcomers for the for the the sixes this year and what he's

24:04 been able to do. But the biggest newcomer of all the newcomers is head coach Nick Nurse. Just what

24:09 are your early impressions of Nick who seems to have a pretty good pulse for what this team can

24:14 do and what he wants the team to do going forward? Yeah, I've been extremely impressed with Nick

24:19 Nurse, you know, and it's like, you know, you don't want to say this because you don't want to

24:23 seem like you're the homer dude, but like you feel like, you know, Nick Nurse, if the Sixers,

24:28 you know, finish second, he has to be in the east or even third. He has to be the coach of the year.

24:34 I mean, you have to because the thing that Nick Nurse did is at first when he came and he was

24:39 talking about we want to have this free flow and offense and this and that and I'm like, okay,

24:43 this ain't going to work right. Like you're going to take the ball out of Joel's hand and he's going

24:48 to be cool with it. Like, yo, man, like this ain't working, dog. This ain't working. That's what you

24:53 think and then all of a sudden, you look at it and you see how guys are cutting. You see how Joel is

24:59 happy because it's taking the pressure off of him, right? So, you see that and you're like,

25:04 dang, this is okay now. Now, nobody's criticizing Tobias about the money he makes. They're all like

25:12 saying he's, you know, a great player. So, I look at that and you see how Kelly fit in. That was

25:18 great. On a defensive end, they're playing so much more aggressive than they were in the past

25:24 and like so we can say, okay, Tyrese Maxey ascended. Joel Embiid is like playing better

25:32 defense. You know, Kelly Oubre is fitting in. Tobias is doing this. Nah, it's all the coach.

25:38 The coach is the one putting all these guys in these positions and getting buy-in from everyone.

25:44 So, yeah, Nick Nurse has been, in my opinion, the MVP of the teams thus far.

25:50 Okay. Okay. Okay. Now, shifting gears a little bit because we talked quite a bit about this

25:56 situation. Let's talk a little bit about the Celtics. They're expected to be one of the

26:00 better teams this year. You've had a chance to see them play a couple times this year.

26:04 What are your impressions of the Celtics after, you know, seeing them, you know, do the things

26:10 last just this early part of the season? I think the Celtics are the best team in the league. I do.

26:15 I feel like, you know, the scary thing that I had early on, the major question marks was about the

26:21 bench, right? You know, and I do still think that they got a move in them and they can go out there

26:27 and get another guy but when you look at the Celtics from one through six, I think they got

26:34 the best starting lineup and and Al Horford coming as a sixth man. I know he's thirty-eight but Al

26:41 can still play. You know what I mean? So, I like that. Now, they got a couple bench dudes that like,

26:47 yeah, they're not like exactly like the dudes that people saying I'm gonna do a scouting report for

26:52 but just leave them open. Just leave them open. They're gonna hit that shot but let's talk about

26:57 the to me, the biggest, the most underrated thing of what the Sixers is the backcourt. I honestly

27:07 believe that Drew Holiday and Derek White and I know I might be in a minority nationally but I

27:12 think that's the best backcourt in the league right now. I mean, you don't have, I mean,

27:17 Drew Holiday is a two-time all-star, right? Drew Holiday is like an all-defensive type of guy.

27:23 Now, is he the flashy, the the the sexy dude pick? No. Is Derek White that? No. But Derek White can

27:31 play, man. Like, we we look at the two games that they lost and the one game that they well, they

27:38 the one game they almost they struggled against Brooklyn. They won. Derek White wasn't there.

27:43 They go to what's in Minneapolis and they lost. Derek White wasn't there. That was an overtime.

27:50 Then he comes and he flies back and gets there like a like a hour or so before the game against

27:55 the Sixers and then they lost that game. That dude right there is important, special. Now,

28:01 the thing is, I like Chris Stopps. I like him in a non-star role, right? If you say Chris Stopps,

28:09 you're gonna be my number one and number two, you might be in trouble but as a non-star role,

28:16 just like hitting threes and rolling to the basket, doing stuff like that, I really like it

28:21 but the question mark on the six, I mean, on the I keep saying I'm saying Sixers on the Celtics

28:27 is the Jays. Like, are y'all gonna play together? Are y'all gonna play together? You know what I

28:33 mean? And if they do and and I don't mean like what they was doing at times. Okay, bro, I got

28:39 the first half and you got the second half. Right. Nah, if they could play together, they're good

28:44 but like when you look at this starting lineup on paper, on paper, before you see him, you say,

28:50 that's a small lineup. You say that but then you look and you realize how big Jason Tatum actually

28:58 is and you like and I and I saw it like him playing against Tobias yesterday. He was giving

29:04 Tobias the business, man. Like, it was like, it was like he was a two guard. It was like,

29:09 he bigger than Tobias but it was like Tobias was trying to guard a two guard and it wasn't

29:14 working out for him. So, I feel like this is the best team. The thing is, I do think that they need

29:22 at the trade down or some particular point to go out there and get a dog to come off the bench. Get

29:29 somebody for that bench. Well, they need one but that lineup, I really like it, man. I really do.

29:35 Yeah. Yeah. That's been the big, you know, question mark with him and particularly when

29:40 when, you know, a guy or two goes down but that that's what made the win over Trilley

29:44 the other night so impressive was that no Jay LeBron, no Chris Stafford for singing. So, you

29:47 throw, you know, you throw Sam Housman to the starting lineup. You throw Allen and Al had been

29:52 shooting the ball particularly well before that. So, there were some questions about how impactful

29:57 will he be and Al, you know, made some big shots. Sam hit a couple shots and then they went, you

30:02 know, the Celtics, they went a little bit deeper than I think most people expect him to go on the

30:08 bench. I mean, we saw guys that, you know, who hardly ever play like Delano Bent used to play

30:13 for, you know, Toronto Young fella. He came in and gave him great minutes and play like eight

30:17 minutes and was like really, really effective and, you know, you know, see the, you know, the

30:23 shooter used to play for Detroit. You know, he comes in there, takes four shots, makes a couple.

30:28 He's got five points in about six, seven minutes. They got a lot of value out of guys near the end

30:35 of the bench but keep the thing that, you know, and we'll kind of close it out on this. We're

30:39 talking about Keith Pompey, a 63 rider from the Philadelphia Enquirer. Looking at this Sixers team,

30:46 looking at this Celtics team, would not surprise me if they met in maybe the second round of the

30:51 plus, maybe even the conference finals. Based on what you've seen thus far, how do you think that

30:57 series would go if these two were to collide, you know, in the conference finals, Bridget?

31:01 I think the Celtics would beat them, dude. I do. I mean, like, there's certain teams you don't

31:08 want to play. I mean, people in Philly don't want to hear this but, I mean, saying it but

31:12 it's certain teams you don't want to play. Like, I think that, see, the one thing that we gotta

31:17 understand is that, you know, the Celtics were having Sam Cassell on there. Sam Cassell been

31:24 around for what, the last three years. Joel, he gonna say, "Hey, Joel doesn't like this." You know,

31:30 Al Horford, like, I mean, this is like, you know, you said Al wasn't shooting the ball particularly

31:36 well. You had to know he was going to shoot the ball well going to Philly. My man was blowing

31:41 kisses and all the whole nine, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know what I mean? We saw a 25

31:47 year old Al out there with the energy, you know what I'm saying? So, like, I honestly think,

31:52 and I do think, like, yes, Maxie, Maxie has ascended but I think that the stuff that I saw

32:02 Jason Tatum doing at Tobias yesterday, like, it was like he had a cheat code. I mean, seriously,

32:08 you saw that? So, I just think that there's certain teams that have a number and I think

32:15 the Celtics have the Sixers number and let's face it, in the playoffs, it ain't about who's the

32:21 deepest team. It's about, because, you know, you reduce your rotation. I just think it's just going

32:27 to be, I think it's a tough draw for them. I think the time for the Sixers to beat them was last year.

32:33 Yeah, absolutely. Well, listen, Keith, as always, appreciate you, brother. Keith Pompey,

32:39 Sixers beat writer for the Philadelphia Choir. This is the A-List Podcast. I'm your host,

32:44 H-Rob Blakely. Thanks for checking us out. Check all your podcasting apps where you can get the

32:49 latest episodes of the A-List Podcast in addition to this one. So again, thanks for checking us out.

32:56 We are out.

33:03 [Music]

Celtics BEST TEAM in NBA? w/ Keith Pompey | A List Podcast

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