LIVE: Celtics vs Warriors Postgame Show | Garden Report - video Dailymotion

CLNS Media Sports Network

The Garden Report goes live following the Celtics game vs the Warriors. Catch the Celtics Postgame Show featuring Bobby Manning, Josue Pavon, A. Sherrod Blakely and John Zannis as they offer insights and analysis from Boston's game vs Golden State.  This episode of the Garden Report is brought to you by:  Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!   Nutrafol Men! Take the first step to visibly thicker, healthier hair. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com/MEN and enter the promo code GARDEN!  Football season may be over, but the action on the floor is heating up. Whether it’s Tournament Season or the fight for playoff homecourt, there’s no shortage of high stakes basketball moments this time of year. Quick withdrawals, easy gameplay and an enormous selection of players and stat types are what make PrizePicks the #1 daily fantasy sports app!  #Celtics #NBA #GardenReport #CLNS

Transcript

00:00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:00:03 Can you say hard hats, folks?

00:00:08 Hard hats, munch pails, steel tool boots.

00:00:10 Anything short of a championship this year is a failure.

00:00:12 It's not a-- look at this boomer right here.

00:00:14 You've just got so much talent here.

00:00:17 Somebody said we need to apologize for Jamie.

00:00:19 Can I pull the John?

00:00:20 What are we apologizing for?

00:00:21 What did we say?

00:00:22 What did we do?

00:00:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:00:26 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:00:29 Well, well, well.

00:00:34 Way to go, John.

00:00:37 What's going on?

00:00:39 Not a whole lot.

00:00:40 Not a whole lot.

00:00:42 Golden state, my goodness.

00:00:44 Oh my god.

00:00:46 I just want--

00:00:48 honestly, all I want is--

00:00:51 I don't want to do the post-game show.

00:00:52 I don't want to listen to post-game talk.

00:00:54 I just want a microphone in Draymond Green's face.

00:00:57 And I just want to hear him talk for a little bit.

00:01:01 Wow.

00:01:02 I want to hear him talk.

00:01:03 And yeah, Blurp, I think the Celtics didn't want my--

00:01:06 didn't want a rational media rants about, oh, they're soft,

00:01:13 and they're in their heads.

00:01:14 And yes, I'm going to tell you--

00:01:15 Draymond's your daddy.

00:01:17 I warned you.

00:01:18 I warned you.

00:01:19 I was going to do that.

00:01:21 I was not going to be able to help myself.

00:01:23 But, and I will say--

00:01:25 and I think a lot of us felt the same way, Sharad,

00:01:27 but my opinion is I'm as--

00:01:33 the wind does as much to allay any concerns

00:01:36 I have about this team's mental makeup as a loss would have

00:01:41 kind of sent me over a cliff.

00:01:43 It would have been a little--

00:01:44 there was going to be some theatrics involved

00:01:46 with a loss there.

00:01:47 But it really would have planted--

00:01:48 sowed a seed of doubt.

00:01:51 Sure, what else do you need to see for real from this team?

00:01:54 Like, yes, you'd love them to go into Denver and play them--

00:01:58 and win that game.

00:01:59 You'd love to see it and make you feel better.

00:02:01 Because right now, I think the entire world is looking

00:02:04 at Celtics-Denver, and that's it.

00:02:06 And that's the only conversation left to have.

00:02:08 I don't think anyone's having conversations about the East

00:02:10 anymore.

00:02:11 Maybe there's some conversations to be had out west,

00:02:13 but honestly, I don't think people really believe it.

00:02:15 I think people believe at their best, these are the two teams,

00:02:18 and this is all that's left at this point.

00:02:20 I don't know what else you have to think about, worry about.

00:02:24 You've handled Miami a couple of times

00:02:26 this year without really much concern.

00:02:29 I don't see anybody in the East, as you said a million times

00:02:32 before, threatening them.

00:02:33 But again, that ability of a team

00:02:35 to get in, tweak you, throw you off your game, do the things,

00:02:39 make you play left-handed, so to speak, nope.

00:02:44 Not this team, not this year.

00:02:46 Certainly not the Warriors.

00:02:47 And that felt great.

00:02:49 Yeah, the thing that I just keep being blown away by

00:02:53 isn't so much the fact that they're winning,

00:02:55 but just the emphatic fashion that they're doing it.

00:02:59 I mean, they're not just beating you,

00:03:01 they're snatching your soul, looking at it,

00:03:05 having you take a look at it, and just walking the hell away

00:03:07 from it, and there's nothing you can do.

00:03:09 This was, to me, this game encapsulated a lot of what

00:03:13 we've seen from this team, particularly when they're

00:03:14 playing teams that are either in the top tier record-wise,

00:03:17 or they are top tier in terms of overall status.

00:03:21 I mean, Golden State isn't a top four, top five team,

00:03:24 but they're still-- they are an elite team because

00:03:26 of their track record.

00:03:28 And the Celtics came into this game,

00:03:30 and they just laid the smack down from the very outset.

00:03:34 I'm still trying to understand what the hell Draymond was

00:03:37 thinking and just letting Jalen shoot whatever the hell he

00:03:39 wanted to.

00:03:40 I mean, this is a $300 million all-NBA type of player

00:03:45 who has shown the ability to knock down open shots.

00:03:47 And I don't think what they banked on was that not only did

00:03:51 he knock down a couple, but then it

00:03:52 seemed to activate his defense.

00:03:54 I mean, you got him pulling up on Steph Curry at half court

00:03:57 and forcing Steph Curry over and back violations.

00:03:59 You've got guys who normally, with a few dribbles,

00:04:02 can maybe get by him, can't do that.

00:04:04 And you got him bringing it up with the left hand

00:04:06 as if he's that guy.

00:04:08 And that just led to this domino effect

00:04:11 when Derek White gets going, and Drew Holiday, and Al,

00:04:13 and Tatum.

00:04:14 And you got Peyton Pritchard makes his first seven shots

00:04:17 before he misses.

00:04:18 I mean, this was just a total dominant smack down

00:04:25 in every sense of the word.

00:04:26 Amazing.

00:04:27 So to the thing that you were talking about,

00:04:29 because I was running it through in my head,

00:04:31 and it seems relatively inconsequential now,

00:04:34 given everything that kind of followed it.

00:04:36 But yeah, I do think it activated, Jalen.

00:04:39 And I look at it this way.

00:04:40 I always say, why do teams play zone

00:04:43 or do Mickey Mouse things?

00:04:45 Because they can't beat you straight up.

00:04:48 So to me, and why do you give it up?

00:04:51 There are some Patriots teams, I remember back in the day,

00:04:53 that didn't want Peyton Manning to throw for 500 yards.

00:04:56 So they just basically put eight D-backs

00:04:59 and let them run all they wanted.

00:05:01 There was one game, NoSean Moreno had like 250 yards.

00:05:03 Like, I'll give you this all day.

00:05:05 I just don't want to get beat by this.

00:05:07 And I'm wondering if there was some consensus agreement, which

00:05:10 is, if there's one guy on that floor,

00:05:13 we want to give threes to, I guess,

00:05:15 just looking at the percentages only,

00:05:18 I guess I'll give them to Jalen.

00:05:19 So and he thought, and also that might prevent him

00:05:23 from coming downhill on us and making life difficult

00:05:26 and getting into the paint.

00:05:27 So maybe that's-- if I can just get him to just jack threes,

00:05:31 he misses a few, he gets out of it,

00:05:32 and I give them to him all game, maybe that's

00:05:35 the thing that we can do.

00:05:36 But it feels like we're never-- it

00:05:38 feels like the type of strategy you only have when you're like,

00:05:41 we are never beating this team straight up.

00:05:44 So I'm going to try something crazy.

00:05:45 Because the idea of not checking a $300 million all-star,

00:05:50 it's not Draymond Green you're offering those--

00:05:53 or like the Celtics did last year in the playoffs with PJ

00:05:55 Tucker.

00:05:56 And you're like, OK, crap, he hit three of them.

00:05:58 I'm still going to let him take them.

00:06:00 That's not what this is.

00:06:01 I don't get it.

00:06:03 And I really do believe it was bordering on, I'm just--

00:06:07 I don't think we can beat these guys.

00:06:09 So I'm going to try this and see if it can mess with them

00:06:13 a little bit.

00:06:15 And that's it.

00:06:15 That's all I can think of.

00:06:16 It was a horrible idea to let it go on as long as they did.

00:06:20 I mean, I can understand coming to the game,

00:06:22 and maybe that is part of the game plan,

00:06:24 and you want to activate that, initiate that from the jump.

00:06:26 But after, I don't know, the third three he hits,

00:06:30 that's kind of when you start deeing him up.

00:06:31 And I was talking with a couple of scouts

00:06:33 at halftime about that.

00:06:35 And their mindset is, if a guy has that type of pedigree

00:06:40 that Jalen Brown has, and he's not a great three-point shooter,

00:06:43 but he knocks down a couple, you have to adjust.

00:06:46 You have to adjust and start treating him as if he is--

00:06:50 maybe not Steph Curry level, but definitely an above average

00:06:53 three-point shooter, because now he's in a rhythm.

00:06:56 He's feeling good about himself.

00:06:57 And everything about Jalen's game

00:06:59 seemed to get better and better and better

00:07:01 after they allowed him to get comfortable knocking out threes.

00:07:04 Yeah, and the other-- you're right.

00:07:06 So that sets the tone, the Jalen stuff.

00:07:09 I will say this, and Jalen even said it in his halftime

00:07:11 interview.

00:07:14 There was some question, is this big to us and not them,

00:07:19 media and fans?

00:07:21 And the same-- I remember the last--

00:07:23 the Golden State game last year, they went in there,

00:07:25 and you're like, they're going to be rip-roaring mad.

00:07:27 And they weren't.

00:07:27 And you're like, why weren't you rip-roaring mad?

00:07:29 Why didn't you care?

00:07:31 Why didn't you take it seriously?

00:07:32 And then they lose earlier this year as well.

00:07:34 They're blowing a 17-point lead.

00:07:37 And so that was always the thing.

00:07:40 I did have some people say in my Twitter mentions,

00:07:42 nah, it's more a media-driven thing than it is them.

00:07:45 To them, it's just another game.

00:07:46 You can tell they sat criss-taps.

00:07:48 I don't think so.

00:07:49 I think the way they played today

00:07:54 is clearly a team that is like, no freaking way.

00:08:00 You know what I mean?

00:08:02 We are going to-- this was a legit--

00:08:04 these sound like platitudes.

00:08:07 But I really believe this was an absolute statement game, just

00:08:11 based on the way they played both ways.

00:08:13 This was shades of E-MAY's second-half defense,

00:08:17 the way they played.

00:08:18 The switching-- and Bobby made a good point in our text thread.

00:08:22 This Golden State team currently allows for that,

00:08:25 because there's one to two guys on the floor you can ignore

00:08:28 at times, which creates--

00:08:31 you have a different free safety or roamer who can come and help

00:08:34 and double and rotate over when they need to.

00:08:37 And you can still recover in time to get to your shooters.

00:08:40 They had bodies on Curry every single place that he went.

00:08:43 It was really hard.

00:08:44 They were switching on those screens, not going under them.

00:08:47 Guys were jumping out, so he couldn't get those free looks.

00:08:50 But it looked like that defense that they

00:08:52 were playing in the E-MAY days, where

00:08:54 it looked like there were six or seven guys out there.

00:08:56 And no matter where Golden State went,

00:08:58 there was two to three bodies on them.

00:08:59 It was that kind of effort.

00:09:01 And you saw it from Tatum and Brown,

00:09:03 who manned up on those back-to-back possessions

00:09:05 on Curry.

00:09:06 One of them, Tatum locks him up, and he picked him up

00:09:09 in the half court a couple of times,

00:09:11 locks him up, forces him into a really bad shot.

00:09:13 And then Brown gets him at half court,

00:09:16 picks him up, and forces that turnover as well.

00:09:18 He picked him up full court a couple of times.

00:09:20 That's shades of what he did to Harden

00:09:22 last year in the playoffs.

00:09:23 When they're doing that, they're serious.

00:09:25 And you could tell they were serious about tonight.

00:09:28 Yeah, I think this was one of, if not the best game we've

00:09:31 seen from Tatum and Brown, same game defensively.

00:09:34 I thought that they were as locked in as we've seen

00:09:37 them both on the same night.

00:09:38 I think each of them individually,

00:09:39 they probably had better individual games defensively.

00:09:42 But as a collective tandem, this was impressive.

00:09:46 And Steph, he's not 100%.

00:09:48 And I get that.

00:09:49 I mean, he was probable for the game.

00:09:50 But he's still Steph freaking Curry.

00:09:53 And even when Steph is not at 100%,

00:09:56 but if he's at 80% or 70%, he's still

00:09:58 better than damn near everyone in the league at what he does.

00:10:00 So that's not something I'd be expecting to talk much about.

00:10:04 I certainly don't see that as an excuse.

00:10:06 Because the bottom line is this.

00:10:07 He is an elite player.

00:10:08 And that elite player was held in check

00:10:11 by guys who also fall under that elite player umbrella

00:10:14 with Tatum and Brown.

00:10:16 Again, I can't help but keep going back to Jalen

00:10:20 as being the catalyst of this.

00:10:22 And I can't help but think that the Southers, they may not

00:10:25 talk about it publicly.

00:10:26 But you've got to believe that they've got almost

00:10:28 their own little checklist of teams.

00:10:31 That if we get a shot when we play these guys,

00:10:33 they're going to see our A, A minus B plus game.

00:10:36 We have to show them exactly how good we are.

00:10:38 Because I don't think it's a coincidence

00:10:40 that some of their biggest blowout wins

00:10:42 have come against some of the best teams in the NBA.

00:10:45 I mean, you go back and look at the Dallas game

00:10:47 before this one.

00:10:47 Dallas was having a-- they're on a nice rhythm, nice run.

00:10:51 Dallas was living two points.

00:10:52 And the next thing you know, they're down by 20.

00:10:54 They have the ability to strike in an impactful way

00:10:59 that when they're locked in, they've

00:11:02 shown time and time again there's

00:11:03 no one better than them in the NBA

00:11:05 when they're really locked in.

00:11:07 And when you just look at their play,

00:11:08 the only thing that you can conceivably

00:11:10 see that will derail them from, at a minimum,

00:11:13 getting to the NBA finals is health.

00:11:15 That's the only thing that can set them back at this point.

00:11:18 Yes, yes.

00:11:19 And we don't talk about that.

00:11:20 But you're right in the sense that that's

00:11:24 kind of what we've been saying for a long time.

00:11:26 The best thing about the team in general--

00:11:28 and we'll go back to Jalen because I do want to talk

00:11:31 about that start as well.

00:11:34 Best thing about the team is that any potential--

00:11:39 they have not hit lows for long, all year long,

00:11:44 like some past versions of this team.

00:11:47 And it's not-- I don't even think

00:11:49 it's fair to say past versions or core.

00:11:52 I mean, they did an overhaul that was necessary.

00:11:55 And I think that's made a huge difference.

00:11:57 But also the maturation of both Tatum and Brown

00:12:00 and the way that they're playing now, everything changed.

00:12:02 Everything's a lot different this year.

00:12:06 And you're right.

00:12:06 I think Brown very much was, in this game,

00:12:10 like this was a mistake that they made here,

00:12:14 doing what they were doing.

00:12:15 And it did light him up.

00:12:17 And it took a 21-21 game.

00:12:21 And then Brown just boom, boom, boom, boom.

00:12:25 All of a sudden, he's got 19 points.

00:12:26 It's a double-digit game.

00:12:27 They never look back from there.

00:12:29 And that was absolutely started by Jalen Brown

00:12:32 in the second half--

00:12:33 early in that second quarter, but through the second half

00:12:35 of that second quarter.

00:12:36 Because Tatum goes out.

00:12:37 He gets his Tatum rest.

00:12:39 He hadn't done anything to that point.

00:12:42 He'd only taken one field goal attempt, a forced pull-up.

00:12:46 It was all Brown.

00:12:47 So when Brown stayed there and Tatum took a seat,

00:12:50 that's when it took off.

00:12:51 So you have to give him props there.

00:12:53 It went from 21-21 at the six-minute mark

00:12:57 to almost exactly 12 minutes later,

00:13:01 they were up by 32 points.

00:13:03 Yeah.

00:13:04 And that was launched by Jalen there in that second quarter.

00:13:09 Yeah, and I think this was--

00:13:11 This was the second quarter--

00:13:12 yeah, first quarter, sorry.

00:13:13 Second half of the first quarter there, where he just

00:13:18 completely took control.

00:13:19 Yeah, I mean, this was him at his absolute best

00:13:21 at both ends of the floor.

00:13:23 And this is $300 million Jalen.

00:13:26 This is what $300 million players do.

00:13:27 They absolutely dominate offensively.

00:13:30 They lock you up defensively.

00:13:32 And at the end of the day, not only

00:13:33 do they have their own individual stats,

00:13:35 but then you look at the scoreboard

00:13:36 and their team is dominating play.

00:13:39 I mean, this was--

00:13:40 and again, if anyone is wondering whether Jalen is

00:13:44 worth all that money, these are the kind of games

00:13:47 that justify and I think quantify why he's one

00:13:51 of the better players in the NBA.

00:13:53 Not everyone can go out there and dominate the way

00:13:55 he did at both ends of the floor.

00:13:56 But more importantly, and we've talked about this,

00:13:59 set the tone for the rest of the teams to follow.

00:14:01 So many times with this group, it's Tatum leading the way.

00:14:04 And that's all fine and good.

00:14:05 But every now and then, Jalen needs

00:14:07 to be the tone setter too.

00:14:08 And I thought this was a great example of a game

00:14:10 where his play set the tone for the rest of the game

00:14:13 and for the team to just kind of pull away for an easy win.

00:14:16 Yeah, and he are-- and that is where he did it.

00:14:18 And I was trying to pull it up.

00:14:19 At that 21-21 mark, when things were tied,

00:14:23 they had already given Jalen a chance to shoot at that point.

00:14:26 And he was taking it.

00:14:27 And then what happens after that?

00:14:29 Curry ties it at 21.

00:14:31 Brown makes it 3, 24-21.

00:14:34 Brown comes back, another 3, 27-21.

00:14:38 Makes another one, 30-21.

00:14:40 All of a sudden, it's a 9-point game.

00:14:43 And then Hauser comes in with that--

00:14:46 and White finds him.

00:14:48 Another 3, boom, gone.

00:14:49 And then I'm going to give Luke some flowers too.

00:14:52 That's where you got that little Luke burst there.

00:14:54 Luke makes a nice--

00:14:54 White makes a nice play and a drop down to Luke.

00:14:58 Luke doing chin-ups on the rim.

00:14:59 You don't see that every day.

00:15:00 Nice.

00:15:01 That was nice.

00:15:02 Yeah, yeah.

00:15:03 So all of that stuff.

00:15:04 So it was all good.

00:15:06 But Jalen starts that little spurt at the 21-21 mark,

00:15:10 gets him up into the double-digit territory.

00:15:13 Bye-bye.

00:15:14 And you know what?

00:15:15 Actually, people have been asking for this.

00:15:17 What happened after that?

00:15:19 Only good things.

00:15:20 Did we get-- yeah.

00:15:21 Only good things.

00:15:22 Look at that.

00:15:23 Look at that.

00:15:24 [LAUGHTER]

00:15:27 People were asking for it.

00:15:29 I won one.

00:15:30 That was awesome.

00:15:31 That was awesome.

00:15:32 But again--

00:15:33 That's what happened.

00:15:35 This is-- you want to be balanced

00:15:38 in how you look at this team.

00:15:39 I mean, you don't want to just gas their heads up.

00:15:43 But it's hard not to when they play like this.

00:15:46 I mean, what are you going to nitpick at?

00:15:49 That what?

00:15:49 Peyton missed three of his last five shots?

00:15:51 Woo.

00:15:52 I mean, it's hard to find things to fault

00:15:56 in coming in, playing a team like this,

00:15:58 and just absolutely annihilating them.

00:16:00 I mean, you saw--

00:16:02 basically, it was Geno time at halftime.

00:16:04 I mean, when you--

00:16:05 I mean, Tatum, all the core guys--

00:16:07 I mean, no one played more than like 25 minutes

00:16:08 for the Celtics, among their starters.

00:16:10 I don't think they've had a game like that all year,

00:16:12 because we've complained about some times where it feels

00:16:15 like Tatum is in there a little bit longer than he should be

00:16:17 in a game that they clearly have control of.

00:16:19 But Missoula was not messing around with that tonight.

00:16:21 I mean, they're up by a damn near 50 points

00:16:23 early in the third quarter.

00:16:25 And boom, Tatum is gone.

00:16:26 And Jayla's gone.

00:16:27 The entire 7-5 is gone.

00:16:29 So this was-- again, this was a great--

00:16:30 and it was a great opportunity for a lot of those bench guys

00:16:34 who we're not going to see much of when we get to the playoffs,

00:16:36 or certainly as this team moves on, but to see what they could

00:16:39 do.

00:16:40 I mean, Jaden Springer got a little bit of burnout there.

00:16:43 I didn't know Zeke had bounce.

00:16:46 I mean, he caught a lob from Pritchard.

00:16:47 I'm thinking, like, wait a minute,

00:16:48 so what didn't he get to straight?

00:16:49 Their three-point snipers are catching lobs.

00:16:52 It was that kind of game for the Celtics.

00:16:55 So--

00:16:56 Yeah, it was that kind of game.

00:17:00 We've got some stuff coming in.

00:17:02 And yeah, I agree, Sharron.

00:17:04 I like the bench.

00:17:05 I like getting some bench run.

00:17:06 I like that they kept the intensity going

00:17:08 and it wasn't just screwing around stuff.

00:17:10 I always think it's kind of a cheat code

00:17:12 when you're using Hauser and Pritchard with that bench unit

00:17:14 because those guys are still in there.

00:17:16 But it doesn't matter.

00:17:17 You need some semblance of people

00:17:20 who have been around the block a little bit.

00:17:22 But you're right.

00:17:23 It was so--

00:17:24 I mean, the seven minutes--

00:17:26 I mean, forget about the Celtics pulled their starters

00:17:28 when it got to 50 points with seven minutes

00:17:30 to go in the third quarter.

00:17:31 Golden State starters didn't come out

00:17:33 of the freaking locker room, OK?

00:17:36 And this was reminiscent of the Celtics-Bucs game

00:17:39 where Missoula looked at it and said, yeah, we're

00:17:42 not doing it tonight, are we?

00:17:43 But I'll say the difference between those two games--

00:17:45 Celtics came out and clearly played like ass in that game,

00:17:49 not making the second night of a back-to-back.

00:17:51 It was clear they didn't want to be out there.

00:17:53 Golden State tried.

00:17:55 They just couldn't do anything, anything all night.

00:18:00 It's not like one of those nights where they were--

00:18:03 yeah, sure, Curry can hit a couple of the shots

00:18:05 that he missed.

00:18:05 They made life so freaking hard for him,

00:18:08 and there was nothing else that they could do.

00:18:11 So it was incredible.

00:18:13 I'm told we've got a bite here.

00:18:20 And Joe might acknowledge that, yeah, maybe there

00:18:22 was a little bit something going on with playing Golden State

00:18:27 and how they fared last time.

00:18:29 It's coming.

00:18:34 Excited.

00:18:35 Excited.

00:18:36 You were encouraged.

00:18:37 What's it like when your plan comes to fruition

00:18:41 the second time around, when everything works because you

00:18:45 thought some positive things after that loss that obviously

00:18:48 worked out well today?

00:18:49 Well, I mean, I think it's--

00:18:51 you can't just-- what I was excited about in that game

00:18:54 against Golden State is a process

00:18:56 towards building an identity.

00:18:57 So we did it in multiple games up until that point.

00:18:59 And so the correlation to what we

00:19:01 did well during that game and this particular game,

00:19:03 it's more about the habit and the identity

00:19:05 that we built up until that point.

00:19:06 And so I was very encouraged with the way

00:19:09 we were able to attack them on the offensive end.

00:19:11 I was encouraged with the way we played for those 2 and 1/2

00:19:14 quarters.

00:19:14 And it was a clear understanding,

00:19:16 especially in a late game.

00:19:17 I thought we did a great job guarding them and attacking

00:19:19 them.

00:19:20 But it was a clear distinction between the end of the third

00:19:22 and the start of the fourth.

00:19:23 And so just keeping that as an identity of knowing

00:19:25 how to manage games, how to manage runs,

00:19:28 is something that we talk about a lot.

00:19:29 And I think the guys have grown in their identity

00:19:32 as far as game management.

00:19:33 And I think that game really exploited that for us.

00:19:36 And it's something that we try to work on.

00:19:38 I'm going to--

00:19:41 I got you muted for a second, Sharak,

00:19:42 because there was some background noise.

00:19:44 I got-- you're back on now.

00:19:45 That was a normal human answer from Joe Mazzulla

00:19:48 to a very normal Gary Washburn question.

00:19:51 And I think that this is a landmark moment.

00:19:55 And I just wanted to celebrate that.

00:19:59 We need the fireworks.

00:20:00 Yeah, we need the fireworks.

00:20:02 What else can I do?

00:20:03 I could do this.

00:20:04 I think this does something.

00:20:05 I think it does confetti.

00:20:07 We'll do that instead.

00:20:09 No, I like the fact that Joe's talking about game management,

00:20:13 because he's spot on.

00:20:14 I mean, that has been a problem for this team

00:20:16 for a number of years, not just in the Hime Yudoka Joe Mazzulla

00:20:21 era.

00:20:21 It was a problem during Brad's tenure, too,

00:20:23 where they would have to be in position to win games

00:20:25 down a stretch.

00:20:26 And they just would not manage the game properly enough

00:20:29 and ultimately find a way to lose.

00:20:30 That's not happening now.

00:20:32 In the games that are relatively tight,

00:20:34 they're doing all the things down a stretch, more times

00:20:36 than not, to get the win.

00:20:37 But more times than not, they're just

00:20:40 beating the snot out of you and not even having

00:20:42 to be an issue down a stretch.

00:20:45 And so they've found a way to manage the game,

00:20:47 both when it comes to blowing teams out

00:20:49 and when it comes to winning tight games.

00:20:51 And that's what championship teams do.

00:20:54 They figure out what they need to do

00:20:56 against a particular opponent to come away victorious.

00:20:59 And if it's a coin toss type of game down a stretch,

00:21:03 they're going to find a way to get things heading

00:21:06 in their direction.

00:21:08 Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it.

00:21:10 No doubt about it.

00:21:11 And they have won in a lot of ways.

00:21:13 And again, just going back to the initial point,

00:21:19 I do think you wanted to see this as a fan to feel better,

00:21:23 to know that they can exercise this demon.

00:21:25 And I think a lot of people absolutely feel better

00:21:29 having watched this game.

00:21:31 I know I do, for real.

00:21:36 And again, what I'm most impressed with is the mentality.

00:21:41 It's not a bunch of shots went in and that's great.

00:21:43 It's just they were absolutely killers.

00:21:46 And you got it from your two best players.

00:21:47 And those are the two that Golden State has toyed with

00:21:50 mentally in the past and really made life difficult for them.

00:21:54 Tatum has not performed well against this team.

00:21:56 Jalen Brown has been spotty.

00:21:58 And obviously, we have these playoff images of the last time

00:22:04 you saw Jalen.

00:22:05 And obviously, he played better in that Golden State series

00:22:09 a couple of years ago.

00:22:09 Tatum was dreadful.

00:22:12 You don't want to think that they're

00:22:13 occupying space in their head.

00:22:15 And that makes you feel a lot better today that it's not.

00:22:19 So we've got more coming up.

00:22:21 We do have Bobby and Sherrod down there.

00:22:23 I even got Jimmy.

00:22:24 Jimmy's gone for the weekend.

00:22:26 He's like, whoa, score.

00:22:27 I think he might jump in here in a little bit

00:22:29 and jump in and talk to us.

00:22:33 But real quick, I want to tell you about one of our sponsors.

00:22:35 Brand new sponsor welcoming into the Garden Report

00:22:39 as our new frontline sponsor.

00:22:42 And it's a really fun, cool company,

00:22:43 which a lot of people know about.

00:22:45 And that is PrizePix.

00:22:47 It's the largest daily fantasy sports platform

00:22:49 in all of North America.

00:22:50 Easy and exciting way to play.

00:22:52 It's just you against the numbers.

00:22:54 Instead of battling a million players,

00:22:56 you're just picking more or less on two to six players

00:22:59 with their stat projections on a given day.

00:23:02 And that's it.

00:23:03 Watch the winnings roll in.

00:23:04 So again, football season might be over.

00:23:06 So be it.

00:23:07 You got a lot of action on the court.

00:23:09 Here we are entering the stretch run with the NBA.

00:23:12 You're going to get March Madness.

00:23:13 There's a lot of stuff.

00:23:14 You can win up to 100 times your money on PrizePix.

00:23:17 As little as four correct picks turn 10 into 1,000.

00:23:20 NBA, NHL, college basketball, whatever you want.

00:23:23 Really simple.

00:23:23 You can make your picks in 60 seconds.

00:23:25 It's a really cool display and app with pictures

00:23:29 and extremely easy to navigate.

00:23:31 Tons of new fun promotions that you can do.

00:23:34 So download the app today.

00:23:35 Use the code CLNS for a first deposit match up to 100.

00:23:39 Once again, download that app.

00:23:41 Use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to 100.

00:23:45 Hey, even if you're not super into it, check it out.

00:23:49 Pop on in there.

00:23:50 Use that code if you did want to sign up.

00:23:52 And that is great for us.

00:23:55 So once again, PrizePix, number one daily fantasy sports

00:24:00 platform in North America here for you.

00:24:04 So Sherrod, back to the game here.

00:24:08 I don't know where else to go other than because it

00:24:10 was such a global butt kicking.

00:24:13 It's weird to like, oh, we're not going to talk about Tatum.

00:24:16 We're not going to talk about Brown.

00:24:17 We're not going to talk about White.

00:24:19 Not going to talk about Horford.

00:24:20 Were you a little worried when you found out

00:24:22 Porzingis wasn't playing that this would be a game where

00:24:25 like, uh-oh.

00:24:27 It could be a loss.

00:24:28 There could be some excuses.

00:24:30 You're going to see it's going to go back to Tatum and Brown

00:24:33 only.

00:24:34 They're not going to have their safety, their security

00:24:36 blanket, bailout safety valve in Porzingis.

00:24:39 Were you a little concerned when you found out

00:24:41 he was out how this might go?

00:24:43 I was a little concerned that the game would

00:24:45 be closer than it should be.

00:24:47 I still thought the Sels are going to win this game.

00:24:49 But I thought without Porzingis, it

00:24:51 would be a little bit closer only because he, again,

00:24:54 this is a game where he has a significant mismatch

00:24:57 in his favor at the offensive end of the floor.

00:25:00 Draymond does not defend at the level

00:25:02 that we've seen him in past years.

00:25:04 And once you try to minimize his impact,

00:25:06 the things will be-- there just aren't a lot of bigs

00:25:08 that you feel good about can at least give Porzingis

00:25:12 some type of resistance significantly.

00:25:15 And so I fully expected him to have a major, major,

00:25:18 major game if he played.

00:25:21 So without him in the mix, then you got to figure out, OK,

00:25:23 well, where are they going to go?

00:25:24 And their game plan was to just basically make

00:25:27 Jaylon a three-point shooter.

00:25:28 And I'm dwelling on that because I still

00:25:32 don't understand to this day why they stuck with that

00:25:35 for so long.

00:25:36 I mean, you're down 22 points in the first quarter.

00:25:39 How in the hell are you going with a strategy

00:25:42 at that point in the game that clearly doesn't work?

00:25:45 I mean, that one guy set all of the beating, the pummeling

00:25:49 that you experienced in the first quarter.

00:25:51 Jaylon Brown was the initiator of that.

00:25:53 And at no point did it seem like they

00:25:56 tried to do something different, whether it's Draymond,

00:25:59 you might want to go out there and guard him

00:26:00 and write that three-point line.

00:26:01 Or give me one of these young bigs.

00:26:03 Dale Davis's son is on the team.

00:26:05 Throw him out there, the Davis kid, who I think

00:26:07 is going to be pretty good.

00:26:09 Put him on Jaylon.

00:26:10 Do something to just show that you're not just waving--

00:26:13 it felt like they waved the white flag.

00:26:14 And he played well last game.

00:26:16 Yeah.

00:26:17 Against him, yeah.

00:26:17 Exactly.

00:26:18 Jackson Davis, yeah.

00:26:19 Yeah, it felt like they were waving a white flag

00:26:21 in the first quarter, which is something that--

00:26:24 That's all I keep coming back to.

00:26:25 I think it was just straight up, this

00:26:27 is the only where we got to do some funky shit.

00:26:30 But you know what, you start putting in Jackson Davis,

00:26:33 you start doing those things, you are too.

00:26:34 But you're right, the thing that happened

00:26:38 is it's the same thing we've talked about before.

00:26:41 They get you so fast.

00:26:43 Tie game, 12-point game, 18-point game,

00:26:46 22-point game, 30-32-40, gone.

00:26:50 Bye-bye, ball game.

00:26:52 It happens so fast.

00:26:54 So Golden State's in there thinking, we're OK.

00:26:58 It's working.

00:26:59 We're halfway through the first.

00:27:00 We're hitting our shot.

00:27:01 21-all, we're going to be fine.

00:27:04 That's it.

00:27:05 And that's happened every game post-break.

00:27:07 A team has been there.

00:27:10 In most cases, it's been in the third quarter,

00:27:13 somewhere later where it's happened.

00:27:15 Some things come out pretty good,

00:27:16 shoot well, play with their food.

00:27:18 Happened with Dallas a little bit.

00:27:19 Dallas gets in a couple of buckets, too.

00:27:21 Every single game post-break.

00:27:24 Golden State's sitting there at 21-21 thinking, we're hanging.

00:27:26 We're doing our thing.

00:27:28 Gone, just like that.

00:27:29 Just over.

00:27:31 I mean, soul snatched.

00:27:33 Unbelievable.

00:27:34 And it feels as though, because it's

00:27:37 happening over and over and over and over again, you say, well,

00:27:39 why don't they just do something to slow it down?

00:27:41 And I think that's the scary part.

00:27:43 They're trying.

00:27:44 They're trying to actually shift away

00:27:47 from getting their asses kicked.

00:27:48 And the Celtics are just like, no, you're

00:27:50 going to stay right here.

00:27:51 You're going to take this ass-whipping.

00:27:53 We're going to go up by 20.

00:27:54 And then we're just going to basically neutralize you

00:27:58 for the rest of the game and win by 20, 25 points.

00:28:00 And there's nothing that the team can do about it.

00:28:03 Yeah, and I think this is fair.

00:28:05 This is the first time in the history of Louise

00:28:09 where there isn't any exaggeration

00:28:12 behind a Jalen Brown comment.

00:28:13 I think this is dead on.

00:28:14 I absolutely think he looked at him and said, I go out there,

00:28:18 I'm screwed.

00:28:20 I'll have to foul him every time.

00:28:22 He's going to cook me.

00:28:24 And he knew it.

00:28:25 And so he gave it to him because that

00:28:27 was the better alternative.

00:28:29 I'm going to hope 35% from three is the best play here.

00:28:32 And that's what I'm going to go with because he

00:28:34 knew he wasn't going to get it.

00:28:35 But I'm going to keep coming back to it.

00:28:37 I know I was going to look at the offense here.

00:28:39 I thought this was one of the more impressive defensive

00:28:41 performances in a long time because of that.

00:28:43 And Bobby's going to be shocked when he comes on the show

00:28:46 and I'm talking about defense.

00:28:48 But I thought it was just insane how good it was,

00:28:52 insane how good this defense was.

00:28:55 Oh, let me see.

00:28:57 And I thought it started with their two best players, Jalen

00:28:59 and Jason.

00:28:59 I thought they set the tone with their ability

00:29:02 to get in the airspace of guys.

00:29:04 Steph Curry never got comfortable.

00:29:05 Klay Thompson never got comfortable.

00:29:08 When they're moody and committing,

00:29:11 those guys were-- they did some good things.

00:29:13 But they never got to the point where

00:29:15 they were taking over and controlling the action.

00:29:18 This was, again, as thorough a job defensively

00:29:22 that they've done all season.

00:29:24 Tatum and Brown were--

00:29:25 I think this was the best tandem--

00:29:27 the best game they've had defensively as a tandem.

00:29:30 And you think about it, they held these guys at 88 points.

00:29:32 And half of the game was played without your--

00:29:35 no Drew Holiday, no Derek White.

00:29:37 You limit them to less than 90 points

00:29:39 with your basic B/C units defensively?

00:29:44 Yeah.

00:29:46 I don't care who was on the floor.

00:29:48 You don't win games and limit teams defensively

00:29:53 like that very often.

00:29:55 So again, I guess it comes back to this.

00:29:57 So through the course of the year, a lot of things--

00:30:00 and you're right, you can't do it without the defense.

00:30:03 But my philosophy was always, look,

00:30:06 you know you have players, even last year.

00:30:08 There's players on this team that can defend.

00:30:10 It's a matter of making the choice and the commitment

00:30:12 to doing it.

00:30:13 And again, the great examples are Jalen Brown just deciding

00:30:17 one game that he's going to literally just put

00:30:18 James Harden in hell.

00:30:20 And he did.

00:30:20 And it's like, OK, which speaks more to the inconsistency

00:30:26 than anything else is, why can't you do that all the time?

00:30:29 And the reality is during the regular season, you can't.

00:30:32 You can't be that offensive player who's

00:30:34 got to give max effort and play 37, 38 minutes a night

00:30:37 and do what you got to do and carry an offense while playing

00:30:42 three-quarter court defense and chasing guys

00:30:44 all around the court.

00:30:45 It's just a hard thing to do.

00:30:46 And that's why sometimes you get inconsistent effort.

00:30:49 And sometimes there's games where

00:30:51 it looks like they kind of mailed it in a little bit.

00:30:54 And that's also kind of why I wasn't that super concerned.

00:30:57 Because it does feel like-- and then you go to flip a switch.

00:31:00 You remember Tristan Thompson had that famous,

00:31:02 like, oh, yeah, wait till we get to the playoffs.

00:31:04 I'm like, dude, you guys need to stop.

00:31:07 Yeah, that was trash.

00:31:09 You might flip the switch, but there's no light bulb in there.

00:31:12 Like, nothing is turning on.

00:31:14 So these guys, I truly believe, not only can flip a switch.

00:31:18 I think most of them have been mostly dialed in

00:31:22 for most of the year because you have on the court guys who

00:31:25 never take nights off--

00:31:27 Derek White, Holliday, Horford, and all of those.

00:31:32 So yeah, it's harder to when you're looking all around you

00:31:36 and you're like, we're all--

00:31:37 how many of those we got to play better games was it?

00:31:40 It's guys saying we but looking around the room really

00:31:43 thinking, like, kind of you guys.

00:31:45 There's no we didn't do this anymore.

00:31:48 Like, everyone is doing it, and they're doing it too.

00:31:51 And when Brown and Tatum go into those modes,

00:31:54 and you saw even though it was a loss, when Tatum decided,

00:31:58 I'm locking up SGA.

00:31:59 It's not working for these guys.

00:32:00 So be it, great.

00:32:02 When Brown steps in, he's like, I'm going to be the guy,

00:32:05 and I'm taking care here.

00:32:06 And then having both of those guys on Curry,

00:32:08 who's a freaking nightmare.

00:32:10 He's a quick, jittery guy, and he needs this much space

00:32:12 to get a shot off.

00:32:13 And to just lock him up the way they did just

00:32:16 shows that if they do it, if they get there in the playoffs

00:32:19 and there is no letdown at all, the two-way game

00:32:23 that they can play is just suffocating for teams.

00:32:27 Relentless on offense, if they're moving the ball

00:32:30 and knocking down those threes, the runs that they can go on,

00:32:33 put a game away in no time.

00:32:34 They put the clamps on you like that on defense.

00:32:36 Again, that's why we talk about all year long, Sherrod.

00:32:39 Haven't we said, they're good, but there's still

00:32:42 another level, which is crazy.

00:32:45 And I think this was that other level game.

00:32:48 Yeah, yeah.

00:32:49 I don't think there's a lot of doubt about this

00:32:52 was a very different, more impactful

00:32:55 self-exteemed than what we're used to seeing.

00:32:57 And they've had a bunch of bluffs this year,

00:32:59 but this felt different.

00:33:00 This looked different.

00:33:01 It's a 30-point game, and it did.

00:33:03 You're right.

00:33:03 It looked and felt very, very different.

00:33:06 And when you just start to try to break it down,

00:33:09 it's pretty clear this was a team that they felt

00:33:13 has kind of had their number.

00:33:15 And whether you see them in the playoffs or not,

00:33:18 you just want to bury and get--

00:33:20 exercise all those demons out of your system

00:33:23 so that you can just play freely and win the championship.

00:33:26 That is what this season is about.

00:33:28 And the way the West is looking now,

00:33:31 I mean, no one really knows who's going to come out.

00:33:33 Denver should be the team.

00:33:34 Denver makes the most sense.

00:33:35 But Minnesota, Oklahoma City, and then

00:33:38 you've got one of those top-tier teams

00:33:41 is probably going to wind up having to play the Lakers

00:33:43 or play Golden State first round.

00:33:45 And none of them want that smoke for the Celtics

00:33:49 to come in here and just absolutely manhandle them.

00:33:54 It's really impressive.

00:33:55 And again, the fact that they were able to--

00:33:58 it wasn't just them making shots.

00:34:00 It was them locking you up.

00:34:02 It was them getting rebounds.

00:34:04 It was them also making some shots.

00:34:05 But it was a total dominant performance

00:34:09 that you can't lean in one direction over another.

00:34:13 It was borderline immaculate.

00:34:17 I mean, 20 assists, one turnover, 82 points,

00:34:22 first half, unfreaking real.

00:34:25 You can't play much better than that.

00:34:27 One turnover, oh my god.

00:34:29 It was unbelievable.

00:34:33 So yes, it was great.

00:34:35 Now, what happens when you're on the other side of a smackdown

00:34:38 like this?

00:34:38 We've seen the Celtics do it.

00:34:40 And Golden State was playing great.

00:34:42 And that was part of the thinking here.

00:34:44 What's also funny is Dallas was playing great

00:34:46 before they came in here.

00:34:47 This is the type of stuff, again,

00:34:50 the Patriots used to do to teams.

00:34:52 They'd come in.

00:34:54 They'd expose all of your weaknesses.

00:34:56 Then you would literally go on a miserable--

00:34:58 Dallas just lost at home to Philly.

00:35:01 It's the flu that you're going to catch coming off

00:35:04 playing this team.

00:35:05 What Golden State did to the Celtics last year is--

00:35:10 was it last year or two years ago?

00:35:11 Last year.

00:35:12 It's similar here to this, what the Celtics are doing to people.

00:35:17 I think they're making them feel really, really, really bad

00:35:22 about yourselves.

00:35:23 And that's what the Celtics are doing now,

00:35:24 because both those teams came in playing great.

00:35:26 But what happens when you get smacked like this?

00:35:28 And it's happened to the Celtics a couple of times.

00:35:29 What happened after Milwaukee?

00:35:31 Oh, well, not a big deal.

00:35:33 Joe laughs it off.

00:35:34 I thought it was a great game.

00:35:35 Well, Draymond Green took the same tactic

00:35:37 when asked whether he was concerned

00:35:39 about this loss to the Celtics.

00:35:41 His strategy was to kind of have you sag off Jaylen

00:35:44 and try to clog the paint.

00:35:46 Didn't necessarily seem to work.

00:35:47 He just made the shot.

00:35:50 Well, then it didn't work, did it?

00:35:51 I don't think we really played a full defensive strategy

00:35:54 to counter dive into that.

00:35:56 We didn't implement-- we implemented our strategy

00:36:00 like 15 minutes before we left the locker room.

00:36:05 So I don't necessarily think we put together

00:36:08 a full defensive strategy to debate on what they're doing,

00:36:13 what their offense, and how to stop it.

00:36:17 But it's OK.

00:36:19 Is that a different approach than you'd

00:36:21 kind of used in the past against them,

00:36:22 or even in that first game in San Francisco?

00:36:25 Well, I was at home that game.

00:36:26 So I can't tell you much about that game plan.

00:36:30 But yeah, it didn't work.

00:36:32 Oh, well, we move on.

00:36:33 It's OK.

00:36:34 I thought it was fun to try.

00:36:36 I was actually all for it.

00:36:38 Let's try it and see if it works.

00:36:39 If it don't, oh, well.

00:36:41 It does.

00:36:42 We found something.

00:36:43 All right, it ain't work.

00:36:44 So we move on.

00:36:45 Oh, it worked.

00:36:48 It's just that he made shots.

00:36:50 Isn't that the whole freaking concept

00:36:52 behind having a game plan so that they don't make shots?

00:36:57 I tell you what, though.

00:36:59 To me, the most interesting thing he said in all of that--

00:37:01 because he said a lot.

00:37:03 I mean, he absolutely said a lot in that 90 seconds.

00:37:06 But when he was talking about the game plan--

00:37:09 and basically, we came up with our game plan 15 minutes

00:37:11 before we went out there.

00:37:12 And is it just me, or is that some shade at Steve Curry?

00:37:15 It felt like there was some low-key shade.

00:37:17 Like, we didn't really have a game plan for these guys

00:37:22 on how to limit them or how to approach them.

00:37:24 Because we didn't know what to do--

00:37:25 What?

00:37:26 You know what that is?

00:37:27 Other than bullshit?

00:37:28 What else?

00:37:29 It's all sorts of bullshit.

00:37:31 You're 100% right.

00:37:32 But that is Draymond as shook as you're going to see him.

00:37:35 Because that, to me, is a guy who can usually talk his way

00:37:39 out of everything and explain to you

00:37:42 why the thing that you think you know

00:37:44 isn't really what you say it is.

00:37:46 And he has no answer for this.

00:37:49 So from one, he freestyled it.

00:37:51 And two, they didn't even strategize

00:37:53 how they were going to play the best team in the NBA.

00:37:55 Bullshit.

00:37:56 And then--

00:37:57 Stop.

00:37:58 And then what he really means is, I think he freestyled it.

00:38:02 So I don't think he's throwing shade at Kerr.

00:38:05 I think he freestyled it.

00:38:07 And then Kerr's like, what the fuck are you doing?

00:38:09 That's not-- I think he thought--

00:38:12 I think that was his own little mental mind game.

00:38:14 And it was bullshit.

00:38:16 And we talked about this coming in.

00:38:18 Draymond buttering people up stuff at the All-Star

00:38:21 and on his podcast.

00:38:22 And these guys are great.

00:38:23 And he's getting into that psychological warfare.

00:38:28 And not that at all.

00:38:31 He tried it because he was probably

00:38:34 scared that Jalen was going to do whatever the hell he wanted.

00:38:37 And it didn't-- well, it worked.

00:38:39 But he made the shots.

00:38:40 And then it didn't work.

00:38:41 But we didn't really talk about it.

00:38:43 No, Draymond just-- he did it on his own.

00:38:47 He ate shit.

00:38:49 He's eating humble pie right now.

00:38:50 He can't talk his way out of it.

00:38:52 But again, had to just kind of try to blow it off

00:38:58 as best he could.

00:38:59 But that was it.

00:38:59 That was great.

00:39:01 I'm just-- I mean, if that were the case,

00:39:03 if he was indeed freestyling it, I

00:39:06 don't understand why you or Steve Curtin

00:39:07 wouldn't call a time-- or during one of those times,

00:39:09 wouldn't say, hey, let's get back to the game plan.

00:39:11 This, what we're doing, is not working.

00:39:13 Let's try something different, like the game plan.

00:39:17 I got to believe Draymond would have been like, OK.

00:39:19 Because I'm getting toasted by doing my shit.

00:39:22 Yeah, yeah.

00:39:23 And you know what?

00:39:25 For those people out there, me being one of them,

00:39:28 who feels like the Grant slander went way, way, way, way,

00:39:33 way too far this year, even though a lot of it is deserved.

00:39:39 But enough.

00:39:40 Like I said, it's like your family, right?

00:39:42 Sherrod, we've talked about this.

00:39:44 We can say that.

00:39:45 You can't say it.

00:39:47 I can say these things about Grant.

00:39:49 And we can tease him a little bit.

00:39:51 You can't.

00:39:52 And he eats shit here.

00:39:55 You know who the lowest plus minus guy of the entire game

00:40:01 was?

00:40:02 Who?

00:40:03 Quinonez.

00:40:06 And that's the guy who got into it with Grant

00:40:07 in the first place and was calling him a bitch.

00:40:09 So Quinonez, minus 37.

00:40:13 Congratulations, buddy.

00:40:15 Wow.

00:40:16 This one was for Grant, OK?

00:40:17 That's it.

00:40:18 Damn.

00:40:19 Damn.

00:40:21 Wow.

00:40:22 I forgot all about that guy.

00:40:24 Grant was mid at best, but still.

00:40:29 Enough.

00:40:30 Enough.

00:40:30 Enough from you guys.

00:40:31 OK?

00:40:32 We get to tease Grant.

00:40:33 You guys don't get to.

00:40:36 Other things worth talking about, I think, for sure.

00:40:40 After a couple of games-- and again,

00:40:42 we're looking at everything just here kind of post-break

00:40:45 and how things have gone.

00:40:46 You've seen a game or two where you're like,

00:40:48 eh, not loving the bench right now.

00:40:53 And this was one of those where you felt a great deal better

00:40:56 about it here.

00:40:58 And it was because--

00:41:01 I mean, between Hauser--

00:41:02 I mean, Hauser knocks down every single shot

00:41:04 when he touches the ball.

00:41:05 That obviously makes you feel good.

00:41:07 But beyond that, Pritchard was playing like 120 miles

00:41:11 per hour tonight.

00:41:12 I love those--

00:41:13 I love the little guy off-foot layup

00:41:16 where you have to do that before the other guy--

00:41:18 the other guy's timing it for you

00:41:20 to go off your left foot before he gets his leap.

00:41:22 So you kind of pitch him there and go off the right.

00:41:25 And he's-- he got a rebound.

00:41:27 One quick five seconds later, he was on his way up there.

00:41:31 That was awesome.

00:41:32 Yeah, I mean, he was really, really good

00:41:35 and doing what he does well.

00:41:37 Pritchard, he has a knack for the ball

00:41:40 when he's in the paint, whether it's shooting,

00:41:42 whether it's rebounding, which he's maybe

00:41:44 one of the better rebounders at that size.

00:41:45 You're going to find, particularly

00:41:47 in the offensive boards.

00:41:48 But he just seemed like he was in a comfort

00:41:50 zone from the very beginning.

00:41:52 I mean, he made his first seven shots.

00:41:55 He was getting other guys involved.

00:41:56 He was not a liability defensively.

00:41:59 This was a great Peyton Pritchard kind of game.

00:42:01 And I know people look at the score

00:42:02 and say, well, he got one run because it beat the Snodham.

00:42:05 But he was on the floor during some of that surge

00:42:07 as they were pulling away.

00:42:08 So it wasn't as if Tatum and Brown and all those guys

00:42:11 did all this work, gave him this big, fat 50-point lead

00:42:14 to work with and just said, OK, now you can play.

00:42:16 He was actually in the mix as well

00:42:18 when they were surging ahead.

00:42:20 So this was a good Peyton Pritchard game, really good.

00:42:22 And I still think at some point in the playoffs,

00:42:25 you're going to need him to win a game.

00:42:28 He's going to have a game where when you break down

00:42:30 the factors that led to the outcome,

00:42:32 if it's in the Celtics' favor, chances

00:42:34 are there's going to be a game where Peyton Pritchard is going

00:42:36 to be one of the top two or three reasons why

00:42:38 they win the game.

00:42:39 Yeah.

00:42:40 Bobby Manning is going to be joining us in a split second.

00:42:42 And you're right.

00:42:43 When you have that good Pritchard game,

00:42:45 Sherrod, 100% right, it changes everything, right?

00:42:50 Because you're not feeling like these wasted bench minutes

00:42:53 where it's like--

00:42:55 getting zero contribution from those guys can be a drag.

00:42:57 It just puts that much more of a burden on the starters who

00:43:00 have won many games entirely on their own.

00:43:04 But it's good to see it at this level against this type of team

00:43:10 and him to play the way he did.

00:43:12 And again, he's been better lately.

00:43:14 He's been better.

00:43:15 He's playing a good stretch of games.

00:43:17 I think it's 10 points per game over the last however many.

00:43:20 And it helps when there's some blowouts in there

00:43:22 too because you get a little stat padding as well.

00:43:25 We've got a little bit more Golden State action.

00:43:27 Bobby Manning was in the locker room.

00:43:28 He talked to Steph Curry as well.

00:43:31 And he also has given Boston flowers.

00:43:33 But I think he's done with the finals talk.

00:43:36 Some players maybe brought something about two years ago

00:43:41 about the finals to the game today.

00:43:42 I don't know what they talked about in that locker room.

00:43:47 We've played them, what, now four times since.

00:43:51 So I'm sure that narrative's gotten old.

00:43:54 But they're the best team in the league right now.

00:43:59 And they play like it.

00:44:00 So we have a nice gap to try to make up

00:44:05 if we want to be that type of team

00:44:09 down the stretch of the season.

00:44:10 But to give them credit, they played their ass off.

00:44:14 And it was tough to watch from the other side, for sure.

00:44:20 I bet it was probably tough to play in too.

00:44:22 Yeah, that was, by the way, Bobby Manning

00:44:24 asking the question, doubling as a Quebec Nordiques reporter

00:44:28 there in the Golden State locker room as well.

00:44:32 So yeah, there's a lot of people over to my left here.

00:44:36 Anyway, Bobby was here.

00:44:38 And then he went away.

00:44:38 I don't know exactly what happened.

00:44:40 Again, talk about the defensive effort on Steph here.

00:44:47 So many different bodies.

00:44:49 So many bodies.

00:44:51 And I think that's kind of been, I think, the strategy.

00:44:54 A lot of teams have tried to employ against him.

00:44:58 But not everybody has an activated Jaylen Brown,

00:45:02 an activated Jason Tatum, Drew Holiday, Derek White.

00:45:05 I mean, where is Steph going to get a break in terms

00:45:09 of the guy that he can exploit?

00:45:11 I mean, he can make shots against all those guys.

00:45:13 There's no doubt about that.

00:45:14 But none of them are going to make it easy for him.

00:45:16 I mean, that's probably-- if you're

00:45:18 looking at defensive wings, you look at the team's top four

00:45:22 defensive wings, I don't think you're

00:45:23 going to find a better foursome than that one, White, Holiday,

00:45:28 Tatum, and Brown.

00:45:29 When Tatum and Brown are engaged, too,

00:45:31 it's amazing that you have defensive guards

00:45:34 like Holiday and White.

00:45:36 And we're talking about the job Tatum and Brown

00:45:39 did on 6'1" Steph Curry.

00:45:43 It's incredible.

00:45:44 But again, White was part of that, too.

00:45:47 I think Holiday played a bit more of a floater in this game.

00:45:49 I mean, I saw him at times on Draymond.

00:45:51 You saw Tatum floating off playing on Draymond, too.

00:45:54 The switchability is insane.

00:45:55 And you might even say the slight benefit

00:45:58 to not having Porzingis in a game like this

00:46:01 is that the way that you can play them defensively because

00:46:05 of the switchability, you're not going in drop.

00:46:07 They would have gotten Porzingis and a bunch of pick and roll

00:46:09 actions there.

00:46:10 And then the Celtics kind of have to pick their poison.

00:46:13 And that's where you've seen them get murdered a little bit.

00:46:15 But there's also been a time where you said, don't--

00:46:21 we saw them do it to Horford over and over and over again

00:46:26 and get him caught there.

00:46:27 And Curry was just launching threes over the top of him.

00:46:29 They weren't able to do that tonight.

00:46:31 The Celtics were just way more active and much, much tougher

00:46:35 going through screens and just had bodies everywhere Curry was.

00:46:39 We'll bring in Bobby Manning.

00:46:41 What's up, Bobby?

00:46:42 Hi, buddy.

00:46:47 Hey, what's up?

00:46:49 What was your prime takeaway here outside of all of it

00:46:52 being unbelievable?

00:46:56 Interesting stuff from the Warriors side after this one.

00:46:59 Draymond--

00:47:00 We did hear from Draymond.

00:47:01 And Draymond kind of talking about his strategy with JB

00:47:04 and we just heard from Curry too.

00:47:06 But yeah.

00:47:06 Yeah.

00:47:07 Yeah.

00:47:08 I think that's a little bit of excuse making, right?

00:47:11 Like, we just tried something and it didn't work.

00:47:14 We called it bullshit.

00:47:15 But that's another story.

00:47:18 Draymond, actually, I don't know if it was in the cut

00:47:20 you guys played.

00:47:20 But he said they came up with it 15 minutes before the game.

00:47:23 Yeah, it was.

00:47:25 I mean, that's just crazy stuff.

00:47:26 But I know you're ready to announce it tonight, John.

00:47:30 It's hard not to get excited and--

00:47:32 It's not the announcement, Bobby.

00:47:33 --want to dive all the way in.

00:47:34 I'm just saying, in terms of that checklist of all

00:47:38 of the things that you wanted to see as we keep going down it,

00:47:42 one of them was making sure that you

00:47:45 can get past teams like this who have found

00:47:49 ways to get into your head.

00:47:50 And seeing that they got really serious about it,

00:47:54 didn't play buddy-buddy and go dap it up with those guys

00:47:57 before the game, and went out there and really--

00:48:01 you could tell.

00:48:02 We played Curry's fight too, Bobby, about--

00:48:04 the reporter asked him about the finals.

00:48:08 And he's like, I don't know.

00:48:09 We've played them four times since then.

00:48:11 I don't know what they're talking

00:48:12 about in that locker room.

00:48:13 I absolutely friggin' believe they have that front of mind

00:48:17 still when they play this team.

00:48:19 And each loss they've had since then, I think, weighs on them.

00:48:24 And I think it weighed on fans too.

00:48:27 And that's why I was saying, I thought

00:48:28 this was really big coming in.

00:48:30 So that's why it's a little bit of hyperbole saying all in.

00:48:33 I've kind of been pretty all in for a while here.

00:48:35 But I do think you would have taken a little step back here

00:48:37 if you saw Golden State just come and mess with their minds

00:48:40 and wonder like, oh man, is this happening again?

00:48:43 And I think the Celtics--

00:48:46 I really believe, Bobby, they had a different mindset

00:48:50 coming in here.

00:48:51 When have you seen them this locked in both ends of the floor

00:48:54 like they were tonight start to finish?

00:48:56 Never.

00:48:57 I mean, this is their most dominant win I've ever seen.

00:49:00 It's the most dominant win this year.

00:49:02 How much of that is silly stuff that the Warriors did?

00:49:06 I don't know.

00:49:07 But you still have to go out there and take advantage of it

00:49:10 and hit shots at the level they did and keep that energy up.

00:49:13 And Joe said--

00:49:14 I kind of alluded to that thing you just mentioned, Nick,

00:49:17 John, where--

00:49:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:49:20 [LAUGHS]

00:49:23 No, no, no, Joe Sway.

00:49:24 Whatever that is, it's bad.

00:49:26 Why is it over Joe Sway?

00:49:27 What the hell is that?

00:49:28 This is Joe Sway?

00:49:30 That was a battle, man.

00:49:33 Buzzing, buzzing, buzzing.

00:49:35 Yeah, well--

00:49:36 Joe Sway, there was something buzzy in your audio, Joe Sway.

00:49:38 See if you can jump that in.

00:49:40 Yeah.

00:49:40 Anyway, go ahead.

00:49:42 What I was saying was you still need to go out there

00:49:45 and execute and continue to string together--

00:49:48 [LAUGHS]

00:49:51 --string together that many baskets.

00:49:54 And how many times in the past--

00:49:57 how many times in the past have we seen, John--

00:49:59 Not Penny's boat.

00:50:02 --that lead would have dipped in the second half.

00:50:04 And you maybe would have had to use the starters

00:50:06 more than you did there.

00:50:07 And Joe afterward, as he did at times last year,

00:50:10 would have said, oh, what are we supposed to go up to 50?

00:50:13 Well, you see that they're capable of it

00:50:15 when they keep pushing the lead forward.

00:50:17 And Joe actually said, when I asked him

00:50:19 about that mentality of continuing to push, push, push,

00:50:21 John, the consistency with which they played,

00:50:24 even with the big lead in this game,

00:50:26 that he thought the most important stretch was opening

00:50:29 the third on the run that they did

00:50:30 and then being able to sit down the starters right

00:50:32 after that first rotation in the second half.

00:50:35 Warriors had benched their starters by that point.

00:50:38 But here's Joe Sway.

00:50:42 He's good.

00:50:43 Hopefully not buzzing.

00:50:45 I think he sounds good so far.

00:50:47 He sounds good because we can't hear him at all.

00:50:49 Exactly.

00:50:51 Yeah, we can't hear him at all.

00:50:54 That's because he's not talking.

00:50:56 Third time we're going to get him.

00:50:58 It's going to work.

00:50:59 It's going to work.

00:51:02 Yeah, I mean, I am holding back, John.

00:51:05 I'm not going to go all the way tonight.

00:51:07 I want to see Tuesday.

00:51:08 I want to see Thursday.

00:51:10 Thursday is obviously the standard in Denver.

00:51:13 If they keep this going and now it's 11 straight wins,

00:51:17 but really 11 straight wins where

00:51:18 they're relentless attacking the mismatches

00:51:21 and no defenses have answers for it.

00:51:23 They're playing with that level of consistency quarter

00:51:25 to quarter, half to half on a historic level for this team,

00:51:31 given the stretch that they've gone through here.

00:51:33 And--

00:51:34 [BUZZER]

00:51:36 Damn.

00:51:37 Joe Sway, what the hell?

00:51:42 Bobby, look at you.

00:51:47 Bobby, save your boy.

00:51:48 [LAUGHTER]

00:51:52 What the hell?

00:51:53 How does it get worse?

00:51:59 Oh my god.

00:52:01 We couldn't hear him the second time,

00:52:03 but at least we weren't hearing that.

00:52:06 Damn, Joe Sway.

00:52:09 I'm holding off, John.

00:52:11 I'm holding off.

00:52:13 Holding off on finishing this thought, which

00:52:16 you've been going on for three minutes.

00:52:17 We keep trying to get Joe Sway in here and interrupting it.

00:52:20 But you're not there yet, Bobby?

00:52:21 What do you need?

00:52:22 What do you need to see?

00:52:23 What do you need to see?

00:52:24 I'm an inch away.

00:52:25 If they sweep through this week, if they win Thursday,

00:52:28 I'm diving in.

00:52:30 And if they don't, if they say they split, then what?

00:52:34 I still think there's maybe one or two teams that could maybe

00:52:37 beat you when you get to that last stage in the finals.

00:52:40 I've been in on them winning the East for a long time,

00:52:42 probably weeks and weeks now, maybe even over a month.

00:52:45 They're going to the finals.

00:52:46 But there are some teams when you get there, Clippers,

00:52:50 Nuggets, who have some answers for you.

00:52:53 And they played the Nuggets really tough last game.

00:52:55 They came down to a couple of misses in the fourth

00:52:57 down the stretch and a bad Tatum shot at the buzzer.

00:53:00 They probably should have went to overtime in that game

00:53:02 at least.

00:53:03 But you still had Jokic being Jokic.

00:53:05 You still had him being the best player on the floor.

00:53:07 Now more often than not now, whether it's Brown,

00:53:11 whether it's Tatum, the Celtics, even in some matchups

00:53:14 like this where you're going up against a Curry,

00:53:16 a Pablo Curry, who knows, you're having the best player

00:53:19 on the floor a lot of times now, even

00:53:21 against some of these other stars in the league.

00:53:23 We said that two years ago, John.

00:53:24 I remember when we were assessing

00:53:26 whether the team's run was for real or not.

00:53:28 The debate was, do you have the best player on the floor?

00:53:31 More often than not, I know we're having that MVP

00:53:33 conversation right now.

00:53:34 But really, it comes down to, is Tatum

00:53:35 going to be the best player on the floor against a Jokic,

00:53:39 against a Giannis, against some of those teams?

00:53:42 And it's looking like at the level he's playing right now,

00:53:45 he could be.

00:53:46 But it's about the consistency factor with this team.

00:53:48 And when Drew Holiday talked, I think it was last practice,

00:53:52 are you where you want to be yet?

00:53:53 Because Horford said after that Knicks game,

00:53:55 we can be even better.

00:53:56 And that was a dominant win.

00:53:57 That was one that really sold me, John.

00:54:00 Holiday said, there's still those walls offensively.

00:54:02 And that's the one thing you look at with this team.

00:54:05 They have everything.

00:54:06 They have answers.

00:54:08 They've come miles and miles since that finals loss.

00:54:10 But you still do occasionally have those offensive walls.

00:54:13 So to see a game like this against a defense that's

00:54:16 been tough against you in the past,

00:54:18 to push for three straight quarters the way they did

00:54:22 and never have a let up, that's the kind of stuff

00:54:25 that inspires you, John, and makes you want to buy in.

00:54:28 Because that's the one doubt you could have left in them.

00:54:30 It's not the bench.

00:54:31 The bench was amazing again tonight.

00:54:34 So cross that off the list.

00:54:35 Cross a lot of stuff off the list at this point.

00:54:37 The coaching, the coaching's amazing.

00:54:40 It's just the lows.

00:54:41 Bench, buy-in, all of these different things.

00:54:43 How come-- oh, he's gone again.

00:54:45 I was going to say, I was going to try it.

00:54:47 I was about to try it.

00:54:48 I was about to bring him back.

00:54:51 But I'm not going to do it.

00:54:53 We are going to hear from Jalen Brown in a little bit.

00:54:55 And I assume Josue Pavon, but we're not entirely sure.

00:55:00 We're going to try it as we go here.

00:55:03 Really great crowd here tonight.

00:55:05 I think everyone was jacked up about this game.

00:55:07 I think that's like--

00:55:08 I mean, you could feel it, right?

00:55:09 Like, Bobby, you're there.

00:55:10 Sherrod, you're there.

00:55:11 Like, again, talking about how much it matters.

00:55:14 And Khary saying, I don't know what

00:55:16 they're talking about there.

00:55:17 Yeah, you know why players remember?

00:55:19 Because fans remember.

00:55:20 Because people remember.

00:55:22 Because people bring it up.

00:55:23 They know they're playing for--

00:55:25 obviously, they're playing for themselves.

00:55:27 But they're playing for the fans too.

00:55:28 And they know, yeah, people want to see this.

00:55:31 People want blood.

00:55:32 People want revenge.

00:55:33 This stuff is personal.

00:55:34 Anyone who's ever played pickup, been into a fight,

00:55:36 done anything, somebody beat your ass,

00:55:39 you want to get them back at some point or another.

00:55:41 It's always there.

00:55:43 Doesn't matter it's 20 years down the road.

00:55:44 It'd be like, that kid kicked my ass in fourth grade,

00:55:47 and I still want a piece.

00:55:49 You know, like--

00:55:49 That was there tonight.

00:55:51 There's no doubt.

00:55:51 It doesn't matter if it was two years.

00:55:53 Two years is very recent.

00:55:55 You know, that's still a fresh wound.

00:55:58 I mean, they did it in December.

00:56:00 Should we try?

00:56:01 Should we try?

00:56:02 Yeah, December's tough.

00:56:03 They did it in December.

00:56:04 Ready?

00:56:08 Yeah, you have way too much fun with it.

00:56:10 You have way too much fun with it.

00:56:12 John, no.

00:56:12 Doing it old school.

00:56:13 When a dude's not ready, don't just throw him on.

00:56:17 Like, come on, man.

00:56:18 Like, John doesn't-- like, as soon as he sees someone pop up,

00:56:21 he's like, let me put him on air real quick.

00:56:25 You were there 100 times.

00:56:27 I kept going back.

00:56:28 Bobby was talking.

00:56:28 Why would you put me on?

00:56:30 But anyways, what a game.

00:56:31 Seamless.

00:56:33 You were just standing.

00:56:34 You weren't there.

00:56:35 You weren't fiddling with anything.

00:56:36 I wasn't trying to get you.

00:56:38 Anyway, you got the mic now.

00:56:40 Let's go just wave.

00:56:41 You sound and look terrific.

00:56:44 This is the most incredible first half of basketball

00:56:46 I've ever seen in my life, man.

00:56:47 Like, regardless of what era you've ever

00:56:50 watched the NBA and all that, like, that was historic,

00:56:54 obviously.

00:56:55 And when you look at the way that Celtics just

00:56:58 dominated throughout the entire game,

00:57:01 they had that itch, man.

00:57:03 This is it.

00:57:03 But we look back and we say, when did they convince people

00:57:06 that they were a championship team?

00:57:08 We're going to look back to this stretch.

00:57:10 It's not over yet, though.

00:57:11 It's not over.

00:57:12 I want to see how they look against Denver,

00:57:13 how they look against Phoenix and all that stuff.

00:57:15 But this right here, this shows that people don't forget.

00:57:18 They don't forget what happened.

00:57:19 And like you just said, John, two years,

00:57:21 that's nothing when we're talking about the NBA five.

00:57:23 That's a month ago for guys like Tatum and Brown.

00:57:26 And they showed it.

00:57:27 And look, Jalen, I love how Jalen said, look,

00:57:31 you don't know about me yet.

00:57:33 I've been doing this in the first quarter

00:57:34 for the last month and a half.

00:57:36 Do your homework, man.

00:57:37 Let me just ask someone about me.

00:57:39 Because for you to leave me this open all quarter long,

00:57:42 you're not paying attention.

00:57:43 You're not paying attention.

00:57:45 Jalen got 10 in the first four or five minutes,

00:57:47 went out there and grabbed three consecutive three-pointers,

00:57:50 19 points in that first quarter.

00:57:52 And then the floodgates just opened from there, man.

00:57:55 So I just love what Jalen's doing right now.

00:57:57 Pre-All-Star break, post-All-Star break,

00:57:59 it hasn't slowed down a bit.

00:58:01 Well--

00:58:01 And amazing stuff.

00:58:02 --he went through a not great stretch.

00:58:04 Post-All-Star break, he's been flawless.

00:58:06 I really-- I mean, almost flawless.

00:58:09 But Josue, don't you think that was part of it?

00:58:11 I think-- we were talking about it.

00:58:13 I think fully-- and we heard Draymond

00:58:16 and his kind of bullshit circuitous, you know--

00:58:19 You spoke after this or you talked about before?

00:58:21 Draymond rambling about what they did and what they didn't.

00:58:24 I think he absolutely hedged on Jalen being mentally weak.

00:58:29 If I leave him alone and he misses the first couple,

00:58:32 I'm going to take him out of the game.

00:58:33 And he did.

00:58:34 I actually think it's the opposite.

00:58:35 It's not that they didn't do their homework

00:58:37 and know that Jalen Brown is a good fourth-quarter player.

00:58:40 I think they absolutely did and said,

00:58:42 I'm not going to let this guy heat up the way that he does.

00:58:44 I'm just going to--

00:58:45 I'm going to dare him to shoot and see

00:58:47 if I can mess with his head.

00:58:48 If he misses a few of these, we got him.

00:58:51 It was a strategy.

00:58:52 It backfired.

00:58:53 And it literally just basically killed the game for them.

00:58:56 It killed them.

00:58:57 It was a big risk, and he blew it.

00:59:01 And as I was saying with Sherrod,

00:59:03 that's what you do when you know you can't beat him straight up.

00:59:05 I'm going to try this.

00:59:06 I'm going to mess with them.

00:59:07 He absolutely knows what Jalen can do

00:59:09 and was hoping it would work.

00:59:11 And it didn't, and that was it.

00:59:13 And that's what happened.

00:59:15 I'm 1,000% sure.

00:59:17 Jalen's-- whether you include Horford in this or not

00:59:20 in this lineup, Jalen's probably the worst three-point shooter.

00:59:23 So you understand from an analytical standpoint

00:59:26 why they'd want to shift the defense away from Brown.

00:59:28 And you have to.

00:59:29 This is what the Warriors have done against the Celtics

00:59:31 forever is have Green in the post to take it away.

00:59:34 But against this five-out lineup,

00:59:36 there's no one you can really ignore.

00:59:38 This is what we've said all year.

00:59:39 We're in the strengths of the Celtics.

00:59:40 All the guys are a threat.

00:59:43 So I think it sounds a little bit like an excuse

00:59:47 from their standpoint, but it did make sense as a strategy,

00:59:50 I think.

00:59:50 And it really stood out on that he missed the first two.

00:59:53 He made one.

00:59:54 And then on that third one, he missed early Brown.

00:59:57 You just saw Draymond standing in the post,

00:59:59 daring him to shoot.

01:00:00 It was like he was going to do the Cornet contest or something.

01:00:03 That play, you were really like, oh, they're doing this.

01:00:06 And then he just started lighting the world on fire

01:00:07 after that.

01:00:08 Did he make the first, miss the second two?

01:00:09 I forget.

01:00:11 I think he missed the first two, made the third.

01:00:13 No, he made the first one.

01:00:14 He made the first one.

01:00:15 Oh, earlier, yeah.

01:00:18 Then I think he missed two.

01:00:19 Made a second.

01:00:20 And then that third one, you just

01:00:22 saw Draymond standing at the basket

01:00:24 like he was playing the zone or something.

01:00:28 So it was bizarre, certainly.

01:00:29 They did.

01:00:30 You know what?

01:00:30 And it harkens back to game one NBA finals,

01:00:34 when they were like, OK, I dare those guys to do it again.

01:00:37 Similar kind of thing, where they had a big game.

01:00:41 Celtics won that game.

01:00:43 But you had Derek White hitting contested threes.

01:00:45 Horford, yeah.

01:00:45 Marcus hitting threes.

01:00:46 And Horford.

01:00:47 And Horford had not been shooting well,

01:00:49 because Duke jinxed him in that playoff run.

01:00:53 Or did he jinx him last year?

01:00:54 I forget.

01:00:55 He jinxed him last year, yeah.

01:00:56 OK, fine.

01:00:57 Yeah, that was last year.

01:00:58 Fine.

01:00:59 But so they wanted those guys to beat him.

01:01:04 And this was-- as you're right, you look around,

01:01:07 and you just do the math and look at the percentages.

01:01:09 I guess technically, yeah, Jalen

01:01:10 is the worst three-point shooter of that starting five.

01:01:14 So I guess let's let him shoot it.

01:01:17 And maybe also because he didn't want Jalen going downhill on

01:01:20 him and getting to the paint and getting things started that

01:01:22 way, it was a bad strategy.

01:01:24 I mean, it was a--

01:01:26 what's funny is Draymond's right, sort of,

01:01:30 when he said it worked, but it didn't work.

01:01:34 I think it might have worked if it worked, but it didn't.

01:01:39 That, I think, is what he's trying to say.

01:01:41 If Brown missed the first few and then wasn't--

01:01:46 and acted accordingly, I think 100%,

01:01:49 that's what they wanted to see happen.

01:01:51 And it just ended up not happening.

01:01:53 So that's that.

01:01:54 But I mean, what would you do to defend this team if you're--

01:01:58 like, you know?

01:01:59 It's a great question.

01:02:04 I don't think there's an answer.

01:02:06 Yeah.

01:02:07 Where's the party?

01:02:08 Which room?

01:02:09 It feels like Whack-A-Mole.

01:02:10 I think they're departing now.

01:02:13 It's the Rod's room, man.

01:02:15 Those cameras--

01:02:16 It's Rod's room, all right.

01:02:17 It feels like--

01:02:18 it feels like Whack-A-Mole.

01:02:21 Mute when you're not talking, but go ahead.

01:02:22 You're good now.

01:02:23 Yeah.

01:02:25 I don't know what you do, John.

01:02:26 What do you do?

01:02:27 What do you do?

01:02:30 Well, with the upwards--

01:02:31 I don't know.

01:02:32 I thought they would play them straight up and just see--

01:02:34 Well, Sherrod was saying earlier, try different--

01:02:36 You need to switch everything.

01:02:37 --players, different bodies.

01:02:38 Yeah, and you have to switch.

01:02:38 You need to switch everything.

01:02:39 But again--

01:02:40 But not many teams can do that.

01:02:42 The Clippers can, the Nuggets can,

01:02:44 and that might end the list.

01:02:46 And even the Nuggets usually have Jokic out there

01:02:48 who has to kind of show and recover on the pick and rolls.

01:02:50 You can't switch everything.

01:02:51 So they've built the perfect team.

01:02:57 And when you consider that the bench guys continue

01:02:59 to give you something every night--

01:03:01 I mean, that first bench run was amazing.

01:03:04 Pritchard's running up the floor, hitting layups.

01:03:06 Hauser's knocking down threes.

01:03:08 So when you have the starters--

01:03:09 Go ahead, say it.

01:03:09 --doing what they're doing, and then the bench comes in

01:03:12 and does what it does, and you have

01:03:14 Cornett finishing around the basket,

01:03:17 grabbing a tough offensive rebound in traffic,

01:03:21 there's just limitless opportunities

01:03:24 for what you can do if you're the Celtics here.

01:03:26 And listen, if you're coming in as an opposing team,

01:03:30 have to try something wacky like this.

01:03:32 I don't knock the Warriors at all for that.

01:03:35 I think Kerr said in his presser, right,

01:03:37 Josue, the Celtics are going to win this game no matter what.

01:03:39 There's no way around it.

01:03:40 15 to 23.

01:03:42 But when he was asked about leaving Jalen open so many

01:03:44 times, he pointed to the transition points, which,

01:03:47 that's fair.

01:03:47 OK, you know, the Celtics crushed him there.

01:03:49 But I just think that really set the tone.

01:03:52 I mean, that really just got things going immediately.

01:03:55 And the Celtics never looked back.

01:03:56 And they're sending teams--

01:04:00 I think Ahmed said this to us during the game--

01:04:03 these kind of wins they're inflicting over opponents

01:04:06 are sending their opponents into a frenzy after these games.

01:04:11 I said that earlier.

01:04:12 Look at Dallas today.

01:04:15 Kerr, you played the clip, John.

01:04:16 It's like an identity crisis.

01:04:18 Like, the teams just don't know who they are after this.

01:04:20 Yeah.

01:04:21 Yeah.

01:04:21 I want to see what the Warriors look like.

01:04:23 Kerr, you saw the clip, John, did not

01:04:25 seem to love what they did there.

01:04:27 He was just smiling and being like,

01:04:30 we thought we had a guy who was a weak link, but he wasn't.

01:04:35 It was amazing.

01:04:36 The $300 million guy is not a weak link.

01:04:39 Wow.

01:04:41 And Jalen's really been the key to a lot of this, hasn't he?

01:04:43 I mean, he is putting himself in prime positions to score.

01:04:47 He's not just standing around.

01:04:49 He's not in the corner.

01:04:50 He's starting to screen more.

01:04:51 He's going downhill a lot.

01:04:52 He's being aggressive on those breaks.

01:04:55 And his forcefulness continues to be

01:04:58 an essential part of this team.

01:05:00 And this is why, John, we're going to continue

01:05:02 to have debates about him into the future.

01:05:04 But I think the element he brings to their offense,

01:05:07 you can't replicate.

01:05:09 He's so aggressive, so physical.

01:05:11 He negates rim protection with his strength,

01:05:15 with how tough he finishes in there.

01:05:18 No one else on the roster can do that.

01:05:19 And he's been super consistent, too.

01:05:21 I mean, he is building another All-NBA season.

01:05:24 I thought he was the key of this game.

01:05:27 It's unbelievable what he's doing this year,

01:05:29 building on what he did last year.

01:05:30 And we've said this every year of his career, John.

01:05:32 Yeah.

01:05:33 Are you the beeping guy?

01:05:36 We need-- I know you guys are there.

01:05:38 I will ask some situation-- if it's happening right behind

01:05:42 you, mute it just for a second until it gets on there.

01:05:45 I know you guys are in a tough spot because everybody's moving

01:05:47 around and trying to do a bunch of stuff.

01:05:50 But yeah, as you said, Bobby, it's a near-perfect team.

01:05:53 Is anybody in a quiet spot right now?

01:05:56 Hi, Josue.

01:05:57 Why don't you jump in?

01:05:58 The guy with the gown.

01:05:59 You're good?

01:06:00 You're good.

01:06:01 You're good?

01:06:02 Yeah, but that's about to change in about 25 seconds.

01:06:04 You think so?

01:06:05 Usually the wave of photographers,

01:06:08 they usually start heading around this time.

01:06:10 We'll see.

01:06:11 All right, well, let me do one thing while you

01:06:12 guys get yourselves together.

01:06:14 We'll tell you about one more sponsor,

01:06:15 and we'll continue on and put a bow on this show.

01:06:18 But that is Nutrafol.

01:06:20 Anybody know what that is?

01:06:22 It's good for the locks, good for your hair, OK?

01:06:26 It is-- as you probably-- if you're a dude in his 30s,

01:06:33 40s, 50s, you know at some point or another it might be coming.

01:06:36 Josue, you're good.

01:06:37 You're good.

01:06:38 You're good.

01:06:38 Are you good?

01:06:40 Two.

01:06:40 You look good.

01:06:41 Bobby, Bobby.

01:06:42 But it doesn't matter.

01:06:43 It's not about now.

01:06:44 It's about later.

01:06:45 It's about-- you don't have to choose between hair growth

01:06:47 and hair care.

01:06:48 Hair--

01:06:49 There's Sherrod.

01:06:49 You coming back?

01:06:51 Sherrod's coming back.

01:06:52 It's a drug-free whole body approach,

01:06:53 promotes hair growth from within, no compromises,

01:06:56 just better hair.

01:06:57 Hair thinning is not inevitable.

01:06:59 Take control of your hair's future

01:07:00 before it is too late with Nutrafol.

01:07:03 Number one dermatologist recommended hair growth

01:07:05 supplement brand, over 1 million people seeing thicker,

01:07:08 stronger, faster growing hair.

01:07:09 I got Jimmy on it right now.

01:07:11 We'll show you some before and after with that.

01:07:14 Less shedding.

01:07:15 So again, take the steps to visibly thicker, healthier

01:07:18 hair, limited time Nutrafol offering listeners and viewers

01:07:22 of The Garden Report.

01:07:23 $10 off your first month subscription and free shipping

01:07:26 when you go to Nutrafol.com/men and enter the code garden.

01:07:30 Once again, Nutrafol.com/men.

01:07:33 Enter the promo code garden.

01:07:36 Find out why over 4,500 health care

01:07:39 professionals and hairstylists recommend Nutrafol

01:07:42 for healthier hair.

01:07:43 Once again, Nutrafol.com/men.

01:07:46 Enter the promo code garden.

01:07:48 All right, guys.

01:07:49 We're back.

01:07:50 What's going on?

01:07:50 I can't hear anything.

01:07:56 Exactly.

01:07:59 Will the Bruins play tomorrow?

01:08:02 Maybe.

01:08:03 Yeah, there's a lot going on right now.

01:08:04 But anyways--

01:08:05 Yeah, there's a lot going on.

01:08:06 Yeah.

01:08:08 Heck of a win.

01:08:09 I just think-- I don't know, man.

01:08:13 They're creating that gap.

01:08:14 Again, I feel like they have that itch.

01:08:16 They're showing everyone that they're not only the best team,

01:08:18 but they're going on a run.

01:08:20 And I think it really is significant when you look at--

01:08:23 Are you buying in, Josue, all the way?

01:08:25 This is the toughest stretch of the regular season.

01:08:27 I think I am.

01:08:28 I think I am, Bob.

01:08:29 I think--

01:08:30 So you're ready to pick them tonight.

01:08:33 I mean, I always had them going to the finals.

01:08:36 Yeah, you're the only one who didn't, Bobby.

01:08:38 I'm still--

01:08:39 I'm still putting--

01:08:40 You're the only one who had them losing.

01:08:41 Yeah, sorry.

01:08:41 I'm still putting the Nuggets there, like neck and neck.

01:08:44 Oh, yeah, preseason.

01:08:45 You guys all picked them, yeah.

01:08:47 No, I picked Golden State.

01:08:49 I picked Golden State to go to the finals.

01:08:52 That was your bold prediction.

01:08:54 I was feeling good about them coming into this game.

01:08:56 We've said that many times this year.

01:08:58 They've been on a nice stretch.

01:08:59 So I was stunned.

01:09:00 I mean, Pudzinski's important to them.

01:09:02 When you consider that poor Cengiz was out

01:09:04 for the Celtics on the other side,

01:09:05 they don't get that excuse.

01:09:07 I mean, their roster, too many guys you can ignore.

01:09:10 Once Lester Quinonez came out there, they went at him,

01:09:13 and they ignored him in a devastating way.

01:09:16 Clay, a non-factor in this game, I

01:09:18 was stunned by how bad Chris Paul looked.

01:09:22 It was like he wasn't even out there.

01:09:25 So that's discouraging if you're the Warriors in this game.

01:09:27 Celtics went after him, though.

01:09:29 Every time he caught the ball, they were just

01:09:31 running two guys right at him to get him off of it.

01:09:33 So he didn't have enough threats on that side

01:09:35 if you're the Warriors.

01:09:36 And that's been a big problem for them now,

01:09:38 is their talent level beyond the core guys

01:09:41 there has continued to diminish.

01:09:44 So I don't know, John.

01:09:45 A couple of days ago, I was feeling like they

01:09:47 might be ready to make a run.

01:09:49 I still wouldn't write them off completely,

01:09:50 but this was discouraging if you were starting

01:09:52 to believe in them again.

01:09:55 Chris Paul, the ultimate indignity for him

01:09:57 was when they pulled all of the starters,

01:09:59 it was just him and whoever else was left.

01:10:02 He was in their stay-ready crew.

01:10:04 He was in the stay-ready crew.

01:10:05 He made a long game.

01:10:07 Yeah, he's in Peyton Pritchard territory right now.

01:10:12 That's when you know if you're future Hall of Famer,

01:10:18 you're not that guy anymore.

01:10:20 Yeah.

01:10:21 You're not.

01:10:22 It's not.

01:10:23 It's not.

01:10:24 Yeah.

01:10:25 That's a good one.

01:10:26 That Phoenix run, man.

01:10:27 Couldn't have been a better chance.

01:10:28 That team, that Suns team he was with,

01:10:32 and it was a hell of a season, Renaissance season,

01:10:35 with all the injuries he's had throughout his career.

01:10:37 But I think we all kind of knew that this was somewhat

01:10:40 what he was going to look like coming off the bench in the Ward.

01:10:43 Let me ask you a question.

01:10:45 Is anybody worried about these guys overlooking Cleveland?

01:10:48 Because that Denver game is obviously a big deal,

01:10:50 but Cleveland's a pretty damn good team too.

01:10:54 I don't disagree, Sherrod, but it's

01:10:55 hard to have a trap game against a team that's right behind you

01:10:58 in the standings, right?

01:11:01 You know?

01:11:01 You would think so.

01:11:03 You'd think so.

01:11:05 You would think so.

01:11:08 This team has kind of been doing things

01:11:09 that we did not expect to see, in a good way,

01:11:11 most of the season.

01:11:12 But I wouldn't be shocked if they had a less than stellar

01:11:16 performance against Cleveland and then go to Denver

01:11:18 and just beat the crap out of them.

01:11:20 Wouldn't shock me.

01:11:21 Cleveland's been outstanding.

01:11:22 I don't think you can let down there.

01:11:24 I don't think they will.

01:11:26 I wanted to quickly go back to it.

01:11:27 We talked about Jalen Brown and this notion of disrespect.

01:11:30 And I do think--

01:11:31 I think a lot of us believe it was just a tactic and one that

01:11:34 failed, not necessarily disrespecting his game,

01:11:38 but kind of sort of disrespecting his mind

01:11:41 and whether or not he'd be able to handle it

01:11:43 and trying to get into his head a little bit.

01:11:45 And Brown here talking about Draymond's strategy

01:11:50 in guarding him early in that first quarter.

01:11:54 Now.

01:12:00 Loading now.

01:12:03 Says it's loading.

01:12:04 Do you guys see it?

01:12:11 Anybody?

01:12:11 We're going to try one more time.

01:12:13 It loaded one more time.

01:12:14 It's stuck.

01:12:15 It's stuck.

01:12:15 But we have-- I want to hear from Jalen.

01:12:17 Go back on to Cleveland.

01:12:18 What do you guys think about Cleveland?

01:12:22 Lost Joe Sway.

01:12:24 I--

01:12:25 Playing good in basketball.

01:12:26 We'll see if Porzingis goes.

01:12:28 Yeah.

01:12:28 Porzingis wasn't really-- this was fake.

01:12:30 I think they want him to play in both of these games.

01:12:32 I think the ultimate disrespect wasn't Draymond on Jalen.

01:12:35 It was the Celtics sitting Porzingis with not

01:12:37 an injury in this game.

01:12:39 Seriously.

01:12:40 Load-managed.

01:12:41 He's not hurt.

01:12:43 They load-managed Porzingis and they didn't care.

01:12:46 That's--

01:12:47 It's that time of year, right?

01:12:49 Yeah, I mean, when you're--

01:12:50 That's pretty disrespectful, though.

01:12:52 You should.

01:12:53 Yeah, so--

01:12:54 Yeah, that's pretty disrespectful, though.

01:12:58 I don't think--

01:12:59 I don't think the Cavs stand a chance.

01:13:02 You look at those little guards.

01:13:05 We've talked about, John, they are unloading on mismatches

01:13:10 on the other side, just pulverizing.

01:13:13 And if you have any defensive weakness on the floor,

01:13:16 the Celtics are going right at it and scoring with ease.

01:13:18 Tatum in this game, again, his post-play

01:13:20 was masterful against some of those Warriors guards.

01:13:23 And he constantly got there into position against them,

01:13:27 even if he had to take them all the way

01:13:28 from the top of the three-point arc.

01:13:30 So they're going to do that to Garland.

01:13:32 They're going to do that to Mitchell.

01:13:35 And yes, they have the rim protection.

01:13:36 Mobley's playing incredible.

01:13:37 And I don't think he played in that last game

01:13:40 between those two.

01:13:41 So this is going to be your first look at him.

01:13:44 So he could be a difference maker there,

01:13:45 having two rim protectors and maybe stacking

01:13:48 that box a little bit.

01:13:49 But Celtics have been so good from three this year

01:13:51 that that even hasn't been an effective strategy against them.

01:13:54 So maybe if the Celtics miss a ton of threes in this game,

01:13:57 they have a little bit of a letdown.

01:13:59 And Mitchell can certainly get going.

01:14:01 They're going to need some better defense

01:14:03 than I think they've shown against a guy like that.

01:14:06 I thought they struggled a little bit against Luka

01:14:08 in that game.

01:14:09 Mitchell's been out.

01:14:10 Mitchell was out last game.

01:14:11 I don't know if he's playing tonight.

01:14:12 So he's dealing with something, too.

01:14:14 I don't know if the Celtics dodged that one,

01:14:16 but he might not play tonight.

01:14:17 I think they're playing-- are they playing the Knicks

01:14:18 tonight?

01:14:19 Yeah.

01:14:20 I think so.

01:14:21 Maybe?

01:14:21 I think it is the Knicks.

01:14:24 OK.

01:14:25 Yes, they are.

01:14:27 Oh, it's just started.

01:14:28 Game just started.

01:14:29 So we'll see what happens there.

01:14:30 Celtics could gain a little ground on Cleveland.

01:14:32 Milwaukee is not playing.

01:14:34 So no matter what, the lead's going

01:14:35 to be 8.5 entering tomorrow.

01:14:37 I think I got the Jalen clip.

01:14:39 I'm going to throw it up here about the Draymond situation.

01:14:43 [INAUDIBLE]

01:14:45 Still not loading.

01:14:48 Ahmed, any idea?

01:14:49 You want to give it to me externally?

01:14:50 I'll try to play it the other way.

01:14:52 [INAUDIBLE]

01:14:54 Yeah, we might have to add it.

01:14:56 You mean the Jimmy method?

01:14:58 You're going to do one of these?

01:14:59 No, it's here.

01:15:00 It's here.

01:15:01 It won't populate into our thing.

01:15:03 I keep pressing the button.

01:15:04 Try it again.

01:15:07 No, not doing it.

01:15:11 We'll try it again, see if we can get it one other way.

01:15:13 Guys, any closing thoughts before we go?

01:15:14 And if we get to the JB, great.

01:15:16 If not, you can check it out.

01:15:17 It's on our YouTube channel, along with all the other post

01:15:21 game stuff.

01:15:22 If you want to listen to those interviews,

01:15:23 head over there and subscribe.

01:15:25 Final thoughts?

01:15:26 No, just good win.

01:15:30 Nope, good win.

01:15:36 Good win.

01:15:36 Just what they do.

01:15:38 I got nothing else on this game, but Celtics

01:15:40 did shoot 49 threes in this game at 51%.

01:15:43 So any notion that they're getting away from the three?

01:15:48 Not quite.

01:15:49 I have to do that.

01:15:49 I get to the paint, and I usually

01:15:50 open it up for everybody else.

01:15:52 We got it.

01:15:52 Play him.

01:15:53 If you want to dare me to shoot, we can do that too.

01:15:55 You know what I mean?

01:15:56 I thought it was a little disrespectful,

01:15:58 but we took advantage of it, and we didn't look back.

01:16:04 Do you take that personally?

01:16:06 It looked like you were exchanging

01:16:07 some words with Draymond Green.

01:16:10 How do you look at it when a team goes to such great lengths

01:16:13 to force you to shoot?

01:16:15 It's never personal.

01:16:16 I'm sure they thought that's what their best chance was,

01:16:18 or whoever came up with that defensive kind of concept.

01:16:23 So it's not personal.

01:16:24 It was a little disrespectful, but it is what it is.

01:16:34 I came out, and I do what I do best.

01:16:37 My teammates empowered me.

01:16:39 It was like, you know what?

01:16:40 We don't care if you shoot every shot down.

01:16:43 And on this team, it's about making the right plays,

01:16:47 letting guys feel involved.

01:16:48 And I feel like I've been doing that all season long,

01:16:51 and I'm going to keep doing that.

01:16:53 But don't get it twisted.

01:16:55 JB just tang-weighted us, by the way,

01:17:03 as someone pointed out here on this one.

01:17:06 Just came right in and tang-weighted us.

01:17:08 Are you all right?

01:17:10 No.

01:17:11 Your eyes are popping.

01:17:13 I'm watching that Brunson clip someone mentioned.

01:17:16 Yeah, it was not pretty.

01:17:18 Oh, God.

01:17:18 All right, well, we'll see what happens.

01:17:19 Anyway, let's wrap it up here.

01:17:21 We got another one Tuesday, and then we're on the West Coast.

01:17:24 You want to send Bobby to Denver,

01:17:26 keep sending us super chats.

01:17:28 And we'll try to get Bobby out there.

01:17:29 Otherwise, we'll be holding it down from here.

01:17:32 But we're going to wrap it up here on the Garden Report.

01:17:35 Win of the year?

01:17:36 Maybe.

01:17:37 Was it?

01:17:40 That's probably a better one, but biggest win of the year.

01:17:43 Biggest bull out.

01:17:45 I feel good about it.

01:17:46 This is like happy coming home from Denver last year,

01:17:49 Xanis vibes.

01:17:50 That's how I gauge it.

01:17:52 You circled this one with big, big, big Sharpie.

01:17:57 A lot of it, so I was happy about it.

01:17:59 Yeah.

01:17:59 I was pretty impressed.

01:18:00 To win to this degree and that, yeah.

01:18:02 Crazy.

01:18:03 I was pretty giddy.

01:18:04 But anyway, thanks for Sherrod being here from the start

01:18:06 here.

01:18:06 And Josue doing work at the Garden.

01:18:08 Follow us on all our YouTube channels.

01:18:10 Check out our website and all that stuff.

01:18:11 Oh, by the way, we're going live.

01:18:13 We've been going live with a post-post show, after dark,

01:18:16 whatever you want to call it.

01:18:18 We'll be doing that here tonight.

01:18:19 Check it out on all access.

01:18:21 Yep.

01:18:22 So check those guys out there live.

01:18:23 And we will, with Josue and Bobby,

01:18:25 from the court soon after the Garden Report is over.

01:18:30 And then just like I said, follow along.

01:18:31 We've got a lot more coverage going on.

01:18:33 Otherwise, we'll see you guys on Tuesday night.

01:18:35 He's got an outro for us, I think.

01:18:37 No, he doesn't.

01:18:38 You said he was going to work on an outro.

01:18:40 Man, he had a phenomenal game.

01:18:43 Phenomenal.

01:18:43 [LAUGHTER]

01:18:46 Poor for doubt.

01:18:47 I think it's an awesome.

01:18:48 [LAUGHTER]

01:18:51 That did not sound like a chair.

01:18:53 It was a freaking chair.

01:18:54 It does sound like a chair.

01:18:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:18:59 (upbeat music)

LIVE: Celtics vs Warriors Postgame Show | Garden Report

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended