- 2 years ago
The Garden Report goes live following the Celtics game vs the Trail Blazers. Catch the Celtics Postgame Show featuring Bobby Manning, Josue Pavon, Jimmy Toscano, A. Sherrod Blakely and John Zannis as they offer insights and analysis from Boston's game in Portland.
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#Celtics #NBA #GardenReport #CLNS
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
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SportsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:05 Can you say hard hats, folks?
00:07 Hard hats, lunch pails, steel-toed boots.
00:09 Anything short of a championship this year is a failure.
00:12 Look at this boomer right here.
00:13 You've just got so much talent here.
00:16 Somebody said we need to apologize for Jaylen.
00:18 Can I pull the John?
00:19 What are we apologizing for?
00:20 What did we say?
00:21 What did we do?
00:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:25 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:32 [LAUGHS]
00:33 Wow, look at that, Ahmet.
00:37 That's a little fade.
00:39 All right, what's going on, guys?
00:41 Late, late, late.
00:42 10.30, Bobby?
00:43 I didn't-- I wasn't ready for that.
00:44 I thought it was a 10 o'clock.
00:46 Right after Daylight Savings, too.
00:49 Oh my goodness.
00:51 But we did it.
00:52 We're here.
00:53 Garden Report, Celtics.
00:55 I kept waiting for this game to get to 30 points.
01:00 It never did.
01:01 But it was just so annoyingly at basically between 10 and 14,
01:06 like the whole game, until the very end there.
01:10 And they put them away.
01:12 It's a back-to-back.
01:13 I mean, not a lot to draw from this game here.
01:15 But again, the Celtics playing down two starters.
01:17 And it's still no problem, naturally,
01:20 against a team like Portland.
01:21 So I'll start with you, Bobby.
01:24 What do you have to say about tonight's game?
01:27 Another great game for the bench.
01:29 They just keep performing this year.
01:32 I've been impressed by them throughout.
01:34 They pick you up when guys are out.
01:36 When multiple guys are out now, they
01:38 continue to win games in those spots.
01:40 No poor Zingas for the second night in a row tonight.
01:42 I want to say they only have three losses with him out
01:46 this year, 15 and three.
01:50 Bobby, you muted yourself.
01:51 You coming back?
01:58 Yeah, 15 and three now without poor Zingas,
02:01 which is pretty amazing considering concerns
02:05 about center depth coming into the year.
02:06 I thought all of those guys, and you
02:08 can include Horford in that group, who's
02:10 filling in off the bench in a game like this.
02:13 All of them are great.
02:14 You got a good performance from him, 22 from Hauser.
02:16 Best game from him all year, probably.
02:19 And then Pritchard, I thought, in a spot start was excellent.
02:23 Good Hauser game.
02:24 You got the Pritchard versus Banton
02:25 matchup you were looking for.
02:27 We also got the power coming back on at the Blakely
02:30 household.
02:30 We're going to bring in Sherrod.
02:32 Sherrod Blakely was-- a late alert went out
02:37 with Sherrod's availability right
02:40 before the game, which was questionable, power outage.
02:43 But apparently he got it back, so here he is.
02:46 Yes, we have power.
02:48 Power.
02:50 Little breaker fix, and we're good.
02:51 We're good.
02:52 There's nothing like having an electrician come to your house
02:55 after 5 PM.
02:56 That's awesome.
02:58 They love that.
02:59 They love that.
03:01 Yeah, so Sherrod's ho-hum, fine, fine, fine.
03:06 I mean, this is what we expected.
03:08 I mean, to me, this felt like an NCAA tournament 1
03:12 versus 16 game, where you kind of know
03:14 what the outcome's going to be.
03:15 It's just a matter, are they going to blow them out,
03:17 or are they going to make it interesting?
03:19 And I thought, other than the second quarter,
03:21 the Celtics never really allow Portland to feel comfortable
03:24 as though they could win this thing.
03:26 Portland would have a 10-2 run here and there
03:30 after they were down by 19, but the Celtics consistently
03:33 made the shots, got the defensive plays,
03:36 got the contributions from anyone and everyone
03:38 that they needed to win a game that was never really
03:42 in question or doubt as to the outcome.
03:44 It's just a matter of, what would the margin be by?
03:46 So I like what Pritchard did.
03:48 I thought Pritchard had a really good game.
03:50 I thought he set the tone early on.
03:52 And there was a graphic that kind of showed what he typically
03:55 does on West Coast trips.
03:56 So this was nothing unusual for him to play well.
03:59 I thought Bobby, your boy, Cornette was good.
04:02 I thought Cornette was really good and consistently good.
04:05 We're starting to say that every night.
04:07 No, we're not.
04:08 We're not going to do that.
04:10 What the hell?
04:10 Sorry, Sherrod.
04:11 Go ahead.
04:12 He was good tonight.
04:13 He was listening every night.
04:15 Joe Swayze entered the chat.
04:16 Get in here.
04:18 I know, but we need to get--
04:19 I'm so glad you guys are here.
04:21 I didn't want to do any talking tonight.
04:23 So this is great.
04:25 Oh, so you're going to be teaming?
04:26 You're going to be teaming.
04:28 I'm load managing while in the game right now.
04:32 Hey, just like the starters tonight.
04:33 OK, team.
04:34 Exactly.
04:34 By the fourth quarter, it'll just be all of us,
04:37 the three of us.
04:38 But no, sorry, Sherrod, to cut you off there.
04:39 But I got more to say on that, but go ahead.
04:42 Well, let's get it going.
04:43 Because I'm like, John, look, this
04:45 is all about just passing a rock.
04:47 What you got, Joe Swayze?
04:48 Go ahead.
04:48 I mean, these last two games, yes, this
04:51 is probably the best stretch of basketball
04:53 I've seen from Luke Cornett probably ever,
04:55 because he's checking--
04:56 Wait, how did we get here?
04:59 Whoa.
05:00 I was giving Luke like five seconds of compliments
05:02 as part of a larger conversation.
05:04 We'll be in the middle of a Luke Cornett conversation,
05:07 and I'm not going to blank out.
05:08 Well, when Bobby says, how many games has it been,
05:12 as if it's been like a month, I'm like, wait a minute.
05:14 He's been playing well all year.
05:16 All year?
05:17 Yeah.
05:18 Wait, you're talking about Saturday and today.
05:21 You're talking about--
05:22 If all year is this weekend, yes.
05:24 If all year is this weekend, absolutely.
05:26 He didn't play on Thursday.
05:28 Sunday, he was great.
05:29 Tonight, great.
05:31 And then all the games, I felt like pretty much maybe
05:33 save for that Cavs game.
05:35 He's got a mini streak going.
05:37 He's got a mini streak going, man.
05:38 Oh, he is so high together, this guy.
05:41 I don't know if I'm going to be able to have Bobby tonight.
05:44 You see, Sherrod, Bobby trying to cash in these two
05:46 days for the narrative for the entire season.
05:48 That's funny.
05:49 I can't do it.
05:50 I can't do it.
05:51 I can't.
05:53 We've done this.
05:54 We've done it.
05:55 We've done it already.
05:56 We're not going to trash him every time he
05:59 has a bad six-minute stint and celebrate
06:02 his vast accomplishments every time he
06:05 plays a good six-minute stint.
06:07 That's not what I wanted to do either.
06:09 Enough.
06:10 No, we're not doing this, OK?
06:12 I said I wasn't going to talk, but I will not
06:14 allow the show to go down this road this early.
06:17 I'm not going there yet.
06:19 Listen, I'm all here.
06:21 I'm here for giving Lucas flowers,
06:24 but let's pump the brakes, Bobby.
06:25 Come on, man.
06:26 I just read the stat off the top, by the way.
06:29 15-3 without Porzingis in the game this year.
06:33 So who's playing when Porzingis is out?
06:36 Sometimes--
06:37 Jalen.
06:38 --playing starter minutes--
06:38 Jason.
06:39 --before Porzingis is out.
06:43 You act as if this is like a one-on-one game.
06:45 No.
06:48 Bobby, they're a really good team with or without Porzingis.
06:51 They've shown that all year.
06:53 Yeah.
06:54 I mean, so I can't look at any stats that say, well,
06:57 what their record is without this guy or that guy,
06:59 because they win a lot of games.
07:00 They've lost, what, 14 games all year?
07:03 Yeah, but you need to have another center who can step in
07:05 and play double-digit minutes well.
07:09 I think it's fair to say that this guy named Al Horford was
07:11 pretty good tonight.
07:12 Yeah, Horford's great.
07:14 I think it's very fair to say that this guy, Al Horford,
07:16 is a pretty good player in general.
07:18 Right.
07:20 To me, the more you watch Al play,
07:21 the clearer it becomes that that dude has way more in the tank
07:24 than we thought, way more in the tank.
07:26 Now, is he 30-minute Al?
07:27 No, but he's 20, 25 pretty damn good minutes, Al.
07:33 Playoff minutes.
07:34 Yeah, I mean, this was such an Al Horford--
07:38 let me just get it in now, because I'm probably not going
07:41 to play when Porzingis gets back.
07:44 That'll be my day off.
07:45 So I'm just going to go hard right now.
07:47 And the way the playoffs are set up is--
07:49 I mean, the playoffs are perfect for a guy like Al Horford
07:52 to be the best version of him almost every game,
07:55 because he's going to get at least a day off
07:56 in between every single game.
07:58 And right now, Al is doing a little bit of everything.
08:01 I mean, not just knocking down the three.
08:03 I think his defense has picked up a little bit of late.
08:06 And just, frankly, his impact.
08:08 And that's the thing that Al and Jason and all those top-tier
08:12 guys in his team have to do.
08:14 Their numbers at this point are irrelevant.
08:15 It's impact.
08:16 Can you make an impact in the minutes you get out there?
08:19 And Al is doing that.
08:22 Yeah, man, it's incredible.
08:24 I mean, it's incredible when you think about the role
08:26 he's taken on.
08:27 And obviously, his age is always what everyone's going to point
08:30 at.
08:30 But I just think mentally, for him
08:33 to adjust to coming off the bench the way he has,
08:36 it's been impressive, man.
08:37 I mean, this is something that he's never--
08:39 something he's never had to do, which is, in itself,
08:43 a testament to the kind of player he is.
08:44 Because being in the league this long
08:47 and just now taking on this bench role,
08:50 but taking it in stride with passing all the tests
08:54 with flying colors, man.
08:55 I just think Al Horford is that guy who is going
08:58 to play inspired basketball.
08:59 You don't have to worry about that in the postseason.
09:02 But to do this on any given night,
09:03 whenever his number is called, speaks volumes
09:06 as to where he is in his career in terms of his body
09:09 and in terms of, obviously, his health,
09:12 but also just where he is mentally.
09:15 You give him any role, he's going to take it on.
09:17 He's going to pass with flying colors.
09:18 And I just think that right now, with how the Celtics are
09:22 with so many different weapons that they
09:23 have throughout their starting five,
09:25 this is going to be a big luxury in the postseason,
09:27 having Al on your side, for sure.
09:29 Well, the other thing, too, about him--
09:32 and this kind of flies below the radar--
09:34 but I've just found with older players,
09:37 as they get near the end of the road,
09:39 there's a greater sense of urgency
09:41 when playoffs roll around.
09:42 Because they know that--
09:43 players, you hear them talk about all the time,
09:45 you got to take this serious, because you never
09:47 know when you're going to get back there.
09:48 Al literally knows this for a fact.
09:49 He may not get another chance to win a championship
09:52 after this season to have a team that's so perfectly
09:56 built to do that.
09:57 And so for him, there's a different kind of urgency
10:00 I anticipate seeing in the playoffs,
10:02 because he knows that this is the best shot he may ever
10:06 have at winning a championship, with him still being
10:09 able to be part of that, as opposed to being like a lot
10:12 of guys that, as they near the end of the career,
10:13 they're just basically holding on to the coattails of the guys
10:16 who are really playing.
10:17 You've got to ask Haslam.
10:18 Yep, talk about Haslam.
10:19 Haslam.
10:20 I was going to say, the Haslams.
10:21 Yeah.
10:22 And I'm not hating on that.
10:23 I mean, it is what it is.
10:24 But Al is a prideful guy.
10:27 He wants to be able to contribute and play.
10:28 And this is the best shot he has ever
10:31 had of winning a championship and still
10:33 being a guy that's part of their regular rotation.
10:37 Yeah, he's no Haslam, man.
10:38 He's no Haslam for sure.
10:39 It's so true.
10:41 All right, so we've done Luke.
10:42 We've done Udonis Haslam.
10:45 Just taking his lip, taking it twice.
10:49 Let me get through my rundown.
10:50 I had Haslam.
10:51 I mean, the bench won them the game.
10:53 Oh, gee.
10:54 Haslam.
10:56 Sure, honestly, they were going to win the game no matter what.
10:59 I was going to say, the bench, the starters.
11:01 I don't know, it was pretty even early with the starters in there.
11:04 But this one--
11:06 Can we talk about the thing that matters?
11:10 Is Jason Tatum OK?
11:11 Guys, is he OK?
11:13 Oh, you're still worried about that?
11:14 Is he going to be OK?
11:16 Is he going to be OK?
11:17 He needs a hug or something.
11:19 He might need a hug.
11:20 He looks like his puppy ran away and his best friend told him
11:28 we're not best friends anymore.
11:30 Or something, he got dumped.
11:33 He doesn't have that pop that we're used to seeing.
11:38 He needs a break.
11:39 He needs a break.
11:40 Right now-- and someone just put a comment up here.
11:42 It's Bobby and I were talking about this.
11:46 He's in a weird place right now, isn't he?
11:49 He looks off, but also his first two possessions of the game--
11:54 And two turnovers.
11:56 Almost.
11:57 One got bounced back.
11:58 I call that one the Jalen, where he dribbles off his knee,
12:02 but it amazingly--
12:03 Jalen got blocked tonight.
12:04 Back into a silver 10.
12:06 Jalen got blocked tonight, and the ball landed back
12:09 in his hands for a basket.
12:10 He's been working really hard this year, John.
12:13 He's also been killing it for the last month.
12:16 I'm just kidding.
12:17 I just did that for Luis.
12:18 But--
12:19 No, it actually happened to Jalen tonight.
12:22 It did, it did, it did.
12:23 But I feel like--
12:23 I know, Bobby, but it's been a while.
12:25 --first two possessions of the game, he has a--
12:26 he has a should have been a turnover and a turnover.
12:29 And then brick, brick, brick.
12:31 Which, again, fine, you'll miss some shots.
12:33 But he looked all over the place, right?
12:36 And it just wasn't the start that you
12:37 wanted because he's been dragging
12:39 ass on this trip a little bit.
12:40 And he looks a little worn down.
12:42 So like, yeah, I don't think Jason Tatum turned
12:44 into a bad basketball player overnight.
12:46 He's in a funk right now.
12:48 I desperately want to see him sit tomorrow, desperately.
12:51 You should have sat tonight.
12:52 You know what the crazy part is?
12:53 He had 26, 8, and 5 with one turnover.
12:57 I mean, his numbers don't really align with the eye test.
13:01 Because when you watch him play--
13:03 Well, he was 9 of 23.
13:04 One was a 3-pointer off the backboard.
13:08 He airballed another 3.
13:09 So he basically intentionally hit a third of his shots,
13:14 which wasn't great.
13:16 So he's a little bit off.
13:17 But this is what Bobby and I were talking.
13:20 I think Zach put it up earlier.
13:24 When he's not playing--
13:25 so Bobby and I were kicking this around on the thread.
13:28 And everybody agrees.
13:30 Even Derek White's dad agreed on Twitter the other day.
13:34 Let the point guards run the offense, right?
13:36 Point Tatum has been a crusade of mine
13:39 I've been against for a while.
13:40 But good point somebody put up here,
13:43 which is when you take the ball--
13:46 two things are happening.
13:47 When you take the ball out of Tatum's hand,
13:48 he can't be Point Tatum and kind of get into his rhythm
13:52 and find his groove and do his thing, which can sometimes
13:57 send him off into 50-point land.
14:01 Or he has one of those nights where you're like, all right,
14:04 dude, you're done here.
14:07 But when he's off ball, he kind of doesn't do anything, right?
14:12 Because he's not a dead-eye, knock-down, spot-up shooter.
14:15 And he kind of stands around a little bit
14:18 when he's playing off the ball.
14:19 And he's just another guy.
14:20 And there was a couple of stretches tonight
14:22 where it looked like it, where he just
14:24 wasn't involved at all.
14:26 And that's the risk of taking him off the ball.
14:28 And then also you have Jalen like, ah, F this.
14:31 I'm going to do it.
14:32 I'm going to put up 29 shots tonight.
14:34 And there's another 30 trips down the floor
14:36 where Tatum's not involved at all.
14:38 So it's not a dilemma.
14:42 They've got 50 wins.
14:43 Whatever they're doing works out fine.
14:46 But there isn't a perfect solution, right?
14:48 There's not a perfect solution with how to do it.
14:50 You almost kind of have to let him have the ball in his hands
14:53 and do his thing.
14:54 Yeah, because you're thinking-- go ahead, Bobby.
14:57 Your best player needs to be capable of consistently making
15:01 plays in that spot.
15:02 I just don't think--
15:04 as much as I want to see more Derek White in that spot
15:06 and they need it-- and I think tonight you saw it again
15:09 after they did that well in the last game,
15:11 getting him more touches, getting him more involved.
15:14 It's going to come down to Tatum.
15:16 But Tatum's not that guy and he's proven it.
15:18 I'm sorry, Arya, but go ahead, Bobby.
15:20 But yes, go ahead.
15:21 Even if Tatum gets off the ball, there's
15:23 still going to be shot selection questions.
15:26 There's still going to be decisions he needs to make,
15:28 even if he's in the second part of the action
15:30 rather than the first.
15:32 But they've made that decision that they want guys faced.
15:35 They want him attracting pressure.
15:38 And then they want guys attacking behind that play.
15:41 And unfortunately, I think what's
15:42 impacted Tatum most on this trip, besides fatigue,
15:45 if you feel like that's starting to set in here,
15:47 is that the pressure impacts him.
15:50 And I thought they got the ball to the right spots tonight.
15:53 He actually had eight assists in this game, which is really good.
15:56 And he's continued to drive that number up here.
15:59 But you're able to take him out of the game as a defense,
16:03 as a scorer, if he's at the point of attack.
16:06 So at that point, like we talked about after that Nuggets game,
16:09 can you put him in different positions
16:11 where he's able to get the ball and score in an easier
16:14 position?
16:15 Because he's still going to look to score
16:17 a stride, which is great, because you need that.
16:19 If he's too passive, you end up with a result
16:21 like that Denver game.
16:23 But you're also going to end up with nights like tonight,
16:25 where he's 9 of 23, nights like the Phoenix game,
16:28 where he's missing a ton of shots.
16:29 I like the approach overall tonight,
16:31 just because he has to keep shooting.
16:32 We had this debate too, John.
16:33 He has to keep shooting.
16:35 He can't just take 10 shots and keep passing the ball.
16:37 No, he can't.
16:39 The shot taking is not the issue.
16:41 To me, it's the diversity of the offense
16:43 and putting him in different positions to take shots.
16:46 I think they sometimes get too one dimensional
16:48 when he has the ball, where it's like he's either going to pull
16:51 up or he's going to drive all the way to the hole
16:53 and attract--
16:53 Or he's going to be staying on the side.
16:55 Or he's going to stand--
16:56 yeah.
16:56 And to me, did Tatum do any post-ups in this game?
16:59 I mean, did he do any elbow--
17:03 get the ball to elbow and force the defense--
17:05 No, and he was back to struggling
17:07 with his finishes too.
17:08 And then just--
17:08 The one play I loved, though, he drew two in the post
17:11 and did that little dump off to Perced.
17:12 I loved that play.
17:13 Yeah.
17:14 But see, the thing about it, he has the ability
17:17 to be-- as impactful as he is, he
17:20 has the ability to be so much more when you start moving him
17:23 around more.
17:23 When you take him off the ball a little bit
17:25 and put him in a position where he
17:26 has to make a quick, decisive movement or decision,
17:31 that defense may not have an opportunity to react to.
17:35 And because his playmaking has improved so much,
17:38 he becomes a much deadlier player.
17:40 Because then if he gets the ball on the elbow or on a block,
17:44 he can score, fade away, find a teammate, reset the offense,
17:48 and just take you off the dribble.
17:50 There's so many more things he can do when they move him
17:52 around more.
17:53 And don't just give him the ball at the top of the key
17:55 and then just go flat.
17:56 It's funny, Sherrod.
17:57 We used to say that about Jalen.
17:59 You give him that bad enough a time to make a quick move,
18:02 when you know there's someone that can't stay in front of him,
18:04 you go to it every single time.
18:06 And it's funny because with Jason,
18:07 I feel like when he turns into a playmaker,
18:10 it's good because you're going to get the attention of at least
18:14 two defenders, three maybe.
18:16 I mean, that's what typically happens.
18:18 So you find the open guy.
18:19 But because he's been sloppy with it or inconsistent
18:24 the last three or four games, it's
18:26 been tough to watch because you know there's at least
18:29 two other playmakers that could do a better job at it.
18:33 So I think there's a balance for that.
18:36 And I do think it is important for Jalen, for Tatum,
18:40 to mix that in, some of that playmaking in,
18:42 because he is capable of it.
18:44 But just right now, I just feel like it's just been off.
18:48 And I think this game was a good opportunity for him
18:52 to kind of get it back in a sense.
18:54 But what I love about this, though,
18:55 especially in this box score, is the fact
18:56 that he was able to get the free throw line.
18:58 And I'm surprised because I thought it was less.
19:01 He was 6 for 8 tonight.
19:02 Jalen didn't get to the line once.
19:04 I just feel like between the two of them, that's weird.
19:07 They should both be able to get to the line.
19:09 I thought Jalen should have.
19:11 I'm not a the refs sort of guy.
19:14 There were some marginal players where I thought Jalen drew
19:17 contact, but he ended up with the bucket anyway
19:18 and didn't get some fouls.
19:20 Yeah.
19:20 They were letting stuff go in this game.
19:22 They let it go.
19:22 I didn't think he was shying away from it.
19:24 But Tatum was back to his little bit
19:26 of kind of cutesy soft finishing where he's not getting his
19:29 rolls and then still looking for a call.
19:31 You want the call, go hard.
19:33 Maybe you're not going to get that whistle all the time.
19:35 But initiate the contact.
19:37 Play through it if you want to get the calls.
19:39 That's what I don't really understand about Tatum's game
19:42 when it comes to going to the rim.
19:43 It's still a little bit of kind of angles
19:47 instead of right at the rack sometimes.
19:49 And he's having to put up these tougher kind of shots here.
19:54 And he's falling out of bounds and taking himself out of play.
19:57 So this was one of those like--
19:58 I mean, he really struggled.
19:59 I don't know what the final numbers were.
20:01 But he missed six, seven, eight shots in the paint.
20:06 Attacking the rim is where Jalen and Jason
20:09 are clearly different.
20:11 Jalen is playing with force when he goes to the rim.
20:14 He's not trying to get a foul.
20:15 He's trying to get a bucket.
20:17 And if you get in the way, shame on you.
20:19 You just might lose it too.
20:21 He's like Baby Giannis right now.
20:23 Yeah.
20:24 He's bullying you, right?
20:26 Tatum is more for that.
20:28 And he's doing it when he backs people in in the post too.
20:30 Boom, boom, boom.
20:32 Here I am at the basket.
20:33 Where did you go?
20:34 There's so much power and aggression in these games.
20:35 Jalen wants that heat.
20:36 He wants that smoke.
20:38 He wants that physicality.
20:40 Tatum does it.
20:41 And that's not a knock against him.
20:43 That's just who he is.
20:44 That's his game.
20:45 Even though he's filled out to the point
20:48 where he can actually take that, he can absorb that,
20:50 he can deliver that physicality in certain matchups
20:54 when he chooses to.
20:56 But he's very selective about that.
20:58 And to be candid with you, I wish he did it more.
21:00 Because I think there are a lot of matches where Tatum is just
21:03 physically stronger than a dude that's trying to guard.
21:05 And he can easily take that dude on the block
21:07 and force the defense to adjust.
21:09 Because right now, you want to keep Tatum on the perimeter.
21:12 You want to keep him in front of you.
21:13 You want to make him shoot contested jump shots.
21:16 And Tatum doesn't have to do that to be a big time scorer.
21:20 He can take a lot of guys off the dribble,
21:22 get to the elbow, or get on the block,
21:24 and shoot right on top of them.
21:25 Because a lot of teams are playing centerless basketball,
21:28 where you've got a guy that's 6' 8", 225, 230, playing center,
21:32 which is not someone that can physically
21:34 impose their will on him the way a Joel Embiid or Jokic would.
21:39 So I keep telling myself that the things that we're
21:43 recognizing that he can expand his game
21:46 are things we're going to see in the playoffs.
21:48 I keep telling myself that.
21:50 Maybe it's a Jedi mind trick I'm playing on myself.
21:52 It's still-- the problem is, though,
21:54 he can get to those spots.
21:55 But he's still one of the worst pull-up shooters at volume.
22:01 That's a problem right now.
22:02 I don't hate the approach.
22:03 That's a problem, because I don't hate it either.
22:06 I think it's fine.
22:07 It's just when it doesn't go well,
22:10 it's easy to scrutinize, because I
22:12 think it looks a little bit predictable and deliberate.
22:15 And I think teams can load up on it.
22:17 And I think right now-- and again,
22:19 whether you want to believe in the NBA conspiracies
22:21 that they're letting more stuff go because they want to tamp
22:24 down scoring a little bit and not letting guys get
22:26 to the line as much or blah, blah, blah.
22:29 I know that there's a lot of buzz
22:31 out there about what's going on.
22:32 But if that's happening now and it's
22:36 going to happen a little bit more in the playoffs,
22:37 that's not great for a guy like Tatum, who
22:39 does a little bit too much foul hunting on some of his drives
22:42 and right now isn't able to do what a guy like Durant does,
22:45 which is just get--
22:46 or even a Butler.
22:47 Butler's not a great shooter or prolific offensive player.
22:50 But he's prolific at getting to his spot,
22:53 rising up, getting his shot, and knocking it down.
22:56 Tatum's not that guy.
22:58 Tatum doesn't have a spot, per se.
23:00 You know what I mean?
23:01 He really is kind of like a rock the baby,
23:04 let's get to the rim, let's get by my guy,
23:06 either with a sidestep pull up, which isn't super efficient,
23:10 or he has getting to the rim.
23:12 If he's not finishing, though, that's a huge problem.
23:15 That goes back to what we were having--
23:17 what Joe was talking about last year, Bobby, with Tatum.
23:21 Every time you miss a play at the rim,
23:24 the other team's going back in transition.
23:26 How many missed Tatum layups end up with threes the other way?
23:29 So he has to finish when he gets there.
23:30 When he's not, it just looks bigger,
23:34 because you're expecting him to do it.
23:36 And that's kind of how he's getting his points right now.
23:40 Yeah, and it's interesting, too.
23:41 Unless he has one of those, like, oh, Tatum's cooking
23:44 games, but I just don't think there's enough of them
23:46 where he's just striping it from long range
23:51 and hitting those pull up threes in people's faces.
23:53 It's really pretty, and it's great when it happens.
23:55 I just don't think it happens with enough frequency
23:57 that it's something you can count on.
23:59 There's way too much variance with that, depending on that.
24:02 Yeah, and one thing I've tracked with him this year
24:04 is the drives.
24:05 He's down in that sense.
24:07 And I thought last year he hit a good stride
24:10 in terms of the amount of drives to the basket he was taking.
24:13 And I think there's different explanations for that, just
24:15 in terms of how they're setting up the offense.
24:17 You have Porzingis in that lane now.
24:19 They're trying to set up him a lot there.
24:20 They've been setting up other guys with post-ups.
24:23 I even like-- I don't know if you noticed this a little bit,
24:25 John, last couple of games, but him and Brown
24:27 are sort of playing at the top of the key together.
24:29 I think they're trying to put their defenders
24:32 into the same space.
24:33 And Brown's been able to kind of slip out
24:34 of those spots downhill.
24:36 So there's definitely more of an emphasis on Tatum,
24:40 as Joe Sway was talking about earlier, drawing guys to him
24:44 and then passing downhill from there
24:46 and playing with an advantage.
24:48 Joe talks about that all the time.
24:49 So this is a debate we're going to have.
24:52 Are you using Tatum more as a finisher,
24:56 scorer in different positions on the floor,
24:58 or using him as the point of attack
25:00 who's going to draw in the pressure
25:02 and set other guys up?
25:03 Because they've actually built a pretty good dynamic.
25:05 And it's a big reason Brown's really rolling this season
25:08 and last year to some degree, too,
25:10 is that the pressure hits Tatum.
25:12 Brown's able to go and attack a guy one-on-one off that.
25:15 And Brown, again tonight, whether it was Simons,
25:17 whether it was Murray, he had the mismatches.
25:20 And he was just pulverizing those guys.
25:22 Well, he has the mismatches because
25:23 of his physical attributes, which he has over Tatum, which
25:26 is he's stronger.
25:29 He gets to the rim quicker.
25:31 He can rise up.
25:32 And he's a bit more decisive there.
25:35 The problem, I think, with Jalen
25:36 is he has his blinders on a little bit.
25:38 When he goes into attack mode, he can get you easy buckets.
25:41 But it's less likely that you're going to get teammates involved.
25:44 So there's a bit of a trade-off there when you just
25:46 hand the keys over to Jalen.
25:48 Also, again, the more these guys dribble,
25:50 obviously the more there's going to be turnovers.
25:52 It's really looking ahead to the playoffs.
25:53 Like, what are teams going to do?
25:55 You put Porzingis in there again as an X factor,
25:58 it's really difficult to defend because you
25:59 do have to pick your poison.
26:01 As long as the Celtics don't forget
26:02 that they can run the offense through Porzingis at times
26:06 and run actions and get Derek White and Porzingis
26:11 into something there.
26:13 And that's like a cheat code default reset
26:17 when things are in a funk.
26:18 Let's just run that, get those two guys going,
26:20 and everything's going to work OK.
26:22 Because they're going to make great reads
26:23 and you're going to have mismatches
26:25 and you're going to have Porzingis being
26:26 able to do things, whether it's in the post
26:30 or on a smaller defender where he can just rise up and hit
26:33 that jumper, it's great.
26:34 But I do wonder what strategy teams are
26:37 going to take in the playoffs.
26:38 Are they going to blitz Tatum and make
26:40 him get the ball out of his hands to other people?
26:42 And can the Celtics survive that way?
26:45 Like, I have no doubt Tatum's not
26:46 going to be in a funk for the rest of his life right now.
26:49 But I do worry that his offense is a tad predictable.
26:52 And if you lean too heavily on it in the playoffs,
26:54 teams are going to kind of sit back and wait for it
26:58 and know what's coming.
26:59 And I think you're going to give away the advantage you have,
27:01 which is talent everywhere right now.
27:03 You don't want to marginalize him,
27:05 but you don't want to get stuck in doing
27:07 the same thing over and over.
27:10 Yeah, and it's tough because what they've done over and over
27:13 and over again has worked so well.
27:14 And I guess that's similar to last year in a sense,
27:17 where the shooting thing and the three-point volume
27:20 and the drive and kick game were just so deadly for so much
27:23 of last year, you didn't really develop other counters
27:26 that you could go to.
27:27 And this team certainly has them.
27:29 They can do a bunch of different things offensively,
27:32 as you mentioned, John.
27:33 I think they do have that in their back pocket
27:35 when they need it.
27:37 But it comes down to, is Joe stopping the game in those
27:41 spots and putting those kind of plays out there?
27:44 Are those guys having to draw that up on the fly?
27:48 That's what we're going to get into when there's a close game,
27:51 when there's a pressure situation.
27:52 But again, you see in this game, even with poor Tatum shooting,
27:56 even with Brown starting hot and maybe slowing down
28:00 a little bit later in the game, you still just
28:02 had this fluid offense that sort of looked
28:07 like it was running itself at times,
28:09 the way the ball was whipping around,
28:10 the amount of different playmakers you had out there.
28:13 The pace tonight was incredible.
28:14 I think that was a real benefit of having the bench out there,
28:17 too.
28:17 I'll give Joe credit for that spot Pritchard start.
28:19 I didn't expect it, but you get 11 and 8 out of him
28:22 with no turnovers.
28:23 So there's a lot of playmaking here.
28:25 There's a lot of guys you can trust with the ball
28:27 in their hands.
28:28 And that's on Tatum.
28:29 And we're always going to talk about Joe.
28:31 We're always going to talk about Jalen, everybody else around
28:35 him.
28:36 But at the end of the day, he's the one
28:38 who's entrusted with the ball.
28:39 So he can give it up to a white.
28:41 He can get off the ball if he wants to.
28:43 He can set a screen if he wants to.
28:45 And I know they have a system they're
28:47 trying to play out of here.
28:48 So that's why you're not going to see
28:49 a lot of the cutting and stuff that we sometimes
28:50 want to see from him.
28:51 But he's the one who can stay involved in other ways
28:56 when the shot's not there.
28:57 And that, I think, is what we're looking for, John,
28:59 because it didn't happen against Denver.
29:01 He got taken out of that game completely
29:03 because of the lack of shooting.
29:04 Tonight, you see some other things.
29:06 I thought in Phoenix, especially, you
29:07 saw some other things keep him in the game.
29:10 But if you're 9 of 23, you got to be bringing it elsewhere.
29:14 And luckily, tonight he did.
29:16 Well, it sounds simple, but a lot of Tatum's success
29:22 when he's not shooting a ball well
29:23 is other guys taking advantage of the shots
29:26 that he's missing or shots that he's not taking.
29:29 You look at a guy like Sam Houser, who we all know
29:32 is a really, really good three-point shooter.
29:34 But you saw it tonight.
29:35 I mean, there were times where he put the ball on the floor
29:37 and shot the mid-range shot.
29:38 And if he's able to do that, just a simple three dribble
29:42 step into pull-up jump shot, that's
29:45 a problem for teams defensively.
29:47 Because now all of a sudden, the guy
29:49 that you are closing out on, because you know he's
29:50 such a deadly three-point shooter,
29:52 if he can take three steps in and knock down that shot,
29:55 that's going to create even more opportunities
29:57 for the rest of the guys.
29:58 And then you get this domino effect
30:00 where everyone is open.
30:02 It's just a matter of the Celtics deciding,
30:04 at what point are we going to take this open shot?
30:07 And again, going back to your point, Bobby,
30:10 Tatum is the guy that initiates a lot of that.
30:13 I thought this was a game where he--
30:16 I think he realized at some point
30:17 that it's just not going to-- my night to knock down shots.
30:20 Let me rack up some assists and not make mistakes
30:23 when I have the ball.
30:24 You look at him and Jaylen Brown,
30:25 I think they had, what, one turnover between the two
30:27 of them?
30:28 We don't even go a quarter with those guys having one
30:34 turnover, let alone a game.
30:36 So Tatum was not-- by no means was this one of his better
30:40 games, and he definitely didn't look like himself.
30:42 But there was-- again, I think the Celtics,
30:45 they're able to get by on these nights
30:47 when other guys are making the most of the opportunities
30:51 that Tatum would otherwise take.
30:52 Plus Portland sucks.
30:54 And there's that.
30:57 It's hard for me to hate on Portland
30:58 because my guy, Chauncey, is the coach.
31:00 That's my guy.
31:00 I thought they fought tonight.
31:02 But his team sucks.
31:02 Just too many guys on the floor.
31:04 They did fight.
31:05 They did fight.
31:06 I wanted to talk a little about Scoot Henderson
31:08 because I don't know if he's fixable or not.
31:12 He's--
31:13 It's been a long season for Chauncey, man.
31:15 You know he didn't see the Dane thing coming and all that.
31:19 Scoot might need an intervention when the season's over.
31:21 It wasn't supposed to be like this, right?
31:23 It was not.
31:24 It was not.
31:25 Real quick--
31:26 He was hurt almost immediately.
31:28 I was going to say real quick, guys.
31:30 I just think this game, though, like what Tra just said,
31:34 that's what-- that's like a sign of a championship team, right?
31:37 When guys like-- when a guy like Sam Houser has a night like
31:40 tonight, it's like, OK, this is my chance.
31:42 I'm about to go off.
31:43 And it's like, oh, well, no one really saw this one coming.
31:46 But I mean, that's what's supposed
31:47 to happen when you have guys who have been in the rotation
31:50 all season long.
31:51 They get extended minutes, extended opportunity.
31:53 And they make the most of it.
31:54 And I think that was a testament of what we
31:58 saw tonight with Houser.
31:59 Every once in a while, you get a game like that
32:01 from one of these guys.
32:02 And to me, it kind of shows you that they're
32:05 on the right path in terms of winning a championship.
32:07 When guys like that can just show up, put up 20-plus,
32:10 like it's nothing.
32:12 Yeah.
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33:54 So hey, guys, we're back.
33:57 So yeah, the Tatum thing, I think,
34:00 is just something we're watching,
34:01 because you've seen him go into this little weird odd spiral,
34:07 and you want to see him snap out of it.
34:08 And there's plenty of time to do that.
34:10 Other things from tonight that you guys liked,
34:13 that you wanted to talk about-- again,
34:15 we talked about Brown's aggressiveness.
34:19 It's interesting, right?
34:20 It's almost like-- and I've said this before--
34:22 it's like you get stretches where Tatum and Brown are both
34:26 playing their best brand of basketball.
34:29 Or does it feel like it's one up, one down?
34:31 And at different times, yeah, of course, there's been overlap.
34:34 I mean, they've won friggin' 50 games this year.
34:36 They're obviously doing something right.
34:38 And you get a lot of those-- both guys
34:40 hit 30 games, which everybody loves so much.
34:43 But it does feel like-- and maybe this is to-- I think
34:50 maybe it's a little bit to Jalen's credit.
34:52 I think maybe he can sense when Tatum's not in a groove
34:56 and says, let me-- just give it to me right now.
35:00 I got it.
35:00 You know?
35:01 I got it.
35:02 His level of aggression these last few games,
35:04 especially when Tatum's been kind of on the down,
35:07 has been really noticeable.
35:10 Almost to like a, hey, buddy, chill out.
35:12 We don't want you to get hurt sort of way.
35:14 But he's playing like a playoff snarl right now.
35:19 And it's almost like, all right, I'm not effing around.
35:21 If you're not feeling it right now, someone's got to do this.
35:25 And it might as well be me.
35:28 These first quarters are just getting ridiculous from him.
35:31 And that goes back a while.
35:33 But opening up this one, scoring inside off Pritchard,
35:37 attacking inside, kicking out, getting fouled,
35:41 like just on his first three possessions.
35:43 He's playing with control, which again, the chat
35:46 keeps pointing out, which is really interesting.
35:49 That would be, all right, he's going to do it.
35:51 But there's turnovers.
35:56 And there's weird stuff that happens
35:57 when Jalen tries to do too much.
36:00 He's actually not doing that right now.
36:02 He's much more in control while also being insanely aggressive.
36:09 Yeah, and he's worked at this, right?
36:11 So you expect it's going to get better as time goes on.
36:14 And it's simplified to some degree,
36:16 too, when you have these options around you.
36:18 A lot of nights is Porzingis and him playing out of a two man.
36:21 Tonight you saw him and White getting into the two man,
36:23 which I think was a big difference early on when
36:26 Tatum wasn't getting going.
36:27 And he's 52% in first quarters this year,
36:30 seven points a game in those spots.
36:32 So this is a consistent role he's in.
36:34 And you almost wonder if--
36:36 it's probably unspoken, but this is how the game starts.
36:40 Brown's able to attack backside.
36:42 Tatum's able to ease into the game a little bit.
36:45 And that aggression early is a big reason
36:47 they've been able to get out to leads in pretty much every game
36:50 this year.
36:51 They're out to a 5, 10 point lead
36:53 by the time the second quarter even gets started.
36:55 So it's the aggression.
36:58 It's the, I think, balance and strength around the rim
37:02 you're seeing from him.
37:04 But it's also him recognizing coverages in those spots.
37:07 So if there is a guy there, he can kick it out.
37:10 If he needs to pull up over a guy in the lane,
37:12 he's going to do that.
37:14 So he's just smarter.
37:15 Jack 8-3.
37:17 Might have forced a few threes tonight, but so be it.
37:23 Yeah.
37:24 And that's just the offense.
37:26 But I think he's just become a smarter player.
37:29 There's no doubt about it.
37:30 And that's through the repetitions.
37:32 You see the drills he's doing.
37:33 You see the opportunities he's been given.
37:36 And credit to him, he's wanted to be in those positions.
37:38 I do think the offense stalled a little bit,
37:40 I want to say, in the third quarter when Tatum was off
37:42 and he was on leading.
37:43 And that's always been a problem to some degree with them.
37:48 And with his game there at the point of attack,
37:50 the doubles started coming his way.
37:52 One set he got into a little too slow.
37:54 And they were able to rotate out to a bunch of guys.
37:56 I think that was around the time Portland
37:58 went on that 15 to 5 run.
38:00 But you get Tatum back out there.
38:02 And when they're on the floor at the same time,
38:03 they're able to fill those roles together.
38:07 Facts, my dog.
38:08 Oh, I knew it was coming.
38:10 Oh, so Serah wasn't listening to shit.
38:13 No, I was listening.
38:14 I just wanted to feel Jimmy being here with us.
38:17 When he can't be here.
38:18 Oh, got you, got you.
38:20 He dropped at least two of those in the show.
38:23 Right, yeah.
38:26 The chat was all over Jimmy's--
38:29 all over when Jimmy stopped paying attention.
38:32 It's like, facts, my dog, incoming from Jimmy.
38:35 In three, two, you can see it.
38:38 Jimmy will straight up do one of these sometimes.
38:40 Just be like--
38:42 Yeah, yeah.
38:44 So everyone's like, OK, he's not listening.
38:45 He's nodding his head.
38:46 And like two, three minutes later, he's just like,
38:49 facts, my dog.
38:51 Growing up--
38:52 Go ahead, Bobby.
38:53 Speaking of Jimmy, I am going to fire back at him again.
38:57 Because he keeps saying you're not going to see
39:00 Jalen on all NBA this year.
39:01 I'm saying, bud, I think he will be there when the time comes.
39:05 Especially with the role he's on.
39:07 He's making a push.
39:10 And it's easy for a Celtics fan to be like,
39:12 of course he's going to make it.
39:13 And then you go through the names, and you're like, holy.
39:15 It's the same place you were a couple of years ago with him,
39:20 too.
39:21 You're looking at it, and it's like,
39:23 oh, there's a lot of definites.
39:26 And there's a new guy that's probably
39:29 in that definite conversation named Dame Lillard.
39:32 Yeah, and he's rising up now, too.
39:35 So there's almost like 12, 13 automatics.
39:39 And you're like, oh, there's no way that guy's out.
39:41 And then you realize he's fighting with like 10, 12, 13,
39:45 15 other guys.
39:46 I do believe late push, the way he's
39:49 been playing of late and the Celtics record,
39:51 helps a ton here.
39:54 Because you can live with reduced stats
39:57 when you're on a super team.
39:58 Because it's like, well, of course you had to score,
40:00 unless it'd be ridiculous if you were still putting up.
40:03 If you had two guys scoring 60 points a game
40:06 with this much talent around you, that's just silly.
40:08 So people will forgive that.
40:10 But his overall play has increased
40:12 where I think he's in the convo.
40:14 He's far from a lock, though.
40:15 Yeah.
40:17 No, it's not going to be a lock.
40:18 I don't think he's a lock last year, either.
40:20 And then you get some help with injuries.
40:22 There's a big finishing stretch from him, too,
40:24 that made a slam dunk.
40:25 And that's what he's going to need this year.
40:26 And he's on that stretch right now.
40:28 Anything happened last year, but this is even better, right?
40:31 Yeah, and he's on that stretch right now.
40:32 I think you're going to see Halliburton eliminated
40:34 because of games.
40:35 I want to say Mitchell's right there now to being eliminated.
40:39 So that 65 game rule's going to cut some guys out, too.
40:43 That's going to make a big difference, for sure.
40:45 A couple updates tonight.
40:47 The Cavaliers lose again.
40:50 Again, obviously playing--
40:51 Oh, Katie destroyed them.
40:53 --without Mitchell.
40:54 That's not going great for them.
40:56 Yeah, man.
40:56 Donovan's on my fantasy team.
40:58 He's driving me nuts.
40:58 Get ready for Thursday.
40:59 Booker's back.
41:00 Durant's rolling.
41:01 He's going to be a good game.
41:05 That should be good.
41:06 Celtics should be fully loaded as well.
41:09 It is 8.5 now over the Bucs, 9 in the loss column.
41:13 Cavaliers slipping further and further away,
41:15 not like any of this matters.
41:16 This is a foregone conclusion as far
41:19 as this goes with the season.
41:21 A small little thing we wanted to talk about
41:25 was anybody paying attention to some of those West Coast
41:29 scores might see these really interesting stat lines that
41:32 feature guys like Banton and Stevens
41:35 and these guys that used to play in Boston putting up numbers.
41:41 And Banton, what does he do?
41:43 30 points granted he did it on.
41:45 Like I said, I tweeted it.
41:46 It was 30 points on 10 of 27 shooting.
41:49 It was a Thanasis Manning line.
41:50 Hey, that's what you do.
41:54 You get on a team like that, the shots are there.
41:57 You got to take them.
41:58 Tonight he should have taken more.
41:59 He only took six.
42:00 But that wasn't-- he got forced into starting for some injuries
42:05 and he had a stretch where he was putting up
42:08 some decent numbers, which again, it's for Portland,
42:13 which means no one on Portland could start for the Celtics.
42:17 So if you're starting there, you're still the 11th best guy
42:21 on Boston.
42:23 But the potential is there, John.
42:25 That's what it is.
42:25 But the question people were asking,
42:28 and I'm asking you guys, I'm not saying it.
42:30 I'm just throwing it out there.
42:33 I know Sherrod's going to feel this way with Stevens.
42:37 You're still looking for that stay ready guy.
42:41 I guess he settled on Brissett.
42:43 But do you feel those guys got a fair shake
42:46 when they were here, that they ever got a good enough look
42:51 to make a determination?
42:52 Because you brought in guys who had played legit NBA minutes
42:56 other places, some of them being non-competitive situations.
42:59 Brought them in here with the thought
43:01 that this should help bolster the bench.
43:04 Banton, for what it's worth, in 12 games in Portland,
43:07 is averaging 14 points a game, shooting 37% from three,
43:11 where he shot 12%.
43:14 It is very limited action in Boston, 12%.
43:18 It looked like he'd never shot before.
43:20 And he goes there with a little bit of confidence.
43:22 And again, no stakes, no risk.
43:24 But 14 points on 37% shooting from three?
43:30 OK, that's something.
43:33 I'm just-- no, no, hell no.
43:37 Banton, I thought got more opportunities
43:41 than he deserved in Boston.
43:43 You got to start here.
43:44 I just don't think he's a good player.
43:48 Now, Stevens is different.
43:49 Because Stevens actually played and showed
43:53 very specific skills that should be
43:56 able to translate to any team.
43:57 He just didn't play here.
43:59 When he did play, he didn't totally suck.
44:01 He just didn't play that much.
44:02 Banton, when he played, he wasn't very good.
44:05 No, he was horrible.
44:06 Stevens never really got a shot.
44:08 No, Stevens is the one that, to me, that's the one guy
44:12 that I feel did not get a shot here.
44:14 He got to play that game against Orlando.
44:16 And I can't really understand why.
44:17 He got to play that game against Orlando
44:19 where they had no centers because Luke got hurt
44:21 in the warm-ups.
44:22 That was one of their better games.
44:24 That was a really fun game.
44:26 Yeah, he played well.
44:28 The style they were forced to play, playing small ball
44:31 all game long, was an extremely fun game.
44:34 And he's--
44:34 Yeah, I was surprised by that, too.
44:36 He's such a rock.
44:37 Yeah.
44:39 But he also-- again, he's in a wasteland right now.
44:44 He's in Memphis.
44:44 But again, just 22 minutes a game, Stevens this is.
44:50 48% field goals, 42% from three, averaging 11.5 points a game.
44:57 These are-- again, I know it's still the NBA.
45:00 I know you're playing on a crap team, but it's still the NBA.
45:04 And you're doing it against actual other teams.
45:06 So given an opportunity to play, both of these guys
45:10 look like they could play a little.
45:11 Banton, far less so.
45:12 Stevens, I didn't get at all.
45:14 I still didn't get at all.
45:16 They're both guys with chips on their shoulders
45:18 because of what happened in Boston.
45:19 So it doesn't necessarily surprise me
45:21 that they're making the most of their opportunities,
45:24 especially when you look at each situation.
45:26 There isn't really a whole lot of people in front,
45:29 in terms of-- or at least there isn't a whole lot of, hey,
45:32 the season's on the line here.
45:34 If you can't cut it, we're going to pull you.
45:36 And I think they feel bad because it was a complete
45:39 opposite here in Boston.
45:40 Whereas you make one or two mistakes,
45:42 you're getting pulled immediately.
45:44 This is a team with championship aspirations.
45:46 So I think that you take away that pressure and--
45:49 well, the pressure and the feeling of--
45:53 that you failed in the minimal opportunities
45:57 you were given here in Boston.
45:59 And I think this is that result of that.
46:00 And of course, these are guys that
46:02 have been in the league for two, three years.
46:03 They're not rookies here.
46:04 So you have to take that into account as well.
46:07 But I also think that when you look back on it,
46:09 it was just really hard to gain Missoula's trust.
46:13 And what I mean by that is guys that have obviously
46:17 established themselves based off last season,
46:19 continuing to this year.
46:21 They've made strides in their progression.
46:24 You got the top best six players compared to any other team's
46:28 top best six players.
46:29 So you kind of get this tunnel vision in a sense.
46:31 But also, you have a short leash for guys like Stevens
46:37 and for guys like Banton.
46:38 And I think that three months into the season, let's face it,
46:42 Missoula made his decision in terms
46:44 of guys he was going to play, guys
46:45 who were going to crack the rotation,
46:47 guys that may have a shot at cracking the rotation.
46:49 But both of these guys were outside of that entire window,
46:52 if you ask me.
46:54 I still don't understand why Stevens didn't
46:56 get a legitimate shot to play.
46:58 I still don't understand that.
47:00 You're right, Shura.
47:01 He didn't.
47:01 You also didn't need to get rid of both these guys
47:03 in the deals because you did it to keep a roster spot open.
47:07 Doesn't seem like there's any intention in filling that spot
47:10 right now.
47:11 So you could have kept one of them.
47:14 I guess my greater point on it was,
47:17 I get what everyone's saying in the chat.
47:19 And we know.
47:21 Obviously, it makes sense.
47:24 A team this good, if you find yourself in that 9 through 12
47:30 slot, yeah, you're not going to play a lot.
47:33 But staying ready almost guarantees
47:35 you're not going to be ready.
47:37 You know what I mean?
47:37 And that's what we saw in limited action
47:40 from Stevens and Banton.
47:41 I fear that's what you're getting out of Tillman here.
47:44 I was just going to say.
47:46 So I don't get the in and out thing.
47:50 Just commit-- the guy's part of the-- he's in the circle
47:54 of trust or he's not.
47:55 He's kind of in Brissett land right now.
47:59 And if you can live with that, that's fine.
48:01 If Joe is 100% certain--
48:04 I'm telling you this, Bobby, and I'm being nice.
48:07 I think Luke Cornett is going to have the quickest hook you've
48:11 ever seen in your life in the playoffs.
48:14 Wow.
48:15 I really do.
48:17 Because he's going to be terrifying in the playoffs.
48:19 I think Pritchard's going to have a really quick hook
48:22 in the playoffs too.
48:22 Because you're going to be worried that they're
48:24 going to hunt him and it's going to--
48:27 There needs to be a seventh man.
48:29 Someone's got to be the seventh man.
48:31 There's no locked down seventh guy.
48:34 And I guess it's Hauser.
48:36 There's no real name.
48:37 I was just going to say Hauser, but it's going to change.
48:39 It varies.
48:39 But yeah, go ahead.
48:41 Yeah.
48:42 Yeah, but he's getting yanked around.
48:43 So I don't know what the point is.
48:46 None of us think Xavier Tillman is a savior.
48:48 But all of us thought Stevens could have contributed.
48:51 I think a lot of people did.
48:53 And a lot of people think Tillman could contribute.
48:57 They've given Tillman some shots here.
49:00 Not a ton, but they've gone to a couple of games.
49:02 Dallas, the most recent one there,
49:06 Denver, where Tillman's in over Coronet.
49:10 And it's the situation we're talking about here.
49:14 You get a rotation.
49:15 You got to show something.
49:16 And if you don't, you're kind of back
49:19 in that no man's land of sitting on the bench behind everybody
49:22 else who's in front of you.
49:23 So it's a tough position to be in.
49:25 Brissett, I think, has dealed with it really well this year.
49:27 He was good again.
49:28 That guy hasn't played rotation minutes since January.
49:31 And he was really good again tonight.
49:33 So some of these guys are staying ready.
49:35 You hope Tillman can stay ready, because he really
49:37 is in that stay ready position, John.
49:39 You're right.
49:40 If there's a quick hook for Coronet,
49:42 if there's a matchup that fits Tillman's style,
49:45 he's going to have to be able to go in there and produce.
49:48 And this is what we have some gripes about right now
49:51 with the way they're using the rotation.
49:53 Even a game like this, where Tatum, Brown, all these guys
49:56 didn't really need to play.
49:57 Like, could you have gotten Tillman some extended run,
49:59 some reps in a game like this?
50:01 Even if you lose a game, it's not the end of the world.
50:05 He's got to be ready to actually play if he gets the opportunity.
50:09 And then with this conversation we're having right here,
50:12 if Tillman just sits on the bench the whole stretch run--
50:15 I know he's signed next year, I believe,
50:17 or he'll be able to be retained fairly easily.
50:20 I think he actually is up after this year.
50:23 Was it worth two seconds to go get
50:24 a guy who's just going to sit on the bench the whole way,
50:27 even if he has insurance?
50:28 It's the same conversation we had with Mike Mascala
50:30 last year.
50:31 So again, it's a small thing here,
50:35 but I think they have to put him in position
50:37 to actually be able to impact the team in the playoffs.
50:39 Because the first two times he got out there,
50:41 didn't really look like he was ready to impact the team.
50:46 Sure it did.
50:47 I think you're--
50:47 You think?
50:48 I think you're-- Tillman's had a couple of good runs
50:51 here throughout.
50:53 So I think you're misremembering a little bit.
50:55 But--
50:56 He can play.
50:57 I mean, you know--
50:57 I think the Dallas game was solid.
50:59 The Denver game wasn't great.
51:02 The Denver game was bad for a lot of guys.
51:03 I can't use that one as the kind of the litmus test
51:07 for whether he's ready to go or not.
51:08 Jadon was also bad that game.
51:10 Should we sit him for the rest of the next three nights
51:13 so he learns a lesson?
51:14 So where are you at on it?
51:17 I don't-- I just don't know what they're doing.
51:19 I don't know what the plan is.
51:21 I can't quite figure it out.
51:23 Tonight it was like, do you start him along?
51:25 You were like-- you suggested, should you
51:27 start him along with Adam--
51:28 I wanted to see him start.
51:29 --get them run.
51:30 I think--
51:31 And he didn't play a single second.
51:32 I think he sat tonight--
51:33 Bobby was trying to see him--
51:34 Bobby was trying to see him fail, sort of.
51:36 He said, start him--
51:37 I think he sat tonight because of two reasons.
51:39 I think he's still--
51:40 I think he's still reconditioning off of the knee.
51:43 And I think he's going to play extended minutes tomorrow
51:45 when Al sits.
51:45 And you might be without KP as well.
51:48 That knee--
51:49 Yeah, that knee is a tricky thing with him.
51:52 It's something you're always going to have to kind of manage.
51:53 So I wouldn't be surprised if he gets run there
51:56 and you move something out there.
51:57 So I could see him starting and playing 25 minutes tomorrow,
52:01 honestly.
52:01 I wouldn't be shocked.
52:03 It's going to be a lot of Tillman and Luke, Bobby.
52:05 They're going to--
52:07 tomorrow.
52:08 Tillman's definitely--
52:09 Tune in tomorrow.
52:10 Yeah, you got to think Porzingis might be out again.
52:13 Get that graphic ready.
52:14 I wouldn't play him.
52:15 I'd keep him out.
52:16 Let's hit some hamstring tightness.
52:19 Kelly O will do something weird to Porzingis.
52:21 You don't want to see it, like twist his arm.
52:23 Olynyx-- Olynyx on the Raptors.
52:25 Yeah.
52:26 Kelly the killer Olynyx.
52:29 Yeah.
52:29 Any other thoughts for tonight before we wrap it?
52:32 It is late, and it's West Coast.
52:34 We appreciate you guys hanging out with us.
52:36 But--
52:37 That's Dubai, almost an hour.
52:38 Look at that.
52:39 Yeah, you know?
52:41 On Portland, on a Monday.
52:44 On freaking Portland.
52:47 On the West Coast.
52:48 We did it.
52:49 You know what's interesting, guys?
52:50 I just feel like--
52:51 I mean, this has little to do with tomorrow night's game,
52:54 even though it's the second night of a back-to-back.
52:56 But it's interesting with this whole Jason Tatum thing,
52:59 looking fatigued out there, even though post-All-Star break
53:03 and just the way he's been playing,
53:05 just his overall body language, in my opinion.
53:08 I just feel like, at some point, he's got to take a rest, man.
53:13 I mean, obviously, this is the Phoenix Suns match-up.
53:16 There's some-- a couple of games--
53:18 I know we talked about it a couple of nights ago--
53:20 that stand out that are still remaining on the schedule.
53:22 But for the most part, man, I just
53:24 think that's going to be really important
53:26 towards the end of the season, making
53:28 sure Tatum gets his rest in.
53:30 Another deep playoff run, the third consecutive one.
53:33 I think this stuff starts to add up,
53:34 especially when you think about contractual obligations.
53:39 You know, what's the big company, Nike?
53:43 Tatum was-- not that I'm trying to put him on blast here,
53:49 but out late, you know, he had a Nike
53:53 event or whatever, and I don't know about the other nights
53:56 or whatever, but I just feel like he just--
53:58 maybe he's not getting enough sleep or something.
54:00 There's something to it, man.
54:01 Like, I don't think this is a coincidence,
54:02 like the way he's looked out there.
54:04 And I don't think it's an injury thing, you know?
54:06 I could be wrong, but I don't think that--
54:08 Conspiracy shit, I like it.
54:08 I don't think it's a health thing.
54:09 I just think-- I think Tatum needs some sleep, man.
54:11 He's not getting any sleep.
54:12 [INTERPOSING VOICES]
54:13 Conspiracy bombs out here.
54:14 OK, Joe Swanson.
54:15 I'm not trying to, like, be Mr. Old Man,
54:17 you know what I mean?
54:18 Be the--
54:19 Don't back off it now, Joe Swanson.
54:20 That's why he's a dad.
54:21 I'm not backing off.
54:22 My whole thing is, like, I'm not trying to be the older guy
54:24 being like, that kid needs some sleep.
54:26 He's not sleeping enough.
54:27 But he looks like he's not sleeping enough, man.
54:29 Like, and I know--
54:30 That's what he looks like all the time.
54:31 Yeah.
54:32 I know.
54:32 But maybe I'm basically--
54:33 And he never sleeps enough.
54:34 --off of his social media activity.
54:35 But he was-- he was up late for a Nike event.
54:38 And I know, again, Nike's in Portland.
54:39 I get it.
54:40 I know he's a Nike player and all that,
54:43 but I don't think it--
54:44 didn't help with whatever's been going on before.
54:47 I don't think it's just what happened last night.
54:48 I think Tatum needs to just--
54:50 whatever.
54:51 Whatever he's got going on, man, I think he's going to--
54:52 he's going to cool--
54:53 he's got to pull it back a bit.
54:54 And I think the team has to help him also with resting him.
54:57 But I don't think that happens this week,
54:58 but I think it happens in the near future.
55:00 Well, once they get to that double-digit lead in the East,
55:03 then it's just--
55:04 you've got to take some spots and just say,
55:06 we're not going to play you this game because there's
55:09 not a lot of value in it.
55:10 I mean, at this point, winning really
55:13 doesn't matter as much as making sure your guys are good to go
55:17 and play all time.
55:18 Yeah.
55:19 They need some mouth tape.
55:21 Yeah.
55:22 Yeah, a little mouth tape.
55:24 No, but you're right, Josue.
55:26 I mean, Sherrod, just--
55:28 you're going to see it a lot, right?
55:30 You're going to see a lot of guys in and out.
55:32 You're going to see a crap ton of load management here.
55:37 I mean, there's just no reason for--
55:40 there's no reason for anybody to feel anything but sprightly
55:44 and refreshed and springing around and excited to play.
55:48 And there's no reason, yeah.
55:50 And I know Tatum doesn't want to disappoint those fans
55:53 on Tuesday night in Charlotte or whatever,
55:55 when they're playing a crappy team.
55:57 I get that.
55:59 Which wasn't the case this year, but yeah.
56:03 Or those fans in Atlanta on a Tuesday night,
56:06 not even a Friday night, but you need rest.
56:09 Yeah, I was bummed he played in this one.
56:12 I thought this was a good night to sit pretty much
56:14 everybody down once they put them all on the list there.
56:16 But I guess that sets up your next night of rest.
56:18 So he'll probably be up tomorrow.
56:20 At least one of them, Jase.
56:21 Not one of them.
56:22 Yeah, rest them.
56:23 Rest them up.
56:24 Let's get out of this funk.
56:25 Let's get moving.
56:26 Let's get done with these West Coast games.
56:28 I'm not built for this anymore, OK?
56:30 This used to be my wheelhouse.
56:33 My wheelhouse, Bobby knows.
56:35 Well, and there's a little more juice to the games.
56:39 I'm still doing it.
56:40 We were fine Thursday.
56:42 We went 90 minutes Thursday.
56:44 I'm still texting with Bobby at 2:30 AM,
56:47 and then with frigging all the dads at 6:30 AM.
56:52 So my window is really small.
56:54 You know what?
56:55 But oh my god.
56:57 Just let's wrap it up.
56:58 John's dad group chat is going off around 6.
57:03 Let's wrap it up, guys.
57:04 So again, thank you guys for hanging out late.
57:08 I know for all of you East Coasters, like the rest of us,
57:11 hanging out super late watching a game that nobody really
57:14 needed to watch and a game that probably
57:16 didn't need to be played.
57:17 Yet it was.
57:18 The Celtics get to win number 50.
57:21 It's quite an accomplishment, honestly.
57:23 50-14.
57:26 Looking really good right now.
57:29 Closing out the road trip in Utah.
57:32 And then that is that.
57:34 So again, thank you guys for watching.
57:36 Remember, check out PrizePix if you're
57:39 interested in DFS.
57:41 It's a lot of fun and a super easy to use app.
57:45 And we all enjoy it here on the Garden Report, so check it out.
57:48 Tatum sits next game.
57:52 Don't worry about it.
57:53 You get refunds, OK?
57:55 So you want to bet against the guy?
57:58 Bet against sleepy Tatum tomorrow on a back-to-back?
58:01 Go for it.
58:01 You want to bet Luke gets a 30-piece tomorrow or Tillman?
58:05 That's a sneaky good pick.
58:08 Who's picking an over on Tillman to do anything?
58:10 Ooh.
58:12 I might go there.
58:13 He's playing tomorrow.
58:14 We know that.
58:15 Anyway, check it out.
58:16 Thank you guys once again.
58:17 Let me find our little Jimmy outro, which he loves.
58:21 There it is.
58:23 We'll see you guys later.
58:24 Wait, Amit's got an outro for us, I think.
58:26 No, he doesn't.
58:27 You said he was going to work on an outro.
58:29 He had a phenomenal game.
58:31 Phenomenal game.
58:34 Poor for doubt, I think it's an option.
58:36 [LAUGHTER]
58:39 That did not sound like a chair.
58:41 It was a freaking chair.
58:43 It does sound like a chair.
58:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
58:49 (upbeat music)
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