Celtics Are MATCHUP PROBLEM for Bucks w/ Josue Pavon | BIG 3 NBA Podcast

Name: Celtics Are MATCHUP PROBLEM for Bucks w/ Josue Pavon | BIG 3 NBA Podcast
Uploaded: 2024-03-24T01:00:58+00:00
Duration: 37 min 49 s
Channel: CLNS Media Sports Network

CLNS Media Sports Network

2 years ago

In the latest episode of The Big 3 Podcast, A. Sherrod Blakely welcomes CLNS Media's Josue Pavon to discuss the Celtics' victory over the Bucks and their 7th straight win, why the Celtics remain favorites over the Bucks, the playing time decisions made by Coach Mazzulla, Joe Mazzulla's unique coaching style of not contesting shots, the Suns signing Isaiah Thomas, the Celtics' recent road trip, and whether it's time to rest Jayson Tatum.

0:00 Intro

1:48 Celtics Beat Bucks and Win 7th Straight

2:00 Celtics Remain Favorites over Bucks

7:55 Mazzulla's minutes

10:30 Joe Mazzulla told to NOT contest shots, Joe's style

20:20 Suns sign Isaiah Thomas

28:12 Celtics road trip

29:15 Time to rest Jayson Tatum?

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00:00 [CLIP]

00:18 The Big 3 NBA Podcast is powered by PrizePace, the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the

00:23 CLNS Media Network.

00:32 This is the Big 3 NBA Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Swaye. And joining us today is Joe Swaye-Pavone.

00:39 What's good, Sharron? Let's do this. What's going on, Joe Swaye? How you doing, bro? I'm doing good. I'm doing all right, man. I guess I didn't do too bad the last time. I got another invite, man. Appreciate you. Yeah, well, you know, we, you know, we're trying to, we're trying to bring in some of our teammates. We're trying to be, we're trying to be like the Celtics and just make sure we spread the wealth.

00:54 Yeah, Sharron went through the whole schedule of people. He was like, I guess I'll throw him on my boat. Let's get him some minutes. Let's get him off the bench. Get him a start real quick. Get him in the rotation. Absolutely. Absolutely. And before we get into it, just a reminder that this episode is brought to you by Indy.com, HelloFresh, and PrizePix, the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the CLNS Media Network.

01:20 Sign up now at prizepix.com/clns and use code CLNS for a first deposit match of up to $100, which comes in handy with the NCAA tournament in full bloom. And everyone, including myself, has already had their bracket, not busted, but smashed up a little bit.

01:37 Smashed up, right?

01:39 I tell you, I tell you who knows a thing about smashing up is the Boston Celtics who seem to be smashing up anyone and everyone that stands in their way between them and that Larry O'Brien trophy.

01:50 They were down 7-1 in a row. Most recent victory came over the Milwaukee Bucks, a game that you felt good about the Celtics winning going into it, knowing that Giannis wasn't going to play. You felt really good about their chance of winning that game.

02:03 And for the most part, they controlled the action. I think they led by as many as 21 points in that game. But then it got a little dicey at the end and the Celtics had to get a basically a late fourth quarter Jason Tatum, top five Jason Tatum performance where he has some free throws and buckets down the stretch that they needed.

02:21 They got a couple of good stops and he wind up winning by three. But, but just wait, here's my thing. I wasn't, it made me a little uncomfortable that that they were having that much trouble with like basically the B plus slash B Milwaukee Bucks because that's what they are without Giannis.

02:41 I'm just curious. What, what, what, how did you feel about that game being a little bit close for comfort?

02:48 You know, Sharad down the stretch, I felt good about it because I mean, we talked about it during the Celtics postgame show Tatum go into the rack dominant, you know, that no one's going to stop me.

02:57 I got to close this thing out Tatum. You felt good. You know, all right, they're going to close this thing out. But Lillis got, he's got no say in this, you know what I mean?

03:04 So you thought to yourself, maybe we get some overtime, but you were hoping the Celtics because of what was going on throughout the entire season in terms of the giving up a bunch of leads, let's just say, right.

03:14 Even if some of them did end up being victorious, they, they, some of them were ugly and also the losses as well.

03:20 So I just, I feel good about it because I just think when you look at the Milwaukee Bucks situation and what's been going on since the all-star break and Doc Rivers coming in there and trying to, you know, trying to pretty much go on a run here until the end of the season, it's a tough spot for them.

03:34 So I think these guys are motivated though. I think they came into this game saying, okay, no Giannis, we still got this.

03:39 The Celtics going to take us lightly. And I think when you have someone else like Bobby Porter's in the mix like that in the second half, that really helped them.

03:46 You know, I think that that was a really inspiring for these guys. I think they really needed this one. If you're Doc Rivers outside of the wind, you take it because you say, look, this is how close we were.

03:56 And we didn't have Giannis. And, you know, to mention Peyton Pritchett in the postgame press conference, you don't think he's in the locker room saying to these guys, you know, it was just Peyton Pritchett having a great game in that first half.

04:06 Outside of that, you know, you know, that deficit, it wouldn't have been that that steep if Pritchett didn't go off the way he did, you know, and I think just that type of stuff really helps his team when you think about their delicate mental state.

04:18 It has to be, you know, even Damian Lillard, let's face it. He's not having that much fun this year, you know, regardless of the stats and the all-star game, you know, MVP and all that, like it's been a really, really tough transition.

04:29 So again, man, like we were talking about it on the show that the Bucs needed this way more than the Celtics, man. And they got, you know, it's weird because they lost, but I feel like they got it because they got that ounce of confidence in that ounce of motivation moving forward.

04:43 But I, in terms of matching up with the Celtics, though, it doesn't change my opinion. I still think that Celtics are heavily favored, or at least the way I see it matchup wise.

04:52 And I don't, what happened in that game doesn't really change my mind a whole lot, but I do think to myself, okay, look out for the Bucs. That would be a great series.

05:00 Yeah, I mean, I look at that particular game and the way it ended is, you know, I think you have to pause for a moment and just say, was that just a simple case of the Celtics letting up off the gas pedal a little bit?

05:14 Or do we need to take a look under the hood and see if there's more than just them letting up off the gas for this one? And the thing that jumped out to me about that game, and it was something that in the grand scheme of the outcome really didn't matter that much, but it reinforced why I believe the Celtics will beat Milwaukee if they meet in the best of seven.

05:35 Early in the game, they went to whoever Damian Lillard was matched up with. And when they didn't go at him, they went at Beasley. And when these two meet in the playoffs, that ain't going to change.

05:47 I don't know if there is a more defensively challenged starting backcourt in the NBA than Damian Lillard and Beasley. And the real reason more than anything else is because they're both undersized for their position.

06:01 I mean, Damian Lillard is a shooting guard in an undersized point guard's body. And Beasley is an off guard who more nights is off, period. And he's the guy that you want guarding you. He's the off guard. He's the guy that you know is off guards trying to guard somebody that he can't guard.

06:18 And if he's not making shots, he's useless. And that's really, to be frank, that's what Milwaukee needed. They needed him to actually make some shots. I think it was like two for eight, two for nine, something like that.

06:30 And he can't be that bad and then to have any shot of knocking off the Celtics. So I think that it was a moment to pause and just make sure that what we saw was just kind of a one off type thing.

06:44 But I'm not concerned either, Josue, about the Celtics, this being something that's symptomatic of them maybe falling off. And we'll talk about this a little bit later.

06:56 But motivation has got to be hard for the Celtics to have at this point when you've got such a fat cushion over anyone and everyone that you play to where every game your opponent needs to win far more than you do.

07:12 And while we're on the subject of winning and opponents and things like that, one of the reasons why I think a lot of these games are a little bit close is because Joe Mazzullo is basically looking at some crazy ass combinations every now and then that we know we're going to see in the playoffs.

07:26 But it's worth, I guess, giving it a try right now. What's your take of how Joe has been kind of dispersing the minutes the last few games?

07:33 Because really, it's clear as day that the Celtics are going to wind up with the best record in the NBA.

07:40 And Joe is doing what I think any coach would try to do, and that's balance, trying to keep his guys healthy, with trying to give guys some rest, with trying to look at some combinations that fall in the "in case of an emergency, I need to play him."

07:56 I'm just curious, what's your take on how Joe has kind of handled the minutes the last few games with his players?

08:03 I love it. I love it, Sherrod. It's like, hey, we're all in this together. I mean, we're all going to have a spot here. We're all going to have an opportunity.

08:10 Maybe it's towards the tail end of the regular season, but shit, everyone's going to be confident going into the playoffs saying, "Hey, if my number is called, you know, if my name is called, let's go. I'm ready. I got the reps in."

08:22 I know how to do things on the defensive end of the floor and on the offensive end of the floor. I think that's a lot of the reason why these guys are getting those opportunities.

08:31 I mean, we talked about earlier the guys who didn't necessarily get a whole lot of opportunity, Banton and Lamar Stevens and all that.

08:38 But I think when you look at the overall picture, I mean, Missoula was just trying to see what everyone has, trying to test everybody out in different spots.

08:45 These guys got star tier in there. They got opportunities where people didn't really see it coming, you know what I mean?

08:51 So I just think Missoula is always open for those new ideas. But when you're in this great spot, this unique spot that I've never seen a team in, 11 game lead in the Eastern Conference, this is the time to do stuff like that.

09:04 To get guys like Pritchard, not only his reps, but get him in spots where he's going to take on a lot more responsibility.

09:10 Getting the start and putting him in situations that necessarily could really win you a game in the playoffs.

09:17 Luke Cornett, I just think those two guys really stand out the most because they've been getting minutes, they've been grabbing those opportunities, making the most of it for sure.

09:24 I mean, easily their best seasons, respectively, throughout. However, getting those extra spots, the starting opportunities, the chances to really get into the game and have to make those decisions that really alter how the game goes, I think is huge.

09:40 I think a lot of that has to do with Joe Missoula just slowly building that confidence. So it kind of starts from the top and just trickles down.

09:47 We've seen so many signs of all these guys, like 1 through 12, just dialed in and just productive on both ends whenever they get their opportunities.

09:57 Yeah, and when you talk about Joe Missoula, we laugh it off, but the whole Joe Missoula, the shot blocker, and how now apparently someone has told him that you don't do that anymore, Coach.

10:14 That was Brad. It was probably Brad. I'm not trying to say I heard something, but if I had to guess, it was probably someone from the Celtics.

10:21 Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't know. It's funny, though. I just think it kind of goes in with the message, right? Hey, we're all in this together.

10:29 That's a rule that applies for me as well. I'm not letting anyone get a free shot off.

10:34 You know what, though? When I first saw Royce, was the first one with the video where he's contesting the shot.

10:46 I understand that part of the thinking is a health and safety concern. What if Joe Missoula is out there trying to block this dude's shot, and that dude comes down on Joe's foot, and he has an ankle injury, and he's out for weeks?

10:57 Then we're like, "Oh, damn. Joe might be suspended for like a whole year."

11:01 Absolutely, man. NBA's going to call us something to be like, "Why was that man doing that? Is this how you let your coaches run wild?" Yeah, definitely.

11:10 I think a lot of it has to do with just liability concerns, but here's the thing that I kind of look at with that.

11:17 Okay, bad Joe. Don't do that anymore. But part of the thinking that I think Joe Missoula has, and it just makes sense, is that he wants his players to understand that every minute you are on the floor, even during damn timeouts, you ain't letting up.

11:34 We talked about this on the Big 3 NBA podcast earlier with Gary Washburn and Kwanye Lewis. We talked about this earlier about how you go back to when Kevin Garnett was a Celtic, and how Kevin Garnett was a Celtic.

11:49 I was just going to ask you, Shirai. Who do you think started this?

11:53 Kevin Garnett was the guy that really made that, you know, when a timeout is called and a team guy is trying to get his shot off, you know, right before or right after the timeout is called, Kevin was that guy was sitting there like three rows back.

12:05 And, you know, people used to think, "Oh, that's not a big deal. It's not a big deal." When you're dealing with a team and a guy misses like six or seven out of like nine shots, that one shot during that timeout that he's trying to, that could be the one to get him going.

12:18 How many times have we seen guys miss like seven, eight, nine, 10 shots and they get fouled, they go to the free throw line, they knock down two free throws. Next thing you know, they knock down four straight.

12:28 And you look back and how did they get back on track? They got some shots with no one contesting them. And I understand what Joe Mazzulli is doing. He's trying to say, "Look, we are not letting up. I want my players to understand that there's no let up."

12:42 And I get it, but he can't do that. He just can't do that because I'm thinking about this from like Joe or Jane fan watching my team play the Celtics and seeing Coach Mazzulli trying to contest a shot of my second best player who we're going to need this home stretch as we try to get our playoff position together.

13:04 I'm concerned that Joe might foul him. And let's be real. And again, I did my homework on this. I did what I call my Gary Washburn hood homework on this. I looked up Joe Mazzulli's numbers when he was at West Virginia. He had seven blocked shots in his career at West Virginia.

13:23 So we're not talking about Derek White. We're not talking about Derek White guards blocking everybody's shot. We're talking about just a dude who got like basically one block, one and a half blocks, a little more than that, 1.8 blocks per year. Not a game, not a month, per year.

13:42 So maybe Joe was living out some of that, "Man, I wish I was a little bit taller. I wish I could block shots." Maybe some of that's going on. But I love the fact that Joe is trying to set the tone. Like, "Look, we ain't letting up. I don't care if we up by 27 points and you're just called a timeout. I ain't trying to let you get no shot at getting to a shot-making rhythm." Much respect to Joe for that.

14:05 Absolutely, man. I love the CeeLo reference. CeeLo, Skeelo? Skeelo is that guy's name, right? The one that he was in?

14:12 See, that's why Joe's name is Catch the Real.

14:15 If you know, you know. Great, great reference. Yeah, man. He was that scrapper too as a player. So it transcends. As a head coach, you've got to actually be that same guy, especially in the locker room.

14:28 That's really what it boils down to. If someone gets hurt, you know what I mean? Or if you motivate the other team in a way, I don't know. That's another way to look at it too. Imagine if KG was on the other end of that. Maybe he's not the one that someone's trying to block his shot.

14:45 But he just sees one of his teammates and the head coach doing it. Imagine that. That could stir something and you could put your team at a disadvantage. And then all of a sudden, it's like, "Man, if I didn't do that." There's a lot of moving parts, I guess.

14:56 But it's just funny because I've never seen a head coach do anything like that. And I just remember thinking to myself, "Man, this is going to be talked about, but it's also going to be mentioned by either the NBA or the Celtics in a one-on-one with Joe Vizula."

15:09 I never thought it would result in a fine or anything like that, but I was like, "Hey, Joe, don't do that again." And we're not going to know about it. That's how I thought the whole thing was going to play out.

15:19 Joe's going to get that message. He won't be asked about it again. We'll just move on. It won't be anything that's announced or anything, but we'll never see him do that again.

15:27 And then for him to go on the radio, which was a very lighthearted conversation, by the way. Did you hear that conversation? I've never heard Joe like that. I was like, "Oh, okay, Joe. You're joking around." He put a real laugh in there. It wasn't those scoffs or those fake laughs that he gives Gary.

15:41 You know what I mean? You know, the sarcastic, "Ha ha ha." It was genuine Joe. I was like, "Okay, maybe it's the way his team play. He's just feeling good right now."

15:49 He spoke to Cedric Maxwell recently, just talking about championships and all that. So maybe he's seen the light, so to speak. I don't know what it is, but hey, I like it, man. I like this side of Joe.

15:59 Genuine Joe. Yeah, I like that.

16:01 Genuine Joe, exactly.

16:03 The thing about him now, I think he's understanding that, "You know what? What we're doing, it's important, but yo, I need to just relax and just let things play out the way they're going to play out."

16:15 Absolutely, man.

16:17 If you're Joe Mazzulla, you're like, "Look, you can't hate on me at all now. Not only do my team have the best record, we are like lapping kids. We're damn near lapping."

16:31 Think about it. The first three opponents that they're going to play on this upcoming road trip, and we'll get into that in a few minutes, average, average, like 28, 29 wins each.

16:41 Nope.

16:42 They have nearly twice as many wins as the teams that they're playing this weekend average this season.

16:51 The thing that I am liking more and more about Joe is he's just figuring out how to be Joe.

16:57 I think his first year, looking at the circumstances from which he ascended to the head coaching position, looking at all the different issues that he had to deal with and he had to address without having any real playbook to work from on how to address them.

17:12 It's one thing if you're a college coach like Brad was and you're at Butler and you've got to deal with drama with the Celtics and players.

17:19 You coached as a head. You already head coached, so you have some idea of what you want to do, whether you can do it or not is another story, but you've got some idea of what you want to do.

17:28 When you're an assistant coach, you are a staff sergeant. You're a soldier. You're the one who is implementing the orders that were given to you.

17:38 You're not the one that's setting the tone, per se, as what others are going to do.

17:42 And so I think it took him a little bit of time to figure out how he can do that, how he can be effective.

17:47 And maybe most important, and this doesn't get enough attention with Joe, how do you be consistent with your leadership?

17:54 Because there is in the years that I've been covering, the one thing that pisses players off is the coaches that are like, they're like, you know, player coach one day, dictator the next.

18:06 It's just like, damn, pick one, because if you were straight up dictator, I mean, we can work with that because I know what I'm getting.

18:12 And if you're a player, yeah, we can work with that.

18:15 But when you flip when you flip the switch from go back and forth and there's no rhyme or reason as to why you do that, players hate that.

18:22 That's why a lot of coaches who are really good don't have jobs because players are just players in ownership and management.

18:29 They're not trying to hear that.

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20:20 I wanted to touch on, before we talk about the upcoming road trip, I wanted to jump into something that, and this is the Kwanee Lunas creation.

20:31 Miguel, shout out to Kwanee Lunas co-host.

20:33 Shout out to Kwanee.

20:34 Yeah, but she's created this segment and we just stumbled upon it and I'm going to do it every single week because it's just hysterical.

20:41 It's called "Catching Up With The X's."

20:43 Okay, okay.

20:45 Checking in on what former Celtics are doing. And I wanted to talk to you about our guy, I.T. Thompson.

20:50 That's good, that's so Kwanee. There you go. Kwanee's a great name.

20:54 I want to talk to you about our boy, I.T.

20:56 And he's with Phoenix now and full disclosure, on one of our earlier episodes, we talked about I.T. and hoping that when he did the G League thing, we were like, "Man, he should get a shot with somebody."

21:09 He's getting that with Phoenix. His first game he played maybe two minutes, had an assist, missed a shot.

21:15 But what are you hoping to see from Isaiah Thomas in this latest NBA comeback?

21:23 I hope he has a role, Sharlaya. And I think with this Suns team, he has a shot.

21:27 I mean, maybe this is the tail end of the rotation, but that would be a great, great thing to see, man.

21:33 That was the whole thing with me in the Celtics talk. A couple of weeks ago or whenever it was, whenever it was starting to, "Here we go again, maybe they should call him, he got that last spot."

21:43 I'm like, "He's not going to play."

21:46 And it's funny because I had this conversation with Gary. He was really into it.

21:51 You know how Gary gets sometimes when he's really passionate about something.

21:54 And he's like, "Man, but just to get that ride, that experience, to win a championship."

21:57 I'm like, "Man, that would be cool, but I want to see him play because he still has it." And I think that's a cooler story.

22:03 You know what I mean? Okay, they don't win the championship. The Suns, you know, let's say they get to the Western Conference Finals, man.

22:08 But to watch him in the playoffs again, man, maybe we get one of these.

22:12 Like, that's what I want to see. And I just never saw that type of spot here on the Celtics.

22:18 I just don't. The backcourt's crowded and it's for, it's a good reason.

22:22 It's not something that you look at and say, "Oh, well, if someone goes down, you throw them right in there."

22:27 It's like, they got reserves. So I just think, as playmakers, et cetera, I just think that the Celtics,

22:33 it would have been really tough for him to kind of latch onto a spot there in that rotation.

22:37 And then the inevitable, and that's another part of this thing.

22:40 When we're talking about Isaiah possibly going back to Boston, we have to see him walk away from Boston again.

22:46 You know what I mean? And maybe that's it. Maybe that's the last. But I just wouldn't, I wouldn't like that story compared to what we're seeing now.

22:52 I love this. Soon as I heard the Phoenix Suns, I said, "He's got a shot."

22:56 You know, so that's, hopefully that's how this ends. But I'm so happy for IT, man.

23:01 As someone who was first starting out, you know, covering the Celtics, it was the IT era and it was, it was an incredible ride.

23:09 You know, maybe I'm a little biased in a way, but, you know, as a journalist, man, like you, you remember, man,

23:15 like the conversations, the one-on-ones, Isaiah was such a, you know, someone that you, you sort of cheer for, you know, like in,

23:24 and I'm still doing it now. So I'm so happy for him, man, talking about, or at least from reports that I've heard from people,

23:30 you know, turning down contracts overseas, like he was just really determined on doing this.

23:35 And I love that for him because that's something that could be in this next chapter.

23:39 You know, maybe in a couple of years, that's something we see him do, balling out overseas, seeing some 40-point, 50-point highlight reel.

23:46 And we're like, "Oh, there he goes again." Like, that would be cool too. But like, I want to see him, I want to see him make this return.

23:50 You know, I want to see this official and hopefully that happens in Phoenix.

23:54 I can't wait for the movie. Because to me, this is like, really should, when you look at the things that he has gone through,

24:02 the things that he has overcome, the issues that he has had to deal with, I don't know how you wouldn't see this as a blockbuster Hollywood movie at some point.

24:13 And the cool part for me is that there's still chapters yet to be written.

24:17 Exactly.

24:18 In Phoenix. You know, when you look at the Western Conference playoff situation right now, you know, the Suns are like, I think they're in seventh place,

24:25 but they're only three games out of being in fourth place.

24:28 So they could conceivably go on a late-season surge and wind up with a home-court advantage.

24:33 Or to me, if they don't necessarily move significantly up, you look at the teams near the top, when you talk about Oklahoma City Thunder, you talk about the Timberwolves,

24:43 those are two teams that in a best-of-seven series, I wouldn't be shocked if Phoenix beat them.

24:48 And it's not because I think Phoenix is a better team. I just think that both of those teams are really young.

24:52 And when you add a guy like Isaiah Thomas to the mix, and you're not looking for him to go out there and play 20, 25, 30 minutes a game,

24:59 but he's still good enough right now where you put him out there for eight, nine minutes, he could get you like seven, eight points.

25:04 And that could be the difference between you winning two games at home and one on the road and positioning yourself to go to the next round versus being down 3-1.

25:14 I think he has that X factor to him for the Phoenix Suns that makes them a team that if you see them first round, I don't really know if you really want that smoke.

25:24 Exactly.

25:26 You're dealing with a guy who understands that there's a certain sense of urgency that you have to have this time of year.

25:34 And for someone who has been on the outside of the NBA looking in for as long as he has, you better believe his sense of urgency is going to be a little bit more ramped up.

25:42 And to me, between now and the playoffs for Phoenix, it's a matter of getting him in game shape so that he can play 10, 15 minutes a night.

25:51 If you can get 10, 15 minutes out of him every night, you're going to have a chance to be very, very good.

25:57 And we all know there's certain nights where IT won't miss.

26:01 IT start hitting those shots that he has no business hitting, but they go down.

26:05 Then you say, OK, we might need him for 20 minutes a night because clearly he got it going on in a way.

26:11 And again, you look at the players that Phoenix has as their core.

26:16 Think about it. You got Bill, you got KD, you got Booker.

26:20 That's like 75 points right there.

26:23 And if you can get a cat who also has the ability to score at a high clip instantly and quickly, it makes them a dangerous team.

26:31 Because now the one thing that we've been knocking at Phoenix for all season long was that they didn't have much depth to them.

26:37 They didn't have another impact score outside of their big three.

26:41 If Isaiah Thomas go out there and score 20 points on any given night, no one would be surprised because we've seen him do it many, many times.

26:47 And this is a player who has shown that when you put him in situations where he gets to play with that chip on his shoulder, he can be pretty damn special.

26:57 Pretty damn special.

26:59 Just give him that spot, you know, give him that shot.

27:02 And this is this is it, man.

27:03 All that. That's what I was going to say.

27:05 I was going to the roster.

27:08 You look around, he's like, man, this Bradley Bill, it's Kevin Durant, guys that he was in the mix with.

27:14 Let's face it, that year, MVP, you know, the MVP candidate season when he was putting up 29 a night, like he was he was putting up those type of numbers.

27:21 I'm not saying that that's what we're going to see now.

27:23 But like, man, like how does that not going to motivate someone like Isaiah Thomas if he doesn't someone doesn't need that type of motivation?

27:31 But he already has that. I really love the situation for him.

27:34 And even if he were to turn in one of those guys that during that run to the finals, like a Cameron Payne or whatever, like some of those games where he went off for like 18, 20 or went off in the second half with 13 points.

27:45 No big I.T. can do that. So this is a this is a great not only a great opportunity for Isaiah Thomas, but if you're the Phoenix Suns, you're like, man, that that could that could really happen.

27:55 You know, that could be the difference between winning a game in the playoffs.

27:58 You know, if it seems like I take him off the bench, you just go off like that.

28:01 Absolutely. And so we're going to move on from the X's and onto the Nexus as in the next games on the side, as you all as everyone should do.

28:10 All right. You know, exactly. You got to move on from the X's. You still have love for them, but you got to move on.

28:15 You got to move. Exactly. Well put. There you go.

28:17 So Celtics in the next six games are on the road, as we talked about at the top of the show.

28:21 And they could have that number one seed locked up by the end of this weekend, which is crazy.

28:27 Digging deeper into the numbers, the Celtics can basically go 500 the rest of the way, which I don't expect to happen.

28:32 But if they did, they would still finish with one of the top five, top six all time records for a single season.

28:40 Boston Celtics history, which is crazy. But at some point, you got to look at who are you basically putting on ice and who are you going to just basically get out there and hope that you can win a game here and there.

28:54 But you're really just trying to run out the clock and get to the playoffs.

28:58 Who among their core group are you looking to put on ice more than anyone else?

29:04 Jason Tatum. Wow. Tatum. You got it. You got it. You got to get his rest.

29:09 This run, you got to get his rest. And this is another deep playoff run.

29:13 OK, so they make the finals last year, but that's still a deep playoff run.

29:17 And let's not forget how it happened. You know how it how it ended for Tatum specifically.

29:22 And look, throughout the season, there's certain spots where he just he just looks tired sometimes, man.

29:28 He really does. So, look, I think this would be a great opportunity to just rest Tatum.

29:34 Get the other guys going. I want to see more of this Pritchard and Cornette.

29:39 And who's going to come? Who's we coming off the bench for Tatum most of the time throughout the playoffs?

29:46 Anyone and guys who could be lined up for those secondary minutes, get them going.

29:51 You know, Jalen as well. I want to see some rest there as well.

29:56 Is Drew going to be 100 percent going to or close to it going going into the postseason?

30:00 So I think you might see him rest, you know, get some games off, too.

30:04 But yeah, if you talk about the top, top guys, it's Tatum. It's Tatum.

30:08 And get it. Get us a rest. Get them nice and get them nice and mentally prepared, obviously,

30:12 because I don't think that that part is going to it's going to, you know, he's going to get rusty.

30:16 You know, so I just think this is a this is this is the time and it's time.

30:21 It's time. No one can talk. It's in the rearview mirror. It's time.

30:25 Yeah, I didn't agree with you. I mean, I want to not agree with you, but I do.

30:30 Yeah, I was going to say you see you see surprise. But I really want to go.

30:34 Those minutes add up. He's had a lot of the deep play uprooms.

30:39 Yeah. And the other thing to just way is that I look at a guy like Jalen Brown, for example,

30:44 and I can say, JB, I can play JB when the lights go on, he going to play.

30:49 He's going to give me pretty much the same regardless of whether he gets rested or not.

30:53 I mean, I look back at the game that they lost in Denver where JB showed up in a big, big way.

31:01 Did not. I think mental fatigue probably had a little bit to do with Tatum's off night.

31:05 But to your point, he's the one guy that you're depending on who doesn't really get downtime.

31:14 I mean, they've they've done a great job. I think all season long with Porzingis and Al,

31:19 Drew Holiday is now starting to get a little bit of that that load management type rest.

31:23 JB is Jalen is just going to do what Jalen do.

31:26 I'm not worried about him being mentally fatigued or physically fatigued. He's that dude.

31:31 But Tatum is the one guy that really hasn't had a chance to just kind of, you know, decompress.

31:38 And I get Tatum is he's probably the one guy who bitches more than anyone else.

31:42 He just doesn't want to. Right. That's the problem. They got to force his hand.

31:46 Right. Right. I mean, it's the same dude who's just like, listen, I want to play on those Tuesdays in Charlotte,

31:52 you know, because people come to see me play. But at the same point,

31:56 your fans came to see you help win a championship. And you got to start giving that a little bit more thought than just,

32:03 you know, being out there against the Detroit Pistons for a couple of games where you're going to drop 25 by half.

32:10 And if you're going to play him, I think the compromise is to do the first half joint where he'll play the first two quarters and won't play the second half.

32:19 Or you'll play him reduced minutes and maybe augment the minutes that he would normally play with getting Sam Houser out there or getting someone else in the mix.

32:27 But find ways to get him rest, either keeping him off the court entirely or cutting back his minutes and being transparent about it.

32:36 And that's the thing about Joe Mizzoula that I think the genuine Joe Mizzoula is going to be with us.

32:41 He's just going to be like, yeah, you know, you know, we're getting into the playoffs and I want to take a look at lots of different combinations.

32:47 But I also want to make sure our main guys get some rest. And this is the way to do that.

32:51 You know, giving Tatum cutting his minutes back to around 25 or so a game.

32:55 And which means, you know, you're going to see more Sam Housers and Peyton Pritchard and those types.

33:01 And to me, as a Celtics fan, you're thinking that makes sense. That's like that's kind of what I want.

33:07 I want to see a little bit of Tatum to remind me of how great he is.

33:10 But I don't I need to see the full unedited, unadulterated, just the full throttle all in that dude.

33:19 Top five Tatum. Exactly. Beginning in the middle of April. Between now and the middle of April.

33:24 Give me a little get the Tatum poo poo platter, you know, a little this, little that.

33:29 The entree, save the Tatum entree for the playoffs. That's what fans want at this point.

33:35 Yeah, man. Yeah, absolutely. You know, you look look back at the always Celtics and just remember how they started that playoff series.

33:43 I mean, I know it went seven games, but they just looked like they were just a doc.

33:46 Got those got those guys their rest, especially around this time of the year.

33:50 And, you know, yeah, like you said, too, it could be that as well.

33:53 You play your first half and then that's it. You know, almost feel like a preseason game for Tatum sometimes.

33:57 But, you know, yeah, guys like Hauser, you know, you got other people who I feel like could could benefit more from these reps from these games,

34:06 especially you're playing some of these guys, some of these teams that are just going to, you know, should be a W, you know,

34:11 and if it's not, then maybe it's not the worst thing in the world for some of these these guys who can who can get that experience down the stretch.

34:17 Maybe it's a close game and Hauser has to get the game winner, you know, like that.

34:22 That's a great spot for him because maybe he needs to hit a couple of those throughout the playoffs.

34:25 So I think when you when you look at teams of the past championship teams or at least teams that have had to go a couple of runs to get to the to the finals,

34:34 you know, sometimes we overlook how long the playoff run is, you know, 25 plus games.

34:40 And depending on how many times you go seven or how long those first couple of rounds go in, you know, there's not a whole lot of rest.

34:47 Sometimes they got it. Man, there's not a whole lot of rest for us.

34:50 I imagine the players that go out there and play like it's it's exhaustive.

34:56 That 2022 final, like, look, it was a heck of a run.

35:00 It was an incredible experience. My first time ever going to the NBA finals.

35:03 But man, by game six, your boy was tired, traveling back and forth to Cali and all that.

35:10 So I just think you have to because they've done it so many times.

35:14 That experience mentally is important, too. But physically, I think it's just as important as well for these guys.

35:19 They're not near 30. I know these aren't the same type of players in terms of like the Pierce's and the Garnett's and the Ray Allen's and where they were in their stages of their career.

35:28 But I just don't think it's important when you think about the consecutive deep playoff runs.

35:32 Like, that's the part that I think is it's really you know, you just don't want to look at this team in June and being like, man, Taino looks tired in game six, you know.

35:41 And then all of a sudden, that's the narrative. Oh, man, these guys just or, you know, they were they were mentally fatigued.

35:47 You know, it made some really, really bad mistakes when things matter the most.

35:52 Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, folks who want to catch up, catch some of your content just where where can they go?

36:00 Oh, man, check me out on Twitter. Joe underscore sway. Of course, follow the Central Maxwell podcast on YouTube or wherever you get your your wherever you listen to your your your favorite podcast.

36:14 I mean, if you're an iPhone guy, you know, Apple or whatever, wherever you are, Spotify.

36:19 It's been really fun this year, obviously, because the way it's something plain.

36:22 But with Max and his insight and stuff, it's only going to be it's only going to get it's only going to get any better, especially our guests.

36:28 We got a lot of surprise guests coming up as well. So, yeah, check me out there, of course.

36:32 And of course, you know, this media after every single game on YouTube, the one of many personalities on the South Coast postgame show.

36:42 Absolutely. Absolutely. And just a reminder, folks, download this latest episode of the big three NBA podcast from your favorite podcasting app.

36:50 And also one last shout out to our people. Indeed.com.

36:54 Hello, fresh and prize picks the exclusive daily fantasy partner of CNS Media Network.

37:01 Joe Sway. Well done, my friend. We'll have to get you on before we get to the playoffs.

37:05 Yeah, man, let's do it. Let's do it. This is fun.

37:08 Try to get try to get a little Peyton Pritchett, Joe Sway action in here.

37:12 Yeah, put me in, you know, Drew needs some Drew needs rest, man. Give him a couple more starts.

37:17 Talk a little bit more about genuine Joe as we get closer to the to the meat of the season, which is a playoff.

37:23 So. Right, right. For Joe Sway, Papone, H-Rob Blakely. This is the big three NBA podcast.

37:30 We out.

37:31 The.