Hawks Snap Celtics' Win Streak | Big 3 NBA Podcast - video Dailymotion

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In the latest episode of The Big 3 Podcast, A. Sherrod Blakely, Gary Washburn, and Kwani Lunis discuss what went wrong in Atlanta as the Celtics' win streak comes to an end. Is there something to be concerned about with this team? That, and much more!    The Big 3 NBA Podcast with Gary, Sherrod & Kwani is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube as well as all of your go to podcasting apps. Subscribe, and give us the gift that never gets old or moldy- a 5-Star review - before you leave!    This episode of the Big 3 NBA Podcast is brought to you by:    PrizePicks! 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!     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!

Transcript

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

00:23 CLNS Media Network.

00:25 Hello everyone, welcome to The Big 3 NBA Podcast. A-Trod Blakely, Gary Washburn, I'm Quanie

00:31 Lunas. Let's get right into it. The Celtics already broke their 11 game win streak in

00:37 Atlanta. A sneaky win from the Hawks. Let's just recap what you two took away from that

00:43 loss on Monday night.

00:45 Tatum got buckets. That's pretty much all that happened in that game. He also got frustrated

00:53 a little bit too. You can see Hawks, they were very physical with him. They did not

00:59 let him get to his spots with ease and Tatum didn't really like that. He still got his

01:03 points but you never got the feeling after maybe in the second half that the Celtics

01:08 were in the kind of control we're used to. You were kind of waiting for them to just

01:12 flip that switch and just blow them out. But the Hawks, give them credit, the Hawks made

01:15 a lot of shots they normally don't make. They made plays that they normally don't make.

01:20 The Celtics did. It looked for many of us who watched this team play, it looked like

01:24 rinse, recycle, repeat for the Celtics where they jumped on him early, they got a nice

01:31 comfortable lead. Team got back in a little bit but the Celtics went by 20 and that just

01:35 didn't happen the latter part. Way to go Hawks. Number 10 team, you got to win. Well done.

01:46 Gary. Yeah, you can't blow a 30-point lead. The

01:51 losses I felt embarrassing, unacceptable considering what they've been through this

01:57 year and considering they blew the 22-point lead in the fourth quarter three weeks ago

02:02 in Cleveland. Like, you know, and it's something they need to watch out for. I'm not saying

02:08 this is, "Oh boy, they're not going to go to the finals. Oh, they're going to lose the

02:13 first round." No, I'm not saying any of that. But you could just see it. Like, it was 68

02:19 to 38 and they were rolling. And then Atlanta scores literally 18 points in the last four

02:25 minutes of the first half. You're like, "Okay." Because they couldn't, they were inept. Inept.

02:32 Our friend, Lauren Williams, came up to me when it was 49-22 and was like, "See what

02:39 I'm talking about? They're terrible." And I was just like, "Damn." Because they looked

02:44 terrible. The Hawks looked like they didn't even want to be there. You cannot lose that

02:49 game. You cannot give them life. That run gave them life. And then they start out the

02:54 second half of the 19-4 run. You're like, "Wait a minute. You can't be serious here.

03:01 That just can't happen. I don't care." You know, and you could go into, "Well, the Hawks

03:06 were more physical and they played stronger defense, but you got to win that game." And

03:12 the Celtics hit one three-pointer. They were one for 15. And a lot of things, bad things

03:17 happened. But when you don't, when you cheat the game, you start pulling up for 30-footers,

03:22 you start thinking that you're the Globetrotters and the Hawks are the Washington Generals

03:28 and you aren't there to put on a show. And the fans in Atlanta are there to see you.

03:34 And this is a team that's going to lay down. You start messing with the game, the game

03:38 will mess with you. And I felt like the game messed with them. One for 15 from the three-point

03:43 line in the second half. Sam Hauser had a lot of open. He was two for 10. Jason turned

03:50 the ball over down the stretch. Jalen takes like a contested three. And then the Hawks

03:55 just started to play well. They felt it. Bruno Fernando looked like Shaq in there sometimes.

04:03 Clint Capello with that key. It was just a lot of bad things. It was very reminiscent.

04:08 I was here in Atlanta 10 years ago when they blew a 27-point lead under Brad. It was like

04:15 the 14-15 season, I want to say. One of the final days of Rondo. And it was just very

04:22 reminiscent. Like you just, you can't, it was the most biggest blown lead since 1997,

04:29 according to the Celtics stats. That can't happen. And I'm not saying, "Oh, I'm down

04:35 on this team." But this is something you got to beware of. You can't use just tactical

04:41 basketball excuses. This was mental. This was taking your foot off the gas. "Oh, we

04:48 got this. And we got two days off in Atlanta before we play these chumps again. Oh, we

04:54 got this." Like that was what happened. And the Hawks started playing well, playing harder,

05:03 getting the loose balls, hitting threes. This Vic Krejci kid comes off the bench on a two-way

05:09 contract, starts sparking them, hitting a couple of pull-up threes. Vanjanovic started

05:16 getting, it was just an avalanche. So as much as, "Well, it's just a game and congrats

05:23 to the Hawks." And it's a 30-point lead, man. And I was, they scored 49 points in the

05:29 first 13 minutes of the game. I mean, 49 points. And from then on, and they were, like I said,

05:41 Al hits a three, 68-38. You're like, "Yeah."

05:43 -Yeah, that's it. We're done.

05:45 -Yeah. Four minutes, 23 seconds left in the half. And all of a sudden, the Hawks just

05:51 started cutting. It was all of a sudden, it was 18 at halftime. And you know, it was like

05:55 18 is nothing in the NBA these days. And it's like, yeah, the Celtics had to feel kind of

06:01 a sour taste in their mouth at the end of the first half. Like, "Damn, we kind of gave

06:06 them some life." Then you're like, "Okay, restore some order." Nope, that didn't happen.

06:10 So everybody's involved. Joe, Jason, Jalen, the bench. They didn't get a lot of production

06:19 from Hauser. You know, they didn't get a lot of production from Al. It just, it just, for

06:28 Zingas had his moments, but you know, Atlanta had 15 offensive rebounds. Capella and Bruno

06:35 were allowed to really man the paint. So a lot of things just to watch out for as they

06:41 move forward, especially with taking their opponents lightly and up here, doing the mental

06:47 breakdown and the mental, you got to be mentally tougher than that. I just, you got to be mentally

06:55 tougher than that.

06:56 - You should be mentally tougher than that. But Gary, the way this team has played this

07:01 year, they were still way overdue to have a game or two or three like that this year.

07:06 They've had a couple, but the one common thread that they've had in those games is the teams

07:12 that have done this to them. I'm thinking of this one, I'm thinking of the Cleveland

07:15 game. The common thread between those two things, other than being in the East, is that

07:20 they were without their best player. Each of those teams did play without the best player

07:24 and the Celtics. And this was an issue that we've had with them in the past. And we've

07:28 seen it time and time and time again, way more than we have this year. In the past,

07:33 we've seen it where they just not, they don't just let up off the gas. They just basically

07:37 going off the steering wheel and the gas and they just, just, just rolling down the street

07:42 with no control over what is happening in that moment. And we saw it in Cleveland. We

07:47 saw it against Atlanta, who was playing without Trey Young. And that's, I agree that concerns

07:54 me, their inability to recognize a wounded team and just bury them. That I am concerned

08:01 about. But when they played teams that weren't great, but that great team had most of the

08:05 core guys, they treat them like, they treat them with the kind of respect they deserve

08:08 and that's smashed them to bitty bitty pieces. But when teams are maybe average or slightly

08:15 below average and they're missing a core guy, those are the games that they need to be better

08:19 at. And unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it, they're going

08:23 to see a lot of those teams down the stretch here. And then see, I'm, to be honest, I've

08:29 been surprised at how well they've handled their business on this road trip. Cause most

08:33 of the teams they're playing are trash. If we're going to be honest and real about it.

08:37 Even your Pistons?

08:40 As I said, most of the teams that they're playing are trash on this road trip. If we're

08:44 being honest and real about it.

08:45 Wow, Farrad. They ain't going to let you back in Detroit, man.

08:48 Oh my goodness. We're speaking the truth.

08:51 Wow. That's what we got as a nation right now? Speaking the truth, get us in trouble?

08:56 Exactly. You know how the D is.

08:59 I do.

09:00 But my point, I think my point is this. It's not letting, it's not recognizing the slide.

09:10 Right? It is, that's the Celtics, it began in the end of the first half. When you thought

09:19 you had the lead, you thought you had this game, you were ready to, you know, they had

09:24 a scheduled team dinner after the game at a nice steakhouse, local steakhouse.

09:28 We're running late on time.

09:30 They were like, you know, we got, let's just, let's get the hell up out of here.

09:34 Let's get some shrimp out of here and get this game over with.

09:36 Yeah.

09:37 We got some shrimp.

09:38 And they had a nice team dinner scheduled. So, you know, Damon Stoudamire, their former

09:44 assistant is there watching them play. I'm sure he wants to, you know, break bread with

09:49 the guys. It's all good. They're feeling great. And then the slippage. And the question is

09:55 not blowing leads, guys. It is what you do when you start seeing that slippage.

10:02 The end of the first half was slippage. You get out.

10:05 You allow 38 points in the first whatever minutes, 20 minutes of the game, 18 in the

10:15 last four. Like that's a problem. What did they make those halftime adjustments? Did

10:21 they say, okay, we don't like what happened. Hey guys, like we don't like what happened.

10:27 You should want to make your night easier. Blow these dudes out. Take the fourth quarter

10:32 off. We got an early night, hit the showers, do your little media obligations and get to

10:39 dinner or whatever you want to do in the ATL, wherever it's out there, let it out there.

10:44 It's ATL.

10:45 Is that more on Joe?

10:46 Huh?

10:47 Is that more on Joe?

10:48 I think it's on, I think it's more on Joe and it's, and people were looking at point

10:54 guard, Derek, they were missing Trey Young. They were missing Jalen Johnson. They're missing

11:00 a Quanwu. Like, come on. Like you can't keep blaming, like you're missing guys, but they're

11:05 missing guys too. And they're playing, they're starting, they're starting a two way guy.

11:10 They're playing Bruno Fernando who couldn't get on the court in Boston. Like, you know

11:15 what I'm saying? Bruno's, he's, he's gotten better. He's a, he's a force when he, he,

11:20 when he gets in the paint, you know, because he's big and he's strong, but it's like, you're,

11:24 you're playing against, you're playing against their lower guys. You know, De'Andre Hunter

11:29 is a very good player, but he was not, he, he, he all of a sudden turned it on. You know,

11:34 De'Ante Murray, he had like, you know, I think 22, De'Ante Murray didn't go for 40. He went,

11:41 he had like 22.

11:42 19 and 15.

11:43 Yeah, like he wasn't, he wasn't just like, oh man, that dude just put the team on his

11:47 back. Like to me, it's the, it's not doing anything about the slippage. Taking, oh, teams

11:54 make runs. No man, like put, put them out of their misery. Even it up, even if you're

12:01 up 30 and you go at the end of the last four minutes, y'all go 10 to 10, you're still up

12:08 30. You get outscored 18 to six, you allowed 18 points. That's a concern. And then what

12:13 happened in the, I remember I said, I said, okay, let's see how they come out in the third

12:17 quarter. Third quarter, Atlanta calls an action. The first play to third quarter and I think

12:23 Capella got an easy dunk. And I'm like, yeah, it's, it's, this game is not going to be competitive.

12:30 That cut it to 16. And you're like, yeah, that was too easy. Like they just came out,

12:36 whatever the first play to second half, Capella dunk. Yep.

12:41 I love sound effects.

12:43 Yeah, exactly. You're a master. So you look, I saw the first play. That's what I knew that

12:57 this was going to be the first play to second half when they ran a quick, easy play dunk

13:02 and you're like, okay, Celtics, like wake up, what's going on here. Get some stops,

13:09 hit the boards, you know, and it wasn't the three points. Three points shooting was bad.

13:14 One for 15 in the second half. They didn't take 75 threes. It wasn't, I'm not going to

13:19 turn it over to threes, but you know, you're one for 15 and if they hit 11 and you hit

13:25 one, you're asking, you're asking to get beat. And that's what happened in the second half.

13:30 They got hot, but you got to, when the, before the drip turns into just a, the hole gets

13:38 bigger and it turns into a flood. You got to stop that up. And that's what I blame.

13:43 I don't blame them for the fourth quarter and it's competitive and plays happen and

13:47 all that. You shouldn't even let it get there.

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14:46 Thinking about other areas of concerns, Drew Holiday still out with his arm. Are you too

14:55 concerned about the fact that he's still out, but also is there a possibility that this

15:00 could become a Malcolm Brogdon 2.0 situation?

15:05 I'm concerned. I mean, I'm not ready to hit the panic button yet, but I'm definitely hands

15:11 covered. You know, I'm like, because here's the thing. I mean, when you look back at last

15:17 season, not having to kind of fairy tale ending the Celtics one and two, you can go through

15:21 all a bunch of reasons, but when you have the best six men in the league and he plays

15:26 at the level that Malcolm did because of his health and you come up short, that's a big,

15:32 that was a big deal. And why your season ended when it did now, drew holiday has been great

15:37 this year. I mean, you, you start looking at him at particularly from the corner three

15:41 spot. I mean, he's the best in the league. You look at the experience, you look at the,

15:46 to me, the wild card of all wild cards, would you holiday? He, the only one in your rotation

15:51 would it ship. He, the only one who knows what this journey to the end of the line looks

15:56 like and be the last team standing. And you want guys with that experience. You want guys

16:01 with that talent and ability to be in the mix because when things get a little grimy,

16:06 get a little dirty and it gets real tight. He's the one guy you ain't worried about

16:10 getting tight because he's been there, done that, achieve that. And so his health does

16:16 concern me. I do like the fact that the Celtics are, you know, they're, they're not trying

16:22 to rush him back. And to be Frank, I don't think they could, even if they wanted to,

16:27 I think this injury is, I think he's like legitimately not playing because he legitimately

16:31 can't play as opposed to a load management type of situation. So yeah, I'm concerned

16:36 because hell yeah, I'm very concerned about this. Cause you know, as much as we talk about

16:41 for zing is, has been an X factor, having a guy that does all the things that you holiday

16:46 can do. And more importantly is comfortable stepping to the backdrop, letting everyone

16:52 else get to shine. But every now and then there's going to be a game where you're going

16:57 to need your best on ball defender to play like all-star drew, which we've seen him capable

17:03 of doing on any given night to know that he's not going to be able to do that. If in the

17:08 S assuming that this injury doesn't heal properly, that's concerning because that means you're

17:13 not going to go into the playoffs being the best version collectively that you can be.

17:19 Yeah. I'm not as concerned probably ride. I mean, talking to him yesterday in terms

17:25 of the drew holiday I think he seems like he's close now. When will they bring them

17:31 back? Will they bring them back on this trip? You know, it sounded like something he's going

17:37 to need to monitor though. You know, he ran into Rashawn homes from Washington on the

17:41 screen. You sound like he damaged his AC joint, which did make his arm kind of dead for a

17:48 while, but he was working out. It was his right arm and shooting arm. I think he's close,

17:55 but obviously the Celtics are going to be cautious. 11, 10, 11 games, 10 games left

18:01 now. So but you do need to get him back into the fold for some of these competitive games.

18:08 There's going to be some competitive games coming up, Oklahoma city, Sacramento a game

18:13 at Milwaukee. There's still some competitive games left. The Celtics are still going to

18:18 need to show something and figure some things out like the, the coasting thing and all rest

18:24 everybody and let everybody, you don't want that not for 10 damn games. Not at all. You're

18:31 going to have to, you want to throw your lineup out there. They still play the Knicks and

18:35 those teams are fighting for playoff seating and position. Sacramento is trying to avoid

18:39 the play in Oklahoma city is trying to get the number one seat in the West. Milwaukee

18:43 is trying to fight off whoever's going to be third in terms of Cleveland or New York.

18:49 So there's a lot of, a lot to play for, for those teams and the Celtics have a lot to

18:52 play for too. So I think he'll be back soon. I don't know about like Thursday or, or, you

18:58 know, in Atlanta or Saturday in new Orleans. But I do think as long as I do think it's

19:06 something he needs to monitor though, I don't think he's going to be, Oh, I'm pain free.

19:11 It's, it's a hundred percent. I think he's going to maybe have to wear some type of apparatus

19:16 maybe or just to make sure padding that when he gets, if he gets hit on that spot again

19:21 on a screen, cause it wasn't like, you know, we're not talking about, you know, like Andre

19:26 Drummond, Rashawn Holmes is a big, strong guy, but it wasn't like he got like home,

19:31 just crunched him or, you know, it was, it was probably just the perfect place for the

19:37 contact. But I, but I do think it's something he's going to have to monitor. And so I'm

19:45 not as concerned as Sherrod, but I'd like to see him get back on the floor and just

19:49 kind of play that play some minutes and get back to what he was.

19:56 To your point, Gary, I think the way this schedule is playing out, I'm almost reluctant

20:01 to play him against teams like New York teams that have something real tangible they're

20:06 playing for, because you may see them in the playoffs and he's the type of dude that I

20:11 don't, I want to keep them guessing as to where he's at health wise. Like I'm playing

20:15 him against the crappy squads. I'm playing them against the teams that I can play him

20:18 25 minutes and we went by 25. That's, that's what if I'm, if I'm Joe Missoula, I don't

20:24 want New York to get, get a beat on him. I don't want Milwaukee to get a sense of, of

20:29 where he's at. I want them to be guessing. I'm trying to play chess with them fools right

20:33 now. And Drew is, Drew is one of my pieces.

20:37 I'd rather play him against top players than play him against some of these two way guys

20:44 who are going to be playing with their, you know, hair on fire and making plays and trying

20:50 to get the dude and getting dudes injured. Like some of these guys are going to be out

20:54 there playing for their lives. And you know, you play some of these bad teams, you get

20:58 these two way guys, you get these guys on 10 days and they're going to be out there

21:02 running up and down and running into fools, trying to, trying to get more minutes and

21:07 trying to earn it. And all of a sudden dudes get hurt. Like I, you, it's, you can, it depends

21:12 on how you look at it. Yeah. Like I don't think Drew Holiday, he's got some secret sauce

21:17 game, uh, move that he ain't shown everybody. He's that you don't want him to show against

21:21 the Knicks. He is who he is. I do think, but I, I'm afraid against some of these, uh, lower

21:28 teams, you know, the Charlottes or whatever, that you got guys out there running, like,

21:33 you know, who don't care, who are just trying to, who are fighting for minutes. And so to

21:39 me, uh, but I do think he needs to come back when he's completely healthy, play three or

21:45 four games to the final 10 and get himself all the rest and all the shoulder rehab.

21:52 You said he didn't have imaging on it. So that's a good sign. It wasn't like they did

21:55 the MRI or x-ray. And I think the Celtics as understanding will be, are being very cautious

22:02 with their players. They're trying to just get to the finish line, you know, and it would

22:07 have been good for them to get a nice dub in Monday. Then you can probably rest everybody

22:14 Thursday, right? And then feel good. Now they feeling like, man, we got to get these dudes

22:20 back. We coming off a 30 point loss. It was embarrassing. So I think now you've kind of

22:25 made it harder on yourself. I mean, you can still rest guys, but you're not trying to

22:29 lose two in a row with these guys. Right? I mean, now you want, now you want some get

22:35 back. So that's the thing about making, even if they had won by one point, you'd say, well,

22:40 you know, they almost blew it, but they, they executed the end. They did it. Okay. Jason

22:46 Jalen, you know, take, take Thursday off, get some rest. We'll see you in new Orleans.

22:53 Now it's like all them fools going to want to come back and play, you know, and now they

22:57 don't want to smash the Hawks in the mouth. And now it makes it more difficult.

23:02 Well, this, this would be my last point in this. I'm not crazy about the idea of Tom

23:09 Thibodeau and doc rivers knowing that drew is not a hundred percent because you know,

23:14 when they played, they're going to run so much bigger role at drew to test that shoulder

23:18 so much bigger role. And so even though you're right, the, the, the two way busters who just

23:23 trying to get them.

23:24 What are you calling busters? Yeah. Yeah, man. He's NBA player. It's a ride. Come on.

23:32 Busters man. That's a low blow, man. Two way players. How's that Gary? What do you think

23:39 of the word buster? That's not a compliment.

23:42 I didn't mean it to be a buster. Go ahead. The two white players, these young guys trying

23:50 to make a living. Go ahead. Sorry. But the doc, but doc rivers and Tom Thibodeau types

23:55 are going to make Drew's life as hard as possible in those games because they know that, Oh,

24:00 that show that we know that show is not quite right. Even if he's able out here to play.

24:06 So we go test it out. We're going to send it. We go run him and pick and roll, pick

24:11 and roll all day long. And even if we win the game, or even if we lose the game, if

24:16 that kind of weakens him a little bit, we're good. That's my concern. I'm concerned that

24:21 that's why when you play busters, they're not, they're not, they're going to try hard,

24:27 but Drew's a better player.

24:30 And the Knicks and playoff teams like that, they got players that are, are legitimately

24:35 guys you got to worry about who can do some things. So that's my, that's my biggest concern

24:40 with Drew coming back and playing against like the Knicks, the bucks, those types of

24:44 teams. I'm worried. They're going to, they're going to intentionally play the game legitimately,

24:49 but put him in positions where they're going to test that shoulder out more than some other

24:52 teams would. They got none to play for.

24:55 Yeah. That actually makes sense. Peyton Pritchard on Monday night, we saw him play 28 minutes,

25:01 15 points, a good amount of Peyton Pritchard time. What are you to think about his development

25:07 so far this season? And how do you think he can potentially contribute moving forward?

25:12 Gary, that's your pack 12 boy.

25:16 I think Peyton's played well. I think he's, he's really played the best basketball so

25:21 far of his career. He's really playing confidently. I'm really impressed with how he's running

25:27 the offense, but also how he's scoring at the rim. He uses his little book. I mean,

25:31 he's a small guy, but he's strong. You know, he ain't no, he ain't to be pushed around

25:36 in there. Right. And he can use that. He uses this crafty moves to get to the rim, get to

25:41 the layup. You know, he had a couple of, you know, he brought back single-handedly when

25:46 the Hawks cut it to three, he made, I think two or three hoops in a row to kind of extend

25:52 it back to 11, even though he lost a lead again. But I've been impressed with how he's

25:58 played. I think this has been a really breakthrough season for him. You know, I think we, we,

26:04 we all kind of wondered what, what's going to happen with him. And I don't think that

26:08 personally, Peyton got done right either. Like he was, he played that rookie year under

26:14 Brad. He was in the rotation. E-May comes just like, dog, I don't like you. Not like

26:20 you personally. I don't like what you bring. You're not going to play much, you know, not,

26:25 I don't know. Yeah. Like it was a Portland tie. So I'm not saying E-May didn't like person

26:32 don't say that, but he just didn't like what he must've brought to the court because his

26:39 playing time decreased. And then last year, Joe's slice of the, even almost further. Right?

26:46 So you're after three years, you're like, okay, well, where is he going? What does he

26:50 bring to the team? And then he, he admitted last year, he wanted to be traded. He wanted

26:54 a new opportunity. He wanted to hoop. It didn't happen. And then this year he signs the extension

27:00 and then gets a shot and is done really well with his shot in the rotation. The shooting

27:05 has been great. His ability to score at the rim. So I've been overall thoroughly impressed

27:12 with Peyton Pritchard's shot. Cause I don't know if any of us felt what, okay, what is

27:17 he going to do? What's, you know, can he fill a backup point guard role? Can he score consistently?

27:23 And he got off to a really, really slow start this year. So it was like, okay, let him give

27:28 this kid a chance and he's not taking advantage of it, but he, he picked it up and now he's

27:34 one of the, he is, I think along with Derek White, having a, one of those guys who just

27:42 has come up and had a career year for the Celtics.

27:45 Yeah. I mean, the one thing that jumps out to me about Peyton Pritchard at this point

27:49 is that he's the one guy at the beginning of the season who was in the rotation that

27:55 we weren't sure would last and be there at this point. I thought his, his spot was very

28:02 much up in here, particularly as Gary noted, he got off to a slow start, you know, but

28:06 give him credit. I mean, he has figured out a way to establish his role, create an identity

28:12 for himself with this team. And those are the things that he either did not do previously

28:18 or he didn't get an opportunity to do. And this is a year where all the stars have aligned

28:24 and have allowed him to be a guy that steps on the floor.

28:27 And you're not thinking that he's on the floor so that someone else can get a breast. You're

28:33 thinking he's on the floor because he can help this team win some games and do some

28:37 things. He's answered a lot of the questions about his game and how it will relate to the

28:42 Celtics team, specifically on defense. The thing about Peyton, he didn't lock anybody

28:48 up, but he's not a defensive liability either. He's not a two way buster or anything like

28:52 that. So that's the word of the day, two way buster. He's a good player. Peyton is a, he's

29:00 legitimately a good player, a player who, when you look at what he's contributing to

29:04 this team and you look at his contract, he's one of the, one of the best bargains on his

29:09 team. I look at him and Derek White, two of the best bargains you'll find in the NBA right

29:14 now for what they do on a team. That's really good. But the challenge now is, can you maintain

29:21 that level of impact and not the scoring and the system and all that stuff, but just impact?

29:27 Can you maintain that in a playoffs? Cause his minutes aren't going to be as I think

29:31 robust or abundant as they are now, unless Drew's injury is, you know, a little bit more

29:37 serious or severe than we think, but can he still nonetheless make a difference when he's

29:42 in the game? And I, that's the next level for Peyton Pritchett at this point. Cause

29:47 everything he's done right now, he's checked up all the boxes that you want for a backup

29:52 point guard and on the roster. That's really good. But can he do it in a playoffs?

29:58 All right, before we close out, it's time for our favorite segment.

30:02 It's your favorite segment, Johnny.

30:05 No, you're, but you admitted that you wanted to do this segment this week.

30:10 I wanted to do it one because I think it's fun too, because you like it. And three, it

30:15 always makes Gary just kind of rub his face. Like, damn, I didn't sign up for this.

30:23 It's relevant though. We're talking about

30:24 Peyton Pritchett. Y'all treat me like I'm Peyton Pritchett. This is what I signed up

30:29 for.

30:30 Well, this X is not a two way buster. It's Grant William. He signed with Dallas in the

30:34 off season, which traded to Charlotte as we know, which will be the team that Boston plays

30:39 at the end of this road trip. Hornets not doing too well right now, but he's figured

30:44 out his role specifically in Charlotte, 13.2 points per game right now with that team.

30:51 So have you been following Grant? Should we, what should we be looking forward to when

30:54 the Celtics and Grant Williams reunite as well?

30:58 Grant's been quiet. He's been a lot quieter in Charlotte than he was in Dallas and he

31:04 was in Boston. To me, that means he's reading the room. He's recognizing that, you know

31:10 what, let me just, just, let's just keep it on the court and I'll do some funny stuff

31:16 in the interviews, but I'm not going to, I'm not necessarily going to be that guy. I mean,

31:22 when Mike Gorman claps back at you, that's like, Whoa, Whoa, that was, that was very

31:29 surprising. So I think Grant's figuring it out. And he is, I think he's a legitimate

31:34 NBA player. I think he's a guy that you, you're talking about top seven, top eight. I think

31:40 he's good enough to be one of those guys on a really good team in Charlotte.

31:44 They're not a really good team. They need him to be more than just that. And he's averaging,

31:48 I think close to 30 minutes a game shooting a thing close to like 48, 49% from the field

31:53 averaging on the North side of 13 points since he's been in Charlotte, he's having a good

31:58 year. But you always have to put it in the, in the framework of he's having a good year

32:04 on the third worst team in the Eastern conference.

32:07 And if I could quickly add for those who don't know the context, Grant Williams was called

32:12 out by Mike Gorman as like annoying, a bad locker room guy. And Jason Tatum actually

32:18 went on Twitter now X to just say he wasn't a bad locker room guy. He was a great teammate,

32:24 but that still resonated with a lot of people because Mike Gorman is calling you out. The

32:28 man doesn't call people out ever. That's the truth to what he said, or someone thought

32:34 he was annoying.

32:35 So yeah, yeah. I don't, yeah, I don't, I don't think even Mike would say he was a bad guy,

32:40 but he did talk a lot. Yeah. It does talk a lot. He talks a lot when we're around him

32:45 in the locker room and on the court, he flaps his gums a lot. One of the most memorable

32:50 moments that Grant probably doesn't want to remember is, is against Cleveland where he

32:55 was flapping them gums, went to the free throw line, miss free throw one, miss free throw

33:03 two, they lose the game. So I'm a big fan of Grant. So I think, like I said, I think

33:08 he's a good NBA player, not a great one, but a good one. And sometimes you got to do some,

33:13 some, some just, you got to make some mistakes in order to figure out how to build a career

33:20 with longevity. And I think he's made some mistakes, but I think he's figuring it out

33:24 too. What you got Gary?

33:27 I mean, I'm just tired of all the grant hate. It's ridiculous. Like, you know, he doesn't

33:33 do anything off the floor. He's a, he's a part of the player association. He talks.

33:38 So what, like we accused young people of not talking and only talking to certain languages

33:45 or only talking to people that they know, or only talking about one subject or we accused.

33:50 And then grant is, was always a great guy to cover in terms of with the media. I'm going

33:57 to be perhaps biased here. He was great to us. He was open, honest. He was talkative.

34:02 How you doing, you know, called us by our name, had respect for us. Like, you know,

34:08 there's players that we cover that don't even, don't even act like they know our name and

34:12 been around eight, nine, 10 years, you know? And, and, and, and to me, so what he talks,

34:18 he talks a lot. Yeah. He does. He talk a lot. Yeah. It is. It could be annoying, but to

34:23 me for, for people to hang them out the dry and you know, for calling a bad teammate,

34:30 you know, and, and, and that's a, that's a lot to say. I can't say if I was, if I, if

34:35 I was not someone's teammate, it's hard for me to say that they're a bad teammate. What

34:42 was your teammate to you? Well, no, but I heard that, uh, you know, like, it's just

34:47 like, come on. Like, if you don't know, you like, I'm a, I'll go as far as with grant.

34:52 He's talking to him. Does it probably annoy people? Of course. But this whole, like when

34:57 Michael Finley, Oh, well he was talking to Mr. Lucas practice. Don't people talk and

35:03 best at practice. Like, why are you like, you don't just told a young kid, Grant's 25

35:10 years old. Like, you don't just throw a young kid under the bus like that and be like, Oh,

35:14 he talked to Luca. You know how many practice fights I've covered dudes throwing hands at

35:21 practice dudes, having arguments at practice, walking out of practice. And we're going to

35:26 talk about a dude talking stuff to the star player. Oh, Luca got mad. So Luca, Luca went

35:33 off on him and scored 20, 20 points in a row. That shows you like, don't mess with Luca.

35:39 Like everybody's been trying to get Luca to play and be in bed. He's an amazing player

35:45 to be in better shape and, and, and not complain. Like, it's not like Luca's a perfect player.

35:50 It's not like he's, he's, it's not like he's Colby or LeBron. Like he's had his faults

35:55 too. So, I mean, I just think I'm hopefully in Charlotte, Grant can find a place where

36:01 it's home. I don't think it just, it didn't work out in Dallas. He didn't play great.

36:06 He wasn't always the, the, the, the, the thing I point out, um, you know, people have pointed

36:12 out about him. I've heard is like, he wasn't always in great shape in Boston. He wasn't

36:16 always in great shape and he didn't show up in great shape in Dallas. And that's something

36:20 that like, that's a, that's a legitimate gripe if you're going to complain about Grant, but

36:26 talking too much, he's talks to Jason now, like him and Jason is still, you know what

36:31 I'm saying? Like there's a bond there. I mean, you know, it's just, it's just, it's just

36:36 to turn around and throw, act like he was out there. Just we've seen, and especially

36:42 in the league of long, we've seen dudes who are a locker room cancers. We've seen guys

36:47 who are just like, yeah, that ain't a good dude. Like he's not a good teammate. We we've

36:52 seen in our regular life, people that just, when you're around them, you can feel like,

36:57 you know, I can only be around. Yeah. I can only be around this person. Um, I am not going

37:03 to hang with this person any extra time. I can only be in the, in groups or settings.

37:09 I'm not going to like, Oh, what are you up to? Let's hang out. Like you just know that

37:12 they're not great people that don't bring positive.

37:15 That's what you get, that two way buster vibe.

37:19 To me, I always got a positive energy from Grant. I didn't get negative. What he told,

37:25 he told Donovan Mitchell, he's going to hit two free throws. He missed them. It happens

37:29 or Oh, he poked a bear against Miami and talking to Jimmy Butler. He was the only one who stood

37:34 up. He's the only one in that series who stood up and said, F you, Jimmy, I'm a, I'm dropping

37:39 buckets too. Maybe if they got more of that, they don't want a damn series. So like, I'm

37:45 in as much as I, I get it. He talks a lot. So what I read that somebody talk a lot or

37:51 talk to me then. No, yeah. Nothing at all. And like, I really have a personable personality.

37:59 He's a smart kid, maybe too smart for a quote, too smart for his own good. You know, they've

38:04 said it about other people. He's too smart. Oh, he knows, he feels like he knows so much.

38:09 Maybe he does. That's cool. That Grant was, Grant was going to commit to Harvard. He was

38:13 like his mother wanted him to play at Harvard before.

38:16 You've not been around the game long enough to know when cats are being talked about as

38:19 being too smart. That's cold word for something that that's another conversation for another

38:23 time. A whole other conversation.

38:24 Yeah. He was going to, before he committed to Tennessee, he was thinking he was literally

38:30 going to commit to Harvard.

38:31 I know.

38:32 So Grant's a smart guy and maybe too smart for his own good. Or maybe he, maybe, you

38:39 know, he does talk too much for his quote unquote talent, but I just think it's, it's

38:44 messed up that people are just come, coming at him. Like he's a bad guy and he's not a

38:49 bad guy. I just, I just, it bothers me a lot. This kid's 25 years old and I'm just not going

38:56 to like, you know, I'm not 20, I'm old, I'm slightly older than 25. I'm not coming at

39:02 some, like I'm not coming at somebody who's young enough to be my son or, or, or in their

39:07 twenties and just MFing him, you know, for their, like, they just think, and you're,

39:13 you're, you're three times a guy's age and you're MFing the guy. Like he's just, he's

39:18 a, like, he's a, like, why? What purpose does that do to, to, to, to, to throw someone under

39:25 the bus like that? You know, unless the person's just a legitimately a bad guy.

39:31 Yeah.

39:32 Grant is not a bad guy. That's the thing that, that's, that's what pisses me off. It's like,

39:37 he talks too much. So what? We know plenty of people who talk a lot. You know, people,

39:42 okay, if I catch him in a conversation, I'm going to have to like, oh, I got to roll.

39:49 Cause you know, they're going to talk your ear off. Does that make them a bad person?

39:53 No, they just talk a lot. And sometimes you're ready for it. Sometimes, you know what, I'm

39:58 ready for a 20 minute conversation. Other times you're like, damn it. I got to roll.

40:05 I'd love to talk. You got to figure it is, it's, it's okay.

40:08 I lost my wallet. I got to run and go get my wallet.

40:11 Yeah. Damn. Oh, you know, like.

40:13 What do you need your wallet for? Everything's free.

40:16 That's what happens. Like, does that make the person a bad person? Does that make them

40:21 a bad teammate? Like I'm just, I'm just tired of the grant hate. Like, cause I think he's

40:26 a good kid and he, and he, he's trying to get it. And as much as we deal with dudes

40:32 that are really not good people over the years, people that are out there just doing not good

40:39 things off the floor, um, who are not, who are all about just getting paid and quite

40:47 putting up the numbers and don't care about winning and all those. And there's a lot of

40:51 guys in the league like that to point out grant is like some kind of like, you know,

40:58 bad guy or bad teammate and then throw them under the bus when he didn't, you know, I

41:04 just, I don't think that's fair. I don't think it's right. I'm just not going to do that.

41:08 I just, the kid's 25 years old. If he's got less, like Shiraj said, Shiraj's son's probably

41:15 25. He got lessons to learn, but he's a polished, good young man. He had lessons at 25. Do we

41:23 all have lessons to learn? And I don't quite, it was like three years ago, but do we all

41:27 have, do we all have lessons to learn? Are we a finished product at 25? No. Do we have

41:36 still have life lessons to learn? Of course. Are we still in the midst of the process?

41:42 So let's like lay off grant and make, not make them out to be some pariah or some like

41:49 just, just a bad apple in the bunch and just respect that he's growing. And did he probably

41:55 make some mistakes? Of course. He probably talked too much on the team bus. Yeah. Like

42:01 bad teammate. Like I just didn't sense that. I sensed the, in Boston, they didn't want

42:08 to pay him $50 million because yeah. I mean, they didn't want to pay him 50 million and

42:16 cause it was going to have long-term cap repercussions and they found a place and they got a cheaper

42:22 model and old shape or set. It hasn't worked out, but Derek White's developed. They've

42:27 been able to move forward. So like, I just, let's stop all the grant hate. Like let's,

42:33 let's do a campaign on that. Let's do commercials and ads and like stop. I look forward to seeing

42:40 them. I think the Hornets come back to Boston before the season ends. So hopefully he gets

42:52 some nice love when he comes back and some appreciation, but all the, that was just the

42:58 grant hate in the, you know, that was just unnecessary. If you, you know, unless that

43:04 guy's really causing trouble and we know trouble, Sharad, we know trouble. We know, you know,

43:11 some of the things that's gone on in the history of this league with teammates. Leave them

43:17 alone on that one.

43:18 Absolutely. And you can contribute to the Grant Williams pack that Gary Washburn is

43:23 starting dialing 1-800-Grant.

43:27 Like we mentioned ahead is one more game in Atlanta. They close out that road trip in

43:36 New Orleans and then Charlotte. By the time we reconvene, we would have, they'll be back

43:42 home at the community garden. So that'll be something to look forward to. We appreciate

43:47 everyone that's listened to this podcast. Thanks for sticking around. Of course, if

43:51 you haven't already subscribed, share with a friend that might be a little upset about

43:55 that loss to Atlanta and tell them that there is hope in the future. So

43:59 All the Grant Williams lovers out there. We, we hear, we hear, we hear you. We're here

44:05 for you and we support you.

44:07 Exactly. Gary Washburn, Grant Williams pack.

44:11 Done.

44:12 Until next week for HR on Blakely and Gary Washburn, I'm Kwanye Lewis and this is the

44:21 Big Three Podcast.

44:22 [Music]

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