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00:00High noon, Jones and Keefe, WEEI.
00:03Every Wednesday at high noon, we're talking Celtics with Justin Turpin of WEEI.com.
00:10We call it Pure Hoops with Turp.
00:12Turp, what's going on?
00:13What's up, guys?
00:14Team's rolling.
00:15They are.
00:16Who would have thought we'd be sitting here in early December and they'd be 15-9 on pace to win 51 games.
00:22So it's funny, things have kind of leveled out a little bit.
00:24Not us.
00:25No, I didn't think that.
00:26But, you know, the Raptors for a little while were kind of hanging on to, like, the second-best record in the East.
00:31You're like, I don't know how long that's going to last.
00:33And that has helped by the Celtics.
00:35That has kind of fallen back into place.
00:37The Knicks have played better.
00:38So now when you look at the East, it goes Pistons, Knicks, Celtics, Magic.
00:43I'm still a little surprised the Cavs aren't in that mix.
00:45But overall, like, I think that's a little bit more what we anticipated the East to look like.
00:48Yeah, it's still a little too early to look into the standings and really take them for what it is right now.
00:52And Joe Mazzula pointed that out after Sunday's win.
00:55He was like, well, it really means nothing.
00:56But that could be true.
00:58And, right, it's not even December yet.
00:59Last year at this time, Orlando was the third team in the East.
01:02And it didn't really work out well for them in the long term.
01:04So, yeah, he is on to something.
01:06But how they've gotten there is what's impressive.
01:08And guys like Derek White and Peyton Pritchard really figuring out their roles.
01:12Jalen Brown, we've been talking about it ad nauseum here.
01:14He's playing at an all-NBA level.
01:16The developments of the young guys.
01:17Jordan Walsh.
01:18Namish Kata.
01:19Josh Minot.
01:20Like, those guys showing up and stepping up.
01:22It's just – it feels like everything's clicking at the right time for this team.
01:26And it's made for quite an interesting run here.
01:28So, outside of the Thunder, who never lose, they've won 15 straight.
01:32They're 23-1.
01:33Jeez.
01:34Outside of OKC, the Celtics have the longest win streak in the NBA.
01:37They've won five straight.
01:38They've won eight out of ten.
01:39They're 15-9.
01:40They're number three in the East.
01:41I don't think it's too early to look at the standings.
01:43We look at them every time you're in, and I think there's something to draw out of it.
01:48How high can they go?
01:49Like, they're number three right now.
01:51They're two games back in the Knicks.
01:52They're four games back in Detroit.
01:53They beat both those teams.
01:55They're a little in front of, not a ton of margin for error.
01:57Orlando, who they beat.
01:58Toronto, who they beat.
02:00They dropped two out of three to Philly, who's right behind them.
02:02They've taken two from Cleveland, who's the seventh seed.
02:04Like, how high can they go in the East?
02:05I mean, you mentioned it.
02:06Like, you just mentioned a couple of Eastern Conference teams there.
02:08They're 8-5 against the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference.
02:11And they have a winning record against every one of those teams, except for Philadelphia.
02:15And both of those games came down to the wire.
02:17In fact, they probably should have won the second one that they lost when Jordan Walsh
02:20shut down.
02:20They should have won opening night.
02:21They should have won opening night, too.
02:22So they should have won those games.
02:24And Philadelphia is starting to drop off a little bit.
02:26So just looking at the state of the Eastern Conference, like, there's really no team that
02:29they can't compete with.
02:30And that's more indicative of how bad the conference is.
02:33Like, the East is really, really bad.
02:35I mean, if you're looking at a postseason series, I'd probably take Detroit.
02:39I'd probably take Cleveland.
02:40I think Cleveland's going to start figuring it out.
02:42They're just too talented.
02:43We saw this team almost win 70 games last year.
02:45They're eventually going to figure it out.
02:46It's going to start clicking.
02:47Same with New York.
02:48But the problem is with New York.
02:50They can't win on the road.
02:51They literally cannot win on the road.
02:53So it's going to be interesting to see.
02:55But right now, I'd give them at least a shot against anybody.
02:57I'm not saying they're going to win the East, because I think there are too many flaws
02:59still come the postseason.
03:01But why would you take all those teams over them that you just listed?
03:03I think you had New York on there.
03:05You definitely had Cleveland and Detroit.
03:06Why would you take those teams, maybe not in the standings at the end of the year, but
03:10in a postseason matchup?
03:12Mainly because of the size.
03:13The Celtics are still very undersized.
03:15And this small ball lineup has worked great for them.
03:17But when you're looking at a postseason series, and we'll take Detroit, for example.
03:21We were talking about it when they played on that Wednesday, that Jalen Dern props.
03:24You were all over the rebounds.
03:25The small ball's been great.
03:27It took 16 plus, 16 hit.
03:28As good as they have been, the Celtics have shot 40% from three over their last eight
03:33games.
03:34And part of that is because guys like Jordan Walsh, Baylor, Shireman, Josh Miner, they're
03:38shooting close to 40%.
03:39And that's great, and it's on a smaller sample size.
03:41But is that really sustainable, especially as we get closer to the playoffs?
03:45I just don't really know.
03:47So there's still some areas of their game that they need to prove it.
03:51But right now, yeah, they can compete with anybody.
03:53It just doesn't mean I'd be picking them, per se.
03:55So they play Milwaukee tomorrow.
03:57I know Giannis has been out.
03:58We all kind of wonder what's even the deal, though, with that injury.
04:02He had a meeting yesterday to discuss his future just with his teammates.
04:05Yeah, so no, they for sure are a mess.
04:07He's having another meeting?
04:08He had a meeting with the teammates to discuss his future.
04:11I see.
04:11It was Chris Haines reported it.
04:12Yeah, there wasn't a ton that came out of it.
04:13So that's out.
04:14And they're great.
04:16Milwaukee's in wherever they are in the standings, way below the Celtics anyway.
04:20But where do you think Giannis could end up this year?
04:24And then how much would that change, potentially, the Eastern Conference?
04:27I wonder now if people are kind of hesitant to trade for him if he's dealing with this calf thing.
04:31Like, you just don't know how long it's going to be.
04:33It's fake, isn't it?
04:34I think it's fake.
04:35It's not a real injury.
04:36He had something like that.
04:37I could see why.
04:38He just kind of fell to the ground like the invisible snipers got him.
04:41He just kind of fell.
04:42Earlier in the day, it came out that he was meeting with the team about his future in Milwaukee.
04:46And then later that night, he has like a weird fake injury.
04:49This happens a lot.
04:50I don't think he's really hurt.
04:50I'm trying to think of the most recent example.
04:51But there was one like that that I remember.
04:53I remember it was James Harden or somebody.
04:55It was like something Harden would do.
04:56Is he okay?
04:57And then he's like, oh, he's ready to go.
04:58He's starting.
04:59It happened in football, too, I think, maybe.
05:01I would have a hard time believing he gets moved in season.
05:04It's just with a trade of that caliber, it feels like that's something that happened in the offseason.
05:10Which I think is what, as a Celtics fan, you would want.
05:12You'd want that, right.
05:12Because if he goes to New Yorker, you're like, all right, they're probably already a little bit better than you.
05:16And now you're like, all right.
05:17And I know people are going to draw back on the Luka Doncic trade.
05:19Be like, oh, he just got traded.
05:20That's a top player in the league.
05:22But that was really unprecedented.
05:24And a fireable offense, as it turns out.
05:25Yeah, fireably right.
05:26Nico going rogue there.
05:28No one really expected that.
05:30So I don't expect Giannis to get moved in season.
05:33And if he does, it feels like there has been a lot of smoke around the New York thing.
05:37Obviously, I don't have any reporting on this.
05:39He plays from Milwaukee, playing in New York, talking about New York.
05:42But I saw one thing that there's like, I don't know how true this is.
05:45This is something I saw on Twitter that there's the only place in the country that you can get direct flight from Greece to the United States is New York.
05:53So like Athens to New York City.
05:54Yeah.
05:55How about that?
05:55And I guess that was kind of a draw.
05:57I don't know.
05:57But I think there is some.
05:58There is some.
06:00There is some smoke around there.
06:02But I just don't see him moving in the season here.
06:04Yeah.
06:05All right.
06:05Maybe not.
06:06And then that would mean.
06:07I mean, New York still like their roster.
06:09I don't love New York as far as like winning the whole thing.
06:11But as far as like keeping the Celtics at bay.
06:13I think part of what's bringing New York down, too, is Carl Anthony Towns is not shooting the ball well.
06:17And I think he's going to eventually turn it around.
06:20It's not hyperbolic to say he's one of the best three-point shooting bigs the league has ever seen.
06:24He's near 40%.
06:25He's a seven-footer.
06:26Eventually, once he starts getting his shot the fall, which he's proven he can, it's going to turn around a little bit for them.
06:31So I'm probably a little bit more high on New York than other people are right now just because I like that talent that they have, especially with how open the Eastern Conference is.
06:39And it's funny because people were talking about them finally having a bench this year.
06:42And you're looking at it's like Yabusele and Jordan Clarkson, who is probably like 50 years old at this point.
06:48They don't really have that bench.
06:49So I'm probably a little bit higher on New York than other people are, though.
06:53All right.
06:53I'm trying to find.
06:54What do you got?
06:54Do you got any flights?
06:55I'm trying to find some direct flights here.
06:56I'm still in the process of searching that.
06:58It's tough around the holiday season.
06:59It's true.
07:00When it comes to Tatum, he's playing one-on-one.
07:03He is, you put this on Instagram, I think, two days ago.
07:05He just put out a video.
07:07Was it yesterday?
07:07Soon?
07:08Oh, that was two days ago.
07:09The video was yesterday.
07:10So I'm saying.
07:11So two days ago, he had the one that said soon.
07:13The video of him playing one-on-one was yesterday.
07:15What are we looking at with Tatum?
07:16I mean, it's still, we talked about this before, too.
07:19It was funny because in the weeks leading up to this, we were there and they'd kick us
07:24out before he'd do any kind of workouts or anything and be like, he'd be putting him
07:28on Instagram.
07:28We'd be like, wait, why can't we just watch it?
07:30In recent weeks, we've been able to actually see more of it.
07:32And we've been down there and he's been going through.
07:34Granted, it's nothing really crazy.
07:35Like those more intensified workouts, he's kind of reserved for Instagram and wherever
07:40he's posting it.
07:41But there doesn't seem to be any limitations, at least from the brief videos that we see that
07:46he's sharing out from what we've been able to see at practice, there just doesn't seem
07:49to be any limitations.
07:50And I'm sure there are different boxes that he needs to check before he's cleared and before
07:55we get to that point.
07:56Like, we don't know if he's doing any contact, right?
07:57We saw him going through the one-on-ones against assistant coaches, but we don't know what
08:01he's doing contact-wise.
08:03So it really remains unclear and it's indefinite right now.
08:07But you have to be pretty pleased with what you've seen from what he's shared and what
08:11we've been able to see in practice.
08:12So explain, and we talked to Drew Carter about this last week and you helped us with
08:16the conspiracy theory.
08:17Yeah, but explain it.
08:18Why are people circling 2-8, which would be a Sunday afternoon game, nationally televised
08:24on ABC against the New York Knicks.
08:27It's also Super Bowl Sunday.
08:28How about that?
08:29So what goes into the conspiracy theories where now, you know, in the dark Celtics web, people
08:33seem to think he's coming back on February 8th.
08:35Yeah, much like Drew, I'm not one on the big conspiracy theories or whatnot.
08:38But from what I've gathered from this theory, and I haven't done a ton of digging into
08:41it because, again, I don't really believe in it, but from what I've gathered is that
08:45he's posting videos with the timestamp of two minutes and eight seconds, which people
08:49are correlating to 2-8, which they play in the next.
08:52So all of it, all of the videos are 2-0-8.
08:54Apparently.
08:54I haven't gone back and fact-checked this because, again, I think it's garbage.
08:57I don't plan on it.
08:58It works for me.
08:59I'm taking you at face value.
09:01Yeah, okay.
09:01But yes, that is the theory.
09:03Is this on Instagram?
09:04Is this on Twitter?
09:04I think it's on Twitter.
09:05Maybe Reddit.
09:06It's the dark web somewhere.
09:08No, no, no.
09:08The video is posting.
09:10Limit 2-0-8 for a video?
09:11I think it's 2-20 for Twitter.
09:13Oh, so he goes.
09:13Well, no, but he's verified.
09:14You can go all day.
09:15Yeah, exactly.
09:16That's true.
09:16Nice.
09:17Not me.
09:18Not me.
09:18That's right.
09:20Yeah, I guess I could scroll through some of those.
09:22But no, that's pretty interesting.
09:25So not trying to start anything, but what do you think Jalen Brown's mindset is on a Tatum
09:34return?
09:34Because this was almost viewed as a year where it's like, all right, you're the guy.
09:37This is your team.
09:38We'll see how far you can take us.
09:40And after early seasons where they win a few, lose a few, they've gotten right at
09:44the ship wins-wise.
09:45He's been putting up crazy numbers, averaging like 30 points per game.
09:49The assists are up.
09:50The rebounds are there.
09:51If Jason Tatum comes back, and maybe it won't happen right away because he's coming back
09:55off an injury and everything else, but eventually he's going to have to sort of take, you know,
09:59move over to the passenger seat.
10:00How do you think he views a Tatum return?
10:02I think what he's going through right now and having to be kind of the engine of the
10:06offense is only going to help him because now he understands it.
10:09And now he's been put in that situation.
10:11Not saying he didn't before, but now he's been put in that situation where he understands
10:15kind of the pressure it takes and what needs to be done to like kind of read the floor.
10:19And this is a stat I came across yesterday.
10:22I was working on a piece, a sick brag, for WBI.com about the 20 numbers that define the
10:27season so far.
10:28And this is one that I found pretty interesting.
10:30If you had to guess, there's two players that are tied who has led the Celtics and
10:33assists the most this season.
10:35Who would you guess?
10:36I would guess.
10:36I would guess White and Pritchard is who I would guess.
10:38Derek White?
10:39Derek White and Jalen Brown.
10:40And Jalen Brown.
10:41So the assist and the playmaking, especially as of late for Jalen Brown, have been very
10:45impressive.
10:46And I think that only helps when Jason Tatum's back because that's another guy that can create
10:50for others and use his gravity.
10:52So I think it's going to be a good thing when he comes back that he's been in this situation.
10:55And we've seen them both put up ridiculous numbers in the past.
10:59And I think people kind of forget that Jalen Brown, before they made all the moves, was
11:02all NBA, right?
11:03Before they brought in Drew Holiday and Christoph Porzingis.
11:06And they've proven they can both play at an all NBA level together.
11:09So I would expect it's only a good thing for him to kind of be put in this situation and
11:13be able to force to kind of, you know, read the defenses differently and see the game
11:17differently.
11:17I think it's going to be good for him.
11:18So he's third on the team in assists behind Pritchard and White.
11:21He is averaging a career high in assists 4.9 compared to 4.5 a year ago.
11:25Turnovers have gone up a lot too this year.
11:28But no, Jalen is leading the team to where they're at.
11:31What did we say it is?
11:3115 and 9?
11:32Yeah.
11:33I just backed out.
11:3315 and 9.
11:34Does any of how they're playing, Terp, do you rewind to last year in the playoffs and
11:38go, well, this is annoying?
11:40Like, is that like they could have won that series against New York, even without Tatum?
11:45Like a lot of people said, well, they lost Tatum.
11:46What are they supposed to do?
11:47And they had already lost the series, I think, with Tatum.
11:49They were on their way to being down 3-1.
11:51Right.
11:52Do you rewind any of it and look back and go, oh, maybe they, maybe they should have
11:55gone on more of a run than they did last year, given how they're playing all year or
11:58at least recently without Tatum?
12:00Of course you do.
12:00You look at back at that Knicks series, you're like, man, everything about this series is so
12:04annoying.
12:05Like they blew back to back 20 point leads at home.
12:08It doesn't get more annoying.
12:09But I'm talking about even once they lost Tatum, like it was like, oh, the season's
12:12over because Tatum's gone.
12:13Well, it turns out, no, they can be pretty good without Tatum.
12:15They're doing it right now.
12:17Well, also Jalen Brown, remember he had the knee surgery.
12:19So Jalen was not himself.
12:20And we were talking about that at the time last year.
12:22He was clearly not himself.
12:23And the injuries did catch up to them where Christoph Porzingis obviously was a shell of
12:28himself.
12:28And it comes out that he was dealing with pots and was having trouble breathing on the floor.
12:32Like that was obviously they the injuries just caught up to him.
12:35And I think it did offer a kind of a new appreciation for the 2023-24 season because it's like,
12:40man, it really is so hard and so many things need to go right to win a championship because
12:45the reality is, it's just it wasn't their year last year.
12:47Jalen Brown, like you said, was a shell of himself.
12:50Christoph Porzingis as well.
12:51And those are the guys that you really needed to kind of carry you when Jason Tatum went down,
12:55especially.
12:56But even when he was healthy, like they needed them to be available and needed them to play well.
13:00And it really wasn't there.
13:01And that was because of, you know, things out of their control.
13:04We know Jones loves the NBA Cup.
13:06When you're around the team, like in the locker room or around practice, is that something
13:10that's even like on their radar?
13:12Do you think that you get the sense of players care at all?
13:14Obviously, they want the money, but like, is it even like anything that stands out to
13:18them?
13:18I don't think so.
13:19And I think now people are starting to realize how much it jumbles the schedule.
13:22They cared a couple of years ago when they were paying attention to the scoring differential
13:25and they like blew doors against whoever they were.
13:27Two years ago, they cared.
13:28When the opportunity's there, you're going to go for it.
13:31I think that's just the competitive spirit of it.
13:32But I don't think it's something you're really thinking of.
13:34Even this year, they were kind of running up the point differential at times.
13:36Like when the opportunity's there, they're going to go for it.
13:39I don't think it's something they're coming back and they're like, oh, man, we're not
13:41going with the NBA Cup.
13:42We're not going with the NBA Cup.
13:43Because I think they're trying to mirror it like soccer, right?
13:46They do a lot of like in-season tournaments and things like that.
13:49But I don't know, maybe over time it'll get to that.
13:52Because there's sort of like, I guess, some prestige built into some of those.
13:55And I can't begin to tell you all the ins and outs of it.
13:57But over in Europe, like they'll take a little break from their season, play these games.
14:01They kind of matter.
14:02There's like a history to it.
14:03I wouldn't have watched Nixon Raptors last night.
14:05I wouldn't have watched Magic and Heat.
14:07We'll see if I watch the West Coast games.
14:09But like I wouldn't have watched them.
14:09And a lot of that is gambling related.
14:11They're standalone games.
14:12And I'm like, I'll throw down a few bets and I'll watch.
14:13They didn't go well.
14:14Did you get like an NBA Cup boost?
14:15But like, yes, there were NBA Cup boosts last night.
14:17And so like, I like that aspect of it.
14:20I think a lot of the players are like, I don't really care about it until they're in it.
14:23And then the Celtics played like crazy in it two years ago to get the scoring differential.
14:26But then they complained about it.
14:27To advance to the quarterfinals.
14:28Jalen Brown's like, that's not how you're supposed to play.
14:30I guess.
14:31Yeah, unethical.
14:32Well, you did it.
14:33Don't tell me you weren't paying attention to it.
14:35One more here, Terp, before we let you go.
14:37It looks like Dice is attempting to start.
14:40Oh, boy.
14:41A bozo parlay of misfits.
14:43So I'm assuming that would be.
14:45Terp, Dice, and Jackson.
14:46Dice, Terp, Jackson.
14:48Oh, I'm so in.
14:48I'm not sure who else.
14:49Oh, a rival bozo parlay the rest of the season.
14:51I'm not sure who else you're going to have to recruit.
14:53Shime in a couple of weeks, maybe.
14:54But this is a rival misfits bozo touchdown parlay you're in.
14:58Yeah, I'm definitely in.
14:59That's good.
15:00I tweeted it out.
15:01Who hits first?
15:02Honestly, I'm a little nervous.
15:04I'm a little nervous now there's a rival bozo touchdown parlay.
15:06I like it.
15:06It's like the meme when like Squidward's looking out of the house and Patrick and Spudger probably
15:10running around.
15:10That's me like watching the bozo touchdown parlay.
15:13I miss it.
15:14Like, how do I get my spot back?
15:15How long are we going to drag this out?
15:17I think 20-20 sticks.
15:18You predict some proper touchdowns.
15:19That's probably what you do.
15:20Okay.
15:21Well, good.
15:22I'm sure Dice will be encouraged to hear about that.
15:23Oh, Darren in Maine has a question for Terp.
15:25Actually, Darren, go ahead.
15:27Hey, no.
15:28I just have a question about how you can say the Celtics had injury issues at the end of
15:32the year, and that's why they didn't win when they were up 20 points in two consecutive
15:35games of blue leads.
15:37I mentioned that.
15:38Yeah, but after that, you said it wasn't their year.
15:40And so I think he's taking issue with you saying it wasn't their year, and then they
15:44had blown multiple 20-point leads.
15:45Well, there was more than that that went wrong.
15:46Like I said before, they should have won that series.
15:48They should have won the series.
15:49You couldn't blow back, especially at home.
15:52You can't blow back-to-back games when you led by 20 points.
15:54Like, that's all true, but the injury portion can also be true.
15:58And when I mentioned the injuries, I was more talking about your question about making
16:01a deeper run, whereas, like, yeah, they should have won that series.
16:04Absolutely.
16:05But, you know, they didn't play well enough.
16:07No.
16:07But when you're looking at making a deeper run, that's why I mentioned the injuries.
16:10Not for that particular series.
16:12People last year, I'm not talking about you, Terp, but people last year are like, Tatum's
16:15hurt.
16:15What could they possibly do?
16:16Well, number one, they were...
16:18It was over at that point.
16:19Or before that.
16:20Peeing away the series with Tatum.
16:22Yeah.
16:22And number two, I don't know.
16:23They look pretty good without him.
16:24Like, all of a sudden, I didn't think this was going to be the case, but all of a sudden,
16:27they look pretty good without him.
16:28So maybe, just maybe, they could have, I don't know, actually beaten New York a year
16:32ago, whether it was with Tatum and played better when he was out there, or once they
16:35lost him, not laying down like they did at the end of the series last year.
16:39You can check out Terp's latest at weei.com.
16:4220 numbers that tell the story of the Celtics past the quarter mark of the season.
16:48Go check that out.
16:49Give them a follow on Twitter, at JustinMTurpin on Twitter.
16:52Terp, we appreciate it.
16:53Each and every Wednesday at High Noon, we call it Pure Hoops.
16:56We'll talk to you next week.
16:56All right, guys.
16:57Thank you, Terp.
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