00:00If you had to pick one person that is responsible for this Celtics season
00:08and the change with regard to the expectation,
00:15would you pick Brad Stevens?
00:17Would you pick Joe Missoula?
00:19Would you pick Jalen Brown?
00:22I would probably lean more towards Jalen Brown first on that list.
00:29Not too far behind them, Joe Missoula.
00:32But it's really about Jalen Brown's performance.
00:34The reason why they are where they are is because of the way he's performed.
00:38But Jalen Brown, when he took to social media and was posting about how well this team had done
00:46in the absence of Jason Tatum, then went on later to point to the others that were around him
00:54and the others that are around him, somehow, Brad Stevens was able to assemble.
01:01Right.
01:02But Wiggy's right, though.
01:03If Jalen Brown doesn't perform this well, they're fine.
01:07They're a playoff team.
01:08Right.
01:09But they're 4-5 seed.
01:10They're scratching the claw for that.
01:12But because Jalen Brown is almost averaging 30 points on the season,
01:18and, you know, his assists are up, his rebounds are up,
01:22you start to look at the way he's performed and carried this team
01:26as the reason why you are where you are.
01:29And then a step down from that is Joe Mazzula making sure all the pieces around them
01:35understand their role and are in the right place.
01:39And before the season, I said it, I think Wiggy agreed, I'm not putting words in his mouth,
01:43that it would be wise to move Jalen Brown at some point because what this team will be,
01:49we predicted, is the worst place you want to be,
01:52which is between the 7th and the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference,
01:55where you're not good enough to get a lottery pick and you're not bad enough to be,
01:59I mean, you're not good enough to compete and you're not bad enough to be a lottery pick
02:02or a decent lottery pick.
02:04Right.
02:04There weren't people talking about tanking and, you know, shipping everybody out
02:09except Jalen Brown and then tanking and getting one of those lottery picks.
02:14And then when Tatum came back next season, you had Jalen, Tatum,
02:19and whoever, you know, that young lottery pick would be.
02:22So you have to give Jalen Brown the lion's share of the credit when it comes to
02:29the way this Celtics team has performed this season
02:33because he's been the guy who's put this team on his back.
02:37And Brad Stevens, to me, may be the most underrated figure in Boston sports.
02:41Like, what he's been able to do, the move off the bench into the front office,
02:46which I thought was just like a placeholder, they had to pay him anyway,
02:49might as well get him in the front office.
02:50And he's turned into the best GM in basketball.
02:53Maybe the guy with the Oklahoma City, whatever his name is, he's from around here.
02:57Sam Presti.
02:57Presti.
02:58So Lexington.
02:58Maybe you give him that edge.
03:00But either way, like, it is so hard to do this in the NBA.
03:04Yeah.
03:04It's really, really hard.
03:05Like, the Knicks have been rebuilding my whole life.
03:07Yeah.
03:07Like, it's impossible to get to where they were, where you're in this place
03:13without your best player for the most of the season,
03:15and now you're sitting here, likely going to the NBA Finals again.
03:19And they've done, and you were there to see him in person, Jason Tatum.
03:24I mean, we've only been able to see him from, you know, from watching him on television.
03:28But he just...
03:29Well, I said it earlier.
03:31He's, he may be, the best part of his game right now might be playing defense.
03:36Right.
03:38It's unbelievable.
03:39I just, and the 32 minutes, this quickly, after his return, is unbelievable.
03:48It really is.
03:49I am so shocked.
03:50It's, it is, there has been, there has been great seasons out of nowhere,
03:53like the 13 Red Sox.
03:55But when it comes to a team that was talented without expectations,
03:59I've never seen this before.
04:01Where you're, maybe I guess the closest comp would be Castle 11 and 5.
04:04Yeah.
04:05But even then, you miss the playoffs.
04:06Right, right.
04:07You miss the, yeah.
04:08And you, the thing that is amazing to me is, now granted, I know it's only, what,
04:14four or five games, but Tatum's averaging almost 20 points, almost nine rebounds,
04:20and almost five assists.
04:22And it's like, and he says it, and this is what he has said,
04:26that every game I play in, I get better and better and better.
04:30I get more comfortable.
04:33And the cheat, the cheat code is that he's going to be totally fresh.
04:38Right.
04:38In the playoffs.
04:39Right.
04:39When everybody else is wearing down, Jason Tatum's coming in, feeling as, as Wiggy said,
04:44I'm sure before this, but in other years, you feel a little bit worse.
04:47Right.
04:47At the end of every game.
04:48Whereas Tatum's going in and he's going to feel better.
04:50And his confidence level, which is the biggest thing, just in his, the, his injury is only
04:57going to take him to another level.
04:59Humbly, one of the best basketball players in the world.
05:01Very humbly.
05:05I'm just, here's a texter, uh, who is obviously not happy with their life.
05:12Who, who says that, uh, they just lost to the two best teams in the Western conference.
05:18I, one of them, uh, was a game in which Jalen Brown was removed.
05:23And the other was a game in which Jason Tatum didn't play.
05:27Right.
05:27And I'll, and I'll, are we, I'll give you, what are we doing?
05:31Great question.
05:32Tatum didn't play and they lost to the Thunder by two.
05:35Right.
05:35But, but listen, it's not like they got blown up by 30.
05:38No, no.
05:38What are we doing?
05:39But I'll give you, I'll give you the OKC game because Tatum didn't play, but neither
05:46did their other Jalen Williams and Hartenstein, which are, they're big for that team.
05:52The San Antonio game.
05:54I think that was more of Jalen Brown getting thrown out.
05:58I think Jalen Brown doesn't get thrown out.
06:00They win that basketball game.
06:01And they've beat San Antonio already this season, haven't they?
06:04Like, who cares if, oh, sorry.
06:05They lost one game that just happened.
06:07Recency bias.
06:08I get it.
06:08But still.
06:09But I, I would look at the Oklahoma City game and I go, that was a great matchup.
06:14Both teams were missing key players and it came down to basically, you know, the end of
06:20the game.
06:20So when both teams gets their, you know, they're, they get all their complimentary of weapons
06:27back, meaning the Celtics get Vucevic and Tatum and Oklahoma City gets Hartenstein and Jalen
06:34Williams.
06:34That could be a very, very good NBA finals.
06:39Now, I would, I would, I'll obviously, I'll bet on the Celtics to win, but if Oklahoma City
06:45wins that game and they're the favorites, I get it.
06:48And you lose to them?
06:48Yeah.
06:49Okay.
06:50This is Joe in the car.
06:52Good morning, Joe.
06:53Good morning, Joe.
06:54Good morning.
06:55Good morning.
06:55You know, it's funny that I'm hearing my man Wiggins now getting out of the Jalen Brown
07:00wagon because all this guy's done going, going into this season, how Jason Tatum is so much
07:07better than him, how Jason Tatum should have been the MVP of the final.
07:13And now Wiggins on the wagon.
07:15Hey, hey, Wiggins.
07:16No, no, no.
07:16I've been on the train before everybody else, Joe.
07:19I had them finishing.
07:20Listen, Joe, if you got it, no, no, if you're going to criticize Joe, Joe, Joe, if you got
07:26it, no gaslighting, play the audio.
07:29I'm the only, Joe, Joe, listen, let him talk all he wants, but play the audio.
07:36I'm the only person that had the Celtics finished in top three in the Eastern Conference.
07:41Right.
07:41And you can't gaslight because you ran out of it on the way to work.
07:45Am I a Jason Tatum fan over Jalen Brown?
07:50Yes.
07:50I think Jason Tatum's a better player.
07:52What Jalen Brown has been able to do this year has been spectacular.
07:57And I thought.
07:57Nothing short of spectacular.
07:59And I thought what he was going to do this season, this was going to be his opportunity.
08:03That's why I had them say.
08:05This is his magnum opus.
08:06And I said, if he does what I think he might be able to do, this team's going to finish
08:11top
08:11three.
08:12And right now they're second in the Eastern Conference, Eastern Conference.
08:15And Wiggy said that.
08:16And I mocked him at the start of the year.
08:18I said, you're an idiot.
08:18And clearly I was the idiot.
08:20Because I know like you kind of see Jalen Brown's personality.
08:25It's him against the world.
08:28Everybody's always doubting him.
08:29So I was like, well, this is the perfect opportunity for any guy in that position to really show
08:35that they say what they say.
08:38They really are.
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