What If Boston Has No Plan B

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Hello, it's missing the point. It's the final two members of Missing the Point here to uh here to do a show. Uh it's Mike and Dave on Missing the Point. We're gonna talk about basketball as we are wont to do from time to time. I really was gonna start suggesting expanding, like, you know, the Bruins and the Red Sox, but like I don't know. It's it's all we can do to talk about the Celtics right now.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

I have a hard Bruins stance. I think you know a little bit about this, but I've been so beaten, battered by them that I said I don't care if they win 82 fucking games in the regular season. I don't care. I will not speak about them until they're in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Thunder Roll Suns And KD Talk

LeBron Longevity And Lakers Chaos

SPEAKER_03 0:47

Fair enough. Hard argued that seems pretty cut and dry. So here we are on the basketball show, everybody. Welcome. Thanks for tuning in, downloading, listening, subscribing. We're gonna stay consistent for you. Can they still watch us or is that a I don't know? I I that's that's out of that's that's beyond my pay grade. Our producer is on maternity leave. He just birthed a child out of his back pussy. So we're we're we gotta wait for him to heal up. I don't know. Maybe I just pressed the buttons he told me to press when and it it comes into my podcast feed. So I'm gonna take us a little bit around the league. There's a few series I don't care to talk about. I'm just gonna touch on them very briefly. Namely, OKC and Phoenix, completely unsurprising there. Phoenix put in even more pathetic of a showing than I thought they would. OKC are still the locked-on favorites to win the NBA Finals. I don't want to see them in the finals, but we'll come on to talk about if we even think that's gonna happen. That was a dastardly performance by the Phoenix Suns. I think it's the one thing it has done is it's sort of changed people's perceptions of Devin Booker because like you would think if he was as good as everyone says he is, he would be at least able to steal one game from them, maybe. Doesn't seem to be the case. They had the KD excuse before, which another team now possesses. KD, I think I'm coming around. I think it was you, right? That was always like he's a locker room cancer, you can't, it's it's bad. The thing is, is like for men of a certain generation, uh namely ours, when KD first came on the scene, it was I I'd never seen anything like it. It's much like what the kids are probably experiencing watching Wemby now. Shit, it's what I'm experiencing watching Wemby now. Like that guy's from another fucking planet. But when he came on the scene, he was so fucking good. And seeing him play the way that he played in the finals when he was on Golden State, I know he was on a stacked team and all that stuff, and it's gonna be an asterisk that probably follows around considering like how he behaved after that for the rest of time. He was just so fucking fun to watch. He was so he's such a pure scorer, he's such a great shooter. He he's ludicrously tall for somebody of his skill set, again, like similar to to the to the stuff when Wemby came in. But I think I'm ready to concede the point. Like he I don't think he galvanizes the locker room at the bare minimum, and I think he might actually destroy it. That being said, Phoenix doesn't have that excuse anymore, even though their roster is not great. The Rockets, this is a more interesting series to me. We're also probably gonna skip, mostly skip San Antonio and Portland. I thought maybe they might make an account of themselves, Portland, but apart from Drew Holiday, like pulling the chair multiple times hilariously on Wemby and at once giving him a concussion. And I love Drew, like shout out Drew, always will. That series went pretty much as expected. They're looking likely to play either the Nuggets or I guess it's probably gonna be the Nuggets. They're gonna come back and beat the injured Timberwolves most likely, but let's let's wait and wait and talk about that after we talk about this Rockets Lakers series. I'm also ready to sort of concede on LeBron, to be honest with you. Like, this guy is fucking unbelievable. Like he's 41 years old. I I need you to talk me off this ledge that I'm finally gonna come around on LeBron James after all these years. I mean, the longevity is really difficult to argue with. Their performance in this series is really difficult to argue with. I really hope you take the stance that this is an absolutely diabolical performance from the Rockets, and like this is completely on Ime and Kevin Durant and and that team because I I'm starting to panic that I might lose my lose some steam on hating LeBron James.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

I think the thing that gets lost in all this though, I don't hate LeBron James.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

There are there have been 54 there have been like in that irrational like sports hatred way, like not as a person.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Yeah, but there have been 5400 NBA players throughout the the entirety of the league, and I have him ranked at number three, and all of a sudden that means I hate him. Like, you know, he's just he's not number one or number two for me. It's his longevity. It's that's MJ and Kobe.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

Yeah, I think that's insane.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Yeah, he he was such a killer, like he lived for the moment. He did so much so that he realized that the first three P wasn't his, it was just on the team with Shaq. That was the narrative, and then he went out and he and he won two more without him with like Paul Gasall. I mean, come on. I he went to three, was it three straight finals? And yeah, so he he's mine, obviously. I just thought he had that killer mentality. LeBron has a longevity, yes, 100% absolutely. He's a six foot eight uh small forward that could have been a tight end in in the NFL, but he flops around like he's a point guard, but he plays he plays the game like in today's era. I I think this is more about the Rockets stepping on their own dicks than it is about about LeBron. And I would also say I don't think I think you know, I think Kevin Durant is softer than baby shit, but when he's on the court it matters, and he's only been on the court once this entire series.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

So I have Kobe tenth just for the record. 10th? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

I can write this for you really fast. You don't have him behind, okay. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

Michael Kareem, uh, LeBron. That's hard. Both have him at three.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Bill Wilt, Magic Larry, Tim Duncan, you have Kobe Bryant. If you weren't a Boston Celtic fan, you would not have Kobe Bryant behind Larry Bird.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

I have Magic Johnson ahead of Larry Bird, okay? I made the concession. I'm not making two concessions. Kobe Bryant isn't as good as Larry Bird. He's not as good, in my opinion. Right. Play in the fucking handshack era for longer. I don't know what to tell you.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

But you you always are the one to tell me that you can't punish people for playing in the era that they had to play in. Like it's not like he could have gone back.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

He doesn't give a shit. He's dead.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

He wouldn't care about my list either way. So I mean, I watched him.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

I watched him. If you had to draft right now and you had prime Larry Bird or prime Kobe Bryant, you're telling me.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

I'm taking Larry. I'm taking Larry all day. I mean, I I th I would I would shudder to think at the three-point stats that Larry Bird would have if he played in Kobe's era. It would be insane. I think he had both hands. I think he had everything in the game. He could pass, he could shoot, he could finish around the rim. He was a it was a lockdown defender. He didn't look for the shot first, he looked for the best play first, which is a big important criteria for me, to be honest with you. And like, yep, I I don't hate the guys that look for the shot first. I think Michael Jordan's the guy who looks for the shot first. Uh basketball IQ is a big part of it for me, and like I don't know, man. Like I just I didn't love watching guys go 24 for 55. That just wasn't my like that wasn't my bag watching Kobe the Kobe Bryant's the world, you know.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

It it brings me back to the when we had Shaughnessy on the show and he said Larry could control the game by taking 12 shots.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

And like I think he's one of the only players in in recent memory that could do that. Just to be clear, Larry was in my top five. No, totally. It's I just think I just think Jordan Kobe LeBron, you know, like magic. Well, with magic, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

Yeah, I think they did that together. I also like, yeah, I mean, there's probably some Celtics Homerism and involved in that, but like I will add that Larry Bird was white. So playing at that much of a disadvantage, I think is like a pretty a pretty big uh bonus. Like if you have that much of a genetic disadvantage and you still make everybody's top 10 list consensus, that's impressive to me. You know, Kobe Bryant had the add the additive bonus of being black. That's not fair. That's already an unfair fight from the start. You know, Larry didn't even like white guys guarding him.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

I know he felt disrespected.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

Yeah, because that's true. Right? Because he was well so that Kevin Durant is soft argument, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Look, I if I would I I I would say that Kevin Durant, if he played in in an era where social media was not prevalent, we he would be higher ranked and higher uh and highly thought of more than he is now. But it's it's that element that he's he has so much God-given talent, and when he's in, he's in. But the two things for me that that always always negated it is that he went and joined the team that beat him while he was already on a homegrown team that that could have, you know, they could have gone more, but he didn't want to do the work. Fine. And then all the fucking burner accounts, yeah. Like that's just so soft, it's so bad.

Nuggets Wolves Injuries And Jokic Discourse

SPEAKER_03 9:25

Also, stop doing it. Like, please stop doing it. Like, for the love of God, like once you've been caught once, like, please stop doing it. It's crazy, he's like a serial cheater, but also like keep doing it for us. That's funny. If your gut was to tell you right now who was gonna win that Minnesota-Denver series, considering like Minnesota kind of came out and punched them in the mouth, went 3-1 up, and then they got really injured really fast. Their best player is injured. It doesn't look like as last I heard he's gonna make it back for the remainder of this series. Then DiVincenzo with that heartbreaking Achilles rupture, we all know what that feels like from a fan perspective. My heart goes out to them. I know he's a big role player for them, like he's really, really important as a scorer. So then I like him as a player. Do you think Minnesota? Do you think they Denver comes back now and wins? And also, like, I don't really want to hear the Jokic discourse. Like, he's this, I just was let me start over. I like Jokic. Okay, I think he's probably the best offensive player in basketball right now. I don't know how long that's gonna that's gonna continue. But we're now talking about him in the context of some of the best players to ever play the game. He's got his championship. That championship, he didn't have to beat an over 40 win, uh, over 50 win team to for that run. I don't know. Take that for what it is, okay. He's got a good duo with a streaky performer in Jamal Murray, and I think he's an impressive basketball player to watch. I think he's got a super high IQ. I think I hate Rudy Gobert more than I like Jokic, and watching Rudy Gobert able to defend him one-on-one for this whole series has really plummeted my stock in in Jokic stock because I'm like, dude, you can't let Rudy Gobert embarrass you like that on TV. That guy's so awkward and bad. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Everybody, everybody has that one guy that shouldn't be able to lock them down that does. Like, and be and be was Horford.

unknown 11:19

I know.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

And Horford, I mean, he he he just he ruined his he ruined his fucking life. Selfishly, I want the Nuggets to come back and win this series because I want a full series of When Wemby versus Jokic.

East Bracket Check And Harden Fatigue

SPEAKER_03 11:32

Yeah, that would be cool, I guess. I just really like the T-Wolves and Ant, and I was really getting excited watching Ant kind of rehab and coming back in. But I just I don't want to hear the discourse around Jokic coming back and everybody being like, see, he came back from 3-1 down. It's like, okay, well, everybody's fucking everything had to explode for that to happen. Like they were getting absolute run, and you beat the like the backups. Like, come on, don't be silly. A very beat up Timberwolves team. Like, almost took you guys again. It's not good, it's not a good look. But anyways, Minnesota's still up 3-2, so all they need to do is just steal one more. They got two more chances. Like, let's see. I think that I think it's going to seven, regardless. So we'll see how that plays out. Obviously, we're gonna spend the majority of our time on Boston, but let's run around the rest of the East really fast. Annoyed at Boston. I feel like it's it always lands as me and you on a show when we're annoyed at the Celtics. It seems like very like Ray's never here to defend them. He's always here when they're doing good, saying I told you so, but he's never here like after the annoying games. What was I gonna say? Oh, yeah. So looking at this playoff bracket, Raptors, Cavs tied 2-2. That's shameful for the Cavs, if you ask me. I think that they should be home and dry, 3-1 at this point, you know, if not fully 4-0. They haven't looked themselves. They're doing that thing with with Donovan Mitchell where it's like, just do the thing, do the stuff that you do. And it's like, yeah, bro, you can't like just put that much volume on a guy and expect him to be able to carry you all night. You I thought you're supposed to have other fucking players. I've realized I hate every team James Harden is on. I've just discovered that. Like, I've it's it's it's like I was always trying to take the baller position. Like, no, he's a baller, he's a baller, he's a baller. So I was always, and even in the history of this podcast, I've always like defended James Harden. I've defended moves to teams. I've been like, damn, that's scary. They're all on a Brooklyn, that's fucking scary. Yeah. He's not, despite his ability to make shots, he is an incredibly boring basketball player to watch play basketball. He does the same fucking thing every time. He does the same thing every time. If you were playing video games with him, he'd be one of those guys that beats you by just spamming the same kick over and over again because you like haven't figured out how to defend it, you know? Like if he was a street fighter player, he'd pick the cheesiest character. He'd pick the character everyone knows is overpowered, and he would beat you with that one move that everybody knows is kind of gross to use. He's picking Michael Vick in like Madden 04, you know what I mean? He's picking Michael Vick and he's running around the field on you. Like he's that guy. He just bores the shit out of me. And it may, I've been blaming the teams that he's on the my whole basketball watching career. And I'm realizing, like, in my in my maturity, like as I kind of grow as a person, like this era, you know, being in your mid uh mid to late 30s, you really start to sort of be honest with yourself a little bit more. And I think I've been lying to myself about James Harden for a long time because I didn't mind the Cavs. I actually liked I think I was on record last year saying I like all their players, I really like like their roster. And I'm on record with guys on that roster when they were on other teams. But goddamn, I hate that team now, and it's because Harden's there. I think I'm on I'm switching. I'm switching, I'm switching all my opinions on this episode of Ms.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

I love that. Yeah, Harden's just uh shorter and beat. I mean, he does the same thing every single game, and some days it's lightning, some some games it's awful, but like he's gonna have to take what? What is what does this guy do? Is it 16 to 22 shots a game? Yeah, and his defense is abysmal. Where and what defense? What are you talking about? And this the minute that he's he sniffs that his team is out of it, he also checks out.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

So or the minute his team is still in it and they really need him, that's another time he just checks out.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Basically, late April he checks out if he's still playing. Yeah, uh they the Raptors this should not be a tide series. Like the the Cavs two years ago really constructed a team to beat Boston, right? And you figure well, what we learned last year is again, Donovan Mitchell can't say healthy in the playoffs, but that's fine. What he does need is more offensive health. Makes sense to go get James Harden. However, the problem there is that James Harden usually doesn't show up in the playoffs. So, and they play that brand of basketball that he plays, and it is him on every team, it doesn't matter what team it is, is almost as hard to watch as what we're gonna talk about a little bit later. And and Joe Missoula's Celtics. So I do I fear either of these teams? No. We need to figure out how to get past Philly first before I can start worrying about anybody else. But yeah, the Cleveland should be so much better than they are.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Yeah, I don't fear these teams, but I do think that last night's that, you know, just to spoiler alert, what we're gonna say about the Celtics, I do think last night's Celtics game against Philadelphia made me very worried about New York. No, I don't think that we would have a problem getting past either of these teams, but based on where the the way the bracket is, I don't think we're gonna see either of these teams at this point. Orlando leading the Pistons three to one. Last night checked, that game's going on right now. Last night checked the Pistons were up quite a bit, which is sort of to be expected.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

They're up by like six, I think.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

They're only up by six going into half. They could fucking lose this series right now. Raptors, cows are fighting it out. Jesus, come on, guys. Just just do what I expect of you.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

I love before we get into the like the Celtics. I'll just ask you a question because I did I saw I'm gonna do something that you normally hate that I do, but I I I read something that's in the national conversation. I was like, oh, that I really actually want to ask TK this question. Do you think the NBA should go back to the the the five seven seven seven format? They never will. But no, do you think they should? Because wouldn't it allow for more surprises uh in the first round? But then as a basketball fan, like you are a different basketball fan than I am, do you want surprises coming out of the first round only to then be demolished in in the second round?

SPEAKER_03 17:43

I don't know because I feel like it weights a little bit, it skews a the playoffs that you've had before, and it eliminates that thing that happens where, like, I'll point you to the example like the Bulls taking the Celtics to seven when they shouldn't in the first round, the Hawks taking the Celtics to seven when they shouldn't, the Celtics almost coming back against the Heat and taking it to seven, and then somehow miraculously snatching defeat from the Jaws of Victory. I think a seven-game series, and this may be just the era that I've grown up in. I think a seven-game series tells you who the better team is. And it's not on paper, it's not salary, it's in this playoffs, who's more prepared, who's got guys that are playing better, who's better coached. You you I think there's more opportunity for fluke in a five-game series. And obviously, like that, like I said, they're not gonna give the seven-game series up because of the TV money, but I and especially like the first round of the NBA playoffs is the only thing going on. Like it, it the markets don't cross over with hockey. Hockey fans are hockey fans, and basketball fans are basketball fans for the most part. So there's like uh the basketball fans are like us, you know. Like, we'd have a tough time with it if the NFL playoffs were still going on, like that would suck. But I am just so ready for the first round that I want to watch a seven-game series like every every at the timing of the year. So for me, it's it's hard to say yes to that question because I don't also don't really remember a five-game first round like in my lifetime. It's not like really something I ever like did.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Was it oh three?

SPEAKER_03 19:22

Yeah, that's yeah, yeah, I think it's interesting. I mean, it's like it's not something that ever really like I wasn't super basketball conscious by that point. So it's just not it just never like affected me that like that much.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

But the so the reason why I asked that question is because just by this year's playoffs, right? Obviously, right now you'd have a Thunder Lakers second round matchup, which you might have anyway, uh in a couple of games, you'd have a Timberwolves Spurs matchup, and then you'd have theoretically, you would have a a Celtics, and then we still have to see what happens to the next, or you and you'd have a the magic would have already beat the Pistons. So I do think that in actuality, like this year would have lended to the most surprises happening, and it just got me thinking about it a little bit because I just feel like the the argument is you have the ability to have more surprises, but and it it's it's just harder for bad teams to to beat good teams in four games as opposed to three. But I wanted your take on that.

SPEAKER_03 22:50

It was going it was like downloaded. So I have no fucking clue what happened there. That was me. Not you. Sorry for leaving you.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

That was my first reaction, so I don't I don't hold you accountable for it.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

You still sound really weird. I do.

SPEAKER_03 23:17

No, you're fine now. Okay, sorry. Technical difficulties on my end. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Yeah. So the thing that I was wondering is because in this year in particular, right, the five-game, the five-game first round series would have yielded a ton of surprises. Just out of this bracket. Now I'm interested now. Yeah, so the second round series uh would have already been Thunder Lakers because uh LA would went up 3-1. Yeah, it would have been Minnesota San Antonio because Minnesota went up 3-1. Yeah, the Pistons would have already been eliminated. We would have already beat the 76ers.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

Yeah, and then we would know less about our team.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Maybe. I don't know. But I but I have like this dialogue with myself thinking it it is good to have those surprises, but a seven-game series, the the best team usually does win. It's harder to beat a good team four games instead of three.

Knicks Hawks Grit And Coach Debate

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Yeah, I mean it's an interesting thought experiment. I think the one drawback game, the one series I wouldn't have wanted to see go the way it would go if it was five is the Knicks Hawk series. I want to see them try to get back into it and actually do something. They've been kind of beating them up, which is good for us, hopefully. Hopefully it affects us.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

And the Hawks aren't a good team.

SPEAKER_03 24:36

No, but they're like, they have they have that, like, and I actually talked about this with Ray like probably three or four weeks before the regular season ended on the show. The Hawks and the Magic both have that like drag you down to their level ability. Yeah. Um, but then the magic have better players that can then sort of do some shit to you. So I that's why I think the Magic are gonna win that series. We had a real like Detroit's a phony one seed conversation, me and Ray, before this playoff started. So I'm really happy with this outcome of this series so far. I was like, I think Atlanta can give New York problems, but I think that New York will win out eventually. I would have said the same thing about Boston. I would have said, I think they're gonna give us problems. Like you're you'll be surprised because like they do tend to drag you down to their level a little bit. I think New York look like a team that if it wasn't the New York Knicks, I would have to admit to myself that I really like. Um I think they're really gritty, I think they have really good players. Like, how can I really love Julius Randle on the Timberwolves, but like have stayed completely silent about him when he was a Knicks? You know, like it's not and that was a better version of him, probably. So it's you're sort of like, uh, well, maybe not. But it you're sort of just like, I like a lot of their players. Like, I like Brunson, I like the sort of things he has to say. I didn't think that they were as bad as they could have been. I mean, their fan base, obviously, absolute fucking trash, but like I didn't think they were as bad as they could have been when they beat us last year. I thought they were pretty respectful about putting us out of our misery when they when we, you know, our best guy went down and they were like, all right, yeah, we're gonna try and make a run. Like, good luck, everybody, whatever. I like a lot of the style of basketball they play. That being said, I haven't really been knocked off my opinion of them by how they've performed in this series. Do I still want to see them lose? Of course. But I don't know. I just think Atlanta can give anybody problems, to be honest with you. The way that they're set up, they play really gritty basketball, they they sort of make it hard for you to play your brand of basketball, which I would really benefit the Celtics, I think. That's like, please make it difficult for us to play our brand of basketball. Like, please, so we have to try something else. Problem is we won't. That being said, I don't know. I I would love to get your take on that series. Like, uh what you expected going in, and like how do you what do you think who do you think is coming out of it?

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Yeah, uh going in. I thought this should like this should be a Knicks in five. I understand everything you're saying. Four, but some people were saying, but just talent. I thought that the the Knicks have overwhelmingly more talent, and you know, throughout the last 82 games of the regular season, they were playing more than six people because Thibodeau's not there anymore, so like they should be more well rested. But you do lose that fucking grit dog factor when you lose a guy like Tibbs. Like that is the that that's the thing. The team is noticeably less gritty this year as opposed to the where they were last year, but they were more rested. Who would you rather have? Mike Brown or Tom Thibodeau.

SPEAKER_03 27:26

It really depends on the roster. I I gotta be honest. That roster on the Knicks, yeah, probably Mike Brown. Really? Yeah, because we saw with Tibbs, we saw them hit their ceiling, and I think it made a lot of them really like better players. Like, I would love Tom Thibodeau in Boston right now. Like, that would be sick. It'd be like, make those fuckers run. Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

I don't I don't need Tatum playing 48 minutes a game right now.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Okay, but he's not, he didn't, he was never stupid about it. The guys coming back from a fucking Achilles burst. Like it's like he got he was gonna get worked back in as you know as much as he was gonna get back.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

How did he play Derek Rose when he came back the first time?

SPEAKER_03 28:02

He was trying to he was trying to turn Derrick Rose back into prime Derek Rose. Okay, it was an admirable, it was an admirable attempt. I wanted that, didn't you? We all remember him.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

I'm pretty sure he he worked him to the fucking bone, but it's fine.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

Derek Rose is gonna be my old man, who when I'm like really old, I'm gonna be like primed, and this is true, it's just everybody knows it now, and like as the generations go on, people are gonna forget. I'm gonna be like prime Derek Rose was as good as anybody in the NBA, if not better, at the time when he was in his prime, it was just cut short by injuries. That's gonna be the thing I always say when I'm old.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

He's he's our Grant Hill.

Celtics Sixers Embiid Matchup Mistakes

SPEAKER_03 28:40

He's better than Grant Hill, right? But that's the last generation always says another that's the last sad injury story. Yeah, you're correct. All right. I guess I see your point. I mean, I know you love a gritty coach. Moving on to the final series that we're gonna spend the most time on. Uh we have one of those, I guess. So the media keeps telling me. So his press conferences keep telling me. Where'd the running go, Mike? Where where why didn't why did we stop running? Why are let me start with this question because I honestly I was like hard to sleep last night thinking about this. Vusevich coming off the bench every time Joel Embiid came off the bench, like that thing. It's like every time he sits down, you sit down, every time he stands up, you stand up. No, not the guy. He can't do anything to Joel Embiid. All you did, I understand Ray's point when he initially was like, you should just let Joel get whatever he's gonna get. That was true up until it wasn't. We needed to start throwing bodies at him around halfway through the fourth the third quarter, and we absolutely like the thing is he was fucking goosed. As usual, he was goosed by midway through the fucking fourth, he was done. It didn't matter who you put on him, all right? And then it was like, all right, the other guys like you let the other guys get involved, whatever. You just gotta stop that burst. You gotta try, which we've done successfully in the past. You gotta send bodies at him, not Vusevich ever, again, ever, for as long as I live. I swear to god, I'd rather have Peyton Pritcher guarding him. I I swear to god, I would. I'm not even being hyperbolic about that. At least he would try, at least he would fucking try. Vucevich guarding him looked like me guarding him. It was fucking diabolical. And Joe just was like, get back up, Joel and B's going back in there. I'm like, Joe, I gotta tell you, man, don't believe your own myth, okay? Please don't believe the own myth that you've created around you. Oh, I I want to punch in the mouth. Joe Mazulov, I'm fucking crazy. Okay, dude, that's fine. Crazy has a tipping point, and you're well past the line letting Vuševich guard fucking Joel Embiid one-on-one. You're out of your goddamn mind. He's a known defensive liability. It's something you live with because he gives you decent consistency on wide open threes, which he's gonna get because there's better players around him. That's fine. I'm fine with that, especially with Derek White shooting and honestly performing overall the way that he is right now, which we'll come on to talk about. You can't let Vucevic guard Joel and beat one-on-one. There were some embarrassing moments. Don't even do it to the guy. I'm not a huge fan, but like, don't do it to him. That's mean. It's on TV. I'm sorry, I said to get my chest.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

No, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I I don't know if if Joe is maybe subscribing to the well, he's gonna get his anyway, and you know, kita's already involved.

SPEAKER_03 31:27

And then there's like getting his uh he's a guy who's known to get tired, and you're making it easy on him. Come on.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

Well, do you want so I I do think we're gonna we're gonna see Vusevich on and beat again tomorrow night.

SPEAKER_03 31:39

I just do gross um for Kita Kita should just be on him the entire night. If you're gonna do what I would, just let it be Kita. At least he could wear him down. I think you don't need anything offensively from Kita. Stop relying on him for offensive rebounds. Stop relying on offensive rebounds.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

You have to you you have to keep him out of foul trouble in the first half because if you do that, then you have the ability to put him on and beat for the second half and and control that burst.

SPEAKER_03 32:03

I do I mean, I know I'm gonna be such a homer right now. I'm gonna like Tommy Heinz in a little bit. I feel like the foul trouble he's been in has been a little bullshit over the last over the course of this series. Would you agree, or do you think I'm being a homer?

SPEAKER_02 32:14

I don't think it's as egregious as well.

SPEAKER_03 32:19

I haven't loved the series.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

I mean, I think I think the referees in this series have done the the opposite of what they usually do, and they're not feeding the hometown team. They're actually uh always logging to the game.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

When when Tatum got hacked five fucking times going to the basket, like badly, egregiously, and they didn't call it at all. And that was basically the entire switch of the game. That was it. It was that was the nine. Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

So yeah, what I'm telling you is that usually I think in the playoffs the referees favor home, the home team. And it's it feels like in this series they're not doing that, they're doing the opposite.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

So you think they get more favorable calls in in in Philly tomorrow?

Referee Swings And Blown Leads

SPEAKER_02 32:56

Yeah, I I also think that there's something you know in it to keep this series going on as long as possible. But listen, the game, the fucking game yesterday on what day Tuesday, the most egregious part about that is we had a 13-point lead late in the third quarter, and we lose that game by what was it, 16 points? So you miss your last 14 shot attempts in the fourth quarter. The problem that I have with this team, and I'm apologize for the rant in advance, is that the majority of team basketball is fundamentally built on you you drive to the hoop to get an open shot, you kick it out also to give an open shot. Like, but you don't rely on the three-point to get you going. And the Celtics, if they're not hitting threes at the beginning, their their twos and their paint shots are fucking rushed. It feels like they that that they're scared that it's not going to go in. I've never seen a team whose confidence rises and falls so much with the three-point shot as this iteration of the Boston Celtics, and that scares the shit out of me.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

I'll tell you what scares the shit out of me. I've seen this play before. I mean, I've seen this whole movie before, and I don't understand how the guys that were still running the team at the time, for the most part, are running this same scheme out there. We put, you'll remember, December 20th, 2021, he dropped 40 fucking 41 points on us. Sorry. We let Enus Freedom guard him one-on-one for an entire game. And he just got absolutely scorched in the mid-range for the entire game. He he was allowed to have a vintage Joel MB game. Allowed to. I have to add this, allowed to coming off. Yes, not an injury, a surgery, which he should have come back from sooner. Soft allegations, never beaten the allegations, soft. We have to uh I remember we had this guy, slight rant, aside rant. We had this guy, Daniel Sturge, on Liverpool. He was like my favorite player. He was so skilled, he was just a great goal scorer, and he would just get injured all the time. And we got this coach who later became like our most legendary coach, arguably, Jurgen Klopp. He came in and like the first thing he did was talk shit about my favorite player. He was like, Daniel Sturge has to learn the difference between real pain and imagined pain, which is basically he's a pussy, and I'm playing a guy worse than him because he's a pussy and I need someone I can rely on, right? And Sturge did go on to get put some performances in under Jurgen Klopp, but and he was unarguably very, very talented. He Joel and me needs to learn the difference between real pain and imagined pain. He needs to he needs to toughen up for a guy his size, he needs to toughen the fuck up. Find a way to dig deep.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

Didn't didn't he have an appendectomy?

SPEAKER_03 35:41

Yeah, an appendectomy. You gotta get back to work sooner than that, buddy. Give me a break. The fact of the matter is, if you let him have an easy, this has been true pre-apendectomy, post-apendectomy, like pre-injury, post-injury, all of them, pre-you know, load management, the entire process, it's been true that if you let him have an easy time, he will kill you. You can, and I'm sorry, the Boston Celtics are the ones who wrote this blueprint. Drew, do you draw blueprints? You draw blue, they drew this blueprint where you draw the mob, throw bodies at him, throw smaller guys on him if you want. Like Marcus Smart would go in there and just just play him. He would just play him so hard. He would be like, You're still gonna have I'm still here, you're gonna have to go this direction. And he would just play, you know what I mean? It's like I of sickening to watch Marcus Smart put in vintage marks, Marcus Smart performances for the Lakers, by the way. Absolutely sickening. You gotta just throw fucking bodies at him. It's like the the thinking is right, I wish Ray was here, I really do, because I wanted to argue with him about this. We're in the group chat, and he's I'm like, you gotta take Vusevich off and beat this is insane. And he's like, have Kita and and and Garza been doing any better? I'm like, it's defending by committee. It's not a new fucking, it's not a new thought. Well, we like, I'm sorry, the first time I really saw it successfully done in the playoffs in my lifetime where it really affected me was we did it to every superstar we played in 08. We defended them by a committee, and the committee was good. It was a good committee. Like we had all our best players, which was like sort of unheard of at the time where it was like, no, dude, that's my guy. I'm locking him down. It's like, no, LeBron James is a physical fucking freak, and we're not losing your offense because you're putting 100% clamps on him for the entire game, Paul. You have to let you have to let us switch and rotate. We play a switchable rotation style defense until now. What like I don't understand. I've been critical of hyper switching, and now we're letting Vucevic guard fucking Joel and beat 101. There's mad scientists, and there's full-blown short bus to school. I can't. This is my problem with Joe Mazzula. He he he fluctuates from holy shit, this just might work. He's you know who he is, Mike? And I know you love comparisons like this. He's the Dan Campbell of the NBA. This is what it feels like. But you love Dan Campbell. Yeah, because he's not my coach.

unknown 38:07

Because he's not my coach.

SPEAKER_03 38:09

Think about it. Tell me that doesn't make sense to you on some level.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

No, yeah, there's no in-between. He's he's either all gas or he's or he's all break. That's it. Yeah.

Live By The Three Problems

SPEAKER_03 38:20

And that's the other thing. I mean, the one thing I think he's gotten out of his system, which I will say is an improvement. I know I've been hard on him in the group chat about in every show. Yes. Yeah. This is what this is. Every time you speak about the stuff, I was like, I still look listen. When we started covering the NBA this year leading up to the playoffs, as we always do, because football takes up a lot of our time over the year. That's just the life of a sports podcast, and it's you know, really easy to talk about. I gotta say, audience at home. It's a great product that they're putting out over there in the NFL. When we started covering the NBA this year, I didn't let up on him. I genuinely didn't. My whole fear was yeah, but like he makes his team try a little bit harder in the regular season, and he kind of creates this myth around himself, and then everybody starts trying in the playoffs, and then we start reverting to this brand of basketball that I honestly hate with every fiber of my being. I was I'm reliving the disgusted feelings I had towards the end of New York, and I'm talking before Tatum got hurt. Before Tatum got hurt, we were put we were playing putrid fucking putrid basketball. And he doesn't make adjustments like I'd like him to make. What I will say is he's the thing he's taken out of his game is that when we have a lead, he doesn't ask them to try and slow the clock down anymore because he realizes that the Tatum and Brown don't have just one gear, they have multiple gears, but I think it starts at three. And I think if you put them in one or two, you're really asking for trouble, right? So they have to be playing at a certain pace for the entire game. And I think he realizes that, thank God, because I I I know you remember the slow the clock down Celtics. It would just, it would, it would, it would implode every single time, and I think that's why I came to that conclusion after a while. It's not yeah, I remember Pierce and KG and Alan were able to slow the clock down because they could just dictate the pace of a game and they saw the game from that perspective, especially KG. Like if you just give it to him in the post, like he's gonna take as much or as little of the clock as he wants, right? Like that was just a given, depending on who was on.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

But also, like in that day and age, like back then, slow the slow the clock down looked a little bit different than just Tatum ISO for 22 out of the 24 seconds.

SPEAKER_03 40:33

Yeah, and honestly, it's like I this is a fear I had too, and I'm not trying to overreact to one game, but I did see this stuff crop back up, and it's annoying to watch. I really enjoyed Tatum's performances when he was coming back from injury because he was forced, his shot wasn't all the way dialed in, so he was forced to you know access different parts of his game, which makes me really like watching him play. When his shot's falling, which it has been for this series, and he was it honestly, it was yesterday. The uh up until it wasn't. This is like I don't understand. Like, you live by the three, you die by the three. Derek, if you miss a wide open corner three, I love you, but do something different the second time you get that ball, and but make a decision. Do you know what I mean? Make a decision. It's not a we don't do redemption shots. I I'm okay with heat checks, I'm not okay with shoot until it starts to go in when when it's a close game or we're blowing up our fucking lead, or you know what I mean? It's like we gotta put these guys away. And there's moments still in that game yesterday where I saw them be able to do that, but it's like they're starting to forget the way that they were dominating towards the end of the regular season and at the start of this series. Like they, it's like they've just forgot. Maybe you could tie me off the ledge by telling me they always lay a fucking egg like this at home, but this is the second time. Why are we so bad at home?

SPEAKER_02 41:46

Yeah, well, they didn't really they didn't do this uh the other they won the championship. So like they they took care of home court.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

Sure, I know, I know the entire way. I mean, I'm I'm sick of pretending that didn't happen.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

So Celtics were are the only team in the world that uh don't shoot to you miss, they shoot to you make. And it's it's wild, right?

SPEAKER_03 42:04

It it really is wild, but but they start making their shots when they adjust. I've seen them do it when they adjust and start. I mean, it's it's your catchphrase, just go to the hoop. You you say it in capital letters once per game. It's when they start actually making plays on the inside when Jalen takes guys one-on-one to the mid-range, post turnaround, you know, off the dribble jump shooter. I'm good with that. I I might be the only person in America.

SPEAKER_02 42:32

Well, I don't I don't need to turn around fade away. He he he is I'm good with it. He's good with he's good with the jumper in the mid-range.

SPEAKER_03 42:39

I want the mid-range to be his, and however that looks, I'm cool. He should be taking, he was taking Paul George to the fucking barnyard every single time in the mid-range, and he was still clamping him up on the on the other end. When Paul George got going, was when all he had to do to guard Jalen Brown was be there on the spot when he was being a spot up jump shooter again, which is not his game. Yeah, it's just not his game, and it's a disservice to him to make him do that. And it's I I just need I need him leading the dance tomorrow. I need him leading the dance. We need to get back to that.

SPEAKER_02 43:09

The offense, it needs to be yeah, it's his offense, it's his team. It needs to run through JB.

SPEAKER_03 43:13

Because he will make the right decision. Here's the thing about Jalen Brown, he'll make the right decision. Sometimes he'll get himself into a position where he only has one decision, which I understand frustrates people. I genuinely do. Sometimes he but has a belief in his own ability that gets him into a little bit of trouble. I have that same belief in his ability, so I'm I'm completely allowing myself to live with that. Tatum being open because Jalen Brown is being a handful, is what should we should be doing. It's what we should always be doing. And I don't want to frame it in the way that every national radio show is framing it, where it's like it's better when he's one and and Tatum's one B or one A. And it's it's like It's not that it's it's I'm talking about a specific way to run specifically the offense, which is you make Jalen Brown the problem and Jason Tatum the outlet. When Jason Tatum tries to be the problem, you live and die on that. And it's sometimes it's crazy. I admit that sometimes it's nuts, but sometimes it drops off really dramatically still because he because he relies so much on his jump shot. JB can be a handful from the jump consistently every game if you run the offense like that. So that's the issue that I have, you know, like that's that's the problem that I have watching them play like this the last two games. And I want them to, I think Joe could frame it like that to those guys too. And it and you know, not just be a little nicer on the Tatum side, maybe, but but frame it where he says, like, this is the basketball that was working for us, this is what we sort of reverted to. I think that he's okay with it, though. That's the thing that bugs me, you know.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

And I've he doesn't think it's a problem. He's he's like, I've seen this team win doing this exact same thing. We won a championship, so I'm not gonna change. What what I love about there was one stat that I that I loved in this loss. Jalen Brown took 27 shots. Do you want to know how many of those were from three? Without cheating? Four. Oh, wait, what game are you talking about? This last game, Jalen Brown only took four threes. He realized that it wasn't his game. He went nine of twenty-three from the field, and he realized that that three wasn't his. Jason Tatum took 31 shots. 12 of them are three. He just kept going, kept going, kept going, kept going. And I think that is indicative of the problem that I have with this team. And I really noticed it in this last game, but but it's always been there. And I know it's a different NBA, but most teams try to get off, like start the game off with seeing the ball go in. So they take easier shots in the mid-range, jumpers, or other drives of the hoop. The Celtics love taking that the first four shots are threes. And if they go in, like they're on the fucking, like you're not gonna catch them because that their confidence is high. The problem is if only one of those four go in, then like I said to you before, they're the only team that I've ever seen that when when they're not making their threes, their twos feel rushed. And it feels like it's a harder shot for them to make than a normal three-point shot. And I don't I don't know how to break that mentality. I really don't.

Who Should Run The Offense

SPEAKER_03 46:32

I I just think you get it's it's on tape. Like you get back to playing the kind of basketball we were playing. I mean, to me, what it does too is it's like like for example, what what if I frame it like this? If you were to rank the top five guys you want to see bringing the ball down the court in order, what what would your rankings be? Because I bet they're very similar to mine. And why is Tatum fourth? You know what I mean? Like that's like he's fourth on both of our lists behind whatever order you want to put Derek White, Jalen Brown, and Peyton Pritchard, right? So to me, honestly, I'll be honest with you, I kind of like Pritchard as like a pure point guard. I think we should run that a little bit more, like with him just I think we should start.

SPEAKER_02 47:14

I think we should start him over Derek White. Have Derek White come off the bench.

SPEAKER_03 47:17

I agree. I I don't know, I don't know what kind of a player Derek White is, like how he's supposed to be coached, you know, like Joe Mazzo is gonna have more insight into that than I am. If he thinks that would absolutely break Derek White's brain and make him like it's he we're never gonna get him back, then don't do that. But if he can frame it to Derek White as a reset and just, you know, I'm just gonna take a few minutes off of you so you can just sort of get back to doing what you're doing. I'm just gonna ask a little bit less of you so you we can just start building back up. We know we're gonna hit those heights again. It's just a reset, you know, and I think that is what he needs. I really think that Peyton Pritchard is good enough and has played well enough to be trusted to make up that Derek White offense. I genuinely do. I still on defense sometimes find him to be a liability, but he's still fast, he gets about, he's gotten better at fighting around screens for his size. Derek White cannot has not met a screen in this in these playoffs, and I love him, don't get me wrong, but he has not met a screen in these playoffs that he doesn't want to get trapped by. So that's been an issue, right? And that's true of the games we won too, by the way. That's that's the sort of sort of upsetting part about it. I still think he can be make a big play. I still think he can win us a game in a playoff series, even coming off the bench. And you know, you negotiate that however you see fit, Joe. Like you're the coach, but I agree with you. I would love to see, or even just just pull the minutes back a little bit and give them to Pritchard because that's a little harder to notice, and you you're managing the game of runs, right? When Pritchard brings the ball down the court, and I do want to sit single him out, to be honest with you, because I thought he was like the only guy that looked any good yesterday, despite not shooting well from three either. I think he went one for five from three, but he still was the only Celtics player that was that had a plus net rating. It is plus-minus. So that's something. 12 points, six assists. He was a plus eight. If he makes the threes he normally makes, like he's he's getting 20 points, right? So you're you're extremely happy with him at that point. I do think that White, I agree with that. This is gonna be the take I was gonna go with is that is that White probably needs to drop drop underneath Pritchard in the packing order at this point. Because those two corner missed corner threes were were were crazy. They both looked so much.

SPEAKER_02 49:35

That first one was the first one was such a gut wrencher, too, because that would have tied the game. It would have been 97, 97, and like that would have changed the momentum. But like to your point, uh a lot of a lot of the times I I think you you probably noticed this too, they're down by seven or they're down by eight, they bring it back to within two, and then they just start jacking up threes. And the entire way that they came back from being down by seven or eight, they were driving to the fucking paint, driving to the hoop. And then once they get within, oh, we could take the lead again, I'm just gonna start jacking up threes. They they set themselves on a course where they again, I have to reiterate, they missed their last 14 fucking shot attempts to have.

Pritchard Case And White Reset

SPEAKER_03 50:13

Nine points in the fourth is diabolical. Diabolical. They had 11. Oh, I thought we had we only had nine. Maybe I maybe I turned it off and we only had nine. Yeah, look, I mean, you that's obviously unacceptable. That all that being said, I would not be surprised. I'm I'm right now I'm frustrated and I need the offense to make a change going into the next game.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

They're gonna blow, they're gonna blow the fucking Sixers out tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 50:36

I would not be surprised if they blew the Sixers out tomorrow and Derek White had like a great game. Like if Missoula just stuck with them and he just had an unbelievable fucking game. Like he was just hitting his wide open threes and he was like doing well in the mid-range and he had a few assists. Like the typical Derek White playoff game is what is it would would not shock me. I have all the faith in the world for him to turn it around. Me too. Which is so scary. I know, I know. But yeah, like that being said, all of that being said, I will land the plane on the fact that yes, I do think that we're gonna win this series in six games. If we don't win this series in six games, the next logical conclusion I'm gonna come to is that we're gonna win this series in seven games. I still think that. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. No, we're not losing this series to Philadelphia. No, that's not happening. On our worst day, on our worst day, like they that's what they need to catch us on. Like they have to, we have to be so fucking pissed at the Celtics' performance and the decisions that they make and the matchups that they choose and the shots that don't go in, and and the defense that doesn't get played, and the Sixers players that are allowed to get hot. We have to be up and down, top to bottom, mad, playing the greatest hits. I'm playing the greatest hits of reasons to be pissed off at this era of the Boston Celtics right now. I'm just letting the greatest hits album roll, disc one, take it out, disc two, roll it all the way through. So that's how bad we need to be for them to beat us. And honestly, you see their confidence building like we hand it to them. You know, like they don't come into the game, in my opinion. Like we even let we even let the what's their rookie's name that's been playing. Grimes? What was it, Quentin Grimes? No, the guy that's actually good. What the hell is his name? Why am I blanking on his fucking name? Hold on.

SPEAKER_02 52:24

Edgecombe? Yeah. VJ Edgecombe. I mean, just to be clear, Grimes had like 18 points last year.

SPEAKER_03 52:31

No, sure, sure, sure. I just mean Edgecombe's gonna be a really good guard in the NBA, I think. I I think I saw him in game one get more and more confident, you know, even though we fucked them up. I I saw him sort of settle into the game a little bit. It's just like, don't let that happen, guys. Don't let these guys get hot. I also think there's a little bit, and I don't hate this mentality in any sports team of mine generally, but I think there's a little bit. Missoula's attitude is he's like, we play our game, we don't worry about what they're doing. And I don't mind that as an attitude until it's not smart to be doing that anymore. Stop putting Vucevic out and beat. It's that's fucking crazy work. I know it's like we're just gonna play our game and our shots will fall and we'll win. That's a really good job, Missoula, by the way. But just don't do silly things. You know what I mean? Like just don't make silly decisions, don't die on your like, you don't need to fall on your own sword, dude. I don't care about your overall philosophy. I care about winning basketball games. You're you're a basketball coach. Be fluid, be adjustable. You know, who are the best coaches of our lifetime? Greg Popovich, right? He would be like, oh shit, this isn't working. That like he would he he loved an oh shit, this isn't working defensive scheme adjustment. Fucking spolstra. He'd go, like, I got this grand plan. It's gonna fucking work like a charm. We're gonna play this like zone defense. It's gonna like, and then it would work a lot of the time because he's this really brilliant tactician. And then sometimes it would not work, and he'd be like, oh shit, that didn't work. All right, and he would adjust, you know, like it's just it's just upsetting to me when we keep stepping on the same rake over and over again. And it's a it's a it's a rake that's been in the art since 2020, which is upsetting to me, you know, and it's there's stuff that they've gotten better at. I will I'll and I just Joe's improved as a coach, I think. And I do think he deserves a lot of credit for them playing the way that they played when Tatum was out. And you can have it, it's playoffs now, and this is the second fucking year in a row that you've let them start playing this random basketball when they're when things aren't just always swinging their way.

SPEAKER_02 54:35

I just don't understand why he doesn't say let's play the exact same way that uh we played when Tatum was out just with Tatum.

Plan B Demands And Final Predictions

SPEAKER_03 54:40

I agree. It's kind of as simple as that. I mean, I right it's hard, it's hard to say anything more definitive than that, to be honest with you, because at the end of the day, that's what I want, that's what you want, that's what we were all hoping for coming into this playoffs, and that's what they were doing for the first part of Tatum's recovery and and coming back into the team. And now they're not anymore. And it's annoying. Yeah, whatever. I hope we just blow them out tomorrow. I really, you know, from your lips to God's news, I I really hope that we go fuck them up tomorrow, genuinely. Uh, and I'm just I'll come on here and be like, okay, great, you know, okay, great. But if we do that, at five of the nine things that we've pointed out at least happened, right? Like, if if we do if we do those nine things over again, and I think number one on the list personally for me is let Joel and B get guarded one-on-one by the same guy in general, and definitely not fucking Vucevic. If that's the case, we're fucked. We're we're going to a game seven.

SPEAKER_02 55:36

Like, we we need we need to adjust some of this stuff, right? Before you wrap this up, let me just ask you a question. What if they blow them out, but they do all the things that we're we're asking them not to do? So they just happen to just shoot better. They didn't they didn't know.

SPEAKER_03 55:50

I think that's gonna change my opinion, to be honest with you, because it's to me, I'm like, yeah, well, we know we can win a game like that. We're fucking front runners, they didn't show us any adversity, you know, like they didn't they didn't get in our face at all, they didn't punch us in the mouth at all, they didn't like keep playing when we took the the acceleration off at all. Like, so you know, we don't really know the ingredients because we know that they can blow a team out by just like they're all their threes dropping. I need to know that we can beat a team if we're not shooting well from three, and I have yet to see that really happen in the playoffs. Also, when we're not shooting well from three, stop. Like, please stop.

SPEAKER_02 56:26

Oh no, no, they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna keep doing it. I mean, they took 50 at the one 11 to 11 to 39. So, you know, it was almost there, almost 30 percent.

SPEAKER_03 56:35

The quick sand that we really get ourselves into in this playstyle, too. And I I really do think that like Joe, he's getting like too much positive feedback from how it starts to go because what he does do when he makes adjustments is he gets them into better positions, better he gets better looks from three. He he can accomplish that. That did happen in that game. He was like, okay, I'm gonna scheme it like this, and these are the shots we're gonna get now. The problem is we're already ice fucking cold, right? Ice fucking cold. And you it's so hard to ask a guy who's not Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown, maybe to shoot themselves back into a game. It's really fucking hard to do. I there's been a few guys that can do that, or I a handful of guys that can miss from three all game and then hit a dagger. It's like really fucking hard, dude. And you're also the way your system's designed is everybody's got the fucking green light from three. So if your seventh best player is wide open, he's got the green light to shoot. And like, yeah, you have a lot of good three-point shooters on this team. You have guys that can honestly can do that and not much else, which I don't love. But at the end of the day, I don't I don't. Um, the at the end of the day, that system has to be. I want him, I want a game plan that is called plan B.

SPEAKER_02 57:52

I'm with you. Yeah, I will do I I just want to give him his flowers though. Two two years ago, Joe couldn't scheme them to have better looks.

SPEAKER_03 58:02

No, he's better now than he than he was before. He's better than last year. He's got things out of his game that he had last year.

SPEAKER_02 58:07

And he knows when to call a timeout now.

Wrap Up And Sign Off

SPEAKER_03 58:09

Agreed. He's he calls that one timeout. It's the one I called out. It's exactly where I want it to get called, which is they're I know that they're gonna hit us for another basket. You should know that they're gonna hit us for another basket. I don't know whether or not we're gonna score. So if we let if we don't score and they get the ball back, that's our opportunity gone to stop, right? And they're gonna score again because I'm watching what's happening out there. We might score, but they're gonna score. So that's when you call the timeout. He always used to let us run that one more play that we would either fuck up or not, but then they would like score emphatically right back after. And it was just like, okay, so I know it, me knowing that and you not knowing that, that's a huge fucking problem because I make television commercials and you coach basketball. So, like, let's please, for the love of God, anyway, save 15% on your car insurance by switching to Geico. Love that, not a not a sponsor. All right, well, thanks, Mike. I appreciate your time. I will edit this show and release it. And I I hope that you've exercised some demons. I know I had a lot to get off my chest. Apologize for all the ranting. And Raven, I really wanted Ray here as well, so I could actually argue with him because we were not agreeing. And we're always at our worst, me and him, when the Celtics are playing bad, because we disagree on why that is a lot of the time. So I would have liked to have that's always very cathartic to me, but I do appreciate all your agreements. I'm glad somebody's seeing a lot of the same stuff I am, and I do appreciate your observations. I guess I'll talk to you in the group chat tomorrow when we tip off, huh? Uh for my talk. DK Sizzle for uh the sole other member of this podcast at this point, uh Mike Marcangelo. I am saying good night, good evening, good morning, good luck. Go stealthy.