LIVE Garden Report: Celtics vs Raptors Postgame Show

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Join the Garden Report crew as they break down all the action from the Celtics game against the Raptors. Don’t miss instant analysis, live player reactions, and more!  CLNS Media is Powered by:  💰 Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS Download the app today and use Code CLNS when you sign up & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!  🎫 Gametime - https://gametime.co Take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.

Transcript

00:00:00♪♪

00:00:04Hardhat's all about showing up to play hard,

00:00:06doing what it takes to win.

00:00:07If you want to cement legacy, win another.

00:00:09He's your third center.

00:00:11You don't want to prop him up too much,

00:00:13but it's hard not to.

00:00:14This is maybe the most I've ever agreed with you.

00:00:16♪♪

00:00:22Cut the music.

00:00:24Cut the music on it.

00:00:26He did, Jimmy. He did.

00:00:28We don't play that.

00:00:30We don't play the intro out.

00:00:31We don't play it out after a loss,

00:00:34after a game, after,

00:00:35I'm not even going to call it a performance.

00:00:40A very tough loss here for the Boston Celtics

00:00:44over the border up in Toronto.

00:00:46Bobby's second home.

00:00:48To the now 10-31 Toronto Raptors,

00:00:50the Celtics fall 110-97 once again.

00:00:56Can't crack 100 points in this game.

00:00:58Lose to a team that,

00:01:01single-digit win team up until tonight, guys.

00:01:03I don't even know where to start with this one.

00:01:05If this was just, you know, a blip in the season,

00:01:10we'd be kind of just passing over it.

00:01:13We'd go on with our days.

00:01:14Let's start here, Jimmy.

00:01:15This is the norm right now.

00:01:18This is more of the same.

00:01:20The new norm.

00:01:21Here we are, the new norm.

00:01:23What do you got, Bobby?

00:01:23You can start us off.

00:01:26Minutes into this game.

00:01:27Noah's itching to say something, but Bobby.

00:01:29I just had a question for the group, but go ahead.

00:01:31Okay, you can ask it.

00:01:32Minutes into this game.

00:01:33I mean, let's just go right to the beginning.

00:01:3615-5, you're down minutes into this game.

00:01:41The starting lineup, you roll it back out there.

00:01:43Noah and I kicked around a starting lineup change.

00:01:45I get why they didn't do it.

00:01:47I'm listening to the radio pregame.

00:01:48Joe's talking about, you know,

00:01:50other teams shooting and what they're expected to be,

00:01:52and they're shooting and what's expected to be.

00:01:56And then they come out, go down 15-5

00:02:00with that starting lineup.

00:02:01And from that point on, it's dribbling off legs,

00:02:04out of bounds, passing to nobody.

00:02:07And just about the worst defensive performance

00:02:12I've seen from them since 2023.

00:02:15Like this was awful.

00:02:17So bad that we're running a poll.

00:02:19We're running a poll asking everybody

00:02:21if it's the worst loss of, what is it?

00:02:23Of the year, of, yeah, of the season.

00:02:26The fact that there's competition for that,

00:02:27the fact that there's no clear definitive,

00:02:29this was the low point, says a lot about how this team,

00:02:34even though the faces look the same,

00:02:37is very different than a team we saw a year ago.

00:02:40So here's the most concerning part.

00:02:42You go down 10 early.

00:02:44You're not shooting great for parts of this game,

00:02:46especially in the second half.

00:02:49You're not super energetic

00:02:53throughout much of this game.

00:02:55And you're still right there.

00:02:57It's like eight to 10 points throughout.

00:02:58You're within five, six points for a lot of it.

00:03:02And as the game went on, the energy got worse,

00:03:05the effort got worse.

00:03:07And by the end of the game, you just completely faded.

00:03:11And the bench comes in and Tatum didn't take a shot

00:03:14in the fourth quarter.

00:03:15And it's like, what's going on here?

00:03:19So it's panic time.

00:03:22I mean-

00:03:22There it is.

00:03:24Okay, come on, Bobby.

00:03:26Hold on.

00:03:27Something's wrong here.

00:03:28It's officially panic time for Bobby.

00:03:31It's one thing to miss shots.

00:03:33It's one thing to not be super energetic

00:03:37and filled with effort on the defensive end

00:03:39on January 15th in Toronto.

00:03:42But to never mount much of a pushback

00:03:45and then just to walk off the floor

00:03:47and shrug off another brutal loss.

00:03:50Now, I'm sitting there, Noah, on Sunday

00:03:55and we're hearing Joe talk about-

00:03:56Hold on one sec, Bobby.

00:03:57Hold on one second.

00:03:58♪♪♪

00:04:06Okay, thank you.

00:04:06Now you can go.

00:04:07So I'm sitting there, Noah, on Sunday

00:04:09and I'm listening to Joe talk about mistakes with effort,

00:04:12which was his big spin after that game.

00:04:15And I'm willing to accept it, right?

00:04:17It was cartoonish how ridiculous

00:04:20the mistakes were in that game.

00:04:21They're missing layups.

00:04:22They're just doing these crazy things.

00:04:24The five second violation.

00:04:25It's like, all right, you win that game.

00:04:28I'll write it off.

00:04:29Even though the CJ McCollum shot almost went down

00:04:31and we're almost talking about

00:04:33an even bigger disaster right now.

00:04:37I'm willing to sit there and believe that.

00:04:39Why?

00:04:40Because I'm always willing to sit there

00:04:41and believe these guys.

00:04:43You know, they're taking the right shots.

00:04:45Sucker.

00:04:45They're doing the right things.

00:04:47The right intentions are there.

00:04:50And then you come out and do this.

00:04:52After two days off,

00:04:55Al said they practiced on Monday.

00:04:56We weren't there.

00:04:59I don't know what they did over the last few days.

00:05:01I think that's the big scandal, mommy,

00:05:05that they practiced and we weren't invited.

00:05:07Yeah, what's up with that?

00:05:08I don't know what's going on.

00:05:10Team only practice.

00:05:10I really don't.

00:05:12Players only practice.

00:05:14Unbelievable.

00:05:15It was shocking to watch tonight.

00:05:17I'm sorry.

00:05:19And listen, credit to the Raptors.

00:05:21They played hard.

00:05:22We always get to do that, right?

00:05:24But you were one of the great teams of all time last year.

00:05:27You come into this year and it's all repeat.

00:05:29You know, we're doing it back to back.

00:05:32And this is what you're doing in January?

00:05:35Like, it can get better.

00:05:36I'm not saying they can't win the championship this year,

00:05:38but this is not how you set up that run.

00:05:42Noah had a question off the top.

00:05:43She did.

00:05:45My question.

00:05:46I realized that I normally re-watch the games

00:05:48when I get home, but without volume.

00:05:52You don't have the stomach to do it now, right?

00:05:53You don't have the stomach to do it now.

00:05:54No, I'm home right now, so I didn't need to re-watch it.

00:05:57Normally, like, when I go, you know, we're at the garden,

00:05:59we're on the road, whatever.

00:06:01To me, like, this was completely different

00:06:04than any other loss that we've seen.

00:06:06And I don't know if it's because watching it unravel

00:06:08for the first time on my couch just hits different

00:06:10than being there in person,

00:06:12or if this was, like, another level of just,

00:06:16I don't even know the word.

00:06:17This is called HD.

00:06:18Like, was this another level for you guys?

00:06:19Or did this feel like-

00:06:20You get to see it in HD.

00:06:21That's, you get the up-close and personal.

00:06:22Yeah, and I'm at my parents' house,

00:06:23and they have, like, a really-

00:06:24The difference is, Noah, they never pushed back.

00:06:26They never mounted a comeback, resistance.

00:06:30Yeah, I don't even-

00:06:30Nothing ever swung the other way.

00:06:31I'm not even talking about that.

00:06:32I'm talking about, like, just how rattled they look.

00:06:36Like, I'm not talking about schemes

00:06:38or individual performances or effort.

00:06:41Like, they just look rattled.

00:06:42Like, I'm a former basketball player

00:06:44on a really bad high school team

00:06:46that was consistently playing against really good teams

00:06:48that were destroying us.

00:06:49I saw a lot of myself in their faces.

00:06:52And I was like, that's, like,

00:06:53I never want to relate to these guys

00:06:54because they should never feel like the way I felt

00:06:57when I was using the brain.

00:06:58That's a scary thing, Sherrod.

00:06:59And John brought it up a week or two ago.

00:07:03Is this effort and focus,

00:07:06or are they just not as good this year?

00:07:08They look like a bunch of strangers out there.

00:07:12Like, if you didn't know about it,

00:07:13you'd think that they completely brought in

00:07:17a new cast of characters this year

00:07:19who had not played with each other,

00:07:20and they're trying to figure out

00:07:21how to play with one another.

00:07:23This looked, they had levels of disjointedness

00:07:26throughout the season,

00:07:27but this, tonight, was on a different level.

00:07:29They looked as if they were not together.

00:07:33They looked like they lacked focus as a group.

00:07:36And the result was that even when they were close,

00:07:40you never, this was one of the few games where

00:07:42they never made anyone watching this game

00:07:45feel as though they were going to win.

00:07:46At no point did you feel that they were going to

00:07:49just turn the tide and swing the game in their favor,

00:07:52because no one was making multi-effort plays.

00:07:55No one was doing the little things

00:07:58that we've seen from the Celtics in the past

00:08:00that have been able to basically be kind of the starter,

00:08:04that moment, there was no Jalen Brown,

00:08:06big dunk or block or steal or Tatum,

00:08:09just dagger type three.

00:08:11They were basically running into mud the entire game.

00:08:14And Toronto, with no disrespect to Toronto,

00:08:17but they didn't play a great game.

00:08:18They played a decent game.

00:08:20They played a pretty good game,

00:08:21but it wasn't as if they did anything exceptionally well

00:08:25in this game to win.

00:08:26And that's the scary part to me.

00:08:29Yeah, but they put up 110

00:08:32on a Celtics team that was not playing a lick of defense.

00:08:36That's not saying anything.

00:08:37That's what you do when you're a 10, 15 win team.

00:08:39You put up 110 points on a team that doesn't play defense.

00:08:42So they lost what?

00:08:4414 or 16 coming into this one or something like that?

00:08:46Yeah, yeah.

00:08:47And I think they lost like 10 or so in a row

00:08:49against the Celtics.

00:08:50I mean, it was a ridiculous run.

00:08:52But the bottom line is this,

00:08:55there is a level of play that we know-

00:08:5828th ranked in defensive rating, Toronto Raptors.

00:09:01Under 19.4.

00:09:03So in other words, they, yeah.

00:09:05They're, this is not a very good team, obviously.

00:09:08The record indicates that,

00:09:09and you can go down the data indicates the same thing.

00:09:11But the thing that's jumping out to me about this team,

00:09:15the Celtics team is that

00:09:16they don't seem to have any sense of urgency.

00:09:20And I get it, it's January

00:09:21and you're not supposed to be going all out,

00:09:22but what they're doing,

00:09:23this isn't even like average effort,

00:09:26average sense of urgency.

00:09:27They're not playing with any type of passion

00:09:31or energy or focus or the kind of things

00:09:33that we have come to expect from this team

00:09:36because of the players that they have.

00:09:38I'm curious, and we may get into it later,

00:09:40but if there were to make a change with that first group,

00:09:43who would you, what would you switch out?

00:09:45And we can get back to that later.

00:09:47Cause I don't know what, you know,

00:09:50Mr. Toscano has on his playlist for us, but-

00:09:53I'm playing the hits tonight, baby.

00:09:55We're going to go down and we're going to try to get into it.

00:09:57I think the Celtics may have even started

00:09:59to break Noah a little bit.

00:10:01Oh, no, no, Jimmy, no.

00:10:04Say it ain't so, Jimmy, say it ain't so.

00:10:06I think for the first time-

00:10:07What does that mean?

00:10:08I think they're starting to break you.

00:10:09Like, I just think that you can't,

00:10:12you're on the far left of the panic meter for a reason,

00:10:15but I think-

00:10:16There's a reason why she has the green goggles on.

00:10:19Exactly, but I think even you have to admit, Noah,

00:10:22that what we've seen since December,

00:10:24they're 12 and nine since December 1st.

00:10:27This is a team that's playing slightly above 500 basketball

00:10:29and they're eking out wins in some of these wins.

00:10:33I mean, they're very close to losing that Kings game,

00:10:36which is what, not the Kings game, they lost the Kings.

00:10:39They lost to the Kings.

00:10:40They just barely beat the Pelicans,

00:10:43a team that had eight wins on the year.

00:10:45And then they lose to a nine win Toronto Raptors team.

00:10:49So even just for now, a net negative in January.

00:10:54And then they've got five of the next seven games,

00:10:57five games in seven days,

00:10:58which is a brutal stretch to about to hit.

00:11:01Yeah, against some good quality teams,

00:11:03the Magic on Friday.

00:11:03You're playing a good Magic team at your worst right now.

00:11:06I mean, the Celtics will most likely be favored in that game

00:11:10because they're home and they're the Celtics,

00:11:12but I am not gonna be a betting man on the Celtics

00:11:15Friday night against a Magic team

00:11:16that has had success against them.

00:11:19Then they play the Hawks,

00:11:20a team that can beat you on any given night.

00:11:21Then they go on the road.

00:11:23They go out West for a long,

00:11:24you know, a four game road trip out West,

00:11:26Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Mavericks.

00:11:28So all tough teams.

00:11:31And again, maybe the road will help them out.

00:11:33We thought it would, you know, a week or so ago.

00:11:35And, you know, we're dealing with, you know,

00:11:38a similar show that we've had recently

00:11:41after some disappointing losses.

00:11:42So when I say they broke you, Noah,

00:11:44what I mean by that is I think that, you know,

00:11:49you're starting to see some issues with this team,

00:11:53not just one-offs,

00:11:54but some things that are cause for concern,

00:11:56whether it's, I'm not saying if it's X's and O's,

00:11:58but at least maybe in the way that they're showing

00:12:00some of the effort out there

00:12:01and the way that they're not playing defense.

00:12:03And Bobby's been hammering this one for a while.

00:12:06Lack of defense.

00:12:07It's starting to show because they can't save themselves

00:12:10on the offensive end right now.

00:12:11Those threes are not falling at the rate that they were

00:12:13earlier in the year.

00:12:14They could get away with maybe taking a,

00:12:16taking the foot off the gas on the defensive end.

00:12:19Right now it's the worst of both worlds.

00:12:22The shots aren't falling.

00:12:23And then on the defensive end,

00:12:25guys are scoring any way they want.

00:12:27I mean, Jacob Ertl tonight was unbelievable.

00:12:32Yeah, Jacob Ertl was unbelievable tonight.

00:12:34Jacob, damn it.

00:12:36If you don't have to say that guy's name,

00:12:38I come up with something different.

00:12:40He was unbelievable tonight.

00:12:41Yeah, I don't think, did he miss?

00:12:42I don't think he missed from the field.

00:12:43He was eight for eight at one point.

00:12:46And they're not getting stopped.

00:12:49So they're not getting out in transition

00:12:50and they're not getting out in transition.

00:12:51They're not getting easy baskets.

00:12:52And then they're forcing threes

00:12:53and then you should go 33% from three tonight

00:12:56or whatever it was, 35.

00:12:58And this is your recipe.

00:13:02So I'll throw it to you, Noah.

00:13:02What's, is there an easy fix here

00:13:06or is it just getting back to basics?

00:13:07Is there something that stands out to you

00:13:09that they're not doing lately

00:13:11that they were doing to start the year?

00:13:13I think they need therapy.

00:13:15They need therapy.

00:13:16Don't we all though?

00:13:17I mean, no, for real though, I actually,

00:13:20I guess the place where I probably won't

00:13:22change my previous tune is that

00:13:25I actually really don't think they weren't trying.

00:13:27I think they like just have no confidence right now.

00:13:30On defense?

00:13:31Like, I just, here's my qualm with this effort thing.

00:13:35And then we'll move on from it

00:13:36because I'm not gonna define this team after this game

00:13:39but I just wanna make my point clear.

00:13:41It's just, there's no reason to think

00:13:43that with all the pressure that they feel right now

00:13:46and all the discourse around Jalen's bad year

00:13:49and the team not playing well and everything around it

00:13:52that they were gonna come out today and not try.

00:13:55I think you're seeing them,

00:13:57like they're literally walking in mud, right?

00:13:59Like they can't make a shot.

00:14:01They can't make a read.

00:14:02They can't make a pass.

00:14:04Like a couple of times I was like,

00:14:05it looks like you literally put 10 guys

00:14:07on the court that have never played together before

00:14:08who have no idea where anybody's gonna be.

00:14:11And so I guess it just doesn't,

00:14:13that just doesn't resonate with me to be like,

00:14:15oh, they just, they came out and they just didn't want it

00:14:17or like they weren't trying.

00:14:18That's fine if that's how you guys look.

00:14:20Ground doesn't care all that,

00:14:21but that's fine if that's how people

00:14:22or other people are seeing the game

00:14:23and like we can just see it differently and that's okay.

00:14:26But to me, it looked like a bunch of guys

00:14:28that just looked totally in their heads

00:14:31and like Derek White missed a layup early in the game

00:14:33and sat there and was like holding his head

00:14:36and you're not gonna make a three after that.

00:14:38And he was way off the rest of the night

00:14:39but it's like, they're all so in their head.

00:14:41It doesn't look like they trust each other anymore

00:14:43and their trust and their selflessness

00:14:44was like what the key was to this team.

00:14:46They never had like the best player on the floor

00:14:49who was so unstoppable that nobody could game plan for.

00:14:51It was like everybody who just knew

00:14:52where everybody was gonna be.

00:14:53They made the right pass.

00:14:55They found the open man.

00:14:55And like, there was just this machine

00:14:57that was perfectly in tune.

00:14:58And this machine now is perfectly broken now.

00:15:01And I don't, that's the way I see it.

00:15:03So I said it a while ago, I think the machine is broken.

00:15:06I think it's more broken than I thought.

00:15:08It's very broken.

00:15:10I have no idea how they fixed it, but.

00:15:13There's a play.

00:15:14Fix it Noah.

00:15:15Everyone's here to, so you can fix it for us.

00:15:18I'm just kidding, Bobby.

00:15:19There was a play, Jimmy, second quarter.

00:15:21Jalen missed the layup in transit.

00:15:22And this was, we're gonna have to spend a while

00:15:26on Jalen after this game.

00:15:27Cause I don't know what was going on there

00:15:29but he missed the layup in transition, ran back.

00:15:32He's trying to play up tough on Boucher and get a steal

00:15:35or, you know, make something happen defensively.

00:15:37And he overruns him.

00:15:39Boucher does a bit of a give and go there

00:15:41and they shoot a three and he just sort of shoves Boucher

00:15:43and gives the Raptors another possession

00:15:47after they missed a three there.

00:15:49And I'm just, I posted it.

00:15:50I'm like, what was that?

00:15:53And Noah's point, they don't look

00:15:59like themselves stylistically right now.

00:16:01Like everyone's tweeting me saying,

00:16:02oh, they're just jacking threes.

00:16:04I'm seeing them force a lot of bad twos in this game.

00:16:07Some very difficult mid range shots.

00:16:09Derek did it, Jalen did it.

00:16:12The shots didn't fall early for them.

00:16:14And they, you know, I like that they went to the post early

00:16:16but then they're trying to do some stuff in between

00:16:19and they're forcing tough shots and they're turning it over.

00:16:22And they just look completely outside of their system

00:16:25to Noah's point there.

00:16:26So I do think that's part of it.

00:16:28But, you know, and I'll put a lot on the players

00:16:31but I'm gonna put a lot on Joe too,

00:16:33who has pushed and pushed and pushed throughout this season

00:16:37that it's the offense.

00:16:38You know, when we turn it over,

00:16:39when we don't offensive rebound,

00:16:40when we don't create the right shots,

00:16:41that's gonna hurt our defense.

00:16:43I haven't heard him talk about defensive,

00:16:46or often at least, about defensive emphases,

00:16:49ways that they're tightening up on defense.

00:16:51I know they're trying to force more turnovers

00:16:53and that's a priority this year.

00:16:54But when things have gone wrong,

00:16:57not only is he not stressed defense

00:17:00and, you know, we can defend when shots aren't falling,

00:17:02we can defend when things aren't going right offensively.

00:17:05He tried to make it sound like the defense was all right

00:17:08early this season because of where they ranked.

00:17:10And that's why I keep comparing this year to 2023.

00:17:13If you watched the game early this year,

00:17:16you knew that they weren't protecting the rim.

00:17:18You knew that they weren't consistently playing good defense.

00:17:21You knew that they weren't covering certain guys

00:17:24and just letting them shoot and heat up.

00:17:26Went back and watched that Pelicans game.

00:17:27First play of the game, Tatum just leaves Murray,

00:17:30lets him shoot a wide open practice three.

00:17:32And from that point on,

00:17:32he's blazing hot for the rest of the season.

00:17:34Blazing hot for the rest of the night.

00:17:37So this is coaching right now.

00:17:38It's effort.

00:17:39It's, you know, the players always come first, right?

00:17:41But they have not set themselves up as a coaching staff

00:17:45to be able to rely on their defense

00:17:47when the offense isn't there.

00:17:49I think they focus way too much on offense.

00:17:51I think they focus way too much on shooting.

00:17:54And every single night for like two, three weeks, Sherrod,

00:17:57we've heard them say,

00:17:57oh, shooting's not where it needs to be.

00:17:59Other teams are shooting lights out.

00:18:02At a certain point you have to adjust

00:18:04and they haven't done it.

00:18:06But the problem, Bobby,

00:18:08is that when they talk about the shooting not being,

00:18:11you know, where it needs to be

00:18:12and that's why they're not being more successful,

00:18:16that's how they won a title.

00:18:17They were an above average shooting team last season.

00:18:20It's a different year, Sherrod.

00:18:21They're not the same team.

00:18:22Well, Bob, but that's the part,

00:18:23but see, Bobby, that's the part that they're not embracing.

00:18:26Their lip service is saying

00:18:28that this is a different year, different team,

00:18:30but their play is not.

00:18:32They haven't embraced the fact that they are a team

00:18:35that frankly should be focusing more on defense,

00:18:37but they won a championship last season

00:18:39because they were able to shoot

00:18:41at a ridiculously high level

00:18:43and their offense oftentimes

00:18:45dictated their play defensively.

00:18:47So keeping that theory in mind,

00:18:50if their offense isn't great,

00:18:52their defense is probably not gonna be great.

00:18:54They have always been a team,

00:18:56and Bobby, you've been around this team long enough to know,

00:18:57they far too often allow their ability to make shots

00:19:01affect how they play defensively.

00:19:02When they're making shots-

00:19:03And they've admitted that.

00:19:04Yeah, and that's who they are.

00:19:06And right now, this is the thing

00:19:08that I think a lot of people

00:19:09are not kind of gravitating towards understanding.

00:19:13The Celtics right now have become

00:19:15an average team shooting the three ball.

00:19:18And when you're an average team

00:19:19that shoots as much as they do,

00:19:20you're scoring to win a lot of games,

00:19:22but you're not gonna be a great team.

00:19:24You're going to consistently fall short of being great

00:19:27because you are not doing what,

00:19:30when you've been great, you did,

00:19:31and that is knock down a lot of shots.

00:19:33Look at Cleveland.

00:19:34The reason why Cleveland has the best record

00:19:35isn't because they've got this great defensive unit.

00:19:38It's because they're, as a team,

00:19:39shooting over 40% for three-point range.

00:19:42When you're shooting the three that good,

00:19:44it does have a positive impact

00:19:45on what you do on the defensive end of the court.

00:19:47And so, while I don't like the idea

00:19:50that this is a team that has to shoot the ball well

00:19:52to feel great about their defense,

00:19:54it's who they are.

00:19:55It's who they've been.

00:19:56And if we're trying to pretend

00:19:58as if all of a sudden Joe Mazzulla is gonna get in a lab

00:20:01and then start locking in

00:20:02on what they're doing defensively,

00:20:03that goes against everything that he's done up to this point.

00:20:05He has been a coach that has gone chips all in

00:20:09on being a great three-point shooting team.

00:20:12That's why they shoot more threes

00:20:13than any other team in the league ever.

00:20:16But when they're shooting at pretty average percentage,

00:20:19like 35, 36 as a team,

00:20:21it's no coincidence that a year ago,

00:20:23they were like, what, top five, I think,

00:20:25at three-point percentage,

00:20:25and now they're like 14, 15, middle of the pack.

00:20:29So, when you're shooting that well,

00:20:31you win a championship,

00:20:32and then all of a sudden

00:20:32you become an average three-point shooting team,

00:20:34which is where they are this year, essentially.

00:20:37You're going to be very good,

00:20:38but you're not gonna be great.

00:20:39And the expectation level for this team is to be great.

00:20:43That's what championship teams,

00:20:45that's the level that they hold themselves to.

00:20:48And the Celtics are showing signs

00:20:50of consistently being a team that comes up short

00:20:54of meeting the mark that they've set for themselves.

00:20:56And to your point, Bobby,

00:20:58if they're going to turn this thing around,

00:21:00it does have to become almost like a mental shift

00:21:03where you become more all about your defense

00:21:06than your shot making.

00:21:07But that's not happening, Bobby.

00:21:09And because they won a championship last year,

00:21:11playing the way they are now,

00:21:12there's a belief that they can just, at some point,

00:21:14get back into that rhythm and everything will be okay.

00:21:17I'm not sold on that,

00:21:19because I just think that the rest of the league

00:21:21has made up a considerable ground quickly.

00:21:25And the Celtics, to your point, Bobby,

00:21:27I don't think are adjusting to the new world

00:21:30that they're around.

00:21:31And that has created a new normal, unfortunately,

00:21:33for the Celtics, that they're going to win a lot of games,

00:21:35but they're going to lose a lot that they would normally win

00:21:38because they simply haven't adapted

00:21:40to the changing environment that they're playing in now.

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00:23:30Okay, a lot of frustration in the chat,

00:23:33a lot of frustration on the panel tonight.

00:23:37As-

00:23:38What are your thoughts, Jimmy?

00:23:38We haven't heard too much from you.

00:23:40Yeah, I mean, listen, I think I'm not angry,

00:23:43I'm disappointed.

00:23:44When your parents used to tell you that.

00:23:46I'm disappointed because I know what this team

00:23:48is capable of.

00:23:50It's primarily the same group of guys.

00:23:53They're finally all healthy and playing together.

00:23:56This is the starting lineup

00:23:58that's giving you these issues right now.

00:23:59It's another game where all the starters

00:24:01are in the negative.

00:24:02Tatum was a minus one as your best starter

00:24:04and your best player-

00:24:05Derek White, my God.

00:24:08Derek White, we could do a whole segment.

00:24:11We should do a whole segment on Derek White

00:24:13because he's been somebody that's been uncharacteristic

00:24:16of who we know Derek White to be.

00:24:19And I'll pull up the stats here.

00:24:21Derek White today, six points,

00:24:23two of nine from the field,

00:24:24one of seven-

00:24:25That plus one, Jimmy.

00:24:28Zero steals, zero blocks, two turnovers,

00:24:30and a minus 29.

00:24:32Ouch!

00:24:34A minus 29, that led the Celtics.

00:24:35Jalen Brown came in second to worst.

00:24:38They pulled them three and a half minutes in the reverse.

00:24:40Yep.

00:24:41Yeah.

00:24:43Something's off with Derek White.

00:24:45There's no reason to believe it's an injury.

00:24:46It's just, if it's a mental thing right now,

00:24:49I'm not sure what it is, but these guys aren't in sync.

00:24:51And Sherrod, you mentioned the Cavs earlier.

00:24:54Cavs are one team that comes to mind.

00:24:55Thunder that we just saw came to mind,

00:24:57a team that they're just clicking on multiple levels

00:25:00that we saw the Celtics as last season, right?

00:25:03It just felt like the Celtics were on another level.

00:25:06They were, you know, whether it was ball movement,

00:25:10whether it was playing two-way basketball,

00:25:11whether it was the defensive side of the things,

00:25:13maybe it was offense leading the defense shot.

00:25:16And if that's the case, if this team gets so down

00:25:18on their luck when the shards aren't falling,

00:25:20then it's hard for them to,

00:25:22or it's hard for anyone to defend them being called soft.

00:25:26Because that's the mark of a mentally weak team,

00:25:29is if you get so down on yourself

00:25:32because the shots aren't going in

00:25:33or offense isn't clicking the way you want,

00:25:35where you're just not putting in that effort

00:25:37on the defensive side.

00:25:38And one of the commenters said it,

00:25:40shout out to Mitch Goudreau.

00:25:43They desperately need a stretch of good shooting games.

00:25:45I do think the effort combo is real

00:25:46because half of defense's effort,

00:25:48lack of shot making is hurting their confidence

00:25:50in all aspects of the game.

00:25:52I mean, maybe that's simplifying it.

00:25:53That might be simplifying it a little bit,

00:25:55but I still think there's some truth to it.

00:25:56You know, where if everything's going great for you,

00:26:00sure, everything's awesome.

00:26:02Everyone's, everything's great and everyone's clicking

00:26:05and your wins are coming.

00:26:06But when shit starts to hit the fan

00:26:10or when teams are playing a little bit harder against you

00:26:13because you are the defending champion,

00:26:15how do you respond to that?

00:26:16And right now, over the last month and a half,

00:26:19the response has been, you know,

00:26:21it's been less than anything you'd expect

00:26:24from a team like this Celtics team, Bobby.

00:26:27Yeah, and we keep talking about the guys

00:26:29who aren't playing on the same level this year.

00:26:31And they're basically just standing pat,

00:26:35hoping things get better.

00:26:36And I get it, right?

00:26:37Because it's half a season coming off the championship.

00:26:41This stuff worked for you last year.

00:26:43So why shake it up?

00:26:44And again, Noah and I discussed

00:26:46maybe flipping Porzingis and Al.

00:26:48The numbers say you should probably take a look at that.

00:26:51But those guys have played what?

00:26:5310 games together now, the starters.

00:26:55So I get why they don't want to rush

00:26:58to something like that.

00:26:59Porzingis looked pretty good early in this game,

00:27:02by the way, probably alone positive tonight.

00:27:05But, you know, Hauser, what are you doing there?

00:27:10Like we've talked about that all year.

00:27:12It's been a very underrated part

00:27:13of their struggles this year

00:27:14is how he hasn't generated much of any momentum this season,

00:27:18whether due to injury, regression, whatever it is.

00:27:22They keep burying Keita.

00:27:24I get it, Luke's been awesome.

00:27:26The net rating's unbelievable with him out there this year.

00:27:30He's stacked good game after good game.

00:27:32Even in this game, he's a plus seven.

00:27:35But you've taken a dynamic away from yourself

00:27:37that was a nice part of your attack early this season.

00:27:42Walsh got sick.

00:27:43We haven't seen him since.

00:27:45Peterson had that good stretch.

00:27:47Haven't seen him since.

00:27:49Tillman, haven't seen him in two months.

00:27:52So, you know, what are you doing rotation-wise, line-up-wise?

00:27:55You're basically running the same thing

00:27:56out there every night,

00:27:57getting the same results for a couple of weeks now

00:28:00out of those rotations.

00:28:00We call that madness.

00:28:01We call that insanity.

00:28:03You're not doing anything differently.

00:28:04You know, throwing it back to the Brad days, Sherrod,

00:28:07he wouldn't have done this.

00:28:09We would have seen a little tweak.

00:28:10We would have seen someone come off

00:28:11the depth end of the bench there in a game

00:28:13where they're not playing well

00:28:14to try to energize some stuff.

00:28:15But whether it's like the shooting approach

00:28:17or the defensive approach and the lineups,

00:28:20Joe's just standing there hoping it all fixes itself.

00:28:24And it's not.

00:28:25Go ahead, Noah.

00:28:26Well, I think part of it is that,

00:28:28like, just to go back to what I was saying earlier,

00:28:31because I want to make sure

00:28:32that that was, like, clearly communicated.

00:28:34But I don't think this is like a...

00:28:37No, no.

00:28:37I think people messaged me privately here.

00:28:40So just clarifying.

00:28:42I don't think this is like,

00:28:43there's an issue in the locker room.

00:28:45I don't think that these guys don't trust each other,

00:28:47like, off the floor.

00:28:48I think there's just a lack of rhythm right now

00:28:50where it's like a certain path

00:28:52that you would normally know where the guy's going to be.

00:28:53You trust they're going to be there.

00:28:55They're not going to be there right now.

00:28:56And so I just wanted to clarify that.

00:28:58But I think what the reality is

00:28:59is that normally you would be able to turn to somebody

00:29:02for an energy spark off the bench.

00:29:04And Pritchard has become not really an energy spark

00:29:07because you actually really need him.

00:29:08Like, they're down by seven every time he checks in now

00:29:10because they've been starting so slow.

00:29:13But there isn't that other guy that you trust on the bench.

00:29:15Like, that's just,

00:29:16I don't know if that's a reflection of Joe's coaching

00:29:17or if it's a reflection of that unit.

00:29:19But both of those things could be true.

00:29:21But there isn't a guy right now that could swing a game

00:29:24from that bottom seven guys in the rotation.

00:29:27Like, if-

00:29:28I need to look at the front office.

00:29:30So, yeah.

00:29:31So it's possible where the next three weeks,

00:29:33like they said from the beginning,

00:29:34they very well may make a move.

00:29:36They wanted to see how the first half of the year went.

00:29:38They could foresee that there could be issues

00:29:40with bringing everybody back.

00:29:41Everything that they warned us kind of, like, we see it.

00:29:44It's the same team, but it's not the same team, right?

00:29:46They definitely should make a move before the deadline.

00:29:48They're going to do something.

00:29:50And so, yeah, I think that we're probably going to see

00:29:53them go get a guy that can be a game changer off the bench.

00:29:56And that's more than I expected, honestly.

00:29:58A month ago, I wouldn't have thought that was necessary,

00:29:59but now I think this is the kind of game

00:30:01where you do need somebody to check in and turn the sides.

00:30:05Like, I think a Lonnie Walker could come in

00:30:07and maybe give you a spark.

00:30:09I know we always go back to him because he was here-

00:30:10That looks like a bad decision in retrospect.

00:30:12No, I went and-

00:30:13Wow, that's going to be a hell of an apology cam

00:30:15for you two if that happens.

00:30:18It'll be a great apology cam.

00:30:20No, it'll be-

00:30:20I'll do it.

00:30:21I don't, yeah.

00:30:22I didn't like the player at the time, but.

00:30:26But the point is, though, is that, like,

00:30:28I think you have to still remember

00:30:30that all of this has been five weeks of bad basketball.

00:30:33And in the scheme of what we know about this group,

00:30:36like, it's just not that much.

00:30:38It's really not.

00:30:39It's not like they came out of camp

00:30:40and they were unfocused

00:30:41and they weren't taking things seriously

00:30:42and things have been getting worse and worse

00:30:43and now they're below 500.

00:30:45Like, it's really just been since the end of November.

00:30:47It's a December to mid-November thing.

00:30:49The point is, when they're-

00:30:50But it keeps going.

00:30:51Like, you hear the goalposts.

00:30:55Right, and I'm not-

00:30:56When they're yelling praise, it's easy to look great.

00:30:58When you're not shooting good,

00:31:00you should be able to-

00:31:01Well, are you gonna go back now

00:31:02and just write up a championship?

00:31:02Like, they played well in the meeting of the year.

00:31:05They played well.

00:31:06The problem, the issue-

00:31:06They started shooting great.

00:31:08Right, but what happens with this team right now

00:31:11is that when you are built the way they are,

00:31:13there's a certain margin of error that you have.

00:31:16And we have seen that margin of error steadily erode,

00:31:20get smaller and smaller and smaller.

00:31:22And the problem,

00:31:23and I think this is what you and Bobby

00:31:25are kind of pointing to,

00:31:26is the fact that there's no clear path

00:31:28towards this getting corrected.

00:31:30There's no point where you can see,

00:31:32if they do this, then they'll just recalibrate themselves

00:31:34and get back to being the team we saw a year ago.

00:31:36And the only thing that seems to make any kind of sense

00:31:39of that happening is to add someone

00:31:41that can give them some juice, some energy off the bench.

00:31:44That's why Lonnie Walker makes a lot of sense

00:31:46because in the little bit of time

00:31:47that we were around him and saw,

00:31:49it was clear, this is a guy that can go get buckets.

00:31:51This was a guy that on those nights

00:31:53when no one is making shots,

00:31:55like, oh, I don't know, tonight,

00:31:56this might be a guy that can get you 15, 16 points

00:31:59in 10 minutes.

00:32:00And now all of a sudden, instead of losing my-

00:32:03And you need line of flexibility, Shrod, too,

00:32:05as much as they need energy.

00:32:06They just keep going a little big.

00:32:08They need flexibility, but they also need reliability.

00:32:11And that's the issue.

00:32:12Like Hauser, he's able to be out there,

00:32:15but you can't rely on him now

00:32:17because he's got something going on with him,

00:32:20either physically or just mentally not

00:32:22where he needs to be.

00:32:23And then you start going down the line of the guys

00:32:26that come off the bench,

00:32:27they don't have a guy that is like

00:32:28just a natural born bucket getter,

00:32:30a guy like, I don't know, Lonnie Walker.

00:32:32That's literally what he does.

00:32:34And so the Celtics are at that inflection point

00:32:39where they need to make a decision.

00:32:40How badly are they willing,

00:32:42how much are they willing to do

00:32:44to better position themselves to repeat?

00:32:46Because right now they've got a team that is good enough

00:32:49as they are now to be one of the last four teams

00:32:53saying they should get to the conference finals

00:32:54with the group they have now.

00:32:56But if you want to give yourself a little bit more

00:32:58of a cushion to not be great

00:33:01and still have a great finish to the season,

00:33:03you need to go out and get somebody

00:33:05who can get you some buckets.

00:33:07I don't want to make Lonnie Walker or whoever

00:33:10into somebody that's supposed to be

00:33:11like the savior of this team.

00:33:13The players who are going to save this team

00:33:15are already on this team.

00:33:16And they're in the starting lineup.

00:33:18They're just not playing together right now.

00:33:20They're not playing connected.

00:33:21So let's get to Tatum and Brown.

00:33:23Well, yeah.

00:33:24And the bench is a whole nother topic,

00:33:25Shraddha, and I agree with you.

00:33:26The bench needs a player like that

00:33:28because the bench has been exposed as far as that concerns.

00:33:31Non-athletic, not physical, kind of one-dimensional.

00:33:35They all can kind of do one thing

00:33:36if they're doing it that night.

00:33:38And if not, then you really don't have much of a bench.

00:33:41Lonnie Walker also does that one thing,

00:33:43which is score.

00:33:43But I think he does it in different ways

00:33:45and maybe he can provide a little bit more physicality.

00:33:47So that's a difference.

00:33:49That would be, if they can bring on a guy like that,

00:33:52that's probably the best their bench can get.

00:33:54But the real issues right now are the guys

00:33:56who are out there when the ball is tipped up

00:33:59at the beginning of the game.

00:34:00That's Tatum, that's Brown, that's Derek White,

00:34:03and that's Holliday.

00:34:04I'm going to give Porzingis a little bit more of a pass.

00:34:07Right now he's coming back from,

00:34:09yeah, he's playing fine.

00:34:10He's been good.

00:34:11We're going to play blame pie in a bit.

00:34:12Sorry, Noah, Porzingis doesn't get a slice on mine today.

00:34:16But the rest of the guys in that starting lineup do.

00:34:18And Bobby, you want to go right into it?

00:34:20I'll let you start.

00:34:21I just have a question.

00:34:23What was going on with Brown out there tonight?

00:34:26No idea.

00:34:27He took one three-pointer tonight, which is unusual

00:34:29for a guy that on any given night could take 12.

00:34:33He takes one three-pointer.

00:34:34Is that what the defense is preventing him from shooting

00:34:37or is he just disengaged out there?

00:34:4010 points on the night, just knots

00:34:43and kind of dribbling into guys.

00:34:45Stuff that we've seen before,

00:34:47but I'll toss up his line here.

00:34:4910 points, 416 from the field.

00:34:53One three-pointer, made it.

00:34:54But one three-pointer, seven rebounds,

00:34:56four assists, two turnovers, a minus 23.

00:34:59Again, that's in line with the rest of the starters

00:35:02in terms of plus minus, so.

00:35:03Yeah, Tatum wasn't much better.

00:35:05Five for 19 or something like that.

00:35:07No, he wasn't.

00:35:08And does this have to do with,

00:35:11and then Tatum, let's stick on Brown right now,

00:35:14but I'm starting to wonder if the rotations

00:35:16are starting to screw with things too here, Bobby.

00:35:20Yeah, and we've talked about that all year.

00:35:22Brown's talked about it being an adjustment.

00:35:25It's benefited Tatum,

00:35:26and I think it's the right move in that sense.

00:35:29And Brown has to find a way to adjust to some degree.

00:35:33Tonight I didn't think it worked though.

00:35:36No.

00:35:37Yeah, Tatum's sitting to start the fourth,

00:35:40and that's kind of when things went from bad to worse.

00:35:42Yeah, but that's where Brown has to be able

00:35:43to get them through that stretch it'll be.

00:35:45And that was the stretch that killed them in this game.

00:35:47The opening, you know,

00:35:49they gave up 73% shooting in the third,

00:35:52but to open the fourth,

00:35:54you're letting Barnes go right to the rim for two,

00:35:58Jalen's missing a shot inside,

00:36:00and you know, you got the put back there,

00:36:01but they're just giving up basket after basket

00:36:03the other way.

00:36:04And all of a sudden you're down 10

00:36:06by the time Tatum gets back in there.

00:36:08So Brown missed a free throw in the fourth,

00:36:11Tatum missed a free throw in the fourth.

00:36:13Like as bad as this night looked for Brown,

00:36:16I think they're dealing with two different things right now.

00:36:19Brown's not getting as much of a opportunity early

00:36:22in these games to find his rhythm and get, you know,

00:36:25just acclimated to each game, you know,

00:36:28see what teams are throwing at them,

00:36:30see what teams are throwing at him specifically.

00:36:32Cause obviously he's getting a lot of his stuff

00:36:33one-on-one out there.

00:36:35And for Tatum, and I wrote about this last week,

00:36:39he's playing so well that they need to adjust

00:36:44their approach a little bit to setting him up,

00:36:46not just finding the open guy and, you know,

00:36:50putting the ball wherever the defense is directing it.

00:36:52They need Tatum to be central to this thing.

00:36:54And for him to not have a single shot in that fourth quarter

00:36:58when he's doing what he's doing this year,

00:37:00I know it goes against their approach a little bit,

00:37:02but this goes back to that conversation

00:37:04about this being a different year,

00:37:06this being a different team.

00:37:08Tatum, you know, what'd he shoot?

00:37:1030 shots in that Pelicans game and 38 points.

00:37:14And he's just super efficient.

00:37:16He's getting all the looks he wants.

00:37:17He's basically carrying them to that win.

00:37:21I want to see something a little closer to that in this game,

00:37:23but the difficult part now is that that naturally pulls away

00:37:27from what Jalen gets in these games.

00:37:30And if Jalen's not going to get his shots

00:37:32or his rotation or his minutes,

00:37:34is this the kind of effort and enthusiasm

00:37:36we're going to get from him?

00:37:38He just looked checked out tonight.

00:37:39And I don't know if it's because of that,

00:37:41but he is not playing great this year.

00:37:44And it's hard to look at anything

00:37:46other than that rotation adjustment as a reason for why.

00:37:49And, you know, I know he's had the right shoulder injury too

00:37:51in recent weeks,

00:37:52and that's probably hurt his efficiency a little bit,

00:37:55but his approach hasn't been great.

00:37:57And the defensive punch he brought to start the season

00:38:00hasn't quite been there either.

00:38:03Yeah, honestly, that was really,

00:38:05it was a very strange performance by him.

00:38:07He just looked so frustrated.

00:38:08He looked slow, like he was moving slow,

00:38:10which I don't know if it's because

00:38:12he wanted to be moving slow or if he's in pain

00:38:14or something else.

00:38:16But yeah, I don't really have answers

00:38:18on why Jalen Brown looked the way that he did.

00:38:20And I thought he stood out,

00:38:22but I also thought that it was kind of,

00:38:25it was not too dissimilar throughout the roster.

00:38:28Like it wasn't like everybody was on one level

00:38:29and he was on the other.

00:38:30And that's why I know we're going to do the blame pie,

00:38:32but that's why I have such a hard time with that exercise,

00:38:34because it does end up feeling like

00:38:37it's just hard to pull out one guy

00:38:38when you see five guys on the court

00:38:40that just aren't working together well.

00:38:40But they're the tone setters, Noah.

00:38:42They go with five pies, five slices.

00:38:46That's the beauty of it.

00:38:47Slices, Jimmy, not five pies.

00:38:48We're not trying to make a bakery.

00:38:49We're trying to-

00:38:50And I don't want to pull,

00:38:52I don't want to pull too much blame for Aiden either,

00:38:54because his night might've looked a little better

00:38:57statistically, but he gave up that late put back to Perl.

00:39:00He wasn't defending at the level he should either.

00:39:02It's really not about one player.

00:39:04It's about two players.

00:39:06It's Brown and Tatum.

00:39:08I think the guard play,

00:39:09like what Drew and Derek did last year versus this year

00:39:13is pretty substantial.

00:39:14And again, this is like,

00:39:17that's why I don't like love the effort thing,

00:39:18because I think Derek is trying,

00:39:20but he's not who he was earlier this season

00:39:23and who he was last year.

00:39:24And he, it's, yeah, I think it's really hard for them to,

00:39:27like, I've maintained this from the beginning of last season

00:39:30that he's underestimated in how much he impacts his team.

00:39:34And that's why their record has been worse

00:39:35when he sits than anybody else.

00:39:37And games like tonight where he, you know,

00:39:40he didn't sit,

00:39:41but he didn't have the impact that he normally has.

00:39:42Like that also has a substantial impact on his team.

00:39:47So I don't know.

00:39:48It's really hard to have answers because again,

00:39:51like the only thing that makes sense to me

00:39:52is I feel like I'm watching something

00:39:54and I do think it's going to click,

00:39:55but I don't think we're going to have an explanation

00:39:57when it does.

00:39:58I don't think it's going to be

00:39:59because they changed the rotation

00:40:00or they signed somebody or something like that.

00:40:03It's like, it just looks to me like something

00:40:05that's out of tune, out of, out of sync.

00:40:08And maybe it's never going to be fixed

00:40:09and they're going to blow the team up

00:40:10or it'll be fixed in two weeks.

00:40:11And we're going to remember

00:40:12this really bad six week period.

00:40:14And-

00:40:15We got some quotes coming out of the locker room

00:40:17and in Toronto, Kristaps Porzingis talked after this game.

00:40:21Adam Hemmelsbach said he was noticeably frustrated

00:40:24after this loss and said the Celtics had no spirit,

00:40:27no personality.

00:40:29Facts.

00:40:30He ain't wrong.

00:40:32Facts.

00:40:33He ain't wrong about that.

00:40:34Yeah.

00:40:35Every team has ups and downs.

00:40:37He said just tonight, it feels like shit right now.

00:40:39And we played some bad basketball.

00:40:43He's right.

00:40:45Tatum, Tatum went to the line in the fourth quarter, Bobby,

00:40:48but yeah, there's no official,

00:40:50no official field goals there.

00:40:51And went into the game with eight minutes left,

00:40:54obviously subbed out with the rest of the starters

00:40:55with about two minutes left.

00:40:56How can that happen?

00:40:59They shot 50% from the line.

00:41:01What's that, Noah?

00:41:03They shot 50% from the line.

00:41:05Like a lot of this is just,

00:41:06that's why it's hard to break all this down is like,

00:41:10like, I don't know, it's-

00:41:11But this is, you go from the top down, Noah,

00:41:14like I think Tatum's playing well,

00:41:17but he can't just sit there and say,

00:41:18I'm putting up numbers.

00:41:20What's every, like, you know,

00:41:22there needs to be some continuity

00:41:25to the way that guys are playing.

00:41:27And I think he's taking the right approach.

00:41:28Like, Jimmy, I give him zero blame for this year.

00:41:32I think he's played great Tatum.

00:41:33I think he's set a tone for the most part with his play.

00:41:37His defense could be better.

00:41:39Like, I do think he's coasting on his reputation

00:41:41on that end a little bit right now.

00:41:43And he's a guy who can be a difference maker on that end.

00:41:45So if there's any blame I'll give him, it's that.

00:41:48And then you go down to Brown.

00:41:49Like, I know it sucks.

00:41:51You got to adjust a little bit.

00:41:52Your roles change.

00:41:53Maybe you're more of a passer than a scorer this year.

00:41:55And I don't think that's the right way to use him either.

00:41:57So there's a whole discussion to be had there

00:41:59about how they're utilizing Brown,

00:42:01but he hasn't responded great in recent weeks.

00:42:04And then, you know, you go down the roster.

00:42:06Like, White, I think there's some excuses there

00:42:09for how he's played, but it hasn't been good.

00:42:11Holiday, like, it's tough for me to kill him.

00:42:13How much do they even use him?

00:42:15Poor Zingas coming back off the injury,

00:42:17actually playing decently.

00:42:18It's tough to blame him.

00:42:20And give me a break when people start blaming Cornette

00:42:23and how, like, come on.

00:42:24Oh, yeah, here comes the Cornette defender.

00:42:29Give me a break.

00:42:29Da, da, da, da.

00:42:31Was anybody blaming Cornette?

00:42:32Not on my end.

00:42:33No, but that's what they usually, he didn't play enough.

00:42:34Bobby's playing fake haters.

00:42:36He didn't play enough in this game,

00:42:37but if he played more, you know that would have happened.

00:42:40In your mind.

00:42:42Real quick.

00:42:43If we're pushing agendas,

00:42:44Pritchard should have played more, so.

00:42:45There we go.

00:42:46If we're going to toss a claim around.

00:42:47Before we officially slice up the pie,

00:42:50let's hear from our sponsor, Game Time.

00:42:55And then we'll slice.

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00:43:42Time, right now, Celtics game, Celtics Magic on Friday.

00:43:47You can get in for 121,

00:43:52121 bucks right now, all in.

00:43:55Sit up with the true fans up in the balcony,

00:43:57but there's some great seats all around on the Game Time app.

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00:44:18Hopefully the Celtics aren't down by double digits

00:44:19at that point, the way they're playing,

00:44:21and have a nice little Friday night.

00:44:24All right, Blame Pie time.

00:44:24They better show up for that game, Jimmy,

00:44:26because you know they're going to lose that one

00:44:28if they don't.

00:44:28They got to show up for that one.

00:44:29They absolutely have to show up for that one.

00:44:32Look at this.

00:44:33Magic a little banged up though, Hawks are too,

00:44:35so we'll see what happens.

00:44:36And obviously, it'll be a chance for Cato to finally play,

00:44:39because they're going to have to do

00:44:39the Porzingis-Horford-Russ thing.

00:44:43Christian thinks they can trade Brown

00:44:48in a second round for a number one pick.

00:44:50I'm not sure about that.

00:44:50Everyone's starting to come up with their crazy trades.

00:44:53Here we go.

00:44:54And I get it, because you have to do it eventually,

00:44:56probably something drastic to shake up the money

00:44:58on this roster, but you can't do that now.

00:45:01You're just not.

00:45:03So get it out of your heads.

00:45:04They're going to tinker on the edge of the roster,

00:45:06and it's going to be on the top seven guys

00:45:08to figure it out here.

00:45:10All right, it's Blame Pie time, Amit.

00:45:13Let's get this over with.

00:45:15Here it is.

00:45:16We're cutting it up.

00:45:17We have the pie sliced into six pieces already.

00:45:21These are your five starters.

00:45:23See?

00:45:24And Joe Mizzou on the bench gets a break tonight.

00:45:26We're not blaming the bench for this game.

00:45:28This is a Blame Pie for the game.

00:45:30Richard had himself a game.

00:45:31No offense, Richard.

00:45:32Horford was pretty good tonight.

00:45:33I'll give him a little credit for that.

00:45:34Horford airballed a couple of threes.

00:45:36I wouldn't say-

00:45:37No, these are the right balls.

00:45:39I only have five slices to give out tonight.

00:45:41Okay, so you're going, okay.

00:45:43I'll let you stretch, Jarrod.

00:45:44Okay, well, let's just start with the guy

00:45:47that is not getting a slice tonight, and that's Porzingis.

00:45:49I thought he, of all the starters,

00:45:51I thought he was the one that actually looked

00:45:53like he knew what the hell he was doing

00:45:55out there most of the time.

00:45:56So Porzingis, you get a night off from the Blame Pie game.

00:45:59All right, yeah, there you go.

00:46:00Now, Derek, or excuse me, Drew Holiday,

00:46:03I give him 10% of the Blame Pie

00:46:05just because I can't look at him

00:46:08and look at the rest of these guys

00:46:09and say that there's equal blame.

00:46:11That's just not the case.

00:46:12Sure.

00:46:13Joe Mazzuola, I give you 20% of the Blame Pie.

00:46:18I like that.

00:46:20Because again, I think he's certainly part of the problem,

00:46:22but I don't think he is the problem.

00:46:25And so that, and Derek White,

00:46:27I think Derek White also gets 20% of the Blame Pie.

00:46:31So you're at 50.

00:46:32So I'm 50.

00:46:33Jalen Brown and Tatum each get 25.

00:46:35Okay.

00:46:36I think they're equally responsible

00:46:39for what we saw tonight.

00:46:40And frankly, their inability to impact the game

00:46:44in a positive way was a little bit more so

00:46:46than the other guys.

00:46:47So 25 Tatum, 25 Brown, 20 Derek, 20 Joe, and 10% for Drew.

00:46:54All right, I'm gonna go right now.

00:46:55I'm gonna go 25 for Brown, 25 for White.

00:47:00That's 50.

00:47:01I'm gonna go 20 for Tatum.

00:47:03I think Brown and White,

00:47:05I think they got to take a little bit more of the onus

00:47:07in this one tonight.

00:47:08They just combined for what, 16 points

00:47:11and just like completely blase performance.

00:47:14Tatum, honestly, the fourth quarter makes me wanna give him

00:47:18more than 20% because he's completely no-showed.

00:47:20Yep.

00:47:22But also Joe didn't,

00:47:23Joe puts him in at the eight minute mark,

00:47:24takes him out at the two.

00:47:25Like, I mean, he didn't really,

00:47:28I think Tatum should have

00:47:29The rotation's stuck tonight.

00:47:31Yeah, the rotation's stuck.

00:47:32And that's why, okay, so I'm at 50, 70.

00:47:35I'm gonna give 20 to Joe and then 10 to Drew.

00:47:40And I'm giving Joe 20 because of the rotations,

00:47:42because of the fact that I feel like

00:47:46this is an unacceptable, this is a team,

00:47:49Raptors team that there's really no excuse.

00:47:51And if you're Joe, you gotta get your guys.

00:47:53Yeah, you gotta get your guys in a position

00:47:55to win this game.

00:47:57Whether that's rotations be better,

00:47:58whether that's, you know, Tatum starts the fourth

00:48:02instead of how it usually comes in.

00:48:03Whether that's Kada goes in there.

00:48:05I mean, again, the Raptors were killing them in the paint

00:48:09and Kada's watching from the bench.

00:48:11I'm not saying Kada's the miracle man.

00:48:13They're also switching while the Raptors

00:48:14are killing them in the paint.

00:48:16Right, but do something different.

00:48:18Switch something up.

00:48:18You know, if it's not working, then try something else.

00:48:21Like go double big more,

00:48:22since the guards are just not,

00:48:24are not holding their own right now.

00:48:25So that's my pie.

00:48:28I'm gonna go big slices, 33 Joe, 33 Brown.

00:48:33I'll go 23 White and like 10 Tatum for the fourth there.

00:48:40Okay.

00:48:41Okay.

00:48:43The threes kind of threw me in for a loop.

00:48:44I think there's a percentage going on.

00:48:46I think there's-

00:48:47That goes up to a hundred percent.

00:48:48It does?

00:48:49Okay.

00:48:50It does.

00:48:51All right, Noah.

00:48:52You're only eligible to blame people on this pie, right?

00:48:56No, you can blame anyone.

00:48:57If you want to get creative, you could do that.

00:48:59Yeah.

00:49:00None of you guys are blaming anybody, but it was an option.

00:49:04We're blaming, these, I think majority-

00:49:06We're just blaming these people.

00:49:08No, you can blame anyone.

00:49:09I mean, majority of people probably would have taken,

00:49:14would have blamed you on this pie, but-

00:49:15Noah, it's your pie, it's your pie, Noah.

00:49:19You baked it.

00:49:19Okay, okay.

00:49:20Don't pull a Santa's and like give it out to like-

00:49:23You're getting hungry.

00:49:25Like injuries.

00:49:2520%, 20% Joe.

00:49:29Okay.

00:49:3020% Derek.

00:49:34No.

00:49:3520% Joe, 20% Derek, 20% Drew.

00:49:42Wow, it's 60.

00:49:4420% Drew.

00:49:46Not a lot of-

00:49:4820% Jalen, 20% Tatum.

00:49:51Oh, she went-

00:49:52Yeah.

00:49:52But Derek White gets no blame.

00:49:54No, he got 20.

00:49:55They all got 20.

00:49:56Oh, okay.

00:49:57Oh, you went 20, 20.

00:49:58I got you.

00:49:59She went 20 for all.

00:50:00Everyone gets a slice, equal slice.

00:50:02It took you that long to just dish it evenly.

00:50:04Yeah, you know, I didn't want to make it so obvious.

00:50:08All right, well-

00:50:09Yeah, it's just hard for me to not-

00:50:12It's hard for me to not see Jalen as our size in this one.

00:50:15Figure out a way to skirt the blame pie game.

00:50:16Yeah, I know, I honestly, can I?

00:50:20Holiday threw the ball out of bounds at one point.

00:50:22I just love seeing Noah scoring when we play the game.

00:50:24Honestly, that's why I love playing it.

00:50:26It goes against the nature of basketball to blame-

00:50:31Not my nature.

00:50:32Not if you're Jimmy Butler.

00:50:34Oh, there you go.

00:50:38I just want to find joy, that's all.

00:50:40Joy in the pie game.

00:50:41I just want to find joy in a pie game, that's all I want.

00:50:44Joy in the pie game.

00:50:45He's got joy right now.

00:50:48Bobby, who got the biggest slice for you?

00:50:50Oh, you gave it to-

00:50:51It was Jalen and Joe.

00:50:52Yeah, oh, Jalen and Joe.

00:50:54So what is your beef with Joe?

00:50:57Again, they come into this game

00:51:00after some brutal performances.

00:51:01And this is why this game's so frustrating

00:51:04because you have a one-off, Jimmy,

00:51:07and they had them last year, right?

00:51:08There was a Lakers game.

00:51:09There were those Hawks games.

00:51:11There were some moments last year

00:51:12where it was like, what was that?

00:51:13And then they'd come back out

00:51:15and just go blazing full speed.

00:51:19Great defense, great shots.

00:51:21Blow out the next team and they're right back on track.

00:51:24And you're like, oh, that was an aberration.

00:51:26But we're talking about that Kings game.

00:51:28We're talking about a Pelicans game they should have lost.

00:51:31We're talking about countless games over recent weeks now.

00:51:33The Magic one without Tatum.

00:51:35You can just rattle them off at this point.

00:51:37The Pacers one.

00:51:38And this is still what we're seeing.

00:51:40There's no answer to the struggles we're seeing

00:51:44from the previous game.

00:51:45And I think looking ahead to Friday now,

00:51:47are you expecting them to come out locked in,

00:51:49looking amazing for that game?

00:51:51Maybe the fact that they have to change things up now

00:51:53because someone's gonna sit helps them a little bit here

00:51:56just to break some stuff up.

00:51:57But that's why I go after Joe

00:51:58because he's just been standing there saying,

00:52:01oh, the shooting's gonna come around.

00:52:03Oh, these guys that we're expecting to not shoot as well,

00:52:05they're gonna come back down to earth,

00:52:08and just rolling the same lineup out there every night.

00:52:10Even though the starting lineup statistically

00:52:12has been really bad to start this year.

00:52:15So that's why I put a heavy blame on him

00:52:17because he's just standing there.

00:52:18He looked lost at times on the sideline tonight, Jimmy.

00:52:20And he called a lot of timeouts,

00:52:22but there were no major adjustments

00:52:24to what was going on out there.

00:52:26This is a game, as bad as it was,

00:52:28you're right there throughout, five, six points.

00:52:31And it went the other way as the night went on.

00:52:34It got worse.

00:52:35And no indifference coming off the bench.

00:52:38There's no rotation adjustments.

00:52:40You put out that lineup at the start of the fourth

00:52:42that Noah mentioned, went off the rails.

00:52:45I don't know what Joe was doing out there,

00:52:47except just praying that it was gonna get better.

00:52:49And the defensive stuff's starting to drive me crazy.

00:52:53Maybe not starting,

00:52:54because I've been talking about it all year.

00:52:55Oh, it totally is, Bobby.

00:52:58You're beyond starting to.

00:53:00Yep.

00:53:01What is up?

00:53:02Noah, can you explain it to me?

00:53:04No.

00:53:05I can't.

00:53:06They're just hoping guys miss.

00:53:08I see you every day.

00:53:09You think if I could explain it to you,

00:53:10I wouldn't have done it by now?

00:53:12She would have done it by now, Bobby.

00:53:13I guarantee you.

00:53:14Noah, save him.

00:53:15I know it's a big-

00:53:16No, Bobby.

00:53:16I just want to say, I'm just chatting too lively

00:53:18because I wanted to pin something.

00:53:19Real quick.

00:53:21I know it's a big part of NBA defense now.

00:53:24I know that they did it successfully

00:53:27on New Year's Eve against this team.

00:53:29And I don't think it was a major problem tonight.

00:53:32But why is their defensive approach

00:53:36just hoping guys miss shots?

00:53:38We're gonna let them take shots that we like,

00:53:41and we're gonna take away certain shots.

00:53:43But we're not gonna put up heavy resistance.

00:53:45We're not gonna put pressure on the ball.

00:53:48There was no wrinkles on that side of the ball

00:53:51in this game.

00:53:51You didn't really see them show a zone look

00:53:53or do some of the full court pressure

00:53:55that we've seen from them.

00:53:57They didn't force many turnovers.

00:53:58A lot of them that the Raptors committed

00:53:59were just self-inflicted.

00:54:02So they're just playing this super passive approach.

00:54:05I know John's talked about it a lot

00:54:07and it worked for them at times last year,

00:54:08but Jimmy, to me, that's something

00:54:11that a bad defensive team has to do.

00:54:14We have weak links.

00:54:15We have to hide some stuff.

00:54:17We're gonna just hide a guy on a bad shooter,

00:54:21maybe have him help.

00:54:23We're just gonna take some stuff away

00:54:25and try to minimize the damage defensively.

00:54:27This is still for all intents and purposes.

00:54:29That team we watched three years ago now in 2022

00:54:33looked like one of the best defenses of all time.

00:54:35And you don't really have to go back that far.

00:54:37The defense last year was amazing.

00:54:39It was a big underrated part of their success.

00:54:42And instead of getting into the body,

00:54:44instead of scheming up some really aggressive ways

00:54:47to take guys down, they did it against Minnesota.

00:54:49I'll give them credit for that one.

00:54:51But more often than not,

00:54:53they're just hoping the worst player on the other team

00:54:55misses a bunch or giving up mid-range shots to guys

00:54:59and hoping that the numbers work out.

00:55:02They're basically playing an inverse

00:55:04of what they do on offense.

00:55:06And if someone's hitting a lot of shots

00:55:09like in the New Orleans game the other night

00:55:12or the switching's not working,

00:55:14there's gotta be some other stuff you can go to on that end.

00:55:17And too often, all I'm hearing out of them

00:55:19is offense, offense, offense.

00:55:21We gotta take the right shots.

00:55:22We gotta get offensive rebounds.

00:55:23We gotta do this and that

00:55:25to prevent it going the other way on defense.

00:55:28And in the half court tonight, Jimmy,

00:55:29you just got punched in the mouth.

00:55:31They went right to the rim.

00:55:34They cut.

00:55:34There was no awareness to cutters,

00:55:36which is a big trend in the NBA this year, obviously.

00:55:39A lot more cutting and a lot more handoff stuff

00:55:41and just reads on offense rather than premeditated stuff.

00:55:47They don't look ready, Jimmy.

00:55:49Night in and night out.

00:55:50And that's on the coach.

00:55:51I'm sorry.

00:55:54How else can you explain the bad starts, too?

00:55:59Can you help him, Nolan?

00:56:00Is that a rhetorical question?

00:56:02Because I can't explain it.

00:56:03But I got one quote here from John Corrales from Tatum.

00:56:06Quote, we're going through some shit right now.

00:56:09It's tough.

00:56:10But we said after the game,

00:56:12we got to go through it together

00:56:14as best we can stick together.

00:56:17Team meeting.

00:56:19That's the Tatum quote. Team meeting.

00:56:21Yikes, Nolan.

00:56:22Maybe that meeting that they didn't have,

00:56:25they should have.

00:56:27Didn't have a...

00:56:28I don't think they had it.

00:56:30Al was like genuinely confused.

00:56:33Al wasn't invited, maybe.

00:56:35That must have been on,

00:56:36because I don't think John's at the game.

00:56:37I think they're just showing on the broadcast

00:56:39some of the...

00:56:40That could be, yeah.

00:56:41I mean, I just, I'm just on Twitter, just reading.

00:56:42I know, but I want to watch these full...

00:56:43I think Adam's there, it looks like.

00:56:45I think it's just Adam.

00:56:47Okay.

00:56:48Well, if I click on Adam's,

00:56:50we already got the Porzingis quote.

00:56:54I don't know what Joe,

00:56:54Joe must have just said something.

00:56:56Tonight feels like shit right now,

00:56:58and we played some bad basketball.

00:56:59That was the only...

00:57:03And I guess Porzingis also said

00:57:05they had no spirit and no personality.

00:57:08I have a good tweet from John.

00:57:11Not great.

00:57:11That half-ass shit from the Celtics

00:57:13might've worked against the eight-win Pelicans,

00:57:15but not the nine-win Raptors.

00:57:17Wait, Zanis?

00:57:17That's a Zanis tweet, yeah.

00:57:19That's great.

00:57:21Zanis, he will be here.

00:57:23That's the worst part, Jimmy, right?

00:57:25It's happening against some bad teams right now.

00:57:29That is the worst part.

00:57:30It's like, it's happened against bad teams.

00:57:32You can play bad and get by.

00:57:35It happens against teams without their best players.

00:57:38This team has issues.

00:57:40We've known this.

00:57:41They've had issues getting up for the non-big game,

00:57:44for the regular games.

00:57:48But not just the regular games recently,

00:57:50because they lost to the Thunder.

00:57:51I mean, yeah, the Thunder.

00:57:53That, you know, obviously was one of the biggest game

00:57:56of their season.

00:57:57And it's come back on their heels a little bit.

00:57:59I mean, have they even,

00:58:00have they played good since that game?

00:58:03I like the Denver game,

00:58:04but they weren't at their best that night, certainly.

00:58:06And then they didn't have Jokic, so.

00:58:08Yeah, they didn't have Jokic.

00:58:11You know.

00:58:12King's game was a disaster.

00:58:14Horrible King's game.

00:58:16You're right.

00:58:17So bad patterns right now.

00:58:19You don't love to see some of the quotes

00:58:22that are coming out.

00:58:23I mean, it's hard, it's hard to just read them

00:58:25and not really, you know, I like to hear them

00:58:27or at least see them and get a better idea

00:58:29of how they were said and stuff like that.

00:58:31But, you know, this is-

00:58:33I think what you can hope for right now, Jimmy,

00:58:36is you're probably going to sit Horford

00:58:37or Porzingis on Friday, get some Cata minutes in there,

00:58:40maybe play some guys deeper off the bench,

00:58:42get some energy, more emphatic effort from guys at home,

00:58:47you know, against a beat up Magic team.

00:58:49And, you know, you pull one out there

00:58:51and then Atlanta's even more beat up, I think.

00:58:53Again, deeper bench guys get involved that night.

00:58:57I hope you know what I want to say.

00:58:59No Frans, no Mo.

00:59:01Suggs is still dealing with some stuff, I think.

00:59:04Gary Harris is out.

00:59:05They have a lot of guys out.

00:59:07Powell is-

00:59:08I mean, half of their top eight will be out for that game.

00:59:12Yeah, I think they had eight guys available

00:59:14for their game tonight, I think.

00:59:16So they're beat up.

00:59:18Atlanta's beat up.

00:59:19Trey was out.

00:59:20Johnson was out.

00:59:21So those are good opportunities for you to get back on track.

00:59:23And then, Noah, from a chemistry perspective

00:59:26or whatever they're going from,

00:59:29that West Coast trip will be useful.

00:59:31And that's where I think we're going to see, all right,

00:59:33can they rally together, figure some stuff out on the road?

00:59:37It's a more extended stretch, I feel like,

00:59:39that they're going to be together out there

00:59:40in terms of days than the last one.

00:59:43And, you know, just more games stacked up

00:59:46where they're healthy and playing together.

00:59:47And, you know, I really want them to,

00:59:49and we've talked about it, Noah, assessing a lineup change.

00:59:52Should they do something like that?

00:59:54I get why they won't.

00:59:55But as you start to stack together more games,

00:59:58as you start to spend more time together

00:59:59as a coaching staff on the road,

01:00:01that's where they got to figure out all this stuff.

01:00:02And of course the front office

01:00:04has to be looking at everything right now.

01:00:06You know, you got a couple of weeks left here,

01:00:08not a ton of flexibility,

01:00:10but got to fill that final roster spot

01:00:12with someone who can play at the very least.

01:00:15And, you know, probably try to look some guy,

01:00:17to move some guys off the bench

01:00:18who can't play at all for you right now,

01:00:21and just swap some stuff in and out there.

01:00:22Because I think that's starting to hurt too,

01:00:24that you just have a handful of guys

01:00:26on that bench right now

01:00:27who you just have zero interest in playing.

01:00:31Yeah.

01:00:32Yeah, I mean, I think the bench thing is not the main issue,

01:00:35but it is something that they haven't benefited at all

01:00:38from like a boost from anybody

01:00:39other than Pritchard off the bench all season.

01:00:41And you want to have like the-

01:00:43Cornette.

01:00:46Yes.

01:00:46No, but Cornette's different.

01:00:48Cornette's different.

01:00:49He's like a regular part of the rotation.

01:00:51I mean, like an X factor type thing,

01:00:53where it's like, you know, all of a sudden,

01:00:55Delano Branton goes off for 15 in the second half.

01:00:58And, you know, like you need something.

01:01:01I miss that.

01:01:01Even if it's not going to be consistent.

01:01:08That was really the move.

01:01:10Yeah.

01:01:11I don't know though.

01:01:12I'm really fascinated to see what's going to happen next.

01:01:14And I do think that people should remember still,

01:01:18like this is the exact same team

01:01:20that won a championship in June.

01:01:22That wasn't that long ago.

01:01:23Nothing drastic has happened that we know of.

01:01:26Maybe we'll find out that something drastic happened,

01:01:28but that we know of, nothing drastic has happened.

01:01:31A lot of stuff is just stacked up.

01:01:32Injuries, bumps and bruises,

01:01:34certain guys falling out of the mix.

01:01:36But that's not what this is.

01:01:38They're not hurt right now.

01:01:40They're not hurt.

01:01:41Like the weird thing is they're actually healthy

01:01:44for the most part.

01:01:45Like the starters-

01:01:46They're not hurt, Jimmy,

01:01:47but I think they're just banged up enough

01:01:49where they've been off.

01:01:50And it's high up, snowballed up.

01:01:52Find me a teammate-

01:01:53Holiday isn't though.

01:01:55Holiday-

01:01:56The whole point though,

01:01:56the whole point was the last year's team,

01:01:59you could be out five guys out of the rotation

01:02:01and they were fine.

01:02:02And the whole point of right now

01:02:04is that it quite literally doesn't matter

01:02:05who they're going to play.

01:02:06Like they played the worst team in the league today

01:02:08and it didn't matter.

01:02:10So it's less about personnel to me.

01:02:12It's more about what's going on in a systemic level.

01:02:16And that's why, I don't know if you could blame the coach

01:02:18because in that sense,

01:02:19like I guess it is kind of a coach thing.

01:02:22But I don't know.

01:02:22There might be like,

01:02:23I saw someone in the chat said

01:02:24there might be like disagreement around like styles to play.

01:02:28Like the league has changed from last year.

01:02:30Like we know that the league has changed.

01:02:31The way the Celtics were being guarded this season

01:02:34has changed.

01:02:35And so it is possible that they're trying to figure out

01:02:38how to adapt to the fact that they're being guarded

01:02:39differently and there are multiple clashing opinions

01:02:43and that's something that they have to work through.

01:02:45You know, I don't think there's anything

01:02:47that's like that's deep going on here.

01:02:49Like I would be very surprised

01:02:50if there was like genuine bad blood

01:02:52on anybody in that locker room

01:02:53from everything that we've seen and covered this team.

01:02:55Like, I would not think that it's that,

01:02:57but we know in the past,

01:02:58there's been things around, you know,

01:03:00guys wanting shots or certain paces

01:03:01or certain things for basic.

01:03:03It's possible that there's something

01:03:05they're not all on the same page about

01:03:07and that that could be worked out too.

01:03:08I mean, it might be something so minor that honestly,

01:03:10like it won't even be perceived.

01:03:13Yeah.

01:03:13And it's easy, Jimmy, to be on the same page

01:03:15and try when you're rolling through last season, right?

01:03:19They face more adversity this year

01:03:21and that's obviously gonna splinter things a little bit,

01:03:23no matter who it's between.

01:03:25Yeah.

01:03:26And the other thing that we really should be mindful of

01:03:28is that at the same point a year ago,

01:03:32they had three more wins than they have now.

01:03:34So it's not like they've fallen off this cliff

01:03:36and are just absolutely, you know,

01:03:38you know, hell bound for basketball purgatory.

01:03:42There are three games off the pace

01:03:43that they were on a year ago when they won a title.

01:03:46But the difference is that

01:03:48even though they have-

01:03:49Come on, Sherrod.

01:03:51Jimmy, can I finish?

01:03:52Jimmy, can I finish?

01:03:53Come on.

01:03:54Can I finish?

01:03:55Don't give him a break.

01:03:56No, the difference is this year,

01:03:58there are clearly more cracks in the armor

01:04:01than there were a year ago.

01:04:03And those cracks-

01:04:04They're human.

01:04:05Well, not only are they human, but they're flawed.

01:04:08I mean, that's taking that humanity to another level.

01:04:11They were super human last year

01:04:13and now they're just human.

01:04:14Right, but now, I mean,

01:04:15you're looking at problems with the bench.

01:04:17You're looking at a disjointed look with the starting unit.

01:04:19You've got, you know, Joe Mazzulla.

01:04:21You're not really sure

01:04:22what exactly is he looking to accomplish.

01:04:24You see a lack of flexibility,

01:04:26not only in terms of the way they're playing,

01:04:27but also the way they're being used by their coach.

01:04:31And it all adds up to a team

01:04:32that doesn't look as dominant as they did a year ago,

01:04:36a team that looks very beatable

01:04:39in not just losing a game, but losing a series.

01:04:42It's not as inconceivable now

01:04:44as it was maybe two, three months ago

01:04:47that the Celtics could get beat in a best of seven.

01:04:50There was not a team in the NBA,

01:04:52no matter what the record said two, three months ago,

01:04:54that I felt that Boston wouldn't beat them

01:04:58in a best of seven.

01:04:59I think there's at least three teams

01:05:01that could beat them in a best of seven.

01:05:03And it would not, at this point,

01:05:05based on the way the Celtics are playing,

01:05:06it would not be a surprise.

01:05:09Okay, C, Cleveland.

01:05:13Is there a third?

01:05:15Yeah, New York. Maybe you're next, Jimmy.

01:05:17New York. New York.

01:05:18I was wondering if you're next, Jimmy.

01:05:19The only thing I'll say about them

01:05:20is they are running their team into the ground.

01:05:22They are, they are.

01:05:23And they're gonna-

01:05:24That's Tibbs right there.

01:05:25Yeah, to me, they're like a distant third

01:05:28among those three teams that I'm talking about.

01:05:29But okay, C and Cleveland,

01:05:32absolutely, would not be surprising.

01:05:34Yeah, and again, we're, what is it?

01:05:3828 plus 12, or 40 games into the season.

01:05:40So we're not quite halfway,

01:05:42but we're about to be on Friday.

01:05:44And this is where the Celtics are.

01:05:4528 and 12, not a bad record, obviously.

01:05:47You know, they're sitting in second place in the East.

01:05:50But it's just, if you break it down a little bit further,

01:05:55the play as of late is the reason why

01:05:59you're not talking about a 28 and 12 team

01:06:01with the same happiness or level of excitement

01:06:05that you typically would,

01:06:07because of what we've seen of late.

01:06:08And I put a stat up there.

01:06:09Was it six and eight since Porzingis returned?

01:06:13It's a weird one.

01:06:15It is, because he's played well.

01:06:15He's mentioned it a few times,

01:06:17that he feels like his return

01:06:19is throwing things off a little bit,

01:06:20just because he's trying to get back into shape.

01:06:22And, you know, they're playing together

01:06:24for the first time in a while.

01:06:26So, in a way, we talked about it.

01:06:29It feels weird, because he's playing well individually.

01:06:33But the numbers say that they're amazing with Al

01:06:36starting at the five.

01:06:37And they've been pretty bad

01:06:38with Porzingis starting at the five.

01:06:40And it's a small sample so far.

01:06:43But at some point, I do think you have to look at it.

01:06:46It's, your bench becomes insane

01:06:48if you bring him off the bench to the first period.

01:06:50It doesn't add up, Bobby.

01:06:51It doesn't add up.

01:06:52So, I'm not going there yet.

01:06:54Yeah, exactly.

01:06:55Your issue.

01:06:56No, that was a good defender.

01:06:58Yeah.

01:06:59Noah, what was you about to say, Noah?

01:07:00It was Porzingis.

01:07:01No, I was just gonna say,

01:07:01it's tough because we made that video

01:07:04after the last game about Porzingis potentially,

01:07:06maybe switching up the starting lineup

01:07:07and moving Porzingis to the bench.

01:07:10And again, they were down, you know,

01:07:11by 10 in the first quarter today.

01:07:13And it just becomes like every game is this way.

01:07:15And then their second unit is helping them

01:07:17claw back out of the deficit.

01:07:18And you're spending all that energy

01:07:19just to be down by two or up by two

01:07:21at the end of the first.

01:07:22Whereas we're used to them

01:07:23getting leads in the first quarter.

01:07:24So, I don't like the way they're starting games.

01:07:26It's hard to say if a shakeup would help.

01:07:30And I think there's a fine line of,

01:07:32on one hand, I would love to have seen Joe

01:07:34take all five guys off the floor today

01:07:36and put in a new five.

01:07:37Like old fashioned, like playground style.

01:07:39Yeah.

01:07:40It's just so hard to watch.

01:07:41You don't have to blame anybody.

01:07:43You don't have to be mad.

01:07:44But it's like, this sucks.

01:07:45We're not getting anywhere and we look terrible.

01:07:47Let's put in a new five.

01:07:48That's putting the blame pie up

01:07:49into five equal pieces, by the way.

01:07:51There it is.

01:07:52That's kind of what you did, Noah.

01:07:54The Noah.

01:07:54You have to see guys on the team for a reason, right?

01:07:57You have to have the ability to believe

01:07:59that they can come in and play basketball

01:08:01for a few minutes.

01:08:02So, my point is that on one hand,

01:08:04that's what I would do.

01:08:05And on the other hand, I understand Joe's thinking of,

01:08:09I can't just like give up on this lineup, right?

01:08:12Like, I understand why he doesn't want to tinker

01:08:14with a five person lineup

01:08:15that should be the championship starting five.

01:08:18And so, right now, like,

01:08:19do you want to put Pritchard in there to infuse some energy?

01:08:22He's one of the only guys that has,

01:08:23looks like he has any confidence with the shot.

01:08:25Like, sure, you could put Pritchard in as well,

01:08:27but I understand why he doesn't want to tinker with it too.

01:08:30So, I get both sides.

01:08:32And it'll probably take a little bit of time

01:08:33before he has to make that adjustment.

01:08:36Like, it'll probably take a couple more weeks

01:08:37and then he might have to do something

01:08:38if he feels like this starting group,

01:08:40it's like a constant thing

01:08:41where they're always starting on the wrong foot.

01:08:44But I get why he hasn't done it so far.

01:08:46The all-star break will be interesting

01:08:48because I think that's that point

01:08:49where if you're Joe Mazzullo,

01:08:50you have to really sit down and assess

01:08:53what are you going to be like as a team going forward

01:08:56for the rest of the season?

01:08:57Is that the time when you seriously break down

01:09:01the pros and cons of making a change

01:09:03and ultimately make a decision?

01:09:04I just don't see him doing anything along those lines

01:09:08at the earliest until right after the break,

01:09:11because again, that will give him a chance

01:09:12to assess the situation and not be so moved

01:09:16by the actual games being played,

01:09:18but actually look at the situation in its totality

01:09:22and then make a decision from there.

01:09:23But if Joe is saying that he isn't giving it some thought,

01:09:28I mean, I don't see how you could

01:09:30not be giving it some thought.

01:09:32And it's not even so much about replacing player X

01:09:36with player Y or anything like that.

01:09:38It's just simply about shaking up your unit

01:09:41so that they can, as a team, as a team, you play better.

01:09:44That has to be the focus.

01:09:45And I'm not clear on just how much thought

01:09:49Joe's putting into that process.

01:09:53I'm like trying to find quotes for-

01:09:56Did Joe do a press conference tonight?

01:09:58If he did, I-

01:09:59I'm seeing zero reporting of it.

01:10:01The only thing I've found is that one Porzingis

01:10:05and that one Tatum.

01:10:08Yo, if I was on the ground in Toronto right now,

01:10:09I'd be live streaming.

01:10:11You would, you would be in there.

01:10:12You would be in there right now.

01:10:14But I-

01:10:15Every single word that was uttered

01:10:16would be on Twitter right now.

01:10:18I wish that I could relay some quotes

01:10:22and some information coming out of Toronto.

01:10:23He probably did what he always did, Jimmy.

01:10:25Take a look at it and, you know,

01:10:27we like the shots and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

01:10:31I was even on like, yeah, I mean,

01:10:33I'm on like the TV stations here trying to see anything.

01:10:38Nothing.

01:10:40Crickets.

01:10:41So unfortunately we don't have any other information

01:10:44to add off this one, but I mean,

01:10:47the one quote from Tatum is,

01:10:50is, you know, probably sums it up, you know,

01:10:54what he had said earlier, which was basically that,

01:10:56you know, it sucks, but we're going to go through it together.

01:10:59This is where they are right now.

01:11:00They're at a very big bump in the road.

01:11:05Worst loss of the season.

01:11:0680% of you who voted agree,

01:11:08worst loss of the season against the Toronto Raptors.

01:11:13I don't think we need to hammer this one all night, guys.

01:11:15I mean, they're going to have to dust themselves off,

01:11:17get back to Boston and, you know,

01:11:20get ready for another tough one.

01:11:21Is there going to be a practice or anything tomorrow

01:11:23that you guys know about?

01:11:24No.

01:11:25No practice.

01:11:26Just going to frigging toss the ball up there

01:11:28and do it all over again, Friday.

01:11:30Love it.

01:11:32No shooter on Friday either.

01:11:34No shooter.

01:11:34What, really?

01:11:35Yeah, we have no availability this week, pretty much.

01:11:38We have no access.

01:11:42Just another day.

01:11:44Just another day for the Celtics, right?

01:11:46For the Celtics, yeah.

01:11:48Final thoughts, we'll go around.

01:11:50One final thought from this game,

01:11:52and then maybe looking forward to any potential change

01:11:56we might see Friday or in the future or nothing.

01:12:01Start with you, Sherrod.

01:12:02Same old, same old.

01:12:04I don't anticipate there'll be any type

01:12:06of tweaks of significance.

01:12:08I think they're just going to just go into the next game

01:12:11and just say, we just got to play better

01:12:12than we did last week.

01:12:13And I think it goes back to what Bobby was saying,

01:12:15a lot of blah, blah, blah.

01:12:16We got to make more shots, that kind of stuff.

01:12:19And boom, we'll see what happens.

01:12:22They got to figure out fast how they want to play.

01:12:24I think what Noah said there about how they respond

01:12:28to what other teams are throwing at them,

01:12:30what they want to do,

01:12:30I think that was all pretty evident in this game.

01:12:33There were some bizarre shots,

01:12:35strange approach and sets offensively,

01:12:38not a lot of passing on a string

01:12:40and stuff that made you think

01:12:42that they were going in a one unified direction.

01:12:47When guys are playing individual basketball

01:12:49and not seeing success,

01:12:53I think that does bleed into the defense.

01:12:55So my hope would be that they would lock in defensively

01:12:59and grind out some games like this,

01:13:01but that doesn't seem to be the kind of team

01:13:04that they want to be.

01:13:06So it's got to come on the offensive end for this group.

01:13:09And it's got to be more than just knocking down threes.

01:13:14I like the post-ups early in this game.

01:13:16I like Porzingis' involvement for long stretches.

01:13:20And I want to see Tatum more involved

01:13:22because I think he's been that good this year.

01:13:24So that's all stuff that I think can happen,

01:13:27but it's got to be the players

01:13:29because I don't think Joe Noah is the kind of coach

01:13:32who's going to really force his hand

01:13:34to try to change some stuff,

01:13:35whether lineup or stylistically here.

01:13:37I think a lot of the obvious energy

01:13:41is going to have to come from them, obviously,

01:13:42but also the way they want to play together

01:13:45and what they think is right

01:13:47to keep everybody involved and effective.

01:13:51Some guys just got to play better.

01:13:52A lot of guys are just playing worse this year

01:13:54and that's got to turn around.

01:13:59Facts, my dog.

01:14:01Noah, any parting thoughts?

01:14:04I'll just say at the same time,

01:14:07as bad as this loss was,

01:14:09as bad as these six weeks have been,

01:14:11this group, this core has been together for years.

01:14:15And until we get credible reporting

01:14:18that there was something significant going on in there

01:14:21or that there's something substantially bad,

01:14:23I don't think that we should overreact still

01:14:26to this stretch of time.

01:14:28I think that it might just end up being

01:14:30a really bad stretch of basketball

01:14:32in an otherwise really good couple of years of basketball.

01:14:35That could end up being the reality here.

01:14:36So I can't say I can guarantee that.

01:14:39What do we know at this point?

01:14:40But I don't know that Joe knows.

01:14:41I don't know that they know.

01:14:42But I think I sense a lot of frustration

01:14:45and I think that it is kind of fair to say

01:14:46that they won a championship six months ago

01:14:49and a lot of these guys,

01:14:49they pretty much, maybe one thing I'll say

01:14:51is I don't know that they could look worse

01:14:52than they look today.

01:14:54And granted, the competition wasn't great,

01:14:55but pretty much-

01:14:56Don't say that.

01:14:57I don't know.

01:14:58I mean, look, maybe, yeah,

01:15:00Puzingas and Pritchett could have been worse.

01:15:01Challenge accepted.

01:15:02But as a team, the free throws, the layups,

01:15:05all of it, it was just terrible.

01:15:07So I think they're gonna look better.

01:15:08I think it's good to keep things in perspective

01:15:09and remember that this has still just been five weeks,

01:15:12five bad weeks of basketball.

01:15:14And this is not a new group.

01:15:16There's a body of work to draw-

01:15:18They're gonna have to re-inspire confidence.

01:15:22I can't just keep watching this all year

01:15:24and saying, it's gonna turn around,

01:15:25they'll flip the switch.

01:15:26I didn't say it's gonna turn around,

01:15:27but I said it also-

01:15:28No, I'm not saying you're saying that,

01:15:29but I'm not gonna-

01:15:30It's more rational to say it's gonna turn around

01:15:31than to say Trey Jalen.

01:15:33Like-

01:15:34Yeah, I don't think that's valid at all.

01:15:37What did you just...

01:15:38Wait, what did you just say?

01:15:40No, the way you guys crop these videos-

01:15:42I mean, clip that.

01:15:45I mean, clip that.

01:15:46Also, being on the show is not like-

01:15:47Do it, Amit, do it, do it, do it.

01:15:50Yeah, so.

01:15:51I understand that.

01:15:52I'm just not coming here PR trained.

01:15:54We have one other take that we wanna add to the show.

01:15:58Zanis couldn't be here, but he's still chirping away.

01:16:02Did you write a letter?

01:16:04Let's see it.

01:16:05What does he got here?

01:16:05Oh, there's that tweet.

01:16:08That was a great tweet.

01:16:10Here's angry.

01:16:10This is Boomer John angry.

01:16:12Angry John tonight from his couch watching the game.

01:16:16Quote, this half-ass shit from the Celtics

01:16:18might've worked against the eight win Pelicans,

01:16:20but not against the nine win Raptors.

01:16:23Very true.

01:16:24Winning that Pelicans game was not good for them.

01:16:27Couldn't get away with this one.

01:16:30No, it was not good.

01:16:31It was not good for them at all.

01:16:32And that's how I felt about this-

01:16:33You think it matters that they won?

01:16:35Yeah, I think they came out of that feeling

01:16:37better than they should've.

01:16:40It felt like a morgue, remember?

01:16:43Us.

01:16:45Yeah, but you can't criticize in the same-

01:16:47When the buzzer sounded, Al was like-

01:16:50Yeah, the same way.

01:16:51The criticism doesn't...

01:16:52We couldn't even play blame pile last game.

01:16:54We actually started to, and we were like,

01:16:55wait, we can't play it because they won.

01:16:58That's how bad of a win it was.

01:16:59They were a little roll from losing

01:17:01after just unthinkable breakdowns.

01:17:04Yeah.

01:17:06And that's the other thing, we'll leave on this,

01:17:09but the fourth quarters right now with the Celtics team

01:17:12are getting uglier and uglier.

01:17:13Can you pull that up?

01:17:14Can you pull it up before we go, just to see?

01:17:17We'll end on the fourth quarter.

01:17:18In January specifically, in the fourth quarter-

01:17:22What do we got here?

01:17:23They are currently a net negative 17.6,

01:17:29which is 27th in the league.

01:17:32Worse than the Wizards, Jazz, Nets, and Hornets.

01:17:37Wow.

01:17:40I mean, that says it all right there.

01:17:42The fourth quarter performance, execution,

01:17:45whatever word you want to use, it almost can't be worse.

01:17:50I mean, you're talking about basement dwelling teams

01:17:53and then the Boston Celtics.

01:17:55So you know what?

01:17:57We're going to end on that one.

01:17:58We're going to end on a sour note.

01:17:59I want everyone to think about that stat.

01:18:02Hopefully it doesn't keep you up too late tonight,

01:18:04but let's all just, let's all shower this one off,

01:18:08have ourselves a Thursday, get back out there Friday,

01:18:10and hope that it's a completely different Celtics team.

01:18:13Let's hope that the plane ride the Celtics take

01:18:15from Toronto to Boston is a quiet one.

01:18:17I want these guys to just be in their thoughts,

01:18:20figure it out, get back out there, play with some pride,

01:18:23play with some energy, play with some effort on Friday,

01:18:26and turn this thing around.

01:18:27We know what they're capable of.

01:18:29And what we saw tonight on that Toronto floor

01:18:32was, in a word, unacceptable.

01:18:35So signing off, Jimmy, Sherrod, Bobby, Noah,

01:18:41Celtics, drop one to the Toronto Raptors.

01:18:45110.97, we will see you Friday against the Orlando Magic.

01:18:49Amit, hit me with the outro.

01:18:51No one's sneaking a vegan brownie by me, I'll tell you that.

01:18:53Okay, you know what, Don?

01:18:54We're going to do it.

01:18:55You have to feel that way too, Bobby.

01:18:57I have to feel that way?

01:18:58Let's slide Al over and make Luke your first center.

01:19:01Bobby, we gave you Luke hour earlier.

01:19:03We are not going to end this

01:19:04on a damn conversation about Luke.

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