0:00

It's gonna be three

0:02

second throw us off

0:05

the potter God good

0:07

nice, that

0:10

is hearty. Welcome

0:26

to the Chase Down Podcast. I'm your host, Justin

0:28

Rowan. Carter Rodriguez is still on

0:30

his honeymoon, so instead I

0:33

have brought a more attractive replacement

0:35

in his place. Um from Locked

0:37

on Celtics, The Man, the Myth, the Legend,

0:39

Sam jam Packard Sam. How's it going,

0:42

man, it's going well. This has been a

0:44

long time coming and so I'm happy to be here. It

0:46

has been a long time coming. We've we've

0:48

talked about doing crossover podcasts

0:51

and things like that, but what what better

0:53

time than to finally

0:55

unite for the conference finals between Cleveland

0:58

and Boston. Isn't like that? Just

1:00

the perfect stage, like no one expected

1:02

it taking this route to get here.

1:05

But we're still at the exact same spot that we

1:07

predicted at the beginning of the season. Yeah,

1:10

which is kind of insane if you think about the changes

1:12

that have gone both teams.

1:14

Um, but at the end of the day,

1:16

it is just like Lebron's gonna be there because he's the best

1:19

player, and um, Brad Stevens

1:21

is an absolute wizard and I would follow him

1:23

anywhere because he's a genius. Right

1:26

to to col Chrismattox,

1:28

we're having the great debate of the player

1:31

versus Brad Stevens. So I'm

1:33

very much looking forward to that in the

1:35

conference finals here. Yeah,

1:38

Brad Stevens. It's it's kind of like weird.

1:40

I've really realized recently that, um,

1:43

like, I treat him like a cult leader, and

1:45

I'm fully like, I'm sorry, you're you're really alone

1:47

there with Celtics fans. That's that's a

1:49

very unique trait to just you what,

1:52

being self aware of following him like a cult the

1:55

cult part, the self aware isn't isn't.

1:59

Yeah, it doesn't. Uh, it doesn't typically

2:01

come into the equation often.

2:03

But I think that's one of the reasons you and I are able

2:06

to get along and deal with

2:08

the incessant trolling between one another. Oh

2:10

well, self awareness is is key and you've

2:12

gotta be jokes over facts, as the

2:15

Great Black Tray says, um

2:18

and so yeah, that that's definitely important.

2:20

But I think most self expands are in the in the

2:22

cult of Brad Stevens. Now, I try to kind

2:24

of push out the pro Brad

2:27

Stephens propaganda every night I

2:29

read uh a book

2:31

about the growth mindset, which is

2:33

a like a concept that he believes in

2:35

he teaches to all his players, and then I interviewed him

2:37

about it and he just had me uh

2:40

he basically I was committed to the Brad Stevens

2:42

lifestyle. Ever after that, it's I bought in completely.

2:45

See here's the thing, and

2:49

the Brad Stevens thing obviously can

2:52

be a little bit divisive on Twitter. Like

2:54

to me, he's in the top tier of coaches.

2:57

I think he's absolutely fantastic.

2:59

But I think some of the resentment, and

3:02

I think that's also manifested in the

3:04

coaches poll that we saw recently released,

3:07

is that there there's a sense that everything

3:09

is kind of given, being given

3:11

to him prior to it being earned.

3:14

Um. I I actually think this post season

3:16

is the first time that I've truly been impressed

3:18

with him in the postseason. Like, I think he's

3:20

always somebody that's gone the most out of

3:22

his rosters and the most out of the team, and

3:25

they've consistently overachieved.

3:27

But when you look at post seasons in the past,

3:29

I always felt like Boston was kind of just

3:31

running the exact same things that they ran all year

3:34

and not really react,

3:37

not game planning specifically for

3:39

those series. I thought

3:41

they underachieved against Chicago and Washington

3:43

last year, but this year it seems

3:46

like Steven's is really hunting for matchup

3:48

advantages. And I've liked a lot of

3:50

what he's done this year, and I don't

3:52

I don't think that's a criticism to say

3:54

that, Okay, this guy, Uh, he

3:57

was fairly new to the NBA. He had success

3:59

incredibly early on, and

4:01

he's he's adjusting like it's a process

4:04

learning with a young team.

4:06

Well, that's the thing is Like, I

4:09

think that the backlash, I don't want to say

4:11

it's it's jealousy because I don't know what you would want

4:13

Brad Stevens to have done like other

4:16

than this too. It's he hasn't fully

4:18

proved himself, but he has been tremendously successful,

4:21

gotten better had He's had a better

4:24

record each year, and I think

4:26

with respect of the playoffs, it's really I

4:28

think the it comes down to a lot

4:31

of the times, who's who are the better players on

4:33

the court, and I think this is that Brad

4:35

Stevens team that has the most talent. UH.

4:38

Having a team with Isaiah Thomas. As much as

4:40

I love Isaiah Thomas, and I think that most

4:43

of our fights were about Isaiah Thomas. Uh,

4:45

he was not a great defender. Like the Celtics

4:48

teams of the past, UM really

4:50

didn't have the talent to be competing

4:52

in the playoffs, especially before Al Horford got there.

4:55

UM. Like the first

4:57

time the Celtics played the Calves and they made that run,

4:59

it was the first season with Isaiah Thomas, they made a push

5:01

to get to the eight seed and just get distroyed.

5:04

I think maybe there's a seven seed to get destroyed by

5:06

the Calves in the first round. It was

5:08

ultimately pointless um, although

5:10

they did end up getting razier that year, so maybe falling

5:13

back wasn't like the worst thing in the world. But I

5:15

just don't think that the talent has been there for Brad

5:17

Stevens. With a win the playoffs, but in

5:19

the regular season, he's really turned

5:22

uh, not great players into gems.

5:25

And so I just don't know what I'll like. I

5:28

don't know where else he could be to do worse he did.

5:30

He deserved the phrase because he's been nothing. He's

5:32

been nothing but a very good coach. There

5:34

has been no bad like bad Brad

5:36

Stevens. No, he's definitely

5:39

been a very good coach. But I think

5:41

when you're elevating

5:43

somebody to okay, he's as good

5:45

as or better than Greg Popovich, which

5:47

you do see out there. I understand

5:50

that's a bit of a straw man argument, but I

5:52

think we can both agree that's that's an

5:54

argument that is out there. Um,

5:56

I think you're you're looking for

5:59

Okay, he hasn't made the

6:01

type of postseason runs, and some of that has

6:03

to do with the roster and some of that. As I

6:05

said, I think you can identify areas

6:08

where he hasn't been spectacular

6:10

in the postseason. And this

6:13

team right now is currently constructed

6:15

with all the injuries. To me, it's

6:18

almost like the perfect Brad Stevens team

6:20

because they

6:22

they execute almost like a college

6:24

team. Like one of the impressive things

6:26

to me against Philadelphia as you look at that last

6:29

five minutes stretch, every single

6:31

shot Boston was getting was at the rim,

6:34

where typically teams would get flustered

6:36

and resort to isolation basketball.

6:38

They just kept moving, kept moving, and they would

6:40

get like a layup with two seconds left in the

6:42

shot clock. And uh,

6:45

some of that obviously has to do with the players that

6:47

are there. But I think Steven's he

6:49

he just sits back with his arms crossed

6:52

and he's not panicking. He's cool,

6:54

comic collective because he knows he's drilled

6:56

these guys and they're going to execute whatever the play

6:58

is. So even in that tense situation,

7:01

he keeps us cool. What will be interesting

7:03

to me is to see how he starts to manage

7:06

personalities once this lineup

7:08

is fully healthy, because if Kyrie

7:10

irvings in there, it's not going

7:12

to be Okay, we're going to keep passing

7:15

the ball and get a shot within the flow of the offense.

7:17

In those situations, it's okay, Kyrie,

7:19

go get us a bucket, which is something that they're

7:21

they're sorely missing at this point. But I

7:23

think once you add in the personalities and egos

7:26

of three star players, that's

7:28

when I'm really going to be interested to see

7:30

how Stevens reacts to that and what opportunities

7:33

for growth there is there. Yeah,

7:36

it's gonna be fascinating, especially

7:39

what Kyrie comes back. When Hayward comes back, you're

7:41

basically gonna put Terry Rozier back on the bench

7:43

after basically it's been his coming out party. Well,

7:45

do you think he's going to be there? Because do you think

7:47

they can keep both Smart and Rosier? H

7:50

It's it's definitely going to be difficult

7:53

to keep both. I think the

7:55

there's a potential they trade Rosier in the off season

7:57

just because of that, because his value

8:00

is never going to be higher. And then certainly people

8:02

are around the Celtics Twitter have been discussing

8:05

that I just have no idea what Smart

8:07

is going to command in the open market, and so,

8:10

uh, like what what? I don't know

8:12

what team has cap space and what team really wants

8:14

to add Marcus Smart, and so I have no idea

8:16

what his contract is going to be. The Celtics

8:18

have the ability to match, so it's

8:20

hard to say. I

8:22

imagine they're gonna want to keep both, but I just,

8:25

uh, I have no idea. I'm not great at predictions.

8:28

Yeah, I'm not

8:30

too great at predictions either. Um, speaking

8:33

of predictions, did you think Boston was going

8:35

to get here? Because I that

8:37

that was one thing that I've been bucking some Celtics

8:39

fans about was before the playoffs,

8:41

like I felt very confident with

8:44

it being Okay, you Milwaukee

8:47

I didn't think had a chance just because they're so

8:49

poorly coach and they use their talent in such

8:52

a horrific way that they weren't

8:54

going to be able to get by Boston. And after

8:57

that, Uh, Philadelphia,

8:59

it happ and exactly how I thought. Where if

9:02

you're two guys that are the primary initiatives

9:04

of your offense can't shoot, the

9:06

other team is gonna be able to stay home on those

9:08

other three guys and completely deny the three

9:10

point shot. And that's what

9:13

you saw or Sonneli Silvan, Marco Belinelli,

9:15

JJ Reddick, We're all completely useless

9:18

in that game five. Um, were

9:20

you confident heading into this playoffs? I

9:22

know that Boston's missing so much talent,

9:24

but they really do have a lot of quality

9:26

guys still remaining. And in New Jersey,

9:29

Oh no, this is kind of if

9:31

I'm thinking back to like playoff preview podcasts,

9:35

Uh, this is the way the path that the

9:37

Celtics wanted. I think we I landed

9:39

on the Bucks as being the worst team just because

9:41

they didn't have anything but

9:43

behind Honice and they were really like we weren't poorly

9:46

coached, and clearly we wanted to

9:48

uh, if we were going to play the Calvs, play

9:51

them in the Eastern Conference Finals, so like

9:53

we were. It was rejoicing

9:55

that the seventy sixers got to that three seed.

9:58

So I was pretty confident in that the that they could

10:00

reach the Eastern Conference finals, especially

10:03

with Marcus Smart coming back and being healthy.

10:05

I didn't actually think he was going to be uh

10:07

come back until the second round. So I

10:09

was pretty confident the Celtics could win, um,

10:13

just because they had home court advantage and they just they

10:15

had the best defense in the league. I

10:17

was a little concerned that the Bucks were uh

10:19

like series went on so long just because

10:22

UM, I thought the Celtics should have played a

10:24

lot better than the Bucks. The Cellings really

10:26

struggled to like make to score and

10:29

score on the road specifically, so uh,

10:31

my confidence was a little tapered heading into the

10:34

UH seventies sixers series, also seeing how well

10:36

the seventi sixers played. But I didn't just I didn't realize

10:38

how much of a coward Ben Simmons was. And

10:41

honestly, I was dying at the

10:44

shirt with Ben Simmons standing open at the three

10:46

point line not taking a shot

10:48

and take a three. You coward, Like

10:51

that's just that's perfect. That's been one of my favorite

10:53

things about the seventies sixers series. But it's

10:56

it's true. Like the his the

10:58

fact that he didn't take a three point shot, it's

11:01

so much easier to guard and against

11:03

like I guess against other teams, he's been able to just

11:06

get around players or use his athleticism,

11:08

but he the Celtics basically

11:11

just met him at the foul line every single time.

11:14

And he just needs to shoot. Like

11:16

we saw Aaron Bain's making threes during

11:18

this series. He had not taken threes throughout the entire

11:20

season, and then what the hell is that about?

11:22

It's just he could I

11:24

guess he can shoot from the corner, but he wasn't going to do

11:26

it. He always was like teams

11:28

really tried to make Aaron Bain's shoot the entire

11:31

year. They would basically leave him open in the mid

11:33

range and he would shoot it. And I guess in

11:35

the playoffs he's like going out to three. But

11:37

there's one play where there's like a hard close out

11:39

on Aaron Bain's and he uh

11:42

like drove the rim, passed it for a layup.

11:45

But the fact that someone closed out on Aaron Bain's

11:47

is because he was shooting the basketball like

11:52

he just needs to shoot it, like it doesn't matter if

11:54

it doesn't go with This is what makes Marcus Smart so

11:56

successful is that he

11:59

just shoots it with offidence. It's probably

12:01

not gonna go in, but players like defend him

12:03

like they need to defend him, and it makes him

12:05

just a little bit better. If Ben Simmons had any

12:07

more space with people contesting

12:09

the shots, he would be unstappable because he's already

12:12

really fucking good. Yeah,

12:15

I think I don't. I think you can. It's

12:18

safe to bet that the Calves are not going to

12:20

be closing out hard on Beans or

12:22

Marcus Smart, just based on the

12:24

way that they defend, because the Cows do have defensive

12:27

limitations. I know. That's remember

12:29

Game three of last year, the great Marcus Smart

12:31

perform, the greatest Marcus Smart performance of all time.

12:34

Yeah, that that was a bit of a frustrating game,

12:36

no, Isaiah Thomas. The Calves come out of

12:38

sleep and Marcus Smart decides to go absolutely

12:41

apes shipped from beyond the arc. But

12:43

the the Cavs defense, they

12:46

have some limitations. So what they do is they

12:48

funnel open shots to certain guys

12:50

and they left Land Stevenson opened

12:52

in the past. UM. And I

12:54

think that it's going to be another instance

12:56

where they're doing the same thing that Marcus Smart when

12:58

he's on the court, the live with him taking

13:01

open threes UM. And I don't

13:03

think that they're going to be rushing out to defend

13:05

Aaron Bain's. I think they'll they'll

13:07

live with the percentages on those ones. UM.

13:10

When you're talking about whether or not you could

13:13

keep both Rosier end Smart, you probably

13:15

would have a better chance of that if you weren't paying so

13:17

much money to average Al. Oh,

13:19

come on, sorry,

13:24

I had to. I know you had to, and I knew

13:26

it was going to come eventually. But my god, the people

13:28

in Boston who don't appreciate Al Horford

13:31

are the worst of Boston

13:33

sports talk radio. And it's the most frustrating

13:35

thing in the world because Al

13:38

Horford has been the best, I think the best

13:40

player on the Celtics were for the past two seasons,

13:43

just with his defensive impact alone. And

13:46

people just don't understand max contracts in the

13:48

NBA, Like, no, that's what you had to pay to

13:50

get out Horford. And now he's been a very good

13:52

player for you, an outstanding player

13:54

for you, especially in these playoffs. Oh, it's

13:57

so, so goddamn frustrating. Can

13:59

you imagine how different the NBA

14:02

landscape would be if Boston didn't offer

14:04

that contract and he went to his number two

14:06

options in Washington, like having

14:08

that leadership there in that presence,

14:11

Um, that would be a completely different Wizards

14:13

team. I agree, like I'm I'm someone

14:15

that I do have an appreciation

14:18

for Al Horford. I think he is a tremendous player.

14:20

Um. I think where

14:23

you run into issues is especially

14:25

with kaz fans and more

14:28

general NBA fans. They

14:30

typically general NBA fans

14:32

at least are only watching later in the postseason.

14:35

They're watching playoffs. And the way that he

14:37

has gone out in the postseason, which

14:40

has been to the Cavaliers over the

14:42

last few years, um

14:44

has been on impressive. And that's

14:46

mostly a matchup thing, And that's one

14:49

of the Thompson's goddamn ful. Yeah,

14:52

And that's one of the reasons why I'm a little nervous

14:54

that this might be the year that the jokes died, because

14:56

I don't know how predominantly Tyrond

14:59

lewis going to yeah, feature Tristan

15:01

Thompson and this. Yeah,

15:03

it's I'm a little curious. Tyrone

15:06

lewis very mysterious with his lineups.

15:08

Um, I don't know if he's going to go with a heavy

15:10

dosage of Tristan Thompson or if he's going to

15:12

start him. I don't necessarily think

15:14

he has to start, but I think

15:17

if you're going to give Thompson twenty minutes

15:19

in this game, those twenty minutes have to all

15:21

come without Horford on the court. But here's

15:23

the thing. If I think if they put Thompson

15:26

on the court, the Celtics counter with Baines,

15:29

because the Celtics defense really with Baines

15:31

this year has been much better, and so there's

15:33

if there's an opportunity on the court where he's

15:35

not with us, where the Calves aren't playing like a five

15:37

out, they're going to really try to put Baines in

15:39

there. We saw that with him Bead. I don't

15:41

think that's necessarily your would

15:44

result in the in the Thompson Horford

15:46

matchup you'd want, I think then you'd end

15:48

up with Horford guarding Love. No.

15:51

I'm absolutely fine with that though,

15:53

But what the where

15:55

the issue comes is not that. Okay,

15:57

Well, it's not like Tristan Thompson has been eating

16:00

Horford alive and scoring points

16:03

on him. I'm more talking

16:05

about if you put Tristan Thompson on there

16:07

and given his defensive impact on

16:09

Horford, that neutralizes

16:12

the Celtics offensive hub. And we're

16:14

talking about an offense that

16:16

was ranked eighteenth over the season, and

16:19

that's with a lot of Kyrie Irving.

16:21

And I think if Thompson's out there

16:23

neutralizing Horford and if you have Aaron

16:25

Bain's out there who who isn't exactly

16:28

going to provide a lot of spacing. Despite what happened

16:30

in Philadelphia, my thought process

16:32

is, Okay, that's going to severely

16:35

limit Boston's offense in those

16:37

minutes and how effective they

16:39

can run their offense. And if

16:41

you can do that for fifteen minutes a game,

16:44

I don't know if they can score enough to keep up with the Calves.

16:47

Yeah, I just don't know how much. If the

16:50

Celtics are playing five

16:52

out with Al Horford, can Tristan

16:54

Thompson like stick without Horford on the perimeter?

16:57

Like my memory is that Tristan Thompson dominated

16:59

Al Horford or all on the offensive boards and

17:01

so um to me that

17:04

that the Celtics going small with Al Horford at the five

17:06

and him just doing pick and pop. Uh,

17:08

And really they did this with him bed, trying to draw

17:10

him out so that he's not as much of a rim protector.

17:13

I think that's where, uh

17:16

the Calves have matchup issues

17:19

because then they still like, yes, you're right, Al Horford

17:21

is absolutely the the hub of the offense,

17:23

the guy they want to play through. But

17:26

uh, Jayson Tatum and Jylen Brown

17:28

have really developed into guys who can kind of

17:31

attack and create offense on their own.

17:33

And so I don't know who the Calves are gonna

17:35

have the garden you're gonna put Lebron on I assume Tatum

17:39

at this point, and then I

17:41

don't really have faith in whoever

17:43

your guards are. You. George Hill is pretty good, but I

17:45

think he'll be stuck on terror's ear. I

17:47

just think there's a there's a matchup favor Like

17:50

I think Jaylen Brown actually could be the key to the series

17:52

in deserves of I don't know if this um

17:54

the Calves have the guard's depth to contain

17:57

him. I just think the Celtics starting lineup

17:59

just there starting lineup has a lot of offensive weapons.

18:02

They're just offense hasn't been that good, but I think

18:04

they can win individual battles, especially

18:06

against the Calves defense, which is not great

18:09

right, But at the same time, the Calves have played

18:11

improved defense in the playoffs here and

18:13

Boston's offense is by far the worst

18:16

that they've faced in the postseason. Um.

18:19

To answer your question, yes, Trisan, Thompson absolutely

18:22

can stay with Al Horford on the perimeter. One

18:24

of the things that made Thompson so valuable was

18:26

even though he wasn't a spectacular rim protector.

18:29

Um, he was somebody that could switch on

18:31

too guards and switch onto wings and

18:34

stick with them for a possession or two. Now

18:36

he's lost a little bit of that mobility

18:38

with all the injuries he's dealt with, but

18:41

he can still stick with Al Horford in those situations.

18:43

And if you look at the

18:45

impact stats when Thompson's on the court

18:48

Horford, it's not just about limiting

18:50

his individual scoring, because Horford

18:53

isn't exactly a high volume score although

18:55

at times this postseason he's certainly shown that

18:57

he can be that guy. But

19:00

Horford averages as many turnovers as assists

19:03

in those minutes, his aggressive, his

19:05

ness is way down. He's not taking shots, he's

19:07

not really passing the ball. It just

19:09

kind of neutralizes him. And I agree

19:11

with you that Tatum and Brown have really

19:13

come into their own Tatum especially,

19:15

I think I think

19:18

Lebron is probably going to spend time in those

19:20

lineups on Brown rather

19:23

than Tatum. Um. I think

19:25

you you probably want to have your your better defender

19:27

on UM Jason Tatum,

19:29

Like I think you're probably gonna

19:31

put j R. Smith on him or George Hill at times.

19:34

UM. But yeah, I think

19:37

if Horford's being neutralized and you have Baines

19:39

out there to kind of negate the rebounding,

19:42

I think that that really cloggs the

19:44

paint for Boston Slashers like

19:47

that. That would be my concern that even

19:49

though those guys have shown that they can be dynamic

19:51

and make an impact, if

19:54

the paint's clogged and Horford's

19:56

not really himself, I just

19:58

don't buy that they're they're going be able to generate

20:00

offense. Yeah, you would have

20:02

to imagine that the counter would be putting in

20:05

Um Marcus Morris and going small

20:07

and so just having ah, I

20:09

guess a Rosier Brown Tatum,

20:13

Marcus Morris and Horford and trying to go small and

20:15

shooting that way, and that's kind of the Celtics

20:17

downfalls. They're not but then then

20:19

you're running into the Trisan Thompson problem, right,

20:22

yeah, and that's gonna be like the matchup of

20:24

of I think

20:26

the entire game is just then you're giving up offensive

20:29

rebounding and so um

20:31

it. Yeah, it's it's concerning for

20:33

the Celtics, I would say, but yeah,

20:36

it turns out when you when you get to the conference

20:38

finals, there are concerns

20:41

that these teams that meet in this

20:43

late in the season typically have things

20:46

that are very hard to counter. And and on

20:48

the flip side, one of my concerns

20:50

going into this series is what Al Horford can

20:52

do to Kevin Love because

20:54

Indiana that young did

20:56

an absolutely fantastic job neutralizing

20:58

Love. Some of that had to do with him

21:01

um tearing his thumb in

21:03

Game two, but still like

21:05

the way that he was able to stick with Love

21:08

is completely different than against

21:11

Toronto, where you have Jonas Valancunis or Yakam

21:14

Pearle that that just simply aren't able

21:16

to go out there. And when Toronto would go

21:18

smaller um, Love would just

21:20

be able to abuse them in the post. Horford

21:22

doesn't have that issue. Like Horford can go out

21:25

on the perimeter and defend them there. He can provide

21:27

good post defense. And I

21:29

think if you neutralize Love to an

21:31

extent, that really starts

21:33

to open up the window for Boston

21:35

to steal a couple of games here. Yeah,

21:38

it seems like Love is going to be a Love is scoring

21:40

is going to be very important UM

21:43

for this series. But I was just thinking about, uh

21:46

so, ideally if they the Calves bringing

21:48

Tristan Thompson, the Celtics bring in Aaron Baines,

21:51

that leaves Horford on Love. If

21:53

you're imagining that scenario that Tristan Thompson

21:56

is guarding Horford, who who's guarding Aaron

21:58

Baines And as like Kevin

22:00

Love, Oh yeah, Love would be fine there, Like

22:03

Love is a good post defender UM.

22:06

And I I don't think bains

22:08

is really going to beat him in space, which

22:10

is your your only real concern. It's

22:13

not gonna beat him in space, no, But I just it just feels

22:15

like Aaron Ban's is so much bigger than Kevin Love. And maybe that's

22:17

just biased and because I hate Kevin Love, but

22:20

it might be a bit of that. But like the has have been

22:23

able to get away with that in the past against

22:25

far more more skilled centers.

22:28

Um. Like Love did actually a pretty

22:30

good job, Like there was that stretching in Game

22:33

one where valutunists Um. He

22:35

hit quite a few shots UM,

22:37

but overall his percentage wasn't that high. And

22:39

over the course of the series, Loved did a good job

22:42

against him in the post um and

22:44

really stepped up defensively. In the past,

22:46

He's done well against Andre Drummond in the post

22:49

like I if

22:51

you're posting up Aaron Bains, I,

22:54

I just don't know if you're going to generate

22:56

good offense there not often

22:58

for the Celicacy. That's not a phoe of emphasis

23:01

point for them, right right, And

23:04

I think to an extent, like that's one of

23:06

the things that you hope that you can do from a

23:08

defensive standpoint, especially if you have weaknesses

23:10

like Cleveland, if you can get another

23:13

team to abandon their offense and all

23:15

of a sudden start hunting for those kind

23:17

of matchup things where oh Beans is

23:19

bigger than Love, like let's go to the post there.

23:21

Um. I think you take that as a defense.

23:24

But on the other hand, I don't

23:26

think that Boston would end up doing that like that.

23:28

That wouldn't be a concern for me on

23:30

either end, Like I don't think Baines is that big

23:32

of a threat and I don't think that that's something that Stevens

23:35

is going to do. So do you

23:37

think Thompson is an offensive liability

23:39

for the for the Calves? Like, what's the downside of

23:41

playing him? Why has he not been getting minutes

23:44

at all? Well, he's been getting more minutes

23:46

now. Health and his ability

23:48

to actually perform consistently have been

23:51

the main reasons why he's kind of fallen out of the rotation

23:53

at times this year. Um,

23:56

I think that there's the potential for him to be an

23:58

offensive liability, like there was there

24:01

were times against Toronto where they're

24:04

deploying Thompson with Jordan Clarkson,

24:07

Rodney Hood, Jeff Green and

24:09

someone else. Like, if that's those

24:12

four are on the court together, you're

24:14

gonna have a lot of issues offensively, Which

24:16

is why I've been in favor of starting

24:18

Thompson because if you're

24:21

playing Thompson alongside

24:23

love lebron Hill and j R.

24:27

You're you're gonna be able to still generate offense,

24:29

like Thompson is going to be able to set

24:31

good screens for Lebron, and you have three shooters

24:33

spacing like that is still a deadly

24:35

plan. And even if you're if

24:38

you have Horford guarding Thompson in that scenario

24:40

and laying off him, all of a sudden, you have Horford

24:42

and Lebron in space. Like I think

24:45

that that's a beneficial situation. I don't

24:47

know if Tyron lewis going to go with that. Uh,

24:49

he typically doesn't change his lineups unless

24:51

it's after a loss. Um,

24:54

but I think if he's going to play, he needs to play

24:56

with shooters. Yeah.

24:58

I mean, I think that's the key to the the whole series is

25:01

having shooters around, Um, Lebron,

25:03

James and so if you're gonna play

25:05

a non shooter in Tristan Thompson, you better

25:08

the other three players better be shooters as well.

25:10

I just think the Celtics, Uh, their defense

25:13

I've we've been having this debate on locked

25:16

on Celtics is how do you stop the calves.

25:18

The calves this main strength as they can just

25:20

they can put up points. Specifically,

25:22

there's this Lebron James fellow who's quite good at

25:25

that. And so if you're the Celtics,

25:27

if you're um my, my

25:29

guru and my president Brad Stevens,

25:31

how would you try and stop Lebron James. I

25:34

wouldn't. I would I would

25:36

um No, I'm dead serious. I

25:39

would allow him to go off,

25:41

stay home on all the shooters and

25:43

just go that route. That's exactly

25:45

what my co host John Caralis argued

25:47

last night is just let him. You have to

25:49

guard him one on one and stay on the shooters the entire

25:52

time, which is this what the Celtics basically did

25:54

with Ben Simmons. It's just Lebron James is like

25:57

thirty thousand times better than Ben Simmons,

25:59

right, and he's going to make the right reads and he

26:01

has more to his game. Um.

26:04

In some ways, it's funny, like Boston

26:06

going up against the honest and Simmons and Lebron

26:09

Like it's almost like you move

26:11

backwards on the evolutionary chart and then

26:13

all of a sudden you like leaped right

26:15

up to the front of it, like it's

26:18

a completely different scenario. But

26:20

I think, yeah, what what you

26:22

need to do is basically not

26:25

allow him to pick apart your defense

26:27

and and it'll be interesting to see

26:29

what type of sets Boston runs

26:31

because I'm I'm fairly sure

26:33

that Lebron with all this time off, he's been studying

26:36

Boston on film, like he

26:38

he's going to be ready. He's going to know their plays

26:40

and he's going to know what they do defensively,

26:43

and they're going to have to throw some new looks

26:45

and things they haven't run this season. Um,

26:47

if they're really going to catch him off guard. That's

26:50

why it's coach versus player, Stevens

26:52

versus the Lebron, it's brain versus brain.

26:54

It's a fantastic series, right

26:56

with where Stevens has absolutely nothing

26:58

to lose, because even if they swept, it's

27:01

okay, well we had all these guys out. I

27:03

know, it's awesome. The narrative going in is

27:05

that the Celtics should have never been here.

27:08

Uh, anything with you after this is gravy.

27:11

And for the Calves it's like, oh,

27:13

if you lose, Lebron is probably gonna leave.

27:16

Right, It's wonderful. I'm so I'm

27:18

loving it right now, you're really playing

27:20

with house money. And to me it's funny because

27:23

I think the situation is going to be Mirrod again

27:25

next year when the Calves trade for Paul

27:27

George and c J McCallum. You'll

27:29

see this earlier. How are they getting these

27:32

uh, these players love for love for

27:34

love for c J. The pick for Paul George.

27:36

You're You're fine. Paul George is going through the Chris

27:38

Paul often to the last year

27:40

of his deal and then get traded over because

27:43

if he's leaving, hey, why not take the Brooklyn

27:45

pick? Yeah,

27:47

that's fair. And you're you legitimately

27:49

think these are this is gonna happen. You have no

27:51

worries about Lebron uh signing

27:53

with the Houston Rockets or the Lakers or

27:56

somewhere else. I think if he's

27:58

signing anywhere, be Philly, yeah,

28:01

that would suck. I mean, I've

28:04

heard a few times now Lee Jenkins talked about

28:06

Brian Windors talked about it um

28:09

that Houston probably doesn't want

28:11

to get their team to to sign Lebron

28:14

Um. He's not going to San Antonio because

28:16

I don't think there's as much as

28:18

he was using a situation over there right now. Yeah,

28:21

and as much as he respects Pop, I don't think he'd ever

28:23

want to play for pop um

28:25

l A. I mean, sure that's a team

28:27

that exists, um, but definitely

28:30

does exist. But Lebron

28:32

traditionally has not valued young players

28:34

or at least players that braw. Like

28:37

Philly at least they have young talent, but like

28:40

those guys are far more polished and

28:43

they have it's it's a more clear

28:46

path, especially in the Eastern Conference. Um.

28:49

Yeah, I I leaned towards

28:51

him staying, but ultimately

28:54

you never know with Lebron. Um.

28:56

I definitely think it's good to have a

28:58

run this late because you're not giving him time to

29:01

just sit at home and create a new super

29:03

team somewhere. Do you think

29:05

if the Cavaliers win, they have any chance against

29:07

the Rockets or the Warriors? Rockets, yes,

29:10

um, Warriors know. Yeah,

29:12

that's the thing is just like all of this is gonna come down is

29:14

the Warriors winning again. And it's like right,

29:17

and I think in season, but we all knew

29:19

this was gonna happen. And I think the Warriors are going to

29:21

beat the Rockets in five. Um. But

29:23

if for some reason, let's say Steph

29:26

reaggravates his ankle and or

29:28

or something weird happens in Houston gets

29:30

through, I will take two All Stars, whereas two All stars

29:32

when Lebron is on this side. Um,

29:35

but yeah, you cut

29:37

me off before I got to my point, which is Kyrie

29:40

leaving after next season that the

29:42

cast could send him home and Kyrie's

29:44

backing up. I mean, do we do

29:47

this? Alids really need it with Terry Rosier a better

29:49

defender. No, no, no, no no,

29:51

but they're they're gonna let Terry walk because they're

29:53

going to keep smart, keep

29:55

up, keep up, keep up with my narratives. If

29:59

Kyrie is leave and it's upset because

30:01

he's, uh, Terry Rozier has taken

30:03

his role, I think the crazy

30:05

thing is I just don't I can't see a world in which

30:07

Kyrie is leaving. I actually think been

30:09

there, bro, there

30:13

bro, I

30:15

just think him. I'm like totally believe in his like

30:17

weird connection with Brad Stevens.

30:20

The entire Kyrie is such a weird dude.

30:22

But all of his his comments about

30:24

like his appreciation of Brad Stevens

30:27

and his connect like hit the aura and

30:29

the connection and the chakras around Brad

30:31

Stevens and like there how much

30:33

they've grown together. It would be really

30:35

difficult for look up. Look up his comments

30:38

after the Cats were eliminated in the finals.

30:40

Kyrie was basically like moved to tears

30:42

talking about how much it means to play alongside

30:44

Lebron. I can't wait to spend

30:47

like the next few years with him. Blah blah

30:49

blah blah blah. I've learned so much, We've come

30:51

so far. Um, Gary is

30:53

a weird dude. Do do you ever think he's going

30:55

to be the face of the franchise there? Because

30:58

that was that's part to the narrative

31:00

that it was always going to be Lebron's team

31:03

and Boston is always going to be Brad Stevens

31:05

team. Do you do you think that that may end up

31:07

being an issue at some point? No,

31:09

because Brad Stevens, like is the most deflects

31:12

all attention from him at all times

31:14

and he's immediately trying to put on the players that

31:17

he was asked about it in the pregame about the coaches vote,

31:19

he said he would vote for the twenty nine other

31:21

coaches ahead of him, Like it actually makes him

31:23

square like squeamish to

31:25

talk about him being good whatsoever.

31:29

He is one of the biggest like Midwestern

31:32

robots just just put on this earth to

31:34

coach basketball. Uh. He's absolutely

31:36

a nerd and it's fantastic. Um,

31:39

But he's the type of guy who's just not going to

31:41

take credit whatsoever and put it back on the players.

31:43

I mean, yes, he's going to get credit. I don't know if is

31:46

Kyrie petty enough to be like the coach is getting

31:48

credit. But I'm also playing

31:50

well and he's going to maximize my talent and

31:52

make me the best player possible. I

31:55

mean, if

31:57

you remove the word coach with

31:59

lebron Um, I think

32:01

that there's a case for that. But it's also about what his

32:03

dad wants, Like that's a big thing with Harry's

32:06

dad. Well, yeah, it's important. Import

32:09

Al Horford is a great father.

32:11

Jayson Tatum is an amazing father. Your father

32:13

is important to the Celtics. I'm

32:16

mostly screwing around with you. I think

32:18

I'd like to throw conspiracies out there because

32:21

no one keeps track of whether or not you're right. It's

32:23

the best thing about the Internet. But if you are

32:25

right, you get to be really obnoxious about it. Like

32:28

when I was pitching back in two thousand twelve, I

32:30

was bugging Matt Moore all the time. Well,

32:32

you know, Lebron had a handshake deal with Dan

32:34

Gilbert. He's coming back in the Cows

32:36

are gonna win in t And

32:39

did you did you know that? Or is it just a crack

32:41

pot theory then that you happen to win on it

32:44

was? It was a crack pock theory. I don't

32:46

have sources. Uh, Dann

32:49

Dan Lipshits or whatever his name is, like

32:51

like to bug me about my sources, But no,

32:54

it's it's crack pot theories. I don't

32:56

I don't know anything. I'm all four crackpot

32:59

theories. Yeah. Yeah, and

33:01

it's fun. And I mean Kyrie

33:03

is for Caz fans. Kyrie

33:06

is always going to be beloved. I

33:08

don't know if that sentiment is going to

33:10

be shared by Lebron fans, but um

33:13

he made the shot in game seven, right,

33:16

and and he's also the reason Lebron came

33:18

back. And if he kept it

33:20

all off with leaving Boston after

33:22

two years, that that would be something

33:24

special. You guys would love that. That would

33:26

be something special. But um, I I

33:28

do appreciate that just like Lebron

33:31

falling apart in two thousand eleven gave us

33:34

that postseason to kind of recover

33:36

and adjust to life without

33:39

him. I do appreciate that Kyrie.

33:41

Hopefully he bounces back and gets healthy.

33:43

I do appreciate that he is out because this

33:46

series would be way too

33:48

emotional seeing him on the other side this

33:50

soon after. Oh my god, it would be

33:52

absolutely insane. Uh,

33:54

because I already think it's gonna be a pretty intense series,

33:57

but you added Kyrie coming back to Cleveland,

33:59

it would be absolutely wild.

34:02

And I don't know how Kyrie exactly

34:04

would Uh. They definitely could use

34:06

his offense. But the thing about

34:09

Kyrie is like him going out has

34:11

not hurt their defense whatsoever, and

34:13

that's why they're winning basketball games is because they

34:16

have the best defense in the league. But he

34:18

is actually like the fact Terry

34:20

Rozier has played more has helped their defense, and

34:23

so it's he definitely

34:25

have a huge impact because he's Kyrie Irving. He's

34:27

like an amazing offensive basketball player.

34:29

But um

34:32

hm, I definitely appreciate if he's absolutely

34:34

like wizard watching Kyrie Irving live

34:37

and like just when he does his dribble

34:39

moves and like the excitement, the

34:42

like the actual aura that comes over

34:44

the crowd is one of the most like entertaining things

34:46

in sports. He's a violent ball

34:48

handler, he absolutely

34:50

is, and he's a wizard.

34:53

It seems like he's moving before the

34:55

ball is and he's like decides after the fact

34:57

where the ball is going, and it's constant improvisation.

35:00

He's amazing and his ability to finish

35:02

is absolutely amazing. So I'm not I don't want to denigrate

35:05

Kyrie every whatsoever. Um,

35:07

I'm very excited to see him with Gordon Hayward

35:09

and Al Horford and the emergence

35:11

of um Jalen and

35:13

Jayson Tatum. Because when we got

35:16

five minutes of it against you guys,

35:18

and then but the preseason, oh, you should

35:20

have seen the ball movement in the preseason. That was the

35:22

best offense I've ever seen. The preseason

35:25

Celtics this year were amazing. And

35:27

I'm very excited for the return of

35:29

Gordon Hayward because I think

35:31

Gordon Hayward is the most would be the best player

35:34

on the Celtics just in terms of he

35:36

his general scoring and his ability to play two

35:38

ways and he's plays on the wing. Um,

35:42

I think Gordon Hayward is the key to everything.

35:44

He is like Brad Stevens is

35:46

a coaching robot made in the Midwest, and

35:48

Gordon Hayward is the basketball playing robot

35:51

built by robot Brad Stevens. Like

35:53

you put those two together. The Celtics,

35:55

That's what I'm the most excited for. OZ. Yes, Kyrie's

35:58

returned, but Kyrie and Gordon

36:00

Hayward is going to be uh amazing.

36:02

I like, I think the Celtics are no

36:04

matter what happens. I think the prohibitive favorites

36:06

to win the East next year. The Great

36:08

White Hopes joining forces. Absolutely,

36:12

it's the Midwest, It's Indiana coming after

36:14

you. I love it. Now. You

36:16

said that you do predict that this

36:18

is going to be a hard fought

36:21

series. Now to me, I

36:24

really do think that this time off benefit

36:26

of the Calves because they are old

36:28

and wounded and they really

36:31

needed some damn practice time together. They

36:34

went into the post season with Game eight three

36:36

being their first game with the full roster, and

36:38

of course George Hill goes down and Kevin Love

36:40

gets hurt in Game two against Indiana, and

36:43

as a result of those things, that series

36:45

drags on for way too long. Um.

36:47

But I do think as the postseason UM

36:50

kind of progresses you start to see

36:52

the Calves implementing more sets, they get

36:54

comfortable with one another. Um, I

36:57

think that they're they're going to try to hopefully

37:00

breathed some life into Jordan Clarkson

37:02

and Rodney Hood, who

37:04

had good stretches for them, but um,

37:07

just haven't shown up yet in the playoffs.

37:10

But I think already with He'll

37:14

love Lebron Corver Jr.

37:17

And even Thompson and Jeff

37:19

Green too. Can't forget about Uncle Jeff.

37:22

All those guys that are now playing

37:24

pretty well and playing good basketball

37:27

with one another. I'm

37:29

just not confident that Boston can score

37:31

enough to keep up with them. And and for

37:33

that reason, I do think that this series

37:35

is going four maybe five,

37:38

maybe five. And um,

37:41

maybe this is an overcorrection because

37:43

I picked Toronto and you did come

37:46

off four games where you just basically humiliated

37:48

a franchise, So I understand the confidence,

37:50

right, and and the team that frankly I

37:52

thought is a lot better

37:54

than Boston. Like I wasn't impressed

37:57

with Milwaukee or Philly going in, so Boston

37:59

handling them way they did, uh

38:02

didn't move me a whole lot. And I

38:04

just think Toronto is a more

38:06

well balanced team, and they were better team throughout

38:08

the season, especially with all the injuries

38:10

Boston's had. So for those reasons, While

38:13

I do think that Boston can present some

38:15

unique challenges defensively, I just

38:17

don't buy that they can score enough. I

38:20

think home court advantage actually

38:22

will impact this game. If you look at the split switching

38:25

home and road and the Celtics field

38:27

goal percentage, it's insane.

38:29

They're just so much better at scoring on the road.

38:31

I mean, wow, completely got that one wrong,

38:34

scoring at home. I

38:36

definitely agree that Boston's home court advantage

38:38

is really important. But my question for you would be

38:41

how many players on Boston's active

38:43

roster right now have more

38:46

playoff wins at

38:48

T D Garden than lebron Um.

38:52

Maybe Marcus Smart, but you're probably you've

38:54

probably prepractice statistic and just

38:56

ready no, I don't have stats ready. I'm

38:59

not just saying like, I think

39:01

that that was definitely a factor. Like you saw, I

39:03

think arson Elio Silva was commenting

39:05

about how different it was at TV Garden

39:08

Um versus Miami, which

39:11

I mean Miami's Miami Um.

39:14

But I think that that's something that can phase

39:16

younger teams. But you're

39:18

obviously not gonna face Lebron James. But

39:20

I just think it's it's it's

39:22

not gonna face Love, It's not going to face

39:25

Jr. Like there's a lot of guys on that team

39:27

that that have been in Boston

39:29

for big playoff games. It was

39:31

more important for the Celtics own shot

39:33

making. Uh. Like that's

39:36

what it boils down to that the Celtics

39:38

uh the past two years really um

39:41

because of a lot of what the Brat Stevens offense is

39:43

is not focused around one player. It's around

39:46

just like motion offense

39:48

and trying to get like open looks

39:50

um pretty much forever anyone. It's just constant

39:52

movement. You end up with like a lot of players

39:54

taking uh a lot of not

39:57

great jump shooters taking a lot of shots. You have

39:59

your Mark smarts, you're Aaron

40:01

Baines, um, and so

40:03

it's just I think just natural tendencies.

40:06

You play better in like an environment you're more confident

40:08

in. But it feels really apparent for the cething.

40:11

So I don't think it's necessarily gonna phase Lebron

40:14

James or Lebron James team, but it does feel

40:16

like important at least from a Celtics perspective,

40:18

just in terms of their offense, Oh for

40:20

sure. I mean role players

40:22

typically play better at home. Um,

40:24

Like that's one thing that we've just consistently

40:27

seen and I do think how

40:29

Boston kind of comes. It's basically,

40:31

uh, they're very talented,

40:33

but the way they play is there's just like it's equally

40:35

distribution. There is no star that defer to

40:38

everyone. There's like a different player who shows

40:40

up each game, and there's no real game

40:42

plan going into like who

40:44

that is going to be. It kind of like kind of

40:46

emerges a different game based on who's hot.

40:48

I mean that's a that's a real polite way to say that there

40:50

are a team of role players. Uh,

40:53

they are. They

40:55

are at this point. There's no like true

40:57

stars on the team. I think is

41:00

going to be quite good. I think Jalen Brown is gonna be

41:03

quite good. I think al Horford is an

41:05

amazing and incredibly valuable player,

41:07

but there's no dominant superstar. Jason

41:09

Tatum is just absolutely absurd,

41:11

Like he is so polished for his agent

41:13

it's disgusting. I'm I'm a huge

41:16

fan of Tatum. He has just

41:18

been amazing the entire year. Like

41:20

then we do a Daily Celtics podcast

41:22

and the amount of time we just spent gushing

41:25

about this nineteen and now twenty year old

41:27

boy is hilarious.

41:30

But that's basically all we talk about

41:32

because he has just been great, like

41:35

at every step of the way, even in games where

41:37

he hasn't scored, he's been getting rebounds and

41:39

playing pretty solid defense. And

41:41

his coming on as of late in the especially

41:44

in the playoffs. His ability to attack

41:46

the basket and get around players and finish

41:49

around the rim with his length has been amazing.

41:52

It's just like there's a lot of times which just like doesn't make

41:54

sense what he does. Um, and

41:56

I've been nothing but please with Jayson Tatum

41:59

so far. So I gave you

42:01

my prediction for the series. Where do you think that this

42:03

is going to go? Um?

42:05

I would say I would have to go Celtics

42:08

and seven, But I don't know that that's

42:10

what my heart says. My head doesn't

42:12

believe it. My head says Lebron James is the best player

42:14

in the league and we're probably going to be Calves in six.

42:17

So I'm gonna hedge and say Calves

42:19

in six or Celtics and seven. I

42:21

just have this belief in the Celtics that they are

42:24

going to be in the game. Uh,

42:26

They're going to execute, They're going to play smart,

42:29

They're not They're gonna control what they control. They're

42:31

going to play like Brad Stevens uh

42:34

wants them to play. And they're generally

42:36

just played solid basketball. And they

42:38

have the best defense in the league. They've had the best defense

42:41

in the league for the entire year. Uh.

42:43

That that alone is going to keep them relatively

42:46

in games. And I think we've seen

42:48

that the against I mean are like

42:50

are yes, the Bucks are very stupid,

42:52

and Joe Prunty is uh they

42:55

just played dumb basketball, and

42:57

and the sevent sixers are quite young. So

42:59

the salting uh like poise

43:01

clearly was displayed against them. But I

43:03

think that counts for something. They're going to be close.

43:06

I just don't see them being blown out. It's

43:08

just not something that's happened to them, uh really

43:10

at all this year. And so I think the something

43:13

is going to be in in most of these

43:15

games are going to be close. Uh.

43:17

And I just have this, like

43:19

we say, Kai's end, which is the

43:21

what's up in the Celtics weight room. It's what Brad Stevens

43:24

preaches it me. It's Japanese for like incremental

43:26

progress, getting better each day,

43:29

and it's uh, it's kind of the cult of Brad Stevens

43:31

that I've I've subscribed to. I've given my life

43:33

to to follow dear leader Brad,

43:35

and I'm not gonna stop believing in him now. And

43:38

if the season, or if this series

43:40

was four or five games with the bulk of it

43:43

being uncompetitive, would that change

43:45

even a fraction of your belief in Stevens,

43:48

Well, no, because then you'd be focusing on the results

43:50

instead of the process. And really, you go

43:52

back and you'd watch it what happened, and you learn

43:55

from it. And that's part of the Brad Stevens

43:57

growth mindset is you you've got to control what you

43:59

can control, and so then

44:01

you just move on the next season. Then there's a new goal,

44:03

and you learn from what you your mistakes, and you

44:06

just move on trying to get a little bit better each

44:08

day and just become a little bit better of a basketball

44:10

player, and eventually that will lead

44:12

you to true salvation. I dig it, I

44:15

dig it. Now. Before we wrap this up,

44:17

Erringham grievances, I'm going to give you the

44:19

floor here you have at it. I

44:22

don't have any Like a lot

44:24

of Grievers says, I wanted to bring up your your

44:27

very quick to say a Boston

44:29

is racist joke, and I would say

44:32

percent of the time they're good jokes. And

44:36

the part of the reason we get along is because we both

44:38

realized that the internet is for fun and

44:40

being mad online is just so

44:43

not worth it, and so we laugh at the other jokes.

44:45

But um, as a Bostonian, I

44:47

generally I don't side with the people

44:50

who get very very defensive about Boston

44:52

racist jokes, because the main thing

44:54

is Boston is racist, is like a very

44:56

segregated city is

44:58

racist. Like. But I

45:00

think my problem with it is that by

45:03

identifying Boston, you

45:05

let like the rest of America

45:07

and society in general off the hook, because

45:10

I know you don't live in Cleveland, but Cleveland is

45:12

just as racist, like everywhere else

45:14

is pretty racist, Like the Cleveland Police Department.

45:17

I'm pretty sure it's currently under like federal control

45:20

because they were doing unconstitutional racially

45:22

biased policing. So I just don't want

45:25

the rest of America to get not

45:27

get shame for their racism. You don't

45:30

have to focus on Boston because of course they're racist.

45:32

They're in America. The thing

45:34

for me is, I'm always looking for the source

45:36

of easy jokes and as

45:38

you as you and as you'll

45:40

often see online, like when

45:43

you don't know a whole lot about cities, you go off

45:45

of the stereotype. So a lot of people will make fun of

45:47

Cleveland for okay, the river caught on

45:49

fire, or it's like, um,

45:52

the Cleveland tourism video, like that's

45:55

that's where you go for Cleveland jokes. And

45:57

each city kind of has those defining traits.

46:00

And I've never been to Boston. I don't know anything

46:02

about Boston, but that's what I've been told

46:04

and that's what gets a reaction.

46:07

So for that reason, that's where I'm going

46:09

to go for those jokes. Now on on

46:11

a serious note, um, I

46:13

think you're your larger point is right where that

46:16

it is prominent in

46:18

every city, Like I think that that's something that's

46:21

consistent issue. Like there was mcclean's

46:24

is a big art magazine

46:26

company in Canada, and it did a feature

46:28

on Winnipeg as the most racist city in

46:31

Canada and that is

46:33

mostly a result of the treatment of

46:35

the First Nations community. Uh, within

46:38

the city, which I think is absolutely

46:40

appalling. It's a it's a completely it's

46:43

such a complex and awful situation

46:46

and and it breaks my heart, especially because Winnipeg

46:48

is such a multicultural city. We

46:50

have big events where, um,

46:53

all these different cultures. Uh for

46:55

two weeks everyone puts on a pavilion

46:57

showing off their own culture. As you go there, you

46:59

experience the music, you eat the food, and

47:02

to see how those issues are are

47:04

there in the city and and those deep seated

47:06

issues, like it breaks

47:08

my heart. And I'll whenever there's a serious

47:11

issue, i will point stuff out and

47:14

I'll try to call it out. And I

47:16

think that it's important that we all do that. But

47:18

at the same time, like when it comes to making

47:21

Twitter jokes, Um, if you've

47:23

got to go for the joke. If I see all

47:25

of a sudden, it's, um,

47:27

Boston scored a hundred points. That's a

47:29

free Uh

47:31

what was it not? Pizza Pizza, Papa

47:34

John's, Papa John's pizza. If you use promo

47:36

code smart And I'm like, I'm

47:38

just sitting there, and it was right after the Papa John

47:40

scandal. Like it's like the universe just throws

47:43

me these lobs, and I can't not

47:45

finish them. Um So I

47:48

think you're larger point is very important and I

47:50

do see why that would be annoying to you.

47:52

Um oh no, But don't get me wrong. I ged I

47:55

appreciate jokes, jokes over everything,

47:57

right, and I try to at least be a little bit creative

48:00

with it. I don't promise creativity. I'm

48:02

not the smartest person on the planet. Not

48:04

what Twitter is for. Twitter's just we're firing off

48:07

whatever, Like yeah, of course you're gonna try and be

48:09

funny, but uh, you're just it's

48:11

volume shooting at this point, right, And

48:13

nobody finds me funnier than myself. So as long

48:15

as I'm keeping myself laughing like that, ultimately,

48:18

that's that's the main goal. Some of someone

48:20

of my best tweets I think just go like

48:22

completely ignored. And then I just have dumb tweets

48:24

where I just like tweets something in all caps and like,

48:27

oh Celtics Twitter loves that,

48:29

and I just think those are stupid. Can

48:31

can we talk about weird Celtics Twitter? Oh,

48:34

let's talk about weird Celtics Twitter, because

48:36

you want to know. Sometimes

48:39

I think it's funny sometimes I think

48:43

I think it's a little overrated. I'm

48:45

I'm gonna be upfronte with that. I don't think it's as

48:48

creative as it can be. I think you guys can take it to

48:50

a different level. I

48:52

think it, Uh, it's the

48:54

best thing in the world. Uh,

48:57

it's just insane and it doesn't really make

48:59

any sense. Um. And from

49:02

an outsider's perspective, I can totally see

49:04

where it's just it's completely

49:06

nonsense, but it's kind of embraced

49:08

the nonsense there and again we're

49:11

mostly about volume there. Um.

49:13

But it's just completely weird thing and it's basically

49:16

just one guy, uh, the riffs

49:18

man, Herbert of Riffs, Like

49:20

that guy is basically just like a taste maker

49:23

and what what

49:25

is cool and what is not and what is like having

49:27

a good time, and we just he's

49:29

kind of like the social leader. He's a part of the

49:32

cult of Brad Stevens. I would say he's his own cult.

49:34

But it's also weird because weird Celtics Twitter

49:36

also has this like everyone else

49:38

has their like they have their Celtics tweets

49:40

and then they're all just like these bunch of leftists

49:43

who are just like constantly tweeting about socialist

49:47

politics and so it's a it's an interesting

49:49

read. Definitely on the timeline, I

49:51

would say I'm not deeply

49:54

involved in Celtic Twitter. I'm more of a curator. I

49:56

pull out the best. But the people who are really involved

49:58

in it are like posting me every

50:00

single day and are constantly doing new photoshops

50:03

and new new stuff like that. Uh,

50:05

it's impressive. They they're constantly turning out

50:07

the great content. My

50:10

my hot take is that they can do better. But I guess

50:12

you know what if you get appreciation of it, like

50:14

that's that's the main thing, like that every

50:17

maybe maybe it's maybe we're we're talking

50:19

about the jealousy where I feel like every

50:21

every team's Twitter has its own thing

50:24

and then all of a sudden, this one's given the spotlight.

50:27

So what is Calves Twitter? Tell me about

50:29

it? Is it like it's just Lebron

50:31

versus the actual Calves fans, like Lebron

50:34

fans versus Cavs fans. No, we

50:36

we just kind of we exist are in our own little

50:38

corner um. I mean the

50:40

peak was obviously the four years where

50:42

things were awful. We're just making our

50:44

own jokes to get by UM with

50:48

shout out to c S, a Vian who Um

50:51

said that if Anthony Bennett would ever score

50:53

double digits in a game, he tattooed his box

50:55

scored to his face. We had people

50:57

been it now part of the red clause, looking

51:00

forward to his comeback next year. Shout out

51:02

to the Fat Mamba. Um. We we

51:04

just just tons of tons of weird

51:06

crap like that. But it's the

51:09

pressure of championship expectations really

51:13

changes the way that your team's

51:15

Twitter looks. But Sam, I really

51:17

do appreciate you coming on and helping

51:20

provide what I think is a pretty good look

51:22

at this series. I think we've covered a lot of different

51:24

topics and and some of the uh,

51:27

the animosity that exists between

51:29

our two teams. Yeah, but I think

51:31

we handled it with class and

51:33

grace because we are just better

51:35

than most of the people on the internet who are are

51:38

terrible. We at least can identify

51:40

good jokes and laugh at them. So I'm happy

51:42

to be here. It was fun to be clear,

51:45

to be clear, you are terrible, and I amn't terrible.

51:47

Like it's so yeah, don't

51:49

don't elevate yourself. I'm not I'm not

51:51

looking for that. Oh no, I'm just

51:53

saying, um, well, there's

51:56

levels of terrible, and I would say we're the

51:58

least terrible at least teams of

52:00

just general people. I'm just trying to get you a compliment.

52:03

And I'm vain. I'm vain enough to believe in

52:05

myself. I have that confidence. As much

52:07

as I love attention, I'm terrible with compliments.

52:09

So I'll thank you for that. Um.

52:11

Thank you again to our listeners. You guys

52:13

have been awesome. Check out Locked

52:16

on Celtics. Uh, Sam's

52:18

on there, You've got j King, John Corralis,

52:21

um, so check them out. Remember,

52:24

subscribe, leave a rating, leave a review.

52:27

You can also email us at Chase down Pod

52:29

dot com at gmail dot com

52:31

dot dot com. Oh,

52:33

it's been a long day, it's been a long week. I'm ready

52:35

for basketball to start. So thanks to Sam,

52:38

Thanks to our listeners. Until next time, Go

52:40

Cat.