0:06

Now off would me folks on Boston's

0:08

second twenty point win in

0:10

the first three games of this first

0:13

round series against the Miami Heat. Listen

0:15

during this game, Saturday night down

0:17

to Miami, Game three, the Celtics

0:20

needed it, and they dominated

0:22

it from start to finish. They jumped out

0:24

to a twelve to three lead early on.

0:26

They never trailed for a single

0:29

second of this game. They led

0:32

by as many as twenty nine and wound

0:34

up cruising to a two to one series

0:37

lead. There were two major

0:39

changes in this game that I saw

0:41

early on that told me that

0:43

things were gonna be different, very

0:46

different on this night than

0:48

what we saw on Wednesday in

0:50

Game two up in Boston. Those

0:52

things were that Christas Porzingis

0:55

was back in a rhythm and Boston's

0:57

defense got back to

1:00

being elite, which it was all

1:02

season long, as at ranked number two in the

1:04

entire NBA in defensive rating.

1:07

Porzingis struggled in

1:10

Game two. He admitted it. He talked

1:12

about it after that game, he

1:14

talked about it at practice the next

1:16

day on Thursday, and he was

1:18

ready to redeem himself

1:20

in this game. And that's exactly what he did.

1:23

After shooting one for nine and

1:25

scoring just six points. In

1:27

game two. He

1:29

came out and scored eighteen

1:32

on only nine shots. In Game

1:34

three. He was totally in

1:37

rhythm from the get go, and you could see

1:39

it early on that he was feeling good. He

1:41

bangs home Boston's first basket of

1:43

the night. That's a three pointer from

1:45

straight away on an assist from

1:47

a teammate driving kick that led

1:49

to his shot at the top of the arc. He

1:52

took three shots in the first three minutes of

1:54

this game, including two,

1:56

no doubt or threes, so you

1:58

could just see it in his bones and the way

2:01

that he was operating. He wasn't

2:03

shying away from the moment. He

2:05

was ready to bounce back, and that's

2:07

exactly what he did. He was aggressive, and

2:10

when he's in a rhythm, inaggressive

2:13

alongside all of the other talent on

2:15

this team, the Celtics

2:18

are typically borderline

2:20

impossible to beat, and that's exactly

2:23

how they looked in this game. The same can

2:25

be said for when Boston's

2:27

defense is playing with a purpose, the

2:29

way that it did tonight and the way

2:31

that it did during Game one.

2:34

We saw this team play

2:36

defense with a purpose from the

2:38

opening tip of this game down in

2:40

Miami. Nothing was

2:42

easy for Miami. No easy

2:45

driving lanes, no open threes,

2:48

without contests. Like we saw in Game two,

2:51

that Heat had to work for everything

2:53

that they got. And let me

2:55

remind you that this

2:57

is a Heat team that ranked

3:00

twenty first in the entire NBA in offensive

3:02

rating this season, and that was

3:04

with Jimmy Butler and

3:07

that was with Terry Rogier. So

3:09

even with those two very

3:13

very good offensive players, this

3:15

Heat team has not been a

3:18

good offensive team all season

3:20

long. So

3:23

Game two, obviously,

3:25

they found a rhythm, they figured

3:28

it out from long range, and they shot the lights

3:30

out. They made twenty three to three pointers,

3:33

the third most ever in an NBA

3:35

playoff game, the most that

3:38

franchise had ever made in a playoff

3:40

game. But that was

3:42

not the norm

3:45

today. It got back to the norm because

3:47

of Boston's defense. They played with a defensive

3:50

purpose, and this is

3:52

the defense that we came to expect

3:54

all season long, and

3:57

that's why Miami wound up scoring eighty

4:00

four points. Let me

4:02

tell you how anemic that

4:04

number is. That number

4:07

eighty four points

4:09

is twenty two less

4:12

than the worst offense in

4:14

the entire NBA averaged

4:16

this season.

4:19

Think about that for a moment.

4:22

The Memphis Grizzlies had

4:25

the worst offense in the league

4:27

this season, and even they

4:29

averaged one hundred and five point

4:31

eight points per game, let's round it up to one

4:34

hundred and six. Tonight,

4:37

this Heat team scored twenty

4:40

two points, less

4:43

than that Memphis Grizzlies team averaged

4:47

this season. And this isn't a playoff

4:49

game. Boston's

4:53

defense was dominant. It

4:55

challenged everything the Miami

4:57

Heat attempted throughout this game,

5:00

and its started early on first

5:02

quarter. Miami shoots less than

5:04

twenty four percent from

5:06

the field. Boston forces five turnovers.

5:09

It was like a statement right out

5:11

of the gates in this game that hey,

5:14

our defense is back and you're

5:16

gonna feel us all night long. And

5:19

then back to what we said about poor zingis

5:21

same thing he

5:24

was showcasing early on. I feel

5:26

good about myself. I don't care what

5:28

happened in that last game. And he said this at

5:30

practice on Thursday. He sat in his

5:32

chair in front of all the media

5:35

and he said, I don't get too caught up in what happened

5:37

last night. I move forward and

5:39

I'm gonna play better in the next game. And that's exactly

5:42

what he did.

5:45

So don't sleep on Poorzingis, who's

5:48

been awesome all season long. And

5:51

do not sleep on this Celtics

5:54

defense. It is capable

5:57

of dominating at every single

6:00

position. It's the only way they

6:02

rank number two in the league this season in defensive

6:04

rating. And

6:07

as Jason Tatum and many other players

6:09

said after this game, it's the defense that's gonna

6:11

win a championship. The offense is

6:14

borderline unstoppable when

6:17

three or four of their main

6:20

players are cooking, because they've got

6:22

so many other guys who

6:24

can take the ball off the dribble, make great

6:27

reads, shoot it from the perimeter, make

6:29

other types of shots. The

6:33

offense is great, but it's the defense

6:36

that can and will win

6:38

a championship for this year if Boston

6:40

does grab that eighteenth title.

6:43

All right, let's take some comments from the fan base.

6:45

We've got Ava on Joe Mizula's

6:48

coaching, We've got gons George

6:50

on what got Boston's defense

6:53

going tonight, and then Jonathan

6:55

Fom on what he took

6:57

out of this win. Let's dive into the first one

7:00

from Ava. All

7:03

Right, Spicy Ava says

7:05

Joe doesn't deserve any

7:08

hate. He made all the right

7:10

adjustments and got us locked

7:12

in with a great chance to

7:14

win this from the tip Ava,

7:20

thank you, Thank

7:22

you for someone out there heaping

7:25

some praise on to Joe Miszula.

7:30

Throughout this broadcast tonight, you

7:32

heard a very talented

7:35

basketball coach in stan

7:37

Van Gundhy constantly lagged

7:40

the job that Joe Missoula has done.

7:42

Over the past two seasons.

7:47

He's the first coach in the history of

7:49

the NBA, at least according to what stan Van Gundy

7:51

said, that has ever coached

7:54

a team to consecutive

7:56

seasons of having a top two

7:58

offense and a top to defense.

8:03

From what stan Van Gundy said, there

8:05

hasn't been another coach who has done that with

8:07

a top five offense and defense in

8:09

consecutive years.

8:10

That's crazy.

8:13

Yes, the Celtics are talented, Yes

8:16

they have great players. Yes

8:18

they have generational talents in Jason

8:21

Tatum and Jaylen Brown. But the

8:23

coach is who puts it all

8:26

together. Look

8:28

around the league, folks, there

8:31

are plenty of other teams with

8:34

tons of talent. None

8:37

of them are as great at both

8:39

ends of the court as the Celtics, and

8:41

that's because Joe Missoula has

8:43

gotten the players to execute, to

8:46

buy in, and to play at a high

8:48

level basically every single

8:50

night. And

8:53

it doesn't take long for

8:56

people to get on their high horse after

9:00

one game like Game two and

9:04

start to criticize Joe Miszula.

9:08

Oh, he can't make the adjustments.

9:11

Oh, the Celtics can't lose to a team like

9:13

this. Well,

9:16

did he make the adjustments tonight?

9:20

Did he?

9:21

Everyone out there who was talking

9:23

down on Joe Missoula after Game two? Answer,

9:27

did Joe Miszula make the adjustments

9:29

that you wanted to see? Did the Celtics

9:32

come out ready to play? Absolutely

9:36

so, As Avis says, Joe doesn't deserve

9:39

any hate. He

9:42

got this team to bounce back from a poor

9:45

performance in Game two and

9:48

they absolutely dominated

9:51

Game three. They've now won two

9:53

of the three games in this series by twenty

9:55

points. They've led by at

9:57

least twenty nine points in two the

10:00

three games of this series, and

10:02

the only one that they didn't was

10:04

a Miami win that

10:07

was by the skin of their teeth. By the way,

10:10

they only led by four or five six points

10:12

late in that game, while

10:14

they set a franchise record for

10:16

most three pointers ever made in

10:18

a playoff game. Joe

10:21

Missoula is a great coach, and

10:25

man, it bothers me when

10:28

people try to use him as a crutch when the Celtics

10:30

have a bad game. A

10:34

bad game, by the way, that is singular.

10:37

This team never underperforms

10:40

in multiple consecutive games. It just doesn't

10:42

happen because Missoula always

10:44

has them ready to play. They never

10:46

lost more than two straight games this whole

10:48

season. That's crazy.

10:54

Give this man the credit that he

10:56

deserves. He's a great head coach.

10:59

He's got a talented basketball

11:02

mind, and he's got

11:04

a team that is absolutely

11:06

loaded with talent, completely

11:08

bought into all of their roles and

11:11

what the team is trying to accomplish as

11:13

a unit. And the

11:15

same cannot be said for

11:19

many of the other coaches around this league.

11:23

So layoff Joe Miszula. He

11:26

doesn't deserve any hate. As Ava said,

11:28

he deserves praise, and that's what I'm

11:30

trying to give him right now, all

11:34

right, gons George chiming in next saying

11:36

I finally saw some physicality

11:38

finally.

11:39

Two finally is in the first sentence. I love that.

11:42

Using the body in less hands

11:45

just how our defense should be. Ghost

11:47

Celtics with the three Leaf,

11:50

Shamrock, Gons

11:53

George. This was all about

11:55

physicality tonight, right like the Celtics

11:58

brought the physicality to the game.

12:00

And as I said earlier on, it all

12:02

started early on, like Drew

12:05

Holliday, Derek White, even you

12:07

saw Jason Tatum on some possessions, Jayalen

12:10

Bred, really everyone around the table,

12:13

everyone seemed to try

12:15

to make it a point early on to the Miami heat.

12:18

You are going to feel us tonight. You are

12:20

not going to be comfortable. You

12:23

were comfortable Tuesday night, and that

12:25

wasn't because of what you did. That

12:27

was because of what we did. We

12:30

can control that, we will

12:33

control that, and that's exactly what the Celtics

12:35

did tonight. Physical defense,

12:39

energetic defense effort

12:43

from the start to the end of possessions.

12:45

And that starts with contesting shots,

12:47

taking away passing lanes, taking away

12:50

driving lanes, communicating as a

12:52

team, and it ends with

12:54

securing that defensive rebound, which

12:56

the Celtics did tonight. Miami

13:00

got just nine offensive rebounds in this game,

13:03

only twenty seven defensive rebounds in

13:05

this game, So the Celtics controlled the glass

13:08

to complete and

13:10

finish off those defensive possessions.

13:15

As gonz George says, physicality.

13:18

That's what we all want to see out of this Celtics

13:20

team during the postseason. There

13:22

have been years where the Celtics have kind of shied

13:25

away from physicality.

13:27

This season, I mean, if you watch

13:29

them all season long, they've leaned

13:31

into physicality, particularly

13:33

on defense, and in my opinion,

13:36

it's Drew Holliday who's at the forefront of

13:38

that. He's kind of the head of the snake at

13:40

that side of the court. He didn't have

13:42

his best defensive game in Game two, he

13:44

certainly pounces back and then

13:46

some tonight in Game three. He

13:49

led the way. Boston's defense

13:51

was dominant. It was physical, It

13:54

played with effort, and it completed

13:56

possessions basically every

13:58

single time down the floor. That's the only

14:01

way you hold an opponent to eighty

14:03

four points during an NBA

14:05

playoff game. Very, very,

14:08

very impressive bounce back performance

14:10

from Boston's defense.

14:14

All right.

14:14

Our last comment of the night coming in from Jonathan

14:16

Fom says, a great mix of

14:19

everything that worked for Sees this season.

14:22

Great defense, KP was

14:24

way more involved. Good minutes from

14:26

Peyton Pritchard. A great game

14:28

all around with JT and

14:30

JB setting the tone.

14:32

But the keyword is defense

14:36

in all caps, love it, Jonathan

14:38

fom As. We've talked about ad nauseum

14:41

in this episode so far. Defense

14:44

was at the forefront of what the

14:46

Celtics accomplished tonight. They made

14:48

Miami feel them, but that wasn't it.

14:50

I think the defense sparked some other

14:52

great performances around the entire

14:55

roster for this game. And you mentioned Christas

14:58

Porzingis. Porzingis was

15:00

great tonight. Double the amount of points

15:02

compared to the amount of shots that he took eighteen

15:05

points to nine shots. Peyton Pritchard

15:07

again really good off the bench. They

15:09

weren't big numbers. He had

15:11

only seven points, one assist,

15:13

and three rebounds. Obviously grabbed a

15:16

couple of offensive rebounds. He's so

15:18

strong down on the paint. A lot of people

15:20

don't talk about it. They're gonna be talking about

15:22

it by the end of this playoff run. I guarantee that.

15:25

But Porzingis played well. Peyton

15:27

Pritchard played well. Jason Tatum

15:29

and Jaylen Brown both tie

15:32

for the leading scoring mark

15:34

in this game with twenty two points apiece, and

15:36

then each of them grabbed at least eight rebounds.

15:39

In this game as well, so

15:42

two electric scorers

15:44

also getting it done on the glass. The

15:46

Celtics you could tell, had an

15:48

emphasis on attacking the glass

15:51

tonight. They did it on offense.

15:53

They grabbed ten offensive rebounds that

15:55

led to seventeen second chance points.

15:59

Those are changing points, okay,

16:02

those can get in the head of the other team.

16:05

And then defensively, they grabbed thirty three

16:07

rebounds tonight. Guess how many Miami

16:09

grabbed in the entire game thirty

16:12

six. So the Celtics

16:14

almost grabbed as many off excuse

16:16

me, defensive rebounds thirty

16:19

three as Miami grabbed total

16:21

rebounds thirty six in this

16:23

game. So it

16:25

really was in across the board

16:28

performance for the Celtics tonight.

16:30

This is what we've come to expect this season.

16:33

This team is talented from top to bottom.

16:36

It operates in an extremely

16:39

high level both on offense and

16:41

on defense on any given night.

16:43

Because are all seven

16:46

eight nine players who are gonna check into the game

16:48

gonna play at.

16:49

A very high level every night?

16:50

No, it's not gonna happen, But the Celtics

16:53

have so much talent that if half

16:55

of those guys play really well,

16:58

it's almost impossible to beat them. That's

17:01

exactly what happened tonight, except

17:03

more than half of the team played

17:05

at a high level. Not the best offensive performance

17:08

out of the Celtics tonight, only made eleven

17:10

threes. I can't remember who it was, but someone

17:12

said before this game, I'd love to see

17:15

a team win a game in the

17:17

NBA Playoffs while not shooting the ball

17:19

well from three. Well, check

17:21

bark. The Celtics shot less

17:23

than thirty percent from three, only made

17:26

eleven to three pointers, and they just

17:28

dominated this game. So whoever that was,

17:30

I can't remember who it was. I think it was on the TNT

17:33

pregame show. But whoever

17:35

that was, who requested a

17:37

win from a team while

17:39

that team shoots poorly from three

17:42

point range? I think that it was

17:44

like, find another way to win. Well, the Celtics

17:46

just did that, and they did it in convincing

17:48

fashion, and they did it with

17:50

everything that Jonathan Fomm just

17:53

pointed out. So

17:55

that sets the Celtics up with a two to

17:57

one series lead. We

18:00

had a bunch of days off in these first

18:02

three games. These teams have played only three

18:04

games in basically a week. But

18:07

now the games start to get much closer

18:09

together. From here on out

18:11

in this series, it will be every other

18:13

day, So the Celtics will be off

18:16

on Sunday with no game, and

18:18

they'll be right back on the court

18:21

Monday night down in Miami, looking

18:23

to take a commanding three to

18:25

one series lead. So

18:28

that's it for tonight, folks. I appreciate you sounding

18:30

off with me, and I will see you again

18:33

Monday night after the Boston Celtics

18:35

look to take a three to one series lead down

18:37

in Miami.