November 26, 2024 • 21 mins
Gary Tanguay filled in on NightSide:
Coming off a Championship last season, the Celtics look to pave the way for another victory. How has the season been going so far? Point guard Payton Pritchard logged 20 points, two rebounds, four assists and two steals during Monday night’s win over the Clippers. Do you think Pritchard is a strong contender for the Sixth Man of the Year? Sportswriter Jackson Tolliver checked in with Gary!
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Coming off a Championship last season, the Celtics look to pave the way for another victory. How has the season been going so far? Point guard Payton Pritchard logged 20 points, two rebounds, four assists and two steals during Monday night’s win over the Clippers. Do you think Pritchard is a strong contender for the Sixth Man of the Year? Sportswriter Jackson Tolliver checked in with Gary!
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's nice with Dan Ray. I'm telling you easy Boston Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thank you, Dan, appreciate it. I'd like to thank Emily
Kennedy for joining US earlier. Andrew Giannoers, Well, gonna switch
from entertainment in the world of movies and Hollywood as
we get the sports. Like I said, it's the week
of Thanksgiving. I'm done with Trump. I'm done with Trump.
I'm done with what Harris that have done. I'm done
with I can't handle it. It's all about having a
(00:31):
good time, eating a lot of turkey.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And stuffing, and that's the bottom line. Jackson Tolliver joins US.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
He's from CNLS Media covers the Celtics, covers the Patriots,
does a great job for them.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Jackson, what's going on.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Buddy, mister Tanguy, how are you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I'm see yeah, I'm doing great. Thanks all right. So Porzingis,
let's get right into it. The Porzingis comes back, he
gets sixteen points. The Celtics absolutely bury the Clippers.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Did they bring them back to soon?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Well, I mean why would they? You know, you're sitting
at fourteen and three before he comes back into last
night's game. Second in the Eastern Conference, only behind the
surging Cleveland Cavaliers. Why would they rush it back. I
don't see a point too. I mean, you know, obviously
their main goal with Porzingis is to keep him healthy
for the playoffs, as healthy as possible. If you remember
(01:22):
last year's playoff run, they missed him for the entirety
of the second round in the Eastern Conference Finals, got
him back for a couple of games in the finals,
but missed him for a couple games. So they want
to avoid that as much as possible. The team wants
Kristaps to be as healthy as possible in the playoffs,
and if bringing him back last night put that in
jeopardy at all, they wouldn't have done it. He's ready
to play. It's been five months since his surgery. When
(01:44):
it's frankly very bizarre ankle injury described as you know,
pretty freakishly rare. But it's been five months since that surgery.
He's eager to come back. Like I said, it's not
like this is a struggling team. They were doing fine
without him. I don't think that they would rush back
if he wasn't one hundred percent ready to go.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Well, yeah, it's just you know, the pessimist in me
or I'm like, well, you don't really need him, Mike,
can't he sitting.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
On the show.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Here's one of the things that I thought of, is
the guy's going crazy, like Jackson, how do you tell
the player like you can't play when he.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Says, look, I'm ready to play.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I want to play, you kind of you know, the
guy's going to go loopy, right.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
And he also loves playing for the Celtics. I mean
that's been evident ever since he was traded here last
season from the Washington Wizards. He loves being in Boston.
He's made that very clear. And the fans love him too,
so he's he's a special player here. And yeah, I mean,
like you said, you don't want to go crazy without playing.
And it's also that you wanted to get his reps in.
You want him to, you know, play in a live
NBA game, because there's only so much you can do
(02:41):
shooting around in an empty gym or scrimmaging, which he did.
He actually went up to Maine before he played last night,
his scrimmage with the G League team up in Maine,
So you know, you want him to get live five
on five NBA action and you could tell that he
was a little rusty last night. Like you said, sixteen points,
which is you know, pretty solid for your third guy.
But he wants to be closer to that twenty twenty
(03:02):
one mark. That's around what he averaged last season, so
expect him to get closer to there as the games
go on. Celtics do have three nights off now, which
will help him out. Maybe you know, played into the
timing of you know, give him a game, see how
his ankle respond, see how he feels, and then Friday.
You know, as far as we know right now, they're
headed to Chicago and as far as we know, he's
(03:24):
going to be good to go.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
That's a great point. On the backside, he had plenty
of time off. Pritcher sixth Man of the Year award.
Do we need to pump the brakes on that a
little bit?
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I don't think so at all. I mean, you know,
the numbers don't lie right now that he should probably
be considered the front runner. You have some other guys
around the league that are also doing very well. You
got Buddy Heels with the Warriors, who is fitting seamlessly
into that Klay Thompson role since he departed to Dallas,
so you got some guys around. But I mean the
(03:54):
impact that Peyton Pritchard has off the bench. You watch
so many Celtics games and they come out a little
for whatever reason, they don't have the energy. You're coming
off a championship, right so that stuff's gonna happen. You're
gonna have the championship hangover as they call it. So
you've got these guys coming out with no energy, looking
a little slow, and all of a sudden, with about
six minutes to go in the first quarter, you see
Peyton Pritcharck come in and the game just completely changes.
(04:17):
So even beyond just what the box score says and
the shooting numbers, which are great, and his points for
game numbers are also great, he just has such an
inexplicable impact on the energy of the team, on the
performance of the team. Frankly, he has. I mean last
night the great example, you know, sticking on that. He
was fantastic last night. He had a great game. He
was just in just an immediate impact off the bench.
(04:41):
Tremendous showing by him. And I think, you know, a
lot can happen, but the Celtics right now, like I said,
second best record in the East and the NBA. So
if they keep up that momentum, those types of awards
tend to go to teams to perform.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Well.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
We saw a Celtics win that award just a couple
of years ago, maclm. Brogden And if you put those
two their numbers side by side, they're not too far
off right now. So why he's a great shot at it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I mean, obviously he's worked very hard, okay, because he's
a better player than he was two years ago. And
it's not it's yeah, I mean, it's not simply just
confidence because this kid. Obviously confidence has a lot to
do with it. But I remember when he wasn't playing. Now,
we thought that he was a nice player, came in
as a rookie. Okay, maybe he's an eighth or ninth
(05:27):
guy right at best.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Then he didn't see the light of day, wasn't really
fitting into the rotation. And now he comes back and
they're talking about six minut of the year. Would and
I understand about the numbers. I never thought that would
happen with Pritchard.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Never.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, And you can't you're right, Jackson, I can't argue
I mean, the numbers are there.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I just did not see this coming.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think I mentioned Brogen before. I think that a
lot of his problems is that he's been buried in
a pretty pretty strong guard group for the Celtics in
those early years his career, because you remember, they had Smart,
they had White when they acquired him, they had Brogged
in right and before that, they had Kemba, and they
had you know, guys that they consistently had to play well, right, yeah,
(06:11):
a lot of people did, but Kemball was here for
a couple of years, right, so you know, he had
guys ahead of him that were, frankly like you had
to play them if you're Brad Stevens or Joe Mizzula
or Emo Udoka. Even so, those guys were ahead of
him in the rotation. And then when he actually got
his big time extension right around the time that Malcolm
(06:31):
Brogg getting got traded and that sort of and then
Marcus Smart was trained at that time as well. So
now at that point you look at the depth chart,
well you've got through Holliday and you've got Derek White,
but who's your next guard? And he was the clear
cut next guard. He was the only guy that had,
and that was such a big knock on the Celtics
going into last season that well, their bench is pretty
lousy now they only have Pritchard and Houser and Horford's great.
(06:54):
But besides Horford, you know, there were a lot of
question marks around these guys. But he was able to
prove all those people wrong. And he's been great. He's
he has so many iconic moments that he's become such
a franchise favorite. I mean, how many buzzer beaters did
he have last year? I think it's got to be
four or five, which is a particulous number, and two
of those came in the finals. Yeah, So I mean,
(07:14):
just other worldly stuff that's really made him a fan
favorite in Boston. And like you said, utmost confidence, ultimate work.
E think, I mean, to be six to one in
the NBA. Uh is no easy feat to be doing
what he's doing. We've seen that with another guy who's
even shorter, Isaiah Thomas, when he was around here. Same thing, right,
Just guys that have to work a little bit harder
(07:36):
because they don't have the size to say, Jason Tatum
or Jamien Brown. Of course, Christoph Korzingis and and and
you know, it's just great to see his work ethic
being rewarded by how good he's playing right now and
how he's impacting a championship contender.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
How do you think What do you think of his defense?
Speaker 4 (07:53):
I mean, you know, he's he is six to one,
so that provides an issue if teams are looking to
switch against you. But I think for his size, he
has a lot of things on that side of the
ball pretty well, particularly rebounding. He has a great seal
for positioning that's really tough to teach, but he can
get some offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds, so I think
he can hold up on that. In the floor, you
(08:13):
obviously have issues in terms of size, but you know,
he's always pressing guys full court. He definitely doesn't have
a lack of a motor. He's always gonna try his
best and sometimes that's really all it takes. Just a
guy who's not going to tire out there. You're going
to press you full court the entire time, just make
things more difficult for you, and he can do that.
But like I said, you know, switching and switching, but
(08:35):
it's up to the coaching staff to try to prevent
that from happening, where teams can exploit his size and
abuse mismatches like the Celtics do all the time with
Christops coming m Next.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
With Jackson Tulliver from CLNS Media covering the Celtics. I
do want to get into the Patriots a little bit
with him, because he certainly has done his time down
in Foxborough. But I want to ask him about the genius,
the man that marches to his own beat, Joe Missoula.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Next.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Jackson Telliver's our guest here on wb Z covers the
Celtics and the Patriots for Seal Ins Media. Jackson, I
want to talk about Missoula here. Last year he seemed
to be relatively normal. At the beginning of this year,
seemed to be a little quirky again. What's your read
on him so far this season?
Speaker 4 (09:27):
That's what happens when you win a championship, you know,
you can really let the walls down. He's an interesting dude,
and we've seen that they're right. Like last year at
the beginning the year, he was pretty normal. The year
before in his rookie year. But now he's just sort
of really letting his personality shown, which I think is
a good thing. I think the players that resonate with
him clearly something that he's doing is working. Because they
(09:47):
won a championship and they've been doing so well. I
think that this guy has the potential to be a
really really good coach in this league for a really
really long time. I think his strategy where he has
heavy emphasis on a three point a shot, uh works well.
They want a championship off that. You see other teams
trying to copy what the Celtics are doing, which is
just we're gonna shoot x amount of threes and if
(10:10):
x percent go in, you're not gonna beat us. It's impossible.
So that's great. And yeah, he's a very very interesting
guy sitting in on some of his you know, pre
game of postgame interviews. I remember last week, Uh, somebody
asked him how he felt about the City edition jerseys.
He said, I like him. They said why, He said,
because they say the Celtics on him, and that's all
he said. So he's a very strange guy, but you know,
(10:37):
not not strange. Didn't like he's you know, a weird
guy or a bad guy. He just doesn't have time
for a lot of the you know, media media stuff
that other coaches are gonna put through. And he is
a very sarcastic, very funny guy. I can't help but
laugh at almost every press conference that he has because
he's very quick and he has a set of humor
(10:57):
that you kind of have to be born with. It's
it's not really taught, it's very funny stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
I forgot.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
The Celtics won by two points in the game previous
to the Clippers game.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Who did they beat? I forgot?
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Ah, that was timber Wolves.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yes, yes, yeah, that's right, Okay, Timberwolves, right, thank you.
And in that game, defense, the defense was the key, right.
They started hot with the three, then they got cold
with the three. And I know what you're saying about
how they focus on the three point shot, and that's
been the design and I also think that's been what.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Brad Stevens wants to do.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
But I don't look at the Celtics like the Golden
State Warriors. And I mean this as a compliment, like
because the other night against the Tea Wolves, where they
had these bad stretches of shooting, the three. The reason
they win the game was because of defense. So in
the past with the Celtics, I always felt, well, if
they're not shooting threes, they're not going to win. That's
not the case even without porzingis they are to me
(11:54):
they are not a dependent three point shooting team, which
is a good thing.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Yeah, I think their offense is largely depending on it.
But you're right, they can still find ways to win
down the stretch and we saw that in the Minnesota game.
That's a great example. Another one is the Toronto game
that happened about a week ago where Jason tam won
at the buzzer were the three. But that's beside the point.
They can find ways to win down the stretch if
they have to. But yeah, you're right, a lot of
it relies on defense. And when you have Drew Holliday
(12:22):
and Derek White, which is probably the best defensive backcourt
in the NBA. Actually not probably, it is the best
defensive back court in the NBA, those two guys are
going to make it really hard on the opposing team's guards.
And most of the stars in this league are guards
for whatever reason. So Anthony Edwards is a great example.
If you bring a guy like Anthony Edwards, you know,
(12:44):
he's still going to get his which is like twenty
points or whatever. But Drew Holliday or Derek white glowis
the Seino is going to make it tremendously more difficult
for him. Drew Holliday is, you know, one of the
most respected premier defenders in the NBA. He's been that
way for multiple years. Never won a Defensive Player the
Year award because that award does usually go to Biggs,
but he is consistently on the All Defensive team. He's
(13:07):
very well respected. That's why he was on the Olympic
team was for his defense. Right, There's much better scores
than Drew Holliday who are left off that Olympic team,
but you need him for his defense. There's nobody like him,
So yeah, you're right, one hundred percent. And Jalen Brown
also super underrated defender, and Christophforzingis. They missed that rim
protection ability so much, but you saw it last night.
Racked up a couple of blocks and did a great
(13:28):
job against Viata Zubak. He was the Clipper center. He
did a great job defending him. And you know, obviously
they did a great job. They held the Clippers to
I believe it was eighty nine points or something like that.
It was definitely under a hundred. So you're right. Defense
wins championships and it helped him a lot last year.
It's probably gonna help him again as they try to repeat, Oh,
there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Listen, when Brown wants to shut you down, he can. Yeah,
I mean when he wants to do it, he can
be a great defensive player. I am sick and tired
of Anthony Edwards though. I mean in the Timberwolves, and
you know they made the deal with the Knicks, and
I want to get into that in a minute. But
everybody's talking about the Wolves. Blah blah blah. Give it Tatum.
This is the homer in me. Give it Tatum crap
because he didn't shoot well. But they won the finals,
(14:09):
but Anthony edwis well, they're eight and eight, okay, and
then the playoffs last year they were won and done.
So I'm tired of that talk. And I know it
was a close game and that's fine, but I'm just
tired of the two Wolves, like show me something please.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Yeah, to be fair, it was conference finals and they
did beat the Nuggets in the.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Right Listen, don't let the facts get away of a
good story.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
You're hey, it's my job man, as a reporter, I
always got to call You're in the finals.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
They were in the conference finals.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Yeah, conference finals. They a lot of people thought they
were going to be playing Boston.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
But lost. Okay, yeah, lost in five. Couldn't go five.
They couldn't even go longer than five. Please, that is true.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
That is true. They were down three to zero. So
it was a gentleman sweet situation. Yeah. I definitely feel
that way with Anthony Edwards. I mean, if you remember
this summer when he was on the Olympic team, he
was very vocal about saying, I still feel like I'm
the number one option. I still want to be said
the ball all the time when you're on a team
with Lebron James and Kevin Durant and then Anthony Davis
and Jason Tatum and so on and so forth. So
(15:20):
he's a very cocky guy, and I think it's sort
of a double edged sword, because yeah, I can be annoying,
and you know, Jason Tatum addressed that after the game.
Because there's a documentary that came out on Netflix starting five,
and in the documentary they got a clip of Anthony
Edwards after the game say something like, you know, they
say he's the best player in the league. I locked
him up blah blah blah, and you know that's that's
(15:43):
kind of what he does. But also it's pretty entertaining
when when a guy is that vocal and you know,
he's really in your face, and he was doing it
all throughout the playoffs last year. But you're right, there
is somewhat of a sense of like back it up, right.
I mean, they've had one good season since he was drafted,
which is like last year, and now you're right there
looks like they're about to be eight to nine as
(16:04):
I'm speaking. Right now, they're down six to forty seconds
in overtime against the Rockets, So you're right, relatively rough
start for them. If it ended today, wouldnt even make
the plaoff tournament. Ory're playing Turn the Rabbit, So you're right,
they kind of got to back it up. But I
do see the entertainment value and somebody likes Anthony Edwards
and obviously his play when he gets those thunder his dunks.
(16:26):
I mean, he's had the best dunk in the NBA
for probably each of the last five seasons, either him
or Dah Morant. So he's a fun player to watch,
but you're right, there needs to be more winning before
he can really start talking the way that he is.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
How about those rockets?
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Huh listen, I you know, whatever the situation was with
Email Udoka, I thought he was a great coach. I
thought he was a fantastic coach. Obviously got the Celtics
to the finals at a time where the future of
the Celtics was like, we don't really know where this
is going. Because his season, his only season in charge,
they started off eight teen and twenty one. I believe
(17:01):
it was like, oh yeah, I mean record wasn't great.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Turned it around second.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Half, Yeah, oh I think we we just lost. Jackson
just bailed on me. I'll call it right back, don't worry.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
The thing of it is is with Idoka, they turned
it around on the second half. Udoka can coach. There's
no doubt about it. Yeah, you're back, Sorry about that, kid,
You're right?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
No, no, no, sorry, no, yeah, what did you hang up
on me or something?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
No, no, no, I would do such a thing.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
No, but he Doka could coach we always I mean, Jackson,
that was not the issue here.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Look at I'm just going to tell you like it.
It was a human resources problem. That's it.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Yeah, I mean, that's you're going to know the full story.
But yeah, and yeah, he was he was a great coach.
The defense of the self explained that season was great
and obviously they had that great run, fell just short
of winning a title back in twenty twenty two. But yeah,
he's doing great with those rockets right now. They're primed
to make a play. Layoff appearents this year, you know,
(18:01):
assuming everybody stays healthy and such. But I like that
team over there, and they're proving that they're one of
the best young cores and I think Emo Udoka is
not going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, the guy can coach. I mean, we all knew that.
It is a surprise. What about Cleveland at seventeen and one?
Now are they for real?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
You know? I was, I was fully convinced that Cleveland
was going to beat the Celtics the other night. I was.
I was fully convinced because the Celtics obviously was struggling
with rim protection before Christops started last night. They were
twenty sixth in the entire league in points allowed them
to pay, which is a crazy statage you stop and
think about. Okay, they're twenty six, but they're fourteen and
(18:42):
three and they're, you know, still one of the championship favorites.
They were really struggling with that. And Cleveland has Evan
Mobile and Jared Allen who excelled at scoring in the pain.
So I thought they were going to give them a
lot of problems, and they did frankly, but they won
that game because Darius Garland shot three for twenty one.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Man, he's got to work on that phone, Oh my god.
And the kid was on a roll.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
He's right, Terius Garland didn't shoot well and the Celtics
came up with stops at the end. I don't know
if I'm buying into Cleveland. They're certainly better than the
Knicks in Philadelphia, because we all thought that the Knicks
of Philadelphia we're going to challenge the Celtics.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Should we give him another chance? Rob?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Should we give him another chance? All right, We're gonna
give you one more chance here, Jackson. We'll see if
you well, I don't know. We lost him again. He's
got a phone issue. Is he paid his Bill, poor kid.
I mean, come on, let's see what we can do.
Should we give him away back? Now, we're gonna be
one more chance, just one one more question, one more chance.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Will the Knicks turn it around?
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Will the Knicks get the wreck together?
Speaker 4 (19:50):
They already are. I mean, if you if you look
at their record recently, Yeah, they lost to the Jazz,
but there, I believe, third in the in the Eastern Conference.
They're not, you know, up to the standards of the
Celtics and the Cavs just yet. But yeah, that roster
is too good to not be a contender in the East. Frankly.
I mean they trade that they made for Karl Anthony Towns.
(20:13):
Going into the season, they had Julius Rendle was probably
their starting center and that was a recipe for disaster.
But Carl Anthony Towns has had a great season so far,
even in the gains they've lost, he's been really, really consistent.
So yeah, I think that they're just too good to
not be a contender for the Celtics. They have Michael
Bridges and og and Nanobi, both of whom were acquired
(20:34):
to be Celtics stoppers because they can guard Jay the
Brown and Jason Tatum. So yeah, they're frankly just too
good to be counted out. I still anticipate that will
be the Eastern Conference finals between the Boston Celtics and
the New York Knicks.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Well, I hope you're right.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I think so too, and I think if they played
their potential, they're better than Cleveland. Jackson Toliver c LNS Media.
Thank you for joining us, my friend, and have a
great thanks for pleasure.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
You as well, my friend and with the family. Hope
you get some time off and we'll talk against him.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
All right, We'll see later, Jackson one of the rising
stars in Boston sports media. Jackson Tolliver here, all right,
I gotta get serious a little bit, the dark side
of AI. Anytime I can do a topic that says
AI sucks, I'm all in. Scott Barredell joins us next
on WBC's Night Side
It's nice with Dan Ray. I'm telling you easy Boston Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thank you, Dan, appreciate it. I'd like to thank Emily
Kennedy for joining US earlier. Andrew Giannoers, Well, gonna switch
from entertainment in the world of movies and Hollywood as
we get the sports. Like I said, it's the week
of Thanksgiving. I'm done with Trump. I'm done with Trump.
I'm done with what Harris that have done. I'm done
with I can't handle it. It's all about having a
(00:31):
good time, eating a lot of turkey.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And stuffing, and that's the bottom line. Jackson Tolliver joins US.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
He's from CNLS Media covers the Celtics, covers the Patriots,
does a great job for them.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Jackson, what's going on.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Buddy, mister Tanguy, how are you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I'm see yeah, I'm doing great. Thanks all right. So Porzingis,
let's get right into it. The Porzingis comes back, he
gets sixteen points. The Celtics absolutely bury the Clippers.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Did they bring them back to soon?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Well, I mean why would they? You know, you're sitting
at fourteen and three before he comes back into last
night's game. Second in the Eastern Conference, only behind the
surging Cleveland Cavaliers. Why would they rush it back. I
don't see a point too. I mean, you know, obviously
their main goal with Porzingis is to keep him healthy
for the playoffs, as healthy as possible. If you remember
(01:22):
last year's playoff run, they missed him for the entirety
of the second round in the Eastern Conference Finals, got
him back for a couple of games in the finals,
but missed him for a couple games. So they want
to avoid that as much as possible. The team wants
Kristaps to be as healthy as possible in the playoffs,
and if bringing him back last night put that in
jeopardy at all, they wouldn't have done it. He's ready
to play. It's been five months since his surgery. When
(01:44):
it's frankly very bizarre ankle injury described as you know,
pretty freakishly rare. But it's been five months since that surgery.
He's eager to come back. Like I said, it's not
like this is a struggling team. They were doing fine
without him. I don't think that they would rush back
if he wasn't one hundred percent ready to go.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Well, yeah, it's just you know, the pessimist in me
or I'm like, well, you don't really need him, Mike,
can't he sitting.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
On the show.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Here's one of the things that I thought of, is
the guy's going crazy, like Jackson, how do you tell
the player like you can't play when he.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Says, look, I'm ready to play.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I want to play, you kind of you know, the
guy's going to go loopy, right.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
And he also loves playing for the Celtics. I mean
that's been evident ever since he was traded here last
season from the Washington Wizards. He loves being in Boston.
He's made that very clear. And the fans love him too,
so he's he's a special player here. And yeah, I mean,
like you said, you don't want to go crazy without playing.
And it's also that you wanted to get his reps in.
You want him to, you know, play in a live
NBA game, because there's only so much you can do
(02:41):
shooting around in an empty gym or scrimmaging, which he did.
He actually went up to Maine before he played last night,
his scrimmage with the G League team up in Maine,
So you know, you want him to get live five
on five NBA action and you could tell that he
was a little rusty last night. Like you said, sixteen points,
which is you know, pretty solid for your third guy.
But he wants to be closer to that twenty twenty
(03:02):
one mark. That's around what he averaged last season, so
expect him to get closer to there as the games
go on. Celtics do have three nights off now, which
will help him out. Maybe you know, played into the
timing of you know, give him a game, see how
his ankle respond, see how he feels, and then Friday.
You know, as far as we know right now, they're
headed to Chicago and as far as we know, he's
(03:24):
going to be good to go.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
That's a great point. On the backside, he had plenty
of time off. Pritcher sixth Man of the Year award.
Do we need to pump the brakes on that a
little bit?
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I don't think so at all. I mean, you know,
the numbers don't lie right now that he should probably
be considered the front runner. You have some other guys
around the league that are also doing very well. You
got Buddy Heels with the Warriors, who is fitting seamlessly
into that Klay Thompson role since he departed to Dallas,
so you got some guys around. But I mean the
(03:54):
impact that Peyton Pritchard has off the bench. You watch
so many Celtics games and they come out a little
for whatever reason, they don't have the energy. You're coming
off a championship, right so that stuff's gonna happen. You're
gonna have the championship hangover as they call it. So
you've got these guys coming out with no energy, looking
a little slow, and all of a sudden, with about
six minutes to go in the first quarter, you see
Peyton Pritcharck come in and the game just completely changes.
(04:17):
So even beyond just what the box score says and
the shooting numbers, which are great, and his points for
game numbers are also great, he just has such an
inexplicable impact on the energy of the team, on the
performance of the team. Frankly, he has. I mean last
night the great example, you know, sticking on that. He
was fantastic last night. He had a great game. He
was just in just an immediate impact off the bench.
(04:41):
Tremendous showing by him. And I think, you know, a
lot can happen, but the Celtics right now, like I said,
second best record in the East and the NBA. So
if they keep up that momentum, those types of awards
tend to go to teams to perform.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Well.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
We saw a Celtics win that award just a couple
of years ago, maclm. Brogden And if you put those
two their numbers side by side, they're not too far
off right now. So why he's a great shot at it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I mean, obviously he's worked very hard, okay, because he's
a better player than he was two years ago. And
it's not it's yeah, I mean, it's not simply just
confidence because this kid. Obviously confidence has a lot to
do with it. But I remember when he wasn't playing. Now,
we thought that he was a nice player, came in
as a rookie. Okay, maybe he's an eighth or ninth
(05:27):
guy right at best.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Then he didn't see the light of day, wasn't really
fitting into the rotation. And now he comes back and
they're talking about six minut of the year. Would and
I understand about the numbers. I never thought that would
happen with Pritchard.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Never.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, And you can't you're right, Jackson, I can't argue
I mean, the numbers are there.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I just did not see this coming.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think I mentioned Brogen before. I think that a
lot of his problems is that he's been buried in
a pretty pretty strong guard group for the Celtics in
those early years his career, because you remember, they had Smart,
they had White when they acquired him, they had Brogged
in right and before that, they had Kemba, and they
had you know, guys that they consistently had to play well, right, yeah,
(06:11):
a lot of people did, but Kemball was here for
a couple of years, right, so you know, he had
guys ahead of him that were, frankly like you had
to play them if you're Brad Stevens or Joe Mizzula
or Emo Udoka. Even so, those guys were ahead of
him in the rotation. And then when he actually got
his big time extension right around the time that Malcolm
(06:31):
Brogg getting got traded and that sort of and then
Marcus Smart was trained at that time as well. So
now at that point you look at the depth chart,
well you've got through Holliday and you've got Derek White,
but who's your next guard? And he was the clear
cut next guard. He was the only guy that had,
and that was such a big knock on the Celtics
going into last season that well, their bench is pretty
lousy now they only have Pritchard and Houser and Horford's great.
(06:54):
But besides Horford, you know, there were a lot of
question marks around these guys. But he was able to
prove all those people wrong. And he's been great. He's
he has so many iconic moments that he's become such
a franchise favorite. I mean, how many buzzer beaters did
he have last year? I think it's got to be
four or five, which is a particulous number, and two
of those came in the finals. Yeah, So I mean,
(07:14):
just other worldly stuff that's really made him a fan
favorite in Boston. And like you said, utmost confidence, ultimate work.
E think, I mean, to be six to one in
the NBA. Uh is no easy feat to be doing
what he's doing. We've seen that with another guy who's
even shorter, Isaiah Thomas, when he was around here. Same thing, right,
Just guys that have to work a little bit harder
(07:36):
because they don't have the size to say, Jason Tatum
or Jamien Brown. Of course, Christoph Korzingis and and and
you know, it's just great to see his work ethic
being rewarded by how good he's playing right now and
how he's impacting a championship contender.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
How do you think What do you think of his defense?
Speaker 4 (07:53):
I mean, you know, he's he is six to one,
so that provides an issue if teams are looking to
switch against you. But I think for his size, he
has a lot of things on that side of the
ball pretty well, particularly rebounding. He has a great seal
for positioning that's really tough to teach, but he can
get some offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds, so I think
he can hold up on that. In the floor, you
(08:13):
obviously have issues in terms of size, but you know,
he's always pressing guys full court. He definitely doesn't have
a lack of a motor. He's always gonna try his
best and sometimes that's really all it takes. Just a
guy who's not going to tire out there. You're going
to press you full court the entire time, just make
things more difficult for you, and he can do that.
But like I said, you know, switching and switching, but
(08:35):
it's up to the coaching staff to try to prevent
that from happening, where teams can exploit his size and
abuse mismatches like the Celtics do all the time with
Christops coming m Next.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
With Jackson Tulliver from CLNS Media covering the Celtics. I
do want to get into the Patriots a little bit
with him, because he certainly has done his time down
in Foxborough. But I want to ask him about the genius,
the man that marches to his own beat, Joe Missoula.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Next.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Jackson Telliver's our guest here on wb Z covers the
Celtics and the Patriots for Seal Ins Media. Jackson, I
want to talk about Missoula here. Last year he seemed
to be relatively normal. At the beginning of this year,
seemed to be a little quirky again. What's your read
on him so far this season?
Speaker 4 (09:27):
That's what happens when you win a championship, you know,
you can really let the walls down. He's an interesting dude,
and we've seen that they're right. Like last year at
the beginning the year, he was pretty normal. The year
before in his rookie year. But now he's just sort
of really letting his personality shown, which I think is
a good thing. I think the players that resonate with
him clearly something that he's doing is working. Because they
(09:47):
won a championship and they've been doing so well. I
think that this guy has the potential to be a
really really good coach in this league for a really
really long time. I think his strategy where he has
heavy emphasis on a three point a shot, uh works well.
They want a championship off that. You see other teams
trying to copy what the Celtics are doing, which is
just we're gonna shoot x amount of threes and if
(10:10):
x percent go in, you're not gonna beat us. It's impossible.
So that's great. And yeah, he's a very very interesting
guy sitting in on some of his you know, pre
game of postgame interviews. I remember last week, Uh, somebody
asked him how he felt about the City edition jerseys.
He said, I like him. They said why, He said,
because they say the Celtics on him, and that's all
he said. So he's a very strange guy, but you know,
(10:37):
not not strange. Didn't like he's you know, a weird
guy or a bad guy. He just doesn't have time
for a lot of the you know, media media stuff
that other coaches are gonna put through. And he is
a very sarcastic, very funny guy. I can't help but
laugh at almost every press conference that he has because
he's very quick and he has a set of humor
(10:57):
that you kind of have to be born with. It's
it's not really taught, it's very funny stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
I forgot.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
The Celtics won by two points in the game previous
to the Clippers game.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Who did they beat? I forgot?
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Ah, that was timber Wolves.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yes, yes, yeah, that's right, Okay, Timberwolves, right, thank you.
And in that game, defense, the defense was the key, right.
They started hot with the three, then they got cold
with the three. And I know what you're saying about
how they focus on the three point shot, and that's
been the design and I also think that's been what.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Brad Stevens wants to do.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
But I don't look at the Celtics like the Golden
State Warriors. And I mean this as a compliment, like
because the other night against the Tea Wolves, where they
had these bad stretches of shooting, the three. The reason
they win the game was because of defense. So in
the past with the Celtics, I always felt, well, if
they're not shooting threes, they're not going to win. That's
not the case even without porzingis they are to me
(11:54):
they are not a dependent three point shooting team, which
is a good thing.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Yeah, I think their offense is largely depending on it.
But you're right, they can still find ways to win
down the stretch and we saw that in the Minnesota game.
That's a great example. Another one is the Toronto game
that happened about a week ago where Jason tam won
at the buzzer were the three. But that's beside the point.
They can find ways to win down the stretch if
they have to. But yeah, you're right, a lot of
it relies on defense. And when you have Drew Holliday
(12:22):
and Derek White, which is probably the best defensive backcourt
in the NBA. Actually not probably, it is the best
defensive back court in the NBA, those two guys are
going to make it really hard on the opposing team's guards.
And most of the stars in this league are guards
for whatever reason. So Anthony Edwards is a great example.
If you bring a guy like Anthony Edwards, you know,
(12:44):
he's still going to get his which is like twenty
points or whatever. But Drew Holliday or Derek white glowis
the Seino is going to make it tremendously more difficult
for him. Drew Holliday is, you know, one of the
most respected premier defenders in the NBA. He's been that
way for multiple years. Never won a Defensive Player the
Year award because that award does usually go to Biggs,
but he is consistently on the All Defensive team. He's
(13:07):
very well respected. That's why he was on the Olympic
team was for his defense. Right, There's much better scores
than Drew Holliday who are left off that Olympic team,
but you need him for his defense. There's nobody like him,
So yeah, you're right, one hundred percent. And Jalen Brown
also super underrated defender, and Christophforzingis. They missed that rim
protection ability so much, but you saw it last night.
Racked up a couple of blocks and did a great
(13:28):
job against Viata Zubak. He was the Clipper center. He
did a great job defending him. And you know, obviously
they did a great job. They held the Clippers to
I believe it was eighty nine points or something like that.
It was definitely under a hundred. So you're right. Defense
wins championships and it helped him a lot last year.
It's probably gonna help him again as they try to repeat, Oh,
there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Listen, when Brown wants to shut you down, he can. Yeah,
I mean when he wants to do it, he can
be a great defensive player. I am sick and tired
of Anthony Edwards though. I mean in the Timberwolves, and
you know they made the deal with the Knicks, and
I want to get into that in a minute. But
everybody's talking about the Wolves. Blah blah blah. Give it Tatum.
This is the homer in me. Give it Tatum crap
because he didn't shoot well. But they won the finals,
(14:09):
but Anthony edwis well, they're eight and eight, okay, and
then the playoffs last year they were won and done.
So I'm tired of that talk. And I know it
was a close game and that's fine, but I'm just
tired of the two Wolves, like show me something please.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Yeah, to be fair, it was conference finals and they
did beat the Nuggets in the.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Right Listen, don't let the facts get away of a
good story.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
You're hey, it's my job man, as a reporter, I
always got to call You're in the finals.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
They were in the conference finals.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Yeah, conference finals. They a lot of people thought they
were going to be playing Boston.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
But lost. Okay, yeah, lost in five. Couldn't go five.
They couldn't even go longer than five. Please, that is true.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
That is true. They were down three to zero. So
it was a gentleman sweet situation. Yeah. I definitely feel
that way with Anthony Edwards. I mean, if you remember
this summer when he was on the Olympic team, he
was very vocal about saying, I still feel like I'm
the number one option. I still want to be said
the ball all the time when you're on a team
with Lebron James and Kevin Durant and then Anthony Davis
and Jason Tatum and so on and so forth. So
(15:20):
he's a very cocky guy, and I think it's sort
of a double edged sword, because yeah, I can be annoying,
and you know, Jason Tatum addressed that after the game.
Because there's a documentary that came out on Netflix starting five,
and in the documentary they got a clip of Anthony
Edwards after the game say something like, you know, they
say he's the best player in the league. I locked
him up blah blah blah, and you know that's that's
(15:43):
kind of what he does. But also it's pretty entertaining
when when a guy is that vocal and you know,
he's really in your face, and he was doing it
all throughout the playoffs last year. But you're right, there
is somewhat of a sense of like back it up, right.
I mean, they've had one good season since he was drafted,
which is like last year, and now you're right there
looks like they're about to be eight to nine as
(16:04):
I'm speaking. Right now, they're down six to forty seconds
in overtime against the Rockets, So you're right, relatively rough
start for them. If it ended today, wouldnt even make
the plaoff tournament. Ory're playing Turn the Rabbit, So you're right,
they kind of got to back it up. But I
do see the entertainment value and somebody likes Anthony Edwards
and obviously his play when he gets those thunder his dunks.
(16:26):
I mean, he's had the best dunk in the NBA
for probably each of the last five seasons, either him
or Dah Morant. So he's a fun player to watch,
but you're right, there needs to be more winning before
he can really start talking the way that he is.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
How about those rockets?
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Huh listen, I you know, whatever the situation was with
Email Udoka, I thought he was a great coach. I
thought he was a fantastic coach. Obviously got the Celtics
to the finals at a time where the future of
the Celtics was like, we don't really know where this
is going. Because his season, his only season in charge,
they started off eight teen and twenty one. I believe
(17:01):
it was like, oh yeah, I mean record wasn't great.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Turned it around second.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Half, Yeah, oh I think we we just lost. Jackson
just bailed on me. I'll call it right back, don't worry.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
The thing of it is is with Idoka, they turned
it around on the second half. Udoka can coach. There's
no doubt about it. Yeah, you're back, Sorry about that, kid,
You're right?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
No, no, no, sorry, no, yeah, what did you hang up
on me or something?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
No, no, no, I would do such a thing.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
No, but he Doka could coach we always I mean, Jackson,
that was not the issue here.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Look at I'm just going to tell you like it.
It was a human resources problem. That's it.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Yeah, I mean, that's you're going to know the full story.
But yeah, and yeah, he was he was a great coach.
The defense of the self explained that season was great
and obviously they had that great run, fell just short
of winning a title back in twenty twenty two. But yeah,
he's doing great with those rockets right now. They're primed
to make a play. Layoff appearents this year, you know,
(18:01):
assuming everybody stays healthy and such. But I like that
team over there, and they're proving that they're one of
the best young cores and I think Emo Udoka is
not going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, the guy can coach. I mean, we all knew that.
It is a surprise. What about Cleveland at seventeen and one?
Now are they for real?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
You know? I was, I was fully convinced that Cleveland
was going to beat the Celtics the other night. I was.
I was fully convinced because the Celtics obviously was struggling
with rim protection before Christops started last night. They were
twenty sixth in the entire league in points allowed them
to pay, which is a crazy statage you stop and
think about. Okay, they're twenty six, but they're fourteen and
(18:42):
three and they're, you know, still one of the championship favorites.
They were really struggling with that. And Cleveland has Evan
Mobile and Jared Allen who excelled at scoring in the pain.
So I thought they were going to give them a
lot of problems, and they did frankly, but they won
that game because Darius Garland shot three for twenty one.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Man, he's got to work on that phone, Oh my god.
And the kid was on a roll.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
He's right, Terius Garland didn't shoot well and the Celtics
came up with stops at the end. I don't know
if I'm buying into Cleveland. They're certainly better than the
Knicks in Philadelphia, because we all thought that the Knicks
of Philadelphia we're going to challenge the Celtics.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Should we give him another chance? Rob?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Should we give him another chance? All right, We're gonna
give you one more chance here, Jackson. We'll see if
you well, I don't know. We lost him again. He's
got a phone issue. Is he paid his Bill, poor kid.
I mean, come on, let's see what we can do.
Should we give him away back? Now, we're gonna be
one more chance, just one one more question, one more chance.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Will the Knicks turn it around?
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Will the Knicks get the wreck together?
Speaker 4 (19:50):
They already are. I mean, if you if you look
at their record recently, Yeah, they lost to the Jazz,
but there, I believe, third in the in the Eastern Conference.
They're not, you know, up to the standards of the
Celtics and the Cavs just yet. But yeah, that roster
is too good to not be a contender in the East. Frankly.
I mean they trade that they made for Karl Anthony Towns.
(20:13):
Going into the season, they had Julius Rendle was probably
their starting center and that was a recipe for disaster.
But Carl Anthony Towns has had a great season so far,
even in the gains they've lost, he's been really, really consistent.
So yeah, I think that they're just too good to
not be a contender for the Celtics. They have Michael
Bridges and og and Nanobi, both of whom were acquired
(20:34):
to be Celtics stoppers because they can guard Jay the
Brown and Jason Tatum. So yeah, they're frankly just too
good to be counted out. I still anticipate that will
be the Eastern Conference finals between the Boston Celtics and
the New York Knicks.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Well, I hope you're right.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I think so too, and I think if they played
their potential, they're better than Cleveland. Jackson Toliver c LNS Media.
Thank you for joining us, my friend, and have a
great thanks for pleasure.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
You as well, my friend and with the family. Hope
you get some time off and we'll talk against him.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
All right, We'll see later, Jackson one of the rising
stars in Boston sports media. Jackson Tolliver here, all right,
I gotta get serious a little bit, the dark side
of AI. Anytime I can do a topic that says
AI sucks, I'm all in. Scott Barredell joins us next
on WBC's Night Side
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