November 30, 2024 • 24 mins
Payton Pritchard went wild with 19 points during the fourth quarter of Friday’s win over Chicago. We’re breaking down his performance and where that has him ranked among the elite shooters in the league, we’re discussing all of the details about the NBA Cup and its associated scenarios – including one fan sounding off on their hope that the Celtics DON’T advance to the quarterfinals – and we touch on what’s on the line in Sunday’s upcoming rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Sound off with me folks on Peyton Pritcher taking over
during the fourth quarter and the Boston Celtics keeping their
hopes alive in the NBA Cup.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Listen, this game was full of runs.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Boston was ahead by thirteen during the first quarter, then
it was down by nine, then it was up by seven,
then it was down by five. It just was a
volley back and forth, a game of runs until one
team took total control during the fourth quarter, and that
was the Boston Celtics. And it happened because of the
man who is the front runner for sixth Man of
(00:41):
the Year. That man, that player, that name is none
other than Peyton Pritchard. He caught absolute fire during the
fourth quarter. I'm talking scorched earth, piercing the net. Everything
that came off his hands was swishing through the net.
He actually scored nineteen of Boston's twenty one points in
(01:05):
a stretch of only four plus minutes of the fourth quarter.
He shot seven of eight from the field during that
time period and helped the Celtics to turn a four
point deficit into a seven point lead. In that is
when Boston took control and it never let go the
rest of the way. That is all they needed to
keep their hopes alive to advance to the knockout stage
(01:28):
of the NBA Cup. Let's dive a little bit deeper, though,
on what Peyton Pritcher did on this night. The general
box score says ten of sixteen from the field just
over twenty eight minutes of action off the bench, seven
for eleven from three point range. He hit six three
(01:48):
pointers from at least twenty seven feet out, Like, seriously,
this guy was shooting from the logo everywhere. We're talking
on the wing, we're talking from straight away.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
And by the way, I just.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Want to remind everyone who doesn't know, the NBA three
point line above the arc is twenty three feet nine inches,
So that means that six of his seven to three
pointers were from at least three plus feet behind the
three point line, and one of them was literally like
just in front of the horns on the bull at
(02:22):
the logo at mid court. He was feeling his teammates
knew it, by the way. They were just like, go cook,
go cook, Peyton Pridger. We know you can do it,
we know you're gonna do it. And that's exactly what
he did. So I said, he hit one from the
horns pretty well, just inside the horns at the mid
court line. There was another three pointer that he made
(02:43):
and he switched by the way after he almost fell
down on a step back three somehow on that move
it it literally looked like he was gonna tumble over and.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Fall over to his left.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
He regained his balance and all in one motion let
it fly and swisched it through the net. So those
couple of shots were just kind of the definition of
just how great Peyton Pritchard was feeling during this game.
It was a shooting exhibition. And now he's up to
forty four percent shooting from distance on eight point four
(03:15):
attempts per game. Let me put that into a little
bit of context for you. Okay, forty four percent shooting
on at least eight attempts per game. Let's put some
context around it. There are two names in the NBA
who are shooting at least forty four percent from three
(03:36):
point range on at least eight attempts per game. The first,
no surprise, that is Steph Curry, the greatest shooter of
all time. The second, Peyton Prichard. Steph Curry, Peyton Pritchard.
That's it. Those are the heights that Peyton Pritchard has
(04:00):
now reached in his career.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
He is the elite of the elite.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
He is one of the unquestioned greatest three point shooters
in our game right now today, and he is the
front runner, no doubt about it, for.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Six Man of the Year this season.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
The man is balling, he is cashing in from distance.
And after this game, by the way, just in case
people around the league don't know, Joe Mizzoula said, he's
one of the best three level scorers that he has seen,
and he's seen a lot of basketball, a lot of
great players. Peyton Pritchard can get it done from thirty feet,
(04:42):
he can get it done from fifteen feet, and by
the way, he'll bump you off your spot and he'll
get it done at the rim no matter who you
are as well. He's been doing it all season and
throughout his career. So absolutely an incredible performance from Peyton
Pritchell to get the Celtics into the win column and
(05:03):
again keep their hopes alive for the NBA Cup. And
we're gonna detail that a little bit more in just
a moment, but a couple of other things I want to
touch on Before we get into our fan questions, one
is Jason Tatum. We can't go through this episode without
talking about Jason Tatum. He was an absolute force tonight,
(05:23):
thirty five points, a game high fourteen rebounds. He led
the Celtics in all three major categories. Also disched out
five assists to lead the team. And the efficiency, like,
it makes me feel good when I see Jason Tatum
scoring with this level of efficiency. He only took eighteen
(05:45):
shots in this game, twelve of eighteen from the field
for thirty five points. What does that math tell you?
He averaged almost two points per shot attempt. That is
like as good as it gets, as good as it
gets thirty five points eighteen shot attempts, it comes in
just under two points per shot attempt. That is elite,
(06:11):
elite elite. That is MVP, MVP, MVP. This was just
another top notch performance from him. That's gonna keep padding
that resume for a possible MVP season. And by the way,
Peyton Prichard was great tonight in his twenty eight plus minutes,
but it was Jason Tatum who led the game and
(06:33):
plus minus Boston outscored Chicago by thirteen points while Jason
Tatum was on the floor so impacting the game across
the board and leading the game in rebounds on a
night when the Celtics needed it. By the way, they've
got Vucevic on the other side, but Boston outrebounded Chicago
(06:54):
fifty one to forty three, much ado to Jason Tatum.
Chris Porzingis also contributed to that. Grabbed eight rebounds in
this game. And that's another thing I want to talk about,
is porzingis he upped his minutes by just a little
bit up to twenty five tonight. And I don't know
(07:15):
how this guy does it, but anytime he comes back
from an injury, he looks like he's in mid season form.
Twenty one points tonight, eight rebounds, Like I said, scoring
from distance, scoring from mid range, scoring at the rim.
Everything the Celtics want to see, he's already doing it.
Protecting the rim, by the way, at the other end
of the court, everything they want to see.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
He's already bringing it to.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
The table in just his second game back. Somehow, maybe
he might get better the rest of the season. Pretty
impressive what Christas Porzingis is able to do when that
guy gets back into the lineup. After missing extended periods
of time. All Right, last thing we got to detail
tonight is the NBA Cup scenarios. As we know, this
(08:00):
was a Cup game the Celtics won by nine. Let's
dive into it. Okay, So heading into tonight, the Celtics
needed Cleveland to beat Atlanta, and then the Celtics win
this game and they would have won Group see, they
would have moved on to the quarterfinals. However, Atlanta. Props
to Atlanta. They have now won back to back games.
(08:23):
They beat Cleveland twice in three days. So with that
victory today over Cleveland for Atlanta, the Hawks won Group see.
They have advanced to the quarterfinals. And now the Celtics
need to win the one and only wild card in
the Eastern Conference in order to get to the Conference finals. Now,
(08:44):
there are a bunch of different ways that this can happen,
but I have boiled it down to the one singular,
most probable path towards this happening. I'm gonna tell you
right now. The Celtics need the Magic to beat New
York next Tuesday. That's number one. Number two, they need
(09:06):
whoever wins the game between Milwaukee and Detroit to win
that game on Tuesday by seven or more points.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
That would give the Celtics the tiebreaker in point differential.
So let me go back and say this one more time.
If Orlando beats New York on Tuesday, and then whoever
wins the game between Milwaukee and Detroit wins by at
least seven points, that means the Celtics will have the
wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
And let me remind you why.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
It has a lot to do with the final play
of regulation during this game tonight against the Chicago Bulls.
Joe Mazoula knows as well as anyone that point differential
is a differentiating factor in this NBA Cup tournament. We
saw it with Billy Donovan last and now we saw
it again tonight. So the Celtics call time out after
(10:04):
a Bulls miss with one point four seconds left in
the game. Celtics cept by six. Joe Mizoula calls for
a timeout. He's like, we need as many points as
we can get. Draws up a play. That play didn't
exactly work because it was supposed to, but the ad
libbing that the Celtics did actually did work. So Sam
Houser wound up hitting a ridiculous catch and shoot three
(10:27):
pointer along the left sideline. He was like fading out
of bounds, defender all over him and he switched it home.
He didn't even look happy about it after the facas
He's like, really, I make this shot after I shoot
zero for four from three point range before that shot,
tonight come out. But that shot is important because it
(10:47):
could wind up being the differentiating factor for the Celtics
when it comes to point differential. So Boston's point differential
now because of that shot. And by the way, the
Celtics are done now with NBA Cup games. So this
number that I'm gonna tell you their point differential, this
is final. It's not gonna change. They are a plus
(11:10):
twenty three in point differential. If Samhuser didn't make that shot,
they would be a plus twenty And so that number
I told you earlier about what the teams need to
win by between Milwaukee and Detroit. If either team wins
by seven, the Celtics will will get the wild card. Okay, Well,
(11:32):
if Samhuser didn't make this shot, that would mean that
if either team won by ten, the Celtics would get
the wildcard. So you see how things change quickly. And
by the way, like I said, that is not the
only path to the Celtics getting the wildcard. There are
a few of them. I am just breaking it down
to the very easiest path. Okay, So Orlando wins, and
(11:59):
then either team whoever wins between Milwaukee and Detroit, if
one of them wins by seven or more, Boston gets it.
So that three pointer from Sam Hauser could wind up
being the shot that gets them into the quarterfinals. Just
an unreal shot. Thank you Sam Hauser for draining that.
That was quite the shot. All right, let's take a
(12:21):
few comments from our fans. First up, we've got g
is Op on his overall reaction from this win. Next,
we've got Johnny Utah on what his big picture thoughts
are after this Celtics victory and really just on the
season in general. And then lastly we've got Frank Flynn
on the NBA Cup point differential that he's got some comments,
(12:43):
So let's dive into the first one here and start
it out, all right, first comment of the night coming
in from g is Op says, Goodwin pp saved us
in the fourth Sunday against Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Will be fun.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
All right, Let's go piece by piece here, goodwin. Yea, yeah,
that was a great win. The Celtics knew they needed
to win this game to keep themselves alive in the
NBA Cup. They did that, and they needed Peyton Pritchard
during the fourth quarter. I want to go over a
couple numbers here with you of just exactly what Peyton
Pritchard did during the fourth quarter to help spark the Celtics. Okay,
(13:18):
through the first three quarters of this game, Boston was
shooting only forty five percent from the field. Okay, so
first three quarters of the game, Celtics shooting only forty
five percent from the field. Then Peyton Pritchard catch us
fire seven of eight from the field, five of six
from distance, also dis out and assist. By the way,
(13:39):
scored nineteen points. And what do you know, the Celtics
wind up shooting sixty five percent during the fourth quarter,
scoring forty two points, outscored Chicago by nine. That is
the difference in the game. So Peyton Pritchard almost single
(14:00):
handedly got Boston's offense initiated kind of that spark plug
that they needed. And by the way, when I say needed,
they like needed him. I'm putting that in Italics. And
here's why. We learned during the second half that Derek
White was not going to return to the game because
(14:23):
of a.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Sore right foot.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
So because of that, the Celtics needed someone to not
only eat up those minutes, but to be effective with
those minutes, and Peyton Prichard did that and then some.
Him and Jalen Brown are the only players in the
entire game who played the entire fourth quarter. Peyton Prichard
(14:46):
was a plus nine. Obviously Jalen Brown was as well,
but Pritchard nineteen points all by himself during the fourth quarter.
I'll relay it against seven of eight from the field,
five of six from distance, four rebounds and assists to steal.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Man.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
The Celtics needed him, and he delivered. Let's hope that
the news on Derek White is positive after tonight. It
was just termed as a sore right foot, so let's
hope that's it. Let's hope he's back in no time.
This guy is like a gumby out there. He does
not miss time, so let's hope he does not miss
any time here moving forward, and as was teased here
(15:26):
by g is Op, the next game is Sunday in
a showdown between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference,
the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Caviliers.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
That should be fun.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
We'll talk about that a little bit more before this
episode rests, but let's jump into our next comment here,
all right, Next up, Johnny Utah, Ohio State number nine,
says good Win hopefully not enough for the Cup. First
place in the East is up next. Okay, So Johnny
(15:57):
is taking a couple stances here. In the big picture
thought process is that the number one seed in the
Eastern Conference is a bigger deal than the NBA Cup.
I tend to agree with that. If I were to
choose between the Celtics getting the number one seed in
the East when all is said and done, or then
winning the NBA Cup, you better believe I'm going to
(16:20):
vote for the number one seed in the East. However,
neither of these things are guaranteed that they're going to
affect each other, so I don't even look at it
that way. But Johnny Utah, I don't understand hope you
say hopefully not enough for the Cup? Why why do
you not want the Celtics to play meaningful games that
they care about, like clearly because you saw Joe Mizzoula
(16:42):
do what he did on that final possession. You know
that they care. You know that they want to get
into the knockout round. You know that they want to
try to win this. Why do you not want the
Celtics to play meaningful basketball right now as we head
into December? Why would you want Why would you not
(17:04):
want the Celtics to play high pressure, challenging basketball against
really good teams who are playing great basketball right now.
That's what the Cup breeds. The teams that advance are
the hottest teams in the league right now. Why would
you not want the Celtics to do this? Just because
you want to go against the grain, You want to
(17:25):
zag instead of zig like this Cup has been great.
The games last season were awesome. You remember that game
between the Celtics and the Pacers that was one of
the most memorable games of the regular season last year. Again,
why would you not want the Celtics to be a
(17:48):
part of that. I know some people want to say, oh,
this is meaningless, Bubba, it's because you're not used to it.
Ten years from now, there's gonna be kids who grew
up with the Cup being a part of the season
and they're gonna care about it. Just because it's new
to you doesn't mean it doesn't matter. It matters to
(18:11):
the team. They have put an emphasis on it. They
want to win this That's exactly why Joe Missoula called
that time out, because he wants to give his team
any possible advantage and chance to get onto the next
round and give themselves a shot at getting out to
Vegas and trying to win this Cup. All right, last up,
(18:36):
our comment of the night is from Frank Flynn saying,
the point differential is making my head hurt. Yeah, I'm
with you, Frank, and I think everyone is feeling the
same way. I mean, before this game, people were wondering, oh,
what's the point differential going into this game? And Bubba,
there were so many scenarios going into this game. People
were trying to simplify it. But because you don't know
(18:58):
who's going to win each game, you don't know how
much those teams are going to win those games by.
It's impossible to know. But now we've got a little
bit more clarity. We know the Celtics did not win
Group C. We know the other teams they are competing against,
that could wind up finishing three and one in group play,
(19:21):
any of the teams who wind up finishing three and
one will be tied with the Celtics, and the team
with the best point differential is a team that will
win on the team that will move on in the
wild card. And so, as I explained earlier, the easiest
path is Orlando winning and then whichever team wins between
(19:46):
Detroit and Milwaukee to win by seven or more points,
and if it's Detroit that wins that game, it could
be six points. The only reason I said that earlier
is because it's a blanket statement about the seven points.
If either team wins by seven or more points, the
(20:07):
Celtics will wind up getting the bid. And obviously that
is if it's accompanied by in Orlando win over New York.
And by the way, the reason for that is because
Orlando has by far the best point differential in the
Eastern Conference through three games at plus sixty. They have
won their three games so far by an average of
(20:28):
twenty points per game. So the only way for Orlando
to lose in the Celtics still to have a chance
would be if Orlando lost by like thirty seven or
thirty eight or more points, which is probably not happening.
That team is red hot. They've won i think eleven
of their last twelve games. They're playing really good basketball
(20:50):
right now. So that's why we're saying the blanket statement
of Orlando wins and whoever wins the Detroit Milwaukee game,
if they win by seven or more points, the Celtics
get the wild card. So yes, the point differential is
making your head hurt, Frank, it's making my head hurt.
It's Ben hurting. Everyone was trying to figure things out.
(21:13):
What's the scenario is going into this game? Okay, my
head hurt. Then it hurts a little bit less now
because we've got a little bit more clarity. So the
Celtics are done with their NBA group play, but they
are not done watching what's going on around the league
to see if they're going to have a shot to
move on to the next stage. However, prior to that Tuesday,
(21:36):
when the other two games are going on that they're
gonna have their eyes on. The Celtics will be able
to watch that because it's an off day for them.
They've got a couple games coming up first and foremost,
they've got a showdown Sunday evening against the Cavaliers out
in Cleveland, and then the very next night back in
Boston they host Miami at seven thirty pm. So a
(21:58):
back to back coming up Sunday against a couple very
competitive teams, one of which the Cleveland Cavaliers is the
number one team in the NBA right now and a
team that is certainly going to be seeking a little
bit of revenge after the Celtics just beat them.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Last Tuesday at td Garden.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
So that game is coming up against Sunday at six o'clock.
And here is an interesting tidbit about that. Because Cleveland
lost today against the Atlanta Hawks, Boston and Cleveland are
now tied in the lost column in the standings. So
whichever team wins that game on Sunday is the team
(22:37):
that will be in the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
And if Boston winds up jumping Cleveland with a victory,
that would be the first time this season that the
Celtics will be in sole possession of first place, because
obviously Cleveland opened the season with a red hot fifteen
or no start. So first place is on the line
(22:58):
on Sunday six o'clock. That game is gonna be on
NBA TV around the country, and as you know, it's
gonna be on NBC Sports Boston for everyone out here
in New England and anyone who's able to tune into
that channel around the country. So first place on the
line on Sunday, and then we gotta wait until Tuesday
to see if those scenarios can unfold and the Celtics
(23:18):
can somehow win that wildcard bid while not even playing
a game on Tuesday. All right, that's a wrap on
Sound Off with the Boston Celtics for tonight. I appreciate
you all tuning in. I appreciate you sending in your comments,
and again, anyone who's listening, make sure you look out
for my tweet after the game on Sunday, respond to
it with your reactions, your thoughts, everything you're thinking, and
(23:41):
I'm gonna take a few of them for our next
episode to sound Off on Sunday night. Thanks again for listening,
and we'll see you in a few days.
Sound off with me folks on Peyton Pritcher taking over
during the fourth quarter and the Boston Celtics keeping their
hopes alive in the NBA Cup.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Listen, this game was full of runs.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Boston was ahead by thirteen during the first quarter, then
it was down by nine, then it was up by seven,
then it was down by five. It just was a
volley back and forth, a game of runs until one
team took total control during the fourth quarter, and that
was the Boston Celtics. And it happened because of the
man who is the front runner for sixth Man of
(00:41):
the Year. That man, that player, that name is none
other than Peyton Pritchard. He caught absolute fire during the
fourth quarter. I'm talking scorched earth, piercing the net. Everything
that came off his hands was swishing through the net.
He actually scored nineteen of Boston's twenty one points in
(01:05):
a stretch of only four plus minutes of the fourth quarter.
He shot seven of eight from the field during that
time period and helped the Celtics to turn a four
point deficit into a seven point lead. In that is
when Boston took control and it never let go the
rest of the way. That is all they needed to
keep their hopes alive to advance to the knockout stage
(01:28):
of the NBA Cup. Let's dive a little bit deeper, though,
on what Peyton Pritcher did on this night. The general
box score says ten of sixteen from the field just
over twenty eight minutes of action off the bench, seven
for eleven from three point range. He hit six three
(01:48):
pointers from at least twenty seven feet out, Like, seriously,
this guy was shooting from the logo everywhere. We're talking
on the wing, we're talking from straight away.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
And by the way, I just.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Want to remind everyone who doesn't know, the NBA three
point line above the arc is twenty three feet nine inches,
So that means that six of his seven to three
pointers were from at least three plus feet behind the
three point line, and one of them was literally like
just in front of the horns on the bull at
(02:22):
the logo at mid court. He was feeling his teammates
knew it, by the way. They were just like, go cook,
go cook, Peyton Pridger. We know you can do it,
we know you're gonna do it. And that's exactly what
he did. So I said, he hit one from the
horns pretty well, just inside the horns at the mid
court line. There was another three pointer that he made
(02:43):
and he switched by the way after he almost fell
down on a step back three somehow on that move
it it literally looked like he was gonna tumble over and.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Fall over to his left.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
He regained his balance and all in one motion let
it fly and swisched it through the net. So those
couple of shots were just kind of the definition of
just how great Peyton Pritchard was feeling during this game.
It was a shooting exhibition. And now he's up to
forty four percent shooting from distance on eight point four
(03:15):
attempts per game. Let me put that into a little
bit of context for you. Okay, forty four percent shooting
on at least eight attempts per game. Let's put some
context around it. There are two names in the NBA
who are shooting at least forty four percent from three
(03:36):
point range on at least eight attempts per game. The first,
no surprise, that is Steph Curry, the greatest shooter of
all time. The second, Peyton Prichard. Steph Curry, Peyton Pritchard.
That's it. Those are the heights that Peyton Pritchard has
(04:00):
now reached in his career.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
He is the elite of the elite.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
He is one of the unquestioned greatest three point shooters
in our game right now today, and he is the
front runner, no doubt about it, for.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Six Man of the Year this season.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
The man is balling, he is cashing in from distance.
And after this game, by the way, just in case
people around the league don't know, Joe Mizzoula said, he's
one of the best three level scorers that he has seen,
and he's seen a lot of basketball, a lot of
great players. Peyton Pritchard can get it done from thirty feet,
(04:42):
he can get it done from fifteen feet, and by
the way, he'll bump you off your spot and he'll
get it done at the rim no matter who you
are as well. He's been doing it all season and
throughout his career. So absolutely an incredible performance from Peyton
Pritchell to get the Celtics into the win column and
(05:03):
again keep their hopes alive for the NBA Cup. And
we're gonna detail that a little bit more in just
a moment, but a couple of other things I want to
touch on Before we get into our fan questions, one
is Jason Tatum. We can't go through this episode without
talking about Jason Tatum. He was an absolute force tonight,
(05:23):
thirty five points, a game high fourteen rebounds. He led
the Celtics in all three major categories. Also disched out
five assists to lead the team. And the efficiency, like,
it makes me feel good when I see Jason Tatum
scoring with this level of efficiency. He only took eighteen
(05:45):
shots in this game, twelve of eighteen from the field
for thirty five points. What does that math tell you?
He averaged almost two points per shot attempt. That is
like as good as it gets, as good as it
gets thirty five points eighteen shot attempts, it comes in
just under two points per shot attempt. That is elite,
(06:11):
elite elite. That is MVP, MVP, MVP. This was just
another top notch performance from him. That's gonna keep padding
that resume for a possible MVP season. And by the way,
Peyton Prichard was great tonight in his twenty eight plus minutes,
but it was Jason Tatum who led the game and
(06:33):
plus minus Boston outscored Chicago by thirteen points while Jason
Tatum was on the floor so impacting the game across
the board and leading the game in rebounds on a
night when the Celtics needed it. By the way, they've
got Vucevic on the other side, but Boston outrebounded Chicago
(06:54):
fifty one to forty three, much ado to Jason Tatum.
Chris Porzingis also contributed to that. Grabbed eight rebounds in
this game. And that's another thing I want to talk about,
is porzingis he upped his minutes by just a little
bit up to twenty five tonight. And I don't know
(07:15):
how this guy does it, but anytime he comes back
from an injury, he looks like he's in mid season form.
Twenty one points tonight, eight rebounds, Like I said, scoring
from distance, scoring from mid range, scoring at the rim.
Everything the Celtics want to see, he's already doing it.
Protecting the rim, by the way, at the other end
of the court, everything they want to see.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
He's already bringing it to.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
The table in just his second game back. Somehow, maybe
he might get better the rest of the season. Pretty
impressive what Christas Porzingis is able to do when that
guy gets back into the lineup. After missing extended periods
of time. All Right, last thing we got to detail
tonight is the NBA Cup scenarios. As we know, this
(08:00):
was a Cup game the Celtics won by nine. Let's
dive into it. Okay, So heading into tonight, the Celtics
needed Cleveland to beat Atlanta, and then the Celtics win
this game and they would have won Group see, they
would have moved on to the quarterfinals. However, Atlanta. Props
to Atlanta. They have now won back to back games.
(08:23):
They beat Cleveland twice in three days. So with that
victory today over Cleveland for Atlanta, the Hawks won Group see.
They have advanced to the quarterfinals. And now the Celtics
need to win the one and only wild card in
the Eastern Conference in order to get to the Conference finals. Now,
(08:44):
there are a bunch of different ways that this can happen,
but I have boiled it down to the one singular,
most probable path towards this happening. I'm gonna tell you
right now. The Celtics need the Magic to beat New
York next Tuesday. That's number one. Number two, they need
(09:06):
whoever wins the game between Milwaukee and Detroit to win
that game on Tuesday by seven or more points.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
That would give the Celtics the tiebreaker in point differential.
So let me go back and say this one more time.
If Orlando beats New York on Tuesday, and then whoever
wins the game between Milwaukee and Detroit wins by at
least seven points, that means the Celtics will have the
wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
And let me remind you why.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
It has a lot to do with the final play
of regulation during this game tonight against the Chicago Bulls.
Joe Mazoula knows as well as anyone that point differential
is a differentiating factor in this NBA Cup tournament. We
saw it with Billy Donovan last and now we saw
it again tonight. So the Celtics call time out after
(10:04):
a Bulls miss with one point four seconds left in
the game. Celtics cept by six. Joe Mizoula calls for
a timeout. He's like, we need as many points as
we can get. Draws up a play. That play didn't
exactly work because it was supposed to, but the ad
libbing that the Celtics did actually did work. So Sam
Houser wound up hitting a ridiculous catch and shoot three
(10:27):
pointer along the left sideline. He was like fading out
of bounds, defender all over him and he switched it home.
He didn't even look happy about it after the facas
He's like, really, I make this shot after I shoot
zero for four from three point range before that shot,
tonight come out. But that shot is important because it
(10:47):
could wind up being the differentiating factor for the Celtics
when it comes to point differential. So Boston's point differential
now because of that shot. And by the way, the
Celtics are done now with NBA Cup games. So this
number that I'm gonna tell you their point differential, this
is final. It's not gonna change. They are a plus
(11:10):
twenty three in point differential. If Samhuser didn't make that shot,
they would be a plus twenty And so that number
I told you earlier about what the teams need to
win by between Milwaukee and Detroit. If either team wins
by seven, the Celtics will will get the wild card. Okay, Well,
(11:32):
if Samhuser didn't make this shot, that would mean that
if either team won by ten, the Celtics would get
the wildcard. So you see how things change quickly. And
by the way, like I said, that is not the
only path to the Celtics getting the wildcard. There are
a few of them. I am just breaking it down
to the very easiest path. Okay, So Orlando wins, and
(11:59):
then either team whoever wins between Milwaukee and Detroit, if
one of them wins by seven or more, Boston gets it.
So that three pointer from Sam Hauser could wind up
being the shot that gets them into the quarterfinals. Just
an unreal shot. Thank you Sam Hauser for draining that.
That was quite the shot. All right, let's take a
(12:21):
few comments from our fans. First up, we've got g
is Op on his overall reaction from this win. Next,
we've got Johnny Utah on what his big picture thoughts
are after this Celtics victory and really just on the
season in general. And then lastly we've got Frank Flynn
on the NBA Cup point differential that he's got some comments,
(12:43):
So let's dive into the first one here and start
it out, all right, first comment of the night coming
in from g is Op says, Goodwin pp saved us
in the fourth Sunday against Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Will be fun.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
All right, Let's go piece by piece here, goodwin. Yea, yeah,
that was a great win. The Celtics knew they needed
to win this game to keep themselves alive in the
NBA Cup. They did that, and they needed Peyton Pritchard
during the fourth quarter. I want to go over a
couple numbers here with you of just exactly what Peyton
Pritchard did during the fourth quarter to help spark the Celtics. Okay,
(13:18):
through the first three quarters of this game, Boston was
shooting only forty five percent from the field. Okay, so
first three quarters of the game, Celtics shooting only forty
five percent from the field. Then Peyton Pritchard catch us
fire seven of eight from the field, five of six
from distance, also dis out and assist. By the way,
(13:39):
scored nineteen points. And what do you know, the Celtics
wind up shooting sixty five percent during the fourth quarter,
scoring forty two points, outscored Chicago by nine. That is
the difference in the game. So Peyton Pritchard almost single
(14:00):
handedly got Boston's offense initiated kind of that spark plug
that they needed. And by the way, when I say needed,
they like needed him. I'm putting that in Italics. And
here's why. We learned during the second half that Derek
White was not going to return to the game because
(14:23):
of a.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Sore right foot.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
So because of that, the Celtics needed someone to not
only eat up those minutes, but to be effective with
those minutes, and Peyton Prichard did that and then some.
Him and Jalen Brown are the only players in the
entire game who played the entire fourth quarter. Peyton Prichard
(14:46):
was a plus nine. Obviously Jalen Brown was as well,
but Pritchard nineteen points all by himself during the fourth quarter.
I'll relay it against seven of eight from the field,
five of six from distance, four rebounds and assists to steal.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Man.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
The Celtics needed him, and he delivered. Let's hope that
the news on Derek White is positive after tonight. It
was just termed as a sore right foot, so let's
hope that's it. Let's hope he's back in no time.
This guy is like a gumby out there. He does
not miss time, so let's hope he does not miss
any time here moving forward, and as was teased here
(15:26):
by g is Op, the next game is Sunday in
a showdown between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference,
the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Caviliers.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
That should be fun.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
We'll talk about that a little bit more before this
episode rests, but let's jump into our next comment here,
all right, Next up, Johnny Utah, Ohio State number nine,
says good Win hopefully not enough for the Cup. First
place in the East is up next. Okay, So Johnny
(15:57):
is taking a couple stances here. In the big picture
thought process is that the number one seed in the
Eastern Conference is a bigger deal than the NBA Cup.
I tend to agree with that. If I were to
choose between the Celtics getting the number one seed in
the East when all is said and done, or then
winning the NBA Cup, you better believe I'm going to
(16:20):
vote for the number one seed in the East. However,
neither of these things are guaranteed that they're going to
affect each other, so I don't even look at it
that way. But Johnny Utah, I don't understand hope you
say hopefully not enough for the Cup? Why why do
you not want the Celtics to play meaningful games that
they care about, like clearly because you saw Joe Mizzoula
(16:42):
do what he did on that final possession. You know
that they care. You know that they want to get
into the knockout round. You know that they want to
try to win this. Why do you not want the
Celtics to play meaningful basketball right now as we head
into December? Why would you want Why would you not
(17:04):
want the Celtics to play high pressure, challenging basketball against
really good teams who are playing great basketball right now.
That's what the Cup breeds. The teams that advance are
the hottest teams in the league right now. Why would
you not want the Celtics to do this? Just because
you want to go against the grain, You want to
(17:25):
zag instead of zig like this Cup has been great.
The games last season were awesome. You remember that game
between the Celtics and the Pacers that was one of
the most memorable games of the regular season last year. Again,
why would you not want the Celtics to be a
(17:48):
part of that. I know some people want to say, oh,
this is meaningless, Bubba, it's because you're not used to it.
Ten years from now, there's gonna be kids who grew
up with the Cup being a part of the season
and they're gonna care about it. Just because it's new
to you doesn't mean it doesn't matter. It matters to
(18:11):
the team. They have put an emphasis on it. They
want to win this That's exactly why Joe Missoula called
that time out, because he wants to give his team
any possible advantage and chance to get onto the next
round and give themselves a shot at getting out to
Vegas and trying to win this Cup. All right, last up,
(18:36):
our comment of the night is from Frank Flynn saying,
the point differential is making my head hurt. Yeah, I'm
with you, Frank, and I think everyone is feeling the
same way. I mean, before this game, people were wondering, oh,
what's the point differential going into this game? And Bubba,
there were so many scenarios going into this game. People
were trying to simplify it. But because you don't know
(18:58):
who's going to win each game, you don't know how
much those teams are going to win those games by.
It's impossible to know. But now we've got a little
bit more clarity. We know the Celtics did not win
Group C. We know the other teams they are competing against,
that could wind up finishing three and one in group play,
(19:21):
any of the teams who wind up finishing three and
one will be tied with the Celtics, and the team
with the best point differential is a team that will
win on the team that will move on in the
wild card. And so, as I explained earlier, the easiest
path is Orlando winning and then whichever team wins between
(19:46):
Detroit and Milwaukee to win by seven or more points,
and if it's Detroit that wins that game, it could
be six points. The only reason I said that earlier
is because it's a blanket statement about the seven points.
If either team wins by seven or more points, the
(20:07):
Celtics will wind up getting the bid. And obviously that
is if it's accompanied by in Orlando win over New York.
And by the way, the reason for that is because
Orlando has by far the best point differential in the
Eastern Conference through three games at plus sixty. They have
won their three games so far by an average of
(20:28):
twenty points per game. So the only way for Orlando
to lose in the Celtics still to have a chance
would be if Orlando lost by like thirty seven or
thirty eight or more points, which is probably not happening.
That team is red hot. They've won i think eleven
of their last twelve games. They're playing really good basketball
(20:50):
right now. So that's why we're saying the blanket statement
of Orlando wins and whoever wins the Detroit Milwaukee game,
if they win by seven or more points, the Celtics
get the wild card. So yes, the point differential is
making your head hurt, Frank, it's making my head hurt.
It's Ben hurting. Everyone was trying to figure things out.
(21:13):
What's the scenario is going into this game? Okay, my
head hurt. Then it hurts a little bit less now
because we've got a little bit more clarity. So the
Celtics are done with their NBA group play, but they
are not done watching what's going on around the league
to see if they're going to have a shot to
move on to the next stage. However, prior to that Tuesday,
(21:36):
when the other two games are going on that they're
gonna have their eyes on. The Celtics will be able
to watch that because it's an off day for them.
They've got a couple games coming up first and foremost,
they've got a showdown Sunday evening against the Cavaliers out
in Cleveland, and then the very next night back in
Boston they host Miami at seven thirty pm. So a
(21:58):
back to back coming up Sunday against a couple very
competitive teams, one of which the Cleveland Cavaliers is the
number one team in the NBA right now and a
team that is certainly going to be seeking a little
bit of revenge after the Celtics just beat them.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Last Tuesday at td Garden.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
So that game is coming up against Sunday at six o'clock.
And here is an interesting tidbit about that. Because Cleveland
lost today against the Atlanta Hawks, Boston and Cleveland are
now tied in the lost column in the standings. So
whichever team wins that game on Sunday is the team
(22:37):
that will be in the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
And if Boston winds up jumping Cleveland with a victory,
that would be the first time this season that the
Celtics will be in sole possession of first place, because
obviously Cleveland opened the season with a red hot fifteen
or no start. So first place is on the line
(22:58):
on Sunday six o'clock. That game is gonna be on
NBA TV around the country, and as you know, it's
gonna be on NBC Sports Boston for everyone out here
in New England and anyone who's able to tune into
that channel around the country. So first place on the
line on Sunday, and then we gotta wait until Tuesday
to see if those scenarios can unfold and the Celtics
(23:18):
can somehow win that wildcard bid while not even playing
a game on Tuesday. All right, that's a wrap on
Sound Off with the Boston Celtics for tonight. I appreciate
you all tuning in. I appreciate you sending in your comments,
and again, anyone who's listening, make sure you look out
for my tweet after the game on Sunday, respond to
it with your reactions, your thoughts, everything you're thinking, and
(23:41):
I'm gonna take a few of them for our next
episode to sound Off on Sunday night. Thanks again for listening,
and we'll see you in a few days.
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