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December 31, 2024 15 mins

Somehow, the Boston Celtics now have more 50-point wins this season than 10-point losses. Are you kidding?! They crushed the Toronto Raptors by 54 points on New Year’s Eve behind a ridiculous combination of team shooting (54% FGs, 51% 3FGs) and defensive dominance. We dive into the win, which included the return of Jrue Holiday, and a fan dares to ask why the Celtics can’t play THIS GREAT every single night.

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Sound Off with me, folks on the Boston Celtics having
more fifty point wins this season than they have ten
point losses. Believe it or not, that is a fact.
They have one fifty point win this season that just
happened tonight against the Toronto Raptors on New Year's Eve,

(00:27):
and they have zero ten point losses on the season.
So I'm gonna recap that very quickly for you here
off the top. The Boston Celtics have one fifty point
win this season and zero ten point losses. Take that
as you may. A pretty darn good end of the
twenty twenty four calendar year for the Boston Celtics a

(00:50):
one twenty five to seventy one win over the Toronto
Raptors in a matine game. It was a kid's day
at t D Garden, and boys, did the Celtics deliver
quite a show for all the kids who were on
board at TD Garden on this day. Before we get
too deep into this episode, I want to tell everyone
out there, this is the final video version of the

(01:14):
sound Off podcast for the next few months. I just
so happened to be heading out for paternity leave for
the next few months. I'm excited about that, spending some
time with my little baby girl. But I will be
back at the end of March toward the beginning of April,
and we'll have the video versions back coming here on
YouTube in just a few months. So bear with me.

(01:34):
We're going on hiatus for a few months, but hopefully
you'll all be excited to get back into this here
in a few months, right before the playoffs roll around
for the Celtics. But rewinding to what just happened tonight
at TD Garden for the Boston Celtics, they annihilated the
Toronto Raptors. They eviscerated the Toronto Raptors. They dominated the Raptors,

(01:55):
They humiliated the Raptors. Every word you want to use
to describe a pure domination, that is what the Celtics
did during this game. Top to bottom. Everyone played well,
and it all started during the fourth quarter when the
Celtics really put this game away. Because remember at halftime,
they only led by ten. It was forty five to

(02:15):
thirty five at halftime. But during that third quarter, the
Celtics caught their rhythm and they wound up looking like
the team that we've all expected them to look like.
Every single night. They scored forty five points during the
third quarter alone, and listened to these ridiculous shooting numbers.
Four percent, seventy four percent shooting from the field for

(02:37):
the whole team. It's hard to get that from one player.
They got it for the whole team. From the whole
team during the third quarter, eighty four percent from three
point range. This is ridiculous. Like imagine being on the
other side of that and being a player on the
Raptors or a coach and having to watch the Celtics
do that. Seventy four percent from the field as a team,

(03:00):
eighty four percent from three point range as a team.
Those are absurd numbers, unstoppable numbers, and that unstoppable is
what the Celtics were on this night. Once they got started,
there was no turning them off, and that is what
great teams do. It is incredibly difficult to turn it

(03:22):
back in the other direction once a great team starts
to find its rhythm, and tonight, for the first time
in a while, the Celtics really looked like they had
their rhythm, the same type of rhythm that they had
last season when they won their first NBA championship since
two thousand and eight, so great to see out of
the Celtics. They really turned it up and ended the

(03:43):
twenty twenty four calendar year on a high note, and
they just looked like themselves at both ends. Like the
defense was back, the offense looked great, the ball was hopping,
everyone was getting involved, but particularly defensively, the Celtics were
really flying around and looking like they were they wanted
to assert their dominance and that's exactly what they did now.

(04:03):
Speaking on that before the game, Joe Mizula had a
funny moment with Noah Dalzel, one of the reporters of
who covers the Celtics, asking a question and basically saying, like,
why do people think that just because you have a
bad defensive night that it has to say that the
Celtics didn't play with effort or energy. Joe Mizula stopped
the press conference and said, that's the most profound comment

(04:26):
I've heard in my three years here as Celtics head coach.
And this because he knows the real numbers and he
knows the eye test. As an NBA head coach, we
don't know those things, okay, as fans, as media, we
don't know that information he knows it, and what he
basically told everyone in the media room is that the
Celtics over the last ten games that was before tonight's

(04:49):
dominance against the Raptors, they were one of the most
dominant defensive teams in the league when it comes to
what should have been expected out of their defense in
terms of points, opponent points, opponent field goal percentage. They
were performing at a very high level. But other teams
just happened to be making those shots. So he wasn't
fretting about what happened over the previous games. He was

(05:12):
seeing that the Celtics were still being great and the
energy and the effort was there. To know what Dalzell's point,
It doesn't just mean that if you give up a
bunch of points, that means you're not giving effort, not
giving energy. Maybe that happens on a dozen plays throughout
a game, but not for a whole game. So that's
what Joe Missoula had to say. Also got to note
Drew Holliday back in the lineup tonight. He got a

(05:34):
full week off. His last game before tonight, which obviously
was on the thirty first, His last game was on
the twenty third, so a full week off for Drew
Holliday before he came back, and he looked spry, he
looked athletic, he looked like himself back out there, So
that was great to see. Peyton Pritchard continued to cook
another nineteen points off the bench for the Celtics, five

(05:57):
to threes, seven of thirteen shooting. He just continued to
strengthen his case for six Man of the Year. So
great to see those two guys either back to looking
like themselves or continuing to put forth an incredible effort
for the Celtics this season. All right, let's dive into
a few fan comments. First up, we've got Bruce b
on Drew Holliday's impact, which we just slightly touched on,

(06:18):
but we're gonna go a little bit deeper. Next up,
we've got Michael on the Celtics playing pissed off tonight.
I love to hear that. And then lastly, we've got
McClain Laserda who is asking, what I would say, is
a pretty impossible question. And that's gonna be our last one.
So let's dive into our first one. Here, my friend
Bruce b with our first comment of the night. All right,

(06:41):
Bruce b you're up. First comment of the night here
it is Drew Holliday's mere presence makes such a huge
difference for the Seas. All right, color me shocked that
someone out there can actually acknowledge the fact that Drew
Holliday has been missing for most of the stretch where
the Celtics weren't quite playing up to their level. Oh
and by the way, Kristas Porzingis also hasn't been out

(07:04):
there for the Celtic So they've been missing forty percent
of their starting lineup for the better part of the
last week. Maybe that contributes to some struggles. Okay, people,
all right, maybe they weren't quite playing up to their
capabilities because they didn't have their whole team. But tonight
they get Drew Holliday back, and man didn't make a
difference defensively, He sets the tone. Him and Derek White

(07:26):
are the heads of the snake out on the perimeter.
Those guys are trying to contain and apply pressure on
the perimeter, and that speeds offenses up. It makes them
do things that they wouldn't normally do, and it makes
them uncomfortable. And Drew Holliday was back in the lineup
tonight contributing to that. Now at the other end of
the floor, that's what really stood out to me, is

(07:47):
because Drew Holliday contributed in a significant fashion offensively and
he looked comfortable why while doing it. We haven't seen
that a whole lot this season. He just hasn't looked
quite like himself, which probably could have been expected after
he not only went to the NBA Finals and won
it last season with the Celtics, but then also went
straight into playing for Team USA overseas in the Olympics.

(08:12):
So you add those things together a very short offseason
for him, you could have expected some struggles out of
the out of the gates, but tonight he comes back
into the lineup, scores fourteen points in only twenty five minutes,
five of eight from the field, four of five from
three point range. Great to see him having a rhythm
from long distance, so again offensively making an impact, defensively

(08:35):
making an impact. The Drew Holliday we saw tonight is
the Drew Holliday we saw all last season, and that,
folks is a dangerous, dangerous development for all of Boston's
upcoming opponents. Having him back looking like that is a
game changer for the Celtics, and it's not a surprise
that the Celtics wound up dominating this game while he

(08:56):
was back in the lineup, Drew Holliday, it's great to
see you back. Glad to see that you feeling well.
Happy New Year to you, my friend. It's great to
have you back in the lineup. All right. Next up,
we've got Michael saying they were pissed with all the talk.
They've hit their ceiling on a losing streak, not motivated.

(09:16):
Today they saw a big and a couple letters that
start with F and and with you to everyone is
what they sent out. All right, Michael, I love what
you're saying here. It's a little explicit, so let's not
go overboard here. But that really did seem like that's
what the Celtics did tonight. They acknowledge, or maybe they
just wanted to show all of the people who've been

(09:38):
talking down on them since they had a little bit
of struggles over the course of the last couple of
weeks and say, nah, we are still those people, we
are still those guys, and we are still that team.
And tonight they won by fifty four points. And by
the way, just in case everyone doesn't know, the record

(10:00):
all time for the Celtics, dating back to nineteen forty six,
the record for the biggest win in a game, largest
margin of victory fifty six points. The Celtics missed it
by just two tonight. That's how dominant they were, fifty
four point when they played like they were pissed. I'm
with you, Michael. They had that attitude offensively, they had

(10:22):
that attitude defensively that we are going to dominate this game.
We are going to control what happens between the lines
once that ball gets tossed up, and that is exactly
what unfolded in front of us on New Year's Eve. So, Michael,
I am absolutely with you here. I don't necessarily think
that the Celtics came into this game saying we need

(10:43):
to make a statement, But I think they were saying
to themselves, we need to play like ourselves. We need
to play like the team that we know we can
be and should be, and we're all last season, and
tonight they did it. The Celtics grab a fifty four
point win and fall just two points shy of the
all time record for largest largest margin of victory in

(11:05):
Boston Celtics' history. All Right, folks, last comment of the
night and last comment. I'm gonna be taken for quite
a while. All right, McClain leserta, You are up. And
I said earlier that this was com possible. Question. Now
you get to hear it. Mcclanleserta says, why can't they

(11:26):
play like this every night? We have the talent, the ability,
the system, the coaching strategy, and fan support. This is
why we get mad at them. All right, McClain leserta,
I understand what you're saying. But to expect the Celtics
to play near perfect basketball when they won by fifty
four points against I don't care who they were playing.

(11:48):
That was an NBA team full of NBA players coached
by NBA coaches. To win a game by fifty four points,
you have to play an unbelievably high level basketball and
you have to have the other team play a relatively
low quality basketball game. So winning a game like this
and playing at this extreme efficient level is almost impossible

(12:13):
to do more than a couple times this season, and
even that is a stretch. Celtics might have used up
their only fifty point win of the season tonight. That
doesn't happen very often. So let's not get selfish here
and thinking that the Boston Celtics should be winning by
fifty every night, or shooting seventy four percent in a

(12:33):
quarter from the field or eighty three percent from three
point range, like those things aren't normal. What the Celtics
did tonight is not normal. They did it, though, so
it shows us that they're capable of it. And I
think that's getting back to what your point is here, McClain,
is that you want to see the Celtics just play
with that type of ball movement, with that type of defense.

(12:55):
They're capable of that. It might not result in this
exact same runaway dominant performance, but at least you're seeing
that on a nightly basis. So that's what the Celtics
want to do. That's what the Celtics need to do,
and hopefully, if that's what you are saying, mclan, the
Celtics do bring that to the table here heading into
twenty twenty five for the majority of this road trip

(13:17):
and then heading into a very difficult month of January.
So thank you for your comment. I understand it. I
think it's a little bit impossible to ask the Celtics
to play at this level all the time, because they
were like unbelievable tonight. But they can play at a
super high level every night. They haven't been doing it lately.
Let's let them get healthy and I think that's going

(13:38):
to happen much much more regularly. So. As I indicated,
they've got a road trip coming up, and boy, oh boy,
is this a tough one. It tips off Thursday night.
You're taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have not been
playing quite as well as they did last season. But
that team is loaded with talent with Anthony Edwards at
the head, and that's going to be a tough game

(13:59):
for sure. They follow that up with a back to
back the next night against the Rockets out in Houston. Houston,
by the way, is one of the best teams out West.
That team is up and coming and could wind up
winning the West. I wouldn't put my money on that,
but that team is playing so well with such rounded balance,
that team could challenge to win the West. After that,

(14:20):
on Sunday, after only one day of rest, you played
for the third time in four nights, going out to
Oklahoma City to take on the thunder who are the
number one seed in the West, the best team arguably
in the NBA this season. That's what margin of Victory says.
Let's see what happens on Sunday. And then they round
out the trip with the team that won the championship
just two seasons ago, that is the Denver Nuggets, with

(14:42):
the leader in the clubhouse for the MVP, Nikola Jokic.
It's time to find out what the Celtics or Maida folks.
They are heading into the toughest month of their schedule
all season long, that is January, and they open it
up with the hardest road trip that they arguably will
have all season. Lie. It all gets tipped off Thursday Minnesota.

(15:03):
I will have an audio episode of the podcast coming
up after that game, so make sure you look out
for my tweet after the final buzzer. Send me your thoughts,
send me your reactions, send me everything you're thinking after
that game. I'll take a few of them on the
next episode of sound Off, which is coming again Thursday night.
So I'll see you then. For all of you who

(15:24):
are watching on YouTube, I appreciate you and I will
see you when I get back on the docket in April.
Take care of, have a great night, the happy New Year.
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