On today’s episode, Jason is joined by Boston Globe national NBA writer Gary Washburn to discuss why the Boston Celtics are down 0-2 to the New York Knicks, how Kristaps Porzingis mystery illness is impacting the rest of the front court, how much of the Celtics issues right now are more mental than physical, the narrative that Jayson Tatum is getting much of the blame for the Celtics’ woes, the likelihood that this current Boston roster gets overhauled this upcoming offseason and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, Great Fire, fam H's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fyre for Friday, May the eighth. It is Mother's
Day weekend. Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there. Obviously,
gotta get the cards, the flowers, the whole shebang. I
got invited to play basketball Sunday morning. I'm like, guys,
(00:31):
it's Mother's Day. You think I'm gonna wake up at
eight o'clock and play basketball on Mother's Day. I can't
believe any of the guys are playing. I'm a stunt. Anyways,
we got a great, great podcast to take you into
Mother's Day weekend, an interview with Gary Washburn of the
Boston Globe, who covers the Celtics. Celtics officially a def
Con two right now, given the two deficit to the Knicks.
(00:55):
I was saying, an ideal Saturday would be wake up,
fly or maybe take a red eye tonight, fly to
New York and go to the game on Saturday and
then head back from Mother's Day. But I just looked
at the ticket, not that I would be able to
afford this. The ticket prices are ridiculous. It's just gonna
be such a huge game at the Garden, crowd's gonna
be juiced up. My buddy Nico was like, hey, Nick's
(01:18):
first quarter, what do you think. I was like, I
don't know, man. You guys saw the Knicks against Detroit
one and two at home. Could have closed them out,
couldn't do it. Sometimes the home court advantage, the juiced
up crowd, everybody fired. I mean, the celebrities are gonna
be everywhere. It's like, I don't know, it's just too much.
And remember Boston had an extra day now to not
(01:38):
only prepare maybe Porzingis is feeling better, but to kind
of stew and realize, Hey, here's the predicament. Guys, it's
must win. This is the season. You go down three,
that's a death sentence. You ain't coming back from O three.
Nobody's ever done it, so I actually, I mean, I'm
not totally surprised that the Celtics are five and a
half point favorites. I don't think they're done in this series.
(01:58):
I know that sounds crazy, folks. They were the, for
my money, the best team all season. I know everybody
loves Okac, but this is the Boston juggernaut which took
its foot off the gas because they won the title
last year. They just couldn't make a three and couldn't close.
They led both games by twenty. I would venture to
guess if you led by twenty in the second half
this year in the NBA, you probably won eighty percent
(02:20):
of the time. That would just be a guess. Maybe ninety.
The Celtics are zero and two, like that's just that
doesn't normally happen. They will bounce back. Maybe I'm just
being a pessimistic Knicks fan, but I have a bad
feeling about Game three. I don't think there's any world
where the Celtics roll over and Knicks win that, but
I haven't bet it yet. Also, Friday Friday Night, I
(02:42):
don't know if you guys have planned tonight, but you
know two more road favorites. You've got OKC four and
a half. It in the altitude at Denver. I'm rooting
Denver there, but I don't have a read, no no
wager for me. And then Cleveland expected to get all
three guys back, Garland, Mobley and Hunter. They are favored
(03:03):
in Indiana, now I give anybody there. I like Indiana this.
You know I've been bullish on Indiana and a lot
of people starting to come around on the old Pacers.
I think that series does kind of feel over last
night in the Association. It was a crap game. Warriors
come out with quintin post starting at center, okay, and
(03:27):
they fall down thirteen to nothing, and it was I
don't know if it was ever single did just after
that Steve Kurd minute afterward. Yeah, we wanted to reduce
the minutes on Butler and Healed and Green. No need
to press it unless we're in the mix, and they
were never in the mix. It was the sole positive
if your Golden State is well. Kaminga looked pretty good
in twenty six minutes. He had eighteen points. You know,
(03:47):
took go bear baseline for a pretty awesome dunk. Trace
Jackson Davis, who hasn't played a lot in the postseason,
looked pretty pretty good. I mean again his garbage time
Minnesota role, but he was actually able to score, which
is a nice thing for Golden State, which they're gonna
need without Curry. Julius Randall back to Laker Julius Randall.
Series for him twenty four points, eleven assists, eleven assists
(04:10):
for Randall, Aunt turned his Ankle toughed it out, had twenty.
He's just not playing great right now. But this was
about the Timberwolves bench, So they have the major bench
advantage against the Lakers. They have it also against Golden State.
Nas Reed eleven points, three threes. Dante DiVincenzo, who's I'm
just telling you, he's starting to goon it up. Man,
(04:31):
He's like kind of sort of hitting guys and getting physical.
I don't know. I thought he could have got a
flagrant and at one point in the first half US
what's wrong with him?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Now?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
He's a tough guy. You know, Villanova, I'm sure you know.
You look at him, you don't think, oh, this guy's
gonna be an NBA player. He's gonna be like a
Final four was the Final four MVP because he had
like seven threes or something. He was in the league
and he's proven impressive. He had nine and five, and
then Alexander Walker hit four threes. He had twenty off
the bench. So you get that support, and you get
your usual twenty from Aunt, twenty from Randall, fifteen from McDaniels.
(05:05):
They're gonna be fine. I think Timberwolves win the series.
I don't think Steph plays again. The only crappy news
from Thursday is the soccer team we own Nikosa home
playoff game. And now the playoffs are set up in
this league, the top league in Mexico, where you have
a home and home and whoever has more goals at
(05:29):
the end advances. Well, what if there's a tie, no
penalty kicks, the top seed, the higher seed advances. So
we're playing the four seed and we're the five. So
we're like, all right, we're at home in the opener.
We just need a goal or two and then we
go there up a goal, and then then we got
to put pressure on them. So we dominate the first half,
have all the chances, could not finish. Their keeper was excellent,
(05:52):
and the game end zero zero, kind of deflating. And
now we got to go to a tough place to
play Tea Grace. They're loaded. You know, listen, man, it's
gonna be a tall order to pull off this win.
That being said, I wouldn't rule anything. I thought our
coach had a phenomenal game plan and we had so
many chances. The keeper on their team was just played
(06:15):
out of his mind.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Man.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
He had like three really high end saves. And we
couldn't find the back of the net. So now the
next game, the second leg, I believe it's it's either
Saturday or Sunday. And yeah, I'm gonna have to carve
out some time. Oh gosh, I hope it's not Mother's Day.
Is checking the old schedule? Damn it, it is Mother's
Day unless it's Yeah, it's gotta be Mother's Day. Well,
(06:42):
I don't know. Unfortunately we have you know, you can
watch TV on your phone on with no volume. I
guess I'll have to do that anyways, Without further ado,
let's get to our guest, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. You know a guy, Jason likes to think
he knows everything when it comes to sports.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I know what sports fans want.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
But for everything he doesn't. He knows a guy who does.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows the
guy who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome to
straight fire a guy who. Man, this has got to
be a tough week. For him because the TV covers
the Boston Celtics. They went into this series against the
nixt thing. Get okay, you know we dominated them last
two seasons. We'll roll over them in five or six.
Get to the Eastern Conference Finals, and all of a sudden,
(07:41):
the Celtics are down to Gary Washburn, Boston Globe. Listen, man,
this has been a just tell me what your life
has been like over the last like say, ninety six hours.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Yeah, it's flipped from you know, oh boy, Cleveland lost
and maybe they won't face Cleveland and Eastern Conference finals
to now they've got a they're fighting for their survival.
I mean, they're fighting for kind of a legacy, Jason,
because oh, this team is you know, wanted to the
dreams of repeating. They wanted to be the first Celtic
(08:10):
team to repeat since sixty eight sixty nine. And they
said all the right things all year, and they finished
with sixty one wins and they rested up porzingis you know,
you missed the first six weeks this season and made
sure put them on bubble wrap during the season and
make sure he was he was healthy, and everything was
supposed to work out, and suddenly a seventy two hour
(08:33):
stretch where they blow two twenty point leads to suddenly
turned their season into well, you know how to what
are we going to do now? It puts everything in
a jeopardy with new ownership for the summer. Do you
keep this team together for one more run? Do you
move somebody? A lot rides in this series because, as
you know, Jason, no team, no defending champions made it
(08:57):
past a second round since the Warriors in eighteen.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Lave me. The Celtics know that. The Celtics have.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Been made aware that getting to the conference finals would
be a big achievement for them because it is hard
to repeat. We saw with Denver last year, very similar situation, Jason,
Denver got basically blown out at home. Remember that year
ago by Minnesota and everybody was saying, Minnesota's going to
go the finals, they're the best team in the West,
and Denver made it a seven game series and the
(09:25):
losing it on their home floor. But we'll see what
the Celtics are about in Game three.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, there's a lot to start. Let's go with Porzingi
since you brought him up. They did rest of them
all season. They tried to keep him healthy, so he's
good for the playoffs, and now he's got this mystery
illness where they don't seem to know what it is.
I've tried to read around. Nobody seems to have a
beat on what's going on with him. He does not
look like himself. And I don't want to say they
(09:51):
didn't plan, but Al Horford clearly cannot log thirty minutes
at this age. Bob Brumson just putting him in a
blunder on repeat.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Yeah, I mean, you know, al Al turns thirty nine
in June, so it's great to have him out there.
He's still a productive NBA player, but they're relying on
him too much. And with Porzingis, this has had no
idea this was gonna happen. I mean, he missed eight
games in March with this illness. He came back. I
think he logged forty minutes in a game during the
(10:20):
playoffs and that Orlando serie like it looked like he
was getting back to normal. Although he didn't have a
good series against Orlando. They were a little physical with him,
but it looked like, Okay, they'll have a fresh ready
to go motivated. Obviously, Worzingas was drafted by the Knicks
and was supposed to be their cornerstone and one of
their franchise guys coming into the you know, the last
(10:40):
decade coming into this one, and it didn't work out.
So he's not exactly well liked in New York because
of his departure and asking out. So you thought he'd
be motivated and maybe ready to go, and suddenly, you know,
during game one, this illness hits him, and he comes
out in Game two for five minutes in the first half,
looks basically lethargic, like he shouldn't be out there. Then
(11:02):
comes back in the second half and makes some plays
and hit some shots, and so then he tells after
the game he's still dealing with the same thing he
did in March, and you know, it put him, really
put him down in game one. So, like you said,
we have no idea what it is, what kind of illness.
You don't want to speculate, what kind of virus it is.
Is it something he'll have to be completely examined and
(11:23):
treated when the season's over.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
We don't know.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
We just know probably he's he's gonna play game three,
but who knows how long.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, let's go now, to Joe Missoula, I don't know.
I chucked up Game one as kind of hey man,
they took too many threes. They were a lot of
open threes. This didn't make them. Game two, the bounce back,
they lead by twenty but down the stretch to get
outscored twenty three to six. And I mean, at some point,
I get it, Tatum is under delivered this series. But
the starters were two for eighteen and the fourth quarter
(11:52):
game of Game two, like, at some point it's been like,
can Missoula get this under control? Like, I don't know.
I saw the Pacers get when they needed to come
back against the Cavs in Game two, they just went
to Miles Turner on the pick and roll down at
twenty six points in the paint bustin just not making
any adjustments. It fields what's going on with Missoula.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I mean, I feel he believes they're getting the good shots.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
And having obviously cover this team for a long time
and watching this team this year, you could have knocked
me over with a feather to tell me that they
would miss seventy five out of one hundred.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Threes in this series.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
I would have guessed their best case scenario is taking
fifty threes a game. So the fact that they've taken
a hundred, that's good for them. They like that, right,
hitting twenty five, including ten for forty in game two.
W would have never expected it because what they've tried
to do with this roster in line it with shooters.
Pritchard why Holliday can knock down at three, Tatum is
(12:50):
a streaky three point shooter, though he's capable of knocking
them down. Brown is two, although they're minus shooters this year. Jason,
So if I'm the Knicks and I'm sure, hey, shoot
for three, you know you're thirty two percent, that's not
gonna unscare us. Now if they if you get on
a heater, that might be a dangerous game plan, but
that hasn't happened. So I think Missoula really truly believes
(13:11):
that they've gotten good shots, they've missed them, and I
just think they are myth as to what's going on here.
How Come they can't make get fourth quarter stops? How
come Miles Bridges turns into uh, you know, Steph in
the fourth quarter when he goes oh for eight in
the first three quarters. How comes suddenly he can't miss
down the stretch, like why they're looking in saying, why
(13:33):
are these bad things happening to us?
Speaker 3 (13:36):
What have we done?
Speaker 4 (13:38):
How come the Knicks, who have scored a hundred nate
not you know, they didn't play bad defensively in Kay
one and ninety one, have won both games, and and
they've done the Cells have done a good defensive job
against Brunson. So I don't think Missoula looks and says
I need to change our offense. I think maybe the
approach change in Game two with more you know, paint points,
(14:01):
attacks in the middle, trying to get to the free
throw line.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
But I just think they're they're sitting there saying, where
did this come from? How come we turned into the
Washington Generals literally in overnight after a rough series against
Orlando where they won it with you know, grittin and
how come? And then how come and this is a
big point too mentally, how come we're looking behind? How
(14:27):
come the Celtics up twenty are literally looking behind them
like they're gonna catch this.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Oh my god, they're gonna catch this. Oh my god,
it's fourteen, Oh my god, it's eleven. Oh, here's McBride Oh,
he's gonna hit this one. Oh boy, Like that's what
the fans are thinking, and honestly, what's what the team
is thinking. They're not playing to win, They're playing not
to lose. They're playing the prevent defense. Where they're playing,
they're playing to just hang on, and they just and
(14:53):
they're not hanging on.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
It feels like Jason Tatum is bearing the brunt of
the criticism. And I get it. He has not been good.
I've been a Tatum defender, even though I don't like
Boston Sports teams. You know, born in New York. But
I don't know what to make a Tatum. This is
four straight years he's gonna be first team All NBA.
I mean, Gary, we're looking at a top five player
in the league for four straight seasons. That's what over
(15:15):
two hundred I mean, probably almost three hundred games of
data that Jason Tatum is a superstar, and it's he's
had two bad games, Like, what do we make of him?
I don't want to hear this. He's not clutch. I
know the game six against Milwaukee and the game seventy
where he went off against the Sixers, like he's a
great player. What has happened to Tatum one.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I think the ogn Andobi. I mean, if you look
at those matchups over the years, Anonob is a big
and then always like a unicorn man. I mean, he's
an old school NBA player. You look at him physically,
as I've said, you do not want to see him
in a dark alley. Ananobi's a built, big, athletic dude.
I mean, he's the guy you look and you're picking
(15:54):
him first on your team, right in terms of you
playing pickup, that's the guy I won. He gonna make
some hat so I think he doesn't want to take
Ananobi one on one, So he's trying to devise ways
to score without really having to take on that one
on one matchup, and that's affecting his offense.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And he's settling for those Kobe like fadeaways. Those He
took those and missed a lot of those in his
early career. He was trying to be Kobe.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Junior in his early years. Right then he learned how
to master that shot. But when they're contested and he's
facing good defenders like a Mitchell Robinson or Ananoverer, even
a Miles Bridge sorry Michel Bridges, then it's a more
difficult shot, and he's missing those shots. I mean, you
saw that wide open three he had that would have
(16:39):
made it a nine point game with three and a
half left. If he hits that shot, Jason, the Celtics
likely win the game. It's hard to lose a nine
point lead with three, although with the Celtics in this
series it is probably possible.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
But he missed it. He you know, it was like
they just said, hey, Jason, go ahead. Shoot.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
They are in his head and he's got to get
out of his head and he's got to look in
the mirror. He's got to say, I'm the best NF
on the floor. I'm better than Brunson, I'm the best dude.
I'm the one that everybody needs to I'm on all
the commercials like and it's here's got to be a
soul search, you know, over the next forty eight hours
before that game, three Saturday afternoon in New York, and
(17:19):
we all know everybody's going to be in the house
at MSG.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
That is going to be a Rash's atmosphere, and he's.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Got to show his best because he is being dragged obviously,
you have to the Olympic experience, and he didn't win
finals MVP last year Jalen Brown won. He didn't win
Insterra Conference MVP. Jalen Brown won that two that Tatum's
reputation is taking hits and he feels scrutinized. Well, this
is kind of why when you go one for twelve
(17:45):
in the fourth quarter of Games one and two.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I will say the whole you know, Olympic snub. I
get Kerr not wanting to play him above Kevin Durant
and Lebron you know, like too historically great plays. But
the weird part is like the finals VP Eastern Conference.
It almost reeks of Steph Curry. Remember when Igudala won
the MVP. Yes, then the seventy three win Warriors lost,
(18:23):
and then Kevin Durant wins two finals MVPs with him.
It almost feels like that. And I wonder do you
think that this stuff matters to Tatum? I don't know,
you're around the guy all the time. Does he care
about that stuff?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Well?
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I think he wants to be recognized for his growth
and his versatility. He wants to be recognized for his
ability not only to score, but to rebound, because he's
a plus rebounder, because you would not consider him a
physical player. You would consider Jason Moore of a finess player.
But he grabs ten rebounds a game, He gets his
hands dirty, and he has become a much better overall willing.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Passer over the last several years. As I said before,
early in his career he had a lot of Kobe
in it.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
He was just trying to take two difficult like, hey man,
that's Kobe, and that was Kobe year eight, year nine.
That was not Kobe in ninety eight, right, that was
Kobe in two thousand and six. The stuff you're trying
to do. So to me, Jason has just felt probably
a little bit overlooked and disrespected from the terms of like,
look at the player I've grown into, and he's only
(19:22):
twenty seven, right, and he's about to you know, he's
in his eighth year. So he feels like I deserve more.
Then he put the team on his back of that
game five against Dallas to close it out. He went
thirty one. He almost had a triple double. I mean,
and he felt like, you know, in the vote, he
was closed. I think it was five to four or
something like that or seven, you know. For the MVP vote.
(19:43):
I gave him my vote. I gave Jalen to vote
for Eastern Conference. I gave Jason the vote for Finals
MVP because I just thought he closed the game out
when it was a kind of an important game.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
He didn't want to go back to Dallas three to.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Two, lead them in points and rebounds and assistant.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Totally all categories, you know.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
But Jalen's d Luca was exceptional, and I think that's
what one of them obviously the MVP. And so I
think Jason maybe feels a little slidered in comparison to
guys like ant Man and other guys who have been
get gotten this instant respect. And he looks and goes, well,
ant Man hasn't even been to a finals. I won one,
I lost one, but I've been to two and I
(20:19):
got a chip. What you know, what are you gonna like?
You know the whole what are you gonna say?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Now?
Speaker 4 (20:23):
So, but then he does these these two games on
the biggest stage, and even though Brunston hasn't had a
great series. Brunson's been the closer. He scored the he
scored the nixt last six points in game two. So
Brunson has showed up when it counted. They did Sells
meet Jason Taye to do the same.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Is it is it weird to be like we're relitigating
players after one game at age of twenty seven twelve,
Like Josh Allen loses to Mahomes almost every year in
the playoffs. Nobody's like, ah, he's not that good, He's
not the you know, Josh Allen MVP Lamar two m
VP's like, it's just to win championships. Can we just
say that? Like it just feels like they're piling on.
Let me ask you this. So about two months ago,
(21:04):
you know, when the Yannis stuff, it was very clear
that the Bucks were not going anywhere. It felt like
to me like the Celtics could be a landing spot
for Yiannis. Given the luxury tax, the new owners, they're
gonna have to mess up the roster or tweak it.
And Brian Windhorst came out today and talked about how,
hey man, they're gonna be tweaking things this offseason. Win
(21:24):
or lose against the Knicks. Is there any of that
vibe in the locker room? Are you feeling that and
sensing that, hey, Man Giannis could be coming in KD
Who knows bare Mannabayo, I have no clue career, but
do you get a sense that this maybe, which sounds crazy,
the last run for this crew together.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Yeah, I think that has to be seeking into the
locker room one because there's new owners, right, and as
much as every new owner says, Hey, I'm gonna do
this and I'm gonna revitalize this and I'm gonna build,
you know, even though our practical facility is a year old,
I'm building a new one. Like every owner talks all
the mumbo jumbo about what's he gonna do with the
(22:02):
franchise and he ends up he or she here, They
end up being, you know, penny pinching. So we don't
know what's in the mind of new ownership, right. And
then with the second apron the Celtics, are you staying
there too long? Your draft picks start getting frozen, So
now you're impacting the later years of Tatum or you're
(22:24):
packed impacting your ability to build and rebuild in the
five years from now in the two thousand and thirties.
So you're you know, maybe that that kid probably right
now is probably in tenth grade, right, but your effect
impacting your ability to draft a new superstar right now
who's gonna be a one and done in five or
(22:44):
six years.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
So the Celtics have to be aware of their salaries.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
They knew putting this team together was gonna be pricey,
but they were trying to get two titles out of
this because remember, Jason, the Big Three. Obviously, the original
Big Three had three titles, the one in two thousand
and eight, they only got one they lost Game seven
and the other team. This group wanted to look and go,
you know what we did because if that eight team,
(23:09):
we always we hear so much about that eight team
in that title.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I mean, they have milked that damn title. Let's be honest.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
We've seen the thirty thirty, We've seen everything. If they
had won in twenty ten, just imagine the lord they
would have gotten if they had won two in three years,
right and beaten Kobe twice. So this team says, we
want to be the first Celtic team since sixty eight
sixty nine to repeat. We want to make history. We
don't want to just be a one and done. You
don't want to be the Denver Nuggets. You don't want
(23:36):
to be the Toronto Raptors. You don't want to be
all these teams, the Bucks, all these teams that have
won and they couldn't even get back to the finals
the next year.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
This team wanted to make history. But now if they
lose a series, especially what tweaked, it makes it makes
tweaks more excusable because if you win a title, second
consecutive title, do you break up that team? Do you
pull a Jerry Krause in ninety eight and just say,
all right, we're just breaking everything up because we can't
afford it.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
That wouldn't be a good look in Boston. So this
series could determine the fate of some.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Of their players.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
If you had to guess, Gary, we'll wrap up on this,
And again it's really speculative. You may not even want
to answer. If the Celtics decide, hey, let's say they
lose to the Knicks, we're gonna move Tatum or Brown?
Who do you think is more likely to be moved
out of those that duo? Because they're so assuming you're
getting the honest you got to part with those big sellaries.
I don't think you can get like Holiday White in
(24:31):
a package without partying with one of those two top guys.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah, they would probably have to be Brown just for this,
just for the sake of like Tatum is that guy.
Tatum's a guy. I mean, both of their guys are
gonna have their numbers retired, and I don't think they're
gonna go after a guy like Gianni's. I think they're
gonna have to probably. I think the best case scenario,
Jason is for them to keep Tatum and Brown together
and then do something with Porzingis or Holiday, because Holliday
(24:56):
is like a thirty seven million dollars option, try to
keep the core of the team together. Like Porzingis's contract
comes up first, Holliday has one more year been a
thirty seven million dollar option when he's like thirty seven,
so that might be the contract eventually that gets moved
to save money. And then they're gonna have to rely
(25:17):
obviously on their drafting, on their young players, the guys
like Peyton Pritchett that don't make a lot that can
come into bigger roles.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
So they're gonna have to figure some things out.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
It could be they take two to three steps back
before they get back up, because they've got to get
out of that second apron because you don't want to
live there.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
That's not a place to live.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Even though I mean, obviously, as we saw with the Warriors,
the Warriors spend so much money during those those championship
years that other owners got jealous and said, we've got
to stop teams like the Warriors from basically spending to win.
We want to make the playes frol a little bit
more level. And that's where these apron stuff comes in.
So the Celtics are gonna have to make some adjustments.
(25:55):
I think they'll try to work with a Porzingis or
holiday thing because of their age. And obviously with Porzingis,
his lack of you know, availability over going.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
For Tatum or Brown. Tatum though, is Tatum's gonna stay
all right?
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Gary Washburg. So the game they're calling it the biggest
game at MSG this century, Game three Saturday. If the
nixt win, it's over. Nobody's come back from down oh three.
If the Celtics win, you know, everybody in New York's
gonna be nervous. It's gonna be a juiced up scene there,
Gary uh Good, you know. Good Luck covered the game
in the series. It's it's just got fascinating very much.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
So, thank you. Jays appreciate it right, thank you.
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, Great Fire, fam H's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fyre for Friday, May the eighth. It is Mother's
Day weekend. Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there. Obviously,
gotta get the cards, the flowers, the whole shebang. I
got invited to play basketball Sunday morning. I'm like, guys,
(00:31):
it's Mother's Day. You think I'm gonna wake up at
eight o'clock and play basketball on Mother's Day. I can't
believe any of the guys are playing. I'm a stunt. Anyways,
we got a great, great podcast to take you into
Mother's Day weekend, an interview with Gary Washburn of the
Boston Globe, who covers the Celtics. Celtics officially a def
Con two right now, given the two deficit to the Knicks.
(00:55):
I was saying, an ideal Saturday would be wake up,
fly or maybe take a red eye tonight, fly to
New York and go to the game on Saturday and
then head back from Mother's Day. But I just looked
at the ticket, not that I would be able to
afford this. The ticket prices are ridiculous. It's just gonna
be such a huge game at the Garden, crowd's gonna
be juiced up. My buddy Nico was like, hey, Nick's
(01:18):
first quarter, what do you think. I was like, I
don't know, man. You guys saw the Knicks against Detroit
one and two at home. Could have closed them out,
couldn't do it. Sometimes the home court advantage, the juiced
up crowd, everybody fired. I mean, the celebrities are gonna
be everywhere. It's like, I don't know, it's just too much.
And remember Boston had an extra day now to not
(01:38):
only prepare maybe Porzingis is feeling better, but to kind
of stew and realize, Hey, here's the predicament. Guys, it's
must win. This is the season. You go down three,
that's a death sentence. You ain't coming back from O three.
Nobody's ever done it, so I actually, I mean, I'm
not totally surprised that the Celtics are five and a
half point favorites. I don't think they're done in this series.
(01:58):
I know that sounds crazy, folks. They were the, for
my money, the best team all season. I know everybody
loves Okac, but this is the Boston juggernaut which took
its foot off the gas because they won the title
last year. They just couldn't make a three and couldn't close.
They led both games by twenty. I would venture to
guess if you led by twenty in the second half
this year in the NBA, you probably won eighty percent
(02:20):
of the time. That would just be a guess. Maybe ninety.
The Celtics are zero and two, like that's just that
doesn't normally happen. They will bounce back. Maybe I'm just
being a pessimistic Knicks fan, but I have a bad
feeling about Game three. I don't think there's any world
where the Celtics roll over and Knicks win that, but
I haven't bet it yet. Also, Friday Friday Night, I
(02:42):
don't know if you guys have planned tonight, but you
know two more road favorites. You've got OKC four and
a half. It in the altitude at Denver. I'm rooting
Denver there, but I don't have a read, no no
wager for me. And then Cleveland expected to get all
three guys back, Garland, Mobley and Hunter. They are favored
(03:03):
in Indiana, now I give anybody there. I like Indiana this.
You know I've been bullish on Indiana and a lot
of people starting to come around on the old Pacers.
I think that series does kind of feel over last
night in the Association. It was a crap game. Warriors
come out with quintin post starting at center, okay, and
(03:27):
they fall down thirteen to nothing, and it was I
don't know if it was ever single did just after
that Steve Kurd minute afterward. Yeah, we wanted to reduce
the minutes on Butler and Healed and Green. No need
to press it unless we're in the mix, and they
were never in the mix. It was the sole positive
if your Golden State is well. Kaminga looked pretty good
in twenty six minutes. He had eighteen points. You know,
(03:47):
took go bear baseline for a pretty awesome dunk. Trace
Jackson Davis, who hasn't played a lot in the postseason,
looked pretty pretty good. I mean again his garbage time
Minnesota role, but he was actually able to score, which
is a nice thing for Golden State, which they're gonna
need without Curry. Julius Randall back to Laker Julius Randall.
Series for him twenty four points, eleven assists, eleven assists
(04:10):
for Randall, Aunt turned his Ankle toughed it out, had twenty.
He's just not playing great right now. But this was
about the Timberwolves bench, So they have the major bench
advantage against the Lakers. They have it also against Golden State.
Nas Reed eleven points, three threes. Dante DiVincenzo, who's I'm
just telling you, he's starting to goon it up. Man,
(04:31):
He's like kind of sort of hitting guys and getting physical.
I don't know. I thought he could have got a
flagrant and at one point in the first half US
what's wrong with him?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Now?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
He's a tough guy. You know, Villanova, I'm sure you know.
You look at him, you don't think, oh, this guy's
gonna be an NBA player. He's gonna be like a
Final four was the Final four MVP because he had
like seven threes or something. He was in the league
and he's proven impressive. He had nine and five, and
then Alexander Walker hit four threes. He had twenty off
the bench. So you get that support, and you get
your usual twenty from Aunt, twenty from Randall, fifteen from McDaniels.
(05:05):
They're gonna be fine. I think Timberwolves win the series.
I don't think Steph plays again. The only crappy news
from Thursday is the soccer team we own Nikosa home
playoff game. And now the playoffs are set up in
this league, the top league in Mexico, where you have
a home and home and whoever has more goals at
(05:29):
the end advances. Well, what if there's a tie, no
penalty kicks, the top seed, the higher seed advances. So
we're playing the four seed and we're the five. So
we're like, all right, we're at home in the opener.
We just need a goal or two and then we
go there up a goal, and then then we got
to put pressure on them. So we dominate the first half,
have all the chances, could not finish. Their keeper was excellent,
(05:52):
and the game end zero zero, kind of deflating. And
now we got to go to a tough place to
play Tea Grace. They're loaded. You know, listen, man, it's
gonna be a tall order to pull off this win.
That being said, I wouldn't rule anything. I thought our
coach had a phenomenal game plan and we had so
many chances. The keeper on their team was just played
(06:15):
out of his mind.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Man.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
He had like three really high end saves. And we
couldn't find the back of the net. So now the
next game, the second leg, I believe it's it's either
Saturday or Sunday. And yeah, I'm gonna have to carve
out some time. Oh gosh, I hope it's not Mother's Day.
Is checking the old schedule? Damn it, it is Mother's
Day unless it's Yeah, it's gotta be Mother's Day. Well,
(06:42):
I don't know. Unfortunately we have you know, you can
watch TV on your phone on with no volume. I
guess I'll have to do that anyways, Without further ado,
let's get to our guest, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. You know a guy, Jason likes to think
he knows everything when it comes to sports.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I know what sports fans want.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
But for everything he doesn't. He knows a guy who does.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows the
guy who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome to
straight fire a guy who. Man, this has got to
be a tough week. For him because the TV covers
the Boston Celtics. They went into this series against the
nixt thing. Get okay, you know we dominated them last
two seasons. We'll roll over them in five or six.
Get to the Eastern Conference Finals, and all of a sudden,
(07:41):
the Celtics are down to Gary Washburn, Boston Globe. Listen, man,
this has been a just tell me what your life
has been like over the last like say, ninety six hours.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Yeah, it's flipped from you know, oh boy, Cleveland lost
and maybe they won't face Cleveland and Eastern Conference finals
to now they've got a they're fighting for their survival.
I mean, they're fighting for kind of a legacy, Jason,
because oh, this team is you know, wanted to the
dreams of repeating. They wanted to be the first Celtic
(08:10):
team to repeat since sixty eight sixty nine. And they
said all the right things all year, and they finished
with sixty one wins and they rested up porzingis you know,
you missed the first six weeks this season and made
sure put them on bubble wrap during the season and
make sure he was he was healthy, and everything was
supposed to work out, and suddenly a seventy two hour
(08:33):
stretch where they blow two twenty point leads to suddenly
turned their season into well, you know how to what
are we going to do now? It puts everything in
a jeopardy with new ownership for the summer. Do you
keep this team together for one more run? Do you
move somebody? A lot rides in this series because, as
you know, Jason, no team, no defending champions made it
(08:57):
past a second round since the Warriors in eighteen.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Lave me. The Celtics know that. The Celtics have.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Been made aware that getting to the conference finals would
be a big achievement for them because it is hard
to repeat. We saw with Denver last year, very similar situation, Jason,
Denver got basically blown out at home. Remember that year
ago by Minnesota and everybody was saying, Minnesota's going to
go the finals, they're the best team in the West,
and Denver made it a seven game series and the
(09:25):
losing it on their home floor. But we'll see what
the Celtics are about in Game three.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, there's a lot to start. Let's go with Porzingi
since you brought him up. They did rest of them
all season. They tried to keep him healthy, so he's
good for the playoffs, and now he's got this mystery
illness where they don't seem to know what it is.
I've tried to read around. Nobody seems to have a
beat on what's going on with him. He does not
look like himself. And I don't want to say they
(09:51):
didn't plan, but Al Horford clearly cannot log thirty minutes
at this age. Bob Brumson just putting him in a
blunder on repeat.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Yeah, I mean, you know, al Al turns thirty nine
in June, so it's great to have him out there.
He's still a productive NBA player, but they're relying on
him too much. And with Porzingis, this has had no
idea this was gonna happen. I mean, he missed eight
games in March with this illness. He came back. I
think he logged forty minutes in a game during the
(10:20):
playoffs and that Orlando serie like it looked like he
was getting back to normal. Although he didn't have a
good series against Orlando. They were a little physical with him,
but it looked like, Okay, they'll have a fresh ready
to go motivated. Obviously, Worzingas was drafted by the Knicks
and was supposed to be their cornerstone and one of
their franchise guys coming into the you know, the last
(10:40):
decade coming into this one, and it didn't work out.
So he's not exactly well liked in New York because
of his departure and asking out. So you thought he'd
be motivated and maybe ready to go, and suddenly, you know,
during game one, this illness hits him, and he comes
out in Game two for five minutes in the first half,
looks basically lethargic, like he shouldn't be out there. Then
(11:02):
comes back in the second half and makes some plays
and hit some shots, and so then he tells after
the game he's still dealing with the same thing he
did in March, and you know, it put him, really
put him down in game one. So, like you said,
we have no idea what it is, what kind of illness.
You don't want to speculate, what kind of virus it is.
Is it something he'll have to be completely examined and
(11:23):
treated when the season's over.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
We don't know.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
We just know probably he's he's gonna play game three,
but who knows how long.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, let's go now, to Joe Missoula, I don't know.
I chucked up Game one as kind of hey man,
they took too many threes. They were a lot of
open threes. This didn't make them. Game two, the bounce back,
they lead by twenty but down the stretch to get
outscored twenty three to six. And I mean, at some point,
I get it, Tatum is under delivered this series. But
the starters were two for eighteen and the fourth quarter
(11:52):
game of Game two, like, at some point it's been like,
can Missoula get this under control? Like, I don't know.
I saw the Pacers get when they needed to come
back against the Cavs in Game two, they just went
to Miles Turner on the pick and roll down at
twenty six points in the paint bustin just not making
any adjustments. It fields what's going on with Missoula.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I mean, I feel he believes they're getting the good shots.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
And having obviously cover this team for a long time
and watching this team this year, you could have knocked
me over with a feather to tell me that they
would miss seventy five out of one hundred.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Threes in this series.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
I would have guessed their best case scenario is taking
fifty threes a game. So the fact that they've taken
a hundred, that's good for them. They like that, right,
hitting twenty five, including ten for forty in game two.
W would have never expected it because what they've tried
to do with this roster in line it with shooters.
Pritchard why Holliday can knock down at three, Tatum is
(12:50):
a streaky three point shooter, though he's capable of knocking
them down. Brown is two, although they're minus shooters this year. Jason,
So if I'm the Knicks and I'm sure, hey, shoot
for three, you know you're thirty two percent, that's not
gonna unscare us. Now if they if you get on
a heater, that might be a dangerous game plan, but
that hasn't happened. So I think Missoula really truly believes
(13:11):
that they've gotten good shots, they've missed them, and I
just think they are myth as to what's going on here.
How Come they can't make get fourth quarter stops? How
come Miles Bridges turns into uh, you know, Steph in
the fourth quarter when he goes oh for eight in
the first three quarters. How comes suddenly he can't miss
down the stretch, like why they're looking in saying, why
(13:33):
are these bad things happening to us?
Speaker 3 (13:36):
What have we done?
Speaker 4 (13:38):
How come the Knicks, who have scored a hundred nate
not you know, they didn't play bad defensively in Kay
one and ninety one, have won both games, and and
they've done the Cells have done a good defensive job
against Brunson. So I don't think Missoula looks and says
I need to change our offense. I think maybe the
approach change in Game two with more you know, paint points,
(14:01):
attacks in the middle, trying to get to the free
throw line.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
But I just think they're they're sitting there saying, where
did this come from? How come we turned into the
Washington Generals literally in overnight after a rough series against
Orlando where they won it with you know, grittin and
how come? And then how come and this is a
big point too mentally, how come we're looking behind? How
(14:27):
come the Celtics up twenty are literally looking behind them
like they're gonna catch this.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Oh my god, they're gonna catch this. Oh my god,
it's fourteen, Oh my god, it's eleven. Oh, here's McBride Oh,
he's gonna hit this one. Oh boy, Like that's what
the fans are thinking, and honestly, what's what the team
is thinking. They're not playing to win, They're playing not
to lose. They're playing the prevent defense. Where they're playing,
they're playing to just hang on, and they just and
(14:53):
they're not hanging on.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
It feels like Jason Tatum is bearing the brunt of
the criticism. And I get it. He has not been good.
I've been a Tatum defender, even though I don't like
Boston Sports teams. You know, born in New York. But
I don't know what to make a Tatum. This is
four straight years he's gonna be first team All NBA.
I mean, Gary, we're looking at a top five player
in the league for four straight seasons. That's what over
(15:15):
two hundred I mean, probably almost three hundred games of
data that Jason Tatum is a superstar, and it's he's
had two bad games, Like, what do we make of him?
I don't want to hear this. He's not clutch. I
know the game six against Milwaukee and the game seventy
where he went off against the Sixers, like he's a
great player. What has happened to Tatum one.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I think the ogn Andobi. I mean, if you look
at those matchups over the years, Anonob is a big
and then always like a unicorn man. I mean, he's
an old school NBA player. You look at him physically,
as I've said, you do not want to see him
in a dark alley. Ananobi's a built, big, athletic dude.
I mean, he's the guy you look and you're picking
(15:54):
him first on your team, right in terms of you
playing pickup, that's the guy I won. He gonna make
some hat so I think he doesn't want to take
Ananobi one on one, So he's trying to devise ways
to score without really having to take on that one
on one matchup, and that's affecting his offense.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And he's settling for those Kobe like fadeaways. Those He
took those and missed a lot of those in his
early career. He was trying to be Kobe.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Junior in his early years. Right then he learned how
to master that shot. But when they're contested and he's
facing good defenders like a Mitchell Robinson or Ananoverer, even
a Miles Bridge sorry Michel Bridges, then it's a more
difficult shot, and he's missing those shots. I mean, you
saw that wide open three he had that would have
(16:39):
made it a nine point game with three and a
half left. If he hits that shot, Jason, the Celtics
likely win the game. It's hard to lose a nine
point lead with three, although with the Celtics in this
series it is probably possible.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
But he missed it. He you know, it was like
they just said, hey, Jason, go ahead. Shoot.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
They are in his head and he's got to get
out of his head and he's got to look in
the mirror. He's got to say, I'm the best NF
on the floor. I'm better than Brunson, I'm the best dude.
I'm the one that everybody needs to I'm on all
the commercials like and it's here's got to be a
soul search, you know, over the next forty eight hours
before that game, three Saturday afternoon in New York, and
(17:19):
we all know everybody's going to be in the house
at MSG.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
That is going to be a Rash's atmosphere, and he's.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Got to show his best because he is being dragged obviously,
you have to the Olympic experience, and he didn't win
finals MVP last year Jalen Brown won. He didn't win
Insterra Conference MVP. Jalen Brown won that two that Tatum's
reputation is taking hits and he feels scrutinized. Well, this
is kind of why when you go one for twelve
(17:45):
in the fourth quarter of Games one and two.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I will say the whole you know, Olympic snub. I
get Kerr not wanting to play him above Kevin Durant
and Lebron you know, like too historically great plays. But
the weird part is like the finals VP Eastern Conference.
It almost reeks of Steph Curry. Remember when Igudala won
the MVP. Yes, then the seventy three win Warriors lost,
(18:23):
and then Kevin Durant wins two finals MVPs with him.
It almost feels like that. And I wonder do you
think that this stuff matters to Tatum? I don't know,
you're around the guy all the time. Does he care
about that stuff?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Well?
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I think he wants to be recognized for his growth
and his versatility. He wants to be recognized for his
ability not only to score, but to rebound, because he's
a plus rebounder, because you would not consider him a
physical player. You would consider Jason Moore of a finess player.
But he grabs ten rebounds a game, He gets his
hands dirty, and he has become a much better overall willing.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Passer over the last several years. As I said before,
early in his career he had a lot of Kobe
in it.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
He was just trying to take two difficult like, hey man,
that's Kobe, and that was Kobe year eight, year nine.
That was not Kobe in ninety eight, right, that was
Kobe in two thousand and six. The stuff you're trying
to do. So to me, Jason has just felt probably
a little bit overlooked and disrespected from the terms of like,
look at the player I've grown into, and he's only
(19:22):
twenty seven, right, and he's about to you know, he's
in his eighth year. So he feels like I deserve more.
Then he put the team on his back of that
game five against Dallas to close it out. He went
thirty one. He almost had a triple double. I mean,
and he felt like, you know, in the vote, he
was closed. I think it was five to four or
something like that or seven, you know. For the MVP vote.
(19:43):
I gave him my vote. I gave Jalen to vote
for Eastern Conference. I gave Jason the vote for Finals
MVP because I just thought he closed the game out
when it was a kind of an important game.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
He didn't want to go back to Dallas three to.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Two, lead them in points and rebounds and assistant.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Totally all categories, you know.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
But Jalen's d Luca was exceptional, and I think that's
what one of them obviously the MVP. And so I
think Jason maybe feels a little slidered in comparison to
guys like ant Man and other guys who have been
get gotten this instant respect. And he looks and goes, well,
ant Man hasn't even been to a finals. I won one,
I lost one, but I've been to two and I
(20:19):
got a chip. What you know, what are you gonna like?
You know the whole what are you gonna say?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Now?
Speaker 4 (20:23):
So, but then he does these these two games on
the biggest stage, and even though Brunston hasn't had a
great series. Brunson's been the closer. He scored the he
scored the nixt last six points in game two. So
Brunson has showed up when it counted. They did Sells
meet Jason Taye to do the same.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Is it is it weird to be like we're relitigating
players after one game at age of twenty seven twelve,
Like Josh Allen loses to Mahomes almost every year in
the playoffs. Nobody's like, ah, he's not that good, He's
not the you know, Josh Allen MVP Lamar two m
VP's like, it's just to win championships. Can we just
say that? Like it just feels like they're piling on.
Let me ask you this. So about two months ago,
(21:04):
you know, when the Yannis stuff, it was very clear
that the Bucks were not going anywhere. It felt like
to me like the Celtics could be a landing spot
for Yiannis. Given the luxury tax, the new owners, they're
gonna have to mess up the roster or tweak it.
And Brian Windhorst came out today and talked about how,
hey man, they're gonna be tweaking things this offseason. Win
(21:24):
or lose against the Knicks. Is there any of that
vibe in the locker room? Are you feeling that and
sensing that, hey, Man Giannis could be coming in KD
Who knows bare Mannabayo, I have no clue career, but
do you get a sense that this maybe, which sounds crazy,
the last run for this crew together.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Yeah, I think that has to be seeking into the
locker room one because there's new owners, right, and as
much as every new owner says, Hey, I'm gonna do
this and I'm gonna revitalize this and I'm gonna build,
you know, even though our practical facility is a year old,
I'm building a new one. Like every owner talks all
the mumbo jumbo about what's he gonna do with the
(22:02):
franchise and he ends up he or she here, They
end up being, you know, penny pinching. So we don't
know what's in the mind of new ownership, right. And
then with the second apron the Celtics, are you staying
there too long? Your draft picks start getting frozen, So
now you're impacting the later years of Tatum or you're
(22:24):
packed impacting your ability to build and rebuild in the
five years from now in the two thousand and thirties.
So you're you know, maybe that that kid probably right
now is probably in tenth grade, right, but your effect
impacting your ability to draft a new superstar right now
who's gonna be a one and done in five or
(22:44):
six years.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
So the Celtics have to be aware of their salaries.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
They knew putting this team together was gonna be pricey,
but they were trying to get two titles out of
this because remember, Jason, the Big Three. Obviously, the original
Big Three had three titles, the one in two thousand
and eight, they only got one they lost Game seven
and the other team. This group wanted to look and go,
you know what we did because if that eight team,
(23:09):
we always we hear so much about that eight team
in that title.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I mean, they have milked that damn title. Let's be honest.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
We've seen the thirty thirty, We've seen everything. If they
had won in twenty ten, just imagine the lord they
would have gotten if they had won two in three years,
right and beaten Kobe twice. So this team says, we
want to be the first Celtic team since sixty eight
sixty nine to repeat. We want to make history. We
don't want to just be a one and done. You
don't want to be the Denver Nuggets. You don't want
(23:36):
to be the Toronto Raptors. You don't want to be
all these teams, the Bucks, all these teams that have
won and they couldn't even get back to the finals
the next year.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
This team wanted to make history. But now if they
lose a series, especially what tweaked, it makes it makes
tweaks more excusable because if you win a title, second
consecutive title, do you break up that team? Do you
pull a Jerry Krause in ninety eight and just say,
all right, we're just breaking everything up because we can't
afford it.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
That wouldn't be a good look in Boston. So this
series could determine the fate of some.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Of their players.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
If you had to guess, Gary, we'll wrap up on this,
And again it's really speculative. You may not even want
to answer. If the Celtics decide, hey, let's say they
lose to the Knicks, we're gonna move Tatum or Brown?
Who do you think is more likely to be moved
out of those that duo? Because they're so assuming you're
getting the honest you got to part with those big sellaries.
I don't think you can get like Holiday White in
(24:31):
a package without partying with one of those two top guys.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah, they would probably have to be Brown just for this,
just for the sake of like Tatum is that guy.
Tatum's a guy. I mean, both of their guys are
gonna have their numbers retired, and I don't think they're
gonna go after a guy like Gianni's. I think they're
gonna have to probably. I think the best case scenario,
Jason is for them to keep Tatum and Brown together
and then do something with Porzingis or Holiday, because Holliday
(24:56):
is like a thirty seven million dollars option, try to
keep the core of the team together. Like Porzingis's contract
comes up first, Holliday has one more year been a
thirty seven million dollar option when he's like thirty seven,
so that might be the contract eventually that gets moved
to save money. And then they're gonna have to rely
(25:17):
obviously on their drafting, on their young players, the guys
like Peyton Pritchett that don't make a lot that can
come into bigger roles.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
So they're gonna have to figure some things out.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
It could be they take two to three steps back
before they get back up, because they've got to get
out of that second apron because you don't want to
live there.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
That's not a place to live.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Even though I mean, obviously, as we saw with the Warriors,
the Warriors spend so much money during those those championship
years that other owners got jealous and said, we've got
to stop teams like the Warriors from basically spending to win.
We want to make the playes frol a little bit
more level. And that's where these apron stuff comes in.
So the Celtics are gonna have to make some adjustments.
(25:55):
I think they'll try to work with a Porzingis or
holiday thing because of their age. And obviously with Porzingis,
his lack of you know, availability over going.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
For Tatum or Brown. Tatum though, is Tatum's gonna stay
all right?
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Gary Washburg. So the game they're calling it the biggest
game at MSG this century, Game three Saturday. If the
nixt win, it's over. Nobody's come back from down oh three.
If the Celtics win, you know, everybody in New York's
gonna be nervous. It's gonna be a juiced up scene there,
Gary uh Good, you know. Good Luck covered the game
in the series. It's it's just got fascinating very much.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
So, thank you. Jays appreciate it right, thank you.
Host
Jason McIntyre
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