May 8, 2025 • 23 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses whether it’s fair or foul to blame Jayson Tatum for the Boston Celtics falling behind 0-2 to the New York Knicks, why you could see major changes coming to Boston if they wind out getting eliminated in this series, and whether the Golden State Warriors have any chance at all of advancing to the Western Conference Finals without Steph Curry.
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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? Straight Fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Fire for Thursday, May the eighth. Guys. Listen, I
told you don't go gambling on the NBA playoffs. I
don't know what the hell's gonna happen. Nobody does. I
will tell you right now that zero point zero people predicted,
(00:31):
including our guest Alex Monico. Yesterday. Nobody predicted a Knicks
out white run. Nobody everybody's hopeful Knicks fans. But I'll
tell you the story. The Knicks ended up winning this game.
They should not have won this Boston is freaking to
bleep out. It was a crazy, bonkers fourth quarter. Again,
we'll get to that. Denver, okase was not uh nearly
as close. That was Okac setting records left and right,
(00:54):
being like, hey, we are really good and you guys
are not. So this is what's up. And okay, see
absolutely blasted and I mean destroyed Denver six. But nobody
cares about that game. First of all. So listen, we're
in uh spring, right, there's a beautiful season. I love spring.
(01:16):
When we were back in Pennsylvania, spring would be like
usually Memorial day you open the pool. However, you know Pennsylvania,
you don't. You got like maybe half of May, June, July, August,
and half of September. Okay, so that's a total of
four months out of twelve to use your pool. So
I hated that. I didn't realize it was that bad.
(01:36):
So I would push for the early open and then
just heat the sucker. Right. May in New York City
is awesome. May in California spectacular. The weather this week
has been tremendous. And my buddy is like this, he's
like in charge of this wine auction out here in
the South Bay and invited me to this dinner last night.
It was spectacular. But I had a busy Wednesday. Listen, man,
(01:58):
this is hey, this is life when you got kids.
So I'm on Wednesday this week. I was on Wednesday
volleyball practice both ways. You know, we got five people
in the carpool, so I had Wednesday both ways. So
I'm like, you know what, let me just make the
most of it. I'm gonna hit Costco in between. Costco's
my favorite place on Earth. So I'm watching the game
on my phone. Technology is the greatest. As I'm walking
(02:19):
through Costco. The knickser getting beat up. It's not going well. Okay,
that's expected. The Knick's got one. And the whole time
I'm telling myself, okay, we got at least we got one. Right,
Knicks are in troubled or down. I think they were
down like nine at half time. It stretches in the third.
At one point they're down twenty, and I with like
eight minutes left, I think they were down eighteen. And
(02:41):
I'm headed to check out, you know. And I'm one
of these weirdos. I don't like lines. Okay, I'm revealing
too much about myself, but I'm the kind of guy
who rolls up, sees like nine lines, quickly does the calculation. Okay,
there's three people there. This person has only three items, great,
this person has twenty seven items ish a lot, a
full cart over spilling, No thanks, I'm not going to
(03:02):
that line. This person's old. Older people generally are slower.
If you see an old person with a full cart
at Costco, just avoid them, you know. And so I
find what I think is the shortest line, and then
because it's the shortest line, I'm quickly up and at
that point I don't I stop watching the game. So
I knew I had this dinner, but it was not
for like another two hours. So I'm like, let me
get a slice of pizza, and of course I got
(03:23):
to navigate the machine get the slice of pizza. I'm
not watching the game. I load up the car. Then
I got to get the map out and there's multiple
directions to volleyball practice, and I'm like, all right, what's
the again, not watching the game. So I then get
to volleyball practice, and again this is weird o, Jason.
You know, I'm in a parking lot loaded up with
Costco in the way back, and I'm like, damn it,
(03:45):
is there a chance somebody breaks in and steals some
of my Costco stuff? So at this point, I've like
got to fight a good parking spot where my back
isn't the back is not like to anybody outside, So
I've got to back into a spot again not paying
it attention to the NIXT game. So I get in
to you know, watch the final thirty minutes of practice whatever,
(04:05):
and I see another dad and we start talking instantly,
you know, we're yucking it up again. I've forgotten about
the Knicks. And at this place where the practice is
the signal's horrific, so I don't even think to go
on my phone, and then all of a sudden, my
phone starts buzzing and they're like, you know, I could
read some of these well they're not really appropriate. My
(04:33):
boy Ben, who does all these social media videos for me,
he's great, Ben Garcia, you were ten thousand percent right
about Brunson. I was ten thousand percent right about Tatum.
Game recognized game, and I go, what's the score? Not
a good signal? And then my other guys from the
herd start texting, oh man, look at what Adam Schefter did.
(04:53):
This is so nasty. This is nasty work, and I'm like, bro,
what's going on? I don't have a signal, And the
texts keep coming in left and right, and I'm like,
did the Knicks fricking win this? And I can't get online.
At this point, the dad's you know, still talking to me,
and I feel bad that I'm like not listening. I'm
like looking for a knickscore. And then, of course, you know,
(05:14):
my daughter comes over during a water break and is
saying stuff, so I'm just totally rattled. Finally practice ends,
I get to the car and I'm like, oh my gosh,
the Knicks one came from down twenty again, and then
the takes start coming to me. Listen, man, remember the
Denver Nuggets last year, they were the defending champions. Everybody
(05:35):
had them going back to the finals. They could not
get by Minnesota. They have to go to Game seven
at home, they're up twenty and they blow it. There
is this sense when you win a championship that you're
just gonna win it every year. That's natural. We're the
best all season long. Boston Celtics bombing threes against regular
season NBA defense, and they're just hitting thirty five forty percent.
(05:57):
Sometimes fifty games are over at halftime, games are over
a third quarter because they're blowing teams out, and we're
just not seeing that in this series. Now. If you
remember back to the Orlando series, Orlando's got some good players.
They were able to hang somewhat tough with Boston, but
Jason Tatum had like thirty five thirty seven. It was
(06:18):
blowout city. When Tatum is on, the Celtics were able
to pull away and end up getting the dub and
I think they covered in three of the four wins.
I think of the three of the four wins. I
think they covered well. All of a sudden, now Jason
Tatum is struggling. Jason Tatum, are you ready for this?
Five of nineteen shooting thirteen points, fourteen boards. I love Tatum,
(06:43):
I'll defend him. He first of all, this loss is
not on him. Okay, It's on the entire Boston Celtics team. Okay.
In the fourth quarter, Celtics starters were two for eighteen. Okay,
it's not on Jason Tatum. Obviously, he's the star in
the AA. He's got to deliver. He did not tat him.
Through two games, missus bleak, shooting twenty eight percent from
(07:05):
the field, twenty five percent from three. He's averaging fifteen boards,
which is nice, five and a half as sis eighteen points.
That's way down from his regular season numbers, and all
of a sudden, you don't want to say it's over,
but when you're up to nothing going to the garden,
Celtics cannot throw it in the ocean, folks. In a
crazy stat that I didn't know was possible, Boston is
(07:27):
twenty five for one hundred on threes through two games.
That's insanitay. Now, Porzingis didn't start, only played fourteen minutes.
They clearly miss him. Al for Al Horford, he cannot
log the big minutes. He was two of eleven, oh
of five from three looked his age only could play
twenty nine minutes. Luke Cornett, I know he had a
solid game. I don't think you he's like a Tigier room.
(07:49):
You can't counter him for like twenty five thirty minutes
in a playoff game. Sorry, they're not really trusting the
rest of their bench. Peyton Pritchard struggled again, but he
did hit a bunch of threes, and you know, Derrek
White can't find the three. Jalen Brown eight of twenty
three shooting. There's a clip on Instagram. I popped it
on Stories where the tag is people don't know what
(08:09):
to do around the basket anymore. Inside the three point line.
Teams just don't know what to do. So the Celtics
come down on a break and Derek White and like
a four on three, just pulls up for a White
open three misses. Celtics get the rebound. Drew Holliday, let
me take a couple steps back, let me take another
three open missus Celtics get the rebound and someone drives.
It might be Holiday or Brown drives, kicks to the corner.
(08:30):
Somebody open for three and they hit it. It was
an open three, So three open looks, they made one
of them. That's kind of been the story of the series.
Except it's not one of three. It's more like one
of four or one of five, and that's not gonna
cut it.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
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 (08:58):
I'm as shocked as you, But like folks, I we're
looking at Knicks Pacers Eastern Conference Finals, which would be
a rematch of a great semifinals last year where I
thought the Knicks were in good shape but then the
injuries mounted. And listen, you can't just be like, well,
Jalen Brunson is two clutch. He was six of nineteen,
two of nine. It wasn't a Jalen Brunson game. Josh
(09:21):
Hart was fricking everywhere. Josh Hart had twenty three and six.
He was a machine on the offensive glass. Now again, like,
I don't know how this happened. I'm a Knicks fan,
and I thought the Knicks would get one or two.
I did not think they would be up to nothing.
I don't think anyone on planet Earth thought that. Folks.
They were down twenty and it gets worse. So the
(09:45):
cool thing about the ESPN box scores is if you
go to play by play, you can look up how
the team shot in the fourth quarter. Oh my gosh,
if you want like to just be like absolutely stunned,
go look at the fourth quarter. Boston could not make anything.
And yet a Jalen Brown dunk in the fourth where
(10:07):
he just went coast to coast and yammed on the
Knicks put them up. Let's see the dunk put them
up one with eighteen seconds left. And then of course
Brunce against to the foul line. And then Michail Bridges
does what he did at the end of Game one,
just ripped the ball away, he got stole it from
Tatum and that was it. The Celtics did not get
off a shot and they lose. This is inexplicable. I
(10:31):
wish I could sound articulate and intelligent. There's really nothing
here that makes sense. In the fourth quarter, the Celtics
were up fourteen. I'm sorry. They were up sixteen in
the fourth on Peyton Pritchard three. With ten twenty to go,
they go up seventy nine to sixty three. That's just unfathomable.
(10:52):
I'm gonna repeat what.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I said the other day. It is difficult to repeat
in the NBA, so many more games, the playoff games
take a lot out of you. And the last repeat
champs you have to go back to the Golden State
Warriors with Curry, KD.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Klay, Thompson and company. They smoked the Cavs for to
one now and that one year Kevin Love and Kyrie
were hurt, and then they smoke him four nothing the
next year. That was the year where Kyrie had asked out,
so there was no Kyrie before that. The last repeat
winner was Lebron's Heat twelve and thirteen beating OKC Young
(11:39):
OKC and then the Spurs in the Ray Allen series
where he hits an improbable three in Game six. But
it's really hard to repeat. The Lakers won the title
in the bubble the next year did not even stiff
the conference finals. Twenty twenty one, the Bucks win the title,
did not get back to the finals the Golden State
(12:00):
Warriors in twenty two did not get back to the finals,
Denver Nuggets in twenty three. We know they didn't get
to the finals in twenty four, and Dallas last year
loses to the Celtics for one, and Boston it looks
like will not get to round two. So my one
hot take from this game, I don't blame Jason Tatum
(12:21):
for this loss. Again, the starters were two of eighteen.
I do think that a we could start being serious
about Boston blowing it up for Yannas. I do believe
Jalen Brown could be in play. I do believe you
could get a combo of Brown, another serviceable starter, whether
it's Holiday White, whatever, salaries match, and a pick or
(12:44):
two for Jannas. Now that might be too rich, but
Boston will firmly, especially if they lose this series, will
firmly be in any and all Jannis talks. I don't
know that they'll be in KD talks. But the other
thing is, I don't know if Joe Mizzoula can survive this.
I'm not sure. Brian Windhorst is out here calling it
(13:04):
an inexcusable loss, which Jalen Brown is quotas saying, okay, inexcusable,
like unbelievable stuff. The Celtics just cannot come through in
the clutch. Is that on the coach of the players?
Are the players tired? I don't think so. In Game one,
they were two of fifteen from three in the fourth.
(13:25):
In Game two, two of eleven. I'm sure the old
NBA heads will be like, hey, why aren't they just
taking the ball inside and scoring or getting to the
free throw line. Well, I don't know. If you play
all season one way, can you just flip it and
instantly play a different way. I mean, I guess it's possible,
(13:45):
but I think it's easier said than done. The Knicks
had a twenty three to six run in the final
eight minutes and thirty seconds. Boston missed fourteen of their
final fifteen shots. Just put that into perspective. The defending
champions at home scored six points in the final eight
to thirty. But that that's so difficult to do, And
(14:11):
I guess it's on the coach to not have a
counter punch if the three's not working. I don't think
it's as easy enough. Hey, let's get Tatum in the post. Well,
you know O g and Ar, No, he's a really
good defender. Well, let's post up jayleb. Brown. No, it's done.
But you watch Indiana the night before and they're running
pick and rolls to get Miles Turner the mismatch in
(14:31):
the paint. I saw a stat where the Pacers had
twenty six points in the paint in the fourth quarter,
thirteen baskets. They needed to come back. What did they do? Well,
we're not gonna just jack threes. Let's get the pick
and roll, Let's get switches, and let's get Miles Turner layups.
I mean, now, Boston doesn't have a Miles Turner. Porzingis
(14:52):
Ain't that guy, not with the illness, Al Horford, Ain't
that guy. So you a Miles Turner again. Miles Turner
getting the ball against you know, Ti Jerome or even
Donovan Mitchell, that's a bucket. I don't know that Boston
has that, even if it's tatum On Brunson. I don't
think it's automatic the way it is if you're Miles
Turner getting a point in the pain, like the Celtics
(15:13):
have to start to change their identity, and I don't
know how easy that is. Boston is three of twenty
in clutch time, which is the last five minutes of
a game that's within five points. That's in the last
two games three of twenty. Tatum and Brown are one
of twelve. Like, you can't blame both stars. Sure you
(15:34):
could trade one in the offseason, but like, I think
Joe Mizzula probably is in trouble if he's got to go.
I think Joe Mizzoula is probably gonna be the fall
guy if for some reason the Celtics get swept or
lose four one. I don't think the series is over.
(15:54):
New York is officially favored according to Vegas, but I'm
as stunned as anyone else. It's just one of those wacky,
Holy cow, how did this happen? Kind of deal.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
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 now tonight.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
In what do we have tonight? We got only one
game tonight? Oh my gosh, Golden State Minnesota. Obviously the
Timberwolves need this one badly. Steph Curry will not play.
Listen folks as speculator on This Year podcast, the idea
of Steph Curry returning in this series seems a little silly.
(16:46):
They ruled him out for Game two. They most people
with a brain have said he's not playing at least
for the first four games. And I don't know that
he's gonna play again in the series. Steve Kerr said
that there is a three day break between games five
and six, and we're hopeful. But anybody who's had a
(17:09):
hamstring injury, it's not a day thing. It's not like
maybe I'll be ready in a day or two. That's
not how it works. Now, what's interesting is Curry ran
I saw this stat He ran one point nine miles
in Game seven against the Rockets, the most he's been
tracked in his career. Again, Houston played him tough man,
Fred VanVleet, Dylan Brooks, I'm and Thompson. They threw the
(17:31):
kitchen sink at him. Okay, he played forty six minutes,
were in one point nine miles. Is it any surprise
that two days later Steph Curry pulls a hamstring, the
first muscle strain injury of his career. Now, early in
his career, he had ankle injuries which is. Somehow it
helped me get him on my podcast, way way way
(17:52):
way back in the day. Dude, this is the third
well for excluding the radio show, which was a podcast. This, yeah,
this is the third podcast I had with the Big Lead.
I started a podcast. The first guest was Steph Curry.
So Curry had had ankle injuries. People were kind of
down on them. Well, you can't give him a max
(18:14):
deal with the ankle injuries. He's missed like a season
and a half. And he wasn't you know, obviously he's
still got like an eighty four million dollar deal something
like that, but he wasn't at the point where like, yeah,
there's no way you could get Steph Curry on your podcast.
They hadn't won any playoff series or anything. And he
was the first guest on my podcast and we talked
about the ankle injuries. This is like twenty twelve, maybe
(18:36):
no was before then, twenty ten, somewhere in that area,
and I mean, it's just it's stunk the ankle injuries.
You're like, it's going to derail a potentially amazing career.
You know, somehow was able to avoid a lot of injuries,
and now he's got the first muscle strain of his
career at the age of I think he's thirty six,
(18:58):
turning thirty seven this year. No, he just turned thirty
seven in March, so he's thirty seven years old, first
muscle strain of his career. I don't know how quickly
you can get him back. My guess is he's done
for the series. As such. You're saying, well, j Mack,
why don't you bet Minnesota to win the series? Guys,
I didn't think Minnesota was that much better than Lakers.
(19:18):
I'm sorry. I know they took him in five, but
it's like, do you trust this team? I mean, I
don't know that the best player on the court is
Anthony Edwards based on what I've seen. You know he
can go off and attack the rim. It will. But
is Jimmy if Curry's out, Is Jimmy Butler the best
(19:39):
player in the series or Anthony Edwards? I mean, who's
more playoff tested Jimmy Butler, who's more of a dog,
who's been through many postseason wars. Jimmy Butler, who's more
likely to just get you a bucket when needed. Jimmy Butler,
like Anthony Edwards, is an awesome player. He's going to
have a brighter future. He'll probably have a better career
than Jimmy Butler. But right now, I think Butler's probably
(20:02):
the best player. And I know this is gonna sound
crazy and probably you're gonna think I'm being dishonest, but
who's the second best player in the series? With Curry out?
Anthony Edwards? Okay, what do you go third? Just again,
this is probably too recncy bias, is it, Buddy Healed?
(20:24):
It's I know you're laughing, but like you saw what
Buddy Hill did in game seven and then in game
one they so when Minnesota clawed, I think they got
within nine and the fourth and I was like, all right, well,
no twenty point lead to save. They get a Jimmy
Butler two and a Buddy Hill three. Like can you
obviously you cannot put anybody into the Steph Curry role?
But is there a world where Buddy Held can give
(20:48):
you ninety percent of Steph Curry for a game or
two or three? Probably not, But for the last two games,
Buddy Heald has been Steph Curry all these threes. I
don't know, guys, even with Korea, you think Minnesota is
a lock. I don't know that they are. I don't
(21:08):
I don't know that I trust them, and that would
mean Cleveland gets an extra day, which is very nice
to prepare hopefully to get mobile back. I don't know,
you guys don't. The NBA Finals dates are set. They
usually start like the either the memori of the weekend,
first weekend June right around there. If we get some
sweeps here, there could be like an entire week without basketball,
(21:32):
and that just makes it tough. Luckily, the WNBA is
starting up. But I told Robb g let's get a
WNBA guest to preview the season because it starts next Friday,
I believe. And my family came to me, they're like, hey, Dad,
can you look into Caitlin Clark tickets? And I'm like, oh, yeah, okay,
so she's coming here to the LA Sparks and blah
(21:53):
blah blah blah blah blah. I didn't even bother price
it out because I'm just I'm just still stunned at
the Knicks could Like, honestly, who's going to the finals
from the East. It ain't the Cavs. It's probably not
the Celtics. So now you've got Pacers or Nicks. Do
you guys remember when the Michael Bridges trade happened. I
need to go back and find it. I said that
(22:16):
they would reach the finals. I thought the matchup with
Boston was great. I had and I'm almost I swear
I had this. I think I need to go listen
to it again. I might forgot Minnesota New York. I
think I had that. And then of course the season
happens and you get off your predictions because you're like,
there's no way this is happening. And here we are
on the conference semifinals and the Knicks look great in Minnesota,
which looked great last round all of a sudden dozen.
(22:39):
So big game tonight for the Warriors. No Steph Curry,
obviously listen. I gotta give a shout out to tell
my nick Coxa Liga MX squad. They have a massive
playoff game tonight at home. Obviously I can't be there
against t Grace. This is the since we joined the
ownership group in twenty twenty one, this is the best
season we've had. I am beyond gyeeked if they advance.
(23:04):
Now it's weird because they're the five. They're facing the
four seed and it's a two game playoff, and whoever
has more goals advances. If it's a tie, the higher
seed aka the four seed advances, which I think is total.
That's archaic, go to pks or something. But essentially, when
(23:28):
you get your home game, which is what Nikosa has tonight,
we got to get the dub. Now. I don't think
we can run it up. T Grace obviously has a
much bigger payroll than us. We're kind of the underdog
moneyball guys. But it's gonna be a scene down there
on Aguascalientes. I'll be watching at home with my Ncoxa
Jersey Young. Talk to you tomorrow
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up? Straight Fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Fire for Thursday, May the eighth. Guys. Listen, I
told you don't go gambling on the NBA playoffs. I
don't know what the hell's gonna happen. Nobody does. I
will tell you right now that zero point zero people predicted,
(00:31):
including our guest Alex Monico. Yesterday. Nobody predicted a Knicks
out white run. Nobody everybody's hopeful Knicks fans. But I'll
tell you the story. The Knicks ended up winning this game.
They should not have won this Boston is freaking to
bleep out. It was a crazy, bonkers fourth quarter. Again,
we'll get to that. Denver, okase was not uh nearly
as close. That was Okac setting records left and right,
(00:54):
being like, hey, we are really good and you guys
are not. So this is what's up. And okay, see
absolutely blasted and I mean destroyed Denver six. But nobody
cares about that game. First of all. So listen, we're
in uh spring, right, there's a beautiful season. I love spring.
(01:16):
When we were back in Pennsylvania, spring would be like
usually Memorial day you open the pool. However, you know Pennsylvania,
you don't. You got like maybe half of May, June, July, August,
and half of September. Okay, so that's a total of
four months out of twelve to use your pool. So
I hated that. I didn't realize it was that bad.
(01:36):
So I would push for the early open and then
just heat the sucker. Right. May in New York City
is awesome. May in California spectacular. The weather this week
has been tremendous. And my buddy is like this, he's
like in charge of this wine auction out here in
the South Bay and invited me to this dinner last night.
It was spectacular. But I had a busy Wednesday. Listen, man,
(01:58):
this is hey, this is life when you got kids.
So I'm on Wednesday this week. I was on Wednesday
volleyball practice both ways. You know, we got five people
in the carpool, so I had Wednesday both ways. So
I'm like, you know what, let me just make the
most of it. I'm gonna hit Costco in between. Costco's
my favorite place on Earth. So I'm watching the game
on my phone. Technology is the greatest. As I'm walking
(02:19):
through Costco. The knickser getting beat up. It's not going well. Okay,
that's expected. The Knick's got one. And the whole time
I'm telling myself, okay, we got at least we got one. Right,
Knicks are in troubled or down. I think they were
down like nine at half time. It stretches in the third.
At one point they're down twenty, and I with like
eight minutes left, I think they were down eighteen. And
(02:41):
I'm headed to check out, you know. And I'm one
of these weirdos. I don't like lines. Okay, I'm revealing
too much about myself, but I'm the kind of guy
who rolls up, sees like nine lines, quickly does the calculation. Okay,
there's three people there. This person has only three items, great,
this person has twenty seven items ish a lot, a
full cart over spilling, No thanks, I'm not going to
(03:02):
that line. This person's old. Older people generally are slower.
If you see an old person with a full cart
at Costco, just avoid them, you know. And so I
find what I think is the shortest line, and then
because it's the shortest line, I'm quickly up and at
that point I don't I stop watching the game. So
I knew I had this dinner, but it was not
for like another two hours. So I'm like, let me
get a slice of pizza, and of course I got
(03:23):
to navigate the machine get the slice of pizza. I'm
not watching the game. I load up the car. Then
I got to get the map out and there's multiple
directions to volleyball practice, and I'm like, all right, what's
the again, not watching the game. So I then get
to volleyball practice, and again this is weird o, Jason.
You know, I'm in a parking lot loaded up with
Costco in the way back, and I'm like, damn it,
(03:45):
is there a chance somebody breaks in and steals some
of my Costco stuff? So at this point, I've like
got to fight a good parking spot where my back
isn't the back is not like to anybody outside, So
I've got to back into a spot again not paying
it attention to the NIXT game. So I get in
to you know, watch the final thirty minutes of practice whatever,
(04:05):
and I see another dad and we start talking instantly,
you know, we're yucking it up again. I've forgotten about
the Knicks. And at this place where the practice is
the signal's horrific, so I don't even think to go
on my phone, and then all of a sudden, my
phone starts buzzing and they're like, you know, I could
read some of these well they're not really appropriate. My
(04:33):
boy Ben, who does all these social media videos for me,
he's great, Ben Garcia, you were ten thousand percent right
about Brunson. I was ten thousand percent right about Tatum.
Game recognized game, and I go, what's the score? Not
a good signal? And then my other guys from the
herd start texting, oh man, look at what Adam Schefter did.
(04:53):
This is so nasty. This is nasty work, and I'm like, bro,
what's going on? I don't have a signal, And the
texts keep coming in left and right, and I'm like,
did the Knicks fricking win this? And I can't get online.
At this point, the dad's you know, still talking to me,
and I feel bad that I'm like not listening. I'm
like looking for a knickscore. And then, of course, you know,
(05:14):
my daughter comes over during a water break and is
saying stuff, so I'm just totally rattled. Finally practice ends,
I get to the car and I'm like, oh my gosh,
the Knicks one came from down twenty again, and then
the takes start coming to me. Listen, man, remember the
Denver Nuggets last year, they were the defending champions. Everybody
(05:35):
had them going back to the finals. They could not
get by Minnesota. They have to go to Game seven
at home, they're up twenty and they blow it. There
is this sense when you win a championship that you're
just gonna win it every year. That's natural. We're the
best all season long. Boston Celtics bombing threes against regular
season NBA defense, and they're just hitting thirty five forty percent.
(05:57):
Sometimes fifty games are over at halftime, games are over
a third quarter because they're blowing teams out, and we're
just not seeing that in this series. Now. If you
remember back to the Orlando series, Orlando's got some good players.
They were able to hang somewhat tough with Boston, but
Jason Tatum had like thirty five thirty seven. It was
(06:18):
blowout city. When Tatum is on, the Celtics were able
to pull away and end up getting the dub and
I think they covered in three of the four wins.
I think of the three of the four wins. I
think they covered well. All of a sudden, now Jason
Tatum is struggling. Jason Tatum, are you ready for this?
Five of nineteen shooting thirteen points, fourteen boards. I love Tatum,
(06:43):
I'll defend him. He first of all, this loss is
not on him. Okay, It's on the entire Boston Celtics team. Okay.
In the fourth quarter, Celtics starters were two for eighteen. Okay,
it's not on Jason Tatum. Obviously, he's the star in
the AA. He's got to deliver. He did not tat him.
Through two games, missus bleak, shooting twenty eight percent from
(07:05):
the field, twenty five percent from three. He's averaging fifteen boards,
which is nice, five and a half as sis eighteen points.
That's way down from his regular season numbers, and all
of a sudden, you don't want to say it's over,
but when you're up to nothing going to the garden,
Celtics cannot throw it in the ocean, folks. In a
crazy stat that I didn't know was possible, Boston is
(07:27):
twenty five for one hundred on threes through two games.
That's insanitay. Now, Porzingis didn't start, only played fourteen minutes.
They clearly miss him. Al for Al Horford, he cannot
log the big minutes. He was two of eleven, oh
of five from three looked his age only could play
twenty nine minutes. Luke Cornett, I know he had a
solid game. I don't think you he's like a Tigier room.
(07:49):
You can't counter him for like twenty five thirty minutes
in a playoff game. Sorry, they're not really trusting the
rest of their bench. Peyton Pritchard struggled again, but he
did hit a bunch of threes, and you know, Derrek
White can't find the three. Jalen Brown eight of twenty
three shooting. There's a clip on Instagram. I popped it
on Stories where the tag is people don't know what
(08:09):
to do around the basket anymore. Inside the three point line.
Teams just don't know what to do. So the Celtics
come down on a break and Derek White and like
a four on three, just pulls up for a White
open three misses. Celtics get the rebound. Drew Holliday, let
me take a couple steps back, let me take another
three open missus Celtics get the rebound and someone drives.
It might be Holiday or Brown drives, kicks to the corner.
(08:30):
Somebody open for three and they hit it. It was
an open three, So three open looks, they made one
of them. That's kind of been the story of the series.
Except it's not one of three. It's more like one
of four or one of five, and that's not gonna
cut it.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
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 (08:58):
I'm as shocked as you, But like folks, I we're
looking at Knicks Pacers Eastern Conference Finals, which would be
a rematch of a great semifinals last year where I
thought the Knicks were in good shape but then the
injuries mounted. And listen, you can't just be like, well,
Jalen Brunson is two clutch. He was six of nineteen,
two of nine. It wasn't a Jalen Brunson game. Josh
(09:21):
Hart was fricking everywhere. Josh Hart had twenty three and six.
He was a machine on the offensive glass. Now again, like,
I don't know how this happened. I'm a Knicks fan,
and I thought the Knicks would get one or two.
I did not think they would be up to nothing.
I don't think anyone on planet Earth thought that. Folks.
They were down twenty and it gets worse. So the
(09:45):
cool thing about the ESPN box scores is if you
go to play by play, you can look up how
the team shot in the fourth quarter. Oh my gosh,
if you want like to just be like absolutely stunned,
go look at the fourth quarter. Boston could not make anything.
And yet a Jalen Brown dunk in the fourth where
(10:07):
he just went coast to coast and yammed on the
Knicks put them up. Let's see the dunk put them
up one with eighteen seconds left. And then of course
Brunce against to the foul line. And then Michail Bridges
does what he did at the end of Game one,
just ripped the ball away, he got stole it from
Tatum and that was it. The Celtics did not get
off a shot and they lose. This is inexplicable. I
(10:31):
wish I could sound articulate and intelligent. There's really nothing
here that makes sense. In the fourth quarter, the Celtics
were up fourteen. I'm sorry. They were up sixteen in
the fourth on Peyton Pritchard three. With ten twenty to go,
they go up seventy nine to sixty three. That's just unfathomable.
(10:52):
I'm gonna repeat what.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I said the other day. It is difficult to repeat
in the NBA, so many more games, the playoff games
take a lot out of you. And the last repeat
champs you have to go back to the Golden State
Warriors with Curry, KD.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Klay, Thompson and company. They smoked the Cavs for to
one now and that one year Kevin Love and Kyrie
were hurt, and then they smoke him four nothing the
next year. That was the year where Kyrie had asked out,
so there was no Kyrie before that. The last repeat
winner was Lebron's Heat twelve and thirteen beating OKC Young
(11:39):
OKC and then the Spurs in the Ray Allen series
where he hits an improbable three in Game six. But
it's really hard to repeat. The Lakers won the title
in the bubble the next year did not even stiff
the conference finals. Twenty twenty one, the Bucks win the title,
did not get back to the finals the Golden State
(12:00):
Warriors in twenty two did not get back to the finals,
Denver Nuggets in twenty three. We know they didn't get
to the finals in twenty four, and Dallas last year
loses to the Celtics for one, and Boston it looks
like will not get to round two. So my one
hot take from this game, I don't blame Jason Tatum
(12:21):
for this loss. Again, the starters were two of eighteen.
I do think that a we could start being serious
about Boston blowing it up for Yannas. I do believe
Jalen Brown could be in play. I do believe you
could get a combo of Brown, another serviceable starter, whether
it's Holiday White, whatever, salaries match, and a pick or
(12:44):
two for Jannas. Now that might be too rich, but
Boston will firmly, especially if they lose this series, will
firmly be in any and all Jannis talks. I don't
know that they'll be in KD talks. But the other
thing is, I don't know if Joe Mizzoula can survive this.
I'm not sure. Brian Windhorst is out here calling it
(13:04):
an inexcusable loss, which Jalen Brown is quotas saying, okay, inexcusable,
like unbelievable stuff. The Celtics just cannot come through in
the clutch. Is that on the coach of the players?
Are the players tired? I don't think so. In Game one,
they were two of fifteen from three in the fourth.
(13:25):
In Game two, two of eleven. I'm sure the old
NBA heads will be like, hey, why aren't they just
taking the ball inside and scoring or getting to the
free throw line. Well, I don't know. If you play
all season one way, can you just flip it and
instantly play a different way. I mean, I guess it's possible,
(13:45):
but I think it's easier said than done. The Knicks
had a twenty three to six run in the final
eight minutes and thirty seconds. Boston missed fourteen of their
final fifteen shots. Just put that into perspective. The defending
champions at home scored six points in the final eight
to thirty. But that that's so difficult to do, And
(14:11):
I guess it's on the coach to not have a
counter punch if the three's not working. I don't think
it's as easy enough. Hey, let's get Tatum in the post. Well,
you know O g and Ar, No, he's a really
good defender. Well, let's post up jayleb. Brown. No, it's done.
But you watch Indiana the night before and they're running
pick and rolls to get Miles Turner the mismatch in
(14:31):
the paint. I saw a stat where the Pacers had
twenty six points in the paint in the fourth quarter,
thirteen baskets. They needed to come back. What did they do? Well,
we're not gonna just jack threes. Let's get the pick
and roll, Let's get switches, and let's get Miles Turner layups.
I mean, now, Boston doesn't have a Miles Turner. Porzingis
(14:52):
Ain't that guy, not with the illness, Al Horford, Ain't
that guy. So you a Miles Turner again. Miles Turner
getting the ball against you know, Ti Jerome or even
Donovan Mitchell, that's a bucket. I don't know that Boston
has that, even if it's tatum On Brunson. I don't
think it's automatic the way it is if you're Miles
Turner getting a point in the pain, like the Celtics
(15:13):
have to start to change their identity, and I don't
know how easy that is. Boston is three of twenty
in clutch time, which is the last five minutes of
a game that's within five points. That's in the last
two games three of twenty. Tatum and Brown are one
of twelve. Like, you can't blame both stars. Sure you
(15:34):
could trade one in the offseason, but like, I think
Joe Mizzula probably is in trouble if he's got to go.
I think Joe Mizzoula is probably gonna be the fall
guy if for some reason the Celtics get swept or
lose four one. I don't think the series is over.
(15:54):
New York is officially favored according to Vegas, but I'm
as stunned as anyone else. It's just one of those wacky,
Holy cow, how did this happen? Kind of deal.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
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 now tonight.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
In what do we have tonight? We got only one
game tonight? Oh my gosh, Golden State Minnesota. Obviously the
Timberwolves need this one badly. Steph Curry will not play.
Listen folks as speculator on This Year podcast, the idea
of Steph Curry returning in this series seems a little silly.
(16:46):
They ruled him out for Game two. They most people
with a brain have said he's not playing at least
for the first four games. And I don't know that
he's gonna play again in the series. Steve Kerr said
that there is a three day break between games five
and six, and we're hopeful. But anybody who's had a
(17:09):
hamstring injury, it's not a day thing. It's not like
maybe I'll be ready in a day or two. That's
not how it works. Now, what's interesting is Curry ran
I saw this stat He ran one point nine miles
in Game seven against the Rockets, the most he's been
tracked in his career. Again, Houston played him tough man,
Fred VanVleet, Dylan Brooks, I'm and Thompson. They threw the
(17:31):
kitchen sink at him. Okay, he played forty six minutes,
were in one point nine miles. Is it any surprise
that two days later Steph Curry pulls a hamstring, the
first muscle strain injury of his career. Now, early in
his career, he had ankle injuries which is. Somehow it
helped me get him on my podcast, way way way
(17:52):
way back in the day. Dude, this is the third
well for excluding the radio show, which was a podcast. This, yeah,
this is the third podcast I had with the Big Lead.
I started a podcast. The first guest was Steph Curry.
So Curry had had ankle injuries. People were kind of
down on them. Well, you can't give him a max
(18:14):
deal with the ankle injuries. He's missed like a season
and a half. And he wasn't you know, obviously he's
still got like an eighty four million dollar deal something
like that, but he wasn't at the point where like, yeah,
there's no way you could get Steph Curry on your podcast.
They hadn't won any playoff series or anything. And he
was the first guest on my podcast and we talked
about the ankle injuries. This is like twenty twelve, maybe
(18:36):
no was before then, twenty ten, somewhere in that area,
and I mean, it's just it's stunk the ankle injuries.
You're like, it's going to derail a potentially amazing career.
You know, somehow was able to avoid a lot of injuries,
and now he's got the first muscle strain of his
career at the age of I think he's thirty six,
(18:58):
turning thirty seven this year. No, he just turned thirty
seven in March, so he's thirty seven years old, first
muscle strain of his career. I don't know how quickly
you can get him back. My guess is he's done
for the series. As such. You're saying, well, j Mack,
why don't you bet Minnesota to win the series? Guys,
I didn't think Minnesota was that much better than Lakers.
(19:18):
I'm sorry. I know they took him in five, but
it's like, do you trust this team? I mean, I
don't know that the best player on the court is
Anthony Edwards based on what I've seen. You know he
can go off and attack the rim. It will. But
is Jimmy if Curry's out, Is Jimmy Butler the best
(19:39):
player in the series or Anthony Edwards? I mean, who's
more playoff tested Jimmy Butler, who's more of a dog,
who's been through many postseason wars. Jimmy Butler, who's more
likely to just get you a bucket when needed. Jimmy Butler,
like Anthony Edwards, is an awesome player. He's going to
have a brighter future. He'll probably have a better career
than Jimmy Butler. But right now, I think Butler's probably
(20:02):
the best player. And I know this is gonna sound
crazy and probably you're gonna think I'm being dishonest, but
who's the second best player in the series? With Curry out?
Anthony Edwards? Okay, what do you go third? Just again,
this is probably too recncy bias, is it, Buddy Healed?
(20:24):
It's I know you're laughing, but like you saw what
Buddy Hill did in game seven and then in game
one they so when Minnesota clawed, I think they got
within nine and the fourth and I was like, all right, well,
no twenty point lead to save. They get a Jimmy
Butler two and a Buddy Hill three. Like can you
obviously you cannot put anybody into the Steph Curry role?
But is there a world where Buddy Held can give
(20:48):
you ninety percent of Steph Curry for a game or
two or three? Probably not, But for the last two games,
Buddy Heald has been Steph Curry all these threes. I
don't know, guys, even with Korea, you think Minnesota is
a lock. I don't know that they are. I don't
(21:08):
I don't know that I trust them, and that would
mean Cleveland gets an extra day, which is very nice
to prepare hopefully to get mobile back. I don't know,
you guys don't. The NBA Finals dates are set. They
usually start like the either the memori of the weekend,
first weekend June right around there. If we get some
sweeps here, there could be like an entire week without basketball,
(21:32):
and that just makes it tough. Luckily, the WNBA is
starting up. But I told Robb g let's get a
WNBA guest to preview the season because it starts next Friday,
I believe. And my family came to me, they're like, hey, Dad,
can you look into Caitlin Clark tickets? And I'm like, oh, yeah, okay,
so she's coming here to the LA Sparks and blah
(21:53):
blah blah blah blah blah. I didn't even bother price
it out because I'm just I'm just still stunned at
the Knicks could Like, honestly, who's going to the finals
from the East. It ain't the Cavs. It's probably not
the Celtics. So now you've got Pacers or Nicks. Do
you guys remember when the Michael Bridges trade happened. I
need to go back and find it. I said that
(22:16):
they would reach the finals. I thought the matchup with
Boston was great. I had and I'm almost I swear
I had this. I think I need to go listen
to it again. I might forgot Minnesota New York. I
think I had that. And then of course the season
happens and you get off your predictions because you're like,
there's no way this is happening. And here we are
on the conference semifinals and the Knicks look great in Minnesota,
which looked great last round all of a sudden dozen.
(22:39):
So big game tonight for the Warriors. No Steph Curry,
obviously listen. I gotta give a shout out to tell
my nick Coxa Liga MX squad. They have a massive
playoff game tonight at home. Obviously I can't be there
against t Grace. This is the since we joined the
ownership group in twenty twenty one, this is the best
season we've had. I am beyond gyeeked if they advance.
(23:04):
Now it's weird because they're the five. They're facing the
four seed and it's a two game playoff, and whoever
has more goals advances. If it's a tie, the higher
seed aka the four seed advances, which I think is total.
That's archaic, go to pks or something. But essentially, when
(23:28):
you get your home game, which is what Nikosa has tonight,
we got to get the dub. Now. I don't think
we can run it up. T Grace obviously has a
much bigger payroll than us. We're kind of the underdog
moneyball guys. But it's gonna be a scene down there
on Aguascalientes. I'll be watching at home with my Ncoxa
Jersey Young. Talk to you tomorrow
Host
Jason McIntyre
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