May 22, 2024 • 23 mins
We’re sounding off tonight on Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum spurring the Boston Celtics to a miraculous win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. We’re taking you through all of the clutch moments from Brown as he single-handedly willed the Celtics to overtime with clutch free throws, by forcing a turnover, and then drilling the biggest shot of his life. We then detail how Jayson Tatum took over in OT to push Boston into the winner’s circle, and our fans then chime in about the national narratives surrounding the Celtics, the relationship between the Celtics and their crowd, and what Boston needs to improve on heading into Game 2.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Off would be fos on the Boston Celtics getting a
miracle win in Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals.
On Jalen Brown showing that he's got the clutch gene,
on Jason Tatum taking over in overtime, on the Pacers
giveth and the Celtics take it. Listen. This game was
not exactly what the Boston Celtics envisioned when they came
(00:28):
into Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals against the
number six seed Indiana Pacers. Boston on multiple occasions pulled
ahead by double digits, but every single time Indiana came back,
and in the end of regulation, it certainly felt like
Indiana was gonna be the team that would grab this win. However,
the Boston Celtics and Jalen Brown would not go away.
(00:54):
Jalen Brown came up clutch in three different instances during
the final minute. I'm gonna rattle these off for you
right now. With about fifty eight seconds left in regulation,
Jalen Brown heads to the free throw line, where he
has not been great this postseason, and he drills both
free throws to keep the Celtics in striking distance. Later
(01:17):
in the game, with about eight and a half seconds left.
The Celtics need to force a turnover and they get
it when Jalen Brown is the one who applied pressure
to Pascal Siakam on the inbound pass and forced a
turnover on the inbound pass. Without that play, the Boston
Celtics have zero chance of winning this game, zero chance.
(01:42):
But Jalen Brown gave the effort when they needed it
most and he forced that turnover. And listen, it was
semi unforced. Like Indiana still had a timeout left. They
could have called timeout, they didn't. But these are the
advantages of playing against a team that is inexperienced, right.
(02:02):
Some of this stuff happened when the Boston Celtics got
to the finals in twenty twenty two against the Golden
State Warriors. Obviously, yes, had Boston had some experience in
prior years of getting to the Eastern Conference finals playing
in some big games, absolutely, But had they played on
that stage in the finals of the NBA against a
(02:23):
true champion that is etching itself in stone as a dynasty. No,
they hadn't been there, and they did exactly what the
Pacers did tonight. They turned it over, They let the
pressure get to them, and they weren't able to overcome it.
That happened to the Pacers tonight. But this is what
happens for the Celtics when you earn the right to
(02:44):
play a team that doesn't have as much experience as
you do. But still without Jaylen Brown applying that pressure
on the inbound pass against Pascal Siakam, this game is over.
This game winds up in the hands of Indiana and
they make a one zero lead in this series. But
that's not what happened. Jalen Brown did apply that pressure.
(03:05):
Pascal Siakam did touch the ball going out of bounds
because of that pressure after Andrew nemhard inbound of the
ball where he probably shouldn't have he should have called
a timeout, but Jalen made it happen with the pressure
he applied. And then just seconds later after a timeout
by Joe Mazulin. By the way, for everyone who likes
to talk down on Joe Mizula and act like this
(03:27):
guy doesn't know what he's doing, he knows what he's doing.
And not only did he call a timeout at the
right time, and by the way, he had timeouts because
he saved them and managed them properly. Not only did
he call the right timeout, but then he drew up
a beautiful inbound play. You go and rewatch the action.
Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum basically ran the exact same
(03:50):
action on each side of the court around the extended
elbow area. Derek White was screening on one side for
Jalen Brown. Al Horford was screening on the other side
for Jason Tatum, and one of them was gonna pop
out to the corner off a read and catch the
ball for a game tying three point attempt, and the
Celtics had to try to tie this game. There wasn't
(04:13):
enough time left to try to score a two foul
in advance because the Celtics were out of timeouts, they
had to go for three. So Jalen Brown curls off
that screen by Derek White, pops out into the corner.
He gets the pass from jew Holiday and this is
right in front of Indiana's bench, which makes all of
this even better. Jalen Brown catches the ball, Pascal Siakam
(04:35):
is all over him, I mean he's draped on him.
It might show up in the two minute report as
a foul. There was definitely contact there and Jalen wound
up falling to the floor, but with Pascal Siakam all
over him, with Jalen rising up in front of Indiana's bench,
who you know all those guys right behind him, they
were chirping, They were chirping right in his ears. Jalen
(04:58):
Brown rises up and cashes in on maybe the biggest
shot of his NBA career. And this is a guy
who was played in six Eastern Conference finals, now in
one NBA finals. This might be the biggest shot that
he's ever made. It was with the game on the line.
Boston needed that bucket, just like they needed the free
(05:19):
throws earlier on fifty seconds before, just like they needed
that turnover forced with Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nemhart. Jalen
Brown made the play. He rose to the occasion. He
showed that he's got the clutch gene. He drained the
three pointer. Then Boston got the stop and it was overtime.
And let me tell you, when I was sitting in
(05:39):
that garden, that place was going nuts. The environment went
to a whole other level. And the great part about it,
we're gonna touch on this later in the episode, is
the Boston fan base never gave up on this potential comeback. Okay,
they were right there and they felt like there was
a shot. The Celtics forced a couple turnovers, Indiana committed
a couple turnovers, and it kept Boston and the crowd
(06:02):
feeling like we might have a chance here, and they
did have a chance. Jalen Brown made it happen. He
forced in it overtime. Like I said, the crowd was
going bananas. It was bonkers in there, absolutely crazy. I
got goosebumps after that shot by Jalen and after that
felt like that That's all she wrote. Jason Tatum took
over during overtime, scored eight straight points at one point,
(06:25):
scored ten points over all. I believe there was a
post on x I can't remember who sent it out,
but that was the most a Tom haberstrow. It was
the most amount of points, ten points in overtime, the
most overtime points a player has scored in the NBA
since twenty twenty one, so it's been three seasons since
someone did what Jason Tatum did tonight. So I wonder
(06:48):
what the national discourse is going to be and the
conversation is going to be about the Celtics tomorrow, they
came up clutch. Jalen Brown came up clutch, forced overtime
with three huge plays during the final minute. As I said,
made both free throws when the game was on the line.
He needed to make those free throws. He forced the
turnover when Boston needed to force that turnover. And then lastly,
(07:12):
he cashes in on that three right in front of
Indiana's bench and right with Pascal Siakam draped all over him.
And then you get to overtime and Jason Tatum takes
over ten points at one point eight straight, made the
biggest three of the game outside of Jalen Brown's game
tying three pointer. That's the one that pushed the Boston
Celtics cept I believe four or five and that bucket
(07:35):
when he made that, it felt like, Okay, this is
all Boston from here on out, and it was. So
the conversation tomorrow should be about Jalen Brown coming up clutch,
about Jason Tatum doing the same, and overtime and the
Boston Celtics finding a way to win when they didn't
play a great basketball game. That's what it should be.
(07:58):
Indiana made some mistake they cracked the door open. But
guess what when a team cracks the door open, another
has to walk through. The Celtics figured out a way
to walk through that crack tonight, but that doesn't mean
that every team would have walked through that crack in
the door tonight. The Celtics found a way. They made
(08:23):
the big plays and you can tell it to everyone
who's listening. It was the Jays who made those big plays.
So looking forward to seeing what everyone talks about tomorrow.
As I said, this was not a great performance by
the Celtics. They allowed Indiana to shoot over fifty percent
(08:43):
from the field in this game. Indiana played great offense.
They just wound up turning the ball over a little
too much. Twenty two turnovers on the night. You're not
gonna win many playoff games when you commit twenty to turnovers,
and the Celtics only committed thirteen of their own, so
they relatively took care of the ball. We'll talk about
this in a little bit. They had some ugly turnovers,
(09:05):
but Indiana kept them in the game with all the
turnovers they had. Indiana had seven players scoring double figures
at least twelve or thirteen points. This is what we
expected from Indiana, right, this is what has gotten them
to this point. TJ McConnell and Obi Topping coming off
the bench from them played really well, but the Celtics
had their entire starting five playing at a high level.
(09:26):
Drew Holliday scored a season high in career high as
a Celtic, obviously this is his only season twenty eight
points on the night. Jalen Brown finishes up with twenty
six of his own, and then Jason Tatum just a
monster double double thirty six points, twelve rebounds to tie
for the game high in that category and the thirty
six points led the game. Also had four assists and
(09:49):
three steals. And then you've got also El Horford and
Derek White adding in fifteen points in piece and Derek
White also led the Celtics and assists with nine. So
the starting five for Boston played really well. Didn't get
a whole lot from the bench tonight. That's okay. The
Celtics got out of this game, they got out of
it with a win. Now they get to come back
(10:10):
on Thursday, hopefully playing at a much higher level as
a team, getting a little bit more from the bench
and trying to pull up for a two to zero
lead on the Indiana Pacers. All right, we're gonna take
some comments from our fans after this game, one of
which this fan was actually at the game tonight. First
and foremost, we've got Jonathan Vankn on the national narrative
(10:31):
around the Celtics heading in tomorrow. I already touched on that,
but we're gonna go a little bit deeper on it.
Allan Acosta, who was at this game, comments on the
crowds impact on this game. And then lastly, we've got
Metal Trowel on what the Celtics need to improve on
heading into game two. So with that, let's dive in.
Jonathan Vankin, you're up first. All right, Jonathan Vancn is
(10:54):
up first in. Here's what he had to say after
this game. Great win. They've been raked over the coals
for not having been tested. Well, they were tested in
crunch time twice in one game. I'm sure the takes
will be they should have blown those guys out. But
the Pacers are in the Eastern Conference Finals for a reason. Jonathan.
(11:17):
You make a lot of great points here. The Celtics
have been the narrative A lot of people have been
playing both sides of the coin about the Boston Celtics,
not only throughout this playoff run, because Boston has earned
the right to play some teams that weren't quite as good,
and they've been looking down on the Celtics because of that.
The Celtics earned that right. How can you look down
(11:37):
on that Boston is playing the teams that it earned
the right to play who were at the bottom of
the bracket, because Boston was way better than every team
in the NBA during the regular season sixty four wins,
So that doesn't make any sense to me. But people
have been trying to play both sides of the coin,
saying that number One, oh, well, the Celtics are blowing
(11:59):
teams out because they're playing teams that aren't very good. Well, okay, well,
the Celtics earned the right to play teams that weren't
that good. They earned the right to play the eighth
seed in the Eastern Conference and then the fourth seed
in the Eastern Conference. They earned that right because they
were that great throughout the regular season. But then those
same people also seem to be trying to say, well,
(12:22):
the Celtics haven't been tested to Jonathan's point here they
can't win a close game, Well, they just did. They
just came back and won that game. So are you
going to give them credit for winning that game or
are you gonna try to find and weasel your way
out of this and find another way to say, like, oh, well,
the Celtics shouldn't have been in that position in the
(12:43):
first place. Which one is it. Do they have to
blow teams out every single game? Or do they have
to win close games? You tell me, it doesn't make
a whole lot of sense. And Jonathan is right on
here talking about it. And then lastly he talks about
the Pacers are in the Eastern Conference Finals for a reason. Listen,
Indiana has earned its right to get into the Eastern
(13:04):
Conference Finals. No team gets to the Eastern Conference Finals
or the Western Conference Finals for that matter, without earning
that right and playing high level basketball. It doesn't matter
who you play against. The NBA is tough no matter
who you played throughout the regular season. It's usually not
a cakewalk at any given night, and when you get
into the postseason, it's definitely a challenge every single night.
(13:27):
So think of the run that the Pacers have gone on.
They've had to make a lot of big plays. They've
had to come up clutch over and over and over
to get to this point where they are right now.
This is a good team, a deep team with someone
who is an All Star who, by the way, before
the New Year, Tyrese Halliburton was in the MVP conversation.
(13:50):
This is a really good Pacers team, one of the
most powerful offenses in the history of the game. They're
here for a reason. The Celtics aren't supposed to win
by third every game when they're playing against one of
the final four teams playing basketball in the tournament this season.
This is not a cake walk and we saw that tonight.
(14:11):
But Boston found a way to battle back. And there's
no way you can overlook this. Yes, did the Pacers
make some mistakes, absolutely, but the Celtics made them make
those mistakes. Jalen Brown forced that turnover at the end
of the game. Shouldn' EMHARDTV called time out? Should Rick
Carlisle have called time out? Yes, but they didn't, and
(14:35):
then Jalen Brown made the defensive play, and then everyone
had to make the offensive plays for the Celtics to
win this game. So yeah, the Celtics have been raked
over the coals for not having been tested. Well, they
were tested tonight and they found a way to win.
That's all that matters, all right. Next up, we've got
(14:57):
a comment from Alan Acosta and he says, I was
in the building. Good for you, Allan. This is a
great night to be a TD Garden. The crowd helped
will this team to the victory. We didn't give up
on them, and they didn't give up on us. This
team has championship D and A. You said it perfectly, Allan,
(15:18):
because obviously I was in the building as well, and
you kind of felt this connection between the two sides,
the players on the court and the fans and the crowd.
Neither of them gave up. They were both helping each
other out. It was like a relationship and this is
really developed throughout this regular season. Something Joe Mizula emphasized
to his players heading into this season, we need to
(15:40):
establish a relationship with our fan base so they aren't
feeling anxiety when we play a few bad minutes. We
need to make sure that they are confident in us
and we are confident in them. And that whole season
of concentrating on building that relationship, that two way relationship
leads to a night like night where, like allan Acosta said,
(16:04):
the crowd did not give up on the players, and
then the players made it pay off for the crowd
in the end because they are the ones who got
them jacked up with Jalen Brown made those plays at
the end of regulation and Jason Tatum absolutely took over
in overtime. Again, it's a two way relationship. The fan
base is connected to this team this season. The fan
(16:28):
base has always been great, but the past few seasons,
with the way that the Celtics have made some mistakes
that led to the end of their seasons, there's been
some growing anxiety in this building at Ted Garden. The
fans have been awesome, but you can feel it, or
you could feel it. You don't feel that this year.
This year, you feel confidence coming from the crowd, You
(16:50):
feel confidence going right back to them from the players,
and tonight you saw it payoff in a dramatic, miraculous
comeback win spurred by Jaylen Brown regulation than Jason Tatum
in overtime. And lastly, allan Acosta says, this team has
championship DNA. Yes, they do. Like literally, Drew Holliday has
been there, done that, he has won a championship, and
(17:12):
I'm telling you like that has impacted this team this season.
You think it didn't impact them. At the end of
this game, having Drew Holliday inbounding the ball, he was
the guy who passed it to Jylen Brown over in
that corner for that three pointer. He had to read
the defense make the on time, on target pass, so
that initiated the Jalen game tying three pointer. This team
(17:33):
does have championship DNA, and it is different. This team
is different. You can sense it, as Allen a Costa
since when he watched this game live in person at
TD Garden tonight. Allen, congratulations. I'm happy you were there
to watch this. I hope you're there Thursday night as well.
All Right, last up, we've got Metal Trowel saying a
(17:55):
game I thought was over and then JB reminded us
that this team is different. We just touched on that
with al LaCosta. Only thing I'm worried about were some
really bad passes to nobody that led to turnovers, which
leads to Indie fast breaks. Lots to take from this,
but the Celtics have the clutch gen and that is
why they are different. The Celtics have had the clutch
(18:17):
gene to a certain extent to have the success that
they've had over the last eight seasons, with now six
bursts into the Eastern Conference Finals and one trip to
the NBA Finals, they've had a little bit of it.
But this team, I've said it all season long. I've
said it episode after episode of sound Off. For those
of you who are just tuning in for the first time,
please go back and search right now. They're under the
(18:38):
view from the rafters feed on all of our audio
podcast platforms. You can find it. But I've been saying
episode after episode, this team is different. Like you watch
them throughout the regular season. All of those old characteristics
that used to creep up, those demons they used to
creep up on this Celtics team. It would bite them
in the butt. They haven't existed this year. Boston doesn't
(19:02):
let things snowball, they don't go long stretches with poor play.
They never lost more than two straight games this season.
That's miraculous in and of itself. You can only do
that if you have championship DNA ye. Like, yes, this
team hasn't won the title at this point other than
(19:22):
Drew Holliday, But like that is championship DNA. When you
can stop things from snowballing, when you can recover both mentally,
physically and on the court and making the right plays.
We haven't seen that out of this team in the past,
but we've seen it all season long this time around,
and that's why they're different. Now to your point here
(19:44):
in metal Trowl about the turnovers, there's no doubt about it. Listen,
in this game, as I said, sorry, it was fifteen turnovers.
I said thirteen earlier. Fifteen turnovers for the Celtics in
this game, and I would say at least a handful
of them were questionable. Questionable at best. They were kind
of a little bit lack a daisical, not quite concentrating enough,
(20:07):
maybe underestimating the effort that Indiana was bringing to the table.
I think we can chalk a little bit of this
up to the fact that the Celtics hadn't played in
six days a little bit. That's not excuse, it's a reason.
But at the same time, there were moments where I
thought the Celtics just kind of they relaxed a little
bit with the way that they were taking care of
the ball. Now, that was uncharacteristic of this team. This
(20:31):
team has not been loose with the ball in giving
the ball away throughout this season. They're one of the
best teams in the league at taking care of the ball.
So I chalk it up as this was a little
bit of a unique situation, something that is not going
to be replicated throughout this series. I think Boston will
take care of the ball, and this tonight just happened
(20:52):
to be a knight, one of those rare nights where
they kind of lost concentration a few times here and
there throughout the game, and that did help Indiana, There's
no question about it. They turned some of those turnovers
into some big plays. As we saw the three point
play at the end of the end of the third quarter.
I believe that came after a turnover by the Celtics.
That was a tyrese Haliburton, iie, the Celtics gotta take
(21:14):
care of the ball. Actually, Joe Mizoula said that on
Monday after practice, the Celtics need to do a few things.
They need to rebound the basketball and they need to
take care of the ball. They cannot allow this high
powered offense of the Indiana Pacers to get out and run.
How do you prevent that You rebound and you take
care of the ball. Tonight they did both of those
(21:36):
at a decent level. They were right there in the
rebound department, only lost by one, and they did win
the turnover department. But they can be better in both
departments heading into Game two. So a couple of things,
as Metal Trial is saying, a couple things to take
from this game to learn from and apply to Game two.
And Game two Folks is coming up on Thursday night.
(21:57):
That game will also be played at eight o'clock. You
can catch that game on ESPN as the Boston Celtics
look to take a two to nothing series lead. Tonight.
This was a miracle. I watched a miracle in person.
Allen Acosta was there watching a miracle in person as well.
But boy was it entertaining And boy could this be
the type of win that spurs a team into the
(22:20):
NBA Finals. This is a momentum builder in one of
those wins that everyone, the fan base, the players, the
coaches can look themselves in the mirror and say, when
the going gets tough, we have what it takes to
pull off the miraculous comeback. They did it tonight. Let's
hope they don't have to do it in game two.
Let's hope they pull away with a pretty comfortable win.
(22:40):
But again, that game is coming up Thursday night at
eight o'clock on ESPN, and we'll see you Thursday night
after that game with yet another episode of sound Off.
I appreciate you taking part in it, and I'll see
you Thursday night after game two. Good night, everyone,
Off would be fos on the Boston Celtics getting a
miracle win in Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals.
On Jalen Brown showing that he's got the clutch gene,
on Jason Tatum taking over in overtime, on the Pacers
giveth and the Celtics take it. Listen. This game was
not exactly what the Boston Celtics envisioned when they came
(00:28):
into Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals against the
number six seed Indiana Pacers. Boston on multiple occasions pulled
ahead by double digits, but every single time Indiana came back,
and in the end of regulation, it certainly felt like
Indiana was gonna be the team that would grab this win. However,
the Boston Celtics and Jalen Brown would not go away.
(00:54):
Jalen Brown came up clutch in three different instances during
the final minute. I'm gonna rattle these off for you
right now. With about fifty eight seconds left in regulation,
Jalen Brown heads to the free throw line, where he
has not been great this postseason, and he drills both
free throws to keep the Celtics in striking distance. Later
(01:17):
in the game, with about eight and a half seconds left.
The Celtics need to force a turnover and they get
it when Jalen Brown is the one who applied pressure
to Pascal Siakam on the inbound pass and forced a
turnover on the inbound pass. Without that play, the Boston
Celtics have zero chance of winning this game, zero chance.
(01:42):
But Jalen Brown gave the effort when they needed it
most and he forced that turnover. And listen, it was
semi unforced. Like Indiana still had a timeout left. They
could have called timeout, they didn't. But these are the
advantages of playing against a team that is inexperienced, right.
(02:02):
Some of this stuff happened when the Boston Celtics got
to the finals in twenty twenty two against the Golden
State Warriors. Obviously, yes, had Boston had some experience in
prior years of getting to the Eastern Conference finals playing
in some big games, absolutely, But had they played on
that stage in the finals of the NBA against a
(02:23):
true champion that is etching itself in stone as a dynasty. No,
they hadn't been there, and they did exactly what the
Pacers did tonight. They turned it over, They let the
pressure get to them, and they weren't able to overcome it.
That happened to the Pacers tonight. But this is what
happens for the Celtics when you earn the right to
(02:44):
play a team that doesn't have as much experience as
you do. But still without Jaylen Brown applying that pressure
on the inbound pass against Pascal Siakam, this game is over.
This game winds up in the hands of Indiana and
they make a one zero lead in this series. But
that's not what happened. Jalen Brown did apply that pressure.
(03:05):
Pascal Siakam did touch the ball going out of bounds
because of that pressure after Andrew nemhard inbound of the
ball where he probably shouldn't have he should have called
a timeout, but Jalen made it happen with the pressure
he applied. And then just seconds later after a timeout
by Joe Mazulin. By the way, for everyone who likes
to talk down on Joe Mizula and act like this
(03:27):
guy doesn't know what he's doing, he knows what he's doing.
And not only did he call a timeout at the
right time, and by the way, he had timeouts because
he saved them and managed them properly. Not only did
he call the right timeout, but then he drew up
a beautiful inbound play. You go and rewatch the action.
Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum basically ran the exact same
(03:50):
action on each side of the court around the extended
elbow area. Derek White was screening on one side for
Jalen Brown. Al Horford was screening on the other side
for Jason Tatum, and one of them was gonna pop
out to the corner off a read and catch the
ball for a game tying three point attempt, and the
Celtics had to try to tie this game. There wasn't
(04:13):
enough time left to try to score a two foul
in advance because the Celtics were out of timeouts, they
had to go for three. So Jalen Brown curls off
that screen by Derek White, pops out into the corner.
He gets the pass from jew Holiday and this is
right in front of Indiana's bench, which makes all of
this even better. Jalen Brown catches the ball, Pascal Siakam
(04:35):
is all over him, I mean he's draped on him.
It might show up in the two minute report as
a foul. There was definitely contact there and Jalen wound
up falling to the floor, but with Pascal Siakam all
over him, with Jalen rising up in front of Indiana's bench,
who you know all those guys right behind him, they
were chirping, They were chirping right in his ears. Jalen
(04:58):
Brown rises up and cashes in on maybe the biggest
shot of his NBA career. And this is a guy
who was played in six Eastern Conference finals, now in
one NBA finals. This might be the biggest shot that
he's ever made. It was with the game on the line.
Boston needed that bucket, just like they needed the free
(05:19):
throws earlier on fifty seconds before, just like they needed
that turnover forced with Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nemhart. Jalen
Brown made the play. He rose to the occasion. He
showed that he's got the clutch gene. He drained the
three pointer. Then Boston got the stop and it was overtime.
And let me tell you, when I was sitting in
(05:39):
that garden, that place was going nuts. The environment went
to a whole other level. And the great part about it,
we're gonna touch on this later in the episode, is
the Boston fan base never gave up on this potential comeback. Okay,
they were right there and they felt like there was
a shot. The Celtics forced a couple turnovers, Indiana committed
a couple turnovers, and it kept Boston and the crowd
(06:02):
feeling like we might have a chance here, and they
did have a chance. Jalen Brown made it happen. He
forced in it overtime. Like I said, the crowd was
going bananas. It was bonkers in there, absolutely crazy. I
got goosebumps after that shot by Jalen and after that
felt like that That's all she wrote. Jason Tatum took
over during overtime, scored eight straight points at one point,
(06:25):
scored ten points over all. I believe there was a
post on x I can't remember who sent it out,
but that was the most a Tom haberstrow. It was
the most amount of points, ten points in overtime, the
most overtime points a player has scored in the NBA
since twenty twenty one, so it's been three seasons since
someone did what Jason Tatum did tonight. So I wonder
(06:48):
what the national discourse is going to be and the
conversation is going to be about the Celtics tomorrow, they
came up clutch. Jalen Brown came up clutch, forced overtime
with three huge plays during the final minute. As I said,
made both free throws when the game was on the line.
He needed to make those free throws. He forced the
turnover when Boston needed to force that turnover. And then lastly,
(07:12):
he cashes in on that three right in front of
Indiana's bench and right with Pascal Siakam draped all over him.
And then you get to overtime and Jason Tatum takes
over ten points at one point eight straight, made the
biggest three of the game outside of Jalen Brown's game
tying three pointer. That's the one that pushed the Boston
Celtics cept I believe four or five and that bucket
(07:35):
when he made that, it felt like, Okay, this is
all Boston from here on out, and it was. So
the conversation tomorrow should be about Jalen Brown coming up clutch,
about Jason Tatum doing the same, and overtime and the
Boston Celtics finding a way to win when they didn't
play a great basketball game. That's what it should be.
(07:58):
Indiana made some mistake they cracked the door open. But
guess what when a team cracks the door open, another
has to walk through. The Celtics figured out a way
to walk through that crack tonight, but that doesn't mean
that every team would have walked through that crack in
the door tonight. The Celtics found a way. They made
(08:23):
the big plays and you can tell it to everyone
who's listening. It was the Jays who made those big plays.
So looking forward to seeing what everyone talks about tomorrow.
As I said, this was not a great performance by
the Celtics. They allowed Indiana to shoot over fifty percent
(08:43):
from the field in this game. Indiana played great offense.
They just wound up turning the ball over a little
too much. Twenty two turnovers on the night. You're not
gonna win many playoff games when you commit twenty to turnovers,
and the Celtics only committed thirteen of their own, so
they relatively took care of the ball. We'll talk about
this in a little bit. They had some ugly turnovers,
(09:05):
but Indiana kept them in the game with all the
turnovers they had. Indiana had seven players scoring double figures
at least twelve or thirteen points. This is what we
expected from Indiana, right, this is what has gotten them
to this point. TJ McConnell and Obi Topping coming off
the bench from them played really well, but the Celtics
had their entire starting five playing at a high level.
(09:26):
Drew Holliday scored a season high in career high as
a Celtic, obviously this is his only season twenty eight
points on the night. Jalen Brown finishes up with twenty
six of his own, and then Jason Tatum just a
monster double double thirty six points, twelve rebounds to tie
for the game high in that category and the thirty
six points led the game. Also had four assists and
(09:49):
three steals. And then you've got also El Horford and
Derek White adding in fifteen points in piece and Derek
White also led the Celtics and assists with nine. So
the starting five for Boston played really well. Didn't get
a whole lot from the bench tonight. That's okay. The
Celtics got out of this game, they got out of
it with a win. Now they get to come back
(10:10):
on Thursday, hopefully playing at a much higher level as
a team, getting a little bit more from the bench
and trying to pull up for a two to zero
lead on the Indiana Pacers. All right, we're gonna take
some comments from our fans after this game, one of
which this fan was actually at the game tonight. First
and foremost, we've got Jonathan Vankn on the national narrative
(10:31):
around the Celtics heading in tomorrow. I already touched on that,
but we're gonna go a little bit deeper on it.
Allan Acosta, who was at this game, comments on the
crowds impact on this game. And then lastly, we've got
Metal Trowel on what the Celtics need to improve on
heading into game two. So with that, let's dive in.
Jonathan Vankin, you're up first. All right, Jonathan Vancn is
(10:54):
up first in. Here's what he had to say after
this game. Great win. They've been raked over the coals
for not having been tested. Well, they were tested in
crunch time twice in one game. I'm sure the takes
will be they should have blown those guys out. But
the Pacers are in the Eastern Conference Finals for a reason. Jonathan.
(11:17):
You make a lot of great points here. The Celtics
have been the narrative A lot of people have been
playing both sides of the coin about the Boston Celtics,
not only throughout this playoff run, because Boston has earned
the right to play some teams that weren't quite as good,
and they've been looking down on the Celtics because of that.
The Celtics earned that right. How can you look down
(11:37):
on that Boston is playing the teams that it earned
the right to play who were at the bottom of
the bracket, because Boston was way better than every team
in the NBA during the regular season sixty four wins,
So that doesn't make any sense to me. But people
have been trying to play both sides of the coin,
saying that number One, oh, well, the Celtics are blowing
(11:59):
teams out because they're playing teams that aren't very good. Well, okay, well,
the Celtics earned the right to play teams that weren't
that good. They earned the right to play the eighth
seed in the Eastern Conference and then the fourth seed
in the Eastern Conference. They earned that right because they
were that great throughout the regular season. But then those
same people also seem to be trying to say, well,
(12:22):
the Celtics haven't been tested to Jonathan's point here they
can't win a close game, Well, they just did. They
just came back and won that game. So are you
going to give them credit for winning that game or
are you gonna try to find and weasel your way
out of this and find another way to say, like, oh, well,
the Celtics shouldn't have been in that position in the
(12:43):
first place. Which one is it. Do they have to
blow teams out every single game? Or do they have
to win close games? You tell me, it doesn't make
a whole lot of sense. And Jonathan is right on
here talking about it. And then lastly he talks about
the Pacers are in the Eastern Conference Finals for a reason. Listen,
Indiana has earned its right to get into the Eastern
(13:04):
Conference Finals. No team gets to the Eastern Conference Finals
or the Western Conference Finals for that matter, without earning
that right and playing high level basketball. It doesn't matter
who you play against. The NBA is tough no matter
who you played throughout the regular season. It's usually not
a cakewalk at any given night, and when you get
into the postseason, it's definitely a challenge every single night.
(13:27):
So think of the run that the Pacers have gone on.
They've had to make a lot of big plays. They've
had to come up clutch over and over and over
to get to this point where they are right now.
This is a good team, a deep team with someone
who is an All Star who, by the way, before
the New Year, Tyrese Halliburton was in the MVP conversation.
(13:50):
This is a really good Pacers team, one of the
most powerful offenses in the history of the game. They're
here for a reason. The Celtics aren't supposed to win
by third every game when they're playing against one of
the final four teams playing basketball in the tournament this season.
This is not a cake walk and we saw that tonight.
(14:11):
But Boston found a way to battle back. And there's
no way you can overlook this. Yes, did the Pacers
make some mistakes, absolutely, but the Celtics made them make
those mistakes. Jalen Brown forced that turnover at the end
of the game. Shouldn' EMHARDTV called time out? Should Rick
Carlisle have called time out? Yes, but they didn't, and
(14:35):
then Jalen Brown made the defensive play, and then everyone
had to make the offensive plays for the Celtics to
win this game. So yeah, the Celtics have been raked
over the coals for not having been tested. Well, they
were tested tonight and they found a way to win.
That's all that matters, all right. Next up, we've got
(14:57):
a comment from Alan Acosta and he says, I was
in the building. Good for you, Allan. This is a
great night to be a TD Garden. The crowd helped
will this team to the victory. We didn't give up
on them, and they didn't give up on us. This
team has championship D and A. You said it perfectly, Allan,
(15:18):
because obviously I was in the building as well, and
you kind of felt this connection between the two sides,
the players on the court and the fans and the crowd.
Neither of them gave up. They were both helping each
other out. It was like a relationship and this is
really developed throughout this regular season. Something Joe Mizula emphasized
to his players heading into this season, we need to
(15:40):
establish a relationship with our fan base so they aren't
feeling anxiety when we play a few bad minutes. We
need to make sure that they are confident in us
and we are confident in them. And that whole season
of concentrating on building that relationship, that two way relationship
leads to a night like night where, like allan Acosta said,
(16:04):
the crowd did not give up on the players, and
then the players made it pay off for the crowd
in the end because they are the ones who got
them jacked up with Jalen Brown made those plays at
the end of regulation and Jason Tatum absolutely took over
in overtime. Again, it's a two way relationship. The fan
base is connected to this team this season. The fan
(16:28):
base has always been great, but the past few seasons,
with the way that the Celtics have made some mistakes
that led to the end of their seasons, there's been
some growing anxiety in this building at Ted Garden. The
fans have been awesome, but you can feel it, or
you could feel it. You don't feel that this year.
This year, you feel confidence coming from the crowd, You
(16:50):
feel confidence going right back to them from the players,
and tonight you saw it payoff in a dramatic, miraculous
comeback win spurred by Jaylen Brown regulation than Jason Tatum
in overtime. And lastly, allan Acosta says, this team has
championship DNA. Yes, they do. Like literally, Drew Holliday has
been there, done that, he has won a championship, and
(17:12):
I'm telling you like that has impacted this team this season.
You think it didn't impact them. At the end of
this game, having Drew Holliday inbounding the ball, he was
the guy who passed it to Jylen Brown over in
that corner for that three pointer. He had to read
the defense make the on time, on target pass, so
that initiated the Jalen game tying three pointer. This team
(17:33):
does have championship DNA, and it is different. This team
is different. You can sense it, as Allen a Costa
since when he watched this game live in person at
TD Garden tonight. Allen, congratulations. I'm happy you were there
to watch this. I hope you're there Thursday night as well.
All Right, last up, we've got Metal Trowel saying a
(17:55):
game I thought was over and then JB reminded us
that this team is different. We just touched on that
with al LaCosta. Only thing I'm worried about were some
really bad passes to nobody that led to turnovers, which
leads to Indie fast breaks. Lots to take from this,
but the Celtics have the clutch gen and that is
why they are different. The Celtics have had the clutch
(18:17):
gene to a certain extent to have the success that
they've had over the last eight seasons, with now six
bursts into the Eastern Conference Finals and one trip to
the NBA Finals, they've had a little bit of it.
But this team, I've said it all season long. I've
said it episode after episode of sound Off. For those
of you who are just tuning in for the first time,
please go back and search right now. They're under the
(18:38):
view from the rafters feed on all of our audio
podcast platforms. You can find it. But I've been saying
episode after episode, this team is different. Like you watch
them throughout the regular season. All of those old characteristics
that used to creep up, those demons they used to
creep up on this Celtics team. It would bite them
in the butt. They haven't existed this year. Boston doesn't
(19:02):
let things snowball, they don't go long stretches with poor play.
They never lost more than two straight games this season.
That's miraculous in and of itself. You can only do
that if you have championship DNA ye. Like, yes, this
team hasn't won the title at this point other than
(19:22):
Drew Holliday, But like that is championship DNA. When you
can stop things from snowballing, when you can recover both mentally,
physically and on the court and making the right plays.
We haven't seen that out of this team in the past,
but we've seen it all season long this time around,
and that's why they're different. Now to your point here
(19:44):
in metal Trowl about the turnovers, there's no doubt about it. Listen,
in this game, as I said, sorry, it was fifteen turnovers.
I said thirteen earlier. Fifteen turnovers for the Celtics in
this game, and I would say at least a handful
of them were questionable. Questionable at best. They were kind
of a little bit lack a daisical, not quite concentrating enough,
(20:07):
maybe underestimating the effort that Indiana was bringing to the table.
I think we can chalk a little bit of this
up to the fact that the Celtics hadn't played in
six days a little bit. That's not excuse, it's a reason.
But at the same time, there were moments where I
thought the Celtics just kind of they relaxed a little
bit with the way that they were taking care of
the ball. Now, that was uncharacteristic of this team. This
(20:31):
team has not been loose with the ball in giving
the ball away throughout this season. They're one of the
best teams in the league at taking care of the ball.
So I chalk it up as this was a little
bit of a unique situation, something that is not going
to be replicated throughout this series. I think Boston will
take care of the ball, and this tonight just happened
(20:52):
to be a knight, one of those rare nights where
they kind of lost concentration a few times here and
there throughout the game, and that did help Indiana, There's
no question about it. They turned some of those turnovers
into some big plays. As we saw the three point
play at the end of the end of the third quarter.
I believe that came after a turnover by the Celtics.
That was a tyrese Haliburton, iie, the Celtics gotta take
(21:14):
care of the ball. Actually, Joe Mizoula said that on
Monday after practice, the Celtics need to do a few things.
They need to rebound the basketball and they need to
take care of the ball. They cannot allow this high
powered offense of the Indiana Pacers to get out and run.
How do you prevent that You rebound and you take
care of the ball. Tonight they did both of those
(21:36):
at a decent level. They were right there in the
rebound department, only lost by one, and they did win
the turnover department. But they can be better in both
departments heading into Game two. So a couple of things,
as Metal Trial is saying, a couple things to take
from this game to learn from and apply to Game two.
And Game two Folks is coming up on Thursday night.
(21:57):
That game will also be played at eight o'clock. You
can catch that game on ESPN as the Boston Celtics
look to take a two to nothing series lead. Tonight.
This was a miracle. I watched a miracle in person.
Allen Acosta was there watching a miracle in person as well.
But boy was it entertaining And boy could this be
the type of win that spurs a team into the
(22:20):
NBA Finals. This is a momentum builder in one of
those wins that everyone, the fan base, the players, the
coaches can look themselves in the mirror and say, when
the going gets tough, we have what it takes to
pull off the miraculous comeback. They did it tonight. Let's
hope they don't have to do it in game two.
Let's hope they pull away with a pretty comfortable win.
(22:40):
But again, that game is coming up Thursday night at
eight o'clock on ESPN, and we'll see you Thursday night
after that game with yet another episode of sound Off.
I appreciate you taking part in it, and I'll see
you Thursday night after game two. Good night, everyone,
Host
Marc D'Amico
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!