October 22, 2024 • 20 mins
SOUND OFF is back for another season and we tip it off from Banner Night at TD Garden. How insane is Boston's 3-point shooting? Are the Celtics apex predators? How good is the defense? We answer it all after the Boston Celtics received their preposterously-sized championship rings, then raised the franchise's 18th championship banner to the rafters, and then clobbered the Knicks.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Sound Off with me, folks on the Boston Celtics picking
up right where they left off last season when they
won their eighteenth NBA championship. And wait, hold on, they
didn't pick up where they left off, because it actually
looked like they're even better. Listen, it was Banner Night
at TD Garden. Before we jump into all of it,
I just want to say to everyone out there, We've
got a new feed for sound Off on all of
(00:29):
your favorite podcast platforms. Please go and subscribe there. We
will have this episode coming out every night after every
game right to that feed, So please go and subscribe there.
And if you're on YouTube, click subscribe to our channel.
Make sure you're getting every latest video that comes through
from us, the Boston Celtics. Now, let's dive in to
Banner eighteen. Banner Night at TD Garden. It started out
(00:52):
with a ton of emotion. Listen, it was the excitement
when the parade happened tonight. Was the emotion you had
Bob Hoosy on hand. I've been here for this is
my seventeenth season. I couldn't tell you the last time
I remember Bob Coosey being in the building for a game.
On top of that you had the Big Three coming
back with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. You
(01:14):
had Cedric Maxwell out there, those guys bringing the trophy
out and handing it off to Al Horford and Jaylen
Brown and Jason Tatum and meeting out at center court.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It was emotional.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And now it didn't reach the level of emotion that
Paul Pierce had back in two thousand and eight when
he literally shed tears.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
When he received his ring. But you move on from
that moment.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Wick grossbec gives an awesome speech to the crowd and
then it's time for the rings to be handed out,
and it was awesome. Those rings are gigantic. They are beautiful.
If you haven't seen him, you can look on the
Celtic social media pages. It's blasted everywhere. They're beautiful. They
literally are gigantic. I mean these look huge on seven
(01:58):
footers hands on six that's what eight people's hands. Just
imagine what it would look like on a normal person's hand.
So they get their rings. Jason Tatum gives a nice
speech to the crowd and says, hey to the best
fans in the world, wait a minute, let's go do
it again. And then right after that, they go and
they raised that eighteenth banner up into the rafters. And
(02:19):
that was a moment that I think all of us
are going to remember, especially those players and those coaches,
that they were literally raising history up into the rafters.
I asked Joe Missoula very recently about that moment and
was he going to allow himself to enjoy it. He said, yes,
that is a moment I'm going to allow myself to
enjoy because every time I come to ted Garden, I
(02:40):
look up at those rafters, I look up at those banners,
and I see the void, and tonight is the night
that we're going to be able to make our mark
in the history books by raising up and filling that
void with the eighteenth banner.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
So it was an emotional pregame ceremony.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
It was amazing to have all of those legends back
on the court at the same time, kind of passing
on the baton literally through the trophy, the Lari O'Brien trophy,
passing it on and then letting these new guys celebrate
in front of the crowd.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
The crowd was awesome, The energy was at an all
time high, and Like I said, it was emotional. It
was emotional for everyone involved. And I guarantee those guys
are going to go They're in the locker room right now,
probably looking at those rings and finally getting their real
first look at those things after having it just for
a couple minutes out on the court, and somehow, I
don't know how they did it, but they just turned
(03:34):
the page and ten minutes later they tip off a
game to open up the NBA season against arguably the
second most talented team in the NBA top to bottom,
behind the Celtics, and all they did is completely dismantle
the Knicks, the final score being one thirty two to
one oh nine, and ladies and gentlemen, it felt much
worse than that. The Celtics were raining threes all night long,
(03:58):
made a franchise record twenty nine them on opening night.
Somehow did not break the record. They missed their final thirteen.
If they made one more, they would have become the
first team in NBA history to ever make thirty or
more three pointers in a regular season game. So it
didn't happen, but it was an impressive performance. Nonetheless, Jason
Tatum was on another level. I mean, you want to
(04:20):
talk about a guy who seems to be motivated and
seems to have done some work during the offseason to
get even better. That's the guy. He looks motivated like
he wants to take over the NBA, and not really
doing it with a type of basketball of like a
me basketball. This just happened within the flow of the game.
(04:40):
He didn't make the offense revolve around him. He just
capitalized on every opportunity to opportunity. He had fourteen of
eighteen from the field, eight of eleven from three point range.
Just an unbelievable performance from Jason Tatum. He had a
thirty seven point double double, also had ten assists in
all that time, committed one turnover. He was exceptional. I
(05:03):
tweeted this out during the game. That was one of
the best individual offensive performances I've ever seen in person
with my own eyes, and since I started covering the
NBA seventeen sixteen years ago. It's really an incredible performance.
And if this is a sign of things to come,
the league is in trouble. I heard a whisper in
(05:23):
the back hallway as I was leaving to come up
here to record this podcast. Not going to say who
I heard it from, but someone in the back hallway
mentioned all of the disrespect that Jason Tatum dealt with
during the offseason. We don't need to dive into that,
but the fact that I heard that certainly says that
he remembers it, he acknowledges it, and he wants to
(05:46):
use it to motivate him to have what very well
could be a career year this season. That's saying a
lot for a guy who's made three straight first team
All NBA teams. On top of that, I mean, the
rest of the team shot the ball away well. I
mean all five starters scored eleven or more points. They
all shot well from three point range. They rebounded the
(06:07):
ball well. Stood out to me they were offensive rebounding.
I mean the team grabbed eight offense excuse me, eleven
offensive rebounds tonight during this game, many of them being
off of miss three pointers. So clearly it's an emphasis
that if we're going to miss three pointers, we are
going to attack and try to grab the rebounds, and
sometimes those rebounds are what lead to even more quality
(06:27):
three pointers. Right after that, we saw that in tonight's game,
the defense was very strong from start to finish. The
numbers don't necessarily say that with the Knick shooting fifty
five percent from the field, but you could see that
the Celtics had moments where they could just apply themselves
and basically stop the Knicks from doing anything that they
wanted to do. And again, this is a Knicks team
(06:49):
that is incredibly talented. Jalen Brunson, mckel Bridges, Karl Anthony
Towns now on the team, og Anernobi. There is talent there,
like high level talent across the board. They weren't getting
anything easy for the high majority of this game. There
was one moment where the Celtics, I think they were
up by about thirty points. They had just made some
crazy number of three pointers in the game, and somehow
(07:13):
the defense still had enough energy to force an eight
second violation and a turnover. Think about that team is
up by thirty points, it's shooting three pointers at a
literal all time record pace at that moment in the game,
and yet they still had the level of effort defensively
(07:34):
to force an eight second violation out of the Necks.
That's a team that's motivated and ready to try to
do this again. Just like Jason Tatum said before the
game he wants this team to try to repeat and
try to do it again, and all the boys seem
to be on board with that. All right, We've got
a few comments from our fans coming in tonight. The
(07:54):
first one is from William Oatwigh about kind of giggling
at just how great the Celtics were tonight. Our second
one is from Jason Bateman, not that Jason Bateman, talking
about the Celtics being Apex predators. In our last comment
of the night coming in from Allen Acosta, always being
a part of the show. We appreciate you, Allen Acosta,
talking about the three point shooting and especially the defense
(08:16):
that we just touched on. So let's jump into our
first comment tonight. This one's coming in from William Oatwayh.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
All right, William Oatwayh.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
His tweet comes in saying it got to the point
where I was just kind of giggling. It was stunning
to watch and listen. I was sitting up there in
press row in the media section, and my mind kept
rewinding to Game one of the NBA Finals when Christas
Porzingis checked into the game, a guy who had missed
what six straight weeks, checks into the highest profile environment
(08:49):
that you could possibly be involved in in the NBA,
and that is in the NBA Finals. Miss six weeks,
checks in and all he does is torch the MAVs.
I mean, it was like everything that left his fingers
was going going in. And it felt that way tonight
with the entire Celtics team from beyond the three point arc,
it was like.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Every shot they took it felt like it was going in.
And for a while that was almost the case.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
They were shooting about sixty percent from three point range
for the entire night until that final stretch when they
missed their final thirteen. Listen, they wound up finishing this
game having shot forty seven point five percent.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
From three point range. That's great in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
They did that after missing their final thirteen three pointers
of the game. So that just goes to show you
just how on fire they were all night long. Literally
just took my mind back to that moment with Christas
Porzingis in Game One. He couldn't miss, he could do
no wrong, and that's what it felt like with the
Celtics tonight. This team set an all time record for
(09:50):
offense last season, the highest offensive rating in NBA history.
Something tells me, and this performance tells me and all
of us that that record might be in danger this
year because this team might be even better. All right,
next comment coming in from Jason Bateman. Again, not that
Jason Bateman. I wish if hey, Jason, if you want
(10:12):
to be a part of this, feel free to contact
my people. But all right, he says, Apex Predators basketball Nirvana.
The Jays are taking the league in a real way.
Apex Predator. Let's go one by one here, Apex Predators.
That's what it felt like tonight. Like you would have
expected the Knicks who came to TV Garden and watched
(10:33):
the Celtics receive their rings, watched the Celtics raise that
banner into the rafters, hearing the crowd thinking that's what
I want, Like, that's what I want to get to.
You would have thought that the Knicks were the Apex
Predators coming into this game because they wanted to be
the team on attack and saying I want what you've got.
But instead of that happening, it was the team who's
(10:56):
coming off the win, who was the team who was attacking,
saying I want that again. It was incredibly impressive the
way that the Celtics took this game.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Both ends of the court.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Again, we're going to talk about that a little bit
more later in the show, but both ends of the court,
efficient offense. Like picking the Knicks apart the new look Knicks,
who are loaded with talent across the board, a team
that seemingly was created talent wise to contend with these Celtics.
(11:32):
Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Derek White, Drew Holliday. You've got
a bunch of wings in perimeter, players who can dominate.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Well, what did the Knicks go and do?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
They got Ogobi og Ernobi, an incredible defensive player and
a pretty darn good offensive player as well. They got
mcal Bridges, an incredible defensive player, pretty darn good offensive
player as well. It was like they were building this
team to compete with the Celtics, and yet the Celtics
came out on Opening Night and absolutely drubbed them. Picked
them apart apex predators. That's what the Celtics look like
(12:06):
tonight in basketball nirvana. I love that term because that's
what it feels like while you're watching these Celtics play.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
It's like the ball is on a string.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Everyone knows where everyone's going to be at every moment
of the game. Very rarely do you see the Celtics
make a team mistake, and you can see that evidence
by tonight four turnovers, four in the entire game. These
guys have brought back basically the exact same team from
last season, and it certainly looks it early on. And
(12:38):
I'm not talking about just tonight. You saw it in
the preseason. This team went four to one in the preseason,
looked great, looked like they didn't skip a beat after
their offseason. And here they are tonight looking even better
than they were last year. Guys have improved, and yet
still that chemistry still seems to be there at a
very very high level. Certainly no question. As Jason Bateman said,
(13:02):
here basketball and Nirvana and lastly the Jays are taking
the league in a real way. We might be seeing
two guys getting votes for MVP this season on the
Boston Celtics. Tonight, Tatum was the guy. Tatum was the guy.
He put forth, as I said, one of the best
offensive performances I've ever seen in person in my time
(13:24):
covering the league. And that's not just about the Celtics.
That's about anyone, anyone that I've seen play, but tonight
thirty seven ten and only one turnover. He also chipped
in four rebounds and a steel during the game, and
also a block shot. But then you look next to
him and Jalen Brown, he also scored twenty three points.
(13:46):
He only played twenty nine plus minutes and it wasn't
his best performance. But one thing that I take from it,
he's shot only seven of eighteen from the field. One
thing that I take is five of nine from long range.
Tatum shot looked great from three point range. We've all
seen it, Drew Handlin working with him in the offseason.
It seems like that thing is fixed. Kevin O'Connor shout
(14:07):
out koc He tweeted about it during the game tonight.
That thing looks like it is fixed completely. Not that
it was ever broken, but just in terms of any
room for improvement, I think it's been made. But Jalen Brown,
it's a guy who has not shot forty percent from
three point range. The numbers have dropped a little bit
(14:27):
for the last few seasons as his attempts have gone up.
If he can shoot in the upper thirties this season,
that makes the Celtics so much more dangerous, and tonight
he opens up five of nine from three point range,
made all of his free throws as well during the game.
So you've got Jason and Jalen, the Jays who just
(14:48):
finally reached we use the word apex. They reached the
apex of the NBA back in June by winning a
championship for the first time in their careers, and now
they've come back possibly looking even better. As he said
Jason Bateman, the J's are taking the league in a
real way. It's scary to think about what these guys
(15:11):
could possibly do as they just start to enter their
prime together. All Right, Our last one of the night
come in from our longtime listener Allen Acosta, saying everyone
will talk about the three point shooting by the way
we should. It was incredible, it was record breaking, but
the defense was working tonight. If we defend this well,
(15:32):
we could win sixty five games. Sixty five wins is
difficult to come by anytime in the NBA, especially when
there's so much talent dispersed amongst the NBA right now,
Like I think it's possible that the Celtics win fewer
games this season than they did last season, but overall
be a better team. I know that doesn't really make
(15:53):
sense when you first hear it, but I think that
we can see that happen simply because there's so many
good teams in the NBA right now, there's so much
talent across the board. It's hard to win sixty five games,
but it's possible. And as Allen said, if they defend
the way that they defended tonight, and again the numbers
don't even say it was a great defensive night. New
(16:16):
York shot fifty five percent from the field, thirty seven
percent from three point range, and they got to the
line for sixteen attempts shots seventy five percent there, but
the Celtics forced twelve turnovers. It just feels like when
the Celtics want to, they can turn it up another
notch defensively that no other team in the league can reach.
(16:40):
And that's because you've got All defensive player after all
defensive player, and listen, Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown have
not gotten that honor. They have not been selected as
All defensive They are all defensive level players like Jalen
Brown got screwed last season by not being on that list,
and he's made up be known that he didn't like that,
(17:02):
and that's great. That's a motivator for him. Jason Tatum
could also very well make a team like that with
the All Defensive Team. They are both so talented and
they put in the effort. You don't always see the
leading superstar of a team playing both ways like all
the time. The Celtics have two of them that do that.
(17:23):
And then you add that to obviously the All Defensive
players from last season, Derek White Drew Holliday. They're gonna
be there again. They haven't lost a step defensively. And
then you've got all reliable Al Horford.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
In the back.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
And by the way, let me just talk about the
other reserves that come in, especially at center. Christas porzingis
a great shot blocker around the rim, a great deterrent
for the Celtics last season around the rim. Defensively, well,
he's out for the foreseeable future. Al Horford started tonight,
and then Luke Cornett and Xavier Tillman came in off
the bench and they were both excellent. I'll shout out
(17:57):
Kevin O'Connor again because he also said something else tonight
that I thought was great. He said, Luke Cornett is
one of the best backup centers in the league. And
you know why that's the case. It's because Luke Cornett
knows his role. He doesn't try to stray outside of that.
He knows what his strengths are and that's what he
tries to soar with and he just has gotten better
(18:18):
and better every year that he's been here in Boston.
I don't know how the Celtics got him to come
back after entering free agency this offseason, but he came
back and now he looks even better. He's impactful, even
more impactful than he was last season. So, yes, Christas
Porzingis is out, but the Celtics are still loaded with
defensive players who can protect the rim and protect the perimeter.
(18:41):
Luke Cornett is one of those guys around the rim.
Xavier Tillman is one of those guys around the rim
and on the perimeter. He's incredibly versatile. And then you've
got Al Horford who continues to be versatile. He's been
doing it his entire career. He can switch on to anyone.
He can also block some shots at the rim. It's
just an incredible defensive team that's been put together and
(19:02):
coming back together. Add in Xavier Tillman for an entire season.
Remember he just got here in February last year at
the trade deadline. All those guys come back, the team
is even more cohesive. The offense is gonna be great,
they might set new records to upend last season. But
the defense that is going to win championships. We saw
(19:24):
it in the finals. The defense was awesome. Jalen Brown
really just sometimes asserting himself and taking the ball away
from Luka Doncic and just forcing misses. The Celtics have
guy after guy after guy who could make an all
defensive team, and that is is gonna be what makes
this team great, possibly even greater than what we saw
(19:45):
last season when this team got to the very tippy top.
In one banner eighteen, So that's a rat for tonight.
It was an incredible first game and opening night at
TD Garden, the banner went up, the rings went out.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
They are gigantic.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I can't wait to see one in person and be
able to feel how heavy they were or they are.
To look at the bling and the shine of those rings.
I can't wait for you all to continue to watch
this team play again. The team is back on the
court just a couple of nights, so stay tuned in.
All right, the season came quick and it's gonna move quick,
so stay tuned here with sound Off, we're coming out
(20:19):
every night on YouTube with the videos, at least for
home games. In every single night home and away, we'll
be coming out on the sound Off with the Boston
Celtics podcast feed on iHeartMedia. So go search, download, subscribe,
and can't wait to see you in a couple of nights,
when the Celtics went back on the court for game
to
Sound Off with me, folks on the Boston Celtics picking
up right where they left off last season when they
won their eighteenth NBA championship. And wait, hold on, they
didn't pick up where they left off, because it actually
looked like they're even better. Listen, it was Banner Night
at TD Garden. Before we jump into all of it,
I just want to say to everyone out there, We've
got a new feed for sound Off on all of
(00:29):
your favorite podcast platforms. Please go and subscribe there. We
will have this episode coming out every night after every
game right to that feed, So please go and subscribe there.
And if you're on YouTube, click subscribe to our channel.
Make sure you're getting every latest video that comes through
from us, the Boston Celtics. Now, let's dive in to
Banner eighteen. Banner Night at TD Garden. It started out
(00:52):
with a ton of emotion. Listen, it was the excitement
when the parade happened tonight. Was the emotion you had
Bob Hoosy on hand. I've been here for this is
my seventeenth season. I couldn't tell you the last time
I remember Bob Coosey being in the building for a game.
On top of that you had the Big Three coming
back with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. You
(01:14):
had Cedric Maxwell out there, those guys bringing the trophy
out and handing it off to Al Horford and Jaylen
Brown and Jason Tatum and meeting out at center court.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It was emotional.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And now it didn't reach the level of emotion that
Paul Pierce had back in two thousand and eight when
he literally shed tears.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
When he received his ring. But you move on from
that moment.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Wick grossbec gives an awesome speech to the crowd and
then it's time for the rings to be handed out,
and it was awesome. Those rings are gigantic. They are beautiful.
If you haven't seen him, you can look on the
Celtic social media pages. It's blasted everywhere. They're beautiful. They
literally are gigantic. I mean these look huge on seven
(01:58):
footers hands on six that's what eight people's hands. Just
imagine what it would look like on a normal person's hand.
So they get their rings. Jason Tatum gives a nice
speech to the crowd and says, hey to the best
fans in the world, wait a minute, let's go do
it again. And then right after that, they go and
they raised that eighteenth banner up into the rafters. And
(02:19):
that was a moment that I think all of us
are going to remember, especially those players and those coaches,
that they were literally raising history up into the rafters.
I asked Joe Missoula very recently about that moment and
was he going to allow himself to enjoy it. He said, yes,
that is a moment I'm going to allow myself to
enjoy because every time I come to ted Garden, I
(02:40):
look up at those rafters, I look up at those banners,
and I see the void, and tonight is the night
that we're going to be able to make our mark
in the history books by raising up and filling that
void with the eighteenth banner.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
So it was an emotional pregame ceremony.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
It was amazing to have all of those legends back
on the court at the same time, kind of passing
on the baton literally through the trophy, the Lari O'Brien trophy,
passing it on and then letting these new guys celebrate
in front of the crowd.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
The crowd was awesome, The energy was at an all
time high, and Like I said, it was emotional. It
was emotional for everyone involved. And I guarantee those guys
are going to go They're in the locker room right now,
probably looking at those rings and finally getting their real
first look at those things after having it just for
a couple minutes out on the court, and somehow, I
don't know how they did it, but they just turned
(03:34):
the page and ten minutes later they tip off a
game to open up the NBA season against arguably the
second most talented team in the NBA top to bottom,
behind the Celtics, and all they did is completely dismantle
the Knicks, the final score being one thirty two to
one oh nine, and ladies and gentlemen, it felt much
worse than that. The Celtics were raining threes all night long,
(03:58):
made a franchise record twenty nine them on opening night.
Somehow did not break the record. They missed their final thirteen.
If they made one more, they would have become the
first team in NBA history to ever make thirty or
more three pointers in a regular season game. So it
didn't happen, but it was an impressive performance. Nonetheless, Jason
Tatum was on another level. I mean, you want to
(04:20):
talk about a guy who seems to be motivated and
seems to have done some work during the offseason to
get even better. That's the guy. He looks motivated like
he wants to take over the NBA, and not really
doing it with a type of basketball of like a
me basketball. This just happened within the flow of the game.
(04:40):
He didn't make the offense revolve around him. He just
capitalized on every opportunity to opportunity. He had fourteen of
eighteen from the field, eight of eleven from three point range.
Just an unbelievable performance from Jason Tatum. He had a
thirty seven point double double, also had ten assists in
all that time, committed one turnover. He was exceptional. I
(05:03):
tweeted this out during the game. That was one of
the best individual offensive performances I've ever seen in person
with my own eyes, and since I started covering the
NBA seventeen sixteen years ago. It's really an incredible performance.
And if this is a sign of things to come,
the league is in trouble. I heard a whisper in
(05:23):
the back hallway as I was leaving to come up
here to record this podcast. Not going to say who
I heard it from, but someone in the back hallway
mentioned all of the disrespect that Jason Tatum dealt with
during the offseason. We don't need to dive into that,
but the fact that I heard that certainly says that
he remembers it, he acknowledges it, and he wants to
(05:46):
use it to motivate him to have what very well
could be a career year this season. That's saying a
lot for a guy who's made three straight first team
All NBA teams. On top of that, I mean, the
rest of the team shot the ball away well. I
mean all five starters scored eleven or more points. They
all shot well from three point range. They rebounded the
(06:07):
ball well. Stood out to me they were offensive rebounding.
I mean the team grabbed eight offense excuse me, eleven
offensive rebounds tonight during this game, many of them being
off of miss three pointers. So clearly it's an emphasis
that if we're going to miss three pointers, we are
going to attack and try to grab the rebounds, and
sometimes those rebounds are what lead to even more quality
(06:27):
three pointers. Right after that, we saw that in tonight's game,
the defense was very strong from start to finish. The
numbers don't necessarily say that with the Knick shooting fifty
five percent from the field, but you could see that
the Celtics had moments where they could just apply themselves
and basically stop the Knicks from doing anything that they
wanted to do. And again, this is a Knicks team
(06:49):
that is incredibly talented. Jalen Brunson, mckel Bridges, Karl Anthony
Towns now on the team, og Anernobi. There is talent there,
like high level talent across the board. They weren't getting
anything easy for the high majority of this game. There
was one moment where the Celtics, I think they were
up by about thirty points. They had just made some
crazy number of three pointers in the game, and somehow
(07:13):
the defense still had enough energy to force an eight
second violation and a turnover. Think about that team is
up by thirty points, it's shooting three pointers at a
literal all time record pace at that moment in the game,
and yet they still had the level of effort defensively
(07:34):
to force an eight second violation out of the Necks.
That's a team that's motivated and ready to try to
do this again. Just like Jason Tatum said before the
game he wants this team to try to repeat and
try to do it again, and all the boys seem
to be on board with that. All right, We've got
a few comments from our fans coming in tonight. The
(07:54):
first one is from William Oatwigh about kind of giggling
at just how great the Celtics were tonight. Our second
one is from Jason Bateman, not that Jason Bateman, talking
about the Celtics being Apex predators. In our last comment
of the night coming in from Allen Acosta, always being
a part of the show. We appreciate you, Allen Acosta,
talking about the three point shooting and especially the defense
(08:16):
that we just touched on. So let's jump into our
first comment tonight. This one's coming in from William Oatwayh.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
All right, William Oatwayh.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
His tweet comes in saying it got to the point
where I was just kind of giggling. It was stunning
to watch and listen. I was sitting up there in
press row in the media section, and my mind kept
rewinding to Game one of the NBA Finals when Christas
Porzingis checked into the game, a guy who had missed
what six straight weeks, checks into the highest profile environment
(08:49):
that you could possibly be involved in in the NBA,
and that is in the NBA Finals. Miss six weeks,
checks in and all he does is torch the MAVs.
I mean, it was like everything that left his fingers
was going going in. And it felt that way tonight
with the entire Celtics team from beyond the three point arc,
it was like.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Every shot they took it felt like it was going in.
And for a while that was almost the case.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
They were shooting about sixty percent from three point range
for the entire night until that final stretch when they
missed their final thirteen. Listen, they wound up finishing this
game having shot forty seven point five percent.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
From three point range. That's great in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
They did that after missing their final thirteen three pointers
of the game. So that just goes to show you
just how on fire they were all night long. Literally
just took my mind back to that moment with Christas
Porzingis in Game One. He couldn't miss, he could do
no wrong, and that's what it felt like with the
Celtics tonight. This team set an all time record for
(09:50):
offense last season, the highest offensive rating in NBA history.
Something tells me, and this performance tells me and all
of us that that record might be in danger this
year because this team might be even better. All right,
next comment coming in from Jason Bateman. Again, not that
Jason Bateman. I wish if hey, Jason, if you want
(10:12):
to be a part of this, feel free to contact
my people. But all right, he says, Apex Predators basketball Nirvana.
The Jays are taking the league in a real way.
Apex Predator. Let's go one by one here, Apex Predators.
That's what it felt like tonight. Like you would have
expected the Knicks who came to TV Garden and watched
(10:33):
the Celtics receive their rings, watched the Celtics raise that
banner into the rafters, hearing the crowd thinking that's what
I want, Like, that's what I want to get to.
You would have thought that the Knicks were the Apex
Predators coming into this game because they wanted to be
the team on attack and saying I want what you've got.
But instead of that happening, it was the team who's
(10:56):
coming off the win, who was the team who was attacking,
saying I want that again. It was incredibly impressive the
way that the Celtics took this game.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Both ends of the court.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Again, we're going to talk about that a little bit
more later in the show, but both ends of the court,
efficient offense. Like picking the Knicks apart the new look Knicks,
who are loaded with talent across the board, a team
that seemingly was created talent wise to contend with these Celtics.
(11:32):
Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Derek White, Drew Holliday. You've got
a bunch of wings in perimeter, players who can dominate.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Well, what did the Knicks go and do?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
They got Ogobi og Ernobi, an incredible defensive player and
a pretty darn good offensive player as well. They got
mcal Bridges, an incredible defensive player, pretty darn good offensive
player as well. It was like they were building this
team to compete with the Celtics, and yet the Celtics
came out on Opening Night and absolutely drubbed them. Picked
them apart apex predators. That's what the Celtics look like
(12:06):
tonight in basketball nirvana. I love that term because that's
what it feels like while you're watching these Celtics play.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
It's like the ball is on a string.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Everyone knows where everyone's going to be at every moment
of the game. Very rarely do you see the Celtics
make a team mistake, and you can see that evidence
by tonight four turnovers, four in the entire game. These
guys have brought back basically the exact same team from
last season, and it certainly looks it early on. And
(12:38):
I'm not talking about just tonight. You saw it in
the preseason. This team went four to one in the preseason,
looked great, looked like they didn't skip a beat after
their offseason. And here they are tonight looking even better
than they were last year. Guys have improved, and yet
still that chemistry still seems to be there at a
very very high level. Certainly no question. As Jason Bateman said,
(13:02):
here basketball and Nirvana and lastly the Jays are taking
the league in a real way. We might be seeing
two guys getting votes for MVP this season on the
Boston Celtics. Tonight, Tatum was the guy. Tatum was the guy.
He put forth, as I said, one of the best
offensive performances I've ever seen in person in my time
(13:24):
covering the league. And that's not just about the Celtics.
That's about anyone, anyone that I've seen play, but tonight
thirty seven ten and only one turnover. He also chipped
in four rebounds and a steel during the game, and
also a block shot. But then you look next to
him and Jalen Brown, he also scored twenty three points.
(13:46):
He only played twenty nine plus minutes and it wasn't
his best performance. But one thing that I take from it,
he's shot only seven of eighteen from the field. One
thing that I take is five of nine from long range.
Tatum shot looked great from three point range. We've all
seen it, Drew Handlin working with him in the offseason.
It seems like that thing is fixed. Kevin O'Connor shout
(14:07):
out koc He tweeted about it during the game tonight.
That thing looks like it is fixed completely. Not that
it was ever broken, but just in terms of any
room for improvement, I think it's been made. But Jalen Brown,
it's a guy who has not shot forty percent from
three point range. The numbers have dropped a little bit
(14:27):
for the last few seasons as his attempts have gone up.
If he can shoot in the upper thirties this season,
that makes the Celtics so much more dangerous, and tonight
he opens up five of nine from three point range,
made all of his free throws as well during the game.
So you've got Jason and Jalen, the Jays who just
(14:48):
finally reached we use the word apex. They reached the
apex of the NBA back in June by winning a
championship for the first time in their careers, and now
they've come back possibly looking even better. As he said
Jason Bateman, the J's are taking the league in a
real way. It's scary to think about what these guys
(15:11):
could possibly do as they just start to enter their
prime together. All Right, Our last one of the night
come in from our longtime listener Allen Acosta, saying everyone
will talk about the three point shooting by the way
we should. It was incredible, it was record breaking, but
the defense was working tonight. If we defend this well,
(15:32):
we could win sixty five games. Sixty five wins is
difficult to come by anytime in the NBA, especially when
there's so much talent dispersed amongst the NBA right now,
Like I think it's possible that the Celtics win fewer
games this season than they did last season, but overall
be a better team. I know that doesn't really make
(15:53):
sense when you first hear it, but I think that
we can see that happen simply because there's so many
good teams in the NBA right now, there's so much
talent across the board. It's hard to win sixty five games,
but it's possible. And as Allen said, if they defend
the way that they defended tonight, and again the numbers
don't even say it was a great defensive night. New
(16:16):
York shot fifty five percent from the field, thirty seven
percent from three point range, and they got to the
line for sixteen attempts shots seventy five percent there, but
the Celtics forced twelve turnovers. It just feels like when
the Celtics want to, they can turn it up another
notch defensively that no other team in the league can reach.
(16:40):
And that's because you've got All defensive player after all
defensive player, and listen, Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown have
not gotten that honor. They have not been selected as
All defensive They are all defensive level players like Jalen
Brown got screwed last season by not being on that list,
and he's made up be known that he didn't like that,
(17:02):
and that's great. That's a motivator for him. Jason Tatum
could also very well make a team like that with
the All Defensive Team. They are both so talented and
they put in the effort. You don't always see the
leading superstar of a team playing both ways like all
the time. The Celtics have two of them that do that.
(17:23):
And then you add that to obviously the All Defensive
players from last season, Derek White Drew Holliday. They're gonna
be there again. They haven't lost a step defensively. And
then you've got all reliable Al Horford.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
In the back.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
And by the way, let me just talk about the
other reserves that come in, especially at center. Christas porzingis
a great shot blocker around the rim, a great deterrent
for the Celtics last season around the rim. Defensively, well,
he's out for the foreseeable future. Al Horford started tonight,
and then Luke Cornett and Xavier Tillman came in off
the bench and they were both excellent. I'll shout out
(17:57):
Kevin O'Connor again because he also said something else tonight
that I thought was great. He said, Luke Cornett is
one of the best backup centers in the league. And
you know why that's the case. It's because Luke Cornett
knows his role. He doesn't try to stray outside of that.
He knows what his strengths are and that's what he
tries to soar with and he just has gotten better
(18:18):
and better every year that he's been here in Boston.
I don't know how the Celtics got him to come
back after entering free agency this offseason, but he came
back and now he looks even better. He's impactful, even
more impactful than he was last season. So, yes, Christas
Porzingis is out, but the Celtics are still loaded with
defensive players who can protect the rim and protect the perimeter.
(18:41):
Luke Cornett is one of those guys around the rim.
Xavier Tillman is one of those guys around the rim
and on the perimeter. He's incredibly versatile. And then you've
got Al Horford who continues to be versatile. He's been
doing it his entire career. He can switch on to anyone.
He can also block some shots at the rim. It's
just an incredible defensive team that's been put together and
(19:02):
coming back together. Add in Xavier Tillman for an entire season.
Remember he just got here in February last year at
the trade deadline. All those guys come back, the team
is even more cohesive. The offense is gonna be great,
they might set new records to upend last season. But
the defense that is going to win championships. We saw
(19:24):
it in the finals. The defense was awesome. Jalen Brown
really just sometimes asserting himself and taking the ball away
from Luka Doncic and just forcing misses. The Celtics have
guy after guy after guy who could make an all
defensive team, and that is is gonna be what makes
this team great, possibly even greater than what we saw
(19:45):
last season when this team got to the very tippy top.
In one banner eighteen, So that's a rat for tonight.
It was an incredible first game and opening night at
TD Garden, the banner went up, the rings went out.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
They are gigantic.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I can't wait to see one in person and be
able to feel how heavy they were or they are.
To look at the bling and the shine of those rings.
I can't wait for you all to continue to watch
this team play again. The team is back on the
court just a couple of nights, so stay tuned in.
All right, the season came quick and it's gonna move quick,
so stay tuned here with sound Off, we're coming out
(20:19):
every night on YouTube with the videos, at least for
home games. In every single night home and away, we'll
be coming out on the sound Off with the Boston
Celtics podcast feed on iHeartMedia. So go search, download, subscribe,
and can't wait to see you in a couple of nights,
when the Celtics went back on the court for game
to
Host
Marc D'Amico
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