We’re sounding off on Jrue Holiday coming through in the clutch to steal Game 3 away from the Indiana Pacers with a perfect final minute that included five points and the biggest defensive play of the NBA postseason thus far. We’re also diving into Jayson Tatum putting up a stat line that literally no other player has ever logged before in an NBA playoff game, and then we take comments from the fans on Boston’s composure and stability, Holiday’s impact on the team, and a potential finals matchup.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up everyone, This is Mark Tomiko. First I just
gotta say thank you for listening to sound Off, But secondly,
I gotta tell you you've probably been listening to these
episodes through the View from the Rafters feed on your
podcast platforms. Well, we just launched a brand new dedicated
feed to sound Off this week, so make sure you
(00:20):
go and subscribe to that feed so you can get
all of the episodes, not only the rest of this season,
but in future seasons whenever we have sound Off episodes.
So again, I know you've been listening to these through
the View from the Rafters feed. These will not continue
to go up on the View from the Rafters feed.
Go over and search for sound Off with the Boston
Celtics and please subscribe. I appreciate you listening, and here's
(00:44):
the latest episode of sound Off with the Boston Celtics.
Sound Off folks on Drew Holiday stealing a game from
the Pacers and when I say that, I mean it literally.
Holiday Steele was the highlight of a chaotic final minute
(01:06):
in a game that easily could have gone either way.
The Celtics were up one when Jason Tatum drove to
the lane and missed a driving layup with ten seconds left.
The Pacers grabbed the rebound and they had a chance
to win it. And Andrew Nemhard is the player who
took the ball the other way. And listen, Nemhard had
already had an unbelievable performance to that point, a career
(01:28):
high thirty two points that he had scored up until
that point of the game, and you had to think
that that's the guy the Pacers wanted to take the shot.
Nemhard went for it. The problem is Drew Holliday was
on the other side. Holliday picked him up in transition.
In watching the play back, this is so interesting to
(01:48):
me of how thin the line is of success to failure.
Holiday almost fell over as he was backpedaling down the
court and stopping to defend Andrew Nemhard right above the
three point line. He lost his balance. I thought he
was going down, but thank god, he has a ton
(02:11):
of course strength. He's an insane athlete. He regained his
balance just in time to have his instincts kick in
and take over. Nemhard took the ball with his right hand,
tried to dribble around Drew Holliday, but Holiday knew that
he was doing that. Before he even did it, he
jumped into Nemhard's driving path. He beat Nemhard to the
(02:34):
spot and at that very moment he stuck his left
hand in at the exact same time and poked the
ball away. Now he actually wound up he as in
Holiday wound up grabbing the ball taking it out. In transition,
he was fouled in transitioned by Pascal Siyakima. Sure felt
to me like that was a take foul. They reviewed it,
(02:56):
it was not called one. So Holiday went to the
line with one point seven seconds left, with a chance
to make it a three point game. And you know
he's gonna make him because Drew Holliday is clutch. If
you haven't watched him his entire career, if you don't
remember what he did with the Bucks when he was
with the Bucks as they won that championship, Drew Holliday
(03:17):
is clutch. And he proved it yet again tonight. He
canned both free throws to make it a three point game.
And that meant that the very worst situation the Celtics
could find themselves in would be going to overtime. So
the Celtics are up three one point seven seconds left
Indiana calls for time out, and out of that timeout,
(03:39):
they actually got a pretty good look for Aaron Neismith.
He caught the ball in a little flip pass shovel
pass as he was coming down into the right corner
along the sideline. He caught the ball, turned, got a
good look as he faded away from the basket at
the buzzer. But thank god, that former Celtic had one
last shot for the Celtics in his bag. He missed
(04:00):
the shot long and with that, the Boston Celtics snagged
total control of the series with a three to zero lead.
And let me remind you, no team in the history
of the NBA has ever come back to win a
series after falling behind three to zero. The Boston Celtics
(04:22):
nearly accomplished that feat last season. That was in a
series that they were playing against the eighth seed. So
in my opinion, if it's ever going to happen, it's
going to be when a much higher seed is down
three to zero to come back, not when they're up
three to zero to have the other team come back.
(04:45):
I think the Boston Celtics are in prime position to
grab a berth into their second NBA Finals in the
past three seasons. Now there's a whole lot of momentum
behind the Celtics, and that is mainly obviously because of
Drew Holliday's clutch play down the stretch. But Jason Tatum
is back on track. And not only back on track,
(05:07):
but he was historic during this game. According to our
Taylor Snow at Celtics dot com, one of our top
Celtics insiders, with the stats that this kid pulls up,
it's unbelievable. Listen to this. Jason Tatum is the first
player ever in the history of the NBA to score
(05:30):
at least thirty six points, grab at least ten rebounds,
and dish out at least eight assists during a playoff
game while not committing a single turnover. And by the way,
he just so happened to shoot fifty two percent from
the field as well. That is incredible. That is near perfection.
(05:53):
So let me be clear on what this stat is.
I just rattled off the numbers and said, no other
player has ever done this in an NBA playoff game.
So let's be clear. MJ didn't do this, Lebron didn't
do this, Bird Magic, Kobe and Duncan didn't do this,
(06:18):
Luka kd Steph Kawhi Jokic, none of them have done this.
Only Jason Tatum has ever done what he did tonight
in Game three against the Pacers out in Indiana, And
some people have had the nerve to question Jason Tatum
(06:42):
this postseason. Give me a break, Give me a break.
This guy is elite. He has been outstanding and dominant
in his postseason career since his rookie season. Just ask
(07:04):
the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Just asked Lebron and the Calves.
Jason Tatum's been doing it since day one. That doesn't
mean that he's historic every single night. Neither was Lebron,
(07:24):
neither was MJ. But he is one of the best
players in the league every time he takes the floor,
and he showed it again tonight doing something that no
one has ever done before. Now, with regard to this
(07:47):
game overall, I posted early in the third court, I said,
if the Celtics were gonna get back into this game
and make it a six to eight point game and
have a chance to win, it was going to be
through their defense. That's exactly what happened. The Celtics dialed
up the defense like fifty notches during the second half.
It was incredible to see what they did during the
(08:08):
second half as compared to what they did in the
first half. At that end of the court. They held
Indiana to thirty eight percent shooting over the final two quarters.
They blocked nine shots during the second half. This was
after a first half where Indiana got anything it wanted,
anything it wanted scoring at the rim at will were
(08:32):
the Pacers during the first half. But Boston finds a
way to bounce back, and there was a great time
out where they took a SoundBite from Joe Miszula during
that second half. He said, listen, don't even pay attention
to the scoreboard, pay attention to how we are playing.
Be intentional on every possession. And it worked. It worked.
(08:58):
Celtics were down eighteen points to this game during the
second half late in the third quarter and they flip
the switch defensively, and as we all know, great defense
is what jump starts great offense. That's exactly what happened.
(09:20):
That second half. Defensive performance was a dominant, we are
better than you defensive performance, and that is something that
we can't overlook because Boston's defense tonight in Game three
of the Eastern Conference Finals, rediscovered its tenacity at that
end of the court. This is what the Celtics are
(09:45):
capable of on defense. Now, it's on tape. Now, it's
a visual and mental reminder. Joe Missoula will use this
performance for the rest of the season to say, this
is what makes you unbeatable. This is how great you
are at the defensive end when everyone gives all out
(10:08):
effort and when everyone is defending as a unit. The
way the Celtics played defense during the second half, that
is a scary thing to look at for the Indiana
Pacers and for any team that the Boston Celtics could
(10:29):
potentially face if they wind up getting to the NBA Finals.
All right, let's take some comments from the fans. First up,
we got Matt Delio on this being a game the
Celtics would have lost in past seasons, Brandon Stanley on
Drew Holliday's impact all over the court, and then Viper
(10:51):
Vault Gaming chimes in with our third comment on a
potential finals matchup. All right, let's dive in. Matt Delio,
you're up first, Let's get it. He says, this is
a game they lose in previous seasons, but they are
battle tested and now have the vets to maintain composure
(11:12):
and stability in those moments. I've been saying this all
season long, particularly on this podcast series, that this team
is different, and it's exactly what Matt Delio was saying
right here. This is a game the Celtics wouldn't have
(11:36):
won in past seasons. They wouldn't have won it. They
would have made some mistake. They wouldn't have made the
big play defensively, might have turned the ball over, missed
some free throws. Something would have happened. Not tonight, Not tonight,
(11:58):
Not with this team. Jason Tatum is a different player
now than he was in past seasons. Jalen Brown is
a different player now than he was in past seasons.
Derek White has more experience than he's ever had and
before he came to the Boston Celtics, Drew Holliday his
addition to this team with championship experience. Al Horford is
(12:18):
another year older. Wiser played fewer minutes this season than
he's ever played with the Boston Celtics. He's ready for
this playoff run. This team is different and when it
comes to difficult scenarios where some teams fold and some
(12:39):
teams overcome. What Matt is saying that the past versions
of the Celtics might have folded in these scenarios. This
Celtics team that won sixty four games during the regular season,
that dominated at a historic level every team in the league.
(13:02):
This team is the type that overcomes. Nothing snowballs on
this team. I said it the other night on one
of our SoundOff episodes. This team is different. They don't
let things snowball, and as Matt said, they are battle
(13:22):
tested and they've got the veterans to maintain composure and stability.
Those are great words to use to describe this group.
They are composed and they are stable in these very
important moments. Like Chris Paul said before this game on ABC,
(13:44):
those little moments are the ones that make big differences
in playoff games. Well, the Celtics came up clutch and
did exactly what they needed to do tonight in those
key moments. Let me remind you that's exactly what they
did during Game one as well. All right, next up,
(14:07):
we got Brandon Stanley saying Drew no other words, he's
the difference this year. Well, one of the differences. Great
to see JT get his shot falling again. Gutsy Win
loved to see it. Brandon, let's start out with your
comments on Drew Holiday. You say no other notes. He's
the difference this year. I couldn't agree more. Talking about
(14:30):
what we just had in our last comment about poise composure,
Drew Holliday drips both of those. He is always composed.
He is always cool, calm and collected. Nothing rattles him.
He is one of the people who provides this team
with stability in those key moments. He was the guy
(14:56):
during that final minute. He was the guy. He's the
one who scored the driving and one layup through contact
to give the Celtics their first lead at one twelve
to one eleven. Since I believe that was their first
lead since the very start of the second quarter, jew
Holiday was the guy. Drew Holliday was the guy who
(15:22):
grabbed the steal on Andrew Nemhard, the steal that sealed
this win. Drew Holliday was the guy who went to
the line with one point seven seconds left and made
not one, but both free throws to make it a
three point game. In make sure that the worst the
(15:44):
Celtics would have was overtime. He was perfect during that
final minute. Perfect. So, as Brandon says, there's nothing else
to say about him, He's the difference this year. He
is championship experience, championship know how that stuff rubs off
(16:07):
on teammates, that permeates into the guys around him. I
think when you can see him being so calm down
the stretch, and this is throughout the regular season, two,
it calms other guys down. I think that happened tonight
as well. And yes, great to see JT get back
on track with a shot. He had not been shooting
great this postseason. There's no ifs ands or butts about that.
(16:30):
But tonight he's sure as hell. Did twelve of twenty
three from the field. That's over fifty two percent. He
canned half of his ten three pointers. Free throw line
not so great, seven of eleven, only sixty four percent there,
But inclusive of everything else that he brought to the table,
who cares about the free throw line? We know he's
(16:53):
coming into this game. He was an eighty seven percent
free throw shooter in these in this postseason, so I
am not worried about the free throw stroke. Once he
gets back going in the rest of his game, which
he did tonight, that's when it's uh, oh, sorry to
see you, opponent, Like life just got a whole lot
more difficult with the way that Jason Tatum is shooting
(17:15):
the ball now, so great to see him get back
on track. This was a gutsy win, Brandon. This was poise, cool, calm,
collected all the way across the board and has started
with Drew Holliday. An unbelievable win for the Boston Celtics.
All right, our last comment of the night coming in
from viper Vault Gaming saying, I'm thinking they're gonna lose
(17:36):
in the finals to the MAVs. I think they're very
thankful to be up three to zero in not down
two to one. Oh, viper Vault Gaming, your perspective here,
I respect it. I appreciate you sending it into me
tonight for me to include in sound off. But your
(17:59):
perspective is the type of perspective that we have been
hearing from all of the pundits out there on TV
and radio throughout this postseason run, who always seem to
find something wrong with the Celtics or Jason Tatum or
Jalen Brown. But they just so happened to gloss over
(18:21):
the exact same stuff or worse going on with other
teams and other players in this postseason. And here is
perfect evidence for you, viper Vault gaming. You are saying
the Celtics are thankful to be up three to zero
and not down two to one. I mean, did they
pull a couple of games out of their hat. Absolutely,
(18:44):
they could easily be down two to one, but they're
not because they earned the wins. But you're saying this
about the Celtics and that they're going to lose to
the MAVs in the finals. I think that you might
be I don't know, not paying much at ten to
the fact that Dallas is lucky to be up to
h against Minnesota. Dallas has won those two games by
(19:08):
a combined four points. Either of those games could have
gone the other way, no question about it. Luka Doncic
had to hit a shot with a second left or
three seconds left, whatever it was to give Dallas a
win in game two. So are they lucky to be
(19:33):
up to oh and not down two or tied one
to one? How are you only looking at this from
one side of the coin. Why is it always that
the Celtics have something wrong but no one else does.
This has been the narrative all postseason. Everyone wants to
(19:57):
doubt the Celtics, and I get it they're doubting because
of what they've seen in past seasons. But every team
is its own entity. This team is completely different than
the teams from seasons past. Christas Porzingis is on this
team and hopefully he'll be back in the lineup soon,
and Drew Holliday is on this team, and that changes everything.
(20:20):
This team's better, it's more skilled, it's better defensively, it's
got a different mindset, it's more poised, it's more composed,
and it knows how to go for the kill when
blood is in the water. So are the Celtics lucky
to be up to one? Sure, go ahead and say
that they won a couple of games that easily could
(20:41):
have gone the other way, But don't say that while
avoiding what could have happened on the other side in
the West. It's not like Dallas has been dominant in
these two wins. They barely won those first two games.
So viper Vault Gaming, I appreciate you sending this in,
(21:01):
but you're doing the same thing that the national media
is doing, and you're only looking at one side of
the coin. Take a step back, take a broader look,
and understand that they're the Celtics can do good. Okay,
this Celtics team can be trusted. They are seventy five
(21:24):
and twenty on the season. I will repeat that they
are seventy five and twenty. It's ridiculous and people still
want to say they can't be trusted. I don't get it.
I don't know if I ever will, but I'm gonna
(21:47):
try to stay calm here. I guess I'm lucky. This
is the end of the episode. Folks, thank you again
for participating in sound Off. What a win for the
Celtics one fourteen to one eleven over the Pacers to
take a three to zero series lead, and as I
reminded you earlier, I will do it again. No team
in NBA history has ever come back from a three
(22:09):
to zero deficit to win the series. So I would
say the Celtics are sitting pretty right now with a
potential berth into the NBA Finals in the coming week. Now,
the Celtics will have a chance to punch that berth
into the Finals on Monday night, that is Memorial Day folks.
(22:29):
An eight pm tip on ESPN, the Celtics will take
on the Pacers out in Indiana with one more win
to punch their way into the NBA Finals again. I
appreciate you all participating in sound Off again and I
will see you again Monday night for another episode of
sound Off. Have a great weekend, folks. Stay safe,
What's up everyone, This is Mark Tomiko. First I just
gotta say thank you for listening to sound Off, But secondly,
I gotta tell you you've probably been listening to these
episodes through the View from the Rafters feed on your
podcast platforms. Well, we just launched a brand new dedicated
feed to sound Off this week, so make sure you
(00:20):
go and subscribe to that feed so you can get
all of the episodes, not only the rest of this season,
but in future seasons whenever we have sound Off episodes.
So again, I know you've been listening to these through
the View from the Rafters feed. These will not continue
to go up on the View from the Rafters feed.
Go over and search for sound Off with the Boston
Celtics and please subscribe. I appreciate you listening, and here's
(00:44):
the latest episode of sound Off with the Boston Celtics.
Sound Off folks on Drew Holiday stealing a game from
the Pacers and when I say that, I mean it literally.
Holiday Steele was the highlight of a chaotic final minute
(01:06):
in a game that easily could have gone either way.
The Celtics were up one when Jason Tatum drove to
the lane and missed a driving layup with ten seconds left.
The Pacers grabbed the rebound and they had a chance
to win it. And Andrew Nemhard is the player who
took the ball the other way. And listen, Nemhard had
already had an unbelievable performance to that point, a career
(01:28):
high thirty two points that he had scored up until
that point of the game, and you had to think
that that's the guy the Pacers wanted to take the shot.
Nemhard went for it. The problem is Drew Holliday was
on the other side. Holliday picked him up in transition.
In watching the play back, this is so interesting to
(01:48):
me of how thin the line is of success to failure.
Holiday almost fell over as he was backpedaling down the
court and stopping to defend Andrew Nemhard right above the
three point line. He lost his balance. I thought he
was going down, but thank god, he has a ton
(02:11):
of course strength. He's an insane athlete. He regained his
balance just in time to have his instincts kick in
and take over. Nemhard took the ball with his right hand,
tried to dribble around Drew Holliday, but Holiday knew that
he was doing that. Before he even did it, he
jumped into Nemhard's driving path. He beat Nemhard to the
(02:34):
spot and at that very moment he stuck his left
hand in at the exact same time and poked the
ball away. Now he actually wound up he as in
Holiday wound up grabbing the ball taking it out. In transition,
he was fouled in transitioned by Pascal Siyakima. Sure felt
to me like that was a take foul. They reviewed it,
(02:56):
it was not called one. So Holiday went to the
line with one point seven seconds left, with a chance
to make it a three point game. And you know
he's gonna make him because Drew Holliday is clutch. If
you haven't watched him his entire career, if you don't
remember what he did with the Bucks when he was
with the Bucks as they won that championship, Drew Holliday
(03:17):
is clutch. And he proved it yet again tonight. He
canned both free throws to make it a three point game.
And that meant that the very worst situation the Celtics
could find themselves in would be going to overtime. So
the Celtics are up three one point seven seconds left
Indiana calls for time out, and out of that timeout,
(03:39):
they actually got a pretty good look for Aaron Neismith.
He caught the ball in a little flip pass shovel
pass as he was coming down into the right corner
along the sideline. He caught the ball, turned, got a
good look as he faded away from the basket at
the buzzer. But thank god, that former Celtic had one
last shot for the Celtics in his bag. He missed
(04:00):
the shot long and with that, the Boston Celtics snagged
total control of the series with a three to zero lead.
And let me remind you, no team in the history
of the NBA has ever come back to win a
series after falling behind three to zero. The Boston Celtics
(04:22):
nearly accomplished that feat last season. That was in a
series that they were playing against the eighth seed. So
in my opinion, if it's ever going to happen, it's
going to be when a much higher seed is down
three to zero to come back, not when they're up
three to zero to have the other team come back.
(04:45):
I think the Boston Celtics are in prime position to
grab a berth into their second NBA Finals in the
past three seasons. Now there's a whole lot of momentum
behind the Celtics, and that is mainly obviously because of
Drew Holliday's clutch play down the stretch. But Jason Tatum
is back on track. And not only back on track,
(05:07):
but he was historic during this game. According to our
Taylor Snow at Celtics dot com, one of our top
Celtics insiders, with the stats that this kid pulls up,
it's unbelievable. Listen to this. Jason Tatum is the first
player ever in the history of the NBA to score
(05:30):
at least thirty six points, grab at least ten rebounds,
and dish out at least eight assists during a playoff
game while not committing a single turnover. And by the way,
he just so happened to shoot fifty two percent from
the field as well. That is incredible. That is near perfection.
(05:53):
So let me be clear on what this stat is.
I just rattled off the numbers and said, no other
player has ever done this in an NBA playoff game.
So let's be clear. MJ didn't do this, Lebron didn't
do this, Bird Magic, Kobe and Duncan didn't do this,
(06:18):
Luka kd Steph Kawhi Jokic, none of them have done this.
Only Jason Tatum has ever done what he did tonight
in Game three against the Pacers out in Indiana, And
some people have had the nerve to question Jason Tatum
(06:42):
this postseason. Give me a break, Give me a break.
This guy is elite. He has been outstanding and dominant
in his postseason career since his rookie season. Just ask
(07:04):
the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Just asked Lebron and the Calves.
Jason Tatum's been doing it since day one. That doesn't
mean that he's historic every single night. Neither was Lebron,
(07:24):
neither was MJ. But he is one of the best
players in the league every time he takes the floor,
and he showed it again tonight doing something that no
one has ever done before. Now, with regard to this
(07:47):
game overall, I posted early in the third court, I said,
if the Celtics were gonna get back into this game
and make it a six to eight point game and
have a chance to win, it was going to be
through their defense. That's exactly what happened. The Celtics dialed
up the defense like fifty notches during the second half.
It was incredible to see what they did during the
(08:08):
second half as compared to what they did in the
first half. At that end of the court. They held
Indiana to thirty eight percent shooting over the final two quarters.
They blocked nine shots during the second half. This was
after a first half where Indiana got anything it wanted,
anything it wanted scoring at the rim at will were
(08:32):
the Pacers during the first half. But Boston finds a
way to bounce back, and there was a great time
out where they took a SoundBite from Joe Miszula during
that second half. He said, listen, don't even pay attention
to the scoreboard, pay attention to how we are playing.
Be intentional on every possession. And it worked. It worked.
(08:58):
Celtics were down eighteen points to this game during the
second half late in the third quarter and they flip
the switch defensively, and as we all know, great defense
is what jump starts great offense. That's exactly what happened.
(09:20):
That second half. Defensive performance was a dominant, we are
better than you defensive performance, and that is something that
we can't overlook because Boston's defense tonight in Game three
of the Eastern Conference Finals, rediscovered its tenacity at that
end of the court. This is what the Celtics are
(09:45):
capable of on defense. Now, it's on tape. Now, it's
a visual and mental reminder. Joe Missoula will use this
performance for the rest of the season to say, this
is what makes you unbeatable. This is how great you
are at the defensive end when everyone gives all out
(10:08):
effort and when everyone is defending as a unit. The
way the Celtics played defense during the second half, that
is a scary thing to look at for the Indiana
Pacers and for any team that the Boston Celtics could
(10:29):
potentially face if they wind up getting to the NBA Finals.
All right, let's take some comments from the fans. First up,
we got Matt Delio on this being a game the
Celtics would have lost in past seasons, Brandon Stanley on
Drew Holliday's impact all over the court, and then Viper
(10:51):
Vault Gaming chimes in with our third comment on a
potential finals matchup. All right, let's dive in. Matt Delio,
you're up first, Let's get it. He says, this is
a game they lose in previous seasons, but they are
battle tested and now have the vets to maintain composure
(11:12):
and stability in those moments. I've been saying this all
season long, particularly on this podcast series, that this team
is different, and it's exactly what Matt Delio was saying
right here. This is a game the Celtics wouldn't have
(11:36):
won in past seasons. They wouldn't have won it. They
would have made some mistake. They wouldn't have made the
big play defensively, might have turned the ball over, missed
some free throws. Something would have happened. Not tonight, Not tonight,
(11:58):
Not with this team. Jason Tatum is a different player
now than he was in past seasons. Jalen Brown is
a different player now than he was in past seasons.
Derek White has more experience than he's ever had and
before he came to the Boston Celtics, Drew Holliday his
addition to this team with championship experience. Al Horford is
(12:18):
another year older. Wiser played fewer minutes this season than
he's ever played with the Boston Celtics. He's ready for
this playoff run. This team is different and when it
comes to difficult scenarios where some teams fold and some
(12:39):
teams overcome. What Matt is saying that the past versions
of the Celtics might have folded in these scenarios. This
Celtics team that won sixty four games during the regular season,
that dominated at a historic level every team in the league.
(13:02):
This team is the type that overcomes. Nothing snowballs on
this team. I said it the other night on one
of our SoundOff episodes. This team is different. They don't
let things snowball, and as Matt said, they are battle
(13:22):
tested and they've got the veterans to maintain composure and stability.
Those are great words to use to describe this group.
They are composed and they are stable in these very
important moments. Like Chris Paul said before this game on ABC,
(13:44):
those little moments are the ones that make big differences
in playoff games. Well, the Celtics came up clutch and
did exactly what they needed to do tonight in those
key moments. Let me remind you that's exactly what they
did during Game one as well. All right, next up,
(14:07):
we got Brandon Stanley saying Drew no other words, he's
the difference this year. Well, one of the differences. Great
to see JT get his shot falling again. Gutsy Win
loved to see it. Brandon, let's start out with your
comments on Drew Holiday. You say no other notes. He's
the difference this year. I couldn't agree more. Talking about
(14:30):
what we just had in our last comment about poise composure,
Drew Holliday drips both of those. He is always composed.
He is always cool, calm and collected. Nothing rattles him.
He is one of the people who provides this team
with stability in those key moments. He was the guy
(14:56):
during that final minute. He was the guy. He's the
one who scored the driving and one layup through contact
to give the Celtics their first lead at one twelve
to one eleven. Since I believe that was their first
lead since the very start of the second quarter, jew
Holiday was the guy. Drew Holliday was the guy who
(15:22):
grabbed the steal on Andrew Nemhard, the steal that sealed
this win. Drew Holliday was the guy who went to
the line with one point seven seconds left and made
not one, but both free throws to make it a
three point game. In make sure that the worst the
(15:44):
Celtics would have was overtime. He was perfect during that
final minute. Perfect. So, as Brandon says, there's nothing else
to say about him, He's the difference this year. He
is championship experience, championship know how that stuff rubs off
(16:07):
on teammates, that permeates into the guys around him. I
think when you can see him being so calm down
the stretch, and this is throughout the regular season, two,
it calms other guys down. I think that happened tonight
as well. And yes, great to see JT get back
on track with a shot. He had not been shooting
great this postseason. There's no ifs ands or butts about that.
(16:30):
But tonight he's sure as hell. Did twelve of twenty
three from the field. That's over fifty two percent. He
canned half of his ten three pointers. Free throw line
not so great, seven of eleven, only sixty four percent there,
But inclusive of everything else that he brought to the table,
who cares about the free throw line? We know he's
(16:53):
coming into this game. He was an eighty seven percent
free throw shooter in these in this postseason, so I
am not worried about the free throw stroke. Once he
gets back going in the rest of his game, which
he did tonight, that's when it's uh, oh, sorry to
see you, opponent, Like life just got a whole lot
more difficult with the way that Jason Tatum is shooting
(17:15):
the ball now, so great to see him get back
on track. This was a gutsy win, Brandon. This was poise, cool, calm,
collected all the way across the board and has started
with Drew Holliday. An unbelievable win for the Boston Celtics.
All right, our last comment of the night coming in
from viper Vault Gaming saying, I'm thinking they're gonna lose
(17:36):
in the finals to the MAVs. I think they're very
thankful to be up three to zero in not down
two to one. Oh, viper Vault Gaming, your perspective here,
I respect it. I appreciate you sending it into me
tonight for me to include in sound off. But your
(17:59):
perspective is the type of perspective that we have been
hearing from all of the pundits out there on TV
and radio throughout this postseason run, who always seem to
find something wrong with the Celtics or Jason Tatum or
Jalen Brown. But they just so happened to gloss over
(18:21):
the exact same stuff or worse going on with other
teams and other players in this postseason. And here is
perfect evidence for you, viper Vault gaming. You are saying
the Celtics are thankful to be up three to zero
and not down two to one. I mean, did they
pull a couple of games out of their hat. Absolutely,
(18:44):
they could easily be down two to one, but they're
not because they earned the wins. But you're saying this
about the Celtics and that they're going to lose to
the MAVs in the finals. I think that you might
be I don't know, not paying much at ten to
the fact that Dallas is lucky to be up to
h against Minnesota. Dallas has won those two games by
(19:08):
a combined four points. Either of those games could have
gone the other way, no question about it. Luka Doncic
had to hit a shot with a second left or
three seconds left, whatever it was to give Dallas a
win in game two. So are they lucky to be
(19:33):
up to oh and not down two or tied one
to one? How are you only looking at this from
one side of the coin. Why is it always that
the Celtics have something wrong but no one else does.
This has been the narrative all postseason. Everyone wants to
(19:57):
doubt the Celtics, and I get it they're doubting because
of what they've seen in past seasons. But every team
is its own entity. This team is completely different than
the teams from seasons past. Christas Porzingis is on this
team and hopefully he'll be back in the lineup soon,
and Drew Holliday is on this team, and that changes everything.
(20:20):
This team's better, it's more skilled, it's better defensively, it's
got a different mindset, it's more poised, it's more composed,
and it knows how to go for the kill when
blood is in the water. So are the Celtics lucky
to be up to one? Sure, go ahead and say
that they won a couple of games that easily could
(20:41):
have gone the other way, But don't say that while
avoiding what could have happened on the other side in
the West. It's not like Dallas has been dominant in
these two wins. They barely won those first two games.
So viper Vault Gaming, I appreciate you sending this in,
(21:01):
but you're doing the same thing that the national media
is doing, and you're only looking at one side of
the coin. Take a step back, take a broader look,
and understand that they're the Celtics can do good. Okay,
this Celtics team can be trusted. They are seventy five
(21:24):
and twenty on the season. I will repeat that they
are seventy five and twenty. It's ridiculous and people still
want to say they can't be trusted. I don't get it.
I don't know if I ever will, but I'm gonna
(21:47):
try to stay calm here. I guess I'm lucky. This
is the end of the episode. Folks, thank you again
for participating in sound Off. What a win for the
Celtics one fourteen to one eleven over the Pacers to
take a three to zero series lead, and as I
reminded you earlier, I will do it again. No team
in NBA history has ever come back from a three
(22:09):
to zero deficit to win the series. So I would
say the Celtics are sitting pretty right now with a
potential berth into the NBA Finals in the coming week. Now,
the Celtics will have a chance to punch that berth
into the Finals on Monday night, that is Memorial Day folks.
(22:29):
An eight pm tip on ESPN, the Celtics will take
on the Pacers out in Indiana with one more win
to punch their way into the NBA Finals again. I
appreciate you all participating in sound Off again and I
will see you again Monday night for another episode of
sound Off. Have a great weekend, folks. Stay safe,
Host
Marc D'Amico
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