December 19, 2025 • 12 mins
The Celtics caught fire at the start of the fourth quarter and wound up drilling 10 threes during the final period to pull away for the 129-116 win over the Miami Heat. The Celtics did it all in front of the King in the Fourth himself, Isaiah Thomas, who was sitting courtside as the C’s celebrated his 52-point game against the Heat back in 2016. Derrick White scored 33 points, Jaylen Brown scored 30, and the bench, led by Hugo Gonzalez, Sam Hauser and Anfernee Simons, was lights out.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Sound Off with me folks on the Boston Celtics catching
fire in the fourth in front of the King in
the fourth. That's right, the Boston Celtics caught red hot
fire in front of Isaiah Thomas sitting courtside with Celtics
owner Builds his home. It was an awesome night and
we can't wait to recap it. This is the SoundOff
Postgame podcast presented by Exfinity Mobile. And yes, Isaiah Thomas
(00:30):
was back at TD Garden and that's because the Boston
Celtics were celebrating his fifty two point game against the
Miami Heat. That's right, the Celtics were playing the Miami
Heat tonight. It all ties together. It was one of
the legendary moments that the Celtics were highlighting this season
in correlation with when the Celtics were wearing their City
edition uniform. So we've got a bunch of great content
(00:52):
on our YouTube channels, on our social channels with Isaiah
Thomas that we got a few weeks ago with him
right here in the studio and in our offices.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Go take a watch.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
It is great to relive that fifty two point performance,
one of the most legendary performances that we've ever seen
in Celtics history. Fifty two points on the second night
of a back to back, twenty nine points during the
fourth quarter, just incredible. Now, no Celtics scored twenty nine
points during the fourth quarter of this game, but the
Boston Celtics as a team certainly caught fire as a
(01:22):
team during the fourth quarter of this game. They made
six to three pointers in the first three minutes and
twenty seconds of the fourth to pull away and blow
this game open. And I sent this out on X
at the end of the third quarter, I said, does
anyone else feel like it's the Celtics are just waiting
for their moment to pull away, and then boom right
(01:42):
there at the start of the fourth quarter, it's Haymaker
after Haymaker that the Celtics are landing as all of
their guys start to catch fire from three point range.
Derek White hit three of them, Sam Houser hit two
of them, Anthony Simon's hit one of them, and at
that point, after the Celtics hit six threes over the
first three plus minutes, this game was ova. But the
(02:03):
Boston Celtics didn't stop there. They wound up hitting another
four threes during the fourth quarter. That's right, that's ten
three pointers during the fourth quarter alone, and that's how
they pulled away and went on to win one twenty
nine to one sixteen in this game. But I will
say that I did feel like the Boston Celtics were
playing better basketball than the Miami Heat all night long.
(02:26):
The only reason that this game was anywhere close during
the first three quarters was because of the shot margin. Okay,
Miami had a seventeen shot advantage at halftime of this game.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Seventeen shots.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Miami had taken seventeen more shots than the Celtics had
at halftime. Joe Mizula preaches and he did it all
last season, less common this year, but he preaches to
win the shot margin. That is a very important statistic
in the game of basketball. You want to take more
shot and the opponent. Well, Miami took seventeen more than
(03:03):
the Celtics, and that's the only reason why they kept
this game close during the first half. And I'm going
to tell you exactly why right now. Because the Celtics
shot forty nine percent from three, they had seven three
pointers during the first half. Miami shot only thirty three
percent from the field. Yet this game was tied up.
So the Celtics go into the locker room and they
(03:24):
look at each other and they say, listen, we gotta
clean this up. We can't turn the ball over and
we can't allow offensive rebounds. So during the second half,
after Miami had grabbed eleven offensive rebounds during the first
half and the Celtics had committed eight turnovers during the
second half, in total, we take those numbers down to
(03:46):
only six offensive rebounds from Miami in only eight turnovers
for the Celtics, So the shot margin in the second
half only in negative three. So that's a big reason
why the Celtics were able to pull away and win
this game. Now, another reason was the good old rookie,
(04:08):
the nineteen year old player from Real Madrid, Ugo Gonzalez, who,
by the way, we just came out with a podcast
episode of View from the Raptors episode with him.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We just came out with that Wednesday. Make sure you
go tune in.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Learn a lot about this guy in his upbringing, how
he got to right now, and where he is right now.
But tonight he logged a season high in career high
nearly thirty minutes in this game. He was awesome and
at times he was actually the small ball center for
the Boston Celtics, lined up opposite bam Adebayo, a multi
time All Star, a starting center for Team USA winning
(04:46):
the gold medal. It's a really good player. He was
matching up against out of position and he held his
own as a nineteen year old rookie. I love what
this guy brings to the table. I know, if you
listen to the podcast, you've heard me talk about it
so far this season. But his basketball IQ, he just
knows where to be and he knows when to be there.
(05:08):
He knows when to take a shot, and he knows
when to move the ball, he knows when to take
it off the dribble, and he knows when to stay put.
It's just he doesn't make many mistakes and if he does,
the good far outweighs the bad. And that's really impressive
for a rookie. So again, he earned it tonight. Nearly
thirty minutes in this game, finishes with ten points, eight rebounds,
(05:30):
two steals, in one block. A big reason why the
Boston Celtics won this game. Another couple of reasons why
the Boston Celtics won this game is because Jalen Brown
and Derek White went thirty thirty yet again. I believe
this is the second time in as many games, or
second time in three games, that those two guys have
individually scored at least thirty points on the same night. Tonight,
(05:52):
Derek White thirty three points to lead the game, thirty
points from Jalen Brown right behind him. Those were the
two top scoring marks in the game. Derek White was cooking.
He was cooking all night long. Wound up shooting nine
to fourteen from.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Three point range.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Those nine threes tie his career high, so this was
a career type night for Derek White. Also dissed out
six assists, grabbed five rebounds, had a steal. Excuse me,
had four blocks in this game. Really impressive what he
got done at both ends of the court. And Jalen
Brown another thirty point game. This is becoming like you're
(06:28):
gonna chalk it up. It's gonna happen every night. I
believe this is the sixteenth time this season that he
has scored at least thirty points. Also flirted with a
triple double in this game, nine rebounds, seven assists, had
a steal in this game. But just great to see
those two guys carrying the load offensively. You know, Jalen
(06:48):
Brown is gonna have someone else join him with a
big night offensively almost every night. If it's not Derek White,
it's Peyton Pritchard. If it's not Peyton Pritchard, my goodness, lately,
it's been Jordan Waller with multiple twenty point games. If
it's not them, it's Anforty Simons or Samhuser. Like, there
is so much talent top to bottom on this team,
and it's been a whole lot of fun to see.
(07:10):
And speaking of that talent top to bottom, how about
the bench tonight? Okay, thirty nine combined points from Samhauser,
Anfrety Simons and Ugo Gonzalez on fifteen for twenty three shooting.
You're not gonna lose many games when you've got bench
players coming off the bench and scoring at that rate
(07:31):
with that type of efficiency behind other guys like Jalen
Brown and Derek White. So another example of excellent offense
from top to bottom for the Boston Celtics, and that
is what is setting this team apart. Great to see
the balance and great to see a bunch of guys
get opportunity tonight and not only get the opportunity, but
(07:53):
to capitalize on that opportunity. All right, we're gonna get
into a comment from our fans. We've only got one tonight.
I don't know if you're out celebrating after this win
on a Friday night. Maybe that's the reason why we
only got one reply. But as you know, after every game,
I send out a post on X asking for your thoughts,
your takeaways, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I need more people to send it in.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
But tonight, our very committed fan, Brian has another one tonight,
and he's got a bunch of commentary on how he
thinks the Celtics got back into the wind column tonight
against the Miami.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So, Brian, here we go.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
My son's already in the car. Bye yea, I thank
you one.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Cut your mobile bill in half and save sixty five
dollars a month for your first year with Expinity Mobile
Expinity imagine that, all right, Brian says. The Boston three
party popped off in the fourth. The heat couldn't handle
the Celtics fire. JB moves up to number thirteen in scoring,
(09:10):
then helped set a new record for threes in the fourth,
Ugo played excellent minutes and it was a white hot
night from three from our favorite bald sniper. All Right, Brian,
I gotta commend the alliteration here, very well done. You
do this most nights that you have great alliteration with
your commentary. I don't even think that I could do
(09:31):
it that well, so thank you for that. Secondly, I
gotta comment there's one sentence here that I want to
pull out of here, and that's the heat couldn't handle
the Celtics fire, Okay, And that, to me is the
most important thing that we've got to talk about here
of what the Celtics bring to the table on a
nightly basis. This team entered tonight with the number four
offensive rating in the NBA. They've been top five pretty
(09:53):
much all season long. That is the hallmark of this team.
Offense is the hallmark of this team. In the past
couple of years, defense has been the hallmark. Okay, Now
this year it's offense. And it's so interesting to be
able to say that while Number zero Jason Tatum, one
of the top five players in the world, is sidelined
(10:16):
with an achilles rupture, this team is still performing in
an incredibly high rate offensively led by Jalen Brown, who's
averaging about thirty points per game this season. Against sixteen
thirty point games so far this year. Derek White is
starting to catch fire. You've got reserves. Like I said,
on any given night, any other player can step up
(10:36):
and join Jalen with having a big offensive game. But
not only that, it's the balance, it's the trust across
the board. I love watching these guys play offense, and
that is how.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
They're winning games this season.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
And that is something that other teams simply have not
been able to keep up with so far this season.
That's why the Celtics have a much better record than
most anticipated coming into this season. So tonight it was
the Miami Heat who could not keep up with the
Boston Celtics offensive fire. Let's see if that continues moving
into Tomorrow night. The Boston Celtics will play for the
(11:11):
second night in as many nights Tomorrow night up in Toronto.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Right now, they are leaving TD Garden as we record this.
They are heading out to the airport and they are
flying up to Canada. They got to go through customs
and all that good stuff. I gotta tell you I've
done it before with the team. It's not fun. Takes
a long time to get through them to get to
the hotel. Let's hope they get to the hotel at
a decent hour, get some rest, and back on the
(11:35):
floor tomorrow night to take on the Toronto Raptors up
in Toronto. That tip off is at seven o'clock. You
can catch that game on NBC Sports Boston. And as always,
after the final buzzer, look out from my post. I
want you to reply and tell me what your thoughts are,
tell me what you're taking away from the game. Hopefully
it's a second straight win for the Boston Celtics. I'm
(11:57):
signing off for tonight. I will see you tomorrow night
with an audio version of sound Off, and then we're
back here in the studio Monday night when the sell
this play.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Host to the Indiana Pacers.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Thanks for watching, thanks for listening, and we'll see you
tomorrow night.
Sound Off with me folks on the Boston Celtics catching
fire in the fourth in front of the King in
the fourth. That's right, the Boston Celtics caught red hot
fire in front of Isaiah Thomas sitting courtside with Celtics
owner Builds his home. It was an awesome night and
we can't wait to recap it. This is the SoundOff
Postgame podcast presented by Exfinity Mobile. And yes, Isaiah Thomas
(00:30):
was back at TD Garden and that's because the Boston
Celtics were celebrating his fifty two point game against the
Miami Heat. That's right, the Celtics were playing the Miami
Heat tonight. It all ties together. It was one of
the legendary moments that the Celtics were highlighting this season
in correlation with when the Celtics were wearing their City
edition uniform. So we've got a bunch of great content
(00:52):
on our YouTube channels, on our social channels with Isaiah
Thomas that we got a few weeks ago with him
right here in the studio and in our offices.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Go take a watch.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
It is great to relive that fifty two point performance,
one of the most legendary performances that we've ever seen
in Celtics history. Fifty two points on the second night
of a back to back, twenty nine points during the
fourth quarter, just incredible. Now, no Celtics scored twenty nine
points during the fourth quarter of this game, but the
Boston Celtics as a team certainly caught fire as a
(01:22):
team during the fourth quarter of this game. They made
six to three pointers in the first three minutes and
twenty seconds of the fourth to pull away and blow
this game open. And I sent this out on X
at the end of the third quarter, I said, does
anyone else feel like it's the Celtics are just waiting
for their moment to pull away, and then boom right
(01:42):
there at the start of the fourth quarter, it's Haymaker
after Haymaker that the Celtics are landing as all of
their guys start to catch fire from three point range.
Derek White hit three of them, Sam Houser hit two
of them, Anthony Simon's hit one of them, and at
that point, after the Celtics hit six threes over the
first three plus minutes, this game was ova. But the
(02:03):
Boston Celtics didn't stop there. They wound up hitting another
four threes during the fourth quarter. That's right, that's ten
three pointers during the fourth quarter alone, and that's how
they pulled away and went on to win one twenty
nine to one sixteen in this game. But I will
say that I did feel like the Boston Celtics were
playing better basketball than the Miami Heat all night long.
(02:26):
The only reason that this game was anywhere close during
the first three quarters was because of the shot margin. Okay,
Miami had a seventeen shot advantage at halftime of this game.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Seventeen shots.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Miami had taken seventeen more shots than the Celtics had
at halftime. Joe Mizula preaches and he did it all
last season, less common this year, but he preaches to
win the shot margin. That is a very important statistic
in the game of basketball. You want to take more
shot and the opponent. Well, Miami took seventeen more than
(03:03):
the Celtics, and that's the only reason why they kept
this game close during the first half. And I'm going
to tell you exactly why right now. Because the Celtics
shot forty nine percent from three, they had seven three
pointers during the first half. Miami shot only thirty three
percent from the field. Yet this game was tied up.
So the Celtics go into the locker room and they
(03:24):
look at each other and they say, listen, we gotta
clean this up. We can't turn the ball over and
we can't allow offensive rebounds. So during the second half,
after Miami had grabbed eleven offensive rebounds during the first
half and the Celtics had committed eight turnovers during the
second half, in total, we take those numbers down to
(03:46):
only six offensive rebounds from Miami in only eight turnovers
for the Celtics, So the shot margin in the second
half only in negative three. So that's a big reason
why the Celtics were able to pull away and win
this game. Now, another reason was the good old rookie,
(04:08):
the nineteen year old player from Real Madrid, Ugo Gonzalez, who,
by the way, we just came out with a podcast
episode of View from the Raptors episode with him.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We just came out with that Wednesday. Make sure you
go tune in.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Learn a lot about this guy in his upbringing, how
he got to right now, and where he is right now.
But tonight he logged a season high in career high
nearly thirty minutes in this game. He was awesome and
at times he was actually the small ball center for
the Boston Celtics, lined up opposite bam Adebayo, a multi
time All Star, a starting center for Team USA winning
(04:46):
the gold medal. It's a really good player. He was
matching up against out of position and he held his
own as a nineteen year old rookie. I love what
this guy brings to the table. I know, if you
listen to the podcast, you've heard me talk about it
so far this season. But his basketball IQ, he just
knows where to be and he knows when to be there.
(05:08):
He knows when to take a shot, and he knows
when to move the ball, he knows when to take
it off the dribble, and he knows when to stay put.
It's just he doesn't make many mistakes and if he does,
the good far outweighs the bad. And that's really impressive
for a rookie. So again, he earned it tonight. Nearly
thirty minutes in this game, finishes with ten points, eight rebounds,
(05:30):
two steals, in one block. A big reason why the
Boston Celtics won this game. Another couple of reasons why
the Boston Celtics won this game is because Jalen Brown
and Derek White went thirty thirty yet again. I believe
this is the second time in as many games, or
second time in three games, that those two guys have
individually scored at least thirty points on the same night. Tonight,
(05:52):
Derek White thirty three points to lead the game, thirty
points from Jalen Brown right behind him. Those were the
two top scoring marks in the game. Derek White was cooking.
He was cooking all night long. Wound up shooting nine
to fourteen from.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Three point range.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Those nine threes tie his career high, so this was
a career type night for Derek White. Also dissed out
six assists, grabbed five rebounds, had a steal. Excuse me,
had four blocks in this game. Really impressive what he
got done at both ends of the court. And Jalen
Brown another thirty point game. This is becoming like you're
(06:28):
gonna chalk it up. It's gonna happen every night. I
believe this is the sixteenth time this season that he
has scored at least thirty points. Also flirted with a
triple double in this game, nine rebounds, seven assists, had
a steal in this game. But just great to see
those two guys carrying the load offensively. You know, Jalen
(06:48):
Brown is gonna have someone else join him with a
big night offensively almost every night. If it's not Derek White,
it's Peyton Pritchard. If it's not Peyton Pritchard, my goodness, lately,
it's been Jordan Waller with multiple twenty point games. If
it's not them, it's Anforty Simons or Samhuser. Like, there
is so much talent top to bottom on this team,
and it's been a whole lot of fun to see.
(07:10):
And speaking of that talent top to bottom, how about
the bench tonight? Okay, thirty nine combined points from Samhauser,
Anfrety Simons and Ugo Gonzalez on fifteen for twenty three shooting.
You're not gonna lose many games when you've got bench
players coming off the bench and scoring at that rate
(07:31):
with that type of efficiency behind other guys like Jalen
Brown and Derek White. So another example of excellent offense
from top to bottom for the Boston Celtics, and that
is what is setting this team apart. Great to see
the balance and great to see a bunch of guys
get opportunity tonight and not only get the opportunity, but
(07:53):
to capitalize on that opportunity. All right, we're gonna get
into a comment from our fans. We've only got one tonight.
I don't know if you're out celebrating after this win
on a Friday night. Maybe that's the reason why we
only got one reply. But as you know, after every game,
I send out a post on X asking for your thoughts,
your takeaways, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I need more people to send it in.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
But tonight, our very committed fan, Brian has another one tonight,
and he's got a bunch of commentary on how he
thinks the Celtics got back into the wind column tonight
against the Miami.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So, Brian, here we go.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
My son's already in the car. Bye yea, I thank
you one.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Cut your mobile bill in half and save sixty five
dollars a month for your first year with Expinity Mobile
Expinity imagine that, all right, Brian says. The Boston three
party popped off in the fourth. The heat couldn't handle
the Celtics fire. JB moves up to number thirteen in scoring,
(09:10):
then helped set a new record for threes in the fourth,
Ugo played excellent minutes and it was a white hot
night from three from our favorite bald sniper. All Right, Brian,
I gotta commend the alliteration here, very well done. You
do this most nights that you have great alliteration with
your commentary. I don't even think that I could do
(09:31):
it that well, so thank you for that. Secondly, I
gotta comment there's one sentence here that I want to
pull out of here, and that's the heat couldn't handle
the Celtics fire, Okay, And that, to me is the
most important thing that we've got to talk about here
of what the Celtics bring to the table on a
nightly basis. This team entered tonight with the number four
offensive rating in the NBA. They've been top five pretty
(09:53):
much all season long. That is the hallmark of this team.
Offense is the hallmark of this team. In the past
couple of years, defense has been the hallmark. Okay, Now
this year it's offense. And it's so interesting to be
able to say that while Number zero Jason Tatum, one
of the top five players in the world, is sidelined
(10:16):
with an achilles rupture, this team is still performing in
an incredibly high rate offensively led by Jalen Brown, who's
averaging about thirty points per game this season. Against sixteen
thirty point games so far this year. Derek White is
starting to catch fire. You've got reserves. Like I said,
on any given night, any other player can step up
(10:36):
and join Jalen with having a big offensive game. But
not only that, it's the balance, it's the trust across
the board. I love watching these guys play offense, and
that is how.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
They're winning games this season.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
And that is something that other teams simply have not
been able to keep up with so far this season.
That's why the Celtics have a much better record than
most anticipated coming into this season. So tonight it was
the Miami Heat who could not keep up with the
Boston Celtics offensive fire. Let's see if that continues moving
into Tomorrow night. The Boston Celtics will play for the
(11:11):
second night in as many nights Tomorrow night up in Toronto.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Right now, they are leaving TD Garden as we record this.
They are heading out to the airport and they are
flying up to Canada. They got to go through customs
and all that good stuff. I gotta tell you I've
done it before with the team. It's not fun. Takes
a long time to get through them to get to
the hotel. Let's hope they get to the hotel at
a decent hour, get some rest, and back on the
(11:35):
floor tomorrow night to take on the Toronto Raptors up
in Toronto. That tip off is at seven o'clock. You
can catch that game on NBC Sports Boston. And as always,
after the final buzzer, look out from my post. I
want you to reply and tell me what your thoughts are,
tell me what you're taking away from the game. Hopefully
it's a second straight win for the Boston Celtics. I'm
(11:57):
signing off for tonight. I will see you tomorrow night
with an audio version of sound Off, and then we're
back here in the studio Monday night when the sell
this play.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Host to the Indiana Pacers.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Thanks for watching, thanks for listening, and we'll see you
tomorrow night.
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