Are the Celtics’ crunch time issues THAT concerning? | First to Floor

Are the Celtics’ crunch time issues THAT concerning? | First to Floor

Who’s going to be first to the floor here Pi comes up hit the deck first to the floor making every big play for the Today what a play by watch him for the ball right here look at this hustle knock away welcome into another episode of first of the floor Ben bis here thank you for joining us hope you’re doing well I think we’re all doing pretty well after that hilarious And Timely Collapse

By the Milwaukee Buck against the LeBron lless Lakers last night alongside me Wayne spoony and Jake Eisenberg how’s it going guys doing good guys real quick do you know you know who Caitlyn Clark is right oh yeah I think she is becoming a le Lebron likee figure to me in the hate

Categ oh no they beat yeah they beat WVU in the second round of the women’s March M they shot 33 free throws WB five Dame was tweeting about it Dame tweeted like w is getting screwed man so anyway I’m doing good other than that

That’s tough cuz I’m I I don’t I don’t I like her from what I’ve seen from far away but um yeah obviously I there’s nothing that she could do to me personally because I don’t the you Massachusetts doesn’t have a wnbl NBA team and I don’t have a college so um

Yeah you got the Connecticut son up in New England man yeah yeah all right she yeah that that would hurt all right yeah I don’t know about you Jake I’ve like completely latched onto WVU just like through screen he like the first college hoops person I’ve I’ve known so I’m like

That that’s my R and die Team now I’m sorry yeah that’s yeah I I Blame You mine’s kind of Clemson one of our best friends is from Clemson and so like yeah all my friends from high school went to school in America and so uh Clemson Penn

State a few random ones that I’ve kind of I’ve been to University of Miami for a weekend that was cool it’s a dope campus I visited there when I was school frat party giant mansion everybody naked being like I I can understand why people like it down there um yeah that might be

An offseason pod right there J hearing that story hell yeah Nish yeah Nish all right okay appropriately naked uh now look we’ve got a fun one coming up we’re going to get to everyone’s favorite unsponsored segment the shot photo report we’re going to talk about the Celtics crunch time issues and whether

Or not they’re actually that bad and we’re going to talk about the upcoming game two of the two game miniseries against the Atlanta Hawks but first bit of housekeeping here hit that like button if you’re here watching live on YouTube shout out to everybody in the chat or watching later subscribe to the

First of the floor YouTube channel and or audio podcast that’s going to bless us uh with the algorithm gods and put this show in front of more people it’s also going to wash your YouTube algorithm or podcast algorithm with more Celtics content which is always a good

Idea playback. tv/ Celtics blog go and sign up there watch live Celtics games with us Jake myself spoony and other folks from the Celtics blog uh Multiverse three leaf clover spoonies uh weekly column on Celtics blog what do you got for us this week spoing on three

Leaf clover Clover uh so this week I’m going to break down what the Celtics should be doing at the end of games instead of what they are doing um and a little bit of stats I tweeted out some Stats today about like their shots that

I’ll bring up on this pod um in the last two minutes of game so like a little more narrow Focus than crunch time um and just getting into the nitty-gritty there timely already better time management than the Boston Celtics amazing uh Discord merch the links are below in the description they’re also in

The podcast show notes if you’re listening later and check out the Celtics lab and how about them Celtics podcasts great podcast run by a great bunch of BLS uh also under the clns media umbrella so if you like this show you’re going to like them as well so

Make sure you hop over to their channels and check them out all right guys let’s get right into it everybody’s favorite unsponsored segment the shadow photo report Sarah I cannot [Applause] Believe the Milwaukee Schmucks guys 124 128 loss in oot to the LeBron lless Lakers the Bucks held a 19point lead in the fourth quarter a familiar Tale one that Celtics fans might be familiar with Austin Reeves had a good game a triple double also a similar tale to what Celtics fans

Might be familiar with uh but the Lakers they had a 27-13 fourth quarter to forc the game into overtime and eventually win in Jake I feel inclined to throw to you here first cuz this this is a a jake Eisenberg segment here um how does this

One make you feel how should what should Celtics fans take away from this one this one really got me going I got to be honest like this one really really Tipp me over the edge and I’ve been trying like trying to figure it out you know why does everybody freak out after a

Celtics L etc etc um everybody’s been slobbering all over the buck they won one game against the Thunder and every podcast like oh my God here they come and I figured it out I mean it’s essentially like whatever the thing is that rely happens that’s what sticks out in people’s mind

Celtics lose a game people freak out Pistons win a game there was the NBA world was never more locked in than they were during the Pistons losing streak so them winning a game was big news and the Bucks winning a big game and playing well against a big opponent is big news

But this I mean look the lack of self-awareness from Bucks fans is truly astounding like I understand wanting to come at the Celtics after they blow that Hawks game like I get it the game is the game we’re all out here for the takes but do you not realize at this point in

The season that your team’s more likely than not to embarrass you 24 hours later or less like this this is what’s happened in the last 26 games since Doc Rivers has taken over blew a 19th Point fourth quarter lead to the LeBron lless Lakers at home yesterday lost to the

Celtics blown out by 35 to the Kings lost to LeBron and a dless Lakers DLo goes off for 44 points the last time DLo scored 40 was in 2019 lost to the Wolves blown out by 35 to the Warriors blew a game down the stretch against the

Memphis and grizli blown out by 26 against the Heat lost to the Suns blown out by the Jazz blew a crunch time game against the Blazers lost to the Nuggets that’s 12 losses in the last 26 games do you know how far back you have to go to

Find 12 Celtics losses December [ __ ] fourth that’s how far back you have to go to find 12 Celtics losses four four months the Box are frauds their Mickey Mouse ring is is nonsense they would never have been anywhere near the finals if not for a Kyrie ankle and a Harden

Hamstring they played the Trey young Hawks in the Conference Finals they got to play Chris Paul LED Phoenix Suns and DeAndre Aton in the finals Mickey Rouse ring and then they turn around and say that oh my God we would have won that Celtics series if we had Middleton while

Not realizing they wouldn’t have sniffed the Conference Finals l in the finals if not for the decimation of the Brooklyn Nets oh and by the way Damon shot under 40% from the field in 29 games this year that’s 43% of all of his games shooting below 40% they’re frauds [ __ ] the Bucks

We going to the finals I don’t know how the hell I follow that uh but yeah [ __ ] the Bucks we’re going to the finals uh this game was like the morning Bloody Mary after you had too many drinks and that like the the Hawks loss was you know I got

Way too drunk for how old I am I puked a little bit and then you wake up and you get the hair of the dog and you’re like all right I’m starting to feel pretty good again all of a sudden here we go it was like such a vintage Doc Rivers coach

Team performance where he’s just like confused as the leads melting away and basically does nothing different and they just completely fall apart it reminded me a bit of game six uh in our our second round Series against the Sixers where it’s like Tatum’s going nuts and they’re just like letting it

Happen they’re not like throwing doubles at him he hits two threes he hits three he hits four and Doc’s like oh what did just s like someone just punched him in the face so it just man I needed that cuz that Hawks game that kind of got me

Down it like I know it means nothing and was not a big deal and we were missing both of our starting guards but that’s just a shitty way to lose tot uh but thanks bucks you just always count Buck to like completely embarrass themselves immediately after we

Do yeah after any Celtics game and you know in this case after a loss to the Hawks for me it’s sigh deep sigh control team new chab twitter.com all right let’s see what the discussion is and you just knew what was coming the Avalanche of negativity after that Hawks game and

Then the knowledge of having to wait two days before a shot at Redemption and you know that the Celtics I would hope so are going to bring it and bring their full force of of Vengeance against the Hawks in this second game um but for the bucks to lose in this Fashion After

Dancing on our grave after that loss to the Hawks uh really it shortened the window of suffering for Celtics fans so for that I’m appreciative uh and it’s just it’s just hugely uh meaty bone for The Shard and Freer report exactly what we needed to to get this segment um up

Off the ground again so good stff I was so excited dude when that thing because I I was watching it all on delay and so like I I’m watching this thing go down I’m watching late I’m like no way no way I’m like oh my god I’ve missed out on

The party on online apparently once I finally got to overtime and then double overtime yeah and then you had the the fact that they had to play double overtime like if you’re going to lose you may as well just lose in regular it’s like you’re adding double over yeah

Dbes dude why don’t you lose like the Celtics like real man take the take the next two days off in regulation take the L and it’s like Dame bannis I mean Dame Brooke and Middleton all aging and like you have to play like everybody was dead

At the end of that game and it’s like now they got it and and these games matter so much more to the Bucks like now they fall a even closer towards uh the three and like am I wrong but like are they like sneaky in danger of

Falling into like the 4 five like they’re only two and a half games up on the four seed right now it’s like not not what you want at all like these games definitely matter for them purely for the standings perspective but also can they play good for a week in a row

Before the rest of the [ __ ] media goes look at them go like this the sers were 20 and two or or what is it 20 and three 20 and3 20 and what are we doing dude which is a 71 win Pace over a full season I did the math today so the

Celtics last 23 games they’re winning at a 71 win pace and the Bucks are 500 essentially and they’re crowning the bucks but the huus of Bucks fans I remember that Kyrie season when it was all falling apart and the C team clearly hated each other I was not dancing on

Graves I was like man this feels like it’s going to like fail catastrophically in the playoffs but these dudes they don’t give a [ __ ] they’re out there like oh this Celtics loss hahaa you’re like dude your team has a negative net rating in March like maybe look in the mirror a

Little bit U but I just I can’t believe that they set themselves up for these disappointments like I would be a little more humble on the internets uh if that was my team yeah and this gassing up Middleton as well where you only have to watch a couple of bucks games to notice

The pattern of anytime they have a crucial defensive possession Middleton is firmly on the bench and nowhere to be seen out on the court because his defense is dog [ __ ] um so shout out to Buck fans thank you for the content one more point on the Sham frighter report

Before we move away from Shard frer and we’ll talk about some injury stuff which we want to make sure it’s properly decoupled from from The Shard and fr report but the heat got handily defeated by the Golden State Warriors yesterday and I believe this is the heat commentator correct me if I’m wrong

Anointed us the champions of the 2022 NBA [Applause] SE Andrew Wiggins a guy who averaged 18 points and nine rebounds a game in the 2022 NBA finals which they lost to the [Applause] Celtics two years ago it was Boston in six to to win it all onepoint Heat lead

With under a minute left in so you assume the Gap in the middle is like the producer being like n man that is not what happened at all and then he somehow comes back down on that take which is completely insane um I don’t know where

To go with this spoony other than like what was going through this guy’s mind um it feels a toyed with my emotions a little bit because obviously brings up some bad memories of what could have been but what what’s going on here I I have no idea um but I that’s a reality

I’m now choosing to live in uh from here on forward so uh but yeah I think like when you talk for 82 games for like two and a half hours like that’s just a lot of talking you’re just going to be like out of it one day you know what I mean

Like I have bad days at work like this dude just not having a good brain day at work you know it happens but don’t really appreciate right exactly but it does kind of suck to like bring that up and it got some news and like people are posting it everywhere it’s

Like yeah Sam Sam Miss vandari like co-host of the light years pod he tagged me being like congratulations Jake Eisenberg I’m like yeah this is great can’t can’t wait to chase banon 19 this upcoming uh playoffs it’s very exciting the second title of the Tatum and jayen error is is coming coming soon

Yeah hang the banner with just like a little asteris at the bottom as per the my hit commentator 2022 Champions that’s right all right now let’s get to some news from our our closest Rivals and opponents uh but not part of the Shadow photo report the first one Patrick

Beverly seem to announce on his pod I haven’t heard the clip yet I’ve just read several tweets and and Reddit posts about it he announced that he has torn ligaments in his wrist and is weighing up surgery options and is most likely going to be out for the season which

Puts the Milwaukee bucks in a position where they have seemingly no backup point guard they lose someone who’s maybe come in and gassed up their defense if not the actual defense than their um motivations defensively you might say um Jake what does this news

Bring to to your mind as far as how it affects the Celtics like they they need all the players they can get really like so this is obviously like not good but all of the numbers from Pat Bev like onoff net rating stuff they’re pretty bad so I didn’t think

This was like a huge deal but then this guy tweeted he’s a a buck guy Cream City I believe is his podcast wow Buck don’t have a backup point card just lost the life and soul of the defense this is a huge loss much bigger than people likely

Think wow I legit couldn’t tell if that was satire or not like I like I couldn’t but I think he’s being serious because for what for what I tell like pat pat Bev’s washed and I actually think that like him being on the roster gives doc

Kind of like a crutch in that he’ll kind of keep going back to Bev even if he’s like not effective because he’s a veteran and that’s kind of what doc does the problem with the Bucks is I like what what does this mean is like do you

Play more Andre Jackson or Maran Bo champ or AJ Green it’s like a green AJ Green but uh yeah like I or Pat conon so I don’t think it really matters because they’re all kind of the same player to me but if that’s actually true then obviously we don’t want to see injuries

And I’ve talked about my respect for for batrick Beverly’s career but like if that makes the Bucks worse and that’s objectively good for the Celtics and that’s just the reality yeah like Pat Bev can kind of defend certain types of guys and he can make some shots and like

When you have you look at that bucks bench like it appears Tai Tai Washington is like the only real point guard on the bench now and he flamed out in one of the worst Houston Rockets teams like of all time like he couldn’t even make that

Roster um I’m not even sure he’s on a full contract I think he might be on a two-way for them so they just don’t have a lot of options and at least Pat Bev in a playoff series you know he’s playable um he might not be like positive he

Might be negative but uh compared to some of these like unknown young guys who aren’t really ball handlers or Pat conon who I think he been playing a little bit better recently but had a pretty bad year um yeah they just really lack depth all over the place and Doc doesn’t do

Depth any favors I mean he’s not real creative with how he uses like deep bench guys um so it’s bad news for the bucks it sucks sucks for Pat Bev as much as I hate him on the court when I see clips of his podcast he does come off

Quite likable so he seems a pretty good dude off the court so that it’s too bad yeah yeah absolutely and I suppose as far as it how it pertains to the Celtics and potentially this playoff matchup these new rules of the NBA um unwilling to acknowledge of of more better allowed

Physicality defensively that obviously benefits a player Like Pat Bev who has made a career out of being really physical and tenacious defensively he’s now not a presence in a potential playoff series against the buck so as much as we despise injury and we want Pat Bev to get uh better as soon as

Possible that takes the pressure up I think out guards and potentially you think about guards getting switched onto KP and no matter how small they are KP does have trouble with that added physicality which we’re going to get to a little bit later Pat Bev out of the

Equation obviously makes life a little bit easier for the Celtics so it’s that weird situation where obviously you don’t wish injury on anyone you hope that they get better soon but you immediately recognize you know does ease some of that pressure I think defensively on the Celtics if we do see

The Bucks in the playoffs speaking of the playoffs I’m going to use this to segue to some dwell and beid news as well this is the current East playoff picture so we’ve got the Pacers in Sixth and they have per I can’t remember the name of the website playoff seating.com

Or play playoff status playoff status thank you Jake a 41% chance of holding the sixth seed or a 27% chance of dropping to the seventh seed in seventh place the heat they’re 39 and 33 at the moment so one loss back from the Pacers they have a 37% chance of holding on to

That seventh seed or a 22% chance of climbing to the sixth then we’ve got in eighth the eighth seed eighth seed rather the Sixers too many numbers who were 39 and 33 so very close to the heat there the ninth seed we’ve got the Bulls

And 10th we’ve got the Hawks so as it stands currently the hit would be in that that playin um pool if you will along with the Sixers the Bulls and the Hawks Jake I know you’re like you know um captain of the ship of we want to

Avoid the heat at all costs how does this current play in SL playoff picture make you feel we’re going to play the Heat in round one yeah like that they are they’re the worst dude like they’re like like what Jimmy B is just not even playing like they just

Like they just don’t seem to give a [ __ ] dude and it’s like one of they’re going to fall out of the playoffs one of these years like completely and they’re going to they’re going to lose both play like they almost did this last year so like

That’s the that’s the big hope right is that they just completely fall out and I mean I’ll talk about the MB news now just because like it parlays with this point right here is that um W was just on um TV talking about how they expect

Him be back when not if and Nick nurse today is saying there’s a very good likelihood that the uh embiid’s back before the start of the playoffs SL playay in um he’s going to be back on on Simmons’s podcast he was saying the same thing that he’s going to be back the

Sixers fans that I um interact with they’re all kind of the same information a lot of Celtics fans in our Discord are just believe that MB is not going to come back which is I think possible totally but I think all signs are pointing to him coming back I’m

Going to guess like three to five games before the regular season ends and if he’s healthy enough is and like the conditioning is not going to be that much of an issue in like that context last five games and then a playin game I’d be pretty surprised if

They don’t just win that playin game because that’s kind of where he can be really good is it’s like okay one game it’s not the constant burden the conditioning is not going to pick up potentially I could see him destroying even if like whoever if the Pacers do

Fall in 41% sounds like a lot because it’s a lot higher than the other numbers but that’s obviously still you know they’re still giving a 38% chance that they fall into the seven or the eight seed so like still very good chance they fall in there as well I

Think embiid destroy the the paces in a one game um or the heat as well like I think that’s very possible in a one game scenario which pushes the heat into the eight seed I think that to me seems like the most likely scenario right now and

Then we’re going to have to rely on either the Bulls or the Hawks to beat the heat in the playing which is like legitimately possible like the heat aren’t good enough where like that’s not out of the real possibility clearly it almost happened last year but I think I

Mean you know I don’t know how much everybody believes in the power of the universe but if you do believe in it then you’re probably feeling like more likely than not right now we’re going to get the heat in round one what do you think spoon the Bucks swept the heat on

Their way avenging I think a first round knockout they no a second round knockout in the bubble and then Avenged that with a first round sweep of the heat when they won the title so H you know Universe I raise you I see you and I

Raise you another one all right I like one of Tatum’s watches um so yeah I I will never cheer for a non- Celtics team more than I will cheer for the Chicago Bulls or Atlanta H when they play the Miami Heat in that play in game like I

Will be I might just drive up to Chicago and or I guess it’d be in Miami damn it that’s too far away but yeah so go ahead I was going to say secondarily like the sub the subplot here is the embiid playing the Bucks in round one is

Like that would be huge see I would I phrase it this way because that’s just the Trap we’ve fallen into as fans I would rather face the heat in the first round if it meant that we got to see nemb Giannis Buck Sixers match up in the

First round as well in that 27 spot so it’s a sacrifice we have to be willing to make to take on the heat in order to see those guys just take each other to seven hopefully and exha each assuming we do get by the Heat and see one of the

Most likely down the road soane thing Jesus do we think this is like the one time embiid might get stronger as the playoffs go on as he like plays himself into better shape like that’s the one thing I’m thinking he’s going to be so freaking out of

Shape in that first round playoff series it’s like do you just want him then you can just run them off ball screens and make them like guard in space and just blow by them but at that I don’t I think I I would trade that for that Giannis

Embid series mhm I want it I know I know sixes fans want it bad like they’re convinced that they would win that series for a variety of reasons I think principal being Doc Rivers and uh the fact that the Bucks aren’t good that that part too not a bad call well look

When we come back we’re going to talk about the Celtics crunch time issues and whether or not they’re truly that bad but first here’s a quick word from our sponsor the NBA playoffs are coming and the action on the floor is heating up whether it’s see sad little teams that

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The show if you want to supplement your Hoops viewing experience check out prize picks it’s a lot of fun and make sure you use the codes CNS on signup now the Celtics crunch time issues are they really that bad my 3 minute very shallow preliminary research and data mining

Suggests maybe yes maybe it is that bad so the 2023 24 Celtics uh in crunch time 20 and 11 pretty good with a net rating of 19.1 which is good for sixth in the league and for reference there the Bucks who we saw [ __ ] the game down their legs

Last night against the Lakers uh 23 and 13 good for third at least in terms of win loss record in crunch time uh the Celtics post All-Star break however two and three in crunch time game so under 500 with a net rating of minus 7 good

For 19th uh in all rankings post Allstar break they’re also dead last in Pace on the year in crunch time which I think is probably the stat that jumps off the page the most and also the most obvious one I’ve got the CLI here from one of the final possessions against the Hawks

You could be forgiven for thinking that this clip was being played back to you in slow motion it is not and it’s everyone just Meandering up the court KP sets this like nothing screen for Tatum which just gets them nothing KP tries to set another screen it’s soft they get

Nothing out of that the Hawks do a really good job of switching and it ends up in a contested stepb three for Jaylen Brown so they just took forever to get into that when they got into that they were Meandering the screens and the actions and they were sort of soft in

Their approach and their execution there um just terrible so while they’re well and truly above 500 in crunchtime games it seems like they’ve gotten worse and slower in their execution as the season has gone on however and I promise I’ll shut up too the 2008 Celtics those guys

Who won the title in 2008 they were 24 and 13 in crunch time also six in the league at that point with a net rating of just 1.4 and their offense inun crunch time was ranked 25th overall the 2017 Golden State Warriors were 25th in crunch time win- loss record with a 7.4

Net rating uh and actually the Celtics was I think that was the last Isaiah Thomas year were first in net rating of that year suffice to say your crunch time execution and your rankings subsequently don’t have to be top of the table for you to be a championship

Caliber team that said crunch time is what we’re putting under the microscope for this segment and like let’s just be honest it doesn’t look that great I don’t know who wants to take the next uh stab here but that’s what I got guys PNY I I don’t think it looks that bad

Statistically I mean like our net rating plus 19.1 and crunch time is that’s really freaking good um the minus 7 recently is bad my guess is like that’s pretty small minutes um on the pace thing I think that’s the stat that truly is infuriating um but I think part of that

Is like the Celtics very often are in the lead in crunch time whereas lots of teams probably are trying to catch up so they’re playing faster so that that goes into it but like we all have eyes like they’re obviously playing way too freaking slow in crunch time even if you

Can explain way like they should be 28th in Pace and not dead last but I don’t think they’re bad if it’s like a fivepoint game with like four minutes left but it’s like the last two minutes really bite nail biting time is when I think that they really struggle so I did

A i i deeped over some Stats today we’ve attempted 46 shots when the score is within three and there’s two minutes or less in the game we are shooting under 40% on twos but 39% on threes all of the made threes are assisted we have not

Made a pull-up three uh when it’s within three under two minutes at the Rim 55% short mid-range 50% Corner three four of six above the break 3 of 12 Long mid-range one of nine that sounds right yeah and I think we all know who is probably to blame for that9 pton PR so

Like that’s right godamn that [ __ ] so I I just think it’s like we’re really good at when we actually try to generate good looks Corner threes shots at The Rim short mid-range area which you know late game that’s not a bad look at all but when we settle for long mid

Range above the break 3es we are terrible at it and it just goes to like back to that frustrating thing is like you guys know how to generate these good shots we just watched it for 46 minutes just keep doing that uh and I get there’s a balance that you don’t want to

Turn it over but there’s also a balance of like yeah that clip’s a great great example Ben of like like they’re just not doing things with Force they’re going through the motions and this is the last time you should be going through the like go through the motions

In the first quarter boys but um so something needs to get fixed but I I had like a a Zen moment this morning when I was drinking my morning coffee I trust Joe Missoula to fix it I really think I think last game was like going to be the

Breaking point I think they’ll do better from here on now it’s funny like with last game in particular I’m just like I’m kind of whatever with it cuz I think it was just so obviously bad like you you’re going to watch film for 5 seconds and be like

Yeah that was a disaster there’s no Derek white and what’s funny with all of these records with and without players KP were like 17 three no jayen we’re undefeated Tatum we’ve lost only one but Derek white has missed six games and we’re three and three in those Derek

Quiet games it’s just like he is so important and especially in these moments Dr germ scary in the chat here I bet Derek White made all those clutch shots Derek white hasn’t been insane in the clutch yeah he’s at like 47% from three in the clutch he’s massively

Important in the clutch and like you talked about those minutes spoony so two and three that’s in that’s 17 total minutes over those five games so like the sample sizes is is insanely small so from from a statistics perspective and Ben you’re on it like all those team you

You just don’t have to be good to win a title in the clutch Phoenix Suns were the best crunch time team in the NBA the year they went to the finals and lost to the L of the Bucks and went through a Mickey Mouse uh run as well through the

Playoffs like you just don’t have to be and you guys have been everyone here we’ve all been through the last couple playoff runs where crunch time has not been it’s just not a strength like this team is so good at everything and this is why we come back to this it’s because

It’s like they’re number one or number two or number three in just like everything with a bullet you like you name the thing and they just Elite at it it’s it’s like the one thing and it’s like it’s a glaring thing because one it’s the only thing they’re not good at

And obviously it matters when it comes down to to Big moments and you remember big moments going back to my point at the top you remember things that don’t happen very often and don’t lose games very often and they don’t do this very often I think my point with this is like

This team is better and so it’s like they’re better in the clutch than they have been the last couple years you can go back and look all the blown leads in the adoka season way more way worse in the in the clutch this team is better in clutch time better defensively better

Offensively in a variety of ways so it’s like yes I I think it’s okay to be like this is not a strength of this team I think they can be better and I kind of write off this post Allstar break thing as well it’s like right now to beat the

C you kind of have to trick them you’ve got to be you’ve got to be down 20 in the fourth quarter and then you might be a to come back and because the Celtics are like [ __ ] dud it’s much this is this is why we do this cled

I feel better already that was that was great uh I will also add that like not all crunch times are the same so correct me if I’m wrong but the the parameters of the criteria for crunch time is within five points and within or five

Minutes or less to go and how we arrived at that point in this Hawks game is the Celtics had been up by 30 and as we approached that 5 minutes to go Mark the Hawks had been on this massive run to get the game close and therefore had all

Of the momentum it wasn’t this for Tat game was on a knife’s edge super close the whole way through with both teams exchanging punches it was the Hawks had all the momentum arriving at that point uh which I think you could attribute to the Celtics lack of pace and momentum at

That point as well do you know what I mean like it it wasn’t the recipe for that particular crunch time um circumstances was was different to others that we’ve seen say against the the wolves or the Nuggets so far this season yeah and they had some really good crunch time possessions like they

Had that nice Tatum drive for a dunk like it wasn’t all a disaster it’s just those like last two are so bad that those are the ones like the Tatum turnover and then the Jaylen I don’t I don’t the controller shut off like whatever no almost went in dude it was

Just hilarious so funny yeah like there almost got the rebound yeah there’s five possessions right the Tatum dunk the Tatum pull up on the left elbow and Jaylen also hit a shot from the left elbow too so it’s like those five possessions they actually went three for

Five right know disaster B bad process agreed but it’s and like but you know you zoom out just a tiny bit it’s like actually that’s so bad that Tatum dunk goes into the D putback Chamber of Secrets buried on the ground with all the other great moments in losses that

Was such a dunking on um uh Maxi cber on kg’s retirement night yeah exactly one day after we’ve won Banner 18 we we’ll kick back with a two-hour pod and and watch through cuz suddenly like those moments are revived it was all on the road to the championship but right now

They have to be buried unfortunately but that was a sick dunk yeah very deep all right well look we’ll we’ll end with some news of the day and we’ll get to this Hawks game tomorrow which I think we all hopefully assume is going to be a blowout as as

The Celtics kick back um after that very disappointing loss and hopefully we get a Jason Tatum makeup dunk in a win on that one but Jason Tatum appeared on I don’t know the name the show this is the level of research that goes into this podcast guys the the postgame show on

TNT and got stuck in this one-on-one conversation with Shaq about whether Tatum would try and dunk on him in a real game situation we saw in the playoffs your epic dunk against LeBron couple years back we saw we’ve seen like you get people in this generation back in the old days would

You have tried Shaq coming down the lane no no oh he’s looking straight in your would you tried him you would Tried Him no well hold on I’m not asking you he he said no he answered I love his mom I love his dad I

Love I love his little man but he know I would have put him on the ground he said he would try you though I would have tried he said no he wouldn’t have tried I’m just no only been dunked on twice in 20 years that’s a reason for that relax

Only twice I’ll put you down you I’m try do it twice only twice but you would scared come on you got to try he say you have to he feels oblig he said he catch you slipping so Leon help side slow news e so we’re running with

This but Shaq walking towards him in sort of a semi threatening stance like I think he’s wearing sketches as well some sort of ankle supporting geriatric shoe or Footwear um I don’t know do you guys think that Tatum would try and dunk on Shaq it’s it’s a strange hypothetical

But this is where we’re at I like technically he would if he if the Pres the situation presented itself but I think Shaq’s probably right I don’t know I don’t know if Jason’s it’s not really his game dunking on people like Shaq that’s more jayen Jaylen would try it oh

Yeah he would have done it already yeah what do you think spoons yeah JT like dunks around people not really like on their heads like JB does so and there’s no getting around sha especially at this age where he’s widened out a bit as well so um but dude Jared Greenberg is tall

Man I I don’t know why I just assumed he was short but he’s like you got be like 63 6’4 he’s like Jamal Crawford’s height which is what I took away from that clip but yeah isn’t that left Co is that is oh is

That left oh is it the guy the guy on the left next to Shaq yeah that’s left I was like who’s who’s Jared Greenberg is in the he’s like the NBA TV guy right the guy get up host I don’t know maybe that guy’s short then anyway it’s not

Important I was want I was like I’m pretty sure that’s left yeah you’re right you’re right my bad taller taller than I thought too that’s awesome sh cuz I saw some photos of Tatum and Shaq like taking a photo and like the Angles and people were like Tatum’s so tall you see

The angle right there where everybody’s like flat across Shack’s so much bigger than Tatum too oh yeah it’s just not close at all um I have another news thing Ben that I don’t think it’s on the run sheet before we get to Hawks thing that I didn’t have time to upload but um

All the Celtics a bunch of the Celtics to the main uh team play against the Atlanta team and like Hower was there Derek white was there and Jord Walsh got interviewed by uh by Noah who we got to get on the podcast but Noah was like

Talking to Walsh and he’s like I love seeing these guys come and see that I’m like not a bum and that I can actually hoop and I I just enjoyed that everybody like went and you know watched him and he was super excited to have them there

It’s like I don’t know if you ever got if you guys ever played like Varsity or junior varsity it’s like if you’re on junior varsity and the vity team watches you it’s sick and if you’re on FY and you watch the JV team you’re like you’re

Super hyped for them and you can tell they really appreciate you guys being there like these guys aren’t that much older than than those guys anyway especially Walsh right he’s like 19 so yeah I’m sure he would have loved it yeah amazing I I once went on a

Basketball tour of of New Zealand which is like the the the peak of my high school basketball playing days and I was in the B Squad you know untalented as I am athletically speaking and uh yeah the a squad would hang around and watch our games afterwards which uh meant

Everything on on the odd occasion where I would score or do something that made it look like I was a competent uh athlete they would all cheer so I I get those vibes that’s awesome and it kind of it’s an extension of that that plane shot uh sort of pre Lamar Stevens tray

Where it was a photo of of the team posing together on the on the plane this is just another iteration of that right just another example that this team is Galvanized um to the you know like most championship teams are obviously it’s a stretch to make that connection that if

They show up to a g League game it means they’re going to win the title um but they’ve left no doubt that at least the chemistry side of things is completely taken care of I was going to say in that game that they did watch the main Celtics did beat the College Park

Skyhawks 127 to 112 Jordan Walsh had 19 nine boards one assist one turnover did go one for five from three which um is tough but man ker out here dude just killing people 9 for 11 nine boards three assists three blocks and then J JD 13 and eight uh three steals Drew

Peterson quietly 0 for seven from the oh Jaden Springer 26 points 11 for 18 with six rebounds three assists all right we got a few guys who exist in that Groove um that kasm between the G league and the NBA where they they’re too good for one and and

Just not good enough for the other which makes for a really dominant G League team apparently they’ve been awesome I’ve been watching the highlights pretty consistently um throughout the season and they they’ve been fantastic hopefully we’ll see some of them in Vegas for uh for summer league in

July yeah it’s like the quadruple a players in baseball like the are too good for Triple A not good enough for the big leagues and yeah it really makes you appreciate when Springer looks like an Allstar and then he gets on the court and he looks like he’s never dribbl a

Basketball before in the NBA it’s like these such in a crazy level yeah Jesus dude like Springer 11 for 18 nuts not bad not bad at all never let’s let’s wrap on this the Hawks who we play tomorrow in at again up seven on the blazes while the

Celtics just chill out go to gague games and presumably play golf and who knows what else um predictions for this game I know we we pretty much hit on that already Jake but how do you think this one’s going to go tomorrow uh right so

In report wise I think we’ve got um do we have it here we do no we do do you want to we got I know Drew questionable haford questionable Springer questionable til which is funny because Springer played yesterday but but um my guess is we don’t see Al or drew the big

Toes sprain is like that’s just code for Al’s not playing tomorrow and and Drew I mean that’s I think it’s just great news the biggest news of the week probably is that Drew holiday has been moved to questionable for the shoulder after people deep diving into dead arm surgery

Potential options um at the end of the season and so that’s huge um get Derek quite backing up but I expect them to come out pretty focused um but I don’t know I marches of just a mess dude we got freaking Jaylen green playing for the Rockets like dominating again like for

The first time in his career like Curry Yeah March is like this this period right now you just have to just throw it away for the most part like if you’re a team like the C doesn’t have anything to play for like we did the Pod where we’re

Looking for things like to enjoy reading too much into anything like from Big Picture wise is a mistake but like you know little things like Pritchard and stuff playing well that’s really what we’re we’re kind of looking for um these guy these guys have proved what they’re

What they’re capable of and what they can do what they should do six-game lead on the Western Conference at this point like we’re a couple of wins away from locking this whole thing up yeah I wonder if they come out like that got knocked in their pride a little bit with

That Atlanta loss and come out and just kill them is kind of what I expect even though yeah you’re right Jake like it is totally meaningless for them like they got such a big cushion even on the west that the the goal is to not have anyone

Get hurtt and can the refs like call it like call fouls at some point like I’m was afraid somebody was going to get hurt in that Atlanta game like Wesley Matthews was like out to hit people dude like he there was so much contact on every off Ball action we had it was

Crazy man at one point he just like two hands on Sam Hower was trying to set a screen and like pushed him up to the three-point line it was crazy so don’t get hurt try and get a win I I do think they’re going to come out whip ass

Though I think so can we see KP to just get in a little bit more of a rhythm I know you guys aren’t necessarily like a on the ride with me here but he’s just come back from the hamstring thing but I I am a little worried and you know after

This we’re going to record our underrated plays video which will be up on our YouTube channel in a in a couple of days but he has looked like he has struggled with that added level of physicality those fouls at the refs are no longer calling and so I’d love to see

Him just begin to to grow used to that because you know what basketball environment is incredibly physical where L fouls are called it’s the playoffs and they’re right around the corner so like Now’s the Time for KP to adjust to this and i’ just I’d love to see a nice

Healthy stretch of KP just like getting those switches and kind of dominating out of them because he just hasn’t been doing that since he’s been back um my scale of wiress from zero to Ben valis is like three um so I’m not all the way up there yet but it’s it’s beginning to

To rise a little bit come on I I would like that too absolutely no question let’s get KP you know 20 and 5 tomorrow and just on like a nice efficiency game all right it that’s going to do it for this one thank you so much for joining us hit that like button

Subscribe you guys know the drill spoony Jake love your work guys until next time go Celtics I love the Celtics

The Boston Celtics have suffered some nasty crunch-time losses this season, often on National TV for all to see. But how do their crunch-time issues compare to other contenders? How do they compare to the 2008 championship Celtics?

Plus, we fire up the Schadenfreude Report to discuss the Bucks’ loss to the no Lebron Lakers, and much more.

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