What’s different about the Boston Celtics as they return to the NBA Finals? | ALL NBA Podcast

What’s different about the Boston Celtics as they return to the NBA Finals? | ALL NBA Podcast

[Music] [Applause] [Music] what is up everybody Welcome to the all MBA show part of the All City Podcast Network I’m your host Adam MZ and I’m joined by my steam colleague Tim legler legs we got a sweep last night but it was a good series I don’t know how to square this a sweep but it felt competitive the whole way through very strange right I mean and I said this last night Adam you will rarely see a team or Series in which a team gets swept that was in better position more often late in games than the Indiana Pacers were in this series it’s crazy you know and the game one was the was the one like you know you have to win that game in order to you know almost guarantee a longer series um and they don’t they cough that up at the end end of the game critical mistakes Boston takes advantage of it game two Celtics dominate Jaylen Brown’s incredible go to Indiana both games one possession games inside of three minutes you know it’s it’s there for the taking and I think what separated the two teams and we saw it again last night the Poise the execution the shot making the defensive plays because they made him again last night like that all of that favored the Celtics in the big moments it’s that simple Indiana absolutely earned a lot of respect I think from people that were watching that series because of the way they were able to still play and they missed you know their their their floor leader halberton out a couple games and they still played them the way that they did and gave themselves positions in these games and chances to win games but they just weren’t nearly as good as Boston was in the big moments that simple and so you get this strange sweep when three of those games were hanging in the balance late and yet Indiana can’t win any of them and so Boston moves on which we all expected to happen I just didn’t expect it to end up being the number four games because it didn’t feel like this should have been a four game series yeah we’re gonna give the Pacers some love but we’re also gonna give the Celtics some love because while they had to eek out a couple of these they won in a sweep and they went through the the east in 14 games which is very rare it’s an extension of what they did in the regular season so today we’re going to give them some love as they move on to the finals and talk about what maybe is different about them this year some things we noticed about them that are different from previous years but first we are presented as always by draftking stay tuned because you’ll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show DraftKings the crown is yours so legs the way you framed it’s interesting because I felt like the Pacers should have won two if not three of the games already in that series and yet I also feel like the the Celtics should have won the series so it’s it’s weird to square those I think the Celtics are the better team the Pacers did some stuff but in game three they LED for most of the game and lost the lead with 39 seconds to go they lost the lead a little bit early uh earlier than that in game four but the Pacers retook the lead and this time it was 44 seconds before the Celtics took their final lead of the game so in a lot of ways it to me it mirrored game three you have control you have control and then you could just feel the sense of hanging on you’re hanging on by your fingernails trying not to let this one go but they couldn’t score in the clutch they had some turnover they had some uh you know some bad shots some just bad possessions so what happened if we just analyze this game real quick what happened for the Pacers in the clutch of game four uh I think the turnovers are critical and I think you know that’s when you start looking at the halberton factor like for them in late game ball handling that’s going to be in Ty H Burton’s hands and it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to shoot or score but he’s really good because of his length and size he’s really good at getting ball screens and dragging people and getting and then able to get the ball out of of that with two on the ball to the spot that it needs to go to so that they can then make the next pass or operate their offense as someone can get a good shot you look at some of the turnovers they had it felt like they Indiana was a little bit frantic they they they didn’t play with composure and where they took the ball quickly up the floor into traffic with with guys that are good ball handlers and looking for their offense but not necessarily to control the ball to manipulate the defense to move it to the next guy that’s what halberton can do so so the loss of him was clearly big uh but that was the biggest one they also they also had a problem securing defensive rebounds at really important times in the game some long rebounds were had by Boston um that would seemed to me you know you can call them 5050 balls if you want I I look at it like some of those balls were 6040 balls 7030 balls and you still didn’t come up with them that were really important plays in the game so Boston made those winning plays and then look the shot making of the Celtics they made every Big Shot they had to make and and it was it was interesting watching them Adam like I don’t know if you can hopefully I could describe what I’m talking about but the Rhythm with which they were taking the shots was so slowed down it was almost like they were shooting practice shots but they were contested and and it told me that they had incredible calm and it was across the board because they all did it Tatum made big shots in this series Brown um Derek white Drew holiday all those guys the principal actors made big shots in this series late and the the Comfort level that they had in those moments was pretty was pretty Stark to me I thought it was a contrast to Indiana that got rushed up and sped up in those moments you know they had an eight-point lead with two and a half minutes to go in game three an eight-point lead right they had a three-point lead with the ball with eight seconds to go in game one and then last night I’m looking at it because I was curious like think of what was their biggest lead late they led by eight points with 556 left you got you know so think about that I mean you’re in control you are in the driver seat at that point you just can’t have you know three four possessions in a row where you don’t score and you’re going to win the game because you just have to stop the momentum of the Celtics and they just weren’t able to do it so I guess you know that’s that’s a lot there the blanket statement would be execution plain and simple Indiana did not execute and get quality shots when they absolutely had to have it and Boston felt like every decent look they got they made in those spots yeah it and it kind of mirrored game three in a lot of different ways one was with nard late in the game and he made some big shots and made some big plays I actually thought he was very good in this entire series I know last series he was sort of the mark and we talked a lot about how you know Jaylen Brunson was finding him and attacking him sometimes it’s as simple as matchups and that’s a tough one I thought he was much better he was good offensively in the last series but I thought he was much better as a two-way player in this one and did some good things but both both the last two games the the difference between the ball in Halle Burton’s hands and and closing that out and getting good shots and him and I almost feel like we had another scenario where it was transitioned and maybe it’s just by the way Indiana plays they don’t want to slow things down even in the clutch he had another I’m being aggressive I’m driving into traffic and turns it over in a key spot and I just thought nard was so good in the series and yet my lasting memories is going to be two major terrible last two minutes he got turnovers and and rough because I feel like this should be this is a Launchpad for him you know but you have to balance it out with those plays the game four play last night that’s just inexcusable like where are you going there he’s out of control you come down it’s all kinds of traffic you’re spinning into the paint where all the bodies are your head is down like that and like again you’re right and I’m gonna go over in a second so we can kind of really lock in on how good he was in this series but that’s not the spot you want him in you want him off the ball as a as a as a primary scorer because he is a really talented offensive player and they have found a guy that is going to be a huge part of what they’re going to do going forward there’s no question the game three one of the turnover I just felt like that was an incredible play by Drew holiday it was like the you know it just his anticipation to jump that hard to his right hand he clearly saw him there in the moment where he was going to try to get and he beat him to the spot and I felt like n Hart was trying to aggressively like get in that angle and then get to the rim and try to draw contact that looks like where he was headed and Drew holiday just beat him to the spot like so badly you rarely see a guy anticipate it that cleanly to that extent so G I’m gonna give him more credit but Adam if I told you and you didn’t know who the player was and I just said listen there’s a player I’m going to give you his numbers for a conf finals you know and just tell me you know like what level player are we talking about here 21 points a game 54% shooting from the field 48% from the three-point line it gets better almost 8 assists a game with one and a half turnovers great great ratio I mean look at that ratio but you know unfortunately two big ones no question about it well three really if you count the inbalance pass in game one because at the end of the day he threw the ball you don’t have to throw the pass right I mean you’re ultimately responsible for it the design of the play was terrible they could have advanced it taken time out whatever they could have done something different I get it but he still threw the ball so really three and he only averaged a turnover in a half for the series per game so unfortunately for him when he did turn the ball over it was at a critical time because that’s really probably not supposed to be on his dinner plate at that time he’s got other responsibilities as a scorer but those those numbers man 21 on 54 uh 48 90 shooting splits yeah my goodness and almost eight assists and and a turnover and a half like he couldn’t have played better in this series and the good news is stinks to lose it’s progression in this league we know it Boston’s been there million times everybody expected Boston to win the series they did the good news is the Pacers have found a guy he’s 24 years old as we head into the summer and they have found a legitimate big time player as as an offg guard and and and a combo guard because he can play some point If Halle Burton’s on the bench so you’re talking about a guy now that’s going to be I think a fixture for them going forward I love his game I mean I thought he was incredible honestly PRI prior to this playoffs I thought he was incredible but the playoffs you know separate they the playoffs kind of show you okay this is tougher who can handle it and the fact that his game didn’t diminish at all in fact it took up a stepped up a level it’s just so impressive and so much so legs that last night people on the timeline real analysts you know good analysts were talking about n hard’s upside as a star and I’m thinking I love nard and I love that mold of player but that’s not to me traditionally the mold of a star player but then I started thinking a lot of the modern NBA right now in my opinion and I’m very curious if you agree with this or to what extent you agree basketball IQ ball handling uh well-rounded games the ability to do multiple things it seems like the league right now now really benefits players that can do those types of things I don’t see n Hart as a star but I do see him as a guy that can do a lot of things and has a high basketball IQ and good size on him so do you think that he is a star in the current version of the NBA or a fringe star a guy that could actually become you know a top three or four player on a good team or do you feel like he is more of a role player which is what I think everybody expected when you draft him as late as he was drafted you expect okay maybe he’s a role player do you see him having the upside of a star I mean I definitely think he can be a top three or four player on a good team I mean I think he he probably kind of is that now I mean you know because you look at right right you got you got Hal Burton and cakam who are going to be listed as your top two guys and then the Miles Turner is gonna be right there and then neart like and and on a given night it could be nart or Turner like depending hell on some nights it was more nart than halberton because halberton got quiet in some games in the playoffs and so I’m not saying he’s a better player than halberton I don’t know he’s important is as important as halberton there’s no question in my mind I think this is a guy that can push 20 points a game close to it somewhere in that range on a team that can contend so I think that puts you in that category now you know would he ever be an Allstar I don’t know you know when you’re always going to have a couple guys that have bigger names bigger profiles on your team that are going to get those kind of recognitions but I think to answer your question man I it’s somewhere in the between legitimate star I don’t know that we’ll use that word for him but he’s certainly better than a role player he he is a he is to me a legitimate starting two guard in this league that as your third best player if you’ve got uh a big or a wing that’s a higher level and you’ve got another guard that’s a higher level you got a team that can contend in the Eastern Conference and that’s where I think halberton Falls yeah and you think Derek white you know was another player not not a ton of ton of hype and then all of a sudden you look at it you go no actually he does everything if he’s your fourth or fifth best player like that’s an incredible connector piece and he kind of reminds me of that mold of player that type of player um another thing that happened in this one and it’s not a big deal I don’t want to belabor it I thought at one point in this game I thought Miles Turner was trying to get kicked out you know he he he shoves Jaylen Brown then the next play he slams The Ball which everybody knows if you slam the ball and and I think the unofficial rule is if the ball bounces above your head it’s considered a slam and the ref will throw a TCH well he did that and everybody on the court all the Celtics players are looking at their refs like hey that’s a tech that’s a tech and they didn’t give it to him and while I don’t want to play it because Miles Turner was great this year he did some great things that moment to me is always one of those like you have to go through it you have to learn and I looked at that one and I go Miles Turner this is a pressure you’re not feeling good you know you’re probably gonna lose the series all of this and that response was a little concerning so not BL it but at least that stood out to me and I made a note of it yeah no I I think that’s a fair note I I was sitting there watching the game with SV GP when it happened and I said well he’s going to get tossed because of what you said that’s kind of the rule and even if so you have two two ways to go back if you could slam it really hard and catch it you still might get a tech because of the noise and the force right yeah or you could slam it soft and catch it no big deal at all happens all the time if you slam it kind of soft like he did but hard enough that it comes up above your head you made no attempt to stop the ball that’s a gray area because he didn’t forcefully slam it but he also made no attempt to control the ball so like that is absolutely right down the line like what are you going to do and I think the bottom line was and I think they probably did the right thing by saying look do we really want to eject someone in a in a game like this over that so so they elected not to you’re right I said the same thing like how dumb can you be come on what are you doing you just got a tech are you trying like you know how close you are to getting ejected right now you’re gonna leave your teammates out there by themselves in a closeout game come on man you’re too important so but you’re right there’s a got to be maturity to this and a learning experience from this and I think there’s no better honestly if you’re going to lose a series out them um now look you know losing a seven game series where all these games are closed yeah clearly you really feel like man like we really had that team on the ropes and now I can’t wait till next year we know now we’re in the mix in the East and let’s go let’s improve our roster and let’s be healthy and let’s make a run at this thing next year but a short of that that this isn’t a bad scenario either because you realize how close you are because you’re talking about a handful of possessions in this series in the whole series I guarantee I could go handpick less than 10 possessions in this whole series and flip the entire thing and it’ be 3-1 Indiana right now if I could go handpick those and and and they were managed differently by the Pacers or Boston missed one of those big shots right so I think that gives you a sense that yeah man we were right there but at the same time we end up we had zero wins so you still have to you still have it in your head that like yeah okay we we were close but we didn’t win any of those games so so now we have to really go out and we’ve got to look at our roster look at ways to improve look at ourselves and and watching this these films of these games how did we come up small when we needed to be bigger and that’s going to help this team tremendously going forward in next year I know this they’re going to be on everybody’s radar now going into the season they are thing yeah and and so now you’ve got to look it’s different it’s different than this high octane team that was hard to prepare for and they snuck up on some people you know and the inseason tournament they got some hype then they went away for a while and then they and then they got hot at the end of the year against a depleted Eastern Conference that’s the narrative that a lot of people are gonna have next year that won’t be the case you’re going to go into the season people are expecting to get a really good team in their building or if you go into the airplace and now the result the result the Readiness is going to be different for them going into the season so they’ve got to improve their roster they still need to add things to their roster and finish out figure out a way how they can be better in tight spots I think the Pacers represent the second like and for Pacers fans take note of this this is the second best season you can have it’s the first leap year the first year your team makes a leap and gets on the big stage because there’s no pressure everything seems new and exciting you were you know nobody was looking for you and everything kind of seems like a miracle along the way the only thing better than that is when your team actually wins the title but every step after this like you said it becomes a bit of a slog you can have a better year next year but not make it as far and it’s just hard to square those things so that that you know always appreciate the rides along a journey as a fan the last one I have here though no Benedict Maan gets hurt halfway through the year obviously misses and one of the hard things for the Pacers I think what a successful year we’ve seen teams like the Atlanta Hawks go far and then never make it back and never really look like that team again but the Pacers to avoid that have to analyze what they truly are how good they truly are without seeing Benedict mathine without seeing Tyrese halberton for these last two games if you just think about mathine because I know you liked it we talked about him a lot in the regular season how do you evaluate based on what you saw or didn’t see from the Pacers this year where he would fit into this equation yeah that’s interesting now because my perspective is a little different because of what I saw it in nart I think nart has a much more polished handle uh matan’s a little bit bigger he’s a little bit better athlete um so he could do things a little bit more explosively he’s stronger uh in playing through contact when he attacks the rim he’s a little bit Streaker as a shooter uh overall this guy’s a lottery pick I mean so like upside I think is still to be determined I loved him coming out he’s done nothing to disappoint me his first two years in the league he averaged almost 17 as a rookie he was about just under 15 this year in the mid-40s as a shooter uh low 30s as a rookie mid-30s this year as a three-point shooter uh rebounding num solid four rebounds a game both years so who knows man he’s only 21 years old so I he was a lottery pick for a reason and I think there there’s still a lot more there for him but if you look at these two guys right now and look at nart look at matthan I mean I think nar’s a more accomplished scorer at this level because of his handle his handle and his more consistent three-point shooting range and and he showed you that and by the way I’ve mentioned his shooting splits in this series you know 54 4890 he was 54 in the last round he was 51 in the first round from the field with high way over 40% three-point shooting so like this wasn’t like oh he got hot here in this series or at the end of this series no he he just had much fewer shots in the first two rounds because halberton was there uh but his that that’s even more impressive to me he took 15 shots a game in this round and shot 54% in the last round he took nine shots and shot 54% that’s hard to do that’s hard to say we’re gonna give you number one it’s hard to shoot 54% on nine shots that’s just hard to do as a guard but now we’re gonna say okay we’re gonna give you six more shots and there’s much more attention On You by their defense now what oh well I’ll still shoot 54% like I’m so impressed with him as a as a scorer and an offensive player that now it’s a little bit murkier what mathin is he the starting two guard or is nart like that’s that’s kind of how I look at this right now the overall upside I would still give to mathine because just what I saw physically coming into the league I saw enough the first two years but he’s got to improve in certain areas the size I do like the size factor and the strength factor that matthan has and his ability to attack Above the Rim he can finish that’s that’s an element Nar doesn’t really have but um matan’s got to work on his handle and his consistency with his shooting and you’re going to have a I think a pretty big time two guard on your hands but right now n Hart’s made this a lot more interesting discussion and the other thing M that nemard has that I like legs it’s something we talked about with Luca yesterday when there’s six seconds on the shot clock your natural instinct is speed up I gotta go fast you gotta go fast nard I think part of why he shoots such a good percentage is he kind of knows like oh the shot clock’s winding down but I don’t have to just get to my step back you know shoot up a prayer like six seconds let’s TR let’s use the next five seconds to try to get something he just has a patience to him an urgency but a patience to him that that I like and I think it’s part of why he has such an efficient player oftentimes efficient players it’s because the shots they don’t take you know they just cut out the terrible ones let’s go to the other side though we gotta spend some love on Boston Celtics here because we’ve been talking about him I’m still a little skeptical based on the road that they had but when you go 12- two I don’t care who you’re playing if it’s an NBA playoff basketball it’s going to be tough and going 12- two is impressive but what’s really impressive to me was Eastern Conference Finals MVP Jaylen Brown 29 Points six rebounds two assists three steals one block 11 of 22 four of eight from three that’s a full box score and it’s indicative of how he played this entire playoff uh this entire series he was phenomenal in it and I loved the ceremony with him winning finals MV or or Eastern Conference Finals MVP because he really did seem unassuming about it like oh wow I won that’s awesome it’s like yeah of course you won that was an incredible series that you just played and to me it’s encouraging actually for the Celtics to go in and have Jaylen Brown be a guy capable of playing at that level and being the best player on the team do you feel the same way that you’re encouraged by what he did in this round and what he’s looked like this playoffs I’ll take it a step further not only is it encouraging it’s the absolute best case scenario for the Boston Celtics that that played out that way and for Jason Tatum and Jason Tatum seems like a great dude classy dude great teammate he looked genuinely happy for Jaylen Brown I mean we all competitive he’s competitive he’s been the he’s been the guy that’s been carrying the torch for this franchise the whole time and he’s the guy that’s gotten most of the criticism when they’ve come up short so probably some part of him would have been like man I’d love to have gotten my hands on that thing um but he didn’t he didn’t seem that way uh he handled it well his pressure was great after here’s why I say it’s the best case scenario for him because the margin for error for Jason Tatum to win a title is greater than it’s ever been because of Jaylen Brown’s emergence the bottom line and at the end of the day Jason Tatum no matter what happens in the NBA final Jason Tatum’s going to put up good numbers he has done it pretty much every year in the playoffs five straight years he’s averaged more than 25 points a game in the postseason his shooting percentages and shooting nights have been what he’s been ripped apart for at critical times or got outplayed by somebody on the other side right but overall my goodness how many guys would kill to aage 25 points a game in a postseason run he’s done it five years in a row three out of those five years he’s averaged more than 10 rebounds a game which is insane for a small forward to be able to average those kind of rebounding numbers so and then last night even 26 13 and eight that was his statline last night okay so incredible stat line he’s gonna be great he’s gonna put up numbers there’s no question in my mind but what Jaylen Brown’s emergence has done means they have a greater chance of winning games when Jason Tatum may have one of those nights he might have a four for 17 shooting game in a Finals game Jaylen Brown gives them a greater chance to win those games and at the end of the day Tatum’s overall numbers will be good and that gives him a better chance to be a champion to check that off finally and shut everybody up I’m a champion whether you’re the finals MVP or not now I think you know a guy like that man he would crave that Finals MVP if they do win a championship but that bottom line is you got to check the box no matter what it takes and Jaylen Brown is giving you a better chance to do it so is the addition of Derek white and Drew holiday and eventually you know porzingis if we ever see him so that to me is that’s why I say Adam that was the best thing that could have happened to the Celtics was Jaylen Brown playing to this level that he’s worthy of that award and he got it and now that means they’ve got a better chance to win a title in fact Jason Tatum’s best chance to win a title is about to happen uh on on this on June 6 but this Celtics team I mean getting porzingis back as we expect them to do I me you got 10 days before the finals begin or or or eight nine days something like that before the finals begin you got a lot of time now to rest up Boston should be fully healthy uh and going and I think the biggest thing that porzingis is gonna bring actually I shouldn’t say the biggest thing because he’s gonna bring a lot to this team but one of the things he’s going to bring is they have five guys when you add in Horford you know this last series they had Five Guys that I thought were great and then they had three guys that were good and very narrowly defined roles I mean Pritchard Hower you had brassette a little bit there you had tman you had a couple guys they’re not bad players but they’re narrow in what they do giving you porzingis and moving Hal Horford to the bench it just gives you six guys now that can play in that configuration and I think that actually is one area that is underrated and how handicap the Celtics were I mean everybody knows they didn’t have porzingis throughout most of this run but just having another player to add that depth you look at last night 44 minutes for Tatum and brown 42 and 40 for Horford and Derrick White they played their guys a lot of minutes they’re not going to have to do that in the next round and I think you’re GNA really notice that yeah no I agreed I think you know their depth is interesting because they seem like people we consider them a deep team in the regular season and now we’re kind of like wow this is what they’re down to off their bench and Hower really struggled uh in this series in the postseason in general like it’s it’s it’s clear that he’s being treated differently now than he was in the regular season because the regular season you can talk about Hower and talk about no help responsibility and stay connected to him and stay home but you just you talked about it for one one walkthr or or maybe a film room session and you get ready to play that team and then you’re on to the next team and so he’s gonna get loose on you when you have a series you can really tighten up the extent to which you don’t allow guys like that to interject themselves into the series and it happened to him um and I I thought it was pretty good anecdote on the broadcast last night JJ reic talked about one in with the Clippers when he was playing there and they played Utah in an early round series and they were faceu guarding him the soon as he crossed half court and Doc Rivers told him early on this isn’t going to be your series just prepare for it and find another way to help us win and that’s kind of what happens with Shooters sometimes like if you get played a certain way there’s not a ton you’re going to be able to do if you don’t have the kind of handle that you could Escape that’s not who Hower is he plays off other people and if you just decide not to rotate off of him it’s gonna be hard for him to get open so they’re they’re even thinner on the bench in this series than we thought they were porzingis answers a lot of that and what I have said about this team repeatedly despite the fact they don’t play a lot of guys off their bench or have a lot of like what you would consider huge impact players off their bench their starting lineup is so versatile that is your depth in a lot of ways right those guys can come out then come back in at a different position even so you know Drew holiday can come out of the game well Derek white slides over he’s your backup point guard now or you put it if you want to and then Pritchard will get you know fewer minutes whatever so there their versatility with their starting five is their dep I just think the pringus thing is fascinating here’s the thing it’s weird to me that I saw people on social media last night saying well this is a great for the Celtics getting this long break because now more time for porzingis I’m like it wouldn’t matter because porzingis assuming he weren’t gonna see him to the finals the finals are starting on the same day no matter what they’re starting on June 6 no matter what he’s got that amount I don’t think no matter what happened in this series were you going to see him take the court under any circumstances they they’re going to because I mean were down I don’t know if they were down like you know two games to one you don’t think he would have come back or or I don’t because I I think they knew that they had enough to beat this team they they felt like we’re gonna be able to get through this no matter what give him absolute maximum amount of rest because the stuff that they can put him through without putting him on the court in a situation where it’s not a controlled environment and now he’s reacting to something you can hurt yourself again if it’s not ready I mean that’s exactly what happened to Kevin Durant um in the finals that year he hadn’t been put through enough they could take another 10 days now and put him through all kinds of scenarios in a controlled environment where you feel like you can finally turn him loose by the way I I’m assuming he’s gonna be ready for the start of the NBA Finals I don’t know I’ve heard nothing about this so you know Giannis look at Yannis he was said he wasn’t even close when that series ended I don’t know where porzingis is and all this you would think another what nine to 10 days should you would think you’re GNA see him but I I don’t know that but man you know what A Difference Maker he will be in that next round regardless of who they end up playing yeah I our headline here legs what’s different about the Boston Celtics this year you know because they’ve part of what’s going on with the Celtics is they’ve been a top team in the East for a long time and they haven’t gotten it done a couple high-profile collapses and losses to teams you didn’t expect so I think there’s a built-in oh well what they did four years ago is indicative of what happens today which is obviously not not always the case but when we ask what’s different about him I’ll give you two things and then I’m curious to hear your opinion first of all the defensive guys like Derrick White and Drew holiday the impact that those guys make being able to hold the Pacers scoreless for three minutes in the clutch most teams can’t do that even against Bad teams you can’t do that let alone a team like the Pacers to be able to win that way and then number two I do think the Jaylen Brown part of this one of my skepticisms for the Celtics all year was their clutch time offense often devolved into a lot of isol ball that resulted in mid-range step backs and difficult shots and that’s the Tatum offense he’s very good at those but do you want that in the clutch I thought the ability to get to the basket from Derek white from from Jaylen Brown even from holiday to me it feels like the scales for the Celtics team have moved not fully in that direction but have moved enough that now in the clutch you don’t know what you’re getting it’s not just get the ball to this guy and get out of the way you’re getting some dribble Drive uh you know getting to the basket and getting in the paint and to me that’s a huge thing three of the four wins in the Conference Finals were in the clutch that’s something that they had to sort of do and will have to do in the next round and I think that’s one thing that’s different about this team since say last year watching them battle with the heat so much of it was did they hit the turnaround did they hit the fallway did they hit the final buzzer shot or what have you I think they’re a little bit different in that regard based on what we saw in these last this last week I think that’s a great observation and I think so I will Echo that and add something to it and give you one other thing that I think is important uh you’re right they’re smarter in winning time they’re smarter that’s that’s a big difference with this team and because they can beat you in in more ways now and they’re more willing to make sure that they beat you in different ways rather than just a great shot making out of their best two players that’s you’re going to need some of that too you know Mavericks are getting plenty of that too like that’s not complicated to run you know 77 clear all right if you’re the Dallas Mavericks we know what that’s going to be right that’s hold on is that a luka donic play leg that’s not Genius Coaching Adam it’s like okay yeah we’re gonna run that let’s run 11 flat the Kyrie with everybody get out of the way like so you’re gonna need some of that too but the fact that they’re less they’re less uh likely to settle for the shot you want them to take in winning time now there were times in the regular season they lost games when I thought they fell into that trap y just to shoot the first half decent three they get over and over and over and not make you work against guys that have length strength and good handles and can B break you down and break down a defense by getting two feet in the paint and play out of that and they wouldn’t do that sometimes and they would lose games in the regular season I what they just did in this series impressive and I know people want to just act like you know they’ve done nothing to this point in the postseason because who they played and who is missing I just don’t look at it that way I don’t I’m I’m looking at them overall and how clean they’re playing and I’m looking at the adversity they did face in the first two rounds by losing game two at home their response was was was emphatic and then in this series three games bottom line we could talk about Indiana all we want and the mistakes they made and there’s plenty to go around Boston Celtics jumped on those and they took advantage of them and especially in the first game yeah that’s a terrible inbound but they all three of those guys four guys were defending it the way they had to to give them a chance to get come up with that turnover and then Brown makes the three on top of that and then these last two games in Indiana yeah there was some turnovers by Indiana but it was what Boston was doing on the other end that was impressive to me the way that they handled those spots and took advantage of these little Windows being cracked open and they busted it in so I think they have been tested because there was a lot of anxiety in this series for them and I think that’s a good thing the way that they managed the game late and the last point to go with that then we got to give Missoula some credit because he got beat up last year because they thought we thought late game stuff like oh what’s that they draan that out of an out of bounds I remember one time in Philly series they ran a direct inbounds from the sideline late in the game to to to Marcus Smart in the post and Jason Tatum was on the weak side kind of chilling he wasn’t involved and Marcus Smart turned the ball over in the post trying to get trying to over dribble and everybody was freaking out like what is moula doing so he’s come a long way you don’t think he’s more comfortable in year two he was handed a team right before the season with expect ations to win a title for a very young guy that’s a hard situation to be thrust into okay now he had a whole off seon he had all season being in control he looks more comfortable and confident and he’s certainly has something to do with their defensive adjustments late with what they run late offensively so I think Missoula being more self assured has given them more confidence too they’ve got a coach now that’s a little bit more battl tested as well so you add that all up and they’re just right now they’re handling pressure moments better I expect them to play the Dallas Mavericks in the finals they’re going to need all of that because they’re playing a team that has two guys that are incredible in those situations as well it was a great tuneup exactly for that which is going to be a hundred times harder because like you mentioned two best closers in basketball are on the other side should Dallas Advance uh last note I have on this one actually two things one I thought this from I think Josh Boraz in the uh comments here but if you think about they lost two games think about what it took to lose those two games one of a Miami Heat made 23 was it 23 or 26 I don’t even remember what the number was it was either it was either 23 or 24 but it was like the second most like OBS amount of Threes so that’s what it takes to beat him you know that kind of variance um and then of course 64 wins in the regular season all signs are pointing towards this is a juggernaut but they have a team that’s obviously making statements both since the All-Star break or since the trade deadline and now in the playoffs in Dallas that seems to be on a collision course for him my last point and then we’ll move on on and briefly touch on what we expect from Mavs wolves tonight but my last point is they added the Conference Finals MVP trophy and I love it and I actually think it’s not far enough I wish every playoffs had a trophy for MVP and the reason is I just like this idea of saying like who was the most valuable player series by series there’s some guys I don’t know how many times LeBron James would have not won MVP of a playoff series on a team he was part of but there are some teams where it would be fun to look back and say okay how many times was it magic how many times was it Kareem how many times was it somebody else I just kind of like this idea of you shouldn’t be gunning for it but who is the MVP of every series that goes by and as another way of measuring players I think it’s neat no I I do too I absolutely do it puts context on what you just watched you know I I think that’s the best part of it and look these are the games that these guys get beat up over if they don’t play well so reward them by knowledging them if they do man and they come through so I like the award as well uh you know it was interesting like I would have said you know if I and I wasn’t even thinking about this as the game ended I’m about to go in the air with with uh Scott velt and so I’m kind of like getting getting my touchcreen together and like thinking things I wasn’t thinking about the award and then I saw the video of him getting the award and I was thinking to myself like right when the game ended if I asked you right now boom who’s the who’s the conf who’s the FI Conference Finals MVP would you have said Jaylen Brown Adam yeah I think so he was so right away like right right off immediately or would you had to look at the numbers and stuff man I think I would have said it right away but you are right that it wasn’t like obvious it it was one that and I was with you when they announced it I was like oh that’s right there’s an MVP for the Conference Finals now I wasn’t even thinking of that but I think I would have said Jaylen Brown yeah I I would have too but I think I would have gone like okay wait a second let’s see let’s get the number yeah let’s see each game think about it for a second and would I like to look at the numbers a little bit and no I mean look he was Inc yeah you think about it hits the three to force overtime in game one after the turnover 40-point game two he is the story of that game the one decisive win in the series and then was Sensational late again last night so yeah it makes sense that Jaylen Brown got it Jason Tatum had great numbers in this series as well uh and and finished it with a 2613 and eight game I mean you can’t do much more than that a closeout game to get to the NBA finals so make sure we Pat him on the back as well and now here they are we expected it all year I think most people like this looked like a foregone conclusion that Boston was going to be in the NBA Finals it did to me it just never played out anywhere close to what I expected with all of the injuries embiid going down during the season Giannis going down late in the year the Knicks being you know getting all those guys and then none of them are available like so it was a weird ride but it ended up with the team that we expected to be there uh so now they sit back and wait and let’s see if Dallas can get this thing done tonight and join them with a lot of day off a lot of days off well on that subject let’s take a quick break and on the other side we’ll talk about that Lively is out so what does that mean is there a chance that Minnesota actually has a more of a shot to get back in the series than typical for a team down 03 I think legs believe so so we’ll talk about that on the uh other side but first let me tell you guys about the game time app it’s that time middle of the week or starting to get close to the middle of the week you want to look around and see what’s going on in your neck of the woods one of the best 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terms and responsible gaming resources back here segment two I don’t know what we’re going to do in the finals man Celtics fans are feisty they’re looking for fights Mavs fans they they’ve got the numbers uh our chat next week is gonna get spicy with these two fan bases uh we’re gonna have to gird our loins for that one uh let’s go over let’s go over now to game four uh tonight against the Mavs and the uh the Mavs and the Wolves so Dereck W he took that tough shot to the neck and uh you know sprains his neck he’s out for game four which we anticipated with a big as a hit that was we anticipated you’re up three 0 but here’s the thing legs you win this one if you’re Minnesota they’re missing a starter and a key piece in my opinion liely is a pretty key piece you’re missing that so you could win game four then your next game is at home you can win at home all of these games have been so close and if you get two in a row you put a lot of pressure on game six look nobody’s ever come back from three for a reason but I still look at it and say you have to go game by a time at a time and if you win tonight there’s going to be some momentum in your favor when you you head back home that’s not crazy is it no it’s not three’s not they’re not all three O’s are made the same H they’re not and to look at the context of the situation when you’re 3 on the road in a game four like Minnesota is tonight you win if you can find a way to win one game you’re gonna get another home game and now who knows man you might be looking at getting back to Dallas for a game six because the games have been tight so when you’re 3 and you’re at home in that fourth game and you just get one game you immediately go on the road and probably get closed out yep right and so so that’s the that’s the difference here and why things could get real interesting and obviously that’s why you know Dallas without Lively is a big deal and by the way that neck injury like it’s funny I was thinking about it like I I remember having my son on my on my shoulders one time and like I went to lift him off and like he kind of got caught in the back of my head and it really P pulled my neck forward and my neck hurt for like four days I was like having hard time sleeping and like he took a knee yeah to his head the the force that his head snapped forward and how much he probably stretched out all of that be at the back of his neck like I I don’t know what’s gonna happen here with Derek Lively and he’s been so good because this isn’t about just having one of those guys available it’s been the Dual component they’re always fresh they do very similar things their stat lines have been incredible when you combine them it’s a little bit different when it’s that pressure on one of those guys not to mention foul trouble like the fouling you don’t care if one of them gets three or four fouls or three fouls in the first half or whatever it may be you don’t care because you got the other guy too so you got basically 12 fouls to burn through if that’s what it takes like all that stuff is different you already don’t have kleba so it this is a big injury and now you’ve got to try to navigate this situation where it doesn’t get super interesting where now oh my goodness now we’re on the road for a game five now look don’t get me wrong I trust Luca donic and more than any player in this series in a pressure situation that’s why I picked Dallas in seven games not six I thought this was going to be back and forth toe-to-toe each team winning games each team probably winning on each other’s court and then Dallas ending up having to go on the road for a game seven and there’s nobody there’s nobody certainly playing right now in the postseason maybe in the league that I would trust more in that situation to control action and be Sensational when you need to be than LCA donet so that’s they had that going for him so look ad they might just close this thing out tonight in a close game or they lose and they go and they win on the road in game five because they come with that right approach and they’ve got these two incredible closers so I’m not saying it would get super anxious for them if they lost the game but the propensity is greater that because of the fact you have to then travel again and go back on the road against the team that just beat you and your short handed potentially so it’s it’s something to watch for tonight man there’s a little bit more tension in this series Mark Stein is is reporting that Maxi cber is back tonight that’s obviously a big uh good that’s good I didn’t even I didn’t even see that report good so obviously he provides them something different than Lively does this is more of a pick and pop threat but at least gives him another front Court you know line of defense there so how does that change things because it is such a different piece how does that change things for both sides here for Dallas and and obviously for Minnesota it’s definitely a it’s a challenge more more of a challenge for Minnesota now defensively cuz they can play him at the five and it’s a totally different look you’re not having a rim run you know on these pick and Pops getting to him and he had a big impact in the in the last series um in the Clipper series rather he had a big impact in that Series so getting him back now changes what you’re going to have to do and your rotations are going to be different and it’s going to be something you haven’t even talked about to this point thing you haven’t even discussed that option because you’re just talking about how do we defend these pick and Dives right and these late lobs and like how do we do that where do we want to position towns and go Baron Reed and how do we do that now it’s like okay well this is something entirely different now I’m sure that they’ve been talking about it all day yesterday knowing that he was that close they’re certainly talking about it now and there’s going to be some adjustments but you haven’t had the time to get reps on that in a game against him because it is a different rotation and different spacing different look that Dallas can give you yeah it is completely different you know last round Denver Rudy goar had you know his partner gave birth to a child and there was a giant Windstorm and goar wasn’t able to get back for game two Minnesota comes in has to play completely differently and blow the doors off of Denver even though they were missing goar and I honestly believe part of it was Denver spent two games adjusting to goar like okay here’s how he beat us in game one we got to adjust adjust and all of a sudden everything you talked about and prepared for throw that out the window because it’s a completely different look you could have a same a similar effect tonight where Minnesota now has to adjust to something they haven’t seen even though kba hasn’t been healthy you know recently Dallas still knows how to play with him they know they know what to do there so maybe that gives them a little bit of a leg up but we’ll have to see um what specific what else are you looking for tonight like if you if you just had to key in on one thing for Minnesota to get this win what what’s the one thing or the one player you’re keyed in on it’s Carl Anthony towns has to make shots early in the game I he’s got to make a couple he’s got to make a couple perimeter shots in the first quarter it’s important because this thing’s could snowball again and and you know look guys like on that level that have accomplished a lot in their career and you know you know he’s been an All-Star you wouldn’t think have wavering confidence that’s forget that man when your ball’s not going in I don’t care who you are it starts to affect the wiring between your ears and you start to it there’s an interruption in the process it’s not all muscle memory there’s thought going on and when you’re thinking that’s when you struggle because because everything with shooting a basketball is anticipating you’re going to get the ball and then it’s just muscle memory takes over and when your mind is interrupting that process at all there’s any doubt whatsoever you go through stretches like this this isn’t all about oh he’s just you know just not making shots or they’re defending him certain way he’s had a lot of good shots in this series that he hasn’t made now and that can turn on a game because he’s that good it’s not like oh all right he’s done for the series we’ve seen guys like start off in a series certain you know for a fact well he’s not turning that around so go to they go to somebody else that’s not the case here he’s critical to them he can make a couple of shots in the first six minutes from the perimeter or even on a drive as long as the ball goes in it could change his entire night so I think that’s something I’m looking for what kind of start does he have and I don’t necessarily think you go out of your way to run action for him because sometimes when a guy’s struggling that can make it worse if you’re not feeling in Rhythm and we’re running something for you we expect you to shoot it but you’re not quite in Rhythm no it’d be better for him to get something in uous like just just came in the flow a trail three or you know a putback or something like that to see the ball go in in the first four five minutes of the game you know make another perimeter shot at some point in the first quarter and Carl Anthony towns could have a completely different night another stat for you uh that I love but I don’t know if it means anything Kyrie Irving 14-0 in closeout games now some of this is you know those great Cavs teams they had a lot of like all right they’re clearly better they’re going to you know what have you here but that also that includes three finals come you know you know that closing out in the finals in game seven there’s some big ones there so what do you make of that stat and does it influence how you predict this game will go I think I think it says to me more than anything else look you got to be on good teams you got to have great players around you to do that it’s a weird stat it’s an anomaly but I also think it means that look if we lose it’s not gonna be because of Kyrie he’s gonna show up he’s gonna do his thing and he’s gonna be ready uh he’s and I think just the fact that he knows what the feeling is to be facing elimination and win a lot in fact never having experienced losing man what that could do for your confidence and your leadership in these moments if you go through adversity uh in a spot like that I think that’s important man to know how to get this over with get on to the next round because some of those were he was facing losing and the series was over a lot of those were closing A team out and the importance of ending that but also some of those like you said in the finals some of those were ones where they were facing elimination and he came through in a big way including you know you know I guess the biggest shot of his career a gamewinner and a game seven in the NBA finals against the Golden State Warriors unbeliev one of the all-time greatest shots in NBA history honestly one of the most iconic ones um let’s get out of here now so we’re going to talk about this and by the way a lot of people wanting us to preview Dallas Boston when the series happens we’re going to have a week to talk about it we’re gonna have plenty of time to get deep into the weeds on it so you know and obviously predictions and different things like that are coming we’ll let these series play out though but lastly you know we lost the legend last night Bill Walton passed away battling cancer um you know and he passed away I’m 40 years old legs Bill Walton to me is one of the great color analysts of all time because he was such a unique personality he put his own unique stamp on it uh I loved the way he talked about players and about teams with so much passion you could tell he really truly loved the game of basketball in a way that resonates with me and was just an interesting guy but the thing I wanted to ask you about was him David Thompson I there a handful of other players from that era that I really wish I had more footage of that I saw more more of because to me as great as Michael Jordan was there is almost a post Jordan discussion where the game almost becomes more individual individualistic and how we talk about it but at its best to me basketball is all about the eny of individuals and how they come together and from what I’ve read and little seen of Bill Walton in his playing days he’s one of or he’s talked about as one of the all-time greats at that he made everybody better there he created a Synergy with the various teams he was on and that’s one thing that the further we get removed from these guys and their memories as players kind of wash away that’s one of the things I I I hope doesn’t is that he was an all-time team player and I’m just curious from what you saw I know you grew up watching the Celtics a lot I wonder if you could just speak briefly on what type of player he was from what you saw of him yeah well first off so I’m a little bit older than you and when he came into the league I was still a kid but and I wasn’t super into the NBA at that age I didn’t really start to get into that until I was about 14 when I was going into high school which about 1980 so those Portland Trailblazer days you know the UCLA Bill Walton days certainly I had seen some of that but I wasn’t like I was avidly watching it so the most I really watched Bill Walton on a nightly basis because the Celtics in the mid 880s were my favorite team was was then and think about this he has the lowest scoring average for any six man of the year ever seven and a half points a game is what he averaged for the Celtics that year and he played 80 games and the reason I say that I’m not trying I’m not trying to that’s not to be critical that’s saying that’s how impactful he was in 19 minutes a night that he didn’t have to score it was his passing his IQ his leadership his positivity his his body language all of those things and what he brings to your locker and what he brings to to your bench and every one of those guys Danny Angel was on SVP last night talking about this and and telling stories about him and his personality and what that does to Galvanize a team um so he wins the Sixth Man of the Year that was the most that I saw him that was to obviously toward the tail end of his career he was 33 by that point it’s crazy he only played 400 and something games in his career he missed five full seasons and four other years in which he played less than half the games I mean think about that so and that one year 19 minutes a game 80 games that was one of his healthiest years he ever had he went Sixth Man of the Year he was incredibly talented his motor was off the charts his skill and his touch around the basket incredible which obviously goes to the fact of shooting 21 for 22 in a national championship game in college so his touch his motor his relentlessness and then his passing is what everybody’s always talking about and we’ve seen some other great big man passers we watch one every night now in yic Bill Walton had that same elbow passing manipulation of the ball dropping back door Cuts dribble handoffs on the sly he could throw a pass over his head out of the post to a cutter he did a lot of those things before some of the modern-day great passers that we know now did there just the games weren’t aired like they are now man like every game of every team you can watch now that wasn’t the case back then um so you’re right the footage wasn’t necessarily there but man I one thing I love about Bill and I’m finish it with this he also came to work at ESPN and he and I did shows in the studio with him and I’ll never forget the first time he walked in to the conference room where we were watching games and Bill Walton was going to do Coast to Coast with us that night and I’m thinking like my my mind is like my God I’m about to do a two-hour television show Studio show with Bill Walton talking basketball and I didn’t think he even knew who I was at the time he came in Timmy legler you know he starts with with that big voice and uh so he did he was familiar with me that made me feel pretty pretty good it was a pretty cool thing we go out on the show and you do a rundown for a TV show that’s got kind of a timeline of the topics like and you you kind of they roughly allocate an amount of time for each topic and it doesn’t always go according to plan but it gives you a rough outline of what the next topic is everybody gets it producers put it together and here we go we go on the air the show starts first question goes to Bill Walton that rundown was blown up in about four minutes because Bill Bill was still talking and and while he was doing it he’s kind of looking over at us and he’s winking at us and he’s smiling because it’s all over video and he’s just talking and he’s thinking like this is the greatest thing ever like run down schm down watch what I’m about to do and and I just remember was sitting there from that point on it was kind of like our hair was on fire the rest of the show just trying to figure out like where we were going to go with this and no one cared because it was it was all positivity it was obviously you know very smart analysis but it was also the personality that he brought to it and how much he brought energy to everything he touched and that’s what Bill Walton was all about man so RP to him condolences to his family and Luke and uh what we you know the NBA World NBA Community lost one of the all-time greats a true a true renaissance man and when he talked about the game you have a little bit of this too legs if I if I could compliment you in this but where he one time said of jic somebody’s asked about him and he said you know what I love about him he has peripheral vision and you think everybody says the same thing about players oh he’s a great passer oh he’s got good touch his post with this or that I love when guys appreciate weird little subtle details that unlock those skills and for him it’s peripheral vision that’s the thing he that stood out to him and I just love that cuz it was such a unique detail that explains that the obvious part of it and it just he had he had a knack for that because he was curious and and he clearly had a lot of different passions and gave energy to the things he loved uh Emma we got two super chats what do we got Joshua boras says Kyrie and Luca combined for 55 points and two regular season losses with CRA ver vers the Seas how can both play better to win the finals really a question for next week but I’ll let you give a quick stab at it well I just think that I I think that the answer that is the answer to that is they’ve never had better chemistry than they have right now yep you know this was a work in progress from the very beginning adding a player like that to play alongside Luca donic and his unique style of play at the guard position nobody knew if that was going to work it obviously didn’t work last year and they don’t you know they go into the summer thinking everybody’s kind of wondering where’s this headed and they even the first half of the year it didn’t look like this it really to me all came together with the additions to their roster and making them a more complete team and I think that’s when they probably realized what they were capable of doing now with this roster and with this team and it was really important that two of those guys figure out the EB and flow and they have figured that out beautifully and a lot of it has to do with Kyrie’s mental state and being engaged and ready every night and happy and buying in and when he’s like that we can all appreciate how great this guy is so that that’d be my answer this has just been an something that has evolved ever since the he got there a year ago and now it’s at its Peak form this is the best it has looked so I wouldn’t even compare what they did against the Boston in the regular season this is to me is a different pairing now and it’s a different Dallas team I’ll also say East vers West regular season games to me are just they mean something I don’t want to say they don’t mean anything but often times those games are the least predictive because teams aren’t really putting that much into them uh strategically all right what else Emma we had one other one she said it’s a little weird CYO blue says bball cthulu refuses to resend the fraud alert on Boston until he sees a convincing win against whoever comes out of the west or it’s a three straight years the champ beat the Suns in the previous Christmas all right well there this is the Suns fan try to we’re the Suns actually the uh you know the the the second best team in the league um all right cue that outro music there Emma um like Bill Walton you and I legs I said we were going to go short today cuz you know we thought it would be a shorter show and we ended up going long passionate basketball people man we can’t keep a short conversation it seems that’s for sure definitely true and uh we’re GNA get hopefully listen if we get another great game tonight win or let’s say Dallas wins let’s just say hypothetically we’re gonna have two sweeps with seven great games like that’s that’s kind of it’s kind of bizarre man you don’t really see that typically but we’ll see what happens tonight man I know Minnesota’s going to fight and let’s see if they can finally break through and and get the the plays made at the end of the game and extend the series I’m not ready for a week off I’m pulling for Minnesota tonight sorry math fans just tonight just for tonight everybody thanks for hanging out with us hit that like button for us on the way out we’ll see you [Music] Thursday we all sitting like the mayor sh

The Boston Celtics rallied late once again to close out the Pacers for a 4-0 sweep in the Eastern Conference finals. It wasn’t an easy victory against the Pacers, who were a perfect 6-0 on their home court before ending the season with two straight losses. We also preview the Dallas Mavericks vs. Minnesota Timberwolves series for game 4. Finally, we take a few moments to remember Bill Walton as a player.

Join Tim Legler and Adam Mares for today’s ALL NBA Podcast!

00:00 – Intro
03:13 – Indiana Pacers get swept by the Boston Celtics
04:07 – Pacers in the clutch in game 4
11:43 – Is Andrew Nembhard a star?
19:13 – Where does Benedict Mathruin fit in?
22:41 – Boston Celtics return to the NBA Finals
31:08 – What’s different about the Celtics this season?
44:11 – Dallas Mavericks – Minnesota Timberwolves Game 4 Preview
47:00 – Tim Legler’s trust within Luka Doncic
48:19 – Maxi Kleber back and how it changes things
50:14 – What do the Timberwolves need to do to win?
53:57 – Bill Walton, the player

An ALLCITY Network Production

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