“Jayson Tatum is the BEAST of the East” – ESPN on Celtics close out Magic for 4-1 playoff series win

“Jayson Tatum is the BEAST of the East” – ESPN on Celtics close out Magic for 4-1 playoff series win

[Music] It’s win or go home for the Magic, but Jason Tatum with the three to put them up 10678. The Celtics got off to a incredible lead in the third quarter and never looked back. Jason Tatum said, “Hey, what risk? What risk issue?” The Seas moving on to the next round. Meanwhile, the Magic heading home. Tatum finishing his night with 358 and 10. He’s been incredible ever since coming back from injury. On the other end, friends, Watt Vagner 254 and four. Not quite enough as the Magic headed home sees. Moving on. We’re now joined by CBS Sports NBA analysts John Gonzalez and Bill Ryder. Is guys, the Celtics, they just ran away with this game in the third quarter. They didn’t look back. I feel like there’s so much we can take away just from what we saw from them on the floor. But Bill, what impressed you most with the Celtics this game? And I want to open it up to this series as a whole. Yeah, both both apply to my answer. The Orlando Magic executed at least at least defensively the exact plan of attack they wanted on Boston. They held them to 31 three-point shots per game. That’s about 17 fewer than Boston’s record setting average over the course of the season. So they basically dictated the thing that Boston wanted to do the way that Orlando wanted it to happen. Didn’t matter. Didn’t just win the series, dominated the series, and it just speaks to how good on every level this Boston Celtics team is. There’s a reason they’re the defending champions. It’s basically the same basketball team that came back from last year. And when you’re the Magic, by the way, Orlando, best team in the NBA this year at preventing at limiting three-point shots from the opposition. So, it was an interesting showdown of whether they could they could stop Boston from taking the number of threes that Boston wanted to take. The fact that they did that and it didn’t matter, it just tells you, like you just said, Kiana, this is a ridiculously t talented Celtics team. Even when they’re not executing how they want to execute, they’re still beating the living daylights out of teams in the playoffs. Yeah, Bill nailed it. I mean, everybody knew what the magic theory of the case was, which is that look, the Celtics take the most threes in the NBA, and they make the most threes, and they’re going to do their damnest to keep the Celtics from making any shots and keep them off the line. Tonight was a good example of it. The Celtics only shot 24 threes. They averaged over 47 per game, and it didn’t matter. They just pivoted and went, “Okay, well, we’re going to outscore you in the paint. We’re going to get points off of turnovers.” Jason Tatum was cooking. He goes for 35, eight, and 10 back-to-back 30-point games. Jaylen Brown looked really good. This is a game, Kiana, where they couldn’t get any threes to fall early and they were tied. This this game was tied in the 50s and then all of a sudden the Celtics went, “Oh yeah, we’re just going to go to the rim and we’re going to beat you that way and then we’re going to get some threes to fall late and by the time you look up, we’re going to win this game going away.” And look, I thought the Magic did their best that they could in this series by playing really remarkable defense. Frankly, the problem is unlike the Celtics, they don’t have multiple ways to beat you because they can’t shoot. And I’m being told in my ear scoring the basketball in a basketball game is important. Hey, you kind of brought his name up, but I feel like we got to put a little bit more respect on his day because how special is it what we’re witnessing from Jason Tatum this series? Think about it. He leaves and doesn’t play in game two with that wrist injury, but comes back, puts up 36, 37, then 35 backto backto back games. Bill, what are you making just of what Tatum’s been able to do here? the same thing he always does goes under the radar as a superstar including for me and I won’t speak for Java at least on the podcast he’s he’s he’s remarkable I mean Jason Tatum is the best player on the best team sorry Oklahoma City Thunder you got to beat these guys first to take that mantel Jason Tatum is the best player on the best team in the NBA but the thing is and this is again just circles back to how difficult it is to beat the Celtics and John just said they have so many ways to beat you when Tatum’s out there he’s their best player when Jason Tatum’s not out there or when Jason Tatum rarely is having an off night. Although we did see this a little bit at least offensively in the box for in their run last year to a championship, it hasn’t mattered. Jaylen Brown will step up or Drew Holiday will step up or Pton Pritchard will step up or just go down the roster. Somebody in there just throw a dart, right? You’re Joe Mazul, you throw a dart, it lands on somebody’s name, you’re going in, you’re going to step up. And so Tatum’s been remarkable and amazing, but it’s also true that his greatness is augmented by a bunch of other guys that can fill that void when they need to. Yeah, the Celtics are loaded, but Bill’s right. Jason Tatum is easily the best player on that team. It’s It’s easy for us to forget sometimes how good this guy is that he’s going to finish fourth in the MVP voting. He’s going to be first team all NBA again. He took them to the finals last year and they hang banner number 18. And now after their backto backto back 30 point games from Jason Tatum and the gentleman sweep over this over the Magic, they take care of business. They they get to go home and get a little bit of rest. And right now, the Celtics and Jason Tatum are big-time Pistons fans because look, the Pistons have some really great defenders that they can throw at Jason Tatum and the Celtics in the next round, as do the Knicks. But they’ll be rooting hard for the Pistons to extend that series, send it to seven so they can put their feet up, watch it at home, get a little bit of rest, and then go into the second round fully rested and feeling good about themselves. Well, as for the Magic, I mean, Paulo Ben Carro got in foul trouble early in this one. We talked about this before we went live. This is a team that just couldn’t get their shots to go. John, what’s your outlook on the Magic season now that it’s over? What’s What are we looking ahead to? My uh outlook for them this season was pretty rosy. I was big on them. Bill knows when we do the pod that I love their defense. Their defense, I’m still on their defense, the second best defense in the NBA. The problem is what you saw tonight, what you saw in this series, what you saw all season long, which is that they’ve got two guys in France Vagner and Paulo Ben Carro who are very good and Jaylen Suggs who had a good season too until he was lost to an injury. The problem is they don’t have any spacing. They thought that KCP contavius Cwell Pope would come in and help them with their shooting. Now they know going into the offseason they need a lot more shooting than just one guy who had a really inconsistent season in Paliban and uh uh KCP rather. And they need to get some help for their two superstars. Those two guys had really good seasons. They had injuries. they were sort of way laid there. Uh and then they come back and they both look good, but they just don’t have the supporting cast. So that is priority number one for the Orlando M Magic. They absolutely need more shooting. Maybe uh both end of the floor, two-way, three and D wing and then maybe a big man, maybe a stretch big who could shoot as well. But yeah, they just do not have enough offensive firepower. John Earmov’s here because we have to do a live podcast together and I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I know you love the Magic. I don’t I don’t want to. They’re awful to watch. They play great defense. They Look, we keep talking about how that Pistons Nick series is an 80s basketball. The Magic are playing 60s basketball and I can’t take it anymore. So, everything John said, I co-sign on, go get some offense and get some shooting. And let me just throw a name into the mix and somebody to keep an eye on. I’ve heard people sort of float this. There’s a lot of places he’s going to look. It is almost assumed, it is expected that Kevin Durant is going to try to go play somewhere else. And Houston’s been tossed out as a possible location. and the Spurs is a possible occasion. If I’m KD, why not just take a little bit of a look at at at Orlando? Cuz as much as I like to give Jon a hard time, he has a a man crush on this basketball team because their defense is remarkable. And Vancer and Fogner, if you can find the right people around him, multitude of shooters or one guy, Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant, who can fill that void, Orlando is capable of making a huge leap forward. They play as as dogged defense as anybody in basketball and they’re not that far from being the Rockets or or maybe the p a better version of the Pistons and the Eastern Conference I think is much easier to navigate at least in that sort of three to six or seven zone than the Western Conference. So, as much as it’s hard to watch them play and as much as I couldn’t get on the league pass excitement bandwagon that John was on all year watching the Magic grind it out on defense, they have built something. And you’re right, John, there’s there’s a lot there. They just need offense. And maybe that’s a big-time player. Maybe that’s supplementing several shooters who come in. But the good news for Orlando despite the beat down they just took is if they can add those pieces and and get to the they haven’t had a top they haven’t had a top 20 offense in a generation. And if they can get there and maybe even be on the right side of a top 15 offense, it’s a pretty good basketball team in the making. You said they’re playing 60s basketball. You talking like the Will Chamberlain era, Bill Russell, Jerry West. But maybe against Will Chamberlain. Maybe maybe I’m giving a little too much credit with some of these names, but guys, nonetheless, really briefly, Boston moving on, awaiting the winner of this Knicks Pistons series. We’ve talked about it and you guys just mentioned it. You said that the Celtics got the best player on the best team, but they’ve got experience in their favor. They get extended rest and they have stars that are dealing with injuries who are still putting up big nights. So, who’s walking into a better situation in the second round, Bill? Is it the Cavs or the C’s? Oh, I I think it’s the Celtics. Um, look, I don’t I think both of those teams are walking into a pretty great situation because they’re walking in as clear favorites and they’ve earned that and they’re both incredibly dangerous basketball teams. And if anybody had doubts on Cleveland, you shouldn’t have. They just proved it in in their own series against Miami. But I think the Pacers are are a more dangerous basketball team than the Knicks, which maybe that’s not a popular opinion. It certainly isn’t, Kiana, where you’re sitting with a bunch of Knicks fans probably working in the control room. But I and I just think the Celtics have been there and they’ve done that. And the Knicks have been beat up in the series. they haven’t even advanced through yet. So, I Cleveland’s going to play the Boston Celtics, barring some horrific setback or some miracle from one of those two other teams in the conference finals. I think they’re both in really good shape, but I like Boston’s path better if I’m the Boston Celtics just by a little bit than the Cleveland Cavaliers. Fellas, as always, the inside is always top tier. Bill Ryder, John Gonzalez, fellas, thank you so much. And if you want more of where that came from, oh, trust me, you even if you need your ear muffs, John, they’re going to tap into [Music] You [Music] see down here. [Music] Hello. [Music] Fore! Foreign! Foreign! Hey,ch. [Music] [Music] [Music]

“Jayson Tatum is the BEAST of the East” – ESPN on Celtics close out Magic for 4-1 playoff series win

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