Celtics go down 2-0, Knicks were ‘underestimated,’ Jayson Tatum to blame? | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Celtics go down 2-0, Knicks were ‘underestimated,’ Jayson Tatum to blame? | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

live from New York. Just hear me out. No, we going to hear you out. Yeah, you got two hours. Explain yourself. You made the exact same mistake two years in a row. Get a bucket. You’ve made the exact go to the rim and get a bucket. So that’s what Brew was saying. Get a bucket. And you know what Wilds was saying? You know what Wilds was saying? Not do what they do. Shoot threes. And then Mitt R. You don’t follow him on Twitter, but if you did, Kevin, he tweeted all caps. Go to the hoop. It’s like screaming. It’s almost like it’s what you’ve been saying on that. I’ll get to it later. All right. Get to it at the top of the show today. We’re starting with just an absolute disaster of historic proportions in Boston. The Celtics blow another 20point lead while going over eight minutes without a bucket. Here’s the final play of the game. I don’t even know what this was, Drew. That wasn’t mid-range. I do a mid-range. What? He He didn’t know what he wanted. He had no clue. That’s That’s the Mitchell Robinson is doing great to his credit. Um Tatum So is Bridges. Bridges was good in the fourth quarter. Tatum was bad the entire game. So here’s the biggest takeaway here. He had those 14 rebounds you liked so much. Enough with the rebounds. That was Ben Wallace. worst field goal percentage in a twoame span of Tatum’s entire career under 29% is this loss happens to be in the play on Tatum it’s not great can can we show that I want to share my theory quickly show that last play that Tatum had okay because I’m wondering when you get so used to throughout the season you’re hunting for threes the three is the easy way out now it’s a it’s a smart shot obviously because it’s worth three points, but it’s kind of the easy way out. And that’s their whole strategy. Penetrate to kick it out for an open three. Other guys spotting up. And even if it’s a bit contested, it’s still you’re just like there’s a viral clip you guys may have seen Michael Jordan talking remember after he hit all those threes in the finals game and he was saying, “I don’t want to become like a great three-point shooter because it would take away from other elements of my game.” They didn’t seem they don’t seem as comfortable when you really got to get some real resistance in trying to create the mid-range shots. He got the matchup he wanted, right? You wanted Mitchell Robinson. He loses his dribble. He dribbles in the three Knicks. It’s almost I feel like instinctively he kind of wanted to step back and take the three cuz that’s what he’s done all year. He would have been by the way that would have been a better shot than what he got. It would have been better shot ideally. It looks like he could have got to a mid-range 16footer like kind of straight on around the foul line and he just was lost. And so, um, look, there’s a lot of blame to go around. Nick was right. Like Missoula with the hack of Mitchell fouling Mitchell Robinson putting him in the bonus was bad. Jaylen Brown, three points in the second half, none in the fourth quarter. He wasn’t good. But you’re the best player, Jason Tatum. Yeah. You’re the guy who said he wants to be the MVP, right? You’re the guy that this season was supposed to be about showing that you are indeed a playoff performer and winning finals MVP, right? You’re the guy that’s going to be first team all NBA. Yeah. So, when your team doesn’t perform, it is ultimately on you. A lot of blame to go around, but ultimately Jason Tatum more than anybody has to wear this loss. Yeah. And listen, he so he’s obviously shook. Unlike game one, he can’t, don’t get mad at me, Wilds, even slightly blame the officiating for the game. He two years ago, he was a bad playoff three-point shooter. Yeah. And since then, in the two postseasons since then, he’s been the worst high volume playoff three-point shooter. Nquille Alexander Walker I guess second worst. My apologies. Jaylen Brown by the way right there too. And I tried to I didn’t include his Olympics in the postseason when he went over for from three because that’s international play. I Jason Tatum this year. Here’s one you’ll like. Brew. There have been 23 total seasons. Almost like a third of them are by Steph individual player seasons where you shot 10 or more threes a game. The only three-point percentage worse than Tatum this year in those 23 seasons was LaMelo this year. Another one of Wild’s favorite guys. And this is why I patently and utterly have refused and will continue to refuse. I don’t care if the Celtics come back and win the championship. The I mean, I care if they do, but not in this regard. the nonsense that well we just have to accept the conversation that Jason Tatum might be the best player in the league. He’s not. That we’ve got to we have to start. Here’s what he is. KW you’ll love this. And by love this I mean you’ll hate it. Jason Tatum is the Kobe Bryant of Paul Georgees. Let it just let it let it let Oh, they put a Jason Tatum is the Kobe. He’s the best the best Paul the best Paul George I’ve seen. I know you hate it, but he wants to be Kobe. He’s He’s better than Paul. That’s why that’s why he’s Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant. He’s the Kobe Bryant. He’s the He’s the Kobe Bryant of Paul Georgees and up to including I don’t really trust you. I am dunking on LeBron and I don’t trust you with the game on the line. Sorry, Gatorade commercial or not. and and the play where I will give you credit because Brew I FaceTimed Wilds after the game. I also tried to record it but I think iPhone like guards against surreptitious recording so we don’t have the audio because I have the video but the play that you tweeted about Wilds is an embodiment of the pro my problems with Tatum and Brew’s problems with the Celtics. This is a bad decision if you’re the team trailing by seven. It is an abominable decision. Up by seven. Now, technically they were up by six, but they didn’t know that because they they fixed the score. If Jaylen Brunson is upright, you should still go to the rim. If he’s prone on all fours, I’m thinking you probably can go get a layup and get up nine points. And to your point, that’s not just on Tatum. I think that’s more on their Well, I think that’s their philosophy. I’m not saying he shouldn’t. Sometimes you just got to break it. You’re the best player. You can do what you want. But that’s their philosophy. That’s what they coach and Bruise. I bet you in film if he had gone to the rack in the film session the next day or whatever, they would have said, “Take that.” And by the way, the big bruise point, here’s the very next possession. Jaylen Brunson’s got a runway to the rim. Got he got the switch he wanted. There’s nobody there. He He’s or Jaylen Brown on him. He’s got a runway to the rim. He takes it three. It’s just bad basketball. It’s bad basketball. KW. You guys ever seen a a movie? A movie with a hero in it. Yeah. I saw, you know what? I’ve seen one Superman. Jason Tatum’s in that commercial these days. Yeah. Go ahead. It’s ironic that that commercial’s really It It’s You know, they have to have You should have a Brunson version ready to go. You know, you know who else had a commercial come out about hitting game-winning shots the same postseason he missed game-winning shots? Paul George. You remember? No one remembers Paul George’s. Go ahead. He did. So, we’ve established that you’ve seen a movie with a superhero. Yeah. This is the low point. Okay. Oh, okay. The Celtics were 25 for 100 from three. If they went 27 for 100 from three, they are up 200 in theory. Yeah. The butterfly flaps its wings. We we know how it goes. Jason Tatum in the fourth quarter. This is last night. Six points, one for 12, 0 for seven from three. No, he’s the last two. Six points last night. They’d have loved it. He’s been terrible. Coming into this series, are the Magic a are Magic better defensive team than the Knicks? Maybe. They are. I think they are. They are. And in the playoffs, they were they couldn’t they they didn’t let the Celtics shoot threes. Tatum had a hurt his wrist his last three games against the Magic 36 3735. Yeah, I fully expect Jason Tatum to come out of this little dip that he’s on and play. Of course he’s going to Of course. That’s all. So, yes, the is on him. It should be on him. But I I I would not write the Celtics obituary. Listen, are you right? You sound like right now. My pick would be the Knicks. Right now, this moment, I would pick the Knicks. Am I saying it’s done? No, I don’t think it’s done. But I also think, and this is something you got mad at me for yesterday, but I think we’ll all remember this the same. As confidently as you expect that, yesterday at the end of the show, when I didn’t even pick the Knicks, I just said I we saw the line was 10 and a half. I said, I think the Knicks can keep it close. You said blowout city. Yeah. Everything you expected. I met the Thunder. Okay. everything you expected that we all kind of expected the way the Thunder game looked. Yes. To be the early game, not necessarily a 50point game, but where it was it was that and well that’s the other. So that’s the other thing I want to ask you before we go to the Knicks it. And the reason I don’t necessarily buy that well if they had just made two more they were up 20 late in both of these games. They were up 14 with seven minutes left in this game. It is not desp and it’s not as if they were shooting hot and then missed 14 in a row. Despite the cold shooting, they’re building these big leads. Yeah. And then the moment that the Knicks see a glimmer of life, their best guy, even when he’s not playing well and he wasn’t good yesterday until the end, their best guy’s like, “I’ve got this.” And they play with confidence and they play smart and they play tough. Here’s the point. The Celtics are choking. That’s what that I think is fair. I think optimistically he’s going to come back. If he doesn’t play well in game three, Brew, I feel like all the goodwill that he has from not even really the finals cuz he didn’t play great in the finals, but really from the Milwaukee game from a few years ago 47. But that feels like Hey, what’s what is your defining playoff moment? Yeah, it’s the last win the championship. So, even though he wasn’t MVP, he helped them win the championship. He played He played He wasn’t terrible. I actually thought he should have been MVP, but he wasn’t. He let him in points, rebound, and assist. But I I hear what you’re saying. This will be a huge ding on Jason Tatum if he doesn’t if they lose this series. And we also will we last year when you you believed in the Nuggets, but you also on in the East believed the Celtics were building a historic season. Yeah. And Brew and I both said like how you kept asking us what do the 2024 Celtics have to do to be considered an all-time great team? And Brew and I both said depends on what they do in 2025. Remember like that they have to back it up. Flip. So if they were to, you know, come back from this, run rough shot, win the title, it validates everything. The flip side though is this. The Wow. Round one, Jimmy Butler didn’t play. Oh, this is absurd. Yeah, I wouldn’t say it doesn’t diminish their championship. Do you think it diminishes their championship? Yeah, cuz everybody Hold on, hold on, hold on. Can I just say something real quick? You certainly, not only can you not do it to every team, you can’t find five teams in NBA history who every single one of their opponents in route to the finals didn’t have their best player. Their best player all three series, you can’t find it. The Dallas had their best player. No, no, no. I said in route to the finals. I know, but I’m just That’s not fair. That’s not That’s not right. We taking away Toronto’s title cuz Durant got hurt. No, but I I I am not taking I’m not taking Think about that one. Yeah. No, but I’m saying I can we can go throughout history and see a lot of teams where I understand all of that. The point that I am trying to make is if this year Boston had the opportunity and we all said it to put a brighter shine on their accomplishment last year. If they get clocked in round two by a team that going into the playoffs no one and that’s what we’re about to talk to believed in then I do think fair enough people will say as I was trying to so round one Jimmy doesn’t play and in round two Donovan Mitchell misses half the series and in round three Tyresese Hallebertton doesn’t play and did we did we overrate this the the Celtics that’s quickly what I’ll say on that I don’t care if they come back and win this championship they’re not an all-time great team to me it takes more than backto back champion. I mean how many how deep are we going? Sure cuz there’s been three pets and I mean Tatum is going to be a Hall of Famer. So will Jaylen Brown. But those guys aren’t like Pantheon level players. Correct. I don’t think this team is better even though they will have won backto backs if they win it. Better than the Bird Celtics in 86. Of course not. But they will have won back. So, I’m just saying the analytics guys are going to look at their numbers. Oh my gosh. All of that’s impacted by a three-point shot. So, I’m not buying into that. They But if you look, I’m not writing them off. I’m just saying they are not like an all-time top five great team, even if they win this champ. Haven’t even won a game. Yeah. Right. Right. Let’s get past the Knicks first. Uh uh where are we going? Meanwhile, the Knicks are undefeated on the road uh this playoffs and everything has been close. Six straight games decided by three points or fewer. Uh, did everyone underestimate the Knicks? Absolutely. And I mean everyone. I see pundits on TV talking, I thought it could go seven. Did anybody pick the Knicks? I can’t I I don’t see everybody, but everybody I saw who Ramsey Ram right I didn’t see anybody on television hear anybody on radio picking the Knicks. But you know what? With good reason. Yeah, they were 0 and8 against the Cavs and the Celtics. All right, they uh struggled mightily against Detroit, which was just kind of happy to be there in first playoffs in years. Very young team. And so we all did underestimate the Knicks. They got blown out by the Celtics throughout the regular season. So that was fair. Uh they came in as one of the worst three-point defensive teams in the league. And Boston obviously is the most prolific three-point shooting team. There was no reason to believe the Knicks would even get it to seven, maybe even six and coming into this series. But Josh Hart is right. They got room to grow because Brunson hasn’t really played. He was six for 19 last night, 36% shooting in the series. They’re they’re a great switch they made. Tibido now is switching on all the pick and rolls with his bigs even. And that’s been a netha to him throughout his career. It’s always been toughen up, don’t switch, you know, you know, stay on your man. And that gives the shooters a little room, little space to get a three off. He’s changed that. And now we One thing we have said, and I said it before the series started, you said it yesterday and maybe last week too. On paper, they should match up great. Yeah, we were not even just m I don’t know how the matchup, but on paper they should be an elite team. You got two legitimate stars, one small, one big. You got three very good role players. You got a very good coach in Tibido. Like there is no reason they shouldn’t be on the level of the Celtics. So now they’re kind of putting it together. So good for them. Listen, I I think the Knicks were fairly evaluated based on their struggles against good teams. I I don’t think people were unfair. I don’t think they were selling them short. I think what they have done up to this point in the postseason is and I’m going to say two things here that are going to feel prisoner of the momenty but one is just historical fact and the other is just what I truly believe. First one is this. What they have done this postseason on the road is historic. Not we’ve seen a lot of teams mostly the great great teams start 5-0 on the road in the postseason. We have never seen a team start 5-0 on the road in the postseason with a point differential of 10. They have won those five road games by three, three, two, one, and one. That’s their margins. And one of those three-pointers was in overtime. So, they really won that by a half point by my math cuz it was tied at the end of regulation. So, I know that sounds like we’re overreacting. We’ve never seen something like that. We’ve never seen a team down 20 in consecutive second halfs storm back in both cases. Particularly a team that is the decided underdog and on the road. And then this is the other thing I’m going to say that’s going to sound you know overreaction. But right now this moment if I were offered even money and you can get better than that actually on all four teams left in the East I’ll pick them to make the finals. The Cavs are are banged up terribly. They’re up two. They’re right. They’re they’re they’re they No, they they got That’s the thing about New York. You got to be feeling great. I feel like we win this series. Indiana or Cleveland, they should And Indiana, they played in seven last year. It was a different team. Brunson got hurt. OG didn’t play. Randall was out for the series. Now he’s not on the team anymore. But now you have Carl Anthony Towns and it was a game seven. And so I just I think the the underrated factor though about this series and this is the point that I tried to hammer home going into game one about the stakes of it on when you were on jury duty about why it was a must-win. Just like Tim Connelly went from Denver to Minnesota and did not initially in my opinion build a team like we are building a team to win the championship. He said, “The only way we have a chance to win the championships, we can beat Denver. I’m going to build a team to beat Denver.” The Knicks management over the last 15 months said, “We are building a team for this series. We are trading for OG Anobi so he can guard Jason Tatum. We’re trading for Male Bridges so he can guard Jaylen Brown. We are mo we are breaking up the Villanova guys and moving on from Randall because we need another offensive. We need a a a sevenfooter who can shoot threes like they have in Chrisaps and a guy like they built a team. The Celtics built a team to win the championship. The Knicks built a team to beat Boston. That’s fair. And you’re seeing that play out right now and I the margins are this thin, but that’s what they’ve been able to do. Out of 90 games the Knicks played, their worst offensive performance last night. That That’s the other part of it. Like what what happens when the Knicks start playing? Right. Everybody’s talking about the Celtics hitting shots. What about when the Knicks start hitting shots? Yeah. When Jaylen Brunson doesn’t We’ll see. I’m not counting the Celtics out. But right now though, the Celtics are going to win. No, I I I mean I have We’re going to talk about it later, but I would slightly like choose now. I’d slightly give it to the Knicks. Who’s going to win the series? What about you? I think the Celtics are going to win the championship, right? I just feel like, and you I know we joke around about your gambling proclivities, but when you see so many statistics like, oh, Jason Tats having the two worst games of his career. They set the record for worst threes. If Do we have time? Oh, we’re going to go to break. The shots are not contested threes. So, I can I tell you something about the spectrum numbers threes that are being the Knox aren’t doing anything on defense. I totally disagree with that and I think the numbers are are wildly misleading when they’re saying they they have said that that in that first game when they shot 63s the second spectrum number said four of those 60 were contested that is incorrect by that that’s you know what I mean like that but like even in your example I J wide open corner three easiest three-pointer on those two I know were wide open but I do think the Knicks are making him. One of the reason shots can be open or even wide open is because they’re rushed. Because a guy is flying out at you and I I’ll buy that. But I feel like Knicks fans are a little bit more over the moon than Knicks players because they’re like, “Oh, we haven’t played well offensively.” True. And defensively like kind of get lucky. But it’s not a bust of 17. The best is seven and they’re halfway there. Mentality. Thanks for watching. Subscribe here to get more from the show and to check out clips from other shows on FS1.

The New York Knicks have come back from down 20 points in back-to-back games to go up 2-0 on the Boston Celtics. Jayson Tatum only scored 13 points on the night, and came up short in the final seconds of the game. Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, and Kevin Wildes ask if Tatum is to blame for the loss, and if the Knicks were underestimated.

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Celtics go down 2-0, Knicks were ‘underestimated,’ Jayson Tatum to blame? | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

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