Stephen A is NOT counting out the Celtics 🚫 ‘Boston has a team that can win Game 5’ 👀 | First Take

Stephen A is NOT counting out the Celtics 🚫 ‘Boston has a team that can win Game 5’ 👀 | First Take

Stephen, you think the Knicks close it out tonight in Boston? They better. And I’m going to tell you why they better. Because the Pacers are waiting. It’s a team that I do not underestimate. Is a team that I do not minimize. Um Hallebertton, Turner, Nehard, Nmith. These brothers can play. They are not scrub. Matan, let me not forget him. when he keeps his temper, when he composes himself, the brothers can play and they’re exceptionally well coached by a future Hall of Fame coach and a champion and Rick Caroff. We know what they bring to the table. I’m saying the Boston Celtics can beat them. They still got a $300 million player like Jaylen Brown. Last time I checked, Drew Holiday and Derek White, even though Brunson was giving it to them the other night. The bottom line is these guys are no joke. Okay, Al Hoff, you can never dismiss him. Pritchette and what his contributions were off the bench, etc. Boston has a team that can beat the Knicks for game five. We all know this, but the New York Knicks need to prioritize taking them out because the Indiana Pacers are waiting. And you don’t want to find yourself in a position where you’re grinding and scratching your way into the conference finals while they’re resting, sitting pretty, waiting for you to handle your business. New York Knicks need to finish Boston off tonight. Uh, this is I’m going to go the other way. This is a very interesting game from a Boston perspective. They are not going to win a series. We know that. They’re not beating them three straight times without Tatum. So, we put that aside. What do the Celtics have in them at home, lost the last two, now their best player is out for a year and a half. I’m not in love with this coach. They blew a third 14-point lead in the third quarter there on Monday night after blowing two leads the other last week. Brown was terrible. Pzingis has given them absolutely nothing. What do they have at home as the defending champions in sort of a last stand scenario? I know Steve’s point. Indiana awaits, but the Knicks are probably going to win game six and they’re going to win one of these three games. They’re going to probably win game six. So, I’m not going to approach this as well, the Knicks need to match Indiana. I’m going to approach this as what is Boston emotional 36 hours. What do they have psychologically knowing they probably can’t win a series to try to defend a little honor down three games to one? I mean, you just focus on one game. You don’t focus on a series. You focus on one game. And if I look around that locker room and if I tell my my guys we got one game at home in front of our home crowd and all we need to do is get one. And we can’t do that. I’m in the wrong damn locker room. I got to believe that we can get one. We need the Jaylen Brown that was the Eastern Conference Finals MVP last year. We need the 30point Jaylen Brown. We need to pull Zinggas that went into the guard on April 8th and dropped 34 and gave him eight eyeball sandwiches from behind the three-point line. They need that kind of energy. And also, we need the Jaylen Brown that took the match up against Luca on defense in the finals and need took him out. And we need a rebounder. Jason Tatum was their best rebounder. They are connected group of guys. They have championship heart expectation. I expect they win this game tonight. Stephen A. I don’t expect them to win the series though. I listen listen if if I had to bet they’d lose they they’d win the night and lose game six at Madison Square Garden. But I do think the New York Knicks are primed to take him tonight because I think without Tatum, the game comes down to the wire. And if it comes down to the wire, then the clutch play of the year, Jaylen Brunson. The ball is in his hands. And we all suspect what’s going to happen when it comes down to that. You’re Jaylen Brown, however, who I believe in. The brother can ball. We all know this, okay? He’s a four-time Allstar. He’s a champion. He’s NBA Finals MVP. You’re the number one option. Now, last time I checked, you got a $34 million contract. Tatum is down. If I’m Boston ownership, if I’m Boston’s organization, if I’m the coach, if I’m his teammates, I’m looking for him to lead. He was the vocal leader last year. And one of the leaders, we vacasillated back and forth at times wondering who was the number one option. I’m talking about last year, not this year, between him and Tatum, but obviously Tatum cemented that. But now your now your little bro is out. Yes. your star is out. It’s on you. I expect Jaylen Brown to drop 30 plus tonight and you got to make sure if you go down, as I said on many occasions when Cam Newton was here during the football season, just don’t let it be you. Don’t let it be you. Make sure that you Jaylen Brown, we’re not looking at you as the guy that didn’t get it done. Remember Jason Tatum gets hurt game game seven Eastern Conference Finals versus Miami. And obviously he goes down and y’all end up taking him out in Boston when they overcame a 3-0 deficit. tied at 3-3 and then obviously they lose in the game seven. Tatum gets hurt early in that game. Jaylen Brown didn’t pick up the slack the way that he was supposed to. Tonight, you make sure that doesn’t happen. It’s not you, Jaylen Brown. You got to show up and be lights out and make sure that when we looking at it, it’s just you just lost to a better team. Okay, that and that’s that’s how it’s got to be. With that being said, if the Celtics win tonight, how nervous are you? The Celtics win tonight? Oh, I’m not nervous. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, I’m not I’m not nervous about the New York Knicks losing game six at the Garden Friday night. It’s gonna be electric if it come to that. Molly, let me tell you something. You got New Yorkers so hype. Some of them don’t want the Knicks to win the night just because they want the Knicks to win at the Garden Friday night. That’s how epic that environment is going to be. You think you have you seen Nick fans when they win a playoff game? Have you seen me when we win a playoff game? Now, we’re talking about a series clenching victory that propels us to the conference finals at the Garden at game six on a Friday night where most people got the weekend to look forward to. Ain’t even a week night. It’s a Friday night at the Garden. Lord have mercy. Let me tell you something right now. I’m just think about I almost get goosebump think about it right now. I’m trying to tell y’all right now. I want them to win the night because I respect Indiana and I think Indiana can beat the New York Knicks. I’m not saying I pick them to do it. I’m saying they can beat the New York Knicks. Do not sleep on them. Do not underestimate them. But I have no concerns if the Knicks lose tonight that they going to lose in a game six. Assuming they’re healthy, nobody gets injured tonight. If they’re healthy and they go to game six at the Garden, oh, it’s Oh, so you prefer them to win in New York. You know, it’s a wrap. One last thing quickly for me. this. It’s not easy playing a wounded team. The Knicks know that they’re in very good shape here and the Knicks always with prosperity never play as well when there’s a sense of urgency. And tonight they’re going into a game. They feel that they got the Celtics reeling 14 down third quarter. He’s out. So they they’re going to win this series. They down deep probably know that. Let’s see how the It’s not easy playing a team that is in this situation. Not mail it in, lose by 12, and I’ll see you Friday night. Let’s see the Knicks get in the last couple minutes here with a chance to steal one on the road into game five. Sometimes they don’t do that well. We’ll have to wait and see. Okay, as far as the Pacers, they made easy work of the one seed Cavaliers, sending them home in five last night. Cleveland built a first half lead, but Tyrese Hallebertton and the Pacers proved yet again to be too much down the stretch. Now, according to ESPN Bet Sports Book, the Knicks are the odds on favorite to win the East, followed by the Pacers, then the Celtics. The Pacers also have the fourth shortest odds to win it all behind the Thunder Knicks in Timberwolves. UD, who’s your favorite to come out of the East now? I’m going to go with the Pacers. And and I know I already know what you’re going. You think I’m hating. I could go either way because I’ve had battles with both of these teams. But I’m looking at this Pacers team and I’m going to tell you something about this Pacer team, Stephen. They match up with your Swiss Army knives. They match up with your guys that star in their role. Nimhart, Nate Smith, Seakum. Oh, they match up well with OG. They they they match up well with Hart. They they match up well with Bridges. As I got I came with statistics today. So we got 18 points right here for Seakum. We got 16 points for OG. We got 14 points for Nimhart. We got 15 points for Bridges. We got 14 points for Nate Smith. We got 12 points for Hart. for all these Swiss Army knives and all these guys that are having these games where we know what Brunson is going to do, but Muel Bridges is having his moments down the stretch. We talk about Cat having his moments. We talk about all these guys having their moments. Well, they got guys that star in that role and they have their moments as well. So, I’m going to go with the Indiana Pac on this because I’m an underdog guy. So, I always like to go with the underdog. The underdog role has served me well. Well, luckily I don’t give a damn about what a Miami Heat has to say about the New York Knicks. Okay, I’m not going to get caught up in that. Donis has them. I respect where you’re coming from because I respect the Indiana Pacers. And even though it was by and large due to injury, they did beat the New York Knicks in the semi-finals last year. We can’t ignore that they’ve got experience at being at the Garden. They won that game seven at the Garden last year. It ain’t going to be two years in a row. Ain’t going to be two years in a row they taking the New York Knicks out because I think this is a seven game series, guys. Has a seven game series written all over it. But we’re not going to get belavor that because we’re not going to discount the Boston Celtics. It ain’t over until it’s over. They’re the champions and I’m going to respect them. Then I’mma tell you, I’mma tell you this. I don’t see the New York Knicks, if they were fortunate enough to be in the next round, the conference finals against the Indiana Pacers, losing backto back playoff series to the Indiana Pacers. That is not something I’m buying into at all. Jaylen Brunson is the clutch player of the year. Muel Bridges, Carl Anthony Towns, OG Ana Noi, Josh Hart. Offensively, the New York Knicks are better than they were last year. the grit that they had last year, they didn’t have this year, but then suddenly we found it in a few games against the reigning defending NBA champions. I’m looking at it from that standpoint. Mitchell Robinson, let’s not ignore the factor that he brings to the table defensively against the Indiana Pacers. So, I take all of those things into consideration and I’m not going to go that far if I got to pick a favorite in the East at this particular moment in time. The favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference and represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals is going to be the New York Knicks. New York stand up, baby. This is what we going to go with right now. There’s no reason for me to believe otherwise at this point. I think he I hate the both of you. I think he’s right. I hate to say it. I’m going to root like hell against the Knicks just to annoy him. And by the way, Steve, do me a favor. Don’t say we still respect the Celtics. We still No, no. You know you’re going to win the game tonight, so don’t give me this nonsense. If we’re in the conference final nonsense until the guts are good over him until it’s done. Have a gut. Listen. Have stand. Get on a limb. Excuse me. Get on a lift. Excuse me. I’ve done it for years. I’ve done it for years. And what’s happened? What’s happened? I’ve lost I’ve lost limbs rooting for the New York Knicks. I’m not doing it again. I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m not gonna wheel a crop before the horse. I’m gonna be patient. But the six inches in front of my face, I see it right now. I can see it orange and blue skies already. I can see orange and blue sky. Don’t do it. Control yourself. Don’t do it. Control yourself. Uh, last year, Steve’s correct on one point. Last year, game seven, Pacers won 130 to 109. I looked it up yesterday. The Knicks are all banged up. Oni was hurt. He broke his hand, Brunson, in the middle of the game. The Knicks, no Randall. They had a major amount of injuries and Indiana rolled. Now, I do think Indiana’s excellent at home. I don’t know if the Knicks are going to win. I know the Knicks good on the road, but they’re very good at home. Pacers are not afraid of the Knicks, but I have to admit with Stevie, I don’t see Indiana back-to-back years. I would pick reluctantly I would pick Knicks and seven in that conference. I think Hollenberg was a little banged up last year in that series against the Knicks, too, right? Celtics in the Celtics the next round, not against the Knicks. Okay. All right. Okay. I’m just by the way, listen. The Paces, what are they like 42 and 14 since January 1st? 42 and 16. 42 and 16. That’s a number one seed. Number one seed. That’s right. They deserve knew that stat. I was going to bring that up later. Deserve all the credit in the world. But again, they’ll be going against the clutch play of the year on his home turf. And we know And we know this is going to be we know it’s got seven games written all over it. And by the way, has anybody seen any individual give it to Derek White? Two elite defenders. two elite defenders who are reigning champions. Has anybody ever seen somebody give it to them the way Bronson gave it to him? I’m just telling y’all right now. I mean, I’m just gonna be cool about it. I’m just going to be cool about it. I’m just going to be cool about it. You know what I’m saying? That’s all I’m going to do. That’s all I’m going to tell y’all. Go tell y’all. That’s right. I’m not going I’m just sitting there. I’m feeling the music right now. I love that music, but I’m going to be cool. I’m a savior. Only person comparable was Jimmy Butler. Who? Give it to Give it to Give it to those guys like that. Derek White. Mhm. Yeah. Gave it to those guys like that. Did Jimmy Butler give it to them like that? Yeah. He gave it to him like that. He gave it to him like that. I don’t recall it being like but we not but we not going to take nothing away from Brook Bruss doing cuz he’s not Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler 68 215. You’re talking about 6’1, 210, not athletic, no wingspan. What he’s doing right now is all footwork. I love it. I love it. Here’s what I want Jimmy Butler to do tonight. Shoot the ball nine times in game four. I agree with that. He’s got and he did nothing in the last eight minutes of game three. He was awful when that game was to be won. Jimmy. All right, it’s time tonight. 35 shots. Yeah. I don’t want to go down with freaking the little Who’s a Who’s a little lefty with the frizzy hair? What’s his name? I don’t want to go down with him. Goes down with Jimmy. What are you laughing at? We’re going to get into that later. He might be giving heat to another star and that’s Donovan Mitchell. He’s a career 24.7 points per game scorer. That’s the third most by a player who has never made it to the conference finals behind only Joel Embiid and Dominique Wilkins. Here’s Donovan Mitchell still inspired postgame. Y’all going to write us the off man, but we’ll be back when we let city down, letting each other down. We’ll be back. How much heat does Donovan Mitchell deserve? I know everybody wants to put the attention on somebody in Cleveland. I watched every basket in that series because by the way, by the way, you don’t think I know anything about basketball. Who played Who played Indiana at plus 396 before the series began? That would be you right here, baby. Okay. For Michael. Yes, sir. I don’t know gambling terms, Mad Dog. I ain’t no gambling. That’s a good return. You bet 100, you win 396. Add a few zeros and you get the answer. Got it. Got it. Anyway, I am not gonna go out there and and kill Mitchell here. I understand that, you know, missed the three free throws yesterday. I understand, you know, he he’s a volume shooter. I I get all that, but he did average 35 points a game in a series. There’s nothing he could have done in game four. They lost 80 to 30. They were down 80 to 38 at the half. I don’t super God couldn’t have won game four the way Indiana played. Here’s what I’m going to say about about and I thought Cleveland was the paper tiger throughout the regular season anyway. I never believed in him. Now, I know it’s tricky getting on guys with injuries. I know that and you should never know. But hold on now. They’re down 10 in that series and Moy and Hunter don’t play in game two. They played 36 hours later. Not like they didn’t play the whole series. You know, Curry hasn’t played in five games. You heard these two came back to play game three and game four and game five. They lost the first game. Where where was he? And they lost that game, too. It’s a terrible loss. They gave eight straight points. They gave up offensive rebound baskets. If Mo’s in the game, they might win that game. So, I’m gonna put a little more emphasis on that than killing Mitchell who tried to keep his team alive. So, to me, you guys might go different. I’m not as down on Mitchell as everybody else seems to be. No, I’m not going to criticize Donovan, but what I will is challenge Donovan. You had an opportunity this year where you had the number one seed, you had the coach of the year, you had um the defensive player of the year. You were in Utah where you had a number one seed, you had the defensive player of the year, you had six man of the year in Clarkson. So, you’ve had the pieces. But, what I’ll say about Donovan is we’ve watched Donovan grow. We watched Donovan take a step back just so Garland can mature, so Mobley can mature. We watched him do all the right things. We watched him play his tail off to put them in a position to win. But when you get to a point where you’re such a great player, now you start to get judged by how many ring does he have. Has he led his team to a championship? This is what comes with the territory. And I’ll say this to Donovan. To whom much is given, much is required, my brother. So this is just part of your journey. I do think at some point he will get there. But yes, some of this criticism, some of these questions are fair, but Donovan is doing it the right way. his time will come. When you look at Tatum and you look at those guys, Tatum had a great team in Boston, but it took him seven, eight years to get it done. So, Donovan is right around that seven, eight year mark. He’s reaching his peak and I think they’ll grow and they’ll learn from this. And the leadership he displayed afterwards, y’all going to write us off. Y’all going to say what y’all supposed to say. I love it. Take it, internalize it, listen to it, and let it fuel you through the summer. I’m not entirely with you on that. I get where you coming from. And to be clear, Donovan Mitchell is a bonafide star in this league. He is special and a great guy, too, by the way. And somebody that you root for, to be quite honest with you. But at some point in time, you are now 0 and4 in conference semi-finals games. We talk about Jimmy Butler, Jimmy Buckage. Jimmy Buckage is not a champion. He’s never won a champion. But we don’t talk about him like that. You know why? Because we saw him carry a team not once but twice to a finals. And when he lost, he lost to a superior team. Every team Donovan Mitchell has lost to has not been superior. There are times where you expected him to win. When he lost the series to the Clippers, there were expectations. When in Cleveland, you’ve got the third best record in the NBA, winning 66% of your game since you arrived in the regular season, but you 0 and4 in conference semi-finals. You had the best home record this year, but you’re 0 and3 in this series on your home turf in Cleveland. But guys, they weren’t healthy. Well, they blew game two. You had a seven-point lead, if I remember correctly. You couldn’t inbounds the ball. You had a key turnover. In other words, the game was in their grass. But they were missing key guys. Well, again, but if you were good enough to have a lead with a minute left in the game, and I’m talking about a cushion and you literally blew it for fundamental basketball couldn’t be incorporated, that’s a different animal, Molly. I’m just saying Indie beat a beat a banged up Bucks team and then a banged up Cavs team. Well, yes, but a banged up Cavs team for one game. You lost four. You only won one. Um, you lost game one. You lost game two when you had a like a sevenpoint ci cushion with a minute and a half left because you couldn’t inbounds the ball and you turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions. Okay, so you have that going on. All right, Donovan Mc Donovan Mitchell when you look at him. The brother averaged 39 on 44% shooting, but 25% from three-point range. We get that part. All I’m saying to you is that when you are a star, it does get to a point where you’re looking at the team. You said you thought they were paper champions during the regular season. you didn’t believe in them. You believed in Donovan Mitchell, but you didn’t believe in them collectively. People were saying this about y’all coming into the postseason. And it wasn’t like they lost to the reigning defending NBA champions. They lost to an Indiana Pacers team is pretty damn good. Make no mistake about it. But there’s no bonafide superstar on their squad as of yet in the eyes of Benny. So when you look at Cleveland, you find yourself saying, “Damn, you’ve come up short again.” I’m looking at Donovan Mitchell, who I’ve always wanted to be a Nick. Remember, I wanted him to desperately. I still wish he was a dick for crying out loud. I love Donovan Mitchell, but in the end, your greatness mandates more than trips to the semifinals of the conference playoff in the west with Utah and now in the East with Cleveland. At some point in time, you got to at least you don’t have to win a championship, but you got to get your team on the precipice. You got to get your team in the mix. They can’t be summarily dismissed when you’re the face of the franchise. you being this damn good, but the people around you come up short. Just it’s it’s unfortunate, but it is. You got to give him a little break. Last year, they lost to the Celtics in the second round. Allen didn’t play. He was a little banged up. You got to give him a little break. And I’m telling you right now, I mean, I watch He played hard. He was He played hard in this series. I mean, I agree. Just right. The three I mean, he you know, he is a volume shooter, which does concern you. He He’s volume. He you know, he needs to shoot the ball 25 times a game. But I’m gonna go back to the overall point. You played for 50 years. Yes. How does Moley and freaking Hunter not get in a game in game two? I mean, they played game one, they played game three. They got their season on the line in game two at home. They played the rest of the series. It’s not like they didn’t they didn’t miss a week. They missed one game. You got to say, you know what? I’m out of game. I got to play in this game tonight. You’re making 50 million a year. It’s the NBA playoffs and an in play. That could have been as big a reason why the loss of series is ending, Steve. Maybe those two win the game. They’re 1-1 and we’re having a different conversation. Yeah, that was the game they had to lead with under two minutes left and gave up offensive rebounds late in the game. Gave up Burton and the other kid a couple of turnovers, a couple of turnovers and couldn’t inbounds the basketball. But what I will say is if if Cleveland’s being honest, that was a matchup they didn’t want. That that was a team that dominated them in the regular season. So there was no surprise that Indiana played well against them. That was a matchup that Cleveland didn’t want. And they weren’t very battle tested. Obviously, you know what they did to us in Miami. They they weren’t very battle tested. So, they ran into a team that has been fighting for their lives. The Indiana Pacers have literally been in phase one mode since January. 42 and 16. Very good. They play well. 42 and 16. So, they ran into a buzzer team and they weren’t very battle tested. So, that was a very difficult situation. And I do agree with you Stephen A. I did say some of that criticism is fair for Donovan. Once you get to a certain level as a basketball player individually, you have a responsibility to win. What has No. Has he won? Oh, he averaged. No. Has he won? Those are the conversations that you’re having. And those are the conversation. That’s the that’s the the space that Donovan Mitchell has put himself in. It’s not about individual stuff anymore. It’s about is he winning? Has he led a team to win? This is the conversation for a guy that has that talent. And did you see what Carlile said after the game yesterday? He was he said the team was very fueled. They’re up 3-1. You know what the line was in game five? Cleveland five and a half. Oh, wow. And he said our guys were annoyed by that after the game, which I found was interesting. How were they favored by five and a half in game five down games to one? You tell me, Stevie, how you favor them if you’re the book.

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and Udonis Haslem join Molly Qerim to talk about Game 5 of the Knicks vs. Celtics series, which team is the best in the Eastern Conference and criticize Donovan Mitchell for his playoff performance.

0:00 Can the Celtics beat the Knicks in Game 5?
7:10 Which team is the favorite to come out of the East?
13:36 How much criticism does Donovan Mitchell deserve?

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