672: Sixers are IDEAL Matchup for Celtics w/ Bobby Krivitsky

Summary

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Celtics Beat – Episode 672: Sixers are IDEAL Matchup for Celtics w/ Bobby Kravitsky

Date: April 17, 2026
Host: Evan Valenti (for Adam Kaufman, who was on vacation)
Guest: Bobby Kravitsky (Forbes / Hardwood Houdini)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Celtics Beat dives into the Boston Celtics' outlook heading into the 2026 NBA Playoffs, focusing on their first-round matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers. Host Evan Valenti and guest Bobby Kravitsky dissect why the Sixers are the most favorable opponent for Boston, explore Jalen Brown's All-NBA candidacy in the wake of policy changes, recap pivotal developments from Boston's regular season, and preview strategies and matchups heading into the playoffs. The show also delivers pointed analysis on rules controversies, player development, and coaching excellence within the Celtics organization.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. All-NBA Eligibility Controversy and Jalen Brown’s Case

[06:28–22:45]

• News Recap: The NBA and NBPA rule Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham eligible for end-of-season awards despite falling short of the 65-game requirement due to “extraordinary circumstances.”
• Implications for Jalen Brown:
  • Bobby: “It’s the Cade Cunningham of it all. If it was just Luka, I still think Jalen gets on. But with Cade eligible, I think ultimately, he’s going to make first team All-NBA and Jalen’s going to be on the second.” [07:08]
  • Evan & Bobby agree Cade’s team’s unexpected success tips the scales—despite Jalen’s huge leap and integral role.
• Statistical Comparison:
  • Brown: 28.7 pts, 6.9 reb, 5.1 ast (71 games, 300 more minutes played than Cade)
  • Cunningham: 24 pts, 9.9 ast, 5.5 reb; led Pistons to 1st in East
• Rule Frustration:
  • Evan: “If we’re going to allow exceptions for guys missing games, why even have this rule?” [17:00]
  • Bobby: “Maybe it’s not even about games, maybe it’s about minutes. Ultimately, you want as accurate a snapshot as possible.” [17:52, 18:05]

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2. Celtics’ First Round Matchup: Sixers vs. Magic Preference

[27:32–28:27, 29:38–44:23]

• Preferred Opponent Debate:
  • Bobby: Prefers Philly for logistical reasons but notes the Celtics should manage either team.
  • Concern with Orlando: “Big, physical defense that can muck things up and hurt you physically, just like we saw last year.” [28:27]
  • Philly presents different challenges: “It’s the speed and the combination of trying to contain Tyrese Maxey and Vijay Edgecombe.” [29:38]
• Why the Sixers are Favorable:
  • Celtics have fared well in recent years ("The Jays are 4-0 against Philly in their career," with minimal challenge outside of the James Harden era) [54:10]
  • Sixers’ inabilities: No elite defender for Tatum or Brown, and interior rebounding issues.

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3. Regular Season Series vs. Philly: Takeaways

[33:02–38:20]

• Series Recap:
  • Teams split 2-2; Boston outscored Philly by 14 across the four games.
  • Significant changes in both rosters over the season; little to take from early meetings.
  • Key Stat: “Boston out-rebounded Philly by 10 per game. That’s why they could shoot just 31% from three and still win.” [35:43]
• Philly’s Deficiencies:
  • 27th in opponent offensive rebounds, 24th in second-chance points allowed.– “That combination, to me, is fatal against a team with Boston’s approach.” [36:38]
  • Celtics’ ability to spread the floor and exploit Drummond’s lack of mobility.

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4. Playoff Strategic Matchups: How Boston Wins

[38:20–44:23]

• Key On-Court Advantages:
  • Celtics dominate possession by crashing the glass, extending possessions, and forcing turnovers.
  • Boston’s perimeter shooting remains a major weapon, made even more potent by Philly’s willingness to yield threes.
  • Player mismatches: No one on Philly can reliably defend Tatum and Brown. Boston forces problematic switches and spreads Philly thin.
• Defending Philly’s Guards:
  • Boston's depth at perimeter defense (“pit bulls” like Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez) allows them to grind down Maxey and Edgecombe—two of the Sixers’ only reliable shot creators.
• On Joel Embiid:
  • Even with Embiid, Bobby asserts: “I don’t think that sways things. He can extend a series, but the combination of a long layoff and Boston’s matchups are too much.” [44:28]

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5. Series Prediction & X-Factors

[52:00–54:10]

• Prediction:
  • Evan: “If you had to put a gun to my head … Season in 5.”
  • Bobby: “I’m at five. Sweep wouldn’t surprise me. Philly lacks depth, can’t defend the glass or three, and are dealing with too many vulnerabilities.” [52:11]
• Importance of Derrick White:
  • To win a title, Boston needs White to play like a “third-best player;” series could be his springboard.

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6. Season Recap: Celebrating Celtics’ Regular Season Growth

[55:18–66:56]

• Overachievement: Team won 56 games—surpassing all pre-season expectations.
• Joe Mazzulla & Staff Praise:
  • Both hosts lavish credit on Mazzulla and the deep assistant bench: “One of the most impressive coaching staffs in the NBA … there are multiple head coaches on this staff right now.” [57:54]
• Jalen Brown’s Development:
  • From underappreciated role player to “an MVP candidate, someone now worthy of an All-NBA first team selection” [58:49]
  • Dramatic jumps in playmaking (career-high 5.1 apg), free throw rate (35%), and leadership.
  • Evan: “If you’d told me Jalen Brown would one day average five assists a game, I would not have believed you.” [61:18]
• Chemistry & Culture:
  • The team played with uncommon joy and tenacity, even while Tatum was out: “You didn’t want to miss a game. Just a truly special year.” [71:08]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On All-NBA selection:
  • Bobby Kravitsky: “Jalen had a first-team All-NBA caliber campaign ... but Cade led an expectation-defying Pistons team, and that might just sway enough voters.” [14:31]
• On the 65-game rule controversy:
  • Evan Valenti: “If we’re going to make exceptions for guys missing games, why even have this rule?” [17:00]
• On the Sixers matchup:
  • Evan Valenti: “The 76ers have never had a person that could check either Jalen Brown or Jayson Tatum. … If you send help, Boston’s going to be bombs away from three.” [41:43]
  • Bobby Kravitsky: “It really does take a team to try and slow those guys down, but [the Celtics] will weaponize that and use it against you.” [42:23]
• On Jalen Brown’s evolution:
  • Bobby Kravitsky: “My favorite development was him getting to finally live out this opportunity that he had to sacrifice for throughout his career.” [59:45]
  • Evan Valenti: “The fact that he was able to become a ball mover, a playmaker ... that is a ginormous leap for a guy I never thought would have that in him.” [61:47]
• Series prediction:
  • Bobby Kravitsky: “I’m just willing to call this a gentleman’s sweep, but it would not surprise me at all if it’s a sweep.” [52:11]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [06:28] – All-NBA rule change & Jalen Brown’s chances
• [27:32] – Celtics’ preferred first round opponent debate
• [33:02] – Breakdown of Boston–Philly regular season series
• [36:38] – Sixers’ rebounding woes and matchup problems
• [41:43] – Why Philly can’t guard Tatum or Brown
• [44:28] – Embiid’s (potential) impact and series implications
• [52:00] – Series predictions: Celtics in 5, possible sweep
• [55:18] – Favorite developments from Boston’s season
• [57:54] – Joe Mazzulla and the assistant coaching staff impact
• [61:18] – Jalen Brown’s playmaking leap and leadership

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Memorable Closing Thought

• “You didn’t want to miss a game. That’s how many teams can say that? … A truly special year, all the way around.” — Evan Valenti [71:08]

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Summary

This spirited, stats-rich episode sets the stage for the Celtics’ playoff run, making a strong argument that the Sixers are the ideal first-round opponent thanks to Boston’s firepower, depth, and rebounding prowess. Both hosts highlight the season’s biggest storylines: the leap of Jalen Brown into star status, a coaching staff that might be the NBA’s best, and a team culture marked by joy, chemistry, and resilience. Even as All-NBA rule changes leave Jalen’s awards status in question, there is no doubting the Celtics’ standing as favorites—at least in the East. The tone remains hopeful, self-aware, and enthusiastic, blending sharp tactical analysis with appreciation of the team’s growth and camaraderie.

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Transcript

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[Bobby Kravitsky]

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[Evan Valenti]

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[Evan Valenti]

Today is Thursday, April 16th and this is Celtics beat on CLNS Media, the leading online provider of audio video coverage of the Boston Celtics. I'm Evan Valenti. No Adam Kaufman. Today he is on vacation. Episode 672 features Forbes and Harvard Houdini's Bobby Kravitzki and today's show is powered by Prize Picks. Prize Picks is the official daily fantasy partner of Steel and that's media. Download the app today, use the promo code CLNs and get $50 in lineups when you play.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

$5.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Welcome on in everybody.

[Evan Valenti]

Evan Valenci here with Celtics Speed no Adam Kaufman. He's on vacation. Well deserved, well earned vacation for Kaufman. He will be back next week. With me today we have Bobby Kravitsky

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

from Harvard Houdini and from Forbes.

[Evan Valenti]

Before we get to that make sure folks if you are listening to the audio version of this podcast, make sure you are subscribed the Celtics Beat feed. Whether it's on itunes, on Spotify, whatever, doesn't matter. Make sure you are subscribed. Leave us a review if you'd like. I can take all the criticism you want so if you Want to leave us some criticism? Totally fine. But leave us a review rating would be awesome. If you're watching us on YouTube.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Hello, how are you?

[Evan Valenti]

Please make sure you subscribe not only to the CLS Media Network YouTube page, but subscribe to the Celtics all access page on CLNs because we're gonna be coming at you a lot with a lot of post game interviews, of course the Garden report there, that entire crew of that they got going on. I was on Celtics daily the other day with Bobby Manning. That was a lot of fun recapping the season with Bobby. I went through some things with him. So you can subscribe to that. Listen to more of me if you would like. But see DLNs. We're going to be just absolutely going every single day plugging stuff, promoting stuff, throwing stuff at you on the YouTube channel, much like our Patriots guys, we're

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

coming at you ready for hopefully a long playoff run again. That's on YouTube for that.

[Evan Valenti]

And with that we welcome in Bobby. Bobby, what's going on? Best time of the year, buddy.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

You said it. I am so excited. It's crazy to me how quickly the regular season went by, but that always seems to be how it goes and the faster we can get to the playoffs, the better because as you said, best time of year. So. So I'm excited to get it started. We're already having a great play in tournament as the appetizer. Can't wait for the main entree.

[Evan Valenti]

We got a lot to talk about

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

here on today's program. No question about it. We'll do a little bit of a season recap later in the show. We'll get into some of the things that we like, didn't like from the regular season just to be. I'm going to do a little foreshadowing here. So a lot of things that we liked that happened during the regular season. A lot of dislikes. On this little preview for you, we'll

[Evan Valenti]

also get into this. We know the Celtics are going to play. That's why we waited until today to record this thing. The Celtics will play the 76ers in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

We'll get. We'll break that down a little bit later on in this program.

[Evan Valenti]

But before we get to anything, Bobby, what's your love language? Because Joe Missoula making some news this week with pft. Part of my take. Pmt.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Excuse me.

[Evan Valenti]

With his love language is violence. Is yours violence as well? I don't know if that's something I would brag about.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

It Is not. I mean, I enjoy watching the UFC every now and then. I'm not super locked in on it. Missoula, I could have told you that. I could have given you. What's his love language, violence or something along those lines. I think we understand where he comes from. As far as me, it's sports. That. That's my love language. That's my first love. So it's sports. It's that simple. Whatever it is, I'm probably at least some level of interested and down to watch it and consume it and all that. So for me, it's sports. For Joe, it's violence in a house that the guillotine. You always got to keep your head on a swivel. And you know, I don't think anything from those revelations was too surprising. I think that's part of the course.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I would say my. My love language is like more of like words of affirmation. But if yours is sports or violence

[Evan Valenti]

or whatever, I do like to just to that. That one moment when they.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

When him and Derrick White were on, was it Raw or Smackdown or whatever

[Evan Valenti]

like that might have been outside of

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

him, like winning the tro, like the NBA Finals and being on the float like the duck boats.

[Evan Valenti]

I think that might be the happiest

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I've ever seen Joe Missoula, like in my life. That was.

[Evan Valenti]

His smile was genuine.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

You know, he.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

He said he wanted to do more that if it's the off season, maybe he's throwing Derek over the barricade.

[Evan Valenti]

I got a feeling that's not going

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

to be his only appearance on something WWE related. I think they will lean into that as much as they can.

[Evan Valenti]

If they ever visit anywhere in the

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

New England area, I think he'll be there and I think that he'll.

[Evan Valenti]

I don't know, maybe you'll, you know, could he like, could he power bomb someone through a table or something? I don't know. I'm game for all of it. And the thing is, like, yo, he can. It's not like he can't actually fight.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

That guy is an MMA master, so you want to. He's Brazilian Jiu jitsu, I believe, which is nothing to be fooled around with, if you know what I'm talking about.

[Evan Valenti]

In a more serious matter, we do have some breaking news today that I'm

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

glad we waited a little bit to record this show.

[Evan Valenti]

Sham Sharania with the tweet of the day is a big one for Celtics fans. Quote just in the NBA and NBPA have ruled in favor of Lakers Luka Doncic and Pistons Kate Cunningham on their extraordinary circumstances. Circumstances challenge for the 65 game award rule making both eligible for all 20, 25 and 26 season honors such as MVP all NBA teams sources tell ESPN. So in your opinion Bobby, before we get into whether they should allow this or not, do you think this will affect Jalen's status as a first team all NBA player?

[Bobby Kravitsky]

I do. It's the Cade Cunningham of it all. If it was just Luca then I still think trying to forecast how voters are going to go that Jalen gets on and while he's certainly deserving and I would still put him on over Cade Cunningham and it might be as simple as enough voters looking at what Cade did, they also defied their expectations. His team came in first, the Celtics were second in the east and Cade had a converted MVP conversation caliber campaign. So I think ultimately, if I had to guess, I think that Cade is going to make first team all NBA and Jalen's going to be on the second. Maybe this missed time is what sways it in Jalen's favorite but I could see them again looking at just the general snapshot and siding with Cade.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

This is a tough one. I do feel for the voters on this one because the first team all NBA is like a really like a big snapshot of the who are the best of the best in the NBA that year.

[Evan Valenti]

And you look at the three automatics and you could and now that Luke

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

is eligible, I mean he's going to be automatic here. But the automatics are sga. It's Nikola Jokic and it's Victor Wemanyama. Those are without question.

[Evan Valenti]

I mean those guys were first team

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

OMBA guys as long as they met the the games played criteria.

[Evan Valenti]

And I would, I would throw Luca into this.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I think Luca played himself into a no doubt about it, first team all NBA selection along with probably coming in fourth place for the MVP voting at the end of the season here.

[Evan Valenti]

So I think you're right. It's a Jalen Brown versus Kate Cunningham decision. And you know there's a lot of things at play here with the on

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

off stuff we know is not friendly to Jalen Brown, the advanced metric stuff is not friendly to Jalen Brown.

[Evan Valenti]

I think if you're going to try and attempt to to make the Jalen Brown argument it is look at what this team lost last season and this guy carried a much bigger burden than

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

he ever has and this team came in second place in their conference and he played 71 games. Like this is a guy who

[Evan Valenti]

rarely

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

takes nights off, only started taking back to backs off later in the season when they got Jason Tatum back and a couple before that. So I'm not saying like but he

[Evan Valenti]

was an iron man all season, had

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

an incredibly heavy burden.

[Evan Valenti]

I'm not saying that that K did not but when you look at the talent loss last year versus this year, like that's is that the only leg Jalen really has to stand on here? Is it the defensive part of it and the narrative part of it? Because I'm as much as I love Jalen Brown and I've done a lot of like promoting for Jaylen Brown extremely hard is these in terms of like

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

what he's done this season.

[Evan Valenti]

I do think though having the one seed and being like the fulcrum point for the entire Pistons offense might have

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

a little more play here.

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[Bobby Kravitsky]

Yeah, the problem is a lot of the stuff you can say about Jalen you can also say about Cade. He's a two way player. So is Cade Cunningham. He doesn't shy from guarding top options when asked to do so and is a versatile dynamic defender and again, you know, leading this expectation defying season. So when you look at the numbers for Cade, it's 24 points rounding up it's 23.9. So I'll give them the tick up 9.9 assists. So pretty much a double double plus five and a half rebounds. For Jalen, you're looking at 28.7 6.9 rebounds. So we can call it seven and 5.1 assists. So career numbers on nearly 50% efficiency, the most drives in the game, the second most points off of drives while being one of the top scorers from the mid range which to balance that is so taxing. But he did it like you said, 71 games consistently and it's why he was able to grow as a facilitator and just draw so much attention throughout the course of a game and then create quality opportunities for his teammates. So he took a huge leap. He showed anyone who didn't think he could be this caliber of a player with more responsibility that they were dead wrong about it. But at the same time, again, you know, you talk about playing both sides of the ball and having this well rounded impact on the game. It also applies to Cade Cunningham and simply put, his team finishing ahead of the Celtics in the standings. That's probably enough to persuade more voters to go with him over Jaylen Brown in this conversation.

[Evan Valenti]

Here's, here's the argument I'm going to.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I'm going to attempt to try and make here.

[Evan Valenti]

And the argument is Jalen took a bigger leap from last year to this year than K did. I'm not saying that Kate is not

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

like an awesome player, but like last year, Kate came in seventh place in the MVP voting. Okay? So it's not like this guy wasn't capable of having an awesome season.

[Evan Valenti]

He made the third team all NBA last year.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Jalen did not make a team last year.

[Evan Valenti]

So like my. I guess my old. I'm. I'm doing the best I can to

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

try and see if we can find a way to get Jalen on this first team.

[Evan Valenti]

All, like, Jalen's gonna make an all NBA team.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

There's no question about that. Question is first or second team?

[Evan Valenti]

And again, I think the leap that Jalen made, I mean, you're looking at Cade last year, he's averaging 26 a game, nine rebounds, nine assists, six rebounds. This year, you know, 24 a game, 10 assists. We'll give him the 5.5. So we can bump that up to six, I guess, if you want. So, you know, he went back in a little bit, went up in a little bit in a couple different categories,

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

but relatively a similarly effective player versus Jalen, making the. I'm the first option on a team, you know, for the first time in my life for the entire season.

[Evan Valenti]

Like, I don't know, minutes played. Jalen's got about 300 more minutes played than Cade does. I wonder if they'll factor that into

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

the equation a little bit because that's

[Evan Valenti]

not an insignificant amount of time. You know, I. There's no. Like, in my opinion, both guys are awesome. Both guys had killer seasons, I think. Is the seven more games, is that gonna really matter that much here? Probably not. But man, like, I almost feel like it's. It's like it's. It's not cheating Jalen out of a great year, but like, man, like, I don't know. He had a first team all NBA type season, but there's just so many other guys that are also having that type of year. It's just kind of unfortunate. Because like the other three guys, the other four guys are unassailable. Now that Luca has been, has been cleared and Cade's been cleared, that's a different story. But when Luca was cleared and they were going to allow him to have the exception, like there's a. Those are four slam dunk. No question about it. All NBA guys, the three guys that are above them are, are battling out for mvp. Like Jokic might come in third and he led the league in rebounds and assists simultaneously. Like just mind blowing stuff. So I don't know how to really like I, I don't want to see this devalues Jalen season because it's been an exceptional season. He just ran into a season where guys are having ridiculous years and for Jalen he had his best season of all time and is significantly raised the ceiling of this team. But I don't know, I don't know if he'll be able to crack that. Those first top five guys, it's so

[Bobby Kravitsky]

tough because from a general perspective, as you said earlier, you want this to as accurately as possible tell the story of the season so people can look back in time and they can say who were the five best and they can point to the all NBA first team at this. So Cade being eligible for it is great and the right decision in my opinion. At the same time, Jalen had an all NBA first team caliber campaign and from a general sense he deserves a spot on there. But then when you whittle it down and it's him against Cade, the two points that you made that I was going to bring up are the minutes, not the games like you said. 71 verse 64 I don't think that moves the needle for people, but when it's 300 minutes, that's one and two. Do people just look at Jaylen Brown and I think this is less about. He certainly grew within this opportunity and this experience he got this season. But I think it's more about someone showcasing what was always there, what he's had to sacrifice for the sake of the collective and what they viewed as giving themselves their best bet at going after championships with Jayson Tatum in the fold. And so to be able to sacrifice like that for all these years and then make this leap that we rarely see a decade into someone's career, do people ultimately reward him for leading this expectation defying season from the Celtics and put him on over Cade? The problem there is that Cade has a lot of these attributes. Maybe it's to a lesser degree, but certainly people didn't think the Pistons would finish atop the Eastern Conference, and he's obviously the focal point of that success and an MVP candidate as well. So, again, I think it's Cade, but it does feel like Jalen is kind of getting the short end of the stick and getting robbed because he just, you know, you can only have five spots, but he had an all NBA first team caliber season.

[Evan Valenti]

You mentioned that you don't have a

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

problem with either of the designations in terms of, like, Cade getting him on the team and Luca, for him getting him on the team. I just feel like this is a slippery slope here. I think this is, like, maybe the, the, the. The tipping point. And I've almost been so sick of this conversation because everybody's having it, but

[Evan Valenti]

it just feels like this particular point

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

of this 65 game rule, if we're

[Evan Valenti]

gonna allow stuff, then what's the point of the rule?

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Right?

[Evan Valenti]

Like, if, if, if, if these guys are going to be able to make exceptions for games missed, then why the

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

hell is this rule even around in the first place?

[Evan Valenti]

So, like, for those of you that don't like the 65 game rule, I'm.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I'm sort of on the other side of that fence. But for those of you that don't like it, I think this is the point in time where we're going to

[Evan Valenti]

look at this and say, all right, this rule needs to be fixed because this isn't clear.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

This clearly isn't working. If we're going to make, you know, make destinations for guys, you know, missing games and whatever, like Simmons has been pointing out.

[Evan Valenti]

Well, if, you know, if Luca really cared about playing games, he should have

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

gotten 16 technical files.

[Evan Valenti]

So he had to miss a game for that. Like, like, we shouldn't have. We shouldn't do that.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

They should. But here we are.

[Evan Valenti]

Like, they couldn't drag their feet and

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

they said to make a decision because

[Evan Valenti]

votes got to get in. But at the same time, like, I just, I feel like if you're gonna allow this, then you're gonna have to allow other stuff.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

And I mean, we gotta re. We gotta redo this rule then, because it doesn't make any sense.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Yeah. And maybe it's not even about 60 games versus 65. Maybe it's about minutes compared to.

[Evan Valenti]

That's the only one I can figure out. Like, it's like an easy solution.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

This is like, okay, it's no longer

[Evan Valenti]

about games, plants, minutes, but totally.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

But ultimately, the thing that I care about most is again, having as accurate a snapshot as possible. If the voters get it wrong. In the public's eyes, that's one thing. But I think Cade Cunningham shouldn't be expunged from this season with the year that he had and from all these records. And then the same goes, you know, Luka Doncic. I didn't know if that 16th technical was going to be held against him in this review process and they'd ultimately decide that you're not eligible for these awards. But again, when you talk about him being fourth for mvp, I'd like him in the record books. And with him, it's a little different than Cade because there's going to be a higher volume of seasons where people can see how excellent he was. But nonetheless, I'd like for every season to be as accurate as possible. And that's why it's not great news for Jaylen Brown today. But I do, from a general sense and a historical perspective, I like the idea that Cade Cunningham, who got the 64 games, by the way, and Luka Doncic, that they are both eligible.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Yeah, I'm just quickly trying to look up totals just because I think like again, the argument of, you know, If Jalen's playing 71 games versus, you know, Cade's 64 with 300 more minutes played, like, obviously he's probably going to have accumulated more stats. And that's for me, like, you know,

[Evan Valenti]

it's not a small thing here.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

So it's like one of these things

[Evan Valenti]

where I try and you tell yourself

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[Evan Valenti]

Take a step back and say impact

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

wise, do all these totals.

[Evan Valenti]

You know, like, it's like we'll have John Grady on here all the time. And he always likes to think about

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

things a little bit differently.

[Evan Valenti]

So sometimes he'll do total points scored

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

or most field goals scored or something

[Evan Valenti]

like that versus averages because it's a better way. It's like you can average 25 points a game.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

If you play only 10 games, like your average is still going to be 25 points, yet at the same time

[Evan Valenti]

you only scored, you know, 250 versus somebody else that averages 26 a game or 22 a game, but they play

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

in way more games.

[Evan Valenti]

We have way more totals. So I think he's always had an interesting perspective on that. And I again, I think if you're gonna make the narrative choice for Jalen Brown in part or the choice of the other part of it's going to be narrative.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

The other part I think is going

[Evan Valenti]

to be just stat accumulation. And I'm trying to pull it up

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

at this moment to try and, you know, show the difference. But I think that's the only way this gets, this gets done. Where he passes K. Yeah.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

And look, Randy's a statistical beast. So that is a, a smart way to look at it is to go and examine what's the difference in totals here compared to just the averages because they can be skewed and, and it's tough because some of the advanced metrics, they don't really point in Jalen's favor. I'm trying to look up right now the difference in wind shares between him and Cade, but if it was my vote that it came down to, I would have Jalen Brown all NBA first team over Cunningham. But you know, I'm being a broken record here. I ultimately think when he leads Detroit to the top seed in the east and also has an MVP caliber season and is also a two way player and makes an impact on the glass, even that I think 64 games, even with the difference in minutes being something of note, I think ultimately if I'm trying to forecast it, that more of these voters are going to side with Cade Cunningham and reward him for his season. And what he led to led Detroit to, excuse me, compared to what Jalen did for Boston. Even though I think more of the surprising feel good storyline resides with Jaylen Brown.

[Evan Valenti]

Yeah.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

And you know, look, it's at this

[Evan Valenti]

point you're looking at two guys that

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

are awesome, had great seasons, worthy of all these accolades and it's just a bummer that somebody's got to miss it again. We were all hopeful for maybe Jaylen Brown sneaking in at this particular point here on Thursday, April 16. I do not think Jaylen is going

[Evan Valenti]

to make that, but we have way more to talk about here on this show.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Coming up after the break, we'll hear from our friends over at Prize picks. We'll come after the break. We're going to talk about the Philadelphia 76ers. They are your first round matchup, the

[Evan Valenti]

Boston Celtics and just some of the coolest things that happened this season because a lot of things did happen this year that Were, I think out of the ordinary, including Jaylen Brown. So all that more coming next. But first, let's take a quick break

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

through our friends over at prospects.

[Evan Valenti]

Quick break to tell you. Today's show is powered by prize picks. The playoff push heating up. There's no better way to cash in with the high flying hoops action than on prize picks, America's number one sports pick app. Every bucket, dime, every win means more

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

when you're playing on prize fix and

[Evan Valenti]

the brand new team picks markets you could now pick game winners, spreads and totals on top of the player picks you already know. So cash. And if you're right, during all the clutch buckets, the slam dunks and the Cinderellas this spring with team picks on prize picks, we have Bobby with us here for prize picks. And look, Bobby, on the level with you, I use what we call flex play, which means I only have to get two of these three right to get my money back. And if I hit all three of my lineup, I 3x my money. So you see what I'm getting at here. I know it's a little confusing, but with you 2 out of 3 money back, 3 out of 3, 3x my money. So that's what we try and do. We're trying to get base hits and doubles and sometimes get a home run. Essentially the story of the 2018 Red Sox. So with our flex play Friday, we're doing our play in flex play Friday. We're going to start with Steph Curry. Steph Curry, more than 27 and a half points versus Phoenix. That's number one of our lineup. Anthony Black, more than 0.5 made threes versus the Hornets. That's number two. And number three, Con Caneple, Carpool Khan, more than eight rebounds and assists vers the Magic. Any one of those three that you don't like, any one of those three that you love, just lay on me real quick.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

So there's none that I love. I'll tell you that off the rip. But when it comes to what I like, it's the latter two. Anthony Black, I think that he's going to knock down a three in this game. He made one the other night against the Sixers. I think he gets you one and comes through and I'd be willing to sprinkle some pizza money on Con Knippel because it's the combination of rebounds and assists. If it's just one of those, I'm not touching it. But together I think he hits that mark. Who doesn't love to see Steph go nuclear But I'm going to stay away from the 27 because I think the Suns throw the kitchen sink at him.

[Evan Valenti]

Yeah, I, I totally agree with that. I'm just, I'm very pro Curry after the 2022 finals where he went absolutely ridiculous. I just don't count him out of a play like a play in like

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

win or go home sort of situation.

[Evan Valenti]

Anthony Black, I just feel like they're going to target Lamelo all the time on offense and I think he might just luck into a three at some point. And then Khan, you're right. Like this one, this one.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Of all the, the three of them.

[Evan Valenti]

The fact that it's the combo helps. And if you go back to that last game where he was awful against,

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

you know, a Miami team that was

[Evan Valenti]

whatever, he had six combined. So I'm hoping that he gets a

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

little bit more playing time and he can bump that up again.

[Evan Valenti]

If I hit 3 out of 3, I 3x my money. If I get 2 out of 3, get my money back. And getting your money could have been easier with prize picks. Little as 15 minutes. Just watch it roll into your account. I use Venmo. It's like the easiest thing ever. You can use your checking account like whatever.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

It's all, all super easy.

[Evan Valenti]

And if somehow your lineup's on fire and it looks like you're gonna, you know, you're gonna be able to cash out, you might be able to cash out early and save yourself. Unlike one time that I decided to let it ride and Jalen came up

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

and it's just short. That was really annoying.

[Evan Valenti]

You hopefully have better luck than I do. So Download the Prize Picks app today, use the code CLNS and get $50 in lineups after you play your first five dollars. Again, that's code CLNS. You get $50 in lineups after YOU play your first five dollar lineup with prize picks. Prize Picks Predict is a registered FCM offering team picks and culture picks as event contracts. Trading involves significant risks. Not for all. The content provided is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation to trade any commodity interest, or an offer to open an account. CLNS and Celtic Speed is not registered with the CFTC or nfa. Prize Picks Predict does not endorse or guarantee any statements made by third party promoters or influencers. Please consult with a qualified professional before making any trading decisions. Evan Valenti with Bobby Krivitsky here on Celtic Speed. Just talking about again, Jalen probably not going to make first team on the

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

NBA because of Sean seams with the official tweet that Luca and Kate are going to be eligible for postseason awards.

[Evan Valenti]

Got into that a little bit.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

We don't need to labor that point anymore. We both believe that Jalen Brown is probably going to miss first team on the at this point.

[Evan Valenti]

But last night we had a fun game to watch. I should say Wednesday night Philadelphia and the Orlando Magic. Did you have a preference here, Bobby, in terms of what team you would have preferred Boston to play? Because I thought it was obvious to me if I had to pick a team, I'd rather play Philly over Orlando. What say you?

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[Bobby Kravitsky]

travel to Philly than Orlando. It's much easier on me personally. So from that standpoint, sure, from an opponent standpoint, the Celtics should be able to handle business relatively efficiently against either side. I think the concern that people have with facing Orlando is the physicality and some of the stuff that went on last season. Obviously Kentavius, Caldwell Pope, who grabbed Jason Tatum by the wrist is not there anymore, but that is still a big physical defense that prides itself on playing that way when they're locked in and right it doesn't always look like that and it didn't always look like that last night. But you know, in a first round series, if they were to have beaten Philly, perhaps that would be up to standard for them and so that would be the concern there go when it comes to Philly, we can dive further in on this later, but it's different because it's not physicality, it's the speed and the combination of trying to contain Tyrese Maxey and Vijay Edgecombe in particular. So it's a different opponent. It's almost like there was some concern about if the Celtics had a rematch with the Pacers last postseason. It's I don't know if this team is ideally suited to try and corral Indiana, obviously, roster changes and all that, but I think you understand the comparison. So from a I would Rather, from a Celtics standpoint, go see the Sixers than Orlando. But ultimately, you can't think that way if you're a team and if you're actually in the arena. So I think the Celtics, they've said all along, we'll play who we play. Whether that's, we see the Knicks again down the line or anyone else that might be in our path, it doesn't matter. And again, I think either draw is an opponent that should be able to. The Celtics should be able to get through relatively efficiently.

[Evan Valenti]

Yeah, I mean, if you look at

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

that last game of the season, the fact that Boston beat Orlando with Baylor Shireman and Ron Harper Jr. And Luca

[Evan Valenti]

Garza, like, like, I, like I, you know, that's just not a great look

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

if you're Orlando, in Orlando, just.

[Evan Valenti]

I don't know what happened with Paolo Banchero.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

The guy that I watched the playoffs last year being absolute monster, and the guy that I'm currently watching are two different guys. Maybe it is just a toxic locker room. They got to really reset everything. But I was with you. I said it weeks ago when, you know, you were looking ahead and trying to figure out what, what Boston was going to play. And we, you know, everybody was on the don't want to play Charlotte bandwagon, which I think is valid considering their style of play. And Charles Lee head coaches. Charlotte knows kind of what you want to do.

[Evan Valenti]

But I, I said Orlando at that point for that exact same reason. I mean, I, I, I think one of the things that people have forgotten about is a reason, one of the reasons why Boston lost to New York,

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

amongst a lot of other things.

[Evan Valenti]

They were absolutely dead tired, A, and physically hurt. B. I mean, we don't, we, we, I mean, Porzingis is still dealing with whatever this illness is. Jason Tatum was hurt in that Orlando series. Jason Jalen Brown had a bad knee that he was just playing through. That was not like, that was not a really, you know, totally healthy Celtics team. And I would just prefer not to play a team in Orlando that's going to try and muck things up to try and bring you down to their level to make this work. I, I don't, I don't blame them for doing that, necessarily. I just don't, I don't prefer to watch that. Meanwhile, this Philly team is significantly more fun to watch as an, as, like a lay basketball fan. Just as a guy watching basketball, they're way more fun to watch. Their guys are way more fun to watch. And you want, if you went back to that Game Wednesday night. Like, the magic in Philly, like, kind of got into a little bit like, like in the middle of that game. It was an intense game. And if you. As long as boss doesn't see anything, any. Any, Any iota or minute of Gogo Batatze, because the stuff he did, I forget it was against, I think, Atlanta, where he pulled something shady, tried to hurt somebody. Yeah. And I'm like, dude, that's the exact reason why I said this. Like, I don't. I don't need this clown, this guy who's just in there to, like, kind of muck things up. I don't need him to do this to this Boston team. When Boston's been on the right side

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

of the injury bug this year, I'm

[Evan Valenti]

gonna knock on all the wood humanly possible currently, but like, that, I don't. I don't need that in my life so much. Like you, I'd much rather watch a. A series against Philadelphia and you look at the regular season matchups against the Sixers. First game of the year, right out of the gate.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Played Philly in a tough loss. Boston. Philly split the season series two games apiece.

[Evan Valenti]

Do you make anything of these games? Like, I got a bunch of notes on all four games. Boston won the. The regular season series by 14 points. Boston didn't really shoot it that well. Like, what do you infer from these four games in the regular season? Anything at all?

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Yeah. So I put out last night the tale of the tape with the numbers from the season series and how they stack up to both teams season averages. But to be totally honest, not really.

[Evan Valenti]

It's just.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

It's so different when you're squaring off three out of the four times early in the season, guys aren't there anymore, even from the last time they. They faced each other. Significant changes when you look at Jayson Tatum just getting progressively more comfortable to what's happened to Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. So even significant changes just since the last time that these two teams met, something that we didn't need to see on opening night. For me and anyone that knows Vijay Edgecombe to tell you this, he's not afraid of the moment. He's a young rookie, but trust me, he's not going to be on the parquet in the playoffs. Rattled by the atmosphere or whatever is unfolding on the court. And so he came in and had numbers that we hadn't seen from a rookie since Wilt Chamberlain in that game and was phenomenal, including in the Fourth quarter, you know, he might not shoot it well, he might not play well. It's not going to be a product of nerves or him being rattled or losing confidence. That's a fearless competitor out there. And so the Sixers, they're going to be leaning on him to help support Tyrese Maxey enough to make this at least as competitive a series as possible.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Yeah, you go Back to game one, an outrageous debut for VJ Edgecomb. Him and Maxi combined for 74 points on 50% shooting from the field.

[Evan Valenti]

I, I do want to you point out, I love this fact, you pointed this out like these teams are way different guys that played in that game, in the game one against the Sixers, Josh Minot, Chris Boucher, Xavier Tillman and Anthony Simons, those guys are on the roster anymore. So if you want to know where

[Bobby Kravitsky]

we are,

[Evan Valenti]

that's the one that is the biggest point. If you look at the four games these two teams played, Jason Damon didn't

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

play in any of them.

[Evan Valenti]

Embiid played in half of them. And the games that he played and he wasn't particularly great in those games. They were, you know, three of the four were very close. The last one of the year was more of the blowout variety. Boston did not shoot the ball particularly

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

well against Philly this year.

[Evan Valenti]

43 from the field, 31 from three point range, 81 from the line. It's a 54 true shooting percentage, which would probably doom you most of the time. But the thing that really, and it's the story of the season for me, like Boston out rebounded Philly in most of these games and per game out rebounded Philly by 10 per game. And that really is skewed by the last game, the season where they just crushed Philly on the boards. So if you're asking yourself the question, Bobby, how you can you shoot 31 from three, have a 54 true shooting percentage and win two games is because you kill them on the glass. So you look at things that are made transferable, translatable from this to that. That's one stat right there. The rebounding stuff, you know, with the stuff that we've seen all season long, you know, Bobby, that's not going away.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Yeah, I'm glad you locked in on this. It's one of the most important and in the Sixers case, damning stats in this matchup. They are one of the worst teams at keeping opponents off the offensive glass. They allow 12.1 second chance opportunities per game. That ranks 27th in the NBA. So you can have poor shooting nights. If you're the Celtics and this is a team that crashes the glass as aggressively as anyone in the league, they're going to be able to make up for that by an appreciable margin. And so this is also a Sixes team that, by the way, they will give you the three ball they allow the 19th most in the league in terms of attempts. That combination, to me is fatal against a team with an approach like the Celtics, where you're going to yield a high volume of threes and not keep them off the glass. That alone spells a loss, whether we're talking a singular game or the series as a whole. So to me, I think Philadelphia, who allows the 24th most second chance points per game, not being able to shore that up. And now the very real possibility they don't have Joel Embiid at all in this series to help with that. Andre Drummond, he's not someone that rebounds outside of his area for as big as he is, as effective on the glass as he can be. And their other guys are undersized for the most part. So to me, this is a Sixers team that I don't know if there is a solution, quite frankly, that's going to be effective enough against the Celtics or most teams that they could have conceivably ran into. So I think they're going to have a lot of problems there. And if you're the Celtics and you continue to not shoot well against them, at least you have something to be able to atone for it by a significant margin.

[Evan Valenti]

Yeah, that's. You would have to expect that Philly will at least attempt to crash the glass more than they have in the

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

previous meetings of the season and more than they have throughout the entire season.

[Evan Valenti]

Because again, Boston, that's how they've. They found a way to sort of gain the possession battle anyway they possibly can. They've averaged more steals this year.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Obviously, the rebounding is a big deal.

[Evan Valenti]

So in order to combat that, I would expect Philly to try and send

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

more guys to the glass and see how that works.

[Evan Valenti]

But, you know, Boston is so good at spreading you out, which I've talked about a couple times on this show, which is like for me, when you have Tatum or Brown or sometimes both

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

of the guys in the game at

[Evan Valenti]

the same time, and you have Shireman and Hauser and. And Pritchard who extend you all the way out to 30ft. And I'm not saying, like, these guys do it every once in a while. No, no. These guys are like running to shots 30ft away from the basket, pulling up with a ton of confidence and hitting

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

that shot regular, regularly.

[Evan Valenti]

They're going to spread you out so much that it's going to be easy to lose them on on offensive rebounds. And Boston loves the fact that like Tatum is going to try and pull Andre Drum out of the paint like is you talk about a guy that's a little stationary. Drummond's coming out. Like they're gonna find Drummond on a pick and roll or they're doing a pick and switch so they'll bring him out. They didn't switch on a Tatum, so their best rebounder in terms of size will no longer be in the paint. Tatum will bring him out, then they'll he'll hoist the three which people hate. But it's the reason why they do this. There's a reason why the Lamello does this too with with the the Hornets. By the way, why do you think Diabate is so good at some of

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

these offensive rebound opportunities?

[Evan Valenti]

Giving you a heads up on that, but it's to bring him out. So now you're playing four on four with four guys that are used to

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

crashing glass like this with, with Kate in the middle of it all.

[Evan Valenti]

Shireman coming from nowhere, Jalen Brown using

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

his physicality like it's just one of

[Evan Valenti]

these things that's gonna probably play out in Boston's favor. And as you try and like game this out a little bit, I've thought about a few things in terms of how Philly might be able to steal this thing. The number one without question has to happen Maxine Edgecomb. Have to be out of this world. Good. I mean it can't just be Tyrese Maxey. It's got to be Tyrus Maxey. Maybe it's a combination of VJ one night and Paul George another night.

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[Evan Valenti]

how it's going to work out, but two of those guys have to be amazing at all times. This to work out really well. Boston's going to continue not shoot the ball so well. Like Derrick White did not have a great three point shooting year against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first game, but he was what, 4 of 13 from three point range in that game.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Not the best for Derrick White, but

[Evan Valenti]

other than that, somebody's got to be able to check the Jays. And I've said this on this show for several years, so if you've been a, a person that's watched this show,

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

this is not going to be surprising to you.

[Evan Valenti]

I, I've never in my life ever sweated the Sixers in the series because since they've had Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid in their, you know, earlier years

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

and they were doing all these battles

[Evan Valenti]

in the playoffs, the 76ers have never had a person that could check either Jaylen Brown or Jason Tatum. And I know Paul George in his prime was a great defender, but I don't think anybody on that team is

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

capable of defending those guys one on

[Evan Valenti]

one, which is going to make your life absolutely hell if you can't guard

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

them one on one.

[Evan Valenti]

Because if you try to, Jalen and Jason are just going to pick on whatever guys you want and if you send help, well, Boston's going to be

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

bombs away from three point range and

[Evan Valenti]

probably going to make a lot of those. Am I wrong here?

[Bobby Kravitsky]

No, you're spot on. And here's the problem for applying this to Philly specifically now is that it really does take a team to try and slow those guys down, but they will weaponize that and use it against you. And so let's say that Kelly Oubre is doing a great job defending either one of Tatum or Brown. Individually, the Celtics are one of the most effective screen setting teams in the league, especially their bigs guys like Namish K and Luca Garza. We could talk about his minutes if we want compared to Vuch. But the bottom line is this is a team that is excellent at dislodging that primary defender. So it almost doesn't matter if that player is doing a great job because they're going to create a numbers advantage out of that situation. And now like you said, if Drummond wants to stay in a drop, then they're going to capitalize on that. If he wants to come up, he's obviously lunch meat. And this is not a Sixes team that has the size outside of him to protect the rim. So it's just, it's such a huge problem for this Sixers personnel. And the last part I'll bring up about the offensive rebounding equation here, it's so tough because they use your momentum against you. What I mean, by that is let's say that Baylor Scheiderman is in the corner and you have a defender who has to be in between him and the rim. So now Baylor Shireman is running downhill essentially at a player who's flat footed or close to it. And to try and box someone out like that is very difficult. And that's why these teams, they study it, they know what's coming, but they really don't slow it down because it's just, it's physics really. It's that difficult to keep them off the glass. So the Celtics, they have all these ways to attack the Sixers that you would think they're able to score enough points against this version of Philly in particular where they might not have Embiid Maxi is not shooting well since the finger injury and they just don't have the offensive firepower to. To keep pace.

[Evan Valenti]

Do you think this even matters if

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Embiid plays or not? I think this is curtains either way.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

I agree. I don't think that sways things. But just when he's healthy and he's out there, how effectively he still is from the mid range, his ability to rack up foul trouble for opponents, that's the type of stuff that could at least extend a series. It could help win Philadelphia a game. But again with how long he'll have missed and what it could potentially look like when he comes back after a layoff. I don't know if they even would get that version of him. It's possible, but they might not.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I forget what game it was. It's one of The Embiid had 20 points in one of the two games that he played in, but he scored

[Evan Valenti]

20 points, but he was minus 18 on the floor. So it's like he. Bailey basically scored two points in terms of his effectiveness on the game. The flip side, you know, we talk about how the hell are is Philly

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

going to guard the Jays and the way that Boston's going to run their offense and all these things.

[Evan Valenti]

I do think Boston has a bunch of dudes to throw at Maxi and

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Edgecomb to make their life difficult.

[Evan Valenti]

Like I do think you're going to see Jordan Walsh probably in this series.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I think he could do a great job on either one of those guys.

[Evan Valenti]

Walsh, his, his real like secret sauce

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

has been his ability to guard down a little bit. Not necessarily up against bigger guys, but

[Evan Valenti]

guard these quicker guards. I mean I first and foremost, I love Tyrese Maxey.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

If you've listened to the show, I'm a huge Maxi Guy, I think he's

[Evan Valenti]

either the best or like at worst, like the third best north south guy in basketball with like de' Aaron Fox and Shay. It's not, it's a very, very, very, very, very small list of guys that get north south quicker than Tyrese Maxey. And Edgecomb, I think is kind of

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

built in a similar vein. A guy that just loves getting north south and gets in the basket and absorbs contact and all that stuff.

[Evan Valenti]

But they're going to have probably Jordan Walsh to throw out some people. Obviously Jalen and Jason are gonna be

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

their own, their own, you know, pit bulls. Derek White is one of the best defensive guards in the league, no question.

[Evan Valenti]

And if they need to go this way, Hugo Gonzalez is just a pain in the ass. And I know he hasn't played a lot lately because they've been really hammering their playoff rotation down. It looks like Ugo not going to quite be a main fixture in it, but he's a guy that I steal the. Brad Stevens isn't that. He says this, he said this a lot just to shake up the snow globe a little bit. Oh, here, here's a little Hugo Gonzalez to come in and guard you 94ft. Like that's not going to be fun either. So you look at some of the strengths of Philadelphia. Paul George could be, you know, maybe a little bit of a problem. Well put one of the J's on. I'm probably going to be okay. They have two great guards that are really athletic. They go north and south very quickly. Well, Boston kind of has a bunch of guys they can throw at. Maxing Edgecomb, maybe the, you know, the 15 pick and roll they try. Like you look, go back to the, the Philly. Not the Philly, the, the Knicks with Brunson and Cat. Like how Brunson can get, you know,

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

a guy like Keda in jail pretty quickly.

[Evan Valenti]

You know, maybe that's something. But I, I, I don't, I just don't think Philly has the horses offensively

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

to compete with how good defensively this Boston Sellers team can be.

[Evan Valenti]

I know they weren't number one rated defense in terms of defensive rating, but they did have the number one defense

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

in terms of points per game this year.

[Evan Valenti]

And like there's reasons why they have a lot of pit bulls on this

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

team that can go after small guards like that.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Yeah, the secret sauce for the Celtics has been that they play hard every second of the game and they rely on their depth to sustain that. But they consistently are the harder playing team out there on the floor. And so I think that certainly doesn't change. This is a group that is still hungry to prove themselves with more opportunities and in terms of Tatum's case, to get back to being the player he was. And in terms of the collective, as they said at practice the other day, they recognize they have an opportunity to do something special here. That doesn't mean they're the favorites, but they're the favorites in the east, in my opinion, and for good reason. And so when it comes to at the heart of the identity, being a team that plays that way and has all these pit bulls, that lends itself to Joe Missoula sicking these guys on Tyrese Maxey and Vijay Edgecomb in particular. And you're right, Maxey, even with the finger injury, his turnover rate hasn't changed at all. He's still able to get to his spots. So he's not shooting well, but that's still a lot of speed coming at you. It's certainly not a foot injury or slowing him down. I wonder. I think the Celtics look at it and say ultimately, if we're giving up twos and we're obviously going to try and contain that as well, but if we're giving up twos, keeping them off the line and doing well on the glass, then we're in pretty good shape, even just from a math equation perspective. So it's going to be interesting to see them cycle through as they try to manage the course of a game and sustain everyone's workloads. I think you need to be smart about Derek White and how much you're exhausting him at the defensive end of the floor against Maxi in particular. But certainly when it matters most and at the start of games, they'll trust him there and then, like you said, they have all these different options to go through. People might not love this idea, but Shireman has done well against guys that are faster than him because he wins with anticipation and has such an impressive feel for the game. Ugo, I don't think has done well against the speedier players. Even Brunson doesn't fit into that category, but is certainly a smaller guard who he's done well against. It's those guys who are quicker off the dribble sometimes. Like even it's an interesting name to bring up, but it's just a memory from this season that is seared into my brain is Joe brought him off the bench to go shut down Jaden Ivy and he was having trouble with that because Ivy is quicker off the bounce and so that's going to be interesting to see. It doesn't mean he won't get these opportunities. And credit to him, he has stayed ready. When his number, number gets called and he comes in cold and he's got to go, just wreak havoc out there. He's been able to do that. Walsh has been able to do that. So I'm thinking initially more Walsh than Gonzalez, especially when it comes to guarding those players in the backcourt. But you're right, the strength is having the numbers and the options to be able to one, manage guys like Derrick White and Jaylen Brown and and to just sustain the level of effort that they play with over the course of 48 minutes. And in this case, an entire series.

[Evan Valenti]

Yeah.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

If you look at the two games that the Sixers won this year, we talked about outlier shooting performances. Again, Edgecomb and Maxi are outrageous. In Game 1, Game 3, Boston lost 102 to 100. The Sixers bench was ridiculous in that game. Justin Edwards and Quentin grimes combined for 40, and Edwards had his second best game of the year.

[Evan Valenti]

I think he had 22 in that game. I think it was 22 or something like that.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

And now look, he. He's been out of the rotation as they've hammered it down. So.

[Evan Valenti]

Yeah. Do we even see him?

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Yeah, I don't know. Derrick White again, 18 points and 9 and 20 shooting, not a great night for him. Pritchard was 2 and 9.

[Evan Valenti]

So, like, you know, shooting wise, they

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

didn't have a great night and still only lost by two. And some guys had some otherworldly nights. I mean, Simon's had a great night in that third game, but Boston collectively shot at 31 from three in that game. Then if you go back to the game, March 1, Brown, 27, Kata's best game of the year, 27 points and

[Evan Valenti]

17 rebounds, did a little bit of everything. It was their 40th win of the season.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

They had just missed out on 40, 20. They were 39 and 20 hit in that game. So they didn't technically hit 40, 20, but still kind of got there. But again, I.

[Evan Valenti]

If you had to put a gun in my head, you know, I'm probably

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

going to say season five, you know, I, if I had to make a prediction with like my wife depended on it. Are you five or six?

[Evan Valenti]

I don't think.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I don't think it's going to be a sweep.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

So I'm at five. And it's interesting because the Sixers beat. When you look at their predictions, multiple members of that Group think it's going to be a sweep. And when you look at Max, he's not shooting well and beat is out, at least for the time being and just they don't have the depth, the resources. Paul George, it certainly helped him from a legs perspective. That was even on the broadcast that he was dealing with some nagging knee related stuff when the suspension hit. So this has helped him on that front. But you saw him yesterday, it wasn't like he took over the game at any stretch of it. So to me, Philadelphia, with the vulnerabilities that come with their lack of size, to have a center rotation of Andre Drummond and Adam Bona is not optimal or ideal. So to me, I look at the Sixers and again to circle back to that combination of we give up a ton of threes and we don't keep teams off the glass and we're playing the Celtics, I think they're in trouble. I ultimately think that, you know, I'm just willing to call this a gentleman sweep, but it would not surprise me at all. I'm more inclined to say sweep than

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

six if I had to pick like an important guy. I think we both narrowed like focused in on Derrick White, kind of trying to find Derrick White again a little bit. It just hasn't been the best shooting year for him.

[Evan Valenti]

He does all everything else. Like, I'm not trying to give him

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

like a bunch of crap, but if Boston's gonna win, you know, you go back to the, the title year where Drew Holliday became their third best player. Like you're gonna need Derek White to play like your third best player, I think, to win the whole thing. And this is a good way to get him started, I think, on some smaller guards that, you know, might aren't as good defensively as some of the guys he's going to face in later rounds.

[Evan Valenti]

So Boston, Philly, that's coming at you Sunday, 1 o', clock, first game.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Super pumped.

[Evan Valenti]

Can't wait.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

We've been waiting all regular season for

[Evan Valenti]

this and it just, it's fitting that

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

it's Philly because the, all the battles they've had previously.

[Evan Valenti]

I think the Jays, what are they, 40 against Philly in their career or something like that? They've, they've handled Philly with routine ease. There was that one James Harden time where things got a little tight.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

But Tatum, that was coming down to a rough looking fourth quarter in Philly before Jason Tatum just flipped the switch.

[Evan Valenti]

Yeah. And then the game, game seven. 50 ball, 52, 50 ball.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

And can I tell you something, I walked by James Harden before that game. The last place he wanted to be was TD Garden. You could see it in his eyes that he was not about to show up and save the day.

[Evan Valenti]

Was there a gentleman's club nearby that you'd rather be at?

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

You know, is there?

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Is there?

[Evan Valenti]

Yeah.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Or maybe it was just coming from.

[Evan Valenti]

Yeah, right. I'm not.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I'm not up to.

[Evan Valenti]

I'm not up to the date on the. The. The gentleman's club scene in Boston. So you have to educate.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Might able to give some very specific details.

[Evan Valenti]

I don't know if they lemon pepper

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

wings there or not, but it would have been. It would have been pretty good.

[Evan Valenti]

Let's just put a.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

You know, we have to go crazy on this. But as you know, the season is. The regular season is over. As everybody has talked about, it was

[Evan Valenti]

way better than anybody could have expected

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

out of this group.

[Evan Valenti]

I said, at the beginning of the year, it's gonna be your development. It's going to be about finding who's going to be a part of Banner 19 or a team that makes championship runs, not thinking they could make one. This year, 56 wins. We had Greeny on the beginning of the year, and he gave us, like, the three. Here's a good outcome, Here's a, you know, a great outcome, and here's a not so great outcome. We went way beyond that, shattered that. That's not even close. This was.

[Depop Announcer]

You don't wash your jersey during a win streak.

[Evan Valenti]

You don't switch seats when your team's

[Depop Announcer]

up big, and you definitely don't shave during the playoffs.

[Evan Valenti]

When things are working, you don't change them.

[Depop Announcer]

That's why when you drink Jagermeister, you

[Evan Valenti]

drink it ice cold.

[Depop Announcer]

Anything else, well, that'd just be bad luck. Drink it cold or don't drink it at all.

[Evan Valenti]

Jagermeister. Damn, that's cold.

[Depop Announcer]

Drink responsibly. Jagermeister Liqueur, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mast.

[Evan Valenti]

Jagermeister U.S. white Plains, New York. I want you know, whether he wins it or not, Joe Missoula and their staff deserves a ton of credit for

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

everything that has happened this season.

[Evan Valenti]

And I do give Joe a little bit of. A little praise for being like, it's not just me.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

The coach of the year award. I couldn't do this without my staff. So I think.

[Evan Valenti]

And I think he's right about that. The guys that are on the staff, I mean, it's not just Sam Cassell that does stuff.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

They're awesome.

[Evan Valenti]

They're a tight knit group. They clearly the message is consistent and clear from Brad and Zarin all the way down to how they want to play, how they want to have their team. I don't, I don't know what your favorite development of the season was. I have a couple of them. Like my favorite Jalen Brown's free throw rate was 35% this year which is just an outrageous thing to have from that guy. That's a ginormous leap from previous seasons.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I said this to Bobby because Bobby's the Nima Keita sort of guy in the beat considering he profiled him in summer when he was yeah, if you

[Bobby Kravitsky]

go to Portugal you get that title.

[Evan Valenti]

You get that title. My favorite thing about Cato was I made it really easy and simple for everybody to understand. I didn't get into the weeds with the advanced on off stuff like Nimaeus Kata went from playing like no time at all as a fourth string center to the starting center on a 56 win team played 71 games. Like that's a huge leap for a guy like that. The Baylor Shireman stuff. I mean everybody took a step up this year. What was your favorite development about 2025, 2026.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

So I will get there. I guess I'm sort of slow playing it but to me I want to drive home that one G Missoula and his staff because it is absolutely 1000% a staff award. Yes, you can make a compelling case in other directions. That's the coach and the coaching staff of the year and I want Celtics fans to I certainly think this is a very smart dialed in fan base that understands this. But just to really kind of drive home you have one of the most impressive coaching staffs in the NBA and that's not an exaggeration in the slightest. That yes, Sam Castell is the name that everyone knows. But you can go on down the line from Tony Dobbins to D.J. mcClay to Craig Luciannette to Ross McMahons and Tyler Lashbrook. You look at that staff in the future and you're say it again.

[Evan Valenti]

We got to throw in there. Jason Tams, buddy. We got to throw him in there.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

I mean him desean Butler. This is a coaching staff that you're going to look back on and who's to say with 30 NBA jobs and who perhaps peels off to college or whatever. But there are multiple head coaches on this staff right now. There are people that are ready for that role right now. Sam Cassell being the most, the longest overdue for that opportunity and you know, I did an exclusive with him during the season where he told me he still wants that chance and is actively pursuing it. I hope that he gets it. And again, just to put a pin on it, that coaching staff, you're going to look back and if you don't realize now how talented and impressive this group is, it's going to become impossible to miss in a few years time. When it comes to my favorite development, they're really. I think my favorite is going to be Jaylen Brown defying his haters. Because I can only imagine how difficult it is to not be able to pursue being your best self at your profession when you dedicate your life to this and you have to hold back individually year after year. And he accepted it and he won a championship and a Finals MVP that way. Certainly a lot of individual success came with it, but he always knew there was more and at least getting the opportunity, sink or swim, to prove yourself, to experience it and see how it goes to, to live that reality. For him to finally get that chance and turn into an MVP candidate, someone, whether he gets it or not, now is worthy of an all NBA first team selection. To me, it's Jalen Brown. It's him doing this in a way where it's not. Yeah, he averaged 30 points, but look at, you know, the team success just wasn't there to go with it. He really just, you know, did this himself. No, he made sure. And I think game five against the Knicks last year was a snapshot into his mindset and what he always wanted to do with this opportunity. And that is to be a rising tide that lifts all boats and makes everyone around him better. And that happened. So when you look at all the growth of everyone else on the roster, Jaylen Brown is tethered to that. So for me, I think my favorite development was him getting to finally live out this opportunity that he had had to sacrifice throughout his career.

[Evan Valenti]

Yeah. And for me, Jalen, I talked about

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

the free throw rate because that's obviously a big deal, but if you had

[Evan Valenti]

told me at any point in the

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

history of Jalen Brown that he would average like five assists a game, if you go back to when he first started, you know, getting regular minutes for the Celtics, I mean, everybody used to, you know, clown on him for basically having blinders on.

[Evan Valenti]

And I'm not saying that it wasn't

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

warranted or anything like that, but like

[Evan Valenti]

the fact that he was able to

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

become a ball mover, a playmaker, a guy that could initiate offense against defenses that are stacked against him.

[Evan Valenti]

Like that is, that is not just a small leap. That is a ginormous leap for a guy that I never thought would have that in him.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Right.

[Evan Valenti]

His career average for assists in the game is 2.9 and this year was 5.1. Like that is a ginormous lead. And out of all the other stuff, like you can go, you know, defensively he was better this year as an on ball defender. He took that responsibility on as a team leader. He had that great interview with Ramona Shelburne talking about his mindset coming into the season and how he wanted to

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

prove people wrong, etc.

[Evan Valenti]

Etc. And you can see it in his off season videos. Like he legitimately puts in a ton of work to become better every single year. And it was obvious earlier in his career when he would do some things, come back, be a better player, and you'd watch Ben Simmons be the same guy or not worse than he was the year previous in like these, all these guys that are picked, I mean,

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

first off, all NBA players are insane and they would. And they're all ridiculous 1% athletes. So let's just get that out of the way.

[Evan Valenti]

But when you have the best of the best and you have guys, and I'm not saying Brandon Ingram's not part

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

of this, he's gotten better as the years have gone on. I'm not saying he hasn't.

[Evan Valenti]

But some guys like don't get better. Some guys like don't work on stuff. And Jalen clearly every season gets in

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

the lab, whether it's with himself, whether

[Evan Valenti]

it's Tracy McGrady, whether he's swimming in the pool or boxing or like he was tap dancing the other day to

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

like to, to, to have some fun or salsa dancing in the middle of the season. Like, he always does stuff to try

[Evan Valenti]

and make his body better. Like in terms of like all around athletes in the NBA, he's the, the creme de la creme. Like, look at his body. He came back this year. I thought he, when he started the year, I thought he was huge. I was like, this guy, I'm like, did he put too much? I actually was concerned, Bobby, for a minute he put too much muscle on because you see what happens with some of these guys when they get too muscular. Sometimes you're not the same guy, but nope, he's just the same dude. Absorbs contact, finishes, gets to the. But the, the get of the free throw line stuff is what unlocked Jason Tatum from one guy to a whole different guy. And Brown made the same leap From God's pretty good to a whole different animal offensively by getting to the free throw line.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

You looked at some of the stuff.

[Evan Valenti]

Whenever they play, the Thunder brings the

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

best out of Jaylen Brown. He watches what what Shay does, and it's like, I'm gonna do that too.

[Evan Valenti]

And all of a sudden he's got

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

34 points into the fourth quarter. And in a close game, like, that's

[Evan Valenti]

exactly what it allows you to do. And as we sit here and analyze, like, all the best developments, K becoming an absolute dream of a center, Peyton Pritchard and handling the first team responsibility and then handling coming back to the bench with absolute class. Whether it's Baylor Scheireman becoming a much

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

better player, especially as a rebounder for

[Evan Valenti]

Boston, nothing compares to what Jalen did. And the last piece of this Bobby that we haven't mentioned yet is he's welcomed Jason Tatum back and allowed Jason

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Tatum to find his footing within the flow of the team without disrupting the team.

[Evan Valenti]

And from. For a guy who's like, this is my team all year, to allow this guy to come back in and just be like, hey, in order for us to get to this point, this has to work. We need to figure this out collectively. He's done a massive job at that too.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Yeah, 1,000%. They had a conversation as Tatum was getting ready to come back about it's kind of something that they've talked about throughout their time together, is we need each other and what does this have to look like for us to maximize this? And I think that ability to prioritize winning and to block out the calls to break them up, the noise about they can't win a championship together, to be able to push through all of the nonsense that has come from the outside world, to be able to ultimately focus on we are at our best together. That, yes, if you're Jalen and you go somewhere else, you can have the opportunity you did this season every year. But with team success comes individual glory and they have lived that together and they're not trying to go elsewhere. And so I think certainly that is a huge part of the equation, especially as we look forward to the playoffs now that Jaylen Brown has not made it an issue whatsoever that Jayson Tatum is back, that Jayson Tatum is. Has such a high usage rate since returning and it looks more like Jayson Tatum even the way and the pace the team plays at looks more like it did with Jayson Tatum in the mix previously compared to how that changed when he was rehabbing. So For Jalen Brown to just smoothly roll with the punches and say, I'm going to take how I grew in this role and now apply it within the context of sharing the floor with Tatum. Again, that, as you said, that deserves a ton of praise and credit.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

And his development this year is going to be. If they. If Boston ends up winning this whole thing, which I think they have a legit shot to do, it's because Jalen Brown made this leap. I mean, I. The fact that he can be this kind of a playmaker with or without Tatum on the floor, like, that's. That's such a big thing. And to have one of these guys in the floor at all times.

[Evan Valenti]

And I actually kind of like it

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

better when Jalen doesn't have Tatum on the floor because the pace is a little bit faster. I don't know if people have noticed this, but they. The ball, I think, moves a little bit differently.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Jalen wants to run. Jalen wants. Now it's changed more as you get to 29 and you can see 30 on the horizon, that you want to be able to manage yourself and pace yourself. So I think that he was more gung ho on that in previous years, but still is someone who likes to be able to get out there and push it. So we see less of it now, but at the same time, that is someone who, at his core, likes to be able to do that, and they certainly have the personnel to go out and run with him. So it clicks when those opportunities present themselves.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I do want to. Just before we get out of here, as we do our development rant here, I got to shout out Luca Garza, because I just didn't think at the beginning of the year that this was going to be even a viable body on this team.

[Evan Valenti]

And I gave him so much. I was always. I was always. Guy takes more practice shots. Anybody in the league, but doesn't really matter at all, right? Like, no, that guy. I was so wrong. Dead wrong. Happy to be wrong. I'm very confident in that guy. Like when he threw up the shot against Orlando the other night, actually, I thought I had a decent shot of going in.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

I just, I, you know, they brought in Vuchovic. I thought he got better when they

[Evan Valenti]

brought in Vuchovic because he was like, nobody's taking my minutes from me. And we'll see if either one of those guys has a plays a little bit more in this series. I think they might use Vuch, given

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Drummond, because Drum is such a big body. Vuch is a large human being.

[Evan Valenti]

Doesn't have the fleetest of foot, but, you know, can, can. Can body guys up and rebound a little bit better than Garza can. But I just got to shout him

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

out because I gave him so much crap. At the end of the year, I did not expect to become a Luca Garza fan.

[Evan Valenti]

But as I said about Ron Harper Jr. Like somebody, I don't know if it's gonna be for Boston or somebody else, But Ron Harper Jr. Is an NBA basketball player.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

That guy deserves to play in the NBA.

[Evan Valenti]

Lu Garza deserves to play in the NBA. Like there are. And there are guys on teams that, that don't. Luka Garza is not one of those dudes. We miss anybody in that particular segment for you, Bobby, we could dive into

[Bobby Kravitsky]

more specifics and I don't want to take the show into a second hour here as much as I would love to do so. But yeah, with Garza specifically, I mean, what was evident immediately is this guy has two skills that are really going to help him as he tries to prove himself in the NBA with his best opportunity at that one. His effort and his motor. This is someone. It seems like everything he does in life, on or off the basketball court is 200% effort level. And you just watch him run up and down the floor and he's given it everything he has into that. So that was one is what will that effort translate to? Does it equal productivity? And the second is the shooting, that this is a floor spacing big on a team, especially before Vuch didn't really have that option at the center position. So those, those are two skills. And then what you saw right off the bat in the preseason was the effectiveness as a screen setter, something I mentioned earlier, and the offensive rebounding. And that's why that quartet. He can go long periods without playing and when they call on him, they know what they're getting. That he's always going to be ready to bring those skills to the table. So credit to him because he's absolutely proven that he belongs in this league, that he's worthy of being in a team's rotation. And right now he's done so for the Celtics and, and he's going to get chances in the playoffs and knowing he can bring that stuff to the table, I think he's going to be a positive contributor for them when his number gets called.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Yeah, it was. It's just a year that I don't think anybody will forget. Like you look at those Isaiah Thomas years and you just, you laugh about how fun they were. I think this year had a little similar feel to it of whatever happens happens and all of a sudden they're a two seed and have legit Finals aspirations. We'll just see how it goes. But just a, a crazy year all the way around. And again, an absolute pleasure ever.

[Evan Valenti]

You didn't want to miss a game. Like that's how many teams can say that.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Like, you know, and there aren't many of them.

[Evan Valenti]

I mean there are Sacramento Kings fans

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

that can't wait for the season to be over. This is one of the years where just truly special stuff happened all year.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

That was, that was Jason Tatum's message just to slide this in real quick of the joy that he saw them playing with while he was rehabbing. That was a motivational factor for him of just I want to get back even faster. I want to be a part of this. And a part of his message when he thanked these guys for their support and being there for him as he recovered, was telling them how much he enjoyed watching them play just like any fan would. It was evident, it jumped off the page whether you were in the building or watching on a screen that this team, they went all out, they great chemistry and they genuinely enjoyed the process and that's how you get 56 wins and go from playing with house money to being one of the handful of teams that have a real chance to knock off the favorites in the Thunder Celtic Sixers.

[Evan Valenti]

Game one comes to you Sunday. The schedule I think will allow for us have a couple games before we

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

come back to you and I will figure out kind of what works for everybody here in terms of getting us back on Celtics beat for next week. But hopefully we're talking about seas being up, you know, two games to one, three games none, etc. Etc. But hopefully in firm control of this series by the time we see you next.

[Evan Valenti]

Want to get a quick shout out to our friends over at Prize picks again code CLNS50 lineups when you make your first five dollar lineup. Also make sure you subscribe to the

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

show of the audio version on itunes

[Evan Valenti]

on Spotify, the video versions of the CLNs All Access Celtics channel along with the CLS Media Network channel as well. There'll be post game interviews, bunch of podcasts on both channels on YouTube so

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

make sure you subscribe to both and

[Evan Valenti]

you can catch Bobby both as a part of Harvard, Houdini and of course Forbes. Bobby, thanks for joining us here today on this Thursday. Should be a fun time as we suit up for the playoffs. Best time of year we've had some great games so far.

[Co-host (possibly Adam Kaufman or another Celtics Beat co-host)]

Hopefully more in our future buddy.

[Bobby Kravitsky]

Absolutely. Evan. Always a pleasure.

[Evan Valenti]

For Bobby, for myself, for Adam Kaufman. Appreciate you guys hanging out with us today. We'll see you next week.

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