← Green With Envy: A Boston Celtics Podcast
Green With Envy: A Boston Celtics Podcast
Celtics vs Cavs RECAP, 1st Quarter Awards, and Mediocre Life Updates
01:08:58
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B
This is Mike Gorman and you're listening.
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A
To Green with Envy with Will and Greg. All right everybody, Green with Envy post game live Celtics A 117 to 115 winner on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers to go to 11 9. We're going to give you a recap of this unexpected and exciting win the Celtics had on the road as well as we're going to kind of go through and give you here. We're now 20 games into the season. We're going to give you our first first quarter awards of the season. And then of course we've got Mediocre Life update. All that and more coming up next here on Green with Envy. You guys know the deal. Let's not k. The what up, what up, what up? Welcome into another edition of Green with NVA Live post game show after what is a surprising 117 to 115 dub for the Celtics against the Cleveland Cavaliers. No Neus K, no Derrick White in this one and yet the Celtics are able to pull out the win on the road. As always, this is your boy Will. We're checking in. How you doing? How you living? Hope everybody out there had an amazing day Thanksgiving week. Hope you got to spend some time with your friends and family and loved ones. Speaking of friends and loved ones, let me bring in my best friend, co host and the coach of our podcast, the one and only Greg Manis. Greg, I know you're playing with a little bit of an injury here, so whatever you got tonight, we appreciate you powering through as Always. You're also muted right now. Great start.
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B
And I thought. I thought that we were. Are we good?
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A
You're good. Now you're good. I saw you struggling, so I went to go do it and then we did it. We did it at the same time, but now we're. We're good.
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B
Relax, brother.
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C
Relax.
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B
Okay? Just. We're. We're good. We're good. Everything's cool over here. I got nothing to complain about. Life is good. If there's any updates, I'll provide the updates during the Mediocre Life update. So don't spoil everything for the podcast listeners, will you? Tonight is a great night because the Boston Celtics go in after 20 games. I was 100% expecting to be 500. And the fact that we are not 500 means that this first quarter has been a undeniable success.
- [03:41]
A
Right? Exceeding expectations, which is 11 and 9. 11 and 9 is definitively exceeding both you and I's expectations. And I think both you and I had pretty realistic, you know, a set of expectations for this team that a six seed was somewhere around the ceiling of what this team is. They're probably somewhere in that play in mix. And you know, the east is just a giant pile of mediocre that, that we will talk about here on this episode. But 11, nine, and I think there's a lot of positives. There's way more positives than negatives in my mind for this team right now and where they're at. And we're going to cover that as we're going to get to here. Our first quarter. Quarter of the season, which is kind of crazy. We're already there first quarter of the season awards. We got a few different categories that we're going to go through. But Greg, I do want to spend a couple of minutes here on this game because you and I texted before this. We saw Nes K was out, we saw that Derek White was out. We 100. This is night. Second night of a back to back after a really tough loss to a Minnesota team where it felt like you were in control. Minnesota came back and got it. Then you fought back. Then Anthony Edwards hits this, you know, crazy shot to kind of seal it. And it's. It's just a night that was all set up for the Celtics to lose. Instead they come out fiery and now they're 2 and 0 against Cleveland, who was the preseason favorite with the Knicks to come out of the East. So go ahead and explain this one because this is. This was definitely the most unexpected win of the season.
- [05:10]
B
I think I think some of it has to do with like the stuff that our Celtics teams in the past have done to other teams, right. Where we, we see stars are out and then we underestimate what that team can do. And I think the Cavs kind of did that to us tonight because when you see Derrick White is out, you see Nemi Esqueda, who's our only big man is out, you think that you're just going to roll right through The Celtics second night of a back to back after a hard fought game in Minnesota last night. And Peyton Pritchard just looks at the Cavs and it's like nobody on this team can guard me. I'm just gonna go off. And this is one of the things that I've always really appreciated about Pritchard in this particular matchup against the Cavs is Darius Garland cannot guard him. There have been like, if you go back to last season, the season before that, I have been on record saying that Peyton Pritchard just owns Darius Garland. And tonight they just started the game with Garland on Pritchard. And then, you know, Urban early on they're like, we, we just can't do this anymore. There was a lot of Tyson on him. Proctor was on him for a little bit. They even put a little bit of length of Hunter on him at one point and nobody could guard him.
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A
Something that's interesting to that, to that point, Greg, about the Garland and Pritchard matchup is towards the end of the game. The Celtics were kind of hunting when they're, they're trying to secure the lead. Right. They're trying to hunt that Garland on Jalen Brown matchup. And weird enough, I think Garland actually fights his ass off against Jalen Brown and he's actually a little bit pesky. Yeah. And so they're fighting for that. And at one point in my head I'm like, can we just not go for that switch and just let, let's just let Peyton Cook against Garland. And that actually was the last basket was they called off going for hunting that switch. And it just was Pritchard against Garland like you're talking about here. And that was, I think the last field goal the Celtics made was that Pritchard going straight up against Garland. So I mean, tonight is, you know, without a doubt, Peyton Pritchard is, is the star of the show, even with foul trouble. Right. You think about if he didn't have foul trouble early on, you know, what does the stat line look like? He only played 30 minutes in this game. Right. Like he's he's a guy easily, if he's not in in foul trouble. Could have played 40 minutes tonight, no problem. Right. But ends up going 15 of 22 from the field, 6 of 11 from 3, 6 of 6 from the foul line. Finishes with a career, I believe a career high. 42 points, 3 rebounds through his lose his career high on the road. 42 points, three rebounds, three assists. And just a masterful performance from who I I think just felt so in control of everything that he was doing. There was a play, Greg, in the third quarter that I just was like, ah, this is a different Peyton Pritchard where he gets the ball in the left wing kind of shot clock coming down, has this nasty little like veer side Euro step to get the shot off before the end of the shot clock. And it was just one of those Peyton Pritchard nights that you're just really happy if you were watching this full game and got to see it from start to finish.
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B
Yeah. And Pritchard this year has kind of underwhelmed and I think he's been under what my expectations were of him coming into the season just because I think so highly of him. Right. Like I always say, success is a function of realistic expectations. Right. The Jalen Rose Rule. And with Pritchard, I was expecting 20 points a game. Like All Star conversation with Peyton Pritchard and he hasn't been that. He's averaged 16 a game, which is good. The three point shooting has taken some time to, to kind of get back to his averages. He's still working his way back up, but six for 11 tonight. And you, you just know that he's shooting that thing with a lot more confidence. And especially in a game where he's coming off of a bad game against a really good defensive team with the Timberwolves and he's going up against a team with far less length in the Cavs. You just hope Peyton Pritchard steps up in those moments and he absolutely did. He was the best player on the court tonight. In a game that had Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jalen Brown, Peyton Pritchard was the best player on the court tonight. And it wasn't even close. I was texting our guy Phil that I mention all the time on the pod. And at the end of the game after, you know, when JB gets picked by Donovan Mitchell at half court, I was like, why are we messing around with giving the ball to anybody but Pritchard right now? You know, 90% free throw shooter, having the game of his life and doesn't turn the ball over. Just keep the ball in Pritchard's hands. And to your point, with him waving off JB from that switch at the end of the game, it's like, thank God. Like I didn't want Jaylen to have the ball with Garland at the elbow because Garland's gonna flop. He's gonna try and get that. As JB rises up, he's gonna try and flop into the elbow, hitting him in the chin and all that stuff. So I was just happy to see Pritchard take over and for Jalen Brown to be okay letting Peyton Pritchard take over in a game where JB clearly didn't have his best scoring game, but he had a good all around game.
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A
Yeah, triple double tonight for, for Jalen Brown, you know, 19 points, 11 or should be 12 rebounds, 11 assists. And you know, I, I think this was a, it's, it's, it's one of those nights where Jaylen Brown impresses without scoring. And I think to your point, he was okay giving the reins to a certain degree to Peyton Pritchard, which is what should have happened because this was Peyton Pritchard's night. And so I think for Jalen Brown, who just couldn't really get it going from the field 3 of 13, but got to the line 16 times after, you know, last night in Minnesota, Joe Missoula makes his football references and comments and you know, talk about Jalen not getting to the free throw line enough. And you know, I think John Corrales on Twitter highlighted, I think going into this game, Jalen was either or seventh or eighth in the league in scoring. And you know, he's doing it in a very different manner because you look at all the guys above him, The Lucas, the SGAs, Giannis's, whatever it might be, they're all at the free throw line close to double digit times or above. Right. Like Jalen just isn't getting there as much as they are. And it's, you know, certainly doesn't feel like for, you know, a lack of, of him driving the basketball or him playing physical. We know that that's how he loves to play. And so tonight for the response to be him getting to the free throw line 16 times, I think that was big. And then also, you know, getting on the boards, I think he had one of my favorite assists that he's had this year. You mentioned how when they got that switch with Garland at one point, what it was allowing them to do, especially because with the injuries, Xavier Tillman played a lot, who I thought was pretty solid actually, but you know, he's just not a good shooter as we saw on some of his hilarious misses in this game tonight. And so when Jalen had the ball on the, you know, on the wing extended, like they could just double off. Tell him like, go ahead, cool. You, you've shot two off the backboard and two air balls tonight. We don't care. And Jalen was just super patient. And this is about, think about three or four minutes left in the, in the fourth quarter. Jordan Walsh makes a really nice cut on the, on the baseline of the dunker spot. Jalen hits him for a nice bucket. We'll talk about Jordan Walsh, but I thought that was a really great showing of, of Jaylen Brown adapting his game to what the moment called for. Not forcing it, not just looking for the easy pass to Tillman, but being patient enough to let it develop and then trusting Walsh in that moment. And so even though it's not the, the JB game that we've been praising all season, I thought this was a really nice Jalen Brown game given, given the way that he adjusted to not having it from the feel like he did last night in Minnesota.
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B
Yeah, that's what I was going to say. It's like you have to look at these games in conjunction with one another, right? This is a two game sample out of Jalen Brown where he has the best scoring output of the season. In last night against Anthony Edwards when he's got the juice and then when Derrick White and Nemi Escada are sitting out, Jaylen Brown's like, nah, I'm not sitting out. Like I'm playing this game. I'm going up against Donovan Mitchell. Let's go. Right. And he clearly doesn't have it. He's turning the ball over all over the place. Six turnovers tonight. Just not able to get his shot where he wants it. Front rimming back, rimming side, you know, off the side of the rim. His, his patented mid range shot just not going for him. 3 for 13 from the field tonight. But what I love about the, the effort tonight, 12 rebounds, 11 assists. Oh yeah, it's all, all good. Only four three point shots tonight. He knew he didn't have it right, so he was trying to get to his spots and he wasn't trying to force it from, from long distance. And a lot of nights when you're tired, you settle. And Jaylen Brown did not settle tonight. Right. He still tried to get to his spots even though he is 3 for 13 from the field. A lot of those free throws were him getting to the elbow and causing fouls at the elbow, right. Getting fouls on jump shots. And I think that's what impressed me the most about Jaylen Brown tonight is that he did not settle when he was clearly tired.
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A
One last guy I want to talk about here in this game and then we can kind of go on to our first quarter of the season awards. And of course there's someone else that you. We haven't got to. You can jump in here, but we can talk about Jordan Walsh tonight. I thought Jordan Walsh was excellent in this game tonight, had 14 points and two points that didn't count where I thought it was one of his best shots of the season. That fade away. That was just on the fingertips. But he finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds, an assist, two steals and played a team high 38 minutes. I think that's really what actually jumps out to me is just him leading the way with. Especially in a night where you don't have Nemi Escada. And we're going to talk about Nemi when we get to these, you know, first quarter awards, how much without him on the court, this team just loses from, you know, the impact that he has both on the offensive and defensive side, the boards. And so to have him and Jalen step up and combine for 23 rebounds, that was massive. You know, no, no Jared Allen for the, for the Cavs tonight. We'll, we'll mention that as well. But you're going up against Evan Mobley, who's the defensive player of the year. You know, it's absolutely opportunity for the Celtics to get killed on the boards tonight and instead they win the rebound battle. Right. Like this is. That was a big difference. I was at the game on Wednesday against the Pistons and no Nemi is Keda in that one. And the Celtics obviously get the win, but they were getting destroyed on the boards left and right. And it was kind of just a war of attrition to kind of battle through that. Right. And so tonight for them to be able to win that battle, all, not all of that, but a good portion of that is on the shoulders of the game that Jordan Walsh played tonight. And we've highlighted some of his individual defensive matchups. I, I would probably say from an all around start to finish game, this was probably Jordan Walsh's best game of the season.
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B
I would agree. I think it's his best game of his career. He held Donovan Mitchell to 7 for 16 from the field three or seven from three in. Two of those last buckets were in, you know, in the last 30 seconds of the game. Desperation shots. Donovan Mitchell was also forced into five turnovers tonight. And I think it's just Jordan Walsh, like, really realizing his potential as an all NBA level defender. It's, you know, when you. When you watch other teams and you see guys with length, they. And you don't see them very often, you're. You're like, like the guy Tomlin for the Cavs, right? Every time I tune into the Cavs, I'm like, damn, Tomlin is just long as hell. Same thing with Jaden McDaniels. Like the night before, he's long as hell. And tonight I really tried to focus on Jordan Walsh's length, like unbiased. Like, I don't see him every day. And he's one of the longest guys out there. Man. His wingspan's like 7 foot 2 or something crazy like that. And I think he just surprises people with his ability to contest late. And Donovan Mitchell was bothered the entire night. Jordan Walsh is always in New Jersey and he's always going to contest your shots. And I think the Celtics, you know, we're going to get into some awards here, but I think the Celtics may have actually found one in Jordan Walsh.
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A
Yeah, Jordan Walsh will definitely be talked about in this next segment here. But to put a bow on this Here, Celtics win 117 to 115 against the Cavs. They go to 11 and nine on the season. Two games above.500 now, 2, 0 against the Cavs. Greg, like, that's. Honestly, that's really, really impressive for where we thought both of these teams were going to be. And they're two very, very legit wins against this Cavs team. And it's funny, over the break, I met up with some friends from high school. One of our good friends, Dom, she's actually married to. To Nick's podcaster, Alex, who's been on this show, Alex Chautaus of Knicks fan tv. And so we were together, so we were talking for a little bit and we started talking about, about the east. And I was just like, man, this entire conference is entirely mediocre. He was like, you don't believe in the Pistons? I'm like, long term, sure. But like, this year, I. And this is why, as a Celtics fan, you have to just keep holding out hope. Like, I guess if Tatum, if Tatum comes back and he's even 80, 90, like, it. It feels stupid putting percentages on something we don't even know if it's going to happen. But there's no reason this team can't be right back in the conference finals and, or potentially win this conference. Because from everything I've seen, the game against the Pistons, where I was at this game, you know, Knicks at full strength, they were the one team that I, that I told Alex that I was like, I think that's the only team that is genuinely has an opportunity to be competitive against anything I've seen in the west, because this is legit varsity, junior varsity leagues here is that if Tatum's back on this team, maybe Brad can find one more tweak with a center. There's no reason the Celtics aren't just right back in this mix.
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C
Right?
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B
Right. Yeah. Totally agree, man. I think with, with Tatum, it's all going to come down to, like, obviously health is the main thing, but how does he fit back into this mold? Does. Does the entire team just revert back to Tatum Ball, where he's the entire, you know, offense and everything runs through him, or does he learn from these 50 games that he's out and learns how to integrate himself in a different way because he's not going to be the Jason Tatum of old. Maybe we can get this new version of Jason Tatum where he's more like, we've always called him like Swiss Army Knife, but even more of a role player than he. Than he has been in the past.
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A
Yeah, that's fascinating to think about, and that will be certainly something that we'll have to take a look at if and when we get to that time. We still have. I was thinking about this earlier as I was pondering just how weak the east is. I was like, we still have like three full months of basketball. December, January and all of February before it's even a realistic possibility for Tatum to come back. So we'll have plenty of time to suss this out and see where, you know, things land. But promising start so far, like where the Celtics are at. And so with that, we wanted to kind of reflect back here on the first quarter of the season. We're 20 games in here of the 82 game schedule. Celtics 11 and 9, ninth in the East. We'll see everything so close that we'll see where they end up by the end of the night. Once you get some other finals in here, could jump up to seventh. We'll see.
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B
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Granger for the ones who get it done. But 11 and nine on the season. So we're gonna go through and give a few different about 5, 6 different categories here that we want to get into and highlight where this team is at right now. And I think we should just start at the top. Greg with MVP because it's someone that we've already kind of touched on here and I'm going to assume we have the same guy. We have not talked about who we have here, so I'm gonna take a wild guess and go with you. You have Jalen Brown for this category.
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B
I do have Jalen Brown for this category. My guy, Jaylen Brown stepping up and having the best season of his life, averaging close to 29 points, gets a triple double tonight after a 41 point masterpiece dueling with Anthony Edwards last night. And Jalen's just doing everything that you want out of him in a season where we said this was like a make or break season for Jalen Brown in the off season as we were looking into, you know, his value around, around the league. And one of the exercises I kind of wanted to do on this pod, I just wanted to kind of spring it at you will, is he just went up against Anthony Edwards. He just went up against Donovan Mitchell. We've always had him as like a top 15, top 20 guy. All things considered this season. Where do you have Jalen Brown in your rankings?
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A
So it's a great question. I'm not entirely unprepared only because I tweeted out, I think it was yesterday that I was like, jalen Brown's all NBA right now. The only question is what team. Right, Right. So I went through and just did the exercise of it. Just I just looked at the standings and just wrote down just like, you know, quick look at like who are the best guys in the league right now that Would have to be, you know, like, these guys can't miss raw NBA. And there's probably some fringe candidates I missed. But. But here's the group of guys that I came up with. It ended up being 15 guys that I, that I, that I wrote down. And so we'd have to parse out where JB is. Here's the 15 names that, that I wrote down. Cade, Jalen, Brunson, Donovan, Mitchell, Tyrese, Maxey, Giannis, sga, Luca, Alperin, Shengoon, kd, Jokic, Wemby, Ant, Booker Curry. And then I was saving Jalen Brown for them just because Jalen Brown's there. So Those were the 15 guys that I think, as of right now, definitely some fringe guys that we could argue about that aren't really worth it right now. But those were like, generally the 15 guys that just. Quick snapshot. I was like, these 15 guys define the all NBA team or these are the best players in the league, right? So where does he fit within this group of players? I mean, it's. It's tough, but I, I just. Looking at, at a glance here, I'm gonna say probably somewhere in the 12, 13 range out of those guys. Maybe a little higher. I mean, I'd have to really. I haven't dug in on the numbers of each individual guy, but he went toe to toe with Ant yesterday. As you mentioned, he outplayed Mitchell in this game today. He and Kate at the game that I was at on Wednesday, he gets the win. Kate, I thought was excellent in that game as well, but I thought. And Jalen were clearly the two best players in that game. I thought it was a real kind of Mano Imano, if you're trying to look at it that way. He's playing. Coming up on Tuesday, Celtics play the Knicks. We'll get to see him against Jalen Brunson. And so, you know, I think in the Eastern Conference, he's in the top three, right? Like, it's Giannis when he's healthy, and then we can figure out and he's. He's right there in that 2, 3, 4 race. I think when you expand it out to the league, he's. He's probably just a little bit outside the top 10, but he's having just an amazing season right now.
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B
So first team, I think, is the. The easy one, right? That's sga, that's Giannis, that's Jokic, that's Luca. And the fifth spot, just because of team success. You probably got to go Cade this season, right? Cater Wemby Yeah, Wemby's been out already. I'm just a little bit. Yeah, I'm assuming he's just like, not Gonna get the 65 games, but a pure talent. You'd probably go Wemby. So that's your five. And like, when you think Cade is the one guy that's in there, Right. That's like, not clearly better than Jalen. It's like, okay, so Jalen is arguably having a top five season this year. Like, you can figure out a way to put him in to that first team conversation. The Celtics record is going to be the thing that's going to hold him back. But just in terms of pure impact on the court, I haven't looked at all the advanced stats with Jaylen Brown this year, but watching him, he's clearly having the best season of his career. The question is like, the it factor at the end of games. And we've always knocked Tatum for this, right. We're just like, man, like Tatum, just be the guy at the end of the game like you. We should feel better when the ball guy. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's from the bear, right? That's a great.
- [24:57]
A
Yeah, it's a great line. It's so good.
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B
You got to be the guy. Be the guy. And that's what Jalen is learning how to do. He's getting his first crack at it tonight. You know, when he went to the free throw line at the end of the game, I was like, he's not hitting both of these. I knew he was gonna miss one of. I didn't feel good with the ball in his hands when he was dribbling against Donovan Mitchell at half court when he turned the ball over. Right. Like those little moments where you just, like, know in your heart of hearts, like, this guy got it. Everyone else just get the out of the way. He's not there yet, but he's arguably having a first team all NBA season, which is pretty great.
- [25:33]
A
Yeah, this has been a really special Jalen Brown time. And. And we talked a lot in the offseason leading up to this. This is a pendulum season for where his value is. Is going to fall just as far as how he's viewed, you know? Right. Because it's. It's interesting. You think about those warriors teams, and I don't know what Clay would have looked like on his own at his peak. I don't think Clay ever really had the. The ball, but we don't know because we never. We just never saw it. Right. We're getting at least a season now where we don't. We aren't left with that what if of just Jalen Brown forever being knocked. It's like, well, he's just that second guy. We never. Like, you know, he's. He's at least now putting this in front of everybody. Like, hey, listen, I don't know what the ceiling is, because this team is. This roster is flawed. Not, you know, beyond him, but he's the one leading this team to 11 and 9, exceeding expectations. And he's doing so in the most efficient way that he's ever done, which I think is probably the craziest part of all this, is that he's upped everything about his game. He's second in the NBA in usage right now at 35.6%. That's always been a question, right? What happens if he. If he is usage goes up? Well, pretty damn good is the answer. That's. That's.
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B
And he's played in every game. That's the one thing that a lot of these other guys can't say is that they've played in every single game. And that's what I love the most about Jalen is like, he knows that all eyes are on him and he's stepping up into that moment. And that's why I love Jalen Brown. He's just a man. Dude.
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A
Yeah. 28. 6. 4 and a half assists per game. On effective field goal percentage of 54.5, 10 games, over 30 points. And only two players at least going into tonight had made over 200 field goals. Him and SGA. So he's also doing. He's an ethical Hooper, right? We talk about not follow Griffin. He's a very ethical Hooper. Not getting the line nearly enough as he wants to despite the 16 in this game. So without a doubt, I think that was probably the easiest one that we were going to do tonight with these awards. MVP thus far through a quarter of the season is Jalen Brown. Let's go to biggest surprise here, Greg. And I think there's a couple different people that you could go with. I'm curious to see who you went with. I split this with another award that we have coming up because I think it could have been. Could have gone either way. But your biggest surprise through the first quarter of the season is.
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B
I'm gonna go Baylor Shireman.
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A
Oh, I didn't have him, but I like him. Let's go.
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B
Baylor Shireman is my biggest surprise because I honestly thought he wasn't gonna sniff the court this season. I thought there was too much Talent around. Around him. Not even that. The talent's like top level. I just thought he wasn't that good. But the one thing that really I started to notice out of Baylor was that he could hang defensively. Right. Joe was. Was willing to put him against some of the best matchups. He's guarded Kate Cunningham in both the games we played against the Pistons. He's guarded Cade more than anybody else that he's been assigned to. Tyrese Maxey got some minutes on. Anthony Edwards, he got some minutes on. And Joe just trusts him. Like I said this on a previous pod, but he's called out like Baylor Shireman is a guy that he trusts to inbound the ball in a clutch moment. He's the guy that if he decides to call for a challenge, he's gonna trust Baylor because he thinks that Baylor knows the game and is. Is ethical to. To use your word that you just use. And not only that, he's shooting the out of the ball. 8 for 11 on corner threes. 50 overall from 3 coming into tonight. 50, 57 from the field. I didn't look at his stat line tonight in terms of shooting, but I feel like he shot well.
- [28:56]
A
Two of three. One of two from three.
- [28:58]
B
Yep. So right.
- [28:59]
C
Right.
- [28:59]
B
50. He keeps that number. Baylor Charman, my biggest surprise, man, I, I did not think that you were an NBA Hooper and you're proven to be. So.
- [29:07]
A
Yeah, I like this. I. I had been down in recent weeks because I was interested in Baylor Scheiman going into the season and two things that, that you touched on. And by the way, enjoy. I always enjoy your solo. I think you do a really good job with the solo pod, so. Thank you. When you have a chance to do those. I really enjoy those two things that, that you called out in that one, which you. You just referenced it in. In what you just said. But the dime that he made inbounding the ball, that's going to be something I touch on here. That, that goes along with another award that we have. But. And you saw Joe trust him again tonight in this game against Cleveland when they need to inbound the ball late. He went to Baylor Shireman to go inbound the ball. So I like that. The QB mindset. Right. And you talked about that dime he threw against. Against the Pistons in which, you know, the Celtics had to call a timeout at the first. First time getting the ball in. And I think he used about four before his QB clock went off and he got that pass out. Like that's really important for the Celtics to Have and that's been a nice development with Baylor Shireman and the trust factor. I thought it was really interesting that you noticed this. While I was at the game. I was there with my cousin who had gone to the Rockets Celtics game earlier in the year and he called out the same thing you did. First thing as soon as I think it was in the first half when Baylor went over and told Joe to challenge, he looked at me and he goes was I'm telling you, Joe trust Baylor. He did the same thing in the Rockets game and in both these games it wasn't like Baylor had been getting consistent playing time, but it was very quick. He looked at Joe, asked for the challenge. Joe did not look at Matt Reynolds, did not look back at the second row of the bench. Just went right for the challenge. My cousin said it was the same thing. Listen to you. The next morning you called that out as well. So it's really interesting to see that apparently what was the story of of them in the offices and they had a showdown in a doorway for 40 minutes just staring at each other like psychos. Apparently that strong bond. And so the trust is there between Joe and Baylor and yeah, Baylor's been a nice uptick here in the last couple of weeks and we've joked about between Minot and Ugo and Jordan, we got to have a leaderboard. We got to throw shine in there now too. It's in the mix, all four of them. I think we got to start having a power rankings maybe every two weeks of who's. Who's leading right now in this kind of wild card wing spot. I don't really know what to call it, but Baylor has definitely been a nice uptick here in the last couple of weeks. So I like that pick. I didn't have that here. I have a different one for my surprise. So biggest surprise for me I'm going nemi esqueda and for me it's just how massively important he has become to this team. And you know, the numbers dictate that with him on the court plus 15.2 net rating off the court minus 3.9, all of their rebounding statistics go off a cliff if he's not in this game. He's analytics wise, you know, he is hitting all of the marks that you're going to want to see. And even just from, you know, straight up, you know, traditional numbers, 9.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.4 blocks before the season when we did our kind of Celtics redraft of the last 25 years I mentioned there's a Mark Blunt stat line where it was like basically this 98 in a block. I was like, if that's what I get from Nemi Esqueda, I'm pumped. Like, that's what I want to see and get that consistency. Of course, he's coming off last night his biggest game of the season, even though it's lost 19 points, points, 18 rebounds. And it wasn't, it wasn't a hollow 19, 18. Right. It wasn't like, you know, he, he really fought and got those against Rudy Gobert, against Naz Reed, against Julius Randall. Like, that was really impressive. And he's developing the consistency quicker than I actually anticipated. I thought it would be a big glimpses, but it's. It's becoming consistent far quicker than I really anticipated. And it started to make me wonder a little bit again, going back to that Tatum question, okay, if Tatum comes back, do we feel pretty good with Nemi Esqueda as our starting center? And now instead of saying, okay, cool, he can be our backup, we still got to find a starter. Maybe that shifts to the question is he can be our starter, how do we find our backup? Right. Because I think going into the season it was, we need to define can he be a backup? It's shifting more to can he be a starter? And it's not feeling like it's being overly, you know, green with envy biased. Right. Like it doesn't have these green tinted glasses. Like it feels pretty real. And again, this is the award biggest surprise here. I've been kind of indifferent, not indifferent, but. But, you know, lukewarm on the Nemius Keda hype over the last few years. And I am coming around on that big time, big fan of what Nemius has been able to do here in the first quarter of the season.
- [33:46]
B
Yeah, I actually have him for most improved. So Kate is my Most improved. He's seventh in the league in defensive rating 101.8, ninth in net rating, seventh in offensive rebound percentage, in sixth in total screen assists. And Scal called it out on the broadcast tonight. You know, as him and Drew were talking about Keda not playing, and they mentioned how Keda is just doing a lot better job of setting screens and knowing the, the timing on those screens, when to hold an extra second, when to slip out early, things like that, like the angle to set the scre screen, when to sprint up into a screen, all these little things that make the difference where, like, he was clearly under the tutelage of Al Horford. Who's one of the best screeners in the game over the last couple of years, and Luke Cornett, one of the best screeners in the game over the last couple of years. And it took him a little while to catch up to the speed of the game and to do that consistently without getting, you know, three to four offensive files a game like he was early in the season. That has come down far. Like, I can't even remember the last time Nene got called for one of those moving screens. Right. He's just like they preseason.
- [34:53]
A
I was, I was, I was nervous because it was a disaster that one game against Toronto and I was like, this is where we're starting from. Like, this is the simple stuff that needed to improve and it, and it stood out so much. And he's, he's come and corrected it, you know, full bore since then.
- [35:08]
B
Yeah, he's. He's great, man. I, I think you're. You hit the nail on the head. Nemius Kada is a starting center in the NBA and like, I was looking at like, all the names surrounding him with, with all the defensive, defensive stats. He's like a top 15 center. It's not even like he's like, you know, the 29th or 30th best center. He's like a top 15 center in the league this year. And I think those counting numbers of like the, the 9 and 8 by the end of the season will probably be more around like 11 and 9, 12 and 10, which is like, at the beginning of the season, what, what I was projecting from kada was a 12 and 10 season. So I, I do think that Kada deserves most improved. And I even saw Abby Chin on the broadcast. She called out him for most improved player in the entire league.
- [35:54]
A
Yeah, I mean, that was. I mentioned that in the, in the preseason. It's like a dark horse, right? Like, if this team, when we were kind of laying out what's the scenario this team is, you know, a top six team or a top four seed in the East. Like some people wanted to say. That was one of the check marks, right? There's like Nene is like a defined starter and is in the most improved discussion. Like, that's absolutely. And it's, you know, that's a weird, weird, you know, category when you get to the end of the season as to, like, who fits it. But he's at least got his name in the ring for it. And so for me, he was my biggest surprise. But you mentioned he was your most improved, so let me Go with my most improved. And that goes to a guy that we talked about in this game against Cleveland, and it's Jordan Walsh. And it's kind of similar for some of the reasons that you mentioned. Shireman. We sent them to China a couple weeks ago. Right. Like, we just. We just were like, I don't think Jordan Walsh is just gonna make it. Like, he's nice kid. Got. Got the length, got the size, but it's just like, he hasn't ever put it together to even give us a sample. Right. To give us a sample of. Okay, I can at least hold on to this. And the, you know, the way that he's come on now, where he's now started. I wrote seven games with this game. He's now started eight straight games for the Celtics. The way that he has come on and the way he came into his own and the confidence that's. This is the thing that's jumping out to me the last couple games, and especially in this Cleveland game game, the confidence with which he is shooting the ball when he needs to shoot the ball, where he is crashing the glass. He had, you know, a couple rebounds tonight where he just straight up ripped it from dudes, right? Like, he just got down there and was like, out of here. Old school, Carmelo style out of here. Grab the ball, Go up with it. You know, I talked about that nice cut that he made towards the end of the game, which Jalen hit him for the pass. You see the instincts are starting to kick in. There was so much of Jordan Walsh the last couple years that when he was out there, where I almost wanted him to have a little bit more young Aaron Nesmith to him, like, go make a mistake, man. Please. Like, go do something reckless, because right now you're just doing nothing. And now what he was doing and playing safe, he's. He's playing instinctually, and he. You're seeing him kind of take it to the next level along with that all defensive portfolio that he's starting to build, and the profile that was always there, which you've called him, you know, Andre Iguodala esque in his profile, like, that's always been there, but now you're seeing the theoretical become the practical. And it's. It's really fascinating for me to watch a guy that I was completely out on three weeks ago and now feel like I'm developing just a whole new, you know, way appreciation for him at this. At this time. So for me, that's my most improved. Just because to your point of, you know, being. What's, what's the phrase you use relative to expectations? You used it earlier.
- [38:37]
B
This success is a function of realistic expectations.
- [38:40]
A
Right? My real estate expectation was I'd be shocked if he plays. And now he's. Now he's the starting small forward for this team, right?
- [38:48]
B
And small ball five as well. Joe Missoula went, went to small ball five with Jordan Walsh when he just like gave up on Josh Minot tonight. Minot had a great game and, and could have been in, in the running here for biggest surprise and most improved. Josh Minot's had a hell of a season as well, but Jordan Walsh is the guy that, that's standing out more than anybody, right? And the fact that Joe Missoula is trusting him to go small ball five and guard Evan Mobley, right, it's, it's like pretty, pretty special stuff out of Jordan Wall. She guarded Jaren Jackson Jr. In another game and then Drew Carter called it out on the broadcast. He called him the garbage man tonight, which got me thinking. He kind of reminds me of Jerome. Was it Jerome Williams? Was that his name? Yeah, Jerome Williams. He was the junkyard dog. The junkyard dog. Like, there's a little bit of Jerome Williams junkyar dog in Jordan Walsh. And if Jordan Walsh develops, like that mentality to go along with the physical tools, he could be a really special player.
- [39:47]
A
Jordan Walsh got that dog in him. All right, let's go. We got two more categories here that we are gonna rip through. Biggest disappointment. Do you want to take this one first, Greg? You want me to go first?
- [40:00]
D
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- [41:38]
B
I'll go first.
- [41:39]
A
Okay.
- [41:39]
B
And wondering if we have the same guy, Derek White.
- [41:43]
A
Nope. Different guy.
- [41:44]
B
Okay.
- [41:44]
A
The floor is yours.
- [41:47]
B
Similar success is a function of realistic expectations. I was expecting, expecting an all star season out of Derrick White, and we've gotten anything but that. We've had one or two games where Derrick White has looked like the offensive force that we were expecting out of him. He has shot very poorly outside of a couple of games. He's, you know, barely over 30% from 3. I don't even think he's at 40% from 2. Just still doing a lot of the fun Derrick White stuff that, that he does. You know, the steals, the blocks, the chase downs, all that stuff is still there. But I was expecting more out of Derrick White and that just shows you how highly I think of him because although he, he's been a disappointment, I don't think he's necessarily had the, like a bad season. It's just I was expecting so much out of him and he hasn't even come close to my expectations.
- [42:37]
A
Yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty crazy. His overall field goal percentage is 36.3%. That's, that's pretty bad. And 42%. 42.3% from 2 is, is what it is. And, and I did consider Derrick White for this because of just how we view him. But to your point, I still don't think he's been, he's been bad. There's things that, that, you know, has gotten better there. There's less of those early season just nonsense heat check threes that, that we're seeing in there. But there's still moments where I was, I was rewatching because I was kind of half watching some of that t Wolves game yesterday. So I rewatched the second half this morning and there was a play on the, on the right wing where, where he has an up fake and man, I, I just feel like there's been moments that, you know, his, his mid range or he's got that floater, like when he gets, when he's able to mix it up a little bit more, right? That's when you start to see the good Derrick White, right? And then he can kind of get into, you know, some of those three point shots. And there was a moment where he just had like an open lane where he could have got to his floater, he could have got to his mid range which I think, you know, usually has at times can feel a little bit more automatic. And he settled for kind of one step in, into a step back, into a side step back.
- [43:51]
B
I know what play you're talking about.
- [43:53]
A
Yeah, yeah. And it was, it was just like, man, it was right there. Like it was, it was there for you and, and that's the type of stuff that I just think came get cleaned up. So I consider Derrick White, but because I think much like Jaylen Brown has had a lot put on him and he's exceeded expectations. It. He definitely hasn't met expectations, but I think he's still trying to figure out how to be that number two guy which he's never really meant to be in his truest NBA form. So thought about him, did not have him. Probably no surprise to you. My biggest disappointment is Anthony Simons now every Simons tonight against the kids Cavs. Probably one of his better games. Right. Gave you actually kind of what you were looking for. A guy that can get hot quickly and can kind of sustain your offense for a little bit and not put it all on Jalen Brown, Peyton Pritchard and Derrick White. Just give you somebody else that can create their own shot and you know, and on and you know, doesn't have to, you know, doesn't turn the ball over. Right. No Turnovers tonight. Had 18 points, 8 of 4 touchdown from the field. But it's just been too far and it's just been too little. Right from Anthony Simons you get a little bit here and there, but it's just not enough. And it's not entirely his fault, which I will get to here in a minute. But he's shooting the ball well from three. Right. You gotta, gotta give him his props on that. He's shooting over 40% for a team that shoots a lot of threes. Not a lot of guys shooting over 40 for the Celtics right now. So to have him shooting the ball as consistently as he is, I think it's something they need more war up, which is not all on him. Again, I will get back to that, but he's not really doing much else. Like I don't know if you remember from the game against the T Wolves yesterday, Greg Anthony Simons against Nas Reed on the wing. I feel like that should be something that a guy of Anthony Simon's caliber You should be able to create something up on that. Got locked the F up by Nas Reed. Like wasn't even close. Like, didn't, didn't even get, you know, there was never a moment where I was like, oh, he's going to get by Nazrid. Oh, he's going to create space and get a step back. Just Nazrid hanging with him, blow for blow. And Nas Reid is, is, is a okay defender on the perimeter. Not necessarily his forte. So if that's where you're at right now, like, that's just really hard to swallow and he just. There just hasn't been enough of the Simons experience that, that I've enjoyed and so the shooting from three. Cool. Need more of it. And just the on ball stuff has just been really, really gross most of the time. And I just have not enjoyed Anthony Simons on this basketball team so far.
- [46:27]
B
Yeah, I, I'm mostly there with you. You said you're gonna get to this at some point. Is. Is this mediocre life update or you want to talk about Missoula right now?
- [46:37]
A
So we have another award here. Yeah, we talk about Missoula because.
- [46:40]
B
Okay.
- [46:40]
A
Because that's the other award that we have here is kind of the, the tbd. Like I need to see more. We don't. One quarter is not enough. So this isn't. This is an award. It's more just what else do we need to see more of? I need to see. I. I'm. So when I was texting you, you mentioned this. I was texting. You asked me for thoughts on my. On. On Wednesday was at the game there. Just a whole bunch of Joe Missoula thoughts. Because I am very, very confused on how I feel about Joe Missoula as a coach. The results say I should think he's one of the best coaches in the league, hands down. It's. It's not a question. You know, even when you look at some of the high level numbers, they're fifth in offensive rating, they've dropped to 17th in defensive rating. But I think that will, will tick back up eventually at some point. Net rating, you know, they don't turn the ball over. But there's just certain things with Joe that are just really bugging me this year that I subjectively don't know how to feel about. And there's three things I'll give you here, Greg, that really jump out to me that I'm gonna try and give it more time before I feel definitive. The first thing just talking about it is the Simon situation. Right. Like. Like Anthony Simons, he's been very disappointing in what he's produced. But the moments that he has produced, I think they can be better. But I think Joe has just neglected to try to put him in better, better situations. And as a coach, I understand Simons isn't probably your perfect player, Joe Missoula, but it's your job as a coach to make the most out of the. The talent that you have on this team. And he's just not doing that with Simons.
- [48:01]
B
Yeah, like Brad Stevens would be getting him paid this off season.
- [48:06]
A
Exactly. And Anthony Simons is the opposite of getting paid right now. I think it was. I think it was a Zach Lowe podcast recently where he did say, I did talk to one G. A few scouts where they were alarmed at just how did difficult it's been for Anthony Simons to fit into Boston because it felt like on paper, hey, this should be a good opportunity for him to really stand out.
- [48:25]
B
If I remember, I texted you at one point, we were playing the Knicks. I was like, who's getting paid more this off season? Is it Grimes or Simons? I think it's clearly Grimes. It's easy.
- [48:33]
A
I don't even think it's a question right now. Like, there's. There's no doubt about it. And so. But to the Missoula point, like, like Simons has shown you there's something valuable that he presents when he gets hot roll real quick, the way that he can, you know, stretch the defense and is a really good shooter. But, like, the thing that drives me crazy, Greg, here's. And I'll. I'll exclude tonight's starting lineup in the fourth quarter because there's a lot of injuries. But against Detroit and against Minnesota, here's the lineups that Joe Missoula went with to start the fourth quarter in each of these close games against two far more talented teams. I would say, you know, top to bottom with their depth. Against Detroit, the lineup is Simon's House, Hauser, Gonzalez, Shireman and Minot for four minutes. In Minnesota, it's Hauser, Peyton, Pritchard, Simons, Minot and Shireman. Those are weird lineups, specifically the Detroit one. I was going nuts. I was like, what is this lineup that we are presenting here in a close game, and especially in that Detroit game, Simons hadn't played the entire third quarter. I think he played the last, like, 30 seconds of the third quarter, and then he played those four minutes and then that was it. And that was it. So that was not putting Simons In a position to succeed. Like, that's a really bad job by Joe, in my opinion, outside of the lineup being weird. But that's where you're trying to put Simons into that position to carry a team. It just, it just didn't make any sense to me. So that's, that's one of the three things I want to give you a chance just to reflect on that because I went a little bit longer on, on the Simons and Missoula of it all.
- [50:02]
B
Yeah, the, the only thinking there is, you're trying to, you're up against the P. You have four really good defensive players. Who was it? It was Minot, Ugo Shireman and Walsh.
- [50:16]
A
Hauser and Simons.
- [50:17]
B
Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's not a good lineup.
- [50:21]
A
Yeah.
- [50:21]
B
It's just a bad lineup. It's a bad lineup. Yeah. Yeah. Joe, Joe's been all over the place for me. I was texting with Phil. I was like, man, like, I know I shouldn't look at IME and like have those wandering eyes, but I watch the Rockets and I'm just like, God damn. He may is good coach. He's like a really good coach.
- [50:40]
A
Really good coach.
- [50:41]
B
We went from eme to oh well, it'll be Will Hardy. Nope, Will Hardy's on the Jazz to. Now we have Joe Missoula. First year's a mess. Second year championship, third year. It's, I don't know, like Joe was okay, I guess last year, but it's, it's been confusing with Joe Missoula. I, I love, I love his personality. I love, love how committed he is to like his values and principles as a coach. But he's like a stubborn and that's what's made him successful to this point. But he's stubborn to a fault, right? And hopefully he has the self awareness to, to make some of those changes. But I mean, to give him credit where credit's due, like Nemius ka started from day one. Bayless Shireman, he's, he's put him into the game and he's trusted him and Bisharman's proven to be a guy and it's, it's interesting. It's interesting. I don't know, I don't know how I feel about Joe.
- [51:35]
A
I, I mean, this is why it's my tbd. Like I, I, I don't know. Like I, I have fallen on. He is certainly above average, right? He's certainly above average as a coach. But there, there's something left to, to be desired. Whether it's the Constant worry of, are we just going to leave the game with two timeouts? You know, like, is Joe gonna like, even side against the ca. When they were, what were the Celtics up? Either two or three. It's under 20. They have to foul because it's under 24 seconds. Like, get the ball to half court, don't allow us to potentially get caught in the backcourt. And then we call the timeout with, you know, three seconds left to get it over. And at that point, I don't even.
- [52:12]
B
Know if that's the time to call the time out because there's three guys on Pritchard and like three guys up the court wide open, you know.
- [52:18]
A
Yeah. And then, and then getting the ball in, like this is the point of going back to that Shireman dime. Like half the time that Joe isn't using his timeouts and saving them. We have to use them because we can't get the ball in because Joe has no plays when we're, when we're getting the ball in. Like, even tonight, the ball was, the play was just kind of like, thank God Pritchard was open. And Pritchard sprint and scramble for three seconds to try and get that ball across. And so that's why, you know, as you and I were texting at the end of the game, I'm like, if this game's close late, I don't have any confidence that Joe's getting us in a position to win. Right. And that's where to the point that you made his philosophy of advantage basketball. It works great for the first 44, 45 minutes because you're just constantly looking for advantages. But when the game slows down and the coach needs to insert themselves into, into these, you know, after timeout plays, these out of bounds plays in which a coach can really make a really strong impact. I think the Celtics are at a pretty strong deficit when it comes to that. And you're looking at these other top tier coaches.
- [53:14]
B
Fair. You got anything else on Joe?
- [53:16]
A
No. We hit the three things. For me it was the, the lineups, the Simon situation and clutch situations. I just, I guess I got to gather more info because. Yeah, I just, I don't know how to feel about Joe. So that's, that's my tbd. What? Your tbd?
- [53:29]
B
I didn't have a tbd. I, I, I didn't understand the text when I got it, so I'm, I'm unprepared for that.
- [53:35]
A
That's fair. It wasn't, it wasn't really an award, so it was it was just something that I wanted to talk about because I knew. I saw it live and it. It racked my brain. Do we have anything else that we had for awards, or was there was that.
- [53:46]
B
No, that was it. We're going to go to Midlife Update, a mid Mediocre Life update, and bring in Alex.
- [53:50]
A
Mid Midlife Update. Okay. All right, let's bring in producer Alex here, and then. And let's hit it right now. We are going to do some Mediocre Life Update. All right.
- [54:15]
B
I never know. I never know how long Will's gonna play that music.
- [54:18]
A
Did you want to know why? Because I don't know. I don't know either. I. I still don't think it goes.
- [54:22]
C
For three minutes or something like that.
- [54:23]
A
It does. I thought it was going to be shorter, and the first time it just kept going. I was like, we can't. This is horrible podcasting. So we needed to. To change that up. But we got Alex in the building here, so we got myself, Greg, and Alex here for Mediocre Life Update. Greg, do you want to kick us off or do you want to let Alex go first here, as he's kind of our. Our guest of honor on. On the second.
- [54:43]
B
Man, I miss Alex. I haven't seen Alex's face in a little bit. How you doing, my guy? Before we get into the Mediocre Life update, how are you?
- [54:51]
C
Yeah, I'm good. Been busy recently. I've been to seven Caps games in the past, like, 14 days, something like that. Working a lot.
- [55:00]
B
The job's going good.
- [55:01]
C
Yeah, I'm good. Caps are rolling.
- [55:05]
A
Saw your Instagram story. I haven't. Don't know anything else about hockey, but caps are hot. I'll take it.
- [55:09]
C
Yeah, no, they're doing good. It's fun. Yeah, I'm enjoying it better.
- [55:16]
B
Good.
- [55:17]
C
Especially. But not really. In those last couple minutes, they really. They get the heart going, you know, I. I'll give them that. They make sure it's still working.
- [55:24]
B
They're like three shots of espresso straight to your heart. Give us the. Give us the Mediocre Life update. What's new?
- [55:32]
C
I honestly, I did not come prepared for a mediocre, so.
- [55:36]
B
Okay, so I'll. I'll go. I'll go. I want you to. As I'm going, I want you to think about your Mediocre Life update.
- [55:42]
C
Okay, I will do. All right.
- [55:43]
B
All right, I'll go first. I know you guys know I got hand foot mouth. I mentioned this on the solo pod. James got hand foot and Mouth on Monday night, he developed a fever. Tuesday, that's when, like, the sores started sprouting up over his hands, feet, and his mouth. And typically, adults don't get it. It's something like you're exposed to as a kid. The immune system figures it out, and then you don't get it when you're an adult. He had it a couple months ago. I did not get it. I have it right now, and let me tell you, it sucks, man. My throat. Danielle took a picture of my throat today. It's gross. Like, pustules everywhere. Just like all of the white heads and all that nastiness. My hands are covered in sores. It hurts to eat anything. It hurts.
- [56:31]
A
You put your hands up to the camera.
- [56:32]
B
Can we say they're. They're like, I. I don't think you'll be able to see them with, like, the. I don't know. You can't really see that.
- [56:39]
A
I mean, I mean, look, you just have, like, calluses from lifting. I can't really, like, see much else.
- [56:43]
B
Yeah, I'd be putting up them weights, bro. No, I got you.
- [56:48]
A
I got you, dog.
- [56:50]
B
No, I think hand, foot, and mouth is not something that you want as an adult. And it like.
- [56:56]
A
And real quick, to be clear, I think we've talked about this in text, but hand, foot, and mouth, like, it's not like James was putting his hand and foot in his mouth to get. No, as it. As. As states. And like, I know that some people are going to be like, you idiot. But, like, literally, that. That's what I think a lot of people think of. That's what I thought of until his. In, like, this action.
- [57:15]
B
So you're hearing. You're hearing hand, foot in mouth.
- [57:19]
A
Well, and mouth. But I'm just. That's how it would happen. And my daughter just started putting her foot in her mouth the other day. So that's, like, got me. Got me thinking about it as well.
- [57:30]
B
Okay. No, but it. It's brutal, man. Like, I made this delicious sauce. You know how I love making sauce. And I couldn't eat it today. It was, like, too acidic for my throat. I had to have a soup, which, you know, I'm not complaining. I love a soup. But it was. It was pretty bad. Hurts to talk. Like, I got my lips hurt, my hands hurt. It's just brutal, dude. I had a fever yesterday, and it's just not been fun. Thanksgiving was rough. I made steaks instead of, like, having real Thanksgiving because we couldn't go anywhere there. And we just. We Kind of just kicked it. So the last, like, five days, we've just been quarantined with. With the three of us and the dogs.
- [58:10]
A
Yeah, that's rough. Dog it. Yeah. This is something. Again, I'd never. I mean, I'd heard of hand, foot, and mouth, but, like, it had never. I was like, where's that? Who even gets that? And now I've never heard because I realize that it all comes from, like, having kids. Basically, it's like. Is like, where it originates. I was in Boston over Thanksgiving, and I think. Think a few weeks ago, my cousin, whose son is just turned one, beginning of November, he had it as well. And so to your point, rare for adults to get it, but I think. What is it? It. Have you had. You had chickenpox, right? I know it's not the same thing, but it's. But usually there is, like.
- [58:45]
B
It's like chickenpox shingles adjacent. I think it's a virus. It's a virus. Yeah, but it's gross. I mean, like, the. The. The sores, like, pop, and they ooze, and it's disgusting.
- [58:56]
A
So what's the timeline on. So is James back?
- [58:59]
B
James is good, man. He's. He's living life. He's loving it right now. One thing that you'll be. You'll be really happy about. He has this basketball book in his room that he hasn't paid any attention to up until this week. And now whenever he goes into his room, he just points at the book and goes, ba, ba, ba. So we take the book down and we open the page, and there's, like, a lot of text in it. And he just wants to find any page that has a basketball on it. And then he'll just shout, ball. And it's great.
- [59:28]
A
Good. Good to see all of our subliminal messaging. My gifting of a basketball hoop. Good to see it's all going according to plan.
- [59:34]
B
Oh, yeah. He's. He's the man. Good. Good dude. Little James.
- [59:38]
A
All right, Alex, are you prepared, or would you. Would you like me to step in here?
- [59:42]
C
What you got? I mean, it's not really. I think it's more of a positive life update. You guys are a big.
- [59:49]
A
We'll be the judge of that.
- [59:50]
C
TV Shows Watchers. So I'm sure, you know, Stranger Things came out.
- [59:54]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [59:56]
C
I think on Wednesday. And I was going to. Because one of the last season come out 2022. I was just gonna, like, go right to season five. I. I've been re. Watching with Lily, who had never seen the show before. So like I was re watching to catch up, but she kind of sped along and finished the whole season four or whatever. And by the time it came out, I'd only watched the first two episodes of season four.
- [60:19]
B
Four.
- [60:20]
C
And they did like a little four minute recap when you click on to season five because it's been three years or whatever. So I'm like watching this recap, which.
- [60:29]
A
Is insane, by the way, to go three years between seasons.
- [60:31]
C
Yeah, I'm like watching this recap. I'm like, did I even watch season four? Like, I don't. I had no idea what was going on. So I actually went back and finished season four over Thanksgiving. And then me and Lily watched all four episodes yesterday of stream Stranger Things. And I would say it's worth it if you're gonna go watch the show. I would re watch. Although the only negative is like, these are like movies they're putting out. Like, the last episode of season four is 2 hours and 20 minutes. An absolute grind to get through.
- [61:03]
A
But of the newest episodes, it's two.
- [61:06]
B
No previous season.
- [61:07]
A
Okay. Okay.
- [61:08]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [61:10]
A
So you do like the new season. Let's. Let's start there because me and my wife were talking about this a little bit earlier today. So you did like, was it season five is the one that dropped on?
- [61:17]
C
Yeah, I liked it. I mean, so far I think I like it more because I. It felt like I just finished season four that I'm going right into season five. So I get like that continuation. But yeah, I liked it. My favorite character is Derek. He's so funny. I just laugh every time he's on screen.
- [61:35]
B
Is that the fact?
- [61:36]
C
Yeah, he's new.
- [61:36]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's pretty great. I. I also watched it with, with Danielle as we were quarantined the last four days. So we, you know, we've just been.
- [61:45]
A
Makes sense. That's a good quarantine. Yeah.
- [61:47]
B
Highly recommend. You know, no spoilers. Fat Derek is great. Derek Turnbow is his name. Let's see. Is there anything that I can give away without spoiling stuff?
- [62:01]
A
No.
- [62:01]
B
There. I. I don't want to spoil anything. It's great.
- [62:05]
A
Okay. Highly recommend. Okay, good. So because it's been so long, we saw it today on our Netflix and like, we were just like, like, I don't know if I have it in me anymore. Like, do I even give a about these kids anymore? Like, I really don't know that I do. And also, like, it's just like these kids are adults now. Like, they like like they started the show and they were like these little kids. It's like half of them are, you know, they're like 20s. Like, yeah, like I saw Millie Bobby Brown, you know, and like adoption is close to me. She adopted. She's adopting kids now. Like, she's still in the show.
- [62:36]
B
It's really tough to look past the Millie Bobby Brown lips filler, I'll tell you that. They try and they try and shoot it so you don't notice it. But the Millie Bobby Brown lip filler is, is noticeable on 11.
- [62:47]
A
Okay. Okay. So I'll. We. We'll have to consider it. We've. We've. We've been really tired from traveling, so we haven't had a chance to catch up on much since we got. We got back. But I'll have to suggest that we put in the queue because both of us were like, let's wait and see if people say it's any good before we invest time because we just don't care about it anymore. Even though the first four seasons, Stranger things, I loved, like, I was all in and watched every single one of them again. Thank God there's a four minute recap. Like you mentioned, Alice, because I couldn't tell you what happened.
- [63:17]
C
When you watch it. I was shocked.
- [63:19]
A
Only thing I remember is like Vecna was like a real. Vecna was like they put him in like the prosthetics and it wasn't like a CGI type of thing.
- [63:27]
C
I couldn't believe what was going on on my screen when I was watching this recap.
- [63:34]
B
Wait, did. So did you watch season four or did you.
- [63:37]
C
Yeah, no, I did. I watched it when it came. Came out. Okay.
- [63:40]
A
You didn't finish the rewatch.
- [63:42]
C
I didn't finish the rewatch. I stopped because like I, I know what happens. Come on.
- [63:45]
B
I watch season four is when they go to Russia.
- [63:50]
A
So by the way, real quick, I mean, this isn't giving any away. I thought the Russia storyline was ridiculous. How the did that connect to Hawkins, Indiana? That was insane.
- [64:00]
B
Everything. Everything in the 80s connected back to Russia, man. It's Cold War.
- [64:04]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, for sure. Yeah. That was. I for. I am remembering watching that being like, how are these two story lines connected? Like what is happening here between both of these? So. All right, you guys both recommended it, so I will put it on. On the docket for, for me and the wife to. To take a look at. We're going long here, so I'm gonna go ahead.
- [64:23]
B
Alex, one more thing. Alex, go ahead.
- [64:25]
C
Yeah, well, First, I think the pacing on Stranger Things is unbelievable. I think their show, like pacing episode to episode is really good. But also right now I think there's a lot of good television out. Like, I don't know if you guys have watched welcome to Dairy on hbo. Max. I've heard that show. And then there's also Pluribus on.
- [64:43]
A
I'm in on.
- [64:43]
C
Plus Apple tv. I love that show because I'm big.
- [64:46]
A
From Vince Gilligan, Greg, Better Call Saul.
- [64:51]
B
Yeah. Okay, can I, can I make, can I make one recommendation? This is a Hulu show, okay? The. For any Oliver Twist fans out there. Not that there are many Oliver Twist fans, but there's a show called the Artful Dodger which has just Jojen from, from Game of Thrones and then Professor Lupin. Professor Lupin the werewolf and Harry Potter. They, they play a, this little like duo in. I don't know, what would it be, like 18th century England or whatever? No, they're in Australia because they're in the penal colony. They're in Australia. But it's really good. The Artful Dodger. Check it out. You don't need to have read Oliver Twist to, to like, like the show.
- [65:34]
A
Okay, I like this. I. I like TV recommendations.
- [65:36]
C
One show per platform.
- [65:39]
A
We got, we got you guys. Yeah, I like it. Okay, I'll give a quick mediocre life update because we're running a little bit long here. I mentioned I was just traveling for the holidays. Was back in Boston, something that I feel like I need to do more often. And as men on this podcast, I'm curious to, to know your guys thoughts. I feel like I, I let my underwear go a little too, too long and I got some fresh. Got to get some. Got. Got some fresh underwear.
- [66:05]
B
This is what the segment is all about, baby. Go ahead. Yeah, hit me with it.
- [66:09]
A
Got some fresh underwear for the trip. And you know how sometimes it's just like it's already curled up and like, you know, it's not easy to pack, right? So it's like, all right, I'm not even gonna. I'm gonna take these out. I'm just gonna put them in, you know, take them out of the box, but put them, put them in the suitcase as is. So put them on brand new fresh, like first day after you get back after a flight and you know, whatever, man. Feel like a million bucks when you put on a brand new pair of underwear. Like, that's a great feeling. It's an underrated feeling. And it then makes you wonder in that moment man, why don't I just wear new underwear more often? Like, I got to change my underwear more often. I'm like, how. How often are you introducing either of you introducing a new set of underwear to your rotation?
- [66:49]
C
Me personally, I only. I don't think I have bought underwear myself, myself ever in my entire life. I only. I only get like, underwear refills from my grandma. So anytime she sends me, you know, a new. A new thing of underwear, I will say it feels good. But I think I probably right now have like 70 things of underwear. She sends me so much. So I have a lot of.
- [67:13]
A
Dude, Abuela Gonzalez is hooking it up.
- [67:18]
C
Yeah.
- [67:19]
B
Which side of the family? Which side of the family?
- [67:21]
C
My dad's. My dad's mom. She. Okay, she loves. She's a big like TJ Maxx Marshalls, like a deals person. So she always.
- [67:28]
B
What kind of underwear does she send you?
- [67:30]
C
She sends me like either Fruit of the Fruit of the Loom or Reebok. It's like the stretchy. It feels really nice, honestly. It's kind of like women have like the long underwear. It's like a little bit shorter than that. But it's.
- [67:43]
A
Of your. Of your grandma going chopping at like TJ Maxx Mars whatever. And she's just like, she goes, she goes walking by because the boxes are all in one section, right? That's why she's like, you know. Know what? You know who I think probably needs. Needs some more underwear again? I think it's my grandson, Alex.
- [67:58]
B
I think I. I wiped. I wiped this kid's ass a lot. I know that he's got some streaks on those underwear that I've sent him in the past. I could have sent him some new underwear.
- [68:08]
A
It's like, Greg, you remember in. In Seinfeld when, like Jerry's grandma keeps forgetting that she sends him like a, like a $20 check or whatever it is, or like like these small checks. I. It's that. But it just keeps sending underwear. She keeps forgetting that she sent Alex underw underwear. It's like, you know what? I. I keep meaning to send Alex more underwear. I should buy him some alum underwear.
- [68:26]
B
Probably.
- [68:27]
C
We'll get some for Christmas. We'll see.
- [68:29]
B
Alex, I want you to. Actually, you don't have to do it right now, but I want you to count how many pairs of underwear you actually haven't. Text us after the show.
- [68:36]
C
I will. I have to go through my laundry. But my grandma recently has. She's started using FaceTime. So she'll like FaceTime me when she's at, like, TJ Maxx or Marshalls, but she doesn't know how to flip the camera, so, like, she'll go like this.
- [68:50]
B
That's amazing. Amazing. Oh, I love it so much. Yeah. So to love. Love you, grandma.
- [68:56]
A
Both.
- [68:57]
B
My grandma's dead. I don't get. I don't get underwear no more, bro. Danielle, she actually bought me new underwear recently because I've had some of the underwear that I still wear, I think.
- [69:11]
A
No.
- [69:11]
B
Am I wearing new underwear? No, I'm wearing the underwear that she bought me right now. But there's some underwear that I have that have holes in them, and I just, like, yeah, just don't throw them away. And she's like, you know that underwear has holes in it right there. Like, there's a pretty big hole, like, right on your. Right there. And I'm like, yeah, but, like, it still works for the most part.
- [69:27]
A
Well, I was gonna say you should.
- [69:29]
B
Probably throw those away.
- [69:30]
A
So I was gonna say it depends where the hole is. If it's directly in your. You should probably throw those out, because I do that. But it's, like, on my thigh, but it's like, oh, but then. No, that doesn't make any sense. There's no. No one is doing.
- [69:41]
B
I was joking, dude.
- [69:43]
A
Okay, well, you also said it. You're 50% of the time putting your shirt on the correct way, so it's hard to know what. You're joking, dude.
- [69:48]
B
That's 100% true. Like, I still. If. If I have a plain black t shirt, it's 50% whether I'm putting.
- [69:56]
A
I know, but that's insane. Like, there. There's no one that agrees with that take, Greg. It's nuts.
- [70:00]
B
I don't know, Danielle.
- [70:01]
A
You said a lot of crazy things. That's the craziest thing you ever said.
- [70:04]
B
Danielle sends me a lot of. A lot of, like, couples Instagram reels and whatnot just so she could be like, see, like, there. There are other girls that are. That are crazy. Like, like me, and I'm okay, like, cool. But then there was this one that she sent, and it was like, this girl. She's. She's. She's like, yeah, my husband just bought me. Bought me a new house and a new car and everything. And I just love this man so much. I. I can't believe I get to, like, marry him. And then the camera flips, and it's just him struggling to put a shirt on, and he's got his head, like, in the armhole, and I was like, yeah, that's, that's me.
- [70:45]
A
Well, I think we actually had to crush this mediocre life update. Very, very mediocre updates all, all around. I think, I think we did. We did what this segment is designed to do. So good job.
- [70:56]
B
I mean, I loved it. Alex was unprepared. I, I talked about illness, which is what you do when you're in your mid-30s. And then you brought it with the, with the actual purpose of the segment. I appreciate it.
- [71:07]
A
It. Well done all around, boys. For the audience. If anyone's still there. Celtics this week. Tuesday against the Knicks. Thursday against the Wizards. I'll be there Thursday, Friday. Oh, all right. We'll have to get. We'll have to check in with you on the weekend pod here, Alex. Get your thoughts about in person against the Wizards and then home against the Lakers on Friday, Sunday at Greg's Toronto Raptors. So that will be a podcast that we do after that game, but we'll be back midweek here. We'll have some more to talk about here after this. That Knicks game, not live afterwards, but likely on Wednesday. We'll have a podcast for you guys. So stay tuned. Stay locked in across Tik Tok, across Instagram, across YouTube. We got you, Alex. Got you with the clips. This has been another episode here. Green with envy. We appreciate you guys have a great week and we will talk to you later.
- [72:05]
B
Until I hit the floor.
- [72:09]
A
Every time I hit this high it's you I find it don't take much no more.
- [72:17]
D
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