"We Want Boston!" The Celtics Win Both in Philly to Go Up 3-1 + Mediocre Life Updates w/ Steve Ceruti

Summary

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Green With Envy: "We Want Boston!" — Celtics Win Both in Philly to Go Up 3-1 (+ Mediocre Life Updates w/ Steve Ceruti)

Date: April 27, 2026
Hosts: Will & Greg Menegas
Guest: Steve Ceruti
Special Segment: Mediocre Life Update

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Episode Overview

This episode breaks down the Boston Celtics’ emphatic Game 4 win against the Philadelphia 76ers, analyzing their 3-1 series lead, the impact of Joel Embiid's return, the evolving dynamic between Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and key rotational decisions. There’s also a lively “Mediocre Life Update” with guest Steve Ceruti, sharing personal stories and commiserating on parenting mishaps.

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Main Themes

• Celtics' dominance in Philly: dissecting a 128–96 victory for a commanding 3-1 series lead.
• Impact (or lack thereof) of Joel Embiid’s return on the Sixers’ playoff identity and offense.
• Celtics role players rising, particularly Peyton Pritchard’s standout performance.
• Evaluating Celtics’ big man rotation and key coaching adjustments.
• The evolving partnership between Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, with a focus on defense and playmaking.
• Playoff surprises and chaos around the NBA.
• Side segment: humorous, relatable life updates on dad-life and sharing personal boundaries.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Celtics Dominate Game 4 Despite Early Uncertainty

(Starts ~01:29)

• The Celtics grabbed a crucial 3-1 lead with a road blowout over the Sixers, echoing their strong Game 1 win.
• Joel Embiid’s surprise return prompted early nerves, but didn’t change the game’s outcome:
  • Will: “Anytime you can put belt to ass to Joel Embiid, it just makes it that much nicer each and every time.” (03:24)
• The hosts note Embiid seemed winded and out of rhythm even during warmups.

2. How Embiid “Messes Up” the Sixers’ Flow

(04:50–06:35)

• Greg: “You need an identity and a superstar.”
• With Embiid back, the Sixers revert to old habits:
  • Philly’s offense stalled—Tyrese Maxey had just 3 FG attempts in the first half (after averaging nearly 30 through 3 games), Embiid led with 21 attempts.
  • Will: “Tyrese Maxey had three field goal attempts through the first half … Embiid kind of messes up the flow of the Philadelphia 76ers.”
• Philly’s offense became clunky and predictable, except for a few Maxey flashes.

3. Peyton Pritchard: The Unlikely Hero

(07:29–10:17)

• Pritchard propelled Boston through a shaky early stretch when Tatum and Brown struggled.
  • Playoff career-high 32 points, 12-21 FG, 6-12 3PT.
  • Will: “If it wasn’t for the preaching hour, my goodness, crack a cold one for Peyton Pritchard … one of the craziest end-of-quarter buzzer beaters.” (07:29)
• His timely scoring kept the Sixers at bay and helped Boston match Philly shot-for-shot during their third-quarter run.
• Greg: “Pritchard was elite. Lights out ... definitely deserves all the flowers right now.” (09:07)

4. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown: Rising to Dominate the Second Half

(10:17–16:44)

• After a cold start, Boston’s stars took control:
  • Tatum: “30 points, 11 assists, 7 rebounds … vintage Jason Tatum, ‘I own the Philadelphia 76ers’ second half.” (11:47)
  • Brown: Key third-quarter burst, but praised especially for defense and decision-making.
    • Greg: “Jaylen Brown’s defense in this series has been absolutely elite … he’s played a really good series, just in a different role.” (12:52)
    • Will: “He knows because it’s like, ‘Yo, that’s my role. I got to make sure that I’m this guy right now.’”

5. Celtics’ Balance and Rotation: Big Men, Wings, and Sam Hauser’s Replacements

(19:03–27:47)

• The "big man” situation—balancing Keta’s fouls/impact, Vucevic’s steadiness, and Garza's solid minutes.
  • Will (21:47): “We don’t have a unicorn. We’ve got a stable, right?”
  • The need to find the right “sauce” each night by mixing matchups.
• Joe Mazzulla’s adjustments praised; Greg notes Walsh and Shireman’s energy and hustle have earned them more minutes, especially over Sam Hauser.
  • Jordan Walsh lauded as the “Tyrese Maxey stopper in the NBA.” (25:33)

6. Derrick White: In a Shooting Funk, Still Contributing Elsewhere

(27:49–30:49)

• Struggles for confidence—not hesitant earlier in the year, now passing up open shots
  • Will: “We gotta get you out of your head, man ... we just need you to be you.”
• Still credited for defense and blocks; percentage perks up tonight (2-4 3PT).
  • Greg: “He just has to be willing to shoot the ball and to knock things down at like a 35 clip. He just can't be under 30.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Will (03:24): "Anytime you can put belt to ass at Joel Embiid, it just makes it that much nicer each and every time."

Greg (04:50): "You need an identity and a superstar."

Will (07:29): "Crack a cold one for Peyton Pritchard ... 32 points ... one of the craziest end-of-quarter buzzer beaters."

Greg (12:52): "Jaylen Brown’s defense in this series has been absolutely elite ... defensive stopper."

Will (21:47): "We don't have a unicorn. We've got a stable, right?"

Will (27:49): “My guy, we gotta get you out of your head, man … we need that [Derrick White] confidence back.”

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Playoff Picture & NBA Chaos

(32:25–38:21)

• The hosts survey the other NBA playoff series—T-wolves injuries, Lakers drama (Marcus Smart in purple and gold), and shockers like the Raptors' comeback in the Cavs series.
• Will: “These playoffs are getting kind of weird, man.”
• Commentary on James Harden’s record for more turnovers than made field goals—“44 times. That’s too many.” (36:19)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Game breakdown & Embiid’s impact: 01:29–06:35
• Pritchard’s performance: 07:29–10:17
• Tatum/Brown take over: 10:17–16:44
• Big man rotation & role players: 19:03–27:47
• Derrick White’s psyche: 27:49–30:49
• NBA playoff chaos: 32:25–38:21
• Mediocre Life Updates: 40:00–57:25

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"Mediocre Life Update" with Steve Ceruti (Ryan Russillo Show)

(Starting ~40:00)

Casual, comedic segment where hosts and guest Steve Ceruti swap family/parenting anecdotes and discuss personal boundaries in relationships:

• Greg: Kids destroy bathroom boundaries; admits to using wife’s razor and deodorant.
• Ceruti: Ranking lines not to cross: "Toothbrush is one, obviously not... deodorant is a no-go for me." (42:41)
• Steve: Best parenting ‘boss’ battle — stranded 24 hours in Dallas with two little kids:
  • “I said to my wife, ‘What could be harder than that?’ … I feel like we actually conquered the final boss of parenthood.” (47:19)
• Will: Accidentally grabbed wrong car seat at baggage claim; long delays and kid meltdowns.
• Jokes about what household/personal items can (or should) be shared between couples. Much laughter about wearing spouse’s clothes.
• Will’s surprising discovery of “cold plunge” therapy: “I really enjoyed it … I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.” (54:05)
• Greg’s warning: “Just be careful, Will, because the cold plunge to MAHA pipeline is strong.” (56:32)

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Takeaways & Closing Thoughts

• Boston looks poised to close out Philly in Game 5—stars are ascending, bench is delivering, and Joe Mazzulla is pushing the right rotational buttons.
• Sixers are reliant on a flawed formula with Embiid back, while Boston’s versatility and teamwork shine.
• The East remains volatile, but Boston appears the favorite to emerge.
• Life off the court: even podcast hosts deal with razor mixups, boundary disputes, and airport parenting heroics.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode is equal parts hard-hitting Celtics analysis and relatable, offbeat banter. It details the team’s growing postseason confidence, the evolving roles of stars and role players, and shares some laughs about everyday struggles—on and off the court. If you’re a fan or just a basketball-loving parent, this is a don’t-miss listen.

Transcript

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[Greg Menegas]

This is Mike Gorman and you're listening

[Will]

to Green with Envy with Will and Greg. All right, everybody. Celtics become the first team in the Eastern Conference to get the three wins in their best of seven first round series. Now up three games to one on the Philadelphia 76ers, a 128 to 96 game. Game four win on the road. Chance to close it out. Game 5 at home Tuesday night. This is Agreement with Envy Post Game Live. You guys know the deal. Let's lock in. What up? What up? Welcome into another edition of Green with Envy. It is a Green with Envy playoff Post game live. Celtics, a 128 to 96 road victory in game four. Now take a 31 commanding series lead back to the TD Garden on Tuesday night with a chance to close it out. As always, your boy Will. We're checking in. How you doing? How you living? Joining me as he does each and every time, my best friend, co host and the coach of our podcast, the one and only Greg Menegas. Greg, I don't know what jacket you have on. Looks like a bit of like. Remember the the Missy Elliott super duper fly video where she's. I think that's the trash bag was just like the shininess of it. I. I don't know what's happening, but I. But I like it. And it feels celebratory.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah, man, It. It's. It's like one of those thrift shop finds that's actually not that cool of a jacket, but when you put it on, you feel really cool. It's a Meteor Express wearing a mechanic

[Will]

jacket named Ryan or something.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It' like, it's just like a random ass jacket. But yeah, man, I do feel pretty cool in it. So thanks for the shout.

[Will]

Yeah, no problem, man. Hey, fun night here. Celtics get probably the. The. Well, I got an easy win in game one. And this is what you could have tricked yourself into this series was going to feel like, right? But tonight wasn't just any night, Greg. Joel Embiid made his comeback tonight for the Philadelphia the 676ers. And to be honest, anytime you can put belt to ass at Joel Embiid, it just makes it that much nicer each and every time. And so this news came out just before tip probably like half hour before there started being. He went from doubtful to questionable. Questionable to. To shooting around. I saw Bobby Manning had some. Some video where Embiid looks really winded while shooting around. I was like, okay, I'm liking this. I'm liking how this is feeling. And it's funny because I think after we podcast after game two, we alluded to after how tough that game was. Like, man, especially after it's after the Celtics lost that game that like, man, if indeed comes back, this could be an interesting series. And we didn't dive too deep into it because we didn't know enough. But off air, me, you and Alex kind of talked a little bit more about it. And one of the things that I said that I think kind of rang true to me in this game was that Embiid kind of messes up the flow of the Philadelphia 76ers. And Greg, you have been so on point this year with what has made the best teams in the NBA. What. What are the two things that every team needs?

[Greg Menegas]

You need an identity and a superstar.

[Will]

Exactly. And so Embiid theoretically fits the superstar mold if and when healthy. Right. Although I think this should be Tyrese Maxey's team. And that's what kind of leads to that second portion is what's your identity without him? Be they have an identity with Embiid. They kind of have to become Embiid's identity. And therein lies the issue. And therein lies A Celtics 30 point victory on the night.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah, he's just not the same guy that he was when he won the MVP in 2023. That's not breaking news by any means. But you know, when you, when you think about who Joel Embiid is and when he's at his best, even when he was at his best, he wasn't a guy that was leading them through the playoffs to the conference finals. He's never been to the conference finals in his life. Know, it's not like this is a proven winner by any means. He's just really talented. And when he runs into the Celtics in the playoffs, he loses. That's just what Joe Ellen Bead does, just rinse and repeat. So, you know, I was a little bit worried when Joe Ellen Bead was, was announced that he was going to play tonight, that just because there's this special backcourt with Maxi Edgecomb, Paul George looks kind of like Paul George again. Kelly U. Is doing some cool stuff out there on the court. I'm like, you know what, like, if Embiid just comes in and is playing five minutes every quarter, you know, 20 minutes for the night and the Sixers don't try and make it Joel Embiid's team, this could be interesting tonight. And they decided to just revert back to Joel Embiid ball. And Tyrese Maxi had three field goal attempts in the first half after shooting damn near 30 for the first three games of the series, ends up with 14 field goal attempts. Joel Embiid in no world should have led their team in field goal attempts tonight. And he had 21. Next close.

[Will]

It wasn't even close. Like, it's not even close. And you know, the, the, the key stat of the game is what you just said right there. Tyrese Maxey had three field goal attempts through the first half, right? And like, as you watch that game, as you watch the game unfold, like Embiid early on, like, the, the thing that he can do and will do is like he immediately got Kada out of the game, right? Like two early quick fouls. And you're like, okay, this could be a little bit of trouble if we're rolling with, you know, Vuch and Garza all night. But you really saw they kept trying to work Joelle Embiid in and you know, him and Maxi have enough chemistry that some, a few small moments. You saw, oh, this is where like this elevator screen that they could run like, where it's just like, maxi has a ton of space and it's just, you know, and it worked a handful of times, but then you saw anything Vijay tried to do, he's never had a chance to build chemistry with, you know, because he's never been there.

[Steve Ceruti]

Right.

[Will]

You saw clunky, you saw if it wasn't a trailer play to mb, that there was just nothing to really do. And so everything about Philadelphia after the first four minutes of this game felt out of whack. Like nothing about it felt right. And the thing was, Greg, there was a pretty big opening in that first half because both Tatum and Brown took a while to get going. Jason Tatum, I think was one of seven or one of eight going into halftime. Jalen Brown didn't score his first points of the game until sometime in the second half of the second quarter. And if it wasn't for the preaching hour, my goodness, crack a cold one for Peyton Pritchard. If it wasn't for him, like the Celtics were, were kind of playing into the, the, the Sixers chances here of having, you know, a little glimmer of hope, and Pritchard just was having none of it. Pritchard with his, I believe was playoff highs. 32 points. 12 of 21, 6 of 12, and maybe the most absurd end of first quarter buzzer beater. He's hit in all of these buzzer beaters that he's hit. That was probably one of the craziest.

[Greg Menegas]

It's just so great when Reggie Miller's calling a Celtics game now and Peyton Pritchard goes off. All I can think about is the Caitlin Clark comments. I just know Reggie Miller wants.

[Will]

And I can't, I can't tell if the broadcast is continuing to like, they're winking at it. They're winking at it, right? Yeah, they're definitely like, I wonder why he's looking over here and he keeps, like putting his tongue out and saying stuff. Yeah, it's like, I think we know why.

[Greg Menegas]

And yeah, Pritzer was great, man. And then in that third quarter where the Sixers had 36 points and it felt like they couldn't miss, the Celtics were matching them shot for shot and actually outscored them 39 to 36 in that third quarter where last year, you know, when you juxtapose this year's team to last year's team, I feel like that was a quarter that would have let the Sixers get back in the game. But the Celtics hit their shots and don't just rely on their shots, they get the Sixers in foul trouble and decide to drive to the basket and get to the free throw line all throughout that third quarter. And Peyton Pritchard, you know, right when the Jays took their foot off the gas just for the tiniest bit in the. In the third quarter, that was when Peyton Pritchard took the wheel, and he was just ready to go, you know, so Pritchard was great the entire. The entire game. Once again, Missoula left him in just a couple minutes too long for my liking. When he crashed into Derek White in the corner, I was like, God damn it, if Dave Pritchard gets hurt in this game, like Joe Missoula, like, the. The warts will show. But it was. It was great, man. Pritchard was elite. He was elite. Lights out. You know, there was game two. He had a really rough game. Played well in game three. Played. Played well in game four. So Pritchard definitely deserves all the flowers right now.

[Will]

Yeah, Pritchard was huge in this game, man. He absolutely set the tone in that first quarter when it felt like there could have been a chance for Philadelphia to. Little bit of light, and he just absolutely shut that door. And then, you know, second half, well, really, end of the second quarter, leading into halftime, the. And then into the third quarter, the J showed up, and they were like, we're the best two players in the series, and we're just gonna remind you real quick if that's the case on both ends. Right. Like I thought, you know, we'll. We'll talk about Jason Tatum here, but I thought Jaylen Brown kind of waking up at the end of that second quarter to be like, yeah, I got to get my going here. And I gotta. I gotta kind of force the issue to a certain degree, but in a mindful manner, if you will. Like, I didn't think it was. It was uncalled for, especially, you know, the Celtics had a little bit of a cushion, and I think that kind of set the tone for the Jays going into halftime. And then coming out of it, Jason Tatum was old school. Jason Tatum in the second half, he. The flow was there. The. The. Everything about his body language, the charisma, like, it was all work. And Tatum's final stat line, 30 points, 11 assists, 7 rebounds, ends up going 8 of 16. I'm waiting for it to update here, because I think he was one of seven at halftime or one of eight at halftime. So he did some. Barely missed a shot, if at all, in the second half. Finished 5 of 10 from 3, 9 of 9 from the line. Just a completely vintage Jason Tatum. I own the Philadelphia 76 or second half.

[Greg Menegas]

Dude, so good. Have you seen that viral video of that Sixers fan? The girl who's watching the game? Just like, when did Jason Tatum learn how to shoot? Did you. Have you seen this thing?

[Will]

I think so because I. At first she has like a green eagle shirt on, but it's like screen. So it confused me at first when I saw the title. Yeah, I did see this. Yeah.

[Greg Menegas]

It's just so funny. Like, Tatum has just dominated the Sixers for his entire career and Sixers fans still don't know who Jason Tatum is and what, like, what he's able to do. Come on. It's. It's ridiculous. I do want to give quick shouts in the chat. Shout out to Steve Zilla being active in chat. Shout to Jess T. Macy, Jade 8 and Atlas 1052. Shout out to everybody in the chat if you have any questions tonight. We are the Green with Envy podcast here. Feel free to drop a question in the chat and if will and I feel like we're going to answer it, we'll answer it for you. But yeah, Tatum was. Tatum was awesome. Ends up playing 35 minutes. Jalen only played 31. I think that was another nice thing about the game tonight is we didn't have to over tax people. Like, did Jalen even see the court in the fourth quarter? I don't think he had to. Right. He just was able to sit the whole fourth.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Greg Menegas]

And I, I don't know, man. Like, my brother was texting me. Shout out to Charles knows a lot about basketball. Really respect his opinion on. On a lot of things. But Jalen, for whatever reason, is not the apple of his basketball eye. And I just want to talk about Jaylen because I think he's played a really good series, but it's. It's not the Jaylen Brown we saw during the regular season. It's just been like a little bit different. He's playing a completely different role than he played during the regular season where he's being more of that scorer, the ISO ball play finisher and then just defensive stopper. And that's what I want to talk about. It's like Jaylen Brown's defense in this series has been absolutely elite. He's taken the challenge of guard and Paul George in all four games. I. I just have nothing bad to say about jb. So I'm just really confused why my brother was texting me, like, oh, jb, like everything's good, but jb, like, he's going to be a problem later in the playoffs, and I just don't see it, man. And I apologize.

[Will]

Yeah, I mean. I mean, defensively, I. You know, I. I think Jalen's been like. Like you said, I think Jalen's been kind of taking that to another level because I think part of him realizes, like, I actually have someone else to help me on offense now. Right. Like, I have Jason.

[Greg Menegas]

The last play.

[Will]

The.

[Greg Menegas]

The last play when Tatum hits the shot on Bona in game three, right when Dark White gets the rebound, kicks it to jb. Like, if you're worried about jb, that's the moment you worried about jb, like, saying, hey, I got this. I'm gonna go.

[Will]

No hesitation.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah. Just right to Jason Tatum. You got the mismatch. You got it going. Like, that's the pass that would have concerned me coming into this series. It's like, will JB still know when to make the. When to make the right play? And he's making the right play when it match?

[Will]

Yeah, I don't really have much on jail. I mean, I think one of the things that stood out to me is that, you know, and coming into the game, I think he was averaging, like, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks in the series. Right. Got another. Another two stocks in this game here. Right. Like, I think he's been super active. Like, I think that's the part for me that kind of sticks out defensively, offensively, you know, I mean, he missed four free throws. Like, I wish he didn't miss the free throws. Like, I guess that's. That's one. Like. Yeah, I will say that's getting called a little bit more on him in this series. He's getting at least one of those a game. It feels like they're not letting him get the. The kind of, like, SGA style, you know, push off, which, you know, we'll. We'll see how that continues in the playoffs. The only gripe I would have, I think, with Jalen Brown, is that I think maybe once each game we have seen the kind of, like, all right, I don't have my head on a swivel, and I get picked from behind. That's happened, like, once or twice this series, but other than that, I like. And that. That was a big bugaboo of mine last year. That, like, really stood out to me last year during. During Jalen Brown's season, and it just hasn't happened that much this year, so I'm like, okay, all right. It happened, but, like, I don't think it's. It's not overwhelming me. I don't know. I don't know what your, your brother. I'd be curious to get more details as to, you know, what he's seeing, because to me, what I see is just like a little bit of a, to your point, a different Jalen Brown. Because this is the, this is the figuring it out of, of him being who he is now versus who he was when Jason Tatum went out and them having a little bit more of a, of a balancing act to figure out. And Tatum's rising, Jalen's, I think, still at the same level, but just kind of spreading it out differently between defense and offense and finding, like, when do I. Like at the end of the second quarter again, I think with a very, like, intentionality was like, all right, F this, I gotta get going. And he went and scored eight points in the last, you know, three minutes or whatever it was. And I think he was forceful about it. And I think he knows because it's like, yo, that's, that's my role. I got to make sure that I'm this guy right now. And, and so I think he's actually, I think in general, but between him and J. Him, between him and Tatum, I, I, that's. I've been blown away by the balancing act and the lack of friction with balancing.

[Greg Menegas]

Right, yeah. Because, like, they're not perfect players. Right. They're gonna make mistakes throughout 48 minutes of basketball. And Jalen had his share of mistakes or, you know, questionable shots, like questionable decisions. Going at maxi when he's got like a two on one opportunity with Pritchard

[Will]

on that fast break, he's got to give that up.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah, yeah, give that up to Pritchard. But then you think back to the last game when he gets this deal and then calling Derrick White to come up the court, like he makes the perfect pass to Derek White in that situation, you know, so you want him to make the. The right read every single time. It's not going to happen every single time, but I think with Jalen, he's trending more towards making better decisions, not only just like within the flow of the offense and be having to be the play finisher that he was in years past because he's not the play initiator that he has been this year. And he's not necessarily being called upon to make reads for other people. Other people are making reads, namely Jason Tatum making reads for him and creating the advantage. And then get, get in jail on the ball in an advantageous spot. So you know, it's something to watch. I'll, I'll definitely go back and re watch the game. I think Jalen's first half was definitely not as good as, you know, end of the second quarter through the third quarter. I thought he was phenomenal in that stretch. So it'll be interesting because, you know, once we're done with these Sixers, the New York Knicks or Atlanta Hawks are waiting for us on the other side.

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[Will]

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[Will]

We don't know.

[Greg Menegas]

They got some good defenders that Jaylen Brown's gonna have to go through.

[Will]

Yeah, that'll be both. Those teams are gonna have very interesting matchups that we'll. We'll have to get into. But, but before we do that, I, I do want to talk a little bit about what you think about the, the. The trio of bigs tonight for the, for the Celtics. Right. So Kate has been kind of in and out of foul trouble throughout most of the series. You know, I think we've talked a lot this season and going into the postseason that this is going to be a pendulum for like where does that contract extension look right. Like it's starting right now. Probably somewhere around 8 million. The best version of a cater postseason run could take him to 15 to 20. And there's a whole bunch of areas that, that live in between that are probably more realistic. If we're being honest, just starting with Keda, we're probably a lot closer to that eight million dollar pendulum right now. It's kind of hasn't really got going a ton yet. So I'm just curious to get your thoughts because we've had a kind of interesting mixed bag of Keda and Vuch and Garza throughout this series. And, and even what it means for this series then what it could mean going forward.

[Greg Menegas]

Forward. Well, it's so interesting because we, we didn't pod after game three and I'm like, did we already talk about this stuff? But we, we. We haven't because we haven't been on air. And V, I thought was. Was great in game three, man, like getting 30 minutes of action out there and being like the whole reason why the Celtics were able to have a functional offense with Kada being in foul trouble. I thought V was, was really good. And then the, the minutes that I think Luca Garza is giving the Celtics in this series where you know that you can throw them out there for 10 minutes and it's not going to be what was the Greg Monroe effect. Is that what you always.

[Will]

Yeah, the Greg Monroe effect. Yeah.

[Greg Menegas]

Can you repeat what that is again?

[Will]

So I forget the exact breakdown, but it's that famous game 7 Sixers Raptors where Kawhi hits the shot and basically Embiid didn't play for, I think it was like three minutes and he was a plus eight and Monroe was a minus 10 or minus nine. So basically those three minutes are entirely where the game was lost. So it's. Can you just not be that. That's. That's theory.

[Greg Menegas]

And Garza, I mean dude, even in the last three minutes of the game tonight, Garza's out there running functional offense, running good pick and roll.

[Will]

Garza was good man. I enjoyed watching.

[Greg Menegas]

He's doing, he's doing everything that you, you could want from him out there on the court. He did have five fouls. But like Joel Embiid's on the court, you're going to be given files. It's just what, that's just what you do is the third big. So I mean I thought this was Kada's most impactful game this series. Had eight rebounds in this one, had a really nice block. And I just felt like you felt Kada a little bit more in this one. I love that he's hitting his free throws in series. And then Vuch, you know, Vuch Game three, that the trade was worth it just based off of Game 3. Because the Celtic, that was the game the Celtics needed to win. And without Vuchevich, I don't think they do.

[Will]

Yeah, I just think with the. When it comes to the bigs, I've said it in years past, like we don't have a unicorn. We've got a stable, right? We got a stable of bigs. We're just gonna have to find a way. And. And these particular set of bigs don't really have the same versatility that we had, like, think last year when we. Or two years ago, really, when you had a healthy Cornett and Porzingis and Horford, and the way that those be more versatile, that's really an ideal mix. If you don't have, like, one of the guys is. Is what those guys brought to the table, and that's not quite what this team has, but I think they have enough, like, they have enough to be able to. To get through. And I think Joe's just gonna have to figure out what is the right sauce night tonight. I will say, I feel like I've been thinking this for a while. Every time I watch Keda, I. I think we need to do a. Keda hits the debt counter. I feel like that guy's on the floor all the time. Like, I feel like he is just constantly on the floor, whether it's, you know, going for a ball, whether it's. He gets knocked to the ground, but he is just constantly on the deck. So I do feel like we need to get that counter for Kata. But, yeah, I thought this was a solid game all around, especially when you have Embiid kind of back in the mix here. So I think that's a promising sign when you start to look ahead. Like, the Hawks don't worry me much with their kind of big rotation, I think will match up well there. And I think it's kind of the Knicks that you look at with, like, Towns and Mitchell Robinson, and, like, that's where it could be interesting. And so getting this Drummond and B type combo, I think is kind of a, you know, a good testing ground for these guys if that ends up being the matchup in the second round. Looking around the rest of the roster, we're gonna have to hit a. A big elephant in the room here, but I'm gonna save that elephant in the room here just for a second.

[Greg Menegas]

Is it a bald elephant?

[Will]

It's a. It's a bald elephant. That is my brother in Christ. And I just. We'll get there. Let's talk about Jordan Walsh, Baylor Shireman. They each got decent run in this game. And this is something from dating back to game one, really Game two, and we talked about it on air, but all series, I've been looking for more Jordan Walsh and Baylor Shireman. I. I think we're Getting closer to the right amount of these guys. Their, their minutes are a little pumped up from, you know, towards the end of the game here, but. But actually, I don't even know if they were. They were on the court for some of that, but either way, I think Walsh and Shireman both made in limited minutes. Both still made an impact. And I like what I'm seeing from Walsh and Shireman for them to take what they're doing in this series and be able to then use that going forward.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah. If you look back to game two, Hauser had 25 minutes in that game and it's really the Sam Houser spot we're talking about. Right. In game three, Hauser played 18. And then I think tonight Hauser also. What did he play? 22 tonight?

[Will]

22? Yeah. Just 100.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah. But he was on the court like in, in garbage time too. Right. So I think they're. They're finding the level right there. They're subbing at different points too, especially in Game 3. Walsh came in, I think he was one of the first subs off the bench, was. Was covering Maxi at the like six minute mark.

[Will]

They took their unbelievable offensive rebound. I think I can't remember who was the first or second quarter where he fought through. It was that possession where the Celtics got like five chances they could end it with Luca Gars at the line. Walsh fought through like four. Felt like he was fouled. Yeah, dude, it. That was one of my favorite plays of the entire night. Just like, how did Jordan Walsh fight through the entire 76ers roster to get to that basket?

[Greg Menegas]

Oh, our offensive rebounding was great. And that's why we were calling for more Walsh and more Shireman. After game two, we were just like, they're more likely to go get an offensive rebound, get a loose ball, dive on the floor, take a charge. Those guys just have that, like, it factor that, that Sam Houser doesn't really have. Sam Houser is going to be solid. He's going to be a good positional defender and he's going to space.

[Will]

He actually had a couple offensive rebounds. Ton too. But yes, in general.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. In, in general, though, that, that is what Walsh and, and Shireman are bringing to the table. Right. So I, I think Missoula has done a really good job and I think Missoula made some really nice adjustments coming out of game two. Specifically, one of the debates that we were having was h, is he going to make an adjustment to the scheme or is he going to make an adjustment to the Matchups. And I don't know if you caught the matchup change in Game 3, but he put Jason Tatum on BJ Edgecomb. And putting Jason Tatum on BJ Edgecomb, I think really made a difference in Game 3. The Celtics to just like find one of the. The hoses that was overflowing and they're like, we need to turn something off here. And Jason Tatum turned off the BJ Edge. Com hose, right? So him. And then you bring in Shireman, who did a really good job on Paul George in limited minutes. And you have Jordan Walsh, who's like the Tyrese Maxi stopper in the NBA.

[Will]

I mean, there was even a shot maxi hit tonight where I was like, that was unbelievable defense by Jordan Walsh, right? And it's like, you know, it's. It's like we say you don't. These guys are at the top of the NBA. Like, you don't usually stop them. It's. How do you make their lives more difficult? And that's what Jordan Walsh simply does when he's in the game for Tyrese Maxey, right. As he makes his life more difficult. It's still going to be tough when you get screened by Embiid and if you're in drop coverage, like, Max is going to get something off, right? He's going to get a good look like there's going to be stuff that's tough. But I think Jordan Walsh is a pretty good on ball screen navigator. So him getting through and staying, you know, whether it's trail side, whatever, it might be, like he's going to be able to use his length and his athletic. Athleticism to. To still give Maxi some, you know, some resistance, right? I think that's probably the best word for it. And yeah, I thought they were both really good in this game. And I think it's super encouraging to see Joe going to them just a little bit more because like you said, it's that Sam Houser time slot. And then it's also like a little bit of, you know, especially earlier in the series, I think it was that game two loss, it was like, you know, 42 minutes for Tatum and 40 minutes for Brown. It's like, yeah, we could have bumped those guys down just a little bit with a little bit of balance, we could have added, you know, what Walsh and Shireman bring. And so I, I think to your point, Joe has done a good job kind of adjusting on that and adding them a little bit more into the mix. Should we get the Derrick White.

[Greg Menegas]

Let's get to Derek White.

[Will]

Listen, we love Derek White. Let's just. Let's just put it out there. Look at me. I look like a guy that likes Derek White, right? Like, this is the prototypical type of guy that likes Derek White. He is the man. His dad's been on the show more multiple times. He still had a couple. That block he had on Maxi and Embiid was awesome. Like, he had a couple offensive rebounds that were great in this game. My guy, we gotta get you out of your head, man. We gotta get you out of your head. That nothing exemplifies this more than that wide open pull up three he had where he stopped, went in, went back. And just like, think about even when he was shooting the ball, not at his best earlier this year, the supreme confidence he would have pulled up. Just like, dude, you think my name's Derrick White. My name is Stefan Wardell Curry. Watch this. Like, that's what he was doing earlier in the season. And like, we need that, even if. Because the shot I think will follow. But he's got to get that confidence back where he's just firing again. We need it. And it's just. It's tough to see Derek be in his head because he does so much else.

[Greg Menegas]

And hopefully tonight was a night where the percentage will get him back. Right? He's 2 for 4 from 3. So he's like, yeah, I shot 50 last game. Yeah, but you passed up a whole lot of shots because you didn't want to shoot them.

[Will]

Yeah, but it throws the whole rest of the offense into this indecisive, you know, like, like cycle. And that, that. That's the part where it's like, man, we. We just need you to be you. Just need you to be you.

[Greg Menegas]

But I'm. I mean, I am okay with him like, like turning down a little bit more shots if it means that more shots are going to the Hot Hand and Peyton Pritchard. And then you got Tatum and Brown who just, like, took over in the. In the third quarter. But, you know, the. The numbers are going to be what the numbers are going to be with Derrick White, it's all about, like, will he have the confidence to shoot it, as you're saying? Right? So hopefully the game tonight will allow Derrick White to just like, kind of get some of that swagger back, look at the box score and be like, yeah, it's two for four. Let's go. You know, I made some big plays.

[Steve Ceruti]

I had.

[Greg Menegas]

I had five blocks over the last two games. Not Wemby. I'm not having seven Blocks and three steals or whatever it was tonight. Seven. Seven blocks and five steals. I'm crazy out of Wemby, but yeah, yeah. It was just Derek White. He's gonna make winning plays. You know, he doesn't need to be the guy that we were hoping he would be in terms of like the fourth quarter assassin that he's been in years past. He just has to be willing to shoot the ball and to knock things down at like a 35 clip. He just can't be under 30.

[Will]

Yeah. And coming into this game, only one guy was shooting the ball worse than him this entire postseason. That's Nicole Jokic from three. So it was. It was. It was a rough time. It's probably the first rough.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah. At least. At least it's Derek White that's struggling to this degree, and it's not. Not Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown that's struggling to this degree. And that's the Nuggets.

[Will]

Exactly. And that's the biggest difference. Right. That's why the Celtics are up three one, Nuggets are down three one. Right. It's because it's our third banana, if you will, that is having these issues versus the top guys. And you know, Tatum tonight, five of 10, three of seven from Jalen Brown for three. Like those guys were locked in. If those guys go 8 of 17, good from 3. Like, because that's probably the two guys that, if you're the other team, you're like, okay, we're hoping we get two for nine from each of them. Right. Like, it's when those guys combine for 20 plus points from the three point line or you know that you're like, yeah, or come by for 18 points actually from three point line. Like, that's when you're like, I don't know. That's. That's not really gonna. Gonna work out for us. So, yeah, Derek White, keep shooting it. I think he'll be fine. I think. I think if we. I think coming back to Boston, we just need a couple shots to go in, close it out, and I think he's gonna be gonna be right back where. Because he's making the other plays, right? He. And that's what he's always gonna do. He's a winning player. He's. Those plays. He's going to be out there. So ultimately not worried right now, but it is concerning as you go deeper into the postseason. So. Celtics up 3:1 on the Sixers, heading back to Boston on Tuesday night to try and close it out. We'll have a podcast for you guys, after that game, we do have coming up here, for those of you on the audio side of things, or not the YouTube crowd on the audio side of things, we have a special mediocre life update that we taped about a week, week and a half ago with Steve Ceruti of the Ryan Marcillo show. So that's coming up for you guys here in just a second. But Greg, before we send it over to that side, I just want to get your thoughts on just. These playoffs are getting kind of weird, man.

[Steve Ceruti]

We've.

[Will]

We've got, you know, the Blazers threatened to make it weird, but the spurs kind of seem like they're back on back on path here now. Up 3:1 but their path to the western conference finals is all of a sudden looking a lot better with T wolves up 3 1, but Anthony Edwards is out for a couple weeks. Divincenzo. Sorry. My guy got the Jason Tatum from last year. The curse of zero, dude. The curse of zero in these ACLs. Something's up. It's the fourth one in the last two playoffs. That's looking different now. Lakers are playing the Rockets as we speak. Did you see the end of this Lakers Rockets game the other night?

[Greg Menegas]

Crazy. The game was over. Marcus Smart was the only guy in the Lakers that was still playing. Shout out to Marcus Smart for having games of five seals like, shout out to Marcus. He looks great.

[Will]

Here's the thing. He also then did the most Marcus Smart thing ever and got bailed out by Jayshawn Tate. Like, like he immediately. That end of that game was so crazy. Horrible.

[Greg Menegas]

What did you want him to do in that situation? They're down six with 20, 20 seconds left. You guys shoot a three.

[Will]

I mean, you guys shoot a three. But also was like four on one. It's like, I don't know. Luke Canards trailing. Like, I don't know, man. Maybe pass it back to the guy who leads the NBA in three point percentage. Like, I don't know. Yeah, there could have been time. All I'm saying is Marcus just thought c ball, shoot ball game. Like, but, but he was like, but, but it's really. It's been. Listen Celtics fans, it does not feel great watching Marcus Smart Smart in the purple and gold, I'll give you that. But it does feel good seeing Marcus Smart not be done because it felt like he was just done. Like, and he said it, man.

[Greg Menegas]

I don't know if you heard his post game. He was.

[Will]

I don't think I did. No.

[Greg Menegas]

He was like, I could have been out of the league he was like, with the injuries and everything, he was like, I could have been out of the league. So it feels really good to be doing what I'm doing right now. And shout out to Marcus, he's one of, you know, all time favorite Celtics. And to have back to back games where he's over 20 points with five steals. Like, like, God damn, I did not.

[Will]

It's literally him and LeBron just being like, you guys are idiots over there. We're just smarter. Like we're, we're older, we're tired, but like we're just way smarter than you guys.

[Greg Menegas]

And then Kevin Durant, that's the game. Kevin Durant has given up on the season for the Rockets. He had nine turnovers in Game 2. He was like, I'm the only guy that can do anything for this team. So you guys figure it out. Like, I don't need to be here.

[Will]

Yeah. So weird. Playoff. So, so west is kind of all up in the air and then you know, the Thunder knocking the Suns out here. But like in the east, like I mentioned, Celtics are the first team to get the three wins. We've got a 21 Magic lead. We've now got a 22 Cavs Raptor series. We got a 22 Knicks Hawk series. So everything besides the Celtics series is completely just balls up in the air as to, you know, what's gonna happen. Which out of those three series either do you find the most interesting or most shocking so far are.

[Greg Menegas]

It's got to be Caps Raptors, right? I think after game two where the Cavs are up 20 going to Toronto, you're expecting. Toronto's probably going to get one kind of like the Sixers did, right? You're like, oh, they're going to get one maybe. And then the Raptors just win both games and kind of win them going away in game three and have a big comeback in game four with. I haven't looked at the box score yet, but 90, 389 today. Let's just take a quick.

[Will]

Yeah, Cabs were up. So this game was on during, during my daughter's birthday party. So caught a little bit of the. All I know is the Cabs were up and then the Raptors came back with a few minutes left and yeah, it's a, it's not a good look for the Cavs. I saw, dude, oh, here's a great stat I saw today that James Harden had more turnovers than field goals made in this game.

[Greg Menegas]

James Harden special.

[Will]

How many times do you think he's done that in his postseason career. I'm just gonna tell you the numbers.

[Greg Menegas]

44.

[Will]

44 times. That's so many times.

[Greg Menegas]

That's too many. James Harden.

[Will]

That's a lot of time.

[Greg Menegas]

You can't be doing that. James Harden. You gotta. You gotta put the ball on the court, ball in the basket more than you're giving the ball to the other team. It's just like. It just makes sense. Sense.

[Will]

I saw this number and I was

[Greg Menegas]

like, that's the whole point of basketball.

[Will]

That's insane for a guy that has the basketball as much as he does.

[Greg Menegas]

You cannot. Mitchell. Tough, tough.

[Will]

What was this? That line tonight? I didn't see it.

[Greg Menegas]

24. And I don't know if you saw that three pointer he shot with. Down.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah. All the people that coming for us saying Jalen Brown's better than Donovan Mitchell.

[Steve Ceruti]

Come on.

[Greg Menegas]

Come on.

[Will]

I don't think so, man. Don't believe in the cast. So. Yeah. Cavs, Raptors. Very surprising. Felt like that was going to be the MB without the. The NBA TV Spirit award. That goes five games and nobody ever hears from. Now that's a real series. I mean, for me, it's the magic being up 2:1. Like I get styles make fights and everything that we were worried about with the Pistons is literally to a T. What is happening. But the Magic were dead in the water two Sundays ago, literally losing to the main Celtics in a game they needed to win with Ron Harper, Baylor, Shireman and Luca Garza all going for nearly 30 points a game against them with their full starting lineup out there. And so for them to go from that two weeks ago to up two one on a one seed that got their superstar back. And Cade's looked good. Like it's not Cade. Like Cade's been doing his thing. That's still shocking to me. Even though we knew all the Pistons had all these faults. Like that's. By the way, that side of the bracket feels like. Jesus Christ. One of those four teams is making the conference finals between the Pistons, Magic, Cavs and Raptors. Like we gotta get through whoever it is between the Celtics, Hawks and six that. That ends up getting through. Like I like the chances of whoever it is.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah, Liptack and I were talking about this at the. At the party today. We're just like, we can't tell if like the east is better than we thought or it's just worse than we thought at the top. Which one is it? At the end of the day, there's parody.

[Will]

Yeah, that's True, that's true. We get, we get, we got interest, right? We got. That's what we want. We want, we want nights where we want to be glued to our tv, watch basketball. So that's what we got here. We're gonna wrap this up here for everyone that is on the live stream, YouTube, Twitter side. This is going to be the end of the podcast if you're listening. On the audio side, we got Mediocre Life Update with Steve Cerruti from the Ryan Rosillo Show. So sit back, relax and enjoy for everybody else. We'll catch you guys after Game 5 on Tuesday.

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[Will]

YouTube Crowd let's keep it going. We're gonna keep the vibes high here. We're gonna keep it rolling here. That's how we do it.

[Greg Menegas]

Professional. As

[Will]

you know, I try to keep it professional every now and then. Let's do Mediocre Life Update, which is appropriate. We have to do it with you. Through here is obviously this is somewhat inspired by life updates that you guys do on, on your show. So this is a concept that Greg and I came up with with. Hey, you know, we're just kind of just some regular dudes. Let's just give some regular life updates when we have them. So to help, to help give you the. The right idea. I know Greg sent you over kind of a preface. I don't know if you have one ready to go or if you want Greg to go.

[Steve Ceruti]

I think so, but I want to hear something.

[Will]

All right, go Greg, and lay the groundwork for us on a Mediocre life update.

[Greg Menegas]

All right, I got. I got two. They're kind of somewhat related on the same theme as, you know, James is turning 2 in July, and just boundaries. When you have a little kid, boundaries just kind of start going out the window. And you. You know, sometimes the door gets open when you're sitting on the toilet, and you don't realize that, you know, like, toilet paper gets thrown here, toilet paper gets thrown there. You just see a lot more, you know? So that's happened a couple times lately, and Danielle and I kind of just laugh it off. But then today, I was shaving my face, right? And I. My razor was just, like, not cutting it for me, right? And I'm like, you know what? There's. Danielle has this, like, really nice razor that's sitting there in the shower. I'm gonna go ahead and just use that. I was just doing some trimming, you know, nothing too intense. But she ended up, like, opening the door as I was using her razor, which I was really hoping she wasn't gonna see me using her razor. I don't think she would have given me permission. But she just looks at me and she goes, you know, I shave my body with that. Like, I shave my entire body with that, right? And I'm like. I mean, now I just. I'm just there, right? I'm like, yeah. I mean, what. What do I even say in that moment? But we. We've gotten to that point. She was like, whatever, dude. Like, just use it. Like, it's fine. Just wash it afterwards. So we're at that point in our relationship now. So shout out to whatever razor she uses, because I feel like it really got my facial hair looking nice today day. But that. That's happening these days in the Manakas household.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah, I feel like I'm less weird about a razor. I've been there. I've been there. I don't. I don't. I don't really do the clean shave. I just kind of edge with the. With the trimmer, so it's never anything, like, too invasive. But I. There are, like, some boundaries of, like, all right, toothbrush is a no. Never sharing toothbrush. And then even deodorant for me is like, I would never. I. You know, if we're on the road or whatever. I. I.

[Greg Menegas]

Interesting that that actually happened today where I couldn't find my deodorant, so I slapped hers on. She also made a comment. She was like, what deodorant are you using? Using yours? She was like, okay,

[Will]

yeah, I don't know.

[Greg Menegas]

Why is deodorant a no go for you?

[Steve Ceruti]

I don't know. It's not. It's not like the scent thing. It's just like, I don't know that I want your armpit touching my armpit. Like, I know it's kind of a gross area in general, so it probably doesn't matter. And this doesn't make any sense, but I'm just like, where's the nearest Walgreens cvs? Like, I'll. I got it. I'll figure it out. Or I'll just smell, who knows? Or I'll put some soap under there. Deodorant's a no go for me. I mean, listen, if we're ranking them, like, toothbrush is one, obviously not. Would that to me is like, yeah, that's psycho. That's crazy serial killer behavior. If you're sharing toothbrushes with people and deodorants, it's low. It's not right below, but it's lower.

[Greg Menegas]

Here's a question for you. You're in a guest's house. You forgot your toothpaste. Are you using their toothpaste? If you are using their toothpaste, are you using the finger to grab it off the tube? How do you do that?

[Steve Ceruti]

I would probably do the finger route or some. I wouldn't go, like, you know, edge of the tube to my toothpaste because that's disrespectful to them, too. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not trying to get.

[Will]

I think using the toothpaste is, like. I don't think that's disrespect. I understand what you're saying. Like, the hydra. Like, I mean, you can do it where you squeeze it out a little bit and then you just kind of.

[Steve Ceruti]

Nothing touches.

[Will]

Yeah, like, that's what I would. I always do think it's weird when people feel weird using toothpaste. That's there. Like, I'm like, it's kind of there. Like, toothpaste is, you know, like, it's. As long as to your point, you're not just rubbing it across the bristles, you know, like.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Will]

Then it's that. That seems like. That's pretty open. It's interesting hearing you guys, like, in what the. The boundaries are. Because I feel like in my relationship, my wife does not like sharing her stuff. That's. That's one thing. Like, I. And I'm the exact opposite. I'm like, we're married. We're together, like, whatever use. And I always. I Always tell her, like, it's an open. Like, use my. I don't care. But the thing is, she doesn't want to use my. I don't have. Nice. She has good stuff. She. She.

[Steve Ceruti]

Whatever. What of yours does she want to use? Like, there's probably not a lot of selection.

[Will]

There's nothing. That's the thing. There's literally nothing. Like, I. I don't research things. I'm just like, I'll go, like, oh, hey, my toothbrush is getting old. Let me go to CVS and get a new one or something. Like, you know, like, she's. Everything she has is, like, very researched and thought.

[Greg Menegas]

She. And she's very put together. Right. But I. I don't. We've never really, like, hung out as couples where we're just, like, lounging around in, like, sleepwear or anything like that. Right? There's. So would she ever borrow a shirt of yours to sleep in? Like, that? She'd not even do that.

[Will]

Very rarely. It's like, the only thing where occasionally it comes up, and then I have to be like, ah, so you do, like, some of my stuff, right? The only. The only. It's the only card I have. And it comes, bro.

[Greg Menegas]

I'm literally. This is literally Danielle's shirt that I'm wearing right now. Right now.

[Steve Ceruti]

I've been there, dude. So my wife has some nice sweatshirts that I'm like, I've stolen some of her sweatshirts.

[Will]

She's gotten them for, like, work, and

[Steve Ceruti]

I'm like, they're oversized, and I'm like, this fits me. Like, this is a. This is a large or medium, whatever. They both fit.

[Will]

There's.

[Steve Ceruti]

There's been times I've dabbled, and she'll give me a look and be like, are you really doing this right now? I'm like, yeah, like, I like it. It's a Mount Joy sweatshirt. I love the sweatshirt. You know, like, well, you know, I want to show my love for the band, right? But she doesn't usually use a lot of my sweatshirt, which. My wife also is, like, the queen of sweatshirt. She has, like, 10,000 sweatshirts. So it's like, all right. If I wear this one time, it'll be all right. Don't worry about it.

[Will]

All right, Serie, let's go to you. What's your. What's your mediocre life update you got for us?

[Steve Ceruti]

I think I mentioned this on. But you're like, we got. You know, we got three dads here. I think I mentioned this on Ryan's pod, but I Feel like I. I conquered the final. At least one of the parenting bosses in that we were trapped in Dallas on a. On a Botched layover for 24 hours with two kids. And. And that is about as hard as it gets. I don't think I was like, what could have paused? I said to my wife, like, when we finally got home. So just a backstory. I was, okay. My in laws live in the Bay Area. We usually, you know, we try to go visit them as much as we can. We haven't been in a while. We have two kids or whatever. So, like, okay. We were supposed to go in November, but then the government shut down and we were like, the airports were all a mess. And I literally said to my wife, we cannot get. I literally said this. We cannot get stuck in Dallas for 24 hours. Like, should we just move this? We ended up moving it to, you know, a couple weeks ago, and lo and behold, trip there was fine again. 3 year old and a 1 year old trip there was fine. You know, you know, it was a little stressful here and there, but, like, the kids were mostly good on the way back. We get to the airport, everything's fine. Delay, delay, delay. They're not telling us anything. And I'm like, we're screwed. Like, we're screwed because we had, we actually had like a two hour layover from the Bay Area to Dallas, coming back to Connecticut. But I'm like, at this point, they're not telling us anything. It must be a disaster. So long story short. Short, we had to spend a night at a random hotel in Irving, Texas with two kids. Luckily we were able to get our luggage back because that was like a huge issue too. They like, were like, well, what do you mean? Like, we were just gonna hold it here and we'll put on the plane tomorrow. I'm like, no, we have like life essential things for two toddler, for two, like little babies to like, and we need this. And like, for some reason it took them, like, they didn't understand that at all. So it took us a few hours to get that. Then you get to the hotel, you get settled in. Luckily, we did have two rooms. That was nice. And they did have. Have like a crib. Like, not a crib, but it was like a pack and play thing for the babies.

[Greg Menegas]

Oh, nice.

[Will]

Yeah, so.

[Steve Ceruti]

So it actually was okay. But, you know, we didn't get back to the hotel till 9. Food options are pretty scarce, especially for a baby and a toddler. I literally put a towel because we don't have anything for the baby to eat in. So I put a towel on the floor and just cut up some chicken nuggets. I was like, here, go at it. You know, do your thing, whatever, do what you can. I'll air this out afterwards, you know, wake up the next day, couldn't get a super late. Our flight wasn't until 7 the next day, which by the way got delayed too. But I couldn't get a super late checkout. So it was like 1pm to 7. We had to like kill. So we walked to a local park. Again, food options are pretty scarce. On top of that, my wife went to UConn. The UConn national title game was that night. Luckily we were able to watch it on the plane. They did lose. Sad. But we did watch the game on the plane. And to our kids credit, the kids were great. The baby didn't sleep a wink. My three year old, as soon as we got on the plane, slept the entire time, which was a huge win for everybody. But I was like, I said to my wife afterwards, I was like, what does it get? Does it get any harder than that? Like what el, what else? I mean maybe one of us would be sick in this situation, but like I feel like we actually conquered the final boss of parenthood. Being stranded at a random airport for 24 hours.

[Will]

Yeah, it's only up from there, dude. And like I recently with my daughter, we've. She's about to turn one like we mentioned earlier and she's been on like now five or six different flights that we've had and just on the last couple, she's now at the age where like, because at first we were like, oh, she just likes to sleep on plane. She's great. She's so easy. People are implementing us. Great. It feels great. Great. Last couple of flights, like she's just like, nope, I already napped. I'm good. Entertain me. And you have like five by five, you know, feet of space to go ahead and do this in. And it's like, holy. Like we're supposed to go to from Austin to Boston sometime in the next couple of months. And I'm like, I don't know man. Maybe we just wait till like a year or two from now, see how it goes and they can just come to us and we'll see. But yeah, that, that whole airport experience with kids is, is definitely different. Definitely something I'm starting to, to bring on and like some definitely not to the extent that you went through. But a couple weeks ago came back from vacation and we were flying from Dallas to Austin and on the way back we got to Austin, we had to. We never used to have to check stuff. Now with kids, as you know, you gotta check a whole bunch of bags and because you just got too much stuff. So we get our big bag and then I was waiting for the car seat and I look over and I see a bag that looks just like our car seat. And we're like kind of tired. We've been flying for a while, it's been a long day. And I was like, oh, they just put it over to the side eye because it's like kind of like, you know, odd shaped. So I was like, all right, whatever, cool, go ahead and grab it. We go to the car, my wife opens it up, she's just like, this isn't our car seat. I was like, oh, you got it?

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah.

[Will]

So then I had to go back, drop off this car. She's like, hey, here's the story. I accidentally dropped it off. But come to find out they never actually put our car seat on the plane. So I ended up luckily because it was Dallas to Austin, it was on the next flight, but I still had to wait like two more hours because just because to your point, this is like without being having the essentials, like it's not the same as like, cool. Me and my wife are fine without like, we can get a toothbrush for the night and we'll be fine. We'll go pick our stuff up the next day. Like no, I can't drive my daughter home without a car seat. Like this is literally the only way for us to get home right now. So had to wait like two more hours. So now the flight that landed at like 7:38 and we're like, ah, she'll be like an hour, hour and a half past her bedtime. Now she's like four hours past her bedtime. By the time we get home. Home had the biggest meltdown she's had since she was like a little tiny baby. Like she was great. And then as soon as I get the real car seat and we get into the car, just loses it. My brother in law is with me and he's like, dude, is she okay? I'm like, I don't know man.

[Steve Ceruti]

We just gotta get home, we just gotta get through.

[Will]

We gotta drop you off and we'll get you home.

[Greg Menegas]

Here's a question for you. At what level of like desperation do you have to be to have your child in the car without a car seat and like the car's moving and you're driving. Driving. Would you ever do it?

[Steve Ceruti]

I mean, if it was, if it was like half of a day that I had to kill at an airport? Yeah, I'd probably just. How long's the ride too? I guess.

[Will]

Yeah, I mean, the ride, let's call

[Greg Menegas]

it a 30, 30 minute drive. Where? 10 minutes on the highway?

[Will]

I mean, honestly, Greg, you live close to the airport. I probably just had to call you and just be like, yeah, I need to buy your.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah, that's fair.

[Will]

Back tomorrow. Yeah, that's probably what I would.

[Greg Menegas]

That's not, that's not the question, bro. Like.

[Will]

I know, I know.

[Greg Menegas]

So here, here, here's, here's the thing. So Danielle no longer works as an assistant principal, thank God. But when she was an assistant principal, she would be outside doing like pickup duty and she said there would be families that would come through, they'd pick up their kids and like the grandma would be in the front seat holding the child. Obviously different life circumstances, people have their own issues that they're dealing with, financial struggles, all that stuff. But like she said it was pretty common that grandmas would just be like holding an infant in the front door seat.

[Will]

Yeah, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't advise that.

[Steve Ceruti]

I wouldn't either. I mean, I'm sure it'd be fine. And listen, if it was desperate enough, if it's like, hey, I stay at this airport with my kid for 12 hours or do this, I'd probably drive. I'd probably drive.

[Will]

But it's, it has to be, it's got to be real desperate though. It's got to be no other options. You have to explore other. Because there is, I guess theoretically, because my wife looked this up. You can do like Uber and like you can search Uber like with a car seat. Okay. So like that was an option out there. So it's got to be like, like you're in the middle of nowhere, whatever. So. But Seruti, that's, that's a hell, like you said, that's top level parenting there to get through. So. Only. Only looking up.

[Greg Menegas]

So did you and your wife, as you were going through this ordeal together, how are the vibes between you? You guys bickering at all? No, that.

[Steve Ceruti]

A little, you know, like a little bit. But like better than you would think because like, you know, obviously, like I might. Right when we were boarding the plane, the final plane to come home home, my three year old daughter, she kind of lost it and she started. We gave her a bagel and she's just Ripping it and throwing pieces all over the place. And we're just like. I'm just like, honestly, like, I can't even be mad at you. You have put up. You fought the good fight for, like, a long time. You should not have to go through this circumstance. So that was kind of annoying. You know, you pick her up and you just get her out of the situation. You try to calm her down, like, it's okay. And again, I knew she was exhausted, so she just fell asleep right in the plane. But no, me and the Mrs. Like I said earlier, I was like, this is this. Well, how much harder could it get? You know, like, what else? I mean, I'm sure, you know, like, as they get older, there's gonna be more complicated you going on. But at.

[Will]

For.

[Steve Ceruti]

At least for this point, like, I was pretty proud of the. We were. We were all together as one team. We had a fist bump. I think we got off the plane. We're like, all right, we're done with that, and we'll move on to the next thing.

[Will]

Yep. I know. I know that fist bump well. That. That's a good one. It's one of the best, better fist bumps that you can have. All right, let me give a quick one here, because I've actually got to run and go do some parenting myself. Mine's not going to be a parenting one. I just came back from Miami, and for the first time, the hotel I was staying at, my company put us up in also had, like, a spa attached to it. And so outside of, like, their main pool, which is, like, a really nice. This, like, you know, Miami, like, Instagram, like, like, nice hangout spot, they had a cold plunge and a hot tub, like, at the end of it. So I've never done a cold plunge before. So me and my wife did it a couple times, and I've never, you know, I've just never done it. I've always seen, like, kind of something like the Instagram videos or whatever of people doing people who are like, this

[Steve Ceruti]

will change your life.

[Will]

And I don't know if I'm there, dude. I'm telling you that I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. I was. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It really woke me up and made me feel really good afterwards. And like. Like, that if you're doing it from, like, the hot tub or should be from the cold plunge into the hot tub, you get this, like, really interesting, like, tingly sensation, and it's like. It's really strange. But then by the time you sit in the hot tub for like 5, 10 minutes, get back out. Like it. I get it. You feel reinvigorated. It. I was doing a little bit more drinking than I usually do these days. And so, like, it was well needed to kind of help me like, bounce back and get through certain days. So my mediocre life update is just cold plunges. I. I think I'm in. I don't know if I'm gonna reinvent my life around it, but. But I'm in on cold plunges when available. You'.

[Steve Ceruti]

You're in for a call.

[Greg Menegas]

I have so many questions for you. Well, I know you. I know you got it run, but did. Humor me? Did you listen to Will Smith Miami as you were on the plane or rolling in. Rolling into Miami because I feel like

[Steve Ceruti]

you would party in the city.

[Will]

Not once, but I. But I probably should have.

[Greg Menegas]

Oh, man, that. I'm very disappointed in you. How long did you make it in the cold plunge?

[Will]

So I think so. I don't know what the typical. So I think this one was like, ranged from like 30 to 34 degrees. So our goal was usually around 30 seconds each time. I would say at least once. I think I might have made it close to like 40, 45 seconds.

[Greg Menegas]

No, damn. You gotta do a full five. You get a five minute, five minute Coldplex.

[Will]

I was told that it was. You're supposed to do like 30 seconds to a minute is kind of like. And then you go back.

[Steve Ceruti]

But because I, I've done.

[Greg Menegas]

I. When I.

[Steve Ceruti]

When we were on vacation, I did like the. What is a hydrotherapy? So you do the. You do the circus team room, a sauna.

[Will]

That's what my wife had done. So. Yeah, right.

[Steve Ceruti]

And the cold is the last thing you do. And it was, it was great. Honestly, like the, the steam room was the hardest thing because I. It's hard to breathe in there if you're not used to it.

[Greg Menegas]

Yeah.

[Steve Ceruti]

But the cold plunge. I sat in there and I don't think it was 30. I don't think it was like in the 30s. I think it was in the 40s for me. But I sat in it for like a couple minutes. I felt like I did a really good job. But after a while, like, you're just like, oh, this isn't actually that bad. You're kind of mind over matter. And then I get back to the, the. To the room because my wife wasn't with me and she's like, how'd it go? I was like, great. Like I, you know, whatever. And she's like, oh, yeah. Like, the attendants there said, you only did the cold plunge for like, 30 seconds. And I was like, no, I did it for, like, multiple times. I timed it on my watch. I did it for like the four minutes. Like, it wasn't like, I don't sell me short. Like, I actually did. And I was annoyed about it, but I was like, yeah, I put. I put in the work. I tried, you know, it was good. And honestly, it felt great. Like, it does. The tingling thing does kind of make you feel it gets all the toxins out. Who knows if it's real or not. But I did feel good.

[Greg Menegas]

Well, here's. Here's the thing. And now we can end on this. On this. Just be careful, Will, because the cold plunge to MAHA pipeline is strong. So just be aware.

[Steve Ceruti]

That is true.

[Will]

Yeah, you know what?

[Steve Ceruti]

That is true that I'm already off it.

[Will]

I'm off it, guys. Never mind. Everything I said. I'm out. Cold plunges, bullet. Stuarty, dude, appreciate you joining us here, man. We kept you extra long here, but we had to do a Mediocre Life update. And then, as we said, we're gonna bring you back towards the end of the postseason here. We'll check in on our. Our playoff. Playoff player drafts here and see where we're at, man. But. But did appreciate you joining us here. Anything up? Anything special you guys got going with the. With the Rosillo show that you need to plug here?

[Greg Menegas]

No, I mean, you know, just.

[Steve Ceruti]

We're obviously, you know, a lot of playoff stuff. Like next week we're gonna have. We usually have three shows. I think we're have five, including two YouTube shows. So, like, you know, just playoffs here and there. And if you're into soccer, look, you know, World Cups come up this summer. We'll probably have something there as well.

[Will]

All right. I like it, man. Staying busy, Ceruti. Always appreciate you being on here here, Greg. That's going to do it for this Mediocre Life update. Everybody else, appreciate y' all joining us here. And we'll catch you guys later. Until I met you, Dark.

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