
Boston Celtics cruise to victory over the Milwaukee Bucks behind Anfernee Simons’ explosive bench scoring and a relentless offensive rebounding assault. Will Brad Stevens keep Simons past the trade deadline, or package him for a frontcourt upgrade as rumors swirl? John Karalis breaks down the dynamic scoring off the bench, Jaylen Brown’s 30-point performance, and how dominance on the boards from Jordan Walsh and Derrick White changed the game’s momentum. The episode spotlights Neemias Queta's progression as a key backup center, how the Celtics managed Milwaukee’s fast start, and the decision facing the front office ahead of the NBA trade deadline. With Joe Mazzulla’s rebounding-first philosophy taking shape, can the Celtics maintain their edge against upcoming Eastern Conference challenges?
Loading summary
John Corrales
It's the Locked on podcast network your team every day.
T-Mobile Advertiser
Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com switch and now T mobile is in US cellular stores.
T-Mobile Legal Disclaimer
Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits. Plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required.
John Corrales
New year same extra value meals at McDonald's now get a savory sausage McMuffin with egg plus hash browns and a small coffee for just $5 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary.
T-Mobile Legal Disclaimer
Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California.
John Corrales
And for delivery now in the Locked on Celtics podcast, Anthony Simon saves the Celtics from a slow start. Offensive rebound carries the day. Celtics win easy. Hey there. Welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast network. Where does your team every day your team is the Boston Celtics and I talk about that Monday through Friday. I got bonus podcasts when they play on weekends so they play on another Friday this this Friday. So I will have another bonus podcast for you. Subscribe watch the show on YouTube. Get it anywhere podcasts exists. Today's show is brought to you by game time. Download the GameTime app. Use the code locked on for $20 off your first purchase of tickets. Tickets to just about anything you want if you're new to the show. I'm John Corrales, beat writer. I'm covering the Celtics for the Sports illustrated Celtics on SI page. I've been covering the team for about 20 years doing this podcast for 10 and I've written a couple of books about this team. Today the Celtics beat The Milwaukee Bucks 107, 79 in a ultimately an easy win. But it wasn't always easy. In the first quarter, it's, it was a slow start. Then Anthony Simons came in and they kind of, kind of rolled it from there. But there are a couple of key moments throughout the game where, you know, and Joe mentioned this after the game, a couple of shots here or there fall and the entire, you know, flow of this game could change. I'll talk about that in a few minutes. Later on, we'll get to individual performances. Namishkada Nemi had this one play that got him benched in the last game and it worked in this one. We'll talk about that we'll talk about Jalen Brown's 30 point game, but let's start with Anthony Simons. Celtics came out in that first quarter, and it's not that they stunk in the first quarter. It was that they were cold, they couldn't hit anything. They started out, oh, for four, five. The Bucks started out four for four or five for five. It was. It was bad. And the Bucks went out to a 12 oh run. It was a 13 3. It was 133 at one point. And then incomes, Anthony Simons just smoking hot off the bench. 11 first quarter points, 4 of 6, 3 of 5 from 3. So the first thing that turned this game around was Anthony Simons. It's coming in blistering hot. And it's incredible that here we are days away from the trade deadline. His name continues to be in just about every rumor. We're all concocting trades to try to figure out, like, is Brad Stevens going to what outside the box thing is Brad Stevens going to do? We're always looking at Anthony Simons as a deal, like, okay, if, you know, his salary works here, his salary works there. And he has been able to just put all of that aside, really not make that a big. A big thing. He has such a good attitude about it. It's like, I can't control what I can't control. And he's coming in and just doing his job really, really well. And I think games like this really make the Celtics have to think about, do you. Well, what do you do with Anthony Simons? Do you actually trade him at the deadline for just, I don't know, spare parts or not spare parts? But, you know, so one of my things at Sports Illustrated is, you know, you said you have to come up with things, come up with ideas that are, you know, part of the moment. And we're looking at the trade deadlines like, well, where can the Celtics go from here? What. What possibilities could they go for? And, you know, I'm looking at Miles Turner, who was just not good in this game. But you think about, can the cells go for Miles Turner? The salaries basically match. And you start talking yourself into other players in that salary range, and you're like, you know, what if I sit back and I think about this is using the salary to get this player better than having him and going another route to get another. Another type. Like, of all of the scenarios that I've been kind of exploring, I am starting to really lean on, is there a way to keep Anthony Simons? Can the Celtics keep this guy at the $15 million mid level mark. Right. Just give him the actual. Whatever the actual mid level number is. And I'm sure that his agent won't want that exact number. He'll probably. Even if it's $100 more, he just doesn't want that to fit into the mid level because you don't want to have the guy be traded. But also the Celtics need to be able to trade him moving forward. Just has to happen. Not that they want to, but you have to have the ability to. To move guys as you're trying to construct a team. And so anyway, regardless if he is willing to sign here at that mid level number, $15 million or so moving forward, I think keeping him makes much more sense than any of the centers that are out there. Right. If Evita Zubac isn't available, and by all appearances he's not anymore, or maybe never even was, if these guys, these impactful players aren't here and you can't just say, well, yes, Simons is doing this, but you can flip it to. You can flip him for a center. And, you know, because Tatum's coming back, that's your score. You're. You know what I mean? You need to. You need to, like, shore up the center spot. I don't think there is a center out there right now that at this deadline, if you move Simons and it's going to make this team materially better than what they are. Can you talk yourself into some guys? Sure. Um, I keep beating the Santi Aldama drum, and maybe you'd need Simons to get Aldama. I don't know. I've heard the rumors that he. The. The Grizzlies need to be wowed to be. To move Aldama. Okay, well, I don't know what wowing means, but I don't want to overpay for him either. Do you go get a Goga patazi who makes $8 million? Can you get him? Maybe you trade Sam Houser and. And keep an Forney Simons, and that's the way you go. And you. You just say the combination of Batazi and Mishkeda, who I'll get to in a minute, maybe that's the combination that makes more sense for Boston. And you've just got dynamic scoring on the wings, and it doesn't matter who your centers are. You've got good centers. You've got Keda, who's good. You've got. You can get Batazi, who's good. You're. You're Sacrificing something play style wise as far as you're not really getting a stretch big here, but how's he might be able to turn into one. But regardless, all of this, all of this combination is because Simons is able to do this come in and change the game with his scoring right away to to just step off the bench and be hot right off the bat. He's not always that way, but he does it enough where you think this guy is worth keeping. He is worth figuring it out and reevaluating your position trade wise. Maybe you just go a different way and the savings financially comes from you're signing him to a lesser deal and he's going to make 12 million or so less than what he's making now and you go a different route with the money and trades and all that stuff. I just think that he has done enough this year to make keeping him a real viable option. Part of that is also the other guys that are able to do things like what Jordan Walsh did on the offensive boards, the offensive rebounding. All of that stuff I thought was huge. The really Anthony is part one, but the offensive rebounding is a strong part two as to why the Celtics were able to turn this game around and I'm going to talk about that when I come back. Today's show is brought to you by Prize Picks. The big game is almost here and there's no better way to cash in during the during America's biggest sporting event than Prize Picks, where it's always good to be right? And this week Prize Picks is a special max discount for the big game live in the app. Right now, Drake May just needs one passing yard. I feel confident that Drake May is going to get one passing yard. If he gets one passing yard, the max discount wins. You can add another player to your lineup and if your picks hit, you can cash in. It's super simple to use Prize Picks takes no time to get started. Super clean to use or less on two or six player projections. So you're watching the game. It's so much more fun because every stat matters. Social Feeds feature is awesome because you can share lineups and even copy lineups from winners with one click and you can follow prizepix partners like us and tail or fade picks right from the feed. Download the Prize Picks app today. Use the code LOCKEDONNBA. You get $50 in lineups. That's after you play your first $5 lineup. Use the code LOCKED on NBA for $50 in lineups. After you play your first $5 lineup price picks it's good to be right.
AT&T Business Advertiser
Before we had AT and T Business Wireless coverage, our delivery GPS wasn't the most reliable. Once our driver had to do a 14 point turn to get back on route. A 14 point turn, an influencer even livestream the whole thing. Not good for business. Now with AT&T business Wireless, routes are updating on the fly and deliveries are on time. And the influencer did get us 53 new followers though.
John Corrales
AT&T business Wireless connecting changes everything thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen Every day you are in Everydayer. The trade deadline is here now. Join the Everydayer club and we've got a discount for you that helps you get ready. If you want a group chat to keep up with the chaos of the trade deadline, the Everydayer club has one for you. It's our Discord just for Celtics fans. Plus national chats where you can hang out with fans from across the league. You get ad free versions of this show and you can sign up by trade deadline. That's February 5th and use the code deadline to get your first month free. So it's five bucks a month. You get a free month with the code deadline. You can pay up front 50 bucks for the year. Tap the link in the show notes or go to lockdownceltics.super cast.com lockdownceltics supercastle all right, the Celtics. Whoa. Hitting buttons all over the place. The Celtics, I think really took off here with their offensive rebounding. Second chances killed Milwaukee again. That's something that they're prone to giving up. Doc even said, is it two straight games. The offensive rebounds have been killers for the Bucks. Now what happened was the Celtics fell behind by 12 and Simons got it back to tied. Then the Celtics turned around and got up 14 heading into halftime. The second quarter to me was all about second chances. And the second chances were. It's usually Luca Garza who by the way was out there working his butt off. But this one belonged to Jordan Walsh. Jordan with five offensive rebounds. But it's not just Jordan. Jordan had five, Anthony had two, Derrick White had three, Keita had three. They had 17 overall. And ultimately it got them 10 more shots than the Milwaukee Bucks. And the Celtics shot a decent percentage, 44.5%. So they got more shots. They shot a better percentage. The Bucs ended up shooting 35%. The just to give you a sense of how far off the the the Bucks fell. They started out in the first quarter, 10 of 18, 5 of 8 from 3. Then in quarters 2 through 3, 2, 2, 2, 3 and 4. I should say they shot less than 30% and 19% from 3. Okay. They shot 7 of 19 in the second, 5 of 22 in the third, 7 of 23 in the fourth, and that is a killer when you can't score. But also the Celtics giving themselves multiple opportunities to score. Jordan Walsh got in there and mixed it up. But the other thing the Celtics do great is, and we know this, they crashed to the nail. I talk about it all the time. When you're in the corners, Derrick White did this. I think all three of his offensive rebounds came this way. You're in the corner, you see the three go up. You run to the. The free throw line, and he goes in, scoops it up. They start the possession again. You're not only giving yourself more chances to score, you're making the defense defend for an extra 14 seconds. And those things pile up, right? You get, you. You take a shot whenever in the. In the shot clock, then it resets and the defense has to. You have to get down again and, you know, get into that crouch and try to. It's just frustrating as hell to. To do that over and over and over again. Even if the Celtics don't score, they had one possession where it was just three, I think three offensive rebounds. These possessions last 40 seconds, 50 seconds. Almost like to. To ask another team to defend for that long is difficult. They're bound to make mistakes and, and eventually the cumulative effect of that leaves openings for the Celtics. And I was talking to Anthony Simons about this. Not only that, when, when you start off slow as a shooter and they go in there and grab offensive rebounds, there are times where it's like, you get it, you shoot it, and you miss and you're like, man, that felt good. I wish I could have that back. Well, guess what, Jordan Walsh just went in there and grabbed it. And here you go, you're going to get that back and. And you hit that second one. It's like, ah, yes. That alone could be enough to get you going. So you're demoralizing the defense. You're getting the. The shooters going, and that's where the Celtics get to take off. So the offensive rebounding is huge for the Celtics. Jordan was, I thought, really good in this game. Offensively, I thought Jordan did a great job. He was patient, he was under control. But the effort, the execution to get in there was great with the offensive rebounding. Jalen Brown had 30. You know, I'm here I am halfway through the podcast and we're talking about Jalen Brown for the first time, really. 30 points, 12 of 20 shooting, 4 of 6 from 3. 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 turnovers, which isn't the best, but it's okay. The 13 rebounds, huge. Obviously Jalen's, I think he's led the team in rebounding for what, three or four straight games. Now that's a big element that, you know, we were waiting for Jalen to kind of handle some of that. Obviously Jason, when he's here, when he's healthy, is, is Boston's best defensive rebounder. To get that from a wing, a guard, that, that's huge. You have to get in there. I've said this from the beginning. If the Celtics are going to be anywhere near passable as a defensive rebounding team, guys on the wing have to get in there and grab boards. Jalen grabbing 12 defensive rebounds is a big deal. You can't just rely on the big guys to go in there and get them. Derek White has to go in there. He had four. Anthony Simons has to get in there sometimes, you know, he had one. Ugo has to get in there. He had five. You know, Ugo comes in, goes oh of three and once again is a plus 11. So it's, it's the rebounds from the wings that are going to help the Celtics do enough with their defensive rebounding. They're not going to be a good defensive rebounding team right now. But, but it gets them enough where now you have an awesome offensive rebounding night. This is exactly where Joe Mazzulla wanted this team at the beginning of the season. We know we're not going to be a great defensive rebounding team. You gotta get out there and just be better than horrible. If you're better than horrible as the Celtics defensive rebounding now, Jordan, Luca, Nene, those guys can go in there. Derek can go in there and extend possessions, get multiple shots that can make up for whatever you're giving up on the defensive rebounding side. So this picture perfect for what Joe Mazzulla was looking for on a rebounding side. But Jalen, I think the big thing in this January, his mid range shot has kind of, kind of like gone away. January, right. It's slumping. I've had conversations with some of the Celtics staff and you know, we're joking around about how, how the month has gone and it's like January, basketball in the NBA is just so weird and crazy and you don't have, it's not like, it's just not normal. Anything can happen and Guys go into slumps. And I think Jalen, he was talking about it on his stream. Left hamstring, tightness, right knee, his wrist. This is. Everybody's banged up, you've been hit, you've been knocked around, all of that stuff and everybody's banged up. You start to lose a little bit. But the big thing here, third quarter especially Jalen got going in the mid range. Anytime the Bucs made a little bit of a push, the Celtics, Jalen in the third quarter, especially mid range shots, kind of buried them. He was 6 of 12 in the mid range in this game. That's, that's important. Back to 50% mid range. 50%. That's the magic number for Jaylen Brown. So he got to his shots, he got to, got to his spots. And you know, the four of six from three is a nice bonus. Only three free throws, but that's okay. He's. He's probably not thrilled about that. Probably could have, probably things he could have more points, obviously. But four of six from three, that makes it eight of 14 from two. Just a great scoring night. And you know, for Jalen to, to do that after a one of four from, from the field, one of three from three in the first quarter, like everybody started slow. The Celtics starters were, well, except for Neemi, but everyone else started slow. And that's when Simons came in and kind of bailed them out a little bit. And then Jalen got going and then Derek got going and Peyton got a couple of shots in there. But JALEN Obviously, another 30 point night, his third, his third game this season with double digit rebounds. The other two came in triple doubles. Let's get to Nemi. Let's get to some of these individual performances when I come back. Today's show is brought to you by GameTime. You can download that GameTime app because there's nothing like being in this arena. This was a great atmosphere. It's always a great atmosphere in here and you want to experience it. If you've never been to TD garden or maybe you're in another city, I another state and you want to go to a Celtics game there, download the gametime app. It's the go to app for scoring tickets fast, no hassle. Puts the advantage back in your hands. I've used it plenty and the best part is if I'm in a new city, I know I can open up my app and see a couple of very important things. Number one, the price. Most important thing is the price. Whatever I see there, there's no surprise if It's a hundred dollar ticket. The there it's not going to show up and be like 140 at checkout. The price you see is the price you pay. Plus you get a view from your seat. If you don't, if you're not familiar with the arena, it shows you what you're going to be looking at right from your phone. So it's super important. And also you get the zone deals, you pick the section, they will pick the seats and you save. So check it out. It's great for last minute, it's super intuitive and you can take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets by using the GameTime app. Download GameTime create an account, use the code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. That's code locked on L O C K E D o n locked on for $20 off. Download the Gametime app today. And if you're using the web it's gametime co not.com gametime co Today's show is also brought to you by BetterHelp. Now I've talked about therapy and why it's really important to talk through some things. And February can be a lot. It's the, you know, Valentine's Day. Maybe you don't have a Valentine. Maybe you're just the stress of the holidays and what you've spent. There's all kinds of things in February that can get you down. So whether you're married, dating, single, focusing on you, people are still figuring it out and you can get a little help along the way. Therapy can get you clear on what you want, what feels heavy and how to take some of the pressure off of yourself. Relationships are very difficult. And you know, you always look on Instagram, you say, oh, these people are perfect. They have this perfect relationship. It's not true. Therapy can help you recognize things. It can recognize patterns in yourself, in other people that could be weighing relationships down. And if you're not in a relationship right now, therapy can help you feel more confident in what you want moving forward. Confidence is super important in a relationship. Looking for a relationship and so it reminds you that you're not behind, you're okay, you're right on time. BetterHelp has licensed therapists in the United States and they do the initial match work for you so you can focus on your goals. And if you want to switch therapists, this is very important. You can do that at any time for free. Sign up and get 10% off@betterhelp.com lockdown MBA that's B E T T E R H E L P BetterHelp locked on MBA thanks for becoming an everydayer. Thank you for making Locked on Celtics the number one Celtics podcast on the planet and making Locked on the number one sports podcast network on the planet. Super thankful for you. This is cool. If you're watching the show on YouTube, I'm here. I'm on one of the side rooms at TD Garden because they're turning the arena over for the bean pop. I got the Pioneers Classic logo behind me. You can't really see it. It's getting washed out in the video. But Pioneers Classic was cool event here where they honored the Pioneers who made this league possible, who made the Celtics what the Celtics are, who won championships here, who built this, this franchise, who persevered through real hardships to make this work, to make this team, to win championships. So it was really cool. I got to meet a lot of the. The children of these Celtics legends, children of Casey Jones and Sam Jones and so many people. It was such a cool, cool event. And I said this to them personally, but I want to say it to them publicly. I'm so thankful for the work that their parents and some of their grandparents have done to make this team, to make this league what it is. I don't have this job, I don't have this opportunity without them, without them making this franchise what it is in this city, without making this sport what it is overall in the world. Their fathers, their grandfathers were able to create a franchise, a tradition, a legacy that is unmatched. Their perseverance, their fight is incredible. And I am just so, so thankful that I got an opportunity to say that to them. And because it means a lot to me. I love basketball with all my heart. It's given me everything positive in my life. And it's because of them that came before me, became before all of the players here who created this situation that allows for me to be here and talk into a camera for a living about this team, about what they've accomplished. So great night, great moment, and I'm really thankful for that. All right, let's move on. Let's finish up the podcast here. Namish K. I thought, had obviously a really good game. The one play that he had was a fake handoff, drive, drive down the left hand side and a dunk. If you remember, he tried a fake handoff in the Kings game down the right hand side and his defender rolled with him. He threw up this contested shot and Joe was upset. Contested layups. No, you do not want to take contested Layups, no matter who you are, it led to a layup on the other end against Sacramento. This, you know, you just gotta turn the corner. And it's just another little progression. Right. I talked about Nemi figuring out the little spots in the baseline, working with Peyton Pritchard and Derrick White, and getting. Reading the spots where you need to be reading the defense, all of that stuff. And then in this situation, turning the corner and learning, do I have this lane or not? You can. You can feel like you've turned the corner and. And you have it, and then somebody recovers defensively. And like in the Sacramento game now, you stop, you turn, you kick it out, You've. You've done your job, you've made the defense react to you stop, kick it and work it around. Or I do have a lane, let's go in, dunk it, and let's go down and play some defense. So it's like that stuff that Nemi is still progressing. I've said this before. I know what I said at the beginning of the season. I stand by what I said with Nemi at the beginning of the season, in the off season, because I feel like that was true. My analysis of him was based on fact. And when the facts change, when he shows that level of kind of progression, this progression into what he is now, his ability to read defenses, his ability to work with these. With these guards, that stuff is. It's new, it's growth. It's credit to him for growing. I said beginning of the season that he was, you know, I don't know how this is going to work. I didn't think it was going to work because he was unplayable last year, and I just didn't think he was going to make this much progress. Well, he's made this much progress, and now my opinion on him has changed because he's shown it, he's proven it. We're sitting here, it's February 1st. He's proven it. So I think that, you know, he's. He's obviously, he's playing well. The defense is better with him on the floor, and I think it is allowed. When I go back to the beginning, you don't have to go for the big swing at center anymore. You can go for, I think, a little bit lesser. You can go with a cheaper option. You now have the potential to keep an Forney Simons and change how you approach that, that big man rotation. Partly I said before, it's partly because Anthony Simons has accepted this role and is who he is. The other huge reason for it is that Namish Kaeda has become what he's become and is this good and now your needs are a little bit different. If you want a best case scenario. The best case scenario is that Amari Williams becomes good enough to become a backup and your Nami Ishkeda Amari Williams, you know, one two punch is good enough to carry you through. But even if it's not, even if Amari becomes a third string guy and you bring in a second string guy or you can still bring in a guy who starts and Nemi comes off the bench. If Neemi is your second string guy, then that is one of the best second string guys that you're going to bring in. He could be the best backup center in the league, but that's how good he's become. Because I never would have said that in October, but now, yes, I think he can be so it's incredible for him to make these progressions. I credit him like the credit is all to him for working and becoming this and learning and growing credits to the coaching staff and his teammates and all that stuff too. So great opportunity, great game for Namish Kader. Before I wrap up, let's just run through a couple of other individual performances. Derek White 2017 points plus 27, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 6 of 14. He started slow, but he had a couple of nice plays. He had one great steal that turned into an Anthony Simon street. That was good. Let's see who else. Luca Garza. Just lunch pail. Luca, man, he's out there working, working like crazy. You know what, other than these big performances, you know, Ugo had a decent performance. Jordan was good. Like I said. Yeah, Peyton had a little stretch in the second quarter where he was, you know, he started to get going but it wasn't his best night either. And I think that's it. I did want to highlight things I mentioned, like different stretches. There was one stretch. I just wanted to mention this because I think this is an example of where things change. So early in the fourth quarter, the the Bucks made just a little bit of a push. The Celtics were, they were up 2122 at one point. The Bucks are making a push. Derek White has a turnover. Miles Turner gets it up to AJ Green who has a 3. If he had hit the 3, it would have been a 14 point game. Missoula probably would have called a timeout. The way the Bucks were playing, I'm not saying that this would have been a problem, but the way they were playing, they probably would have lost anyway, but it still would have been a 14 point game. Fourth quarter, Celtics tend to tighten up a little bit in fourth quarters. AJ Green misses, Celtics come down, whip off an 80 run. Now it's the Bucs who call a timeout. And now it's the Celtics who who are up 23, 25 and it just becomes a certified blowout versus the cut it to 14. Oh no, there's seven minutes left. Eight minutes left. Whatever it was at that time you say, oh, there's still plenty of time for the Bucks to hit a few shots. You come out of the timeout, hit a couple of shots, 10 point game, everything gets tight. Those little moments we sit there and we look at it like they were up 30 at one point. It was a blowout. Who cares? There's a moment in the fourth quarter of this game where if AJ Green hits that three pointer, who knows how this goes. So those little things that I think watch for, I tweeted that out. It really was a low key, important moment in this game and I thought like the Celtics had a good, you know, response. But sometimes these one little make mission when Joe says there's 5, 10, 15 possessions a game that could change the entire complexion of the game like that, that legitimately was one of them. So I just wanted to highlight that before I wrap things up. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. I do appreciate you being here. Monday through Friday, it's a daily podcast. When they play on a Friday or a Saturday, I will have a bonus podcast for you right here. Whether you're watching on YouTube or listening. Thank you so much for doing both. Thank you for being in Everydayer. If you want to be on the Everydayer Club, five bucks a month or fifty bucks a year you can get access to our Discord server, our In Game Chats ad, free audio compatible with every device, every major podcasting app and if you use the code deadline before February 5th you get a 5. You get a free month. So go check that out now. I would love it if you share the podcast. Tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. It's your team every day.
TurboTax Advertiser
Tax season doesn't have to take over your life this year. Turbo Tax is making it easier than ever to just hand things off and move on with your day. With TurboTax Full Service you can have your taxes done for you by a trusted local expert. Start to finish without the stress or guesswork. They handle everything from W2s to self employed forms and work to get you every deduction. For a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local turbo tax expert for just 150 all in. If a turbo tax expert didn't file for you last year, just file by February 28th. Take taxes off your plate and get back to your life. Visit turbotax.com local to book your appointment today.
Arby's Advertiser
Not to brag or anything, But Arby's new $7.99 meat and three box is kind of a big deal. The other guys give you just one side. We give you three sides. Not to brag. You get a meaty sandwich, curly fries, Mott sticks, a sweet treat and a drink. All for just $7.99. It's more meal for your money. More meal for your money. More meal for your money. Where'd that come from?
John Corrales
Arby's. We have the meats at participating Arby's for a limited time.
Native Deodorant Advertiser
Hey girl, what's happen? Is that your antiperspirant?
John Corrales
Uh, yeah.
Native Deodorant Advertiser
Let me see that can. Aluminum, butane. I cannot pronounce that. You have to switch to native deodorant. Native's simple formula has only clean ingredients. It gives you effective 72 hour odor protection with no hydrocarbon propellant. Wow, this smells heavenly clean. Effective 72 hour odor protection isn't a myth.
John Corrales
It's native.
Date: February 2, 2026
Host: John Karalis
This episode, hosted by John Karalis, dives deep into the Boston Celtics' dominant 107-79 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. The focus centers on Anfernee Simons’ explosive impact, ongoing trade rumors surrounding him before the deadline, and the crucial role of offensive rebounding. Karalis also highlights key individual performances (notably Jalen Brown and Namish Kéda), discusses Celtics’ roster construction, and illuminates subtle yet pivotal moments that shaped the game’s outcome.
On Simons:
“Here we are, days away from the trade deadline. His name continues to be in just about every rumor... And he has such a good attitude about it. It's like, ‘I can't control what I can't control.’ And he's coming in and just doing his job really, really well.”
— John Karalis ([02:51])
On the trade deadline and Simons:
“I am starting to really lean on, ‘is there a way to keep Anfernee Simons?’ Can the Celtics keep this guy at the $15 million mid level mark?”
— John Karalis ([04:33])
On offensive rebounding:
“Even if the Celtics don’t score, they had one possession where it was just three, I think three offensive rebounds. These possessions last 40, 50 seconds almost... It’s just frustrating as hell to do that over and over and over again.”
— John Karalis ([14:45])
On Jalen Brown stepping up:
“To get that from a wing, a guard, that's huge. You have to get in there... If the Celtics are going to be anywhere near passable as a defensive rebounding team, guys on the wing have to get in there and grab boards.”
— John Karalis ([19:35])
On micro-moments:
“There’s a moment in the fourth quarter... if AJ Green hits that three pointer, who knows how this goes. Those little things, I think, to watch for... sometimes these one little makes... can change the entire complexion of the game.”
— John Karalis ([31:55])
Karalis is thoughtful, candid, and frequently introspective, blending basketball analysis with behind-the-scenes insights and the emotional arcs of both team and individuals.
This episode unpacks how Anfernee Simons' energetic play off the bench turned an ugly Celtics start into a blowout win against the Bucks. Simons' trade value is weighed, with Karalis leaning toward Celtics retaining him due to his attitude and impact. The team’s offensive rebounding was crucial, Jalen Brown’s all-around game is celebrated, and the development of Kéda changes the logic of roster building before the deadline. Karalis concludes with a nod to the Celtics’ rich history, appreciating those who made nights like this possible.
For Celtics fans and NBA observers, this episode provides sharp analysis, genuine appreciation for unsung heroes, and a uniquely local, on-the-ground Boston flavor.