BIGGEST Storyline of Celtics Season: What's the Biggest Factor Behind 56 Wins?

Summary

Locked On Celtics – BIGGEST Storyline of Celtics Season: What's the Biggest Factor Behind 56 Wins?

Host: John Karalis
Guest: Tom Westerholm (@boston.com)
Date: April 14, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Locked On Celtics, hosted by John Karalis with guest Tom Westerholm, dives deep into the biggest storylines behind the Boston Celtics' remarkably successful 56-win season. They organically rank and debate which factors—front office moves, coaching, player performances, and unexpected developments—were most pivotal in transforming the Celtics into bona fide championship contenders after a rocky start. The discussion is lively, detailed, and offers both insider analysis and memorable Celtics humor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Celtics As Legitimate NBA Title Contenders

Timestamp: 03:03

• Tom Westerholm’s No. 1 Storyline: The Celtics’ transformation into actual championship contenders, a notion that seemed far-fetched at season's start.
• “These Celtics in the year of our Lord 2026, are actual contenders for the NBA championship. That is insane…not something that anybody expected at, like, you know, September.” – Tom Westerholm (03:07)
• They reflect on the mood at the season’s start and how, even after a strong regular season start, it still didn't feel possible—until key wins against strong teams like OKC and the Spurs.

2. The Brad Stevens Effect: The Midas Touch

Timestamp: 07:51

• John Corrales’ No. 1 Storyline: Brad Stevens (President of Basketball Operations) is the architect who flipped every move to gold in concert with head coach Joe Mazzulla.
• “Brad Stevens is a magician and everything that he touches turns into gold…Brad, the front office, has the Midas touch and everything has come up Milhouse.” – John Corrales (07:51, 10:56)
• Emphasis on player acquisition prioritizing both skill and character (e.g., Luca Garza and other depth pieces).
• Seamless synergy between front office and coaching staff when acquiring and developing talent, leading to an almost flawless roster construction.

3. From an 0–3 Start to 56 Wins

Timestamp: 05:48

• A historic turnaround: Celtics began the year 0–3 and became just the fourth team to win 56 after such a start.
• “They started 0–3 and won 56 games…just incredible.” – John Corrales (05:49)
• The hosts joke about alternate realities where they're breaking down a failed season or considering major trades, highlighting how surprising and special this year has been.

4. On-Court Storylines: Defensive Transformation & Centerpiece Players

Timestamp: 15:09

• John Corrales: The emergence of Neemias Queta (Keta) as a legitimate, defense-anchoring, starting center is the linchpin of on-court success.
• “The biggest on court storyline is it's Namish Keda being a legit starting center that anchors a defense and contributes on offense…their defensive rankings have marched steadily up.” – John Corrales (15:09)
• Stats: Celtics’ defensive rebounding and defensive rating soared; with Queta on the floor, opponents scored nearly 10 points fewer per 100 possessions.

Westerholm’s Perspective

• Jason Tatum’s miraculous return from injury and Jaylen Brown’s potential MVP-level play are at the heart of on-court storylines.
• “To me it's gotta either be Jaylen Brown potential MVP case or Jason Tatum crazy return.” – Tom Westerholm (17:30)
• Debates whether the “floor razor” (Brown) or the “ceiling raiser” (Tatum’s return) was more crucial.

Interconnectedness of Storylines

• Both hosts agree these storylines are inextricably intertwined: elite defense, Tatum’s comeback, Brown’s leadership, and coaching all elevate and depend on each other.
• “You don't have Neemy without Jalen and you don't have Jalen without Neemi…we can have 10 different story lines and all of them are kind of on the same level.” – John Corrales (24:04)

5. Coaching Genius: Joe Mazzulla’s System

Timestamp: 30:35–35:08

• Defensive Scheme Stats: Celtics allowed the lowest percentage of shots at the rim (24%) and seventh lowest corner threes in the league (Cleaning the Glass).
• “This is Joe Missoula’s defense to a T…exactly what he wanted…and here they are the fourth ranked defense to end the season. It's incredible.” – John Corrales (28:53)
• Mazzulla’s “Celtics University” mentality stresses teaching reads and decision-making, not memorized plays, empowering players to react and adapt fluidly.
• Players’ execution of this flexible system is what made it possible, according to both hosts.

6. The Importance of Role Players & Buy-In

Timestamp: 31:28

• Role players like Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, Luca Garza, and others bought into and excelled in their prescribed roles, often exceeding expectations.
• “Guys who came in and just like defied every expectation of their roles. That all happens in part because everybody bought in to what Joe Missoula was selling.” – Tom Westerholm (31:28)
• The hosts stress this level of buy-in and development is rare and team-defining.

7. Ranking Debate: The Top 5 Storylines

Timestamp: 36:41

• The hosts struggle to “rank” the storylines as all are so closely intertwined:
  • Brad Stevens/front office mastery (“THE big-picture storyline”)
  • Joe Mazzulla's coaching & system
  • Neemias Queta’s emergence
  • Jaylen Brown’s star turn
  • Jason Tatum’s inspirational return
• Tatum’s story is described as “Rogue One to the Star Wars movies”—a miraculous, parallel narrative that fuses with the main arc.

8. Humor & Memorable Quotes

• Playful banter about John’s wife’s playoff vacation plans:
  • “I love the how far do you think they’re gonna go question with absolutely no ulterior motive…Like, what am I looking at in June?” – Tom Westerholm (04:36)
• On making sense of the interconnected storylines:
  • “I started going, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I'm like, actually, it's 1A, B, C, D, E…these aren't necessarily story lines…” – John Corrales (25:20)
• Tom’s message to Missoula: “Joe Missoula, I want the record to show that I said two Celtics players in my storylines above you. This guy, John Corrales, number two.” – Tom Westerholm (38:11)

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• “[The Celtics] are actual contenders for the NBA championship. That is insane…not something that anybody expected at, like, you know, September.” – Tom Westerholm (03:07)
• “Brad Stevens is a magician and everything that he touches turns into gold…” – John Corrales (07:51)
• “They started 0–3 and won 56 games.” – John Corrales (05:49)
• “The biggest on court storyline is it's Namish Keda being a legit starting center that anchors a defense and contributes on offense…” – John Corrales (15:09)
• “You don't have Neemy without Jalen and you don't have Jalen without Neemi.” – John Corrales (24:04)
• “This is Joe Missoula’s defense to a T…exactly what he wanted…and here they are the fourth ranked defense to end the season. It's incredible.” – John Corrales (28:53)
• “Guys who came in and just like defied every expectation of their roles…because everybody bought in to what Joe Missoula was selling.” – Tom Westerholm (31:28)
• “Tatum is…like Rogue One to the Star Wars movies. It's there…part of the season…and now it blends…into the next part of the story.” – John Corrales (36:45)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Season in Review & Setting the Scene – 01:11–06:50
• Contenders or Pretenders? – 03:03–07:34
• Brad Stevens’ Midas Touch – 07:51–12:02
• On-Court Storylines: Center, Stars, Injuries – 15:09–25:37
• Debating Rankings & Storyline Interconnectedness – 25:37–36:41
• Coaching Genius & Buy-In – 28:53–35:40
• Final Top 5 Storylines & Tatum's Parallel Narrative – 36:41–39:48
• Light-Hearted Wrap-Up – 39:48–40:47

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Thematic Summary

• Biggest Storyline: The confluence of front office wizardry, innovative coaching, and unexpected individual leaps (especially Neemias Queta's growth) made a 56-win season possible—transforming the Celtics from a potential retooling story into genuine title threats.
• All Parts Intertwined: Each player, role, and strategic wrinkle was indispensable, making it nearly impossible to pick a single, “biggest” storyline; instead, the season was a perfect storm of success factors aligned at the right time.
• Miraculous Elements: Jason Tatum’s unlikely and impactful return from injury stands as a near-mythical subplot, providing both a literal and metaphorical boost when the Celtics needed it most.

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For New Listeners

This episode weaves together analysis, insider stories, laughter, and genuine chemistry. It’s a must-listen for understanding not just how the Celtics got to 56 wins, but WHY—and what it means going into the postseason. Whether you’re catching up ahead of the playoffs or just want deep Celtics insight, this breakdown offers all the key context you need.

Transcript

[John Corrales]

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[John Corrales]

The season is over. Let's rank the story lines to figure out how the Celtics pulled off a 56 win season.

[Tom Westerholm]

Hey there.

[John Corrales]

Welcome back to the show. I'm John Corrales. We're spending this whole show ranking our top storylines from this season. All right, it's a 56 win year. Which one was the most important? Let's start breaking those down with our guy. Tom Westerholm, everybody.

[Tom Westerholm]

What up?

[John Corrales]

What up for people who don't know? Tom, what's your home? Formerly of Mass Live where we met and started on the beat. Tom's [e-mail] writing about the Celtics. Tom, feeling good, Feeling good. How you feeling after 56 wins?

[Tom Westerholm]

I feel, man, I feel like very vindicated. We really nailed that one. I feel, I feel good.

[John Corrales]

Plus my. Like we said, we said don't go back and check. Just know that we said 44 wins, give or take 12.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, yeah, we said no fewer than 55 and no more than 57. So actually we were pretty good. We were right on the money there.

[John Corrales]

I mean, yeah, that's so, you know, good. Kudos to us for just like picking. Yep, yep, yep, yep. All right, so tons of storylines and honestly, so many ways you can go with the most important. What's the most important storylines? We're just gonna go. We haven't discussed this. We want an organic conversation. What's Tom Westerholm? What is your number one storyline for this Celtic season.

[Tom Westerholm]

So I think that the number one storyline for this Celtic season is bigger than one. Bigger than one, man. Right. And I think there's, there's, there's two competing storylines that I'm sure we are going to get to very soon as we go down our list. But my number one storyline is that these Celtics in the year of our Lord 2026, are actual contenders for the NBA championship. That is insane. And it's not even something that even as they started rattling off wins, even as it looked like Jason Tatum might return. Right. Not, not don't even go that far back. I would not have said that I thought that this team was an actual contender. I, I would have thought that they were a contender to come out of the East. You know, midway through the season, it started to look like, you know, maybe, yeah, maybe, maybe Tatum comes back. But then they played OKC really, really well. Then they played the spurs really, really well. And it's like, you know, freaking what this may be, man. Like, this team might maybe be an actual contender this year. Maybe they go on the second round. I don't know. But, like, it's not like, you can't look at this team and say there's no chance they win a title. There is a chance that this team wins a title. And that, to me, is wild and not something that anybody expected at, like, you know, September. So that, that's the biggest storyline to me.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, look, I, I, My wife was asking me so, well, you know, how far do you think they're going to go? She loves asking me these questions. She's been asking me for two months, who are going to play in the playoffs. I'm like, I don't know, like, how.

[Tom Westerholm]

I love the, I love the how far do you think they're gonna go question with absolutely no ulterior motive. No question about, like, oh, like, are we gonna get to do a vacation sometime soon here?

[John Corrales]

Like, what am I, what am I looking at in June?

[Tom Westerholm]

When will I see you again? Is it gonna be a bit.

[John Corrales]

And to your point, I'm not scheduling anything.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

In June, I am not scheduling any vacation. I'm not doing anything between that. I could have, I could have, you know, may would have been a nice time to get away just on a personal level. Not that I ever rooted for it, but. No, of course, I, My, my wife and I have had these discussions about the, the way things have, have gone for the Celtics, and she, we talk like, in the summer. She's like, man, what do you talk about when, during the off season. And I was like, listen, I'm lucky that the off season has been as short as it has someday. My. Someday. My. My off season is going to start in the middle of April. Tom. There was a chance at the beginning of the season that our season would be over right now.

[Tom Westerholm]

They started 03.

[John Corrales]

They started 03, which won 56 games

[Tom Westerholm]

and they lost the first three.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, that. It means just incredible. Act one of four teams to do that, by the way.

[Tom Westerholm]

Who's that?

[John Corrales]

Yeah. Thank you. Dick Light, I believe. Dropped that gem. Nice.

[Tom Westerholm]

That's so. It's got Dick Light written all over.

[John Corrales]

Gotta shout out Dick Light for the, the stats. The fact that we are sitting here and not reviewing a season for. Okay, so who do we keep. Who do we. Who do we lose? Where's the, you know, financially? These are just setting, setting up the primer. There's a universe where you and I, in an alternate Rick and Morty universe, there's a portal gun that opens up and a portal that opens up. And we're sitting here talking about like, okay, do you trade Derek White? Do you. How do you. How do you move forward from here after a 36 win season?

[Tom Westerholm]

I mean, there's a, There's a world where you and I have, like, really strong takes on Darren Peterson. You know what I mean? Like, but we're really like, man, I believe in that guy. Or I don't know about all the injuries. Like, you know, there's a world where we really have like, big takes about him.

[John Corrales]

Yep. Yep. Like this season could have very easily been a whole lot of college basketball watching for me, which I don't normally do. I haven't had to do because the Celtics are always picking at the bottom of the draft. I've never really had to worry about that. At that point, I'm just like, whoever the name is. Hugo Gonzalez. All right, I'll figure out who Gonzalez is.

[Tom Westerholm]

Oh, Hugo Gonzalez. All right. Yeah, I'll figure out who Hugo is.

[John Corrales]

You're gonna love this kid. All right, we'll see. And now I'm just doing like, you know, like, it's just.

[Tom Westerholm]

So.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, we're here with a, a legitimate championship contender. The. The swings can be wild. I don't know. There is a world where they, they could get bounced.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Early, no doubt. You know, you. You face the Knicks in the second round. Who knows, who knows how that goes. Yeah. But a seven game series against the OKC Thunder, Absolutely possible. Absolutely. We could be, we could be covering the Celtics until the absolute last possible Day on the NBA calendar. Yeah. And you're right, that's wild. My number one storyline is Brad Stevens is a magician and everything that he touches turns into gold. And I cannot believe how perfectly everything has gone. To me, the story of this Celtic season, the how you've gotten here, why we're even getting to the 56 win conversation, why we're even talking about June, it's that Brad Stevens and his team and in conjunction with Joe Missoula, because I don't want to separate the front office from the coaching because the front office gives the coaching is they're doing the shopping for the groceries to go back to the Bill Parcell's Patriots days. They're, they're all together. Joe is giving the input of saying like I, these are the types of guys that I, I think we could use. This is, this is how I see certain things. And Brad and his team say okay, yeah, Luca Garza. I asked Brad about this a couple weeks ago at this point where he, he gave a, a quick update and he was saying like, yeah, we, we got good intel on Luca Garza, that he's a great human being. They specifically are searching for great people that have great skills. And both he and Joe have talked about, it's not about what these guys can't do, which is what we always on the outside say, well, well, he can't do this, he can't shoot, he can't rebound, he can't dribble. What do you do? What do you do? Well, can we, to borrow the Brad Stevens phrase, soar with your strengths. And that's the Luca Garza thing. That's the whomever is on the floor. We just saw it in that last game of the season. Ron Harper Jr. Sure. Baylor Scheireman. Sure. John Tanji. Yeah, whatever. Like, you know, you, you make a trade and you know, we'll just take, just take this guy too, this little two way player. Well, we'll, we need him and everybody minus Chris Boucher, the only little blemish. And that really was just like a, oh, we're just going to pop this pimple and it's going to go away and it's over. And everything else has been perfect for, for Brad Stevens. So that to me, if we're looking for an all encompassing storyline for the season, Brad, the front office has the Midas touch and everything has come up. Milhouse.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. In this, so in this analogy where Brad is doing the grocery shopping and then Joe, you know, is cooking with those groceries, is that to extend our the bear reference from the other day, does that make Bill Chisholm, Uncle Jimmy Cicero?

[John Corrales]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

Coming in like you're spending so much money.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But not taking it away. Just like.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, yeah, right, right.

[John Corrales]

Just making like the. Come on, come on. I gotta see some. I gotta see some return on this.

[Tom Westerholm]

That's right. That's right. No, I love that. Yeah. Brad. Brad's amazing. I mean, you want to talk about big picture, right? You want to talk about a guy who's gonna, you know, sure doesn't seem like he's gonna go coach Unc anytime soon. You want to talk about a guy who's gonna be here for. For quite some time and a guy who's going to have a massive impact on everything. That is the Celtics going forward. That's. That's Brad Stevens. And teams in great hands.

[John Corrales]

Just team is in amazing.

[Tom Westerholm]

The hands that you would want them to be in.

[John Corrales]

Want to take it to the court next? Yes. Storylines on court. Storylines.

[Tom Westerholm]

I actually think two versus three is very interesting.

[John Corrales]

Okay, we'll do that when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by TurboTax. It is tax time. Only a couple days left here. And for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is it's a lot. Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient. Sitting and waiting in a waiting room with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth, wondering if they really get your situation. But this year, you're getting a major upgrade. Intuit TurboTax now has in person locations nationwide. You can meet face to face with the real tax expert. And your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot. Just like that, you're done. Your Turbo tax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve. While you get real time notifications as you go about your day. It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing your taxes are being handled right. Head to turbotax.com local to find a store near you and book your appointment.

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[John Corrales]

Thanks for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. We're here for you Monday through Friday, bonus podcasts throughout the a week, on the weekends when they play and all of that. It's all here on the Lockdown Celtics podcast. Wherever you want to hear audio, whether you want to watch on YouTube, get in the comment section, share your thoughts with us. By the way, I'm John Corrales. I cover the Celtics for Celtics on SI. Been doing this job for about 20 years. A version covering the Celtics for 20 years, doing this podcast for 10. I should note, and I totally forgot about this at the top, that this is a an offshoot of a question from Ted D. That sent a question into the mailbag johncorals.com/mailbag for you to send questions in. It's johncarales.com mailbag who said in this season full of Tommy points, which of the incredible storylines takes the regular season award? So this is what we're doing. This is what started this entire conversation. So thank you Ted for submitting that. All right, so Tom, let's, let's hit the court. Let's get on the floor. What is the biggest storyline on the floor? This is a tough one. This is a tough one because there's so many different ways that we can go. I'm still struggling. I'm still not sure. So many good candidates. So many, so many good candidates. And I feel like this is going to start the by picking one, you're disrespecting the others.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yep. Yep.

[John Corrales]

I'm gonna say the the biggest on court storyline is it's Namish Keda being a legit starting center that anchors a defense and contributes on offense with no disrespect to an all NBA season from Jaylen Brown to all of the work that everybody else has done. This team does not sniff 56 wins without Keda being Keita. Their defensive rebounding percentage has just marched steadily up their their defensive rankings have marched steadily up. Keda 636 rebounds 6060 steals, 100 blocks. This year the Celtics are the fourth ranked defense in the league. This is why he's, he's got to be I don't know if what what percentage of the reason why the Celtics defense is is Keita. It's it's got to be a very, very big percentage. Bigger than even like Derek has been amazing. Jalen has been a really good defender. A lot of you can go to a lot of different reasons why if this front court was as bad as we thought it was going to be at the beginning of the season. Then we're talking about a 500 team. Keda being as impactful plus minus wise. According to cleaning the glass, teams are scoring 9.4 points fewer per 100 possessions when he's on the floor. That he himself being on the floor is part of a defense that is basically holding teams to almost 10 points per 100 possessions less. That to me, I have to go with him.

[Tom Westerholm]

You make a, you make a compelling case. I will say that I think it's wild to go with anybody besides Jalen or Tatum at, at number two. I, I hear what you're saying and I think you're probably there. There's, there's a lot of really good basketball sense in that. Right. I, I, and I, and I, I just think as a storyline, if it's, I think to me it's got to either be Jaylen Brown potential MVP case or Jason Tatum crazy return. He comes back, you know, the moment that he comes back, he comes back way better than anybody expected. And I'm going with Tatum because, and I, I had to, I really struggled with this one because I think which is the bigger storyline? The guy who, the guy who made an MVP case for himself from the jump. Right. Or the guy who raises the ceiling when he returns? You know, the guy which, which do you look at closer, the floor razor or the ceiling razor? And I think to go with my number one point being the Celtics are a contender. I think I have to go with the guy returning from the crazy injury at the time he did looking as good as he has. And then for me, number three is Jalen Brown and then number four is where I start to get to like the Cadas. Yeah, yeah.

[John Corrales]

No, so my, my reasoning is strictly like on court, just on the court. How did they get to 56 wins? How do they even get to the second seed? You take, you can do this, play this game here. You take Jalen off the court and what happens? I, I actually believe that with Keita on the floor, with Joe Missoula coaching and some weird combination, the Celtics would overachieve. Now, not 56 wins, but you could take Jalen Brown off the floor and crazy mad scientist Joe Missoula with this team would find a way to get to I don't know what, 48, 49 wins. Like, could they still be a 51? I don't know. I don't know. But the way I've seen this team play, I feel like they could somehow crazy hustle outwork teams and use that defense to find a way to still be good. Whereas Jalen, you take Mimi off the floor or make Neemi the guy that we thought he would be. The. The expectations, the low expectations that I had. If that guy is your center, then we're looking at Jaylen's. Jaylen being a great player. Having the exact same season on a team that can't stop anybody, that can't rebound, that can't let. I just feel like it's not that. It's not that Jalen didn't do all of this stuff. It's that the one piece that just kind of holds the whole thing together is the center spot. That is better than we thought it would be. Just strictly X's and O's on the. On the court. I kind of put Jason in a separate category, to be honest with you. I think it's. I put Jason in a different, like, inspirational storyline as opposed to, like, on court. It's. I don't know why I categorize it different. We can do that in the next segment, but sure. Good.

[Tom Westerholm]

No. Okay. So I think. I think for one thing, I think that if. If you remove Jalen from the team, right. I think that you get. You know, we look at. We look at Sunday's game against the Magic, right? And I think the reason that Sunday's game happened is because a bunch of guys got an opportunity that they wouldn't have ordinarily got played really hard. Magic didn't take it seriously enough and embarrassed themselves. You know, Baylor Shireman caught a heater, all this great stuff, right? I think, you know, you start to add some of those guys who sat out, but without Jalen and Jason, I think that that Cinderella story dries up pretty quick. Like, I. I think that, like, I don't think that I. I can't see that team winning 48, 49 games. That seems really optimistic. I can maybe see like one of those, you know, kind of heat teams, like one of those try hard heat teams that like, makes the play in and maybe, like, makes things a little uncomfortable in the first round if they get through the plan. But I don't like that. That to me is not close to a, you know, a top four, four or five seed in the Eastern Conference. I think. I think Jalen takes that floor and just really boosted that thing up. So that might just be a matter of. And obviously there's no way to prove that, right? Like, then the numbers are fully on Kata's side there, right? Like the, you know, the. On. Off the defense that I Mean, you know, like, like you. Like we. Like you were saying before the season, we were talking extensively about how this team won't stop anybody and they won't rebound. And then it just turns out they're like pretty good at both and like they're quite good at one of them. Right. And so much of that credit belongs to Keda. But I think that, like, for those things to matter, you needed that MVP level performance that almost, you know, that all NBA first team level performance to boost them to a point where those things make a huge difference. And to me, that's Jalen. So that. So to me, it's almost sacrilegious for me to have Tatum at second over Jalen. But I don't know, man.

[John Corrales]

You gotta.

[Tom Westerholm]

But. But I'm giving more. I guess I'm. I'm taking the storyline aspect of it a little more literally on my end.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. Yeah. It's like the problem is all of these storylines are kind of equal. Right. Because. Because in basketball, or at least they're

[Tom Westerholm]

intertwined with each other. They're all mixed up like.

[John Corrales]

Right. Like it's not. It's like saying offense and defense, we're not taking into account that it is.

[Tom Westerholm]

They bleed into each other.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, they all bleed into each other.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

The reason why Jason, you know, coming back raises the ceiling and makes him a contender is because of what Jalen has done.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And the reason why Jalen. What Jalen has done is impactful is because Keda is there to lead a defense that is stopping. Stopping teams. And the reason why that defense is stopping teams is because Joe Missoula put together a game plan. Yeah, I'm gonna stop here. The game plan. Because I just posted a story on. On Celtics, on SI, about 10 stats that define the season. There's one stat here or a set of stats that kind of, I think, encapsulates a lot of this that we're talking about. But I'll wrap up my point by saying you don't have Neemy without Jalen and you don't have Jalen without Neemi. You have to have. The reason why Jalen is leading a 56 win team is because Nene's there to anchor a defense. And the reason why him anchoring a defense leads to points on the other end is because Jalen is so damn good at scoring those points. And Jalen's gravity spreads things out to everybody else. And that's why everybody else is having a great season and all of that. We can have 10 different story lines and all of them are kind of on the same level. So this is, this is why I'm terrible at ranking things. Because I want to go like I started going, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I'm like, actually, it's 1A, B, C, D, E. And it's not really 1, 2, 3. It's all. So that's kind of. Let's come back. Because I want to get to my Tatum storyline.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And why that's important. And this stat that I was talking about. That's all coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Rocket Money. If you've ever opened up your bank account and thought I had more money than didn't I. No, you're not alone. Keeping track of subscription spending and bills can get overwhelming fast. That's where Rocket Money comes in. It helps you take control of your finances all in one place. It tracks your subscriptions in one spot and helps you cancel the ones you don't need with a few taps. Super important because you forget about all the streaming services that you have and all of the prices that have gone up and you're not even paying attention to who's raising your prices. So it can be a real help there. It can set budget budgets, get alerts, and stay on top of incoming bills. Just makes everything feel more organized, gives you a clearer picture of your finances day to day. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps you lower bills so you can grow your savings. Very important in today's day and age where everything is so expensive. Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at Rocket Money.com LockedOn that's RocketMoney.com/LOCKED ON. Today's show is also brought to you by five Hour Energy. If you've got a sweet tooth, you know how tough it is to find that perfect treat without all the sugar. That's why the fruity Rainbow five Hour Energy shot brings that nostalgic flavor back in a whole new way. Fruity Rainbow 5 hour energy shots treat your taste buds to an explosion of fruity flavor with a tasty caffeine kick. It's quick, easy and an easy way to satisfy that sweet craving while keeping things simple and on the go. Zero sugar treat that's sweet tooth approved and it's very convenient too. Small portable shot that's very convenient for me, especially as I start traveling a whole lot more for the playoffs. Pop a few of these in my bag and when I get run down after late nights of running to airports. It's going to be a great pick me up. Get Candy Flavored Chaos with fruity rainbow 5 hour energy shots available online at 5hourenergy.com the number 5ourenergy.com or at Amazon. Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day and being in every day or joining me every Monday through Friday plus these bonus podcasts now why not join the Everydayer club. You get ad free audio for $5 a month or 50 bucks for the year. You also get access to our Discord server for chats during games during during the playoffs. Locked on celtics.supercast.com it's five bucks a month, 50 bucks for the year if you want to pay up front. All right, let's get back to this discussion here because all right here's the stat Tom that I or set of stats so the Celtics have they're they allow this season they have allowed the fewest the lowest percentage of attempts at the rim in the league. So this is all according to cleaning the glass. 24 of opponent shots have come at the rim lowest in the league. They've seventh lowest opponent corner three point attempt percent 9.2% of opponent shots have come from the corner three. So they're very good at taking away the rim and taking away the corner three. Now they have their they give the second highest mid range. So 34% of their opponents take mid range shots and they're they give up the most above the break non corner threes 32 and a half percent this is Joe Missoula's defense to a T. This is what he wanted to do this season. He they packed the paint you, you you funnel the drives to the middle. Keita is there. They they block the they block the rim. The kickouts go to the corner. You close out Howard to the corner and then the swing gets up top and they are kind of living with those those lower percentage shots. You can maybe close out on those two which drives them into the mid range and you got those mid range shots the lowest percentage shots on the floor. The lowest efficiency shots on the floor. So we talk about defense and what Nemi's impact is. It's it. This further ties another storyline into this Joe Missoula coaching genius. He has been like this is exactly what he wanted from his defense and here they are the fourth ranked defense to end the season. It's incredible. So Mimi that this is why like he's such a center point, no pun intended of this whole thing where there's no way this Defense is as good as it is. And so I don't want to repeat myself with all the stuff I said before that. But this is why, this is why I say what I say.

[Tom Westerholm]

I see. So for me, right, this, this does lead into my number four, right, which was Joe Missoula, coaching genius. Joe Missoula should be coach of the year. And I, I very intentionally put Joe Missoula fourth because I know if I put him higher than that, he'd be really mad that I was putting him above players.

[John Corrales]

That's 100 true. That is 100 true.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yes. And honestly, I know he would be mad if I put him above Keda. But the thing to me about Keda and the thing to me about your Baylors and your, you know, your, your Ugos and like all these guys who, who came in and contributed in ways that are just amazing, right? Because that's my number five. My number five. I only had five here. My number five was the guys who came in and just like defied every expectation of their roles. Your Garzas, your Jordan Walshes, your freaking. Who are not even here. Right?

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. That all those guys like coming in and excelling in the roles. That all happens in part because everybody bought in to the, to, to the, to the, to. What Joe Missoula was selling and what he was selling was if we do everything really well and we hit the margins as hard as we can and we, you know, we go three for two every single time we can. We go two for one every single time we can. We grab offensive rebounds to make up for our lack of defensive rebounds and we just try, try, try, try on the defensive rebounding end, you know, we, if we do all that stuff, we can be, you know, to, to his point, to present company, we could be a 50 win team. And they did that.

[John Corrales]

They.

[Tom Westerholm]

And so to me, like with apologies to Joe Missoula, I think that that makes him number four. And all of these guys who, who bought into his system and executed it perfectly, those guys are number five. So that's. Anyway, that, that's, that's my top five. That's my, that's. And that's my case for it.

[John Corrales]

So here, here's the reason why Joe can be a genius, but also not above the players. I'll just, I'll just kind of like try to channel Joe Missoula.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. Yeah, let's hear it.

[John Corrales]

Because Joe, Joe's system is about reads and what Joe is teaching is what, what decisions to make in certain situations. So if you see this Guy, step up. You're supposed to do these things. These are your options. They're not teaching you. And I remember specifically asking him earlier this season about memorization and all that stuff. He's like, no, we're not teaching memorization. Of course, there's some about. Like, when you start a set, you have to have certain guys have to be in certain spots. You do have to memorize where you're starting. But as you draw plays and say, you do this, when this guy does this, it becomes, okay, what do you read? What do you see there? And everybody should be seeing the same thing and making the same decision at the same time. So Joe's genius is, I'm giving you. I'm not giving you plays. I'm giving you a blueprint and options. And so he's not above the players. Why the players are above him is they have to make the reads. They have to execute this.

[Tom Westerholm]

It.

[John Corrales]

It's not about. If I put X and O in a line and you do all of these things in the same, in the right order, in the right timing, you're going to get buckets. That's college. That's. That's drawing up plays and being robots. Joe has empowered his team to make decisions in reads. So he puts them in a spot and has taught them all of the things they need to know to make the reads, but they have to go do it, and not everybody is capable of doing it. So when he says the players are the ones that do it, that's true.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

But he has. He has taught them in a very. They call it Celtics University in a very university kind of way

[Tom Westerholm]

to.

[John Corrales]

To say, okay, when you go out into life and you see a situation, you are. We're all reading and reacting every day. That's. Life is reading and reacting.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

There's no blueprint for that. You cannot be what the Celtics are, what the Celtics are by doing anything just rigidly.

[Tom Westerholm]

You.

[John Corrales]

You have to be able to understand. Oh, wait, they. I know we said blah, blah, blah, but they switched their defense. And so I, Jason Tatum, am going to do this. And now I namish Kate. I'm like, oh, I see this, too. So now we're going to do this. You know, I was going to set a pick and hold, but now I'm going to short roll or I'm going to slip and blah, blah, blah, next, next, next, next, boom, bucket. So that's. That's the genius, and that's why everything is so intertwined.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Because there's no. There's no way. Any one player can just be, oh, he's the guy that does this. It's. You need everybody. We haven't talked about Derek. You need Derek White to still be a defensive monster when he's not hitting shots. You need Peyton Pritchard to remake his offense so he's a mid range master and scoring in the paint and one of the most effective paint non restricted guys in the league. How is that possible? You need Baylor Shireman, you need Jordan Walsh, you needed Josh Minot, you need all of these guys. So that's why after all of this, all of these storylines are great, great storylines, but to me it's, it's kind of one big book. And these aren't necessarily story lines. It's just. No, but that's what it is. That's what it is. I know, I know.

[Tom Westerholm]

What's your top five, though? What's your top five?

[John Corrales]

So Tatum. Tatum is in his. Is separate. It's a separate thing here. Like, it's, it's almost like a movie. It's like, it's like Rogue One to the Star wars movies. It's there. It's part of the, it's part of the season and, and now it blends at the end into the next part of the story. But it's such a separate story that it. I don't even know if they can consider everything that he went through because it is a miraculous storyline. It really is a miraculous storyline. The fact that he did.

[Tom Westerholm]

Some might say it's the second. It's this. It's the number two storyline of the season. Somebody you can say it's the number

[John Corrales]

one storyline of the season because came back and played. So I mean, I still, I still think that you, you have to start like big picture and start whittling it down. So honestly, Brad putting this all together then, then I think Joe. Secondly is Joe saying, okay, here's the plan, here's the plan. And then three, you get into the players. So Mimi and jalen are like 3, 3, 4, 4, whichever way you want to put it. Nene and Jalen are like the next two. And then five would have to be Jason Tatum.

[Tom Westerholm]

Okay.

[John Corrales]

Just as a, like at the end, we have Joe.

[Tom Westerholm]

Joe, I'm talking directly to you right now. Joe Missoula. I know you listen to this pod. You've been on this pod before. I want the record to show that I said two Celtics players in my storylines above you. This guy, John Corrales, number two. I just want, I just wanted that on the record.

[John Corrales]

Sure. But I have to. I have to. Fair enough. It has to. It has to start big and triple down to me.

[Tom Westerholm]

All right.

[John Corrales]

But, yeah, like, the Jason. The Jason storyline is. I kind of like my rogue one kind of comparison analogy.

[Tom Westerholm]

It's. I. I was gonna accuse you of weaseling out, and then I was like, you know what? All right, that's a. That's. That's good analogy, man. I'll let that.

[John Corrales]

Only because at the end, they get the plans to Princess Leia.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, listen.

[John Corrales]

And now everybody is, like, on board, like, all right, let's go blow up this Death Star. Because that's where the Celtics are right now. A bunch of people. There's a bunch of suffering and all this stuff. And at the end, it's like, oh, my God, we overcame all of this, and now the Celtics go blow up the Death Star.

[Tom Westerholm]

And look, if. If you want to get semantic with it, right? 56 win Celtics season. How much of that, like, you know, if we're talking about the storylines of the 56 win season, Jason Tatum was not involved in that 56 win season until quite late on in it. So. Yeah, no, I mean, that's fair. That's fair. I'm. I'm sticking with my. The way that. That relates to them being contenders, but I. Yeah, fair enough. Let's see your. I see your point.

[John Corrales]

You always do. You always do. They always come around.

[Tom Westerholm]

I didn't come around. I didn't say that.

[John Corrales]

Oh, you put words in my mouth. Came around. You came around. People always come around. They go, this Corrals, he's crazy. He's listening to copying. Well, that's actually a good point. All right, that's fine. All right. I guess. And that's fine. I'll take. I'll take. All right. I guess, because that just means that you see what I'm giving you.

[Tom Westerholm]

All right, I guess I'm giving you fair enough. I'm giving you fair enough. That's where I draw the line.

[John Corrales]

That's a cousin. That's a cousin of all right. I guess fair enough is an all right. I guess it's like the Seinfeld episode where Kramer's looking for the. For the hello and they're getting the hey, it's all the same thing. You got a greeting, but it's the same thing, so I'll take it. My number one goal is to be understood in some form. And now I feel like I'm understood. I feel seen. And now it's time for you to go. I've gotten. I've gotten my satisfaction from this podcast. It took 40 minutes but you're done, Tom.

[Tom Westerholm]

It always does. I appreciate you.

[John Corrales]

I appreciate you as always, Tom. Tom Wester home. Go read his [e-mail] thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Thank you for being here. 40 minutes of podcasting. I'm glad you stuck around for the extra 10. Normally we're doing about 30. What am I talking about? Tom and I always go along. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Now I would love it if you shared the podcast. Spread the word. 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,

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[John Corrales]

No.

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[John Corrales]

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