← Locked On Celtics - Daily Podcast On The Boston Celtics
Locked On Celtics - Daily Podcast On The Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics DEMOLISH New Orleans Pelicans, Nikola Vucevic gets BACK ON TRACK
00:22:08
Boston Celtics torch New Orleans Pelicans with historic three-point shooting, notching 29 threes and locking up the East’s second seed. Will Nikola Vucevic's renewed confidence and Neemias Queta's milestone season translate to playoff success? John Karalis of Celtics On SI breaks down the Celtics’ emphatic 144-118 win, spotlighting Payton Pritchard’s 29-point, 10-assist showcase and Sam Hauser’s hot hand. Key storylines include Luka Garza’s readiness off the bench, Jaylen Brown’s efficient night (despite seven turnovers), and the looming playoff matchup likely against either the Philadelphia 76ers or Orlando Magic. The show highlights Neemi’s rare statistical feat—joining Robert Parish and Dave Cowens in Celtics' history—while assessing Joe Mazzulla’s approach to player rotation before the postseason. Can Boston’s record-setting perimeter attack carry them through the playoffs? Don’t miss Locked On Celtics’ essential analysis of the road ahead.
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- [00:02]
John Corrales
It's the Locked on podcast network. Your team. Every day
- [00:11]
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John Corrales
Oh, no.
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John Corrales
A record night for the Boston Celtics. Nikola Vucevic looks good. And Namish K sets a nice milestone. Locked on Celtics pod. Home of the winners, baby. Hey, welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics podcast. I'm John Corrales. The Celtics guys, an easy win over the New Orleans Pelicans in a little bit. I'll get to Namish K. Nicola Vuchovic, but let's just start at the top. With the Celtics kind of cruising and clinching the second seed. The win over New Orleans. 144. That's 144 points to 118. Hot shooting. Yeah, hot shooting. The Celtics shot 29 of 59 from three. That's 49%. The Pelicans shot nine of 32. That's 28%. So the Celtics were plus 60 from the three point line. The Celtics won by 26. They were. The Pelicans got to the line 30 times. So they got to the free throw line and made up 10 points there. It doesn't matter. The. The Celtics were up by 40 at one point. It really isn't even worth getting into the flow of this game or anything like that. The Celtics came out, they shot the lights out. It was close for like five minutes and then it wasn't close anymore. Celtics got up 20, then they got up 30, then they got up 40, and then it was garbage time. Basically most of this game was garbage time. And that. That's it. Celtics clinch the second Seed. Now we wait for the play in to sort itself out. And it. After everything that happened on Friday night in the NBA, it's looking like it's either the Philadelphia 76ers or the Orlando Magic. Toronto can sneak in there, but it's pretty much Charlotte is out of the equation. Who else is out of the equation here? The Miami Heat are out of the equation. So Charlotte and Miami will basically be now the 910 game. Orlando, Philly. Toronto will be the one of the seven, eight participants. And we'll go from there. It's Atlanta has moved up to the fifth seed. What a run for the Atlanta Hawks. By the way, what changed about that team? Can't quite put my finger on it, but something drastically changed about that team. Man, they play good defense. So the Hawks have climbed to fifth with one game left in the season. That's it. They are the fifth seed. They have clinched the their division. They are. They're in. So Toronto, Orlando, Philly, one of those teams. I'm just saying I don't want to go to Orlando. I don't. I don't. I don't want to go to Orlando. Toronto, I'm down. I have actually. I haven't been to Toronto. Actually, I don't think I've ever been to Toronto. So. Yeah, I've never gone there for a Raptors game. So that'll. That'll be fun. I mean, explore the city. Philly always down for a Celtics Sixers playoff series. Will. I do want to say hope Joel Embiid gets better. I know I give Joel Embiid a lot of grief on a basketball side, but on a personal side, appendicitis. Just had surgery to remove the appendix. I guess that is just unlucky. That dude has gone through all kinds of stuff. You know, the injuries, the Bell's palsy, now appendicitis. I mean, just crazy. Every time you turn around something. Something different. So I'll. I'll still get on him on a basketball side, but you don't wish stuff like this on anybody. So I do hope he gets better soon. He will very likely, I assume, miss the playoffs or at least the first round. So it would be without Embiid. But look, make makes Philly. Philly a problem still. It's not like Tyrese Maxey doesn't exist. So they could still be difficult, but who knows, who knows what's going to be. So Celtics are second. That's done. Moving forward. They obviously shot extraordinarily well in this game. They are the only team, only team ever to hit 29 three pointers in a game. Twice. They did both this season. Once again they got there and it was the last time. Was it the beginning of the season where they got there and it was just three after three after three after three and they just went on a binge of missing a bunch of three pointers? The Celtics cannot break an individual or a team three point record this season. So 29 of 59 obviously is just a crazy number. But they missed. They missed their chance. Baylor Sherman had a chance to break the record and they had one more possession at the end. Joe was like, nope, we're not going to do it. We're not going to fire it up. Disrespecting the game if you do it that way. And I, I agree, I agree. You don't want to. You had opportunities. You missed 30 of them. You still shot 49%. But once again, Celtics hit 29 three pointers. You're not going to, you're not going to lose many games when you hit 29 three pointers. But it's only happened twice. So they're undefeated when it's happened. The, the, the individual performances, there were really only two of note, Nicola Vuchovic and Namish Keda. But before I get to them, let's just. I'll go through a couple of these other ones. Sam Houser, it was good to see him go 8 of 12 from 3. He's up to 39% this season. I don't know if he's going to play in the last game against Orlando. If he does and if he goes 6 for 6 from 3, he'll get to 40%. It's a wild shot in the dark. I don't think he should play. I think it should just be the, the bench guys. But somebody's got to play. So maybe he does. Maybe he does play. If he can get to 40 this year, it would be just an absolute miracle for him to get there. But if the Celtics can get a last minute under the tax and get all these great performances from everybody else, why not have some magic pixie ducks left left over for Sam Houser to get to 6 for 6 in his last game of the season. Do it all in the first half, go 6 for 6 in the first half and be done with it and sit down and shoot 40% for the year? Excuse me. We'll see. Peyton Pritchard had a really nice game. 29 points, 10 assists, 3 rebounds. Ugo got into the game. Luca Garza got into the game. Good to See Ugo get some minutes and look decent. Look fouls still a problem though. So I, I still don't think he's going to be in the playoff rotation. There was one foul, I forget who he fouled, but it was on a corner three pointer and you could see the look in Joe Missoula's eyes. He's like, what are you doing?
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Liberty Mutual Advertiser (Married Couple)
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John Corrales
What was that? What? And those things, those little rookie mistakes are going to be what keep him out of the lineups. You just can't afford to have those mistakes. But it was good to see him in there. He, he still can do other things. He gets the three steals.
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Liberty Mutual Advertiser (Bird Commentator)
He.
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John Corrales
My opinion of Ugo doesn't change regardless of whether he's in or out of the lineup. Luca Garza, this game was exactly why you play. Vouch it, show it proved exactly why you play Vuch and don't worry about does Luca Garza. Is he getting enough minutes the last couple of games? Why, why isn't Luca Garza playing this game right here? Shows you again. Luca Garza comes out and has dnps, no problem, come into this game. Obviously it's against the Pelicans who are resting eight guys. Eight guys were on the injury report that were out in this one. So they threw out weird lineups and not a good team. And so we, everybody looks good for the most part. But Garza comes in, plays hard, does what he does. This is, this is why I don't worry about Garza. You can give him a string of DNPs and it's kind of like his own fault in a way. A weird backlash of being, always being ready, you know, stay ready so you don't have to get ready. This shows. Yeah, just keep spamming Vuch until he's ready. Well, there's only one game left, so it doesn't matter. And because so many guys are probably going to sit, Garza is going to play in that game too. But I was never worried about Luka because this is what he does when he gets an opportunity. Comes in. 14.6 rebounds, 4 offensive rebounds, couple of assists, a steal, a block. Nice game from him. Just the only downside was he was over three from three. But he keeps getting put backs and he keeps getting fouled. So I just know that he's going to do that. Jordan Walsh was solid if he was two or four from three. If Jordan Walsh can hit three pointers and I don't know if this is going to be a spark for the playoffs. Playoffs start in a week, so I don't think that this carries over or anything like that. But the confidence, it's always good to get confidence. It's never a bad thing to hit shots. If he's hitting shots, then he can go out there and defend and be a real, a real part of a playoff rotation. All right, let's come back. We'll talk about V. We'll talk about Neemi. That is coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by BetterHelp. Financial stress, it's something that bothers a lot of us. It's not just about numbers. The worrying about money can affect your sleep or your relationships, your overall mental health. And it builds up over time. The reality is struggling with money doesn't mean you have failed. It just means that you haven't had the right kind of support. Therapy. Talking through this stuff can really help you realize a lot of things and get you through it. I have, I'm a big proponent of therapy. I've gone through therapy myself, and it's very enlightening. And you learn a lot about yourself and you learn a lot about the outside world and how it pertains to you. And so something like financial stress and, and the way that your expectations are shaped by money, that's something that talking through stuff on BetterHelp can, can really be helpful for you. 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Just in case you go cold like the New Orleans Pelicans did against the Celtics. If you go cold, they will help you Gamble responsibly@fanduel.com Go there to start. Get started. FanDuel. Play your game. Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. Thank you for joining me. Every Monday through Friday, bonus podcasts like this one, when they play on Fridays or Saturdays. So you are an everydayer. You if you missed the bonus podcast during the week. I have bonus podcasts all week long, so I think this is my 10th podcast. My 10th Locked On Celtics. Thank you. Thank you for being a part of all of it. I'm John Corrales. I cover the Celtics for Celtics on SI. I've been covering the team for 20 years. I've been doing this podcast for 10. And today's podcast is going to end in two segments because it's a bonus podcast and it's about. It's going to be about wrong graphic. There we go. My one takeaway, My one true takeaway from this game. Because, you know, the Pelicans are, you know, they played nobody. So you look at and you go, you can't take anything away from this, but you can. Nikola Vucevic. What, 14 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 of 7 shooting, 3 of 5 from 3. My takeaway, my one meaningful thing that you could pull out of this turd is that V actually hit some shots and was consistent throughout the game. And he played well. I don't care who it was against. I don't care if it was against the CYO team. I don't care if it was against that media team that we put out there against the Celtics coaches. I don't care. We needed to see Vuch go out there and hit shots, and he did. We need to see Nicola Vuchovic play with confidence. And he did. He's starting to figure it out. This is good. Now, of course, going up against the Pelicans or the quote, unquote Pelicans, whoever they were out there, whatever version of the Pelicans it was, it's not what you're going to get in a playoff series, especially the further you go down the line. But for him, the confidence, understanding, oh, yes, I can hit these shots. Oh, yeah, that's right. I can make these plays. I can find my teammates. That's the most meaningful thing to me, wherever it came, as long as it happened. Vuchovic getting up to speed, feeling comfortable, feeling confident. One of the more critical things for the Celtics heading into the postseason. And he did it. We saw it. That's great. I'm excited about it. That's all the Rest of this stuff from this game kind of flush it down the toilet, right? Even Sam Houser, 8 of 12. That's great. I love it. But against that defense, yeah, you better shoot 8 of 12 against. Against those guys. The Celtics, 20, 29 and 59 from 3. Yeah, you better hit a bunch of threes against these guys. Their defense was terrible. You better be hitting shots. Jalen Brown, 23 points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal. Yeah, he was kind of toying with the. The Pelicans 8 of 13, shooting 2 of 3 from 3. Seven turnovers. So he's sloppy. And I think that the. The seven turnovers says a lot about Jaylen Brown's game. Not because, oh, my God, he's turning it over again. No, because I don't think he came into this being like, oh, I gotta really lock in on this game. Against the Pelicans, He's. He played less than 29 minutes, and even that felt like it was a little too long because they. They played him for most of the third. Or was it all of the third? And I was like, geez, man, this is a lot of minutes. 9, 9, 14. Sam Houser played all of the third. It just felt like, man, it's a lot of minutes for a game that's very much decided and really in no danger of slipping away. But he was really toying with the Pelicans, so I don't take anything from that. But the Vujovic stuff, I take something from the Vuch performance because anything positive is good for him. Neemi. I mentioned Neemi. He hit a milestone. This is really cool. And Joe Missoula talked like he was told about it after the game. I thought he knew because of the way he was putting Neemi in and out. 600 rebounds. He got his 100th block and 60 steals. In the season, three Celtics have done this. Nemi. Dave Cowens and Robert Parish. Robert Parish did it seven times. For Nene to be in any kind of statistical category with Cowans in Parish, it's amazing. On top of that, Nemi hit a three pointer in this game. And I've said this on the podcast before. I've watched Nene warm up. I've seen him shoot. I've seen him shoot in practice. The shot that he took in this game, the. The three that he hit that looked fluid, he stepped into. Looks good. It. It actually looks better. I've said this before. I've watched a bunch of guys shoot threes for the Celtics that I'm like, that's not really great. Even like Josh Minot, who hit like 40%, 43, 44% of the shots that he. The threes that he took in this. This season, his shot looks janky as. Like, yeah, just really janky. And even though he hit, but Nemi looked. He stepped into that shot, and it looked good. It looked good. So shout out to him and just the. The work that he put in to get to 600 rebounds, 100 blocks, and 60 steals. I know you can adjust the sliders however we want. That's awesome. I've said it on this podcast. I've said it on Twitter. I've said it everywhere. You know, I. If you had asked me, you know, hey, put some money on this. Neemi is going to get 600 rebounds, 100 blocks, and 60 steals. Only Robert Parrish and Dave Collins have done it. What do you think? I would have. I would have put every money, Every bit of money that I had that he would not have done it, and I would have lost all of it. So it's a testament to the work that he's put in. He's been great this season. He's been great this season. I'm looking forward to seeing how he holds up in the playoffs. It's going to be a different. A different beast in the playoffs, and especially if it's. If it is Orlando, that's a very physical team. It's going to be a very interesting thing for Nemi to go through being a starting center in a playoff series. I. I trust everybody to handle it well, but there's always a question of, like, okay, well, he hasn't. He hasn't been a starting center in a playoff series, so. But good for Nene for. For having the type of season that is in this kind of historical kind of space. Good for him. All right. Celtics get the win. Day off Saturday. They play Sunday against Orlando. I don't know who's playing in that game. I will be there, but I don't know who's playing in that game. I assume most of the guys are going to sit. I don't know if Tatum plays. Maybe Tatum plays a bit. Maybe everybody plays in, you know, a quarter just to appease. It's a national TV game, so you can't just sit everybody out. Maybe you just play them for the quarter or for the half, and then they all sit down. I don't know how that's going to go, but we'll. We'll see what. What the Celtics do. I'll be there. I'll have a podcast afterwards, and that's going to be a fun conversation to have with you. The everydayer who's with me every Monday through Friday, plus the bonus podcast all week long on the weekends. Whatever. Abbreviated podcast because it's a bonus podcast and I get to do that after a win that really listen. Normally I wouldn't even do a podcast for this game because it's so. It was so one sided. But I'm here for you to give you the goods and hopefully you enjoyed it. If you did enjoy it, I would love it if you shared it. 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.
- [23:20]
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John Corrales
No.
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