Derrick White DELIVERS Defensive MASTERCLASS | Celtics BENCH has BIG night

Summary

Locked On Celtics – Derrick White DELIVERS Defensive MASTERCLASS | Celtics BENCH has BIG night

Host: John Karalis
Date: December 31, 2025

---

Overview

This episode recaps the Boston Celtics' 129–119 victory, spotlighting Derrick White’s extraordinary defensive performance and the critical bench contributions that salvaged a rough start. Host John Karalis breaks down the rollercoaster game, delves into rotation changes, dissects individual performances—including Jalen Brown’s streak ending—and reflects on key trends and tactical decisions impacting the Celtics’ season.

---

Game Flow & Early Struggles

[02:19 – 05:21]

• The Celtics started poorly, trailing the Utah Jazz, who came out strong with hot shooting and high effort.
• Notable early mishaps included two botched Celtics possessions that forced Joe Mazzulla to call two quick timeouts—a sign of disorganization and low energy.
• “Are you kidding me? Are the Celtics really going to be going out like this right away in Utah?” (John Karalis, [03:49])
• The Celtics' starters looked particularly flat, raising questions about the sustainability of their recent energy and success.

Bench Turnaround:

• When the bench entered, they shifted the game’s energy, making up ground and stabilizing the team.
• “The energy changed when the bench came in... they completely flipped the game.” (John Karalis, [04:23])
• First two quarters featured dismal plus/minus for starters, but Simons, Hauser, and Garza were positive contributors in limited minutes.

---

Bench Performance & Key Stats

[05:21 – 06:45]

• At the end of the first quarter, key bench players outperformed the starters in plus/minus.
  • Simons, Hauser, and Garza: +3 in just over 4 minutes.
  • Starters like Derrick White: -14, Jordan Walsh: -10.
• Even as the second quarter continued the ugly trend for most, “the only positive in the second quarter was Derrick White.” (John Karalis, [05:51])

---

Second Half Turnaround & Derrick White's Masterclass

[06:45 – 13:30]

• The third quarter became a wild shootout (Boston outscored Utah 40–32), and the Celtics dominated the second half, winning it 70–55.
• The comeback was fueled by Derrick White’s resurgent play:
  • “Derrick White's second half was spectacular. 13 points in the fourth quarter, 22 points in the second half.” (John Karalis, [07:36])
  • Despite poor shooting early, White’s patience and aggression inside the arc reset the Celtics’ offense.
• Defensive brilliance: White finished with 7 blocks, a rare feat for a guard.
  • “Blocking seven shots is amazing... A lot of his blocks look like steals...but that goes down as a block.” (John Karalis, [13:30])
  • White's rim protection—in both standard and off-ball help situations—was cited as game-changing.

Memorable Quote:

• “Derrick, defensive menace, just absolute defensive superstar.” (John Karalis, [14:09])

---

Offensive Adjustments & Rotation Insights

[12:08 – 15:33]

• The Celtics’ offense improved when they drove more and moved away from quick pull-up jumpers, particularly with Derrick White getting into the lane.
• Luca Garza was praised for his screens and unexpected finishing skill:
  • “He finished some plays like at weird angles... I don’t even know how he did it.” (John Karalis, [12:50])
• Pick-and-roll action targeted Jazz big man Nurkic on defense; although Nurkic scored 26 on 10-11 shooting, he was exploited defensively in crunch time.

On Jalen Brown’s Role:

• Some ongoing tension exists between letting Brown “do his thing” and making sure White gets adequate opportunities—a “push, pull” in the offense.
  • “Trying to figure each other out... to get each guy the opportunity that he needs to succeed.” (John Karalis, [08:27])

---

Individual Performances & Notable Bench Contributions

[21:00 – 23:40]

• Anthony Simons:
  • “Probably had the best game of his Celtics career here. 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists... plus 27 to lead the Celtics.” (John Karalis, [22:03])
  • Joe Mazzulla postgame: “We get that version of him, we're a different team.”
• Peyton Pritchard:
  • Scored 18 with 6 assists, sparking runs in the third quarter.
• Luca Garza/Ugo Gonzalez:
  • Garza: 18.5 minutes and valuable interior presence.
  • Gonzalez: +7 in important bench minutes.
• Sam Hauser:
  • One of seven from three; “just the inconsistency... getting a little frustrating.” (John Karalis, [23:15])

---

Jalen Brown’s Streak Ends, But Maturity Shines

[24:20 – 26:30]

• Brown's streak of 30+ point games ended, but he notched 23 points and 10 assists.
• In the closing moments, Brown passed up a contested three—despite opportunity to extend the streak—opting instead for the right basketball play.
  • “What I loved about Jalen is, fourth quarter...he didn’t give into any of that stuff. And I like that.” (John Karalis, [25:33])
• Karalis praised Brown for prioritizing team play over personal milestones:
  • “It matters to be in the same conversation as Larry Bird. But it didn’t matter so much that he was going to play the wrong way.” ([26:05])

---

Rotation Watch: The Minot/Walsh Dilemma

[27:00 – 29:55]

• Josh Minot has had three straight DNPs, while Jordan Walsh’s production and impact have tapered off.
• Ugo Gonzalez has been filling those minutes effectively.
• “It just makes me wonder... once you say Josh Minot is out of the rotation, then he's probably going to start the next game... If you pay attention to Joe [Mazzulla], once you think you know what he's thinking, he does something different.” (John Karalis, [28:18])
• Walsh’s defense (notably his steals) has cooled. Karalis is watching for a potential shift in the depth chart, possibly favoring Minot.

---

The Big Picture & Closing Reflections

• The Celtics’ third of the season is in the books. Karalis notes the typical “slippage” in performance but is optimistic about development, especially if bench players like Simons solidify their roles.
• Emphasis on the importance of “letting your shot come to you” instead of shot-hunting—especially for White and Pritchard.
• As always, Karalis teases potential surprises in Joe Mazzulla’s lineups:
  • “Once you think you know something with Joe, he'll do the opposite or do something completely different.” ([29:43])

---

Key Quotes

• On Derrick White:
  • “Defensive menace, just absolute defensive superstar.” ([14:09])
• On Jalen Brown’s selfless play:
  • “It didn’t matter so much that he was going to play the wrong way.” ([26:05])
• On Anthony Simons’ breakout:
  • “We get that version of him, we're a different team.” (Joe Mazzulla, paraphrased by Karalis, [22:08])
• On team dynamics:
  • “Everybody's adjusting all the time.” ([14:57])

---

Timestamps for Major Segments

• [02:19] Game flow, Celtics’ bad start & bench rescue
• [06:45] Second half turnaround: White’s offensive/defensive impact
• [12:08] Offensive adjustments, bench role clarity
• [21:00] Individual performances: Simons, Pritchard, Garza, Hauser
• [24:20] Jalen Brown’s streak—ending and unselfish play
• [27:00] Rotation forecasts—Minot, Walsh, Gonzalez, and upcoming tweaks

---

Tone & Style

Karalis is measured, insightful, occasionally wry, and focused on team processes over sensational headlines. He blends stat-heavy breakdowns with a strong sense of game rhythm and player dynamics, offering both fan-level excitement and beat reporter perspective.

---

Summary prepared for fans who want a comprehensive look at the key moments, strategies, and personalities that shaped this Celtics win—no ad breaks, no filler, just basketball analysis true to John Karalis’ voice.

Transcript

[John Corralis]

Foreign. Your team every day.

[Mrs. Claus's Younger Sister]

Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree.

[Drew Ski]

Zoe, this thing weighs a ton.

[John Corralis]

Drew Ski, lift with your legs, man. Santa.

[Santa]

Santa, did you get my letter?

[Drew Ski]

He's talking to you, Bridges.

[John Corralis]

I'm not.

[Mrs. Claus's Younger Sister]

Of course he did.

[John Corralis]

Right, Santa, you know my elf, Drew Ski here. He handles the nice list. An elf?

[Drew Ski]

I'm six' three. What everyone wants is iPhone 17 and at T mobile. You can get it on them. That center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies. Right, Mrs. Claus?

[Mrs. Claus's Younger Sister]

I'm Mrs. Claus much younger sister. And AT T mobile, there's no trade in needed when you switch. So you can keep your old phone.

[John Corralis]

Or give it as a gift.

[Mrs. Claus's Younger Sister]

And the best part, you can make the switch to T mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes.

[Drew Ski]

Guys, my side of the tree is slipping.

[John Corralis]

Kimber, the holidays are better. AT T Mobile switch in just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed. And now T mobile is available US.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

Cellular stores with 24 month legal credits for well qualified customers plus tax and $35 vice connection charge credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Financing Agreement 256Gates. $830 eligible for in a new line. $100 plus a month plan with auto payments, taxes and fees required. Check out 15 minutes or less per line.

[Lifelock Announcer]

Visit t mobile.com the holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online and more personal info in more places that could expose you more to identity theft. But Lifelock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is stolen, our US based restoration specialists will fix it. Guaranteed your money back. Don't face drained accounts, fraudul or financial losses alone. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with Lifelock. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com Special offer terms apply.

[John Corralis]

The bench bails out the starters. Derrick White bails out everybody with his defense. And I think it might be time for another change in the rotation. It's all right now on the Locked on Celtics podcast. Huh?

[Locked On Celtics Promo Announcer]

Yep, yep. Be town, be ever ready. It's the sea. Who else could it be? What they gonna say now? Screaming like JT Corralis Recap the madness every game, every practice, prime time. Depp and T. White on the sideline. Rennie Jays. How we started raising bandits. How we finished Locked on Celtics pot. Home of the winners.

[John Corralis]

Hey there. Welcome back to the lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the lockdown podcast network where it's your team every day. Your team is the Boston Celtics and I'm talking about them right here on the number one Boston Celtics podcast in the world. On the number one sports podcasting network in the world. So make sure you're subscribed. If you're not subscribed yet, you can get this show for free Everywhere. It's on YouTube and you can get to the comments section there. Join your fellow every day. There's people who are with me every Monday through Friday. I got bonus podcasts coming up all month long. Plenty of podcasting for you if you're new to the show. I'm John Corralis, beat writer for Boston Sports Journal. I've been covering the Celtics for about 20 years now and I've written a couple of books about the team. I've doing this podcast for 10 years. So just love talking about the Boston Celtics. Today's show is brought to you by Game time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code locked on NBA for 20 off your first purchase. We've got all kinds of things to talk about after the Celtics 129, 119 win. Later on, talk about the rotation change that it feels like, you know, I'm doing the, you know, put the little bit of saliva in your finger, figure out where the wind is coming from. Ah, yes, I feel a change in the rotation coming. I'll talk about that later on. We'll talk about Jalen Brown streak ending, Luca Garza, Derrick White's block. So all that stuff coming up. Second segment there for those, those couple of topics. Let's just start with the big the flow of this game here. 129, 119 win. But it didn't look like it was going to be a win for the Celtics. It started out kind of looking bad. The, the Jazz came out strong. They were shooting well. There was an embarrassing stretch where I forget who it was. Was it maybe Keonte George went down, somebody from the Jazz was down on the baseline and the Celtics botched two straight possessions. One was a forced layup, one was a just a flat old turnover. And Joe Missoula had to call two timeouts in very short order. And it was like, are you kidding me? Are the Celtics really going to be going out like this right away in Utah? Like, what is it about the Utah Jazz? So the Jazz came out to a strong lead and, and it was up to the Celtics bench to figure out how to keep this thing close. And they were able to kind of the energy changed when the bench came in. And that's Anthony Simons, that's Luca Garza and they completely flipped the game and then the starters came in and it flipped back over and it did raise some questions in that first half of like, okay, are, are the Celtics starting to feel the, the, like it's a little too early for the doldrums, but are they starting to feel that? Are we starting to get the first signs of. They're not going to be able to sustain the level. The energy that, that led to their win streak and they fixed it in the second half, but the bench really, really bailed them out in that, in that first half. I was tweeting out like the plus minus from the box scores and the first, the first quarter box score looked awful. The second quarter box score looked worse. Let me see if I can pull that up real quick. At the end of the first quarter, we had Jordan Walsh as a minus 10, Keda as a minus 10. Derrick White is a minus 14. Meanwhile, Simons Hauser and Luca Garza all in four and a half minutes were a plus three. Then you get to the second quarter and the starters came in. It was same thing, minus 10 for Jalen Brown, minus 10 for Peyton Pritchard, but Anthony Simons was a plus 12, plus 9 for Ugo Gonzalez, plus 6 for Luca Garza. So the only positive in the second quarter was Derrick White. It felt. I don't know what was going on and it might have just been altitude. It might have just been. It might be some of that stuff that, that's creeping in. I don't know. It's something to watch. I'm very curious to see how they start against Sacramento. Sacramento Kings Thursday night. They just got smacked destroyed by the, the LA Clippers. So I don't know what the, the that's going to look like, but it was 130 to 90, Clippers over the Kings. Those are the next two teams the Celtics play. The Kings have lost. I don't even know. 1212 of 19, I think it is. Whatever. The Kings are in a real, real tailspin and if the Celtics can't come out and hit them first after a couple of slow starts, I just, I'm going to start wondering a little bit about how the Celtics are starting these games and what's feeding into that. So. But they were able to turn around in the second, in the second half, the third quarter, the late third quarter, the third quarter became a real shootout, which was wild to see. The third quarter was 40 to 32. Boston, the Celtics scored 70 points in the second half. They won the second half 70 to 55. So a nice kind of turnaround there. Obviously they were down five at the half, but that second quarter, I mean that second half was fueled a lot by Derrick white. Derrick White's second half was spectacular. 13 points in the fourth quarter, 22 points in the second half. Derek White made up for a first half that where he looked kind of lost. He was playing well enough defensively. But I'm starting to also wonder about the Celtics offense starting to, I don't know, just a little slippage. And that happens throughout the course of the season. You're going to find some slippage. I wasn't sure Jalen Brown will get to the streak ending. Did he, Is he trying to do too much? Is he, is he getting them involved enough? Is Derek White getting the right opportunities? Because obviously you need Jaylen Brown to do what he does, but you need Derek White to play well too. And I still think sometimes there's a kind of push, pull and trying to figure each other out how to, how to, to get each guy the opportunity that he needs to, to succeed, to thrive, to push the Celtics to be their best. So I think, I think Jalen, obviously Jalen kind of figured it out. He had a tough first half shooting wise. He was 3 of 11 in the first half. But Derek, and both Derek and Pritchard struggled again shooting in this game. Derek was 2 of 10 from three. Pritchard was 1 of 7. But Derek comes through in the second half. Derek comes through big time in in the fourth quarter and saves the Celtics. All right, let's get into that when I come back because the types of shots and the types of defense that he was playing really stood out to me. We'll get to that when I come back. Today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Fridays already feel different during basketball season and FanDuel is making them even better. Every Friday night before the game tips off. FanDuel gives fans a new way to kick off the weekend with NBA Happy Hour. NBA Happy Hour is your official pregame, a limited time window where special offers drop right inside the FanDuel app before the action starts. Fridays from 6 to 7:30pm Eastern have become appointment viewing with NBA Happy hour opening. The FanDuel app during happy hour always bring something new. Boost bonuses, surprises. It's easy to check out that weekly special before tip off to make a move before the window closes. And it's right before the games, right before the weekend starts. So right before tip off, check the FanDuel app to see what's dropping during NBA Happy hour. That's every Friday from 6 to 7:30pm Eastern. A little basketball, a little action and a whole lot of Friday energy. When you log on, make sure you're using the tools that are available to you that help you set your limits. FanDuel wants you to settle limit, set a budget so you're only gambling what you can afford to lose just in case you're going to cold streak. So do that, gamble responsibly and and join in on the NBA Happy Hour only on FanDuel, the official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Locked on.

[Santa]

Listeners asked for more and now you can get it with the Everydayer club for just $5 a month. You'll get every episode ad free plus access to our members only Discord exclusive audio from Locked on Sports today and other perks you won't find anywhere else. If you never miss a show, this is the next step. Join the Everydayer club [e-mail] everydayer club or visit the link in the show notes. That's lockedonpodcast.com everydayer club part of the Lockedon Podcast network your team every day.

[John Corralis]

Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. Make sure you're now if you want to be in every day or sure, that's great. Be here every Monday through Friday. Now level up. Get to the NBA the Lockdown Celtics every day or club the Lockdown Celtics every day or club is ad free audio for five bucks a month. Ad free audio available on Apple Spotify, every other major podcast app. You can join the Discord server which includes a group chat just for listeners. You can get some access to merchandise drops, all of that stuff. It's at lockdown celtics.supercast.com Locked on celtics.supercast.Com Go check it out. Five bucks a month, 50 bucks for the year if you pay in advance. So Derek White getting inside the three point line was a big, a big part of his kind of resurrection because in the second half he, he drove a lot more and I think driving in this game was, was part of how the Celtics really got back on track. And this is where Luca Garza did a great job setting screens. Obviously Garza was, you know, he finished a few plays. He finished some plays like at weird angles. I don't even know how he did it. It's a weird below the rim. My, my favorite Garza play was Jalen Brown through an alley oop. It was a, it was like two perfect passes in one. It was a perfect alley oop because it Was at the, at the side of the rim. He could have gone up and dunked it. But it also was a perfect pass because it fell right into Luca's hands and he was able to kind of reverse lay up the path. That pass, you know, on the other side of the rim. So that was funny. And I think he got the foul on that play. I don't know if he would have gotten the foul if he just went up and dunked it. He's not going to go up and catch a lot of lobs. He's not a lob catcher. So I thought that was really funny because Jalen's like, hey, go get it. And he's like, yeah, no problem. I'm just going to do this other thing. But the finishing was, was one thing and that's always great. The, the, the picks putting the Jazz into pick and rolls. They, they really picked on Yusuf Nurkic and Nurkic had a, you know, a good enough offensive game. Like he, he was, what do you have, 26 points, 10 of 11 shooting. I mean that's, I say good enough. I mean he was finishing everything. But they picked on him defensively. He, he scored 26 points. He was a plus nine, which is still obviously good in the game that you lose. But he, they, they went at him in the fourth quarter. In fact, what was his plus minus in the fourth quarter? In fact, like Scal was joking on the broadcast like they, they, they want to lose this game. Yeah, he was a minus 4 in the fourth quarter quarter. They want to lose this game by playing Nurkic because the Celtics just kept attacking. Pick and roll, pick and roll, pick and roll. It freed up, it freed up Peyton Pritchard a lot. He, he got going in the third quarter. It freed up Derrick White and like I said, attacking, getting inside the arc at least to collapse the defense and then getting the three point shots. I think some of the pull up shots, I understand why the Celtics take pull up jumpers, but sometimes the, that early offense, I get it, I understand why they do it, but it also feels like searching for your shot. It's something Jason Tatum does a lot and I don't really love it. I'd rather just run the offense. Your shot will come. A lot of times when they're searching for their shot, you can't find it. You just got to sit back and let your shot come to you as part of the offense. So Derek kind of did that was a little bit more patient. They had one really great possession where they attacked. Jalen found Derek, he Stepped into a three pointer and kind of got him going a little bit defensively. Seven blocks. What can you say about seven block shots? He's, he's a guard. He's like, I'm, I, I'm a little taller than he is. I think we're about the same size either way and I'm six five. So that's. Blocking seven shots is amazing. A lot of his blocks look like steals. Like he, he gets plenty of blocks like the normal rise up block shots. I'd say half of his blocks look like that. The other half of his blocks look like steals. But because the player has gathered and is on his way kind of like up, he hasn't elevated into a shot. He hasn't released the shot and then had it blocked. It's in his hands and as he's going up with it, Derek swipes down and it looks like a steal, but that goes down as a block. So it's a little bit different than when you see seven block shots. Like, oh my God, he's up there at the rim and he's meeting him at the rim and he's blocking shot. He definitely does that. But you can really pad your stats. If you get in there and catch a couple of these guys. They should be. Those are more steals to me, but they go down as block shots either way. Rim protection is rim protection. If a guy's going up to shoot the shot and you slap it away, that's protecting the rim because you're preventing a shot from going towards the rim. And so Derek, defensive menace, just absolute defensive superstar. I think this season's a little bit of a tough one for Derek just because he doesn't have, obviously doesn't have the same attention being distracted away from him by better players. So he is definitely the focal point a little bit more. Jalen is having an incredible season, a potential all NBA season. But playing next to Jalen is a little bit different than playing next to Jason. And the Jason Derek combination was always the combination. And so it's a little bit. Still getting used to it. And like I said, there's slippage from time to time. You go through practices, but you go through this stretch of games and, you know, motivations change over the course of the season and, and like, I don't know, maybe, maybe Jalen has felt like the, he's felt the need to do a bit more and he's done great. But it could throw off a little bit of the equilibrium with Derrick White and with Peyton Pritchard. It's just it just happens from time to time. Right? It's not, I'm not sitting there like, blaming Jalen for anything. It's just they, I think as one guy says, okay, I have to do a little bit more. Another guy feels like, oh, well, I'm not getting the same exact touches. I gotta, I gotta adjust. Everybody's adjusting all the time. So I do think some of that affects Derrick White. I obviously think he's an amazing basketball player, but he's, it's been a little bit more of a struggle than, than I thought. And look, we're, we're, we're heading into, we're heading into January. The December schedule is over. The 2025 schedule is over. We're now heading into the 2026 portion of this. It's still, it still is a little bit early. They, they have played now. What is this now? 31 games. 30, 32 games. So we're, we're, we're past the, the third point of the season. We're, we're getting, we're nine games away from the halfway point of the season. So it's, it's still on the early ish side. It's like the midpoint ish side. But there's always room for growth. So I, I just, I want to see, I want to see this kind of smooth out a little bit. I'd love to see more consistency from, from Derek, from Peyton, especially on the three point shooting. Maybe, just maybe dial it back just by two, three. Some of those, some of those pull ups that you're searching for. See if you can just work the ball a little bit and turn them into catch and shoots. That'd be my only criticism. I talked about Luca Garza. I'll talk about some other individuals. We'll get into Jalen Brown's streak ending in that rotation change that I mentioned. That's all coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by. Game Time. Basketball season is exciting. Nothing like being in the building. I've been there. I, obviously I'm there every game at home. I'm there on some of the road games. And that first run, that home crowd goes nuts. I've never gone to a game in Utah. I wonder what that sounded like, because early on, like, that's such a, it's a great crowd. Like, they're really passionate. Just, you know what? Go there. And if you're in Utah next time, open up that Game Time app because you can get these tickets real quick, real easy. I've used Game Time a bunch and it's. It's been easy every time. I've gotten great seats every time. It's straightforward, it's intuitive. You can find tickets in just a few taps. I love that you can see the view from your seat because sometimes you go into a new arena. When I'm on the road especially, I like to maybe if there's a sporting event that I want to see in that city, I have like one night I can open up the app and see the view that I'm going to see when I go. Because it's a new place, I'm not sure what I'm going to get. The prices all up front. No surprise. Fees at checkout unlock great seats with a zone deal. It's a better value. So check it out. NBA tickets, whatever tickets. If it's online, it's probably on game time. So download the great the Game Time app. Create an account, use a code locked on NBA. That's L O C K E D and on NBA L O C K E D on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Download the game Time app today and get into the action. Thanks for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen. Every day make sure you're checking out Lockdown NBA and Lockdown NBA game night both on the same feed. I host the game night show. I would be normally hosting that tonight, but I switched because the Celtics played. I can't do that show while the Celtics play, but Jake Madison will be there with Nick Angstead talking about everything, talking about the Celtics game. I always like to record a little thing and send that in for. For them to talk about. So check it out. Lockdown NBA game night. Covering every game. Seven games a week, seven days a week, every game, every night. Lockdown NBA covers the big stories in the afternoons, like Nicole Jokic avoiding a major injury but being out for four weeks. That affects the Celtics because the Celtics play the Nuggets in a couple of weeks and there will be no Nicole Jokic that night. That game got switched into ESPN and all of a sudden there's no Jokic. So I don't know how that game's gonna go, but all right, check it. Check those podcasts out wherever you got this podcast. Individual performances just going down the box score. I'm gonna skip Jordan Walsh because that goes to the end. That's part of my rotation change. The nish K I thought was, you know, it was okay. Six of seven shooting had a couple of fin. I saw more center baby hooks kind of floaters in the middle of the lane. Than I care to see it. Him, Nurkic, Garza, lots of little baby hooks, slash floaters. I, you know, I don't know. Not my favorite shot in the world. But Kato was okay. Six of seven 12 points was a minus five, but that's okay. He had three steals so he did a good job. Peyton Pritchard, like I said, got going later on 18.6 assists for him. Oh, Anthony Simons. I can't believe I've gotten this far without going. Anthony Simons probably had the best game of his Celtics career here. 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists. He was 6 of 15, 4 of 10 from 3, 4, 4 from the line, plus 27 to lead the Celtics. Joe Missoula after the game said, we get that version of him, we're a different team. That's 100% true. Hopefully he's starting to come around on the six man thing. Hopefully he's starting to figure this out. If that would make, that alone would make this season a win. If the Celtics can, if he can turn around and get comfortable with that six man role and the Celtics can use the bird rights. As I've talked about with Keith Smith and one of my recent podcasts, if they can get him at a mid level deal, keep them for a couple years, two, three years, he's still tradable, very tradable if they need to. But you're not going to find another guy like Anthony Simons out there. If he's willing to be your sixth man when Tatum comes back, that has strong potential to be very, very helpful. So performances like this, obviously we're not going to expect 20 points off the bench all the time, but just the comfort level, the, the aggression and look, 28 minutes. He played almost, almost the entire fourth quarter. Some, some different lineups out there. Joe kind of mixing and matching with what works and what wasn't working. So Simons did a great job. He did a great job and it was actually pretty decent defensively as well. So I feel like I should have mentioned him a little bit sooner. But hey, that's how it goes especially when you're recording a podcast at 2:30 in the morning. So podcasters love to tell you that we're up late. We love telling people how late we're up. Sam Houser, one of seven from three. Just the inconsistency. So it's, it's a bit much. But yeah, he just, he needs to hit these open shots so it's getting a little frustrating. Ugo Gonzalez had some good minutes, not much statistically, but Was a plus seven and part of some decent play off the bench. Had a couple of strong defensive plays. So Ugo was Good. Jaylen Brown, 23 points. So the streak, the three point streak ends. 10 assists, though. What I loved about Jalen is fourth quarter. He had kind of a sliver of an opportunity and he scored what he score in the fourth quarter, scored six. So obviously he needed to score 13. And he had a couple of chances and there was one with, I don't know, minute and a half to go, one possession, something like that. Minute and a half to go. I said, oh, he's pulling. There's no doubt in my mind he's pulling to try to get to 30 here because the lead was up to about eight. And I thought it was a comfortable enough place where the Celtics knew they could probably score. And if, and if Jalen had hit the three, obviously if he had taken and made the three, it would have changed. Like, obviously they would have been fine. But even if he missed, they were still in a decent spot. So I thought, okay, he's pulling. And he didn't. He. He. It looked like he wanted to. It did look like he wanted. He wanted to, but. And that's what, that's why I liked it, because he didn't give in to that. He just said, oh, nope, it's not there. It's not where I want it to be. I'm not going to force this shot. He just worked the ball around and he ended up finding. It might have been Simons in the corner or Pritchard. No, it was, it had to be Simons because it was a corner three pointer and it was, it went in. So it was either him or Derrick White. Those are the only two guys who made threes in the fourth quarter. Either way, I forget, but it was a great play and it solidified that he wasn't going to get to 30 because he was just going to run out of time. If he had come down and taken that shot and made it, it would have been up to like 26 and he would have had some, some opportunity there. He would like, okay, like I have a couple possessions. If we can get a steal, I can come on down and, and maybe get a bucket and maybe you get fouled and play the foul game. Maybe you sneak into a 30 piece there. But he didn't, didn't give into any of that stuff. And I, I like that. I like that he's. It didn't matter. Like it matters. It matters to be in the same conversation as Larry Bird. But didn't. It didn't matter so much that he was going to play the wrong way. So shout out to Jaylen Brown for that. Now, as far as the lineup, the rotation change, I sat there and I, you know, tweeted out, I'm like, so I guess Josh Minot is just out of the rotation now, right? His third straight dnp. Ugo Gonzalez has been getting a lot of those minutes. The. Luka Garza has been getting all of those minutes. Like, Luca has been huge for the Celtics. In the past few games, he's played 18 minutes. So 18 and a half minutes here for him, 17 and a half minutes for Hugo Gonzalez. And there's just. And look, Jordan Walsh only played 13 and change, 13, 16. So it's not like it's the Jordan Walsh show. It. It just makes me wonder, like, oh, okay, once you say Josh, my not out of the rotation, then he's probably going to start the next game like that. It's. It's one of those. If you pay attention to Joe and you once, like the instant you think you know what he's thinking, he does something different. And so now here we are. I'm like, oh, okay, well, he set us up now. Three straight DNPs for Minot. And it's like, okay, well, Jordan. Jordan hasn't been playing great. He's had good moments, but it's been, it's been a little bit of a downturn for him. He had nine straight games where he had at least one steal. And now in his last five games, he just one throughout the last five. So nine straight games, we had at least one, which means he had a few games in there. We had three. And then in his last five games, there's a bunch of zeros and then just one steal in there. So he's not doing the poke free, all of that, like the being the, the. The menace to the level that he used to be. So that's. That's leveled off a little bit. He's not getting a ton of shots. He's not burying a bunch of threes. It's. It's starting to feel a little bit like, is Jordan turning back into the pumpkin? And I don't want to go. I don't want to be like, oh, well, he's done. Or he, you know, it's time to bench him. And he's. It was a flash in the pan or anything like that. It's just that again, the ebbs and flows. This happens during the course of the season. And so I'm like, okay, well, Ugo has been playing well. He. He's probably in line for a start. And Luca Garza, like, you're not going to start double big. So the natural inclination would be like, well, Ugo has been getting those minutes. Maybe Ugo will start again and miss. No, you know what? No. What Joe Missoula will do is just flip Minot and Walsh and see if Minot can come in and get that. That start again and kind of do what he does. I don't think it's any one thing. It's. But it's funny that, you know, Josh has kind of, like slipped back down and now we're in the spot of. I think it's time to make another change. I think Walsh is. Struggling is not the right word, but he's kind of lost the. Kind of lost the plot a little bit here, and he needs to get back to that energy. And I don't know what it is. Maybe, maybe a little bit of a rotation change can kind of snap him back into place. But I would not be shocked if Minot, at some point in one of these next two games, gets a significant burn. Because all of a sudden the conversation is that, oh, he's getting DMPs. He's out of the rotation. Which is exactly when Joe Missoula says, oh, you're back in the rotation. Once you think you know something with Joe, he'll do the opposite or do something completely different. Or maybe Chris Boucher will join the team again and he'll get starts, for all we know. Who knows? That's the one thing I feel the most confident about, that he will not do that. I do not know why he's out. I don't. Do not know the personal reasons. I hope everything's okay, but I think. I think Minot's gonna. We're gonna hear more from Minot sooner rather than later. I'll be here tomorrow for another podcast. I'm here Monday through Friday, and then when the Celtics get back to action Thursday night, it's going to be a late one. They start at 10 o' clock on Thursday night, 10:30 on Saturday. So that podcast may drop the middle of Sunday and just count as the Monday podcast, because at that point, it's going to be very much Monday. But I will be here. There's tons of podcasts for you. They play every Saturday for the next four weeks. They play three out of the next five Fridays. So those are all going to be bonus podcasts for you. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch a show on YouTube. Join the everydayer club. Five bucks a month gets you ad free audio access to our Discord server, merchandise drops and all of that stuff. If you want to play, pay for 50 bucks for the year. Then you get two months free. So check that out at the everyday club lockdown celtics.supercast.com and now I would love it if you shared the podcast and told everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast. Here on the Lockdown Podcast Network is your team every day.