How Jaylen Brown’s Leadership CONNECTS the Celtics and Drives Peak Team Chemistry

Summary

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Locked On Celtics - Daily Podcast On The Boston Celtics

Episode: How Jaylen Brown’s Leadership CONNECTS the Celtics and Drives Peak Team Chemistry
Date: March 20, 2026
Host: John Karalis
Guest: Tom Westerholm

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into Jaylen Brown’s distinctive leadership style, examining how his personal connection to every teammate underpins the Celtics’ elite team chemistry as they gear up for the playoffs. Host John Karalis is joined by Tom Westerholm to discuss Brown’s mix of quirkiness, sincerity, and relationship-building, and how it aligns with the Celtics’ recent on-court surge. Later, they weigh the possibility of the Celtics' regular-season excellence translating to playoff success, exploring both strengths and lingering questions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jaylen Brown’s “Unique” Leadership Approach

• Astrology, Numerology, and Connection

  • After a recent Celtics win, Jaylen Brown revealed that he memorized teammates' astrology signs and Chinese zodiac years, citing even new additions like Neemias Queta and Nico Mannion.
    • “I learned about every. Each and every one of our guys, even down to astrology… Abby said, do you have flashcards? And he goes, nope, I memorized everything. And he just rattled him off.” (John, 04:06)
  • Brown believes understanding the intricacies of his teammates, even through astrology and numerology, helps him tailor his approach to each player.

• Personalization: The Deeper Value

  • Karalis and Westerholm both admit to skepticism about astrology, but emphasize that Brown’s willingness to engage with teammates authentically matters more than the specifics.
    • “I kind of don't care how he got there. Where he ended up is, he made personal connections with each one of these teammates… even if it's a...unique way, he did at least put the time and effort to connect with these guys.” (John, 05:03)

• Affirmation and Positive Framing

  • By referencing attributes associated with players’ zodiac signs, Brown highlights teammates’ best qualities, feeding confidence and creating mutual respect.
    • “Even if you don't, like, ascribe to the...Year of the Tiger, you can find an area of Peyton Pritchard's life where he is brash and confident. And if you communicate with Prichard with that kind of positive vision of him in mind, it's going to go well for both of you because you're looking at him in a really positive light.” (Tom, 07:00)

• Authenticity and Sincerity

  • Brown’s style isn’t about “talking at” teammates, but “talking to” them—inviting buy-in through mutual respect.
    • “He's not talking at his teammates… He's using his brain and he's using his heart, and he's trying. And a lot of times when people are just trying, that's enough for you to be like, you know what, dude? All right, I'm in.” (John, 09:08)

• Leadership Parallels: Joe Mazzulla

  • Parallels are drawn to Coach Joe Mazzulla’s quirks (e.g., playing machine gun sounds at practice) and how both leader’s idiosyncrasies foster real buy-in when they’re sincere.
    • “What's the difference between Machine Gun Sounds and Year of the Snake? Both weird, crazy things, right? But it's coming from a place sincerity, authenticity, respect.” (John, 11:41)

Memorable Quote:

• “Numerology is a lot more telling... because numbers don’t lie. We’ve got a bunch of analytics guys here… but numerology is definitely very telling. Is one of the funniest quotes.” (Tom, 12:00)

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2. Celtics' Peak Form—On-Court Chemistry

• The Team Hitting Its Stride

  • Karalis observes that the Celtics are playing their best, with the win over the Warriors marking a high point for the Jaylen Brown–Jayson Tatum partnership.
    • “This game against the Warriors was the best. We've seen Jalen and Jason at the same time...every time something happens, you're like, oh, this is also a major positive.” (John, 17:20)
  • Tom notes the team feels “impossible to criticize” right now—“they look good.”

• Complimentary Roles & Team Offense

  • "Connectors"—role players who enable the stars—get spotlighted as essential to the Celtics’ offensive flow.
    • “Missoula loves to call them connectors these days...when you've got connectors in between and you've got guys who are all willing to pass, all willing to do stuff, but all who can also score...to be able to anchor your offense on either side to those two guys is crazy.” (Tom, 18:10)

• Tatum's Return & Role Adaptability

  • Tatum is working his way back to full strength, but the team’s flexibility allows Brown to assume a one-A role seamlessly.
    • “We've seen what Jalen looks like as the one A guy. In last night's game, Jalen was the one A guy, and Jason took that kind of secondary supplementary role. Really just nailed it.” (Tom, 19:45)
    • "Even if Tatum never reaches 100% over the next few months...this partnership could look [incredible] this year." (Tom, 20:26)

• Role Player Readiness & Depth

  • The hosts detail how role players—Pritchard, Shireman, Gonzalez, Walsh, etc.—step up within the system, keeping the offense versatile and making the Celtics hard to defend.
    • “They're all capable of attacking...I like where the Celtics are right now.” (John, 22:30)

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3. Playoff Questions—What Changes in the Postseason?

• The “Unknown” of the Postseason

  • Despite the regular season dominance, both hosts agree the playoffs present an entirely different animal—teams have time to scheme, matchups tighten, rotations shrink.
    • “The playoffs will undoubtedly be different. You've got days to scout your opponent. The regular season...doesn’t matter because now it’s all about the adjustments.” (John, 26:44)

• Shooting Variance and Depth

  • Tom flags three-point shooting variance as the Celtics’ main vulnerability—if shooters go cold, it could derail the offense, though he trusts Joe Mazzulla to adjust with matchups and rotations.
    • "If Shireman's missing shots...just toss [Ron Harper Jr.] out there. You can try other stuff...the Celtics shooters got cold in the Knicks series last year and that got them in trouble. But...I'm not too concerned about it." (Tom, 29:30)

• Playoff Experience & Defensive Solidity

  • The Celtics’ core—Tatum, Brown, White, Pritchard—has significant playoff mileage, and the team doesn’t have clear defensive weak links for opponents to exploit.
    • “Jalen and Jason live in the playoffs...these guys have been in these situations...everybody competes, everybody plays defense.” (Tom, 28:29)
    • "Even Joe was like. He just like, yeah, we're gonna be horrible at rebounding this year...Okay, we're better than we thought. You're gonna be bad defensive team. Nah, not really..." (John, 32:18)

• Tatum’s Health—A “Ronaldo” Comeback

  • The hosts marvel at Tatum’s rapid and complete return from injury, offering an amusing comparison:
    • “This is like the Ronaldo of injury comebacks. Like, Ronaldo is an amazing soccer player and he's super handsome. You don't get to be both, dude...How are you both?” (John, 34:12)

• Final Thoughts—Embracing the Unknown

  • The hosts conclude that asking tough questions is still warranted, even if, time and again, the Celtics have answered every doubt with resounding performance.
    • “Every time I've wondered out loud this season, I've been proven. Well, that's not an issue. Well, yeah, that's not an issue either. Well, John, why don't you just shut up and, like, stop. Stop wondering.” (John, 31:00)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Leadership:

  • "Jalen is showing the most...authenticity. That's a good point...that's why Jalen works." (John, 10:41)
  • "He's using that as a way to connect to him...it's still good in the end." (Tom, 08:34)

• On Team State:

  • "It's hard not to be kind of...gushy green teamer sounding person, but there's just no other analysis here. They look good." (John, 17:26)

• On Playoff Uncertainty:

  • "It's no different to me than asking how tomorrow's going to go...Anything you haven't experienced yet, there's a question. But these guys just keep being like, no, we're good, we're good. Don't worry about it." (John, 32:44)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Jaylen Brown’s Astrology Connections – 03:31 to 08:54
• Leadership Style Analysis – 08:54 to 13:10
• Celtics’ Current Play & Chemistry – 17:20 to 22:30
• Playoff Concerns & Depth – 26:39 to 34:12
• Tatum’s Comeback & Playoff Readiness – 34:12 to 36:00

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Summary

This episode offers a candid examination of Jaylen Brown’s distinctive approach to leadership—not just as a star, but as a connector who invests in his teammates on an individual level, whether by studying their signs or learning their personalities. Karalis and Westerholm celebrate the genuine effort and authenticity behind Brown’s methods, crediting them as a driver for the Celtics’ extraordinary chemistry and on-court cohesion.

As the team surges toward the playoffs, the hosts address the single remaining “unknown”: Can the Celtics keep this up when every possession matters? Their answer is optimistic, grounded in the team’s playoff-tested core, defensive depth, roster adaptability, and what’s become a habit of turning every potential question mark into a strength.

The tone is light, self-aware, and slightly giddy, reflecting both hosts’ growing confidence in the Celtics’ resilience—the same confidence Brown’s leadership inspires within the locker room.

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Transcript

[John Corrales]

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[John Corrales]

Now on the Locked on Celtics podcast, Jaylen Brown's unique way of leading his teammates and the Celtics peaking at the right time. Welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics podcast. I'm John Corrales. Thank you for joining the show, making it your first listen every day. Today's show is brought to you by gametime. Download the game time map, create an account, use the code locked on for $20 off, $20 off your first purchase. Later on, we'll get into the Celtics peaking at the right time and whether things will be different come playoff time. Maybe the one remaining question I have, that's the second and third segments. But we're going to start with Jaylen Brown's leadership and our fearless leader. No, that's me. But Tom Westerholm. Hey, Tom.

[Tom Westerholm]

Definitely fearless.

[John Corrales]

Very fearless, Very fearless. Jaylen Brown is also, I would say, you know, fearless, especially when it comes to explaining his leadership style with the Celtics. So it was really the first of all. I have to connect with you better. So tell me, what year were you born?

[Tom Westerholm]

That'll be 1989.

[John Corrales]

1989. And so 1989, you know, you know

[Tom Westerholm]

those videos that they, that they put out where they're like, they'll ask a player like, were you born in? And then if it was in the 19 something, they're, you know, it's like they'll hit Them with, like, some statue or something. Like, not only am I in the 19s, I'm in the eight 1980s, so.

[John Corrales]

Yes, well, you're old, man.

[Tom Westerholm]

I know, man.

[John Corrales]

I'm also in the 1970s. Anyway, you are apparently Year of the Snake.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yes, yes.

[John Corrales]

Year of the Snake. Yeah. Which means you are enigmatic, intelligent, and wise. Boy, this is not anywhere close.

[Tom Westerholm]

Anyway, yeah, enigmatic for sure.

[John Corrales]

Enigmatic, intelligent, and wise.

[Tom Westerholm]

That's.

[John Corrales]

That's all good. I am Year of the Ox. The oc. The Ox represents strong work ethic and the ability to endure challenges, which is why I'm a podcast host putting out 30 shows a week. So I guess that makes sense.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. No, I think they nailed it on you.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, I nailed it. Right? Maybe Jalen Brown is on to something

[Tom Westerholm]

because he explained Ox Corralis is how I think you should introduce. Like, not every. Every time you. Come on now. I'm. My name is John Ox Corrales. I've been doing some version of this job for 20 years. Like, I think, yeah, you can do.

[John Corrales]

It's. It's almost like. What word would that be? It's like ox. Ox, but aux as well. All my stuff that I have to connect. So, Jalen. Jalen, the reason we're doing this, if you haven't heard Jalen Brown's quotes, is that he said, I learned about every. Each and every one of our guys, even down to astrology. This was after the game last night, and people were like, huh, Astrology. All right. And like, do you. Like Abby said, do you have flashcards? And he goes, nope, I memorized everything. And he just rattled him off. The minus Keda. He's Year of the Rabbit. His communication is different from D. White. D. White's Year of the Dog. So he's different. Ugo's a dog. Peyton's a tiger. JT is a tiger. Ron's a dragon. Joe's a dragon. Nicole is Year of the Horse. It's Year of the Horse right now. He literally did all this stuff off the dome, and I was like.

[Tom Westerholm]

I thought Nicola was the most impressive one because that's like. That's a new teammate. And he was right. He was ready to go.

[John Corrales]

So my. Obviously, he go. He went into numerology. He went into the traditional, I guess, star signs, where JT's a Pisces, and like, listen, man, none of that. I'm not. I don't pay attention to any of that.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

My initial reaction would be to be like, come on, Jalen. But I'll take it A step further. He. I don't. I kind of don't care how he got there. Where he ended up is, he made personal connections with each one of these teammates. So whether you want to say it's ridiculous to be, oh, well, he's year of the dog, and he's a Pisces, and his number is an eight. I don't know. None of that stuff makes any sense to me, and I don't think it has bearing. However, Jalen took the time to learn about these guys, and even if it's a. We'll just stick with the word unique way, he did at least put the time and effort to connect with these guys so he could communicate with each of them on their own level. And it could be a long and winding road. It could be like listening to somebody talk their way through a problem. You're like, no, that's wrong. No, that's wrong. But you got it right. But in the end, I kind of land on, he got it right because the guys kind of connect with him. So, yeah, however he got there, he got there.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, for sure. And I think, like, on an interpersonal level, it's interesting, right, Because I think. I mean, one of the things that really, you can. A lot of people can connect with, at least, because I'm right there with you on. On all of this stuff, right? It's not something that I ascribe to something that I pay any attention to or, you know, put any real thought into, but I think one of the things that people who do kind of ascribe to this stuff, one of the ways that it can work is when you're rattling off things about yourself about, you know, the year of the Ox, right? It's like, well, I mean, yeah, you. You, right, do have a really strong work ethic. It's like, you know what? That's. That is true. Absolutely. Right? It's like, you know, I. I like, you know, for me, it's like, hey, it's nice to hear. Like, hey, why smart? It's like, you know, you want to believe that stuff about yourself, right? So if. If Jalen is looking at Tatum, right, And he says, okay, he's year of the tiger, or he's looking at Pritcher, right? He's like, year of the tiger. Tiger is brash, passionate, and a confident leader. You know, you can. You can always kind of see these areas in that person's life where some of these compliments might. Might kind of ascribe, right? Like. Like, you know, Peyton Pritchard, brash You know what?

[John Corrales]

It.

[Tom Westerholm]

You got to be amount of brash to take as many end of course, shots as Peyton Pritchard takes and to like, no, this is my time. My time is the last second.

[John Corrales]

This is what I do.

[Tom Westerholm]

And Jaylen Brown on my team. But you know what that last shot of the quarter is like. You got to be a certain level of brash and confidence. So you can, like, even if you don't, like, ascribe to the. Okay, he's like that. Because Year of the Tiger, it's like, no, you can find an area of Peyton Pritchard's life where he is brash and confident. And if you communicate with Prichard with that kind of positive vision of him in mind, it's going to go well for both of you because you're looking at him in a really positive light. And who doesn't like to kind of be seen for their positive attributes, you know? Yeah, I think you're. I think you're really onto something there because, yeah, it doesn't necessarily matter whether, you know, whether Peyton Pritchard, like, sees Year of the Tiger and is like, oh, yeah, no, I'm. I'm. I'm. You're the Tiger, and that's why I am the way I am or just is like, you know, hey, like, I'm a confident dude. I play a lot of basketball. I'm confident in my basketball. Either way, Jalen is correctly identifying something very positive about one of his teammates, and he's using that as a way to connect to him. And I think, you know, I think that's cool. I think that's like. Like you said, it's like a winding road, but, like, however you get there, you get there. It's still. It's still good in the end.

[John Corrales]

It's the difference between, you know, when I was. When I was in. When I was taking broadcast journalism classes, they. They made a very important point that I've always taken to heart. Don't talk at somebody. Talk to somebody. So even if I'm doing a solo show, I'm talking to a camera, but I'm also talking to the person who's watching through that, who's listening to that versus talking at. Yeah, and there's just a significant difference in that, because talking at is just, you must listen to me because I have the authority versus talking to somebody as, hey, here's my take. I feel like I know a little bit about something and I'm pretending that you've asked me about my take, and then I go off about it for 30 minutes. Because I can talk for 30 minutes, no problem. As an. As an ox does. We like to pull that. That sled. But. But that's. That's what Jalen's doing. He's not talking at his teammates. He's not talking at them and saying, I'm Jalen Brown. You must listen to Jaylen Brown. And I have to decreed that we must work harder. It's. Hey, I'm talking to my teammates. And if I'm. If I'm picturing myself as a teammate of Jalen's, I. I hear this stuff and I'm like, oh, JB's just being quirky. He's just being. It is a. It is a little weird. If you don't subscribe and listen, there are people, like, one of you watching or listening is going to be like, no, no, Jalen is onto something. He gets it. And that's totally fine, too. If you want to believe it, believe it. If you want to be maybe skeptical, fine. I don't also. That's fine if you don't. But what the. I think what it comes down to is if I'm a teammate of Jalen's and he's approaching me like this, I kind of laugh. But I also think this dude's trying. He's also really, really good. And he is the team leader. He's just by default, he can do the me. Jalen, you listen and be like, you know, Neanderthal about it, but he's not. He's. He is being. He is using his brain and he's using his heart, and he's trying. And a lot of times when people are just trying, that's enough for you to be like, you know what, dude? All right, I'm in. I'm in. Yeah, that's right. I'm the ox. What do you got for me, dude? And at least it's sincere. And in that. In that sphere and in that setting, those guys respond to sincerity and respect. Jalen is showing the most. The authenticity. That's a good point. Like, well, that's why Joe works. That's why Jalen works. So. However, again, very good comparison. Joe Missoula, the.

[Tom Westerholm]

The.

[John Corrales]

What's the difference between Machine Gun Sounds and Year of the Snake? Both weird, crazy things, right? But it's coming from a place sincerity, authenticity, respect. So the guys are like, yeah, man, I'm all in. Put the snakes out there. Put the machine gun sounds out there.

[Tom Westerholm]

Let's.

[John Corrales]

Let's hope.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Listen, I mean, Jalen Brown, you're the rat. You know, you. You look up. You're the rat. It's like intelligent, popular, and loves attending parties and social gatherings. Like, Jalen likes to be out there a little bit. That's, you know, for sure. I also, before I know, we got to go to break, but I. I do want to just point out him saying he had. Numerology is a lot more telling, I think, than anything else because numbers don't lie. We've got a bunch of analytics guys here, which frustrates me at times, but numerology is definitely very telling. Is one of the funniest quotes.

[John Corrales]

It really is like, just get this

[Tom Westerholm]

rapm crap out of here. Get this per crap out of here. I want to talk about the Pythagorean theorem. Like, it's so, so good, man.

[John Corrales]

It's such a wild ride to go from. Numbers don't lie. Analytics drive me crazy, but the numbers don't lie. What?

[Tom Westerholm]

It's so good, man. That's. That.

[John Corrales]

That really is.

[Tom Westerholm]

That had me dying.

[John Corrales]

It is. Whoops. It is for sure. Listen, man, we don't. We don't look at Jaylen as quirky. No, he. He's. He's quirkier than we think.

[Tom Westerholm]

He's a little quirky. He's got.

[John Corrales]

He's got some quirky in that game. All right. All of this leads up to the Celtics, I think, playing their best basketball and peaking. Peaking at the right time. I think we'll discuss that when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by. Game time. There's nothing like being in NBA arena. Listen, you got the crowd. You can hear the crowd cheering for Robert Parish, cheering for the Celtics, cheering for Kristaps Porzingis being there. Perfect. Get in there by using the game time app because they give you the advantage when it comes to buying tickets. You pull up the game time app, you pick a game. You're running out of regular season games, but you can get those tickets locked in within minutes. You got all in pricing up front. So when you open up the app, you see a price on those tickets. That's where you're going to pay. No surprise fees. You can see the view from your seats. If you're not familiar with TD Garden or maybe you're visiting another arena, you can go and see the view from your seat so you know what you're looking at. If you like the view from that section, you can do a zone deal. You choose the section, Game time picks the seats, and that'll save you a few bucks. It's great for last minute options. Everything's quick, intuitive, stress free. So take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use the code locked on for 20 off your first purchase. That's L O C K E D O N Locked on for your first for $20 off your first purchase. Download the Game Time app today. If you're using the web, it's gametime co gametime co. Today's show is also brought to you by Robinhood. What if sports were traded like markets now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robinhood Prediction Markets. It's not you against the house, it's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter. Robinhood Prediction Markets changes the game. It's people moving the action so when the momentum shifts, you can move with it. I always knew the game but never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now it can take part. Live. In a market powered by people, you're no longer just a spectator. Play by play, you decide. Trade every play with Robinhood now available across the United States. Download the Robinhood app now to begin Futures and Cleared Swaps Trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives llc, our registered futures commission, merchant and swap firm. Thanks for making Lockdown Celtics your first list every day. The number one Celtics podcast on the planet. It's on the number one Locked On Locked on is the number one sports podcast network on the planet. It's all thanks to you and every day or joining me every Monday through Friday and bonus podcasts throughout the week. There'll be a bonus podcast that you probably will see on your feed today, so check them out. Join Me I'm John Corrales. I cover the Celtics for Celtics on si. I have been doing a job, this job, a version of it for 20 years and this podcast for 10. Tom Wesserholm of Boston.com has been podcasting for a significant amount of time as well. And this, you know about peaking at the right time. You know about teams that maybe look good a little early on and the vibes, you know, carrying them through but masking some problems. The Celtics seem to continue to get better and I talked yesterday about really this was the best. This game against the warriors was the best. We've seen Jalen and Jason at the same time. Jason coming back and looking the way he does kind of helps the peaking at the right time does. You know, it's. I don't know where this momentum stops. I mean, the playoffs. We'll get into the playoff conversation, but for now, as Jason works his way back in to have Jalen being the pastor that he is. We talked about this a couple days ago. To have Derek kind of playing a little bit better, to have Peyton kind of figure out his shooting a little bit. This is all just. Man, I don't know. There's. There's like, almost nothing negative to say about this team. And every time something happens, you're like, oh, this is also a major positive. It's hard. It's hard not to be kind of. We talked about it. Gushy green teamer sounding person, but there's just no other analysis here. They look good.

[Tom Westerholm]

No 100. And I. I think. I mean, I think just a small tangent. I think that, like, as people who. Who do try to be very objective about covering the team, I do think it's important in these moments to be appropriately positive about them, right? Because there will be negative moments down the line. There will be things to criticize. There will be moments that it's like, oh, boy, I don't know. And I mean, look, before the season, right? I mean, like, last night's game is the official game where we both look like idiots, right? Because we were both like, man, I think 44, 45 wins. Well, now they have 46, and there's 13 games to go. So it's official. We missed. Oops. You know, but, like, there will be moments down the line where. Where you. You do have to be critical of the team. And I think that it's important to, like, in the same way that you have to be critical about them when they deserve criticism, you also have to be. You have to laud them when they do what they. When they look like this, right? But yeah, I mean, to your point, right, when you're. When you're. Especially when you look at the spacing that they had often yesterday, it's like you got Jaylen on one side of the floor, you got Jason on the other side of the floor, you got guys. You know, Missoula loves to call them connectors these days. That seems to be his new favorite word. You know, like when you've got connectors in between and you've got guys who are all willing to pass, all willing to do stuff, but all who can also score. I mean, to just be able to anchor your offense on either side to those two guys is. Is. Is crazy. I Mean, it's crazy to see Tatum just getting into the lane and swooping around guys and do. Using that. Using that length and scoring. And, you know, we talked about UK. We don't exactly know what 85 of Jason Tatum is going to look like. And I. I think we're at. I think we're climbing a little bit, right? Because I think he was, like, 75 maybe that first game, and we're climbing like It's. It's not 75 of Jason Tatum anymore. Like, he's. He's moving up a little bit. And to, like, I think just being able to see that at this. At this juncture is. I don't know, man. It's. It's really wild. And the combination of him and Jalen, it. I think the thing that I like the most about it this year is that we've seen what Jalen looks like as the one A guy. In last night's game. Jalen was the one A guy, and Jason took that kind of secondary supplementary role. Really, like, just nailed it, right? That is precisely what supplementary Jason Tatum looks like and probably should look like for the rest of the year, because, I mean, he's still coming back. Like, I think that's. That's probably how this is going to go. There'll probably be some games where he's, you know, really excellent and Jalen takes a backseat. But I think for the most part, that's how this team is and, like, it should look next year. How that shakes out, who knows? But for right now, I think that was, like, a real flashpoint of, like, this is how good this team could look. This is how good this partnership could look this year. Even if Tatum never reaches 100% over the next few months, I like the

[John Corrales]

way they're using the complimentary guys you have when you have Jalen and Jason now, the way they're playing, you can say, okay, well, Jalen and Jason gonna be on opposite sides of the floor, and we're gonna put these guys, you know, on this side and these guys on this side. And it depends on. On how the other team's playing. You. You say, okay, we're gonna start creating some jump shots because they're helping off of the shooters. So we're gonna. We're gonna take Jalen and Jason, we're gonna put them on opposite sides, and we're gonna say we're gonna help off of. We know they're helping off of a shooter, Baylor Shireman or Hugo Gonzalez or something like that, and say, okay, Jason or Jay, whoever's driving. We'll kick it to that guy. And then it's swing, swing, swing. And now the ball's in Jalen's hands and the. The team is in rotation, and now he's an attacker. And everybody has to overreact to that and they've forgotten about Jason. And, you know, you see kind of some of that working together and, you know, working where Jason ends up with the ball and kicking it out to Jalen. You're like, how. How do you forget. How do you forget that this guy is here? How does this guy get so wide open?

[Tom Westerholm]

They act like they forgot about J's.

[John Corrales]

It's. What was that? Did that say intelligent for years.

[Tom Westerholm]

I don't do that. Listen, this is the evidence against astrology.

[John Corrales]

Right? It really was. Hey, the way the Celtics can deploy the help or to deploy the guys that you're helping off of, because, you know, this year the other team's going to say, we're helping off of these guys. It's just. This is what we're going to do there. We're not. We're not going to. We're not going to let Jaylen Jason beat us. Well, those guys are playing so well that they're not going to just. Baylor is not just going to shoot. Ugo is not just going to shoot. They're going to make the right plays. They're all capable of attacking.

[Tom Westerholm]

Jordan Walsh is going to make the right play. Like, that's right. Sometimes.

[John Corrales]

Sometimes. Right. But it's like, still like he's going to try to. Right. But I just. I like where the Celtics are right now. But it does raise a question about the playoffs and being dared to beat another team. Let's. Let's pivot to that because this is great for March and April, but when the end of April and May comes around, will it be different? We'll tackle that when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by. Indeed. You've got an open spot. It's like an open roster spot for Brad Stevens. Are you just gonna hope. Brad Stevens doesn't just hope that the right player shows up. He's got scouts. He's got a front office that goes out there and does the legwork. Indeed. Is that for you? They help you reach the people who fit what you're looking for, and it cuts through all of the deadlines and craziness that you're dealing with. They find the people with the skills, experience, and location so you can find the people that check all of your boxes in this minute. That I'm talking to you. Companies like yours will have made 27 hires on Indeed Worldwide according to Indeed Data. So you need to spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing people who check all your boxes. That means less time, less stress, more results for you. Indeed Sponsored Job will get you through the chaos and you can get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com podcast go to Indeed.com podcast right now. Support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply@ Indeed.com podcast if you need to hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Today's show is also brought to you by FanDuel. College basketball is non stop. The tournament is beginning and now you've got tons of actions both coasts. Early to late. There's always action on the board. FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into a bigger potential win. With the College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost, you can build any hoops parlay that you want. Mix the spreads, totals, player props. However you see the slate playing out, then you can apply the profit boost and instantly bump up the potential payout. Go safe. Go bold. Ride with the team you've been following all season. It's your parlay. It's your style now with more upside behind it. Head to FanDuel.com to get started. When you sign up, it'll ask you to set a limit, set a budget. Use the tools that are available there. Set your budget to whatever you can afford to lose. This way, if you go cold, if you get some of these upsets, you're okay. It's just your disposable income. Come back [e-mail] gamble responsibly. FanDuel play your game. Thanks for making lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. You want to be in every day or you're you're an everyday with me. So now join the everydayer club. Five bucks a month or 50 bucks for the year. You get ad free audio. You get access to our Discord server for live in game chats and more@lockdown celtics.supercast.com lockdownceltics.supercast.com AD Free audio is worth it alone. It's compatible with all major podcasting apps. Check it out. I'll drop the link in the show notes as well. Whoa, Wrong button. John. That's the button. And now this is the button that puts Tom back on the screen.

[Tom Westerholm]

Sheesh.

[John Corrales]

Well, I was gonna make a joke.

[Tom Westerholm]

Sometimes you Plug the wrong aux cord into the wrong.

[John Corrales]

Hey, there's. That's the one I was waiting for. Yeah, something. There was a joke in there. The playoffs are going to come around. I was on the radio 98.5 this morning and we're talking about the playoffs. And it's, it's the last, I think, remaining question for this team. The playoffs will undoubtedly be different. You've got days to scout your opponent. You, it doesn't matter. The regular season, kind of, whatever you've done all regular season kind of doesn't matter because now it's all about the adjustments you're looking at. Some guys who played might not play. Some guys who start might not start. Whatever it is, however it plays out. Do you see any sort of potential for this team to. I don't know, man. If this has been a big Cinderella run, turn back into the pumpkin. Is the, is the playoffs at some point going to be like, oh, this is, you know, they, they've had a regular season that was magical. But when it comes time to game plan and rely, you know, rely on Baylor Shireman or, or Nene or Luca or whomever that you think there's a, the, the chance of, okay, that's not going as well as it used to.

[Tom Westerholm]

I mean, there's always the chance, right? I mean, especially on a team that relies on three point shooting. Like if some of these guys start missing shots, the, the, the, the, the potential is always there. I will say that I, I, I, I don't expect that for several reasons. I think, you know, one, as much as like this, you know, we, we've joked before about how now we're talking now we've turned into like a, a Heat culture kind of thing. Like now we're just like, we're big, like Celtics culture. Guys.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

I do think that there is something to, you know, when people say like championship DNA, I think a lot of times what they actually just mean is, hey, these guys know what it's like in the playoffs, right? Like, it's like, yeah, yeah, it's like, yeah, these guys know how to play in the playoffs. I mean, Jalen and Jason live in the playoffs. They've. I, neither of those guys has missed the playoffs at any point in their career. So yeah, I mean, they know how to do this. They've been there. Peyton Pritchard has been there. Like, these guys have been in these situations and I think Derek White, oh my gosh. Right. Like, it's like, like these guys have been there. They, they know how to, they know how to win. So. So I, for that reason, I don't expect it. I don't think that this team has a lot of targets on the defensive end. That's, that's one of my biggest concerns for teams in the playoffs. Right. I think that's, you know, it's one of the reasons I've never been a big Knicks believer. I think there's just way too many defensive targets. It's one of the reasons, I think, you know, like, I never really believed in the Cavs when, when they had Darius Garland because it was just like, well, okay, but there's always going to be that, like that one guy that they can just, you know, beat up over and over again. Anytime you guys, anytime your team has targets, I don't really believe in you. And the Celtics don't really have that issue. Like, everybody competes, everybody plays defense. Which again, I mean, it's funny, given what we thought this team was going to be at the start of the season. But no, they're, they're really good and Tatum's back and he's really, really good on the defensive end. So. No, I mean, I don't expect it. I think it's fair to wonder about the three point shooting. But on the other hand, you know, you mentioned Shireman, right? And it's like, yeah, maybe there, maybe, maybe there's a problem there, but Joe can always shorten the rotation in the postseason, Right. It can. Just like, even once you get beyond, you know, Vucevich, assuming he comes back, or Garza and Pritchard off the bench, you. That's seven already, right? You're already talking about seven guys. You usually only have like one more guy in that playoff rotation and that can vary based on the evening. So you can just take, you know, if, if Shireman's missing shots. I don't know. Ron Harper Jr. Seems pretty unflappable. Yeah, just toss him out there. I don't know. See what happens. Like, you can try other stuff. So I think there are. It's fair to wonder about some of the shooters. It's always fair to wonder that, like the Celtics shooters got cold in the Knicks series last year and that got them in trouble. But beyond kind of those variables that are hard to predict anyway, I'm not too concerned about it.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. So this is the. We're back to the. Like you said before, it's the unknown we. It's the one thing we don't know about this team. The playoffs we know are different. The team, this team has not been in the playoffs yet. And so it raises those questions of, well, okay, these guys, when you don't expect something to happen and it. It just exceed. Everything exceeds expectations, you say, okay, this is great. Now. Now everything changes. The. The style of basketball shifts. Everything kind of resets. Everybody's at zero. So it is. I do believe it is fair to ask the question or at least wonder out loud, but you're right. Every time I've wondered out loud this season, I've been proven. Well, that's not an issue. Well, yeah, that's not an issue either. Well, John, why don't you just shut up and, like, stop. Stop wondering.

[Tom Westerholm]

You still have to ask the question. It's the same thing as the Tatum, Jalen thing. You had to. You have to wonder how it's going to look.

[John Corrales]

You don't know, but that's right. That's right. And so we do wonder. We do ask. We do put it out there. But at the same time, I've. What I'm saying is, I've been so beaten down by how many times. Like, every time I've asked about my success, just, like, it's just been like, okay, hey, well, you know, we don't know about this, actually. We do. We're fine.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, we're really good at rebounding. How you like that corral?

[John Corrales]

Right? Right. You're gonna be terrible at rebounding. Even Joe was like. He just like, yeah, we're gonna be horrible at rebounding this year.

[Tom Westerholm]

And.

[John Corrales]

Okay, we're better than we thought. You're gonna be bad defensive team. Nah, not really. Jalen. Jason's gonna come back, and he's not going to be anywhere close to himself. Well, yes, he is, Jake. Yeah, he's never been. He's never been the number one option. How's he going to handle it? Just fine.

[Tom Westerholm]

Mvp, right?

[John Corrales]

Yeah. It's like everything. When you don't know about something, it's fair to wonder. It's just. It's no different to me than asking how tomorrow is going to go. You know, I have. I have a meeting tomorrow. I have a pretty good idea how it's gonna go, but you just never know. You never know. Or if there's a question, you know, going to a doctor, I'm like, oh, yeah, I got this pain. You know, I'm just gonna go. Anything that you haven't experienced yet, there's a question. But these guys just keep being like, no, we're good, we're good. Don't worry about it. We got you, my babies. It's all Cool. So, yeah, I, it is going to be interesting. I, I do like the point of you just. There's so many different guys that you can go to. You know, Baylor's not working. Okay. Jordan Walsh. That's not working. Okay. Ron Harper Jr. Okay. That's not working. Ugo, Gonzalez.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

You know, and even Ugo, who's a rookie and you don't typically rely on these rookies. He's an NBA rookie, but he's, he's been it in the pros. So even he has like a thing you say, oh, well, that, that's a mitigating factor.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. And even if he's not making shots, you know, he's gonna, like, he'll create just some extra shots by just flinging himself, you know, directly at, like, at the ball, like head first. Like, he'll just, he'll do some crazy

[John Corrales]

thing like Ralph Wiggum going through the window, just. But even Jason, I don't know what Jason's going to be like in the playoffs. He's, he's been amazing so far. I cannot believe that he's this far. I've been joking that this is like the Ronaldo of injury comebacks. Like, Ronaldo is an amazing soccer player and he's super handsome. You don't get to be both, dude. You don't get to be both. You get to be either super handsome or one of the best, best soccer players in the world. You can't be both. How are you both?

[Tom Westerholm]

For Tatum, it's like, right, like Messi. Messi put all his sliders into the soccer thing. So like, you know, that's how it should be.

[John Corrales]

That's how it should be. And so with Tatum, it's like you get to come back at 10 months or you get to come back when you're basically almost yourself. You don't get to be both. How are you both already? This doesn't make any sense. And so one of my questions heading into the playoffs has always been, what percentage of Tatum are we going to see? How many minutes can he play? He's not going to be able to play his normal allotment of minutes that you would expect a 40 something. But even if he doesn't, even if it's 36, that's fine. That's three less minutes that you can kind of make up for along the way. And it's still, you're still getting 36 minutes of Jason Tatum in the playoffs. Are you kidding me? So that, that part, all of the questions are just, I don't know for exercise, just making the brain work, I guess.

[Tom Westerholm]

Just, we're just, we're just warming up for the playoffs. We're just like Tatum, just, just getting

[John Corrales]

some reps in, getting some reps, getting some questions. Rex. All right, well, that's it. If, if, if you think that the things are going to be different in the playoffs, let me know, let us know in the comments. I'm assuming that most people don't, but at least maybe you know where we're coming from asking the questions. So let's, let's just end it there. Tom, thank you very much. As appreciate you, Tom Westerholm. I appreciate you listening, watching five days a week, eight, eight times in those five days. Nine times in those five days. They play Friday night. So that'll be a bonus podcast as well. So six days of podcasts. So it's all, all kinds of podcasts for you. So make sure you're subscribed. It's the only way to get them all. Get into the comment section, share your thoughts and then I would love it. Please share the podcast. Tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast podcast here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. It's your team every day.

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[John Corrales]

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