
Neemias Queta shines as the Boston Celtics cruise past the tanking Washington Wizards—just how high is his ceiling for the team’s playoff rotation? John Karalis of Celtics on SI spotlights Queta’s remarkable offensive development, Jayson Tatum’s ramped-up minutes following injury, and Jaylen Brown’s underrated passing clinic, sparking questions about the Celtics’ chemistry at the perfect time. Key topics include the impact of Charles Bassey and Max Shulga signings, how Joe Mazzulla’s approach is shaping Boston’s late-season strategy, and why the Wizards’ commitment to tanking might influence the NBA Draft lottery. Plus, John Karalis breaks down Derrick White, Sam Hauser, and Luka Garza’s contributions, Boston’s rebounding surge, and crucial salary cap maneuvering ahead of the playoffs. Can the Celtics maximize their roster while chasing a championship?
Loading summary
A
Foreign podcast Network your team every day.
B
This is Nick Gangstead of the Lockdown Mavericks Podcast. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I love that I can earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase with my Apple Card, which can be automatically sent to my High Yield Savings account through Apple Card right in the Wallet app with my iPhone. I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go. You can. You can apply for Apple Card 2 right in the Wallet app on your iPhone subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility Savings and Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch Member FDIC terms and more@applecard.com
C
this is Jake from Lock Dawn. When the game's on the line, the best know when to pass because the right assist can change everything. And off the court, it's no different. That's where your State Farm agent comes in. Whether it's protecting your car, your home, or helping you prep for the unexpected, they'll help set you up with a game plan that works for you. You like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability and eligibility vary by state.
A
Now on the Lockdown Celtics Podcast, Namish K was great. Jason Tatum's minutes went up against the Tank Tastic Washington Wizards and the Celtics signed players locked on Celtics pot, home of the winning hey there. Welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Where does your team every day? Your team is the Boston Celtics and I talk about them Monday through Friday plus a bonus podcast like this one On a Saturday night when everyone outside this building is partying on St. Patrick's Day weekend, I am here podcasting for you, so make sure you're subscribed. Watch the show on YouTube. Get into the comment section there. Share your thoughts with me. I'm John Corrales. I'm a beat writer covering the Celtics for Sports illustrated. Celtics on SI. I've been covering this team for about 20 years now. I've been doing this podcast for 10. Today's show is brought to you by Five Hour Energy. Have your cake and drink it too. Birthday cake flavor is back. No fork needed. Vanilla cake flavor. Caffeinated kick, no sugar. It's party time. Order now at 5Hour Energy.com Boston Celtics get a nice I'm going to still call it an easy win because even though it got a little dicey at the end, it was never going to be in doubt. The Celtics win it by 11. They were up by 30. The Wizards were never, the Wizards were never going to let the Celtics blow that lead. That that lead was going to be comfortable the whole night long one way or the other. Celtics were winning that game. Later on, I'll get into signings. The Celtics signing two guys, Charles Bassey, Max Shulga, get into that. In the last segment, we'll talk about the Wizards tanking, Jalen Brown's passing, all of that stuff. Individual performances coming up. You may. If you're watching on YouTube, you'll see me. I, I've kind of like adjusted this. I'm at the where the Celtics do their post game. This is the seat where Joe Mazzulla was sitting to do his post game. I even have the as yet the, the unnamed energy drink which I'm holding up because they're not a sponsor of the team. I get to do the thing I wanted to do like, like, oh, they're not a sponsor. I'm going to put this over here now. So you don't see it. Although I do get the Celtics title sponsor behind me. They amica didn't pay anything for this. Congratulations. You get a freebie on the Lockdown Celtics podcast. But I just thought it'd be cool to use this as a backdrop since the interview room is open. Those of you listening on audio, you don't care at all. You just want me to get to. With Celtics winning this game right away, the big thing in the beginning was nimiuskeda got to make our jokes right. We got to make our bam. Out of bio jokes that Sean Grandy shout out to Sean Grandy turning around saying as Neemi was putting up 22 points saying hey, does anybody know what the career high for a center is against the. Oh, never mind. So that's copyright Sean Grandy. That was his joke. He may have made it on the broadcast. He turned around, made it to us. So. But that. That's the kind of night that's the kind of jokes that people were getting off and everybody enjoyed them because Nemi was playing great. Nemi getting the hit that one bucket that was. And I asked about him after the. About it after the game. Excuse me. Was a joke thinking about the how awesome that that move was driving down like the left side of the lane against Alex Sar. Stopping, spinning, jump hook. All of those things is just a progression for. For Nemi. It's. It's just great to see him being able to finish a little more easily each time that he's out there. The. The growth has been really just fun to watch as I, you know, look, I'm, I'm not shying away from my takes. Earlier this season, we're going to be talking about Bassey later on, and I was one of the people saying, after summer league, hey, let's give this guy a look. Let's bring him into camp because the Celtics need a center. At that point when Bassey was doing his thing, I was thinking, like, we're not gonna, we shouldn't expect anything from the Mishkeda. He's probably going to be up and down and so on and so forth. Probably shouldn't expect much from Luca Garza and they've come in and proven otherwise. Like, the, the new information all season long was okay. Neemi is getting a lot better. Like, a lot better. And credit to him. The work that he's put in has paid off. I think the number one thing I want to say about Keda is how his, his offense, how it's progressed and how anytime something has come up where he's. He hasn't been doing it well or some, Something that he needed to work on, he's been working on it and getting it better throughout the, throughout the course of the season. Like, if, if it was not good in November, it got good in December or January. So shout out to Namish. K. Man, he has really done a lot of work. I'm super, super impressed. Obviously, still some matchup issues. You know, he had some trouble against San Antonio and trouble against okc. Not a. Not a problem. Not a big deal. But it's. It does. It does make Vuchevic and Garza super important. And so I do think that there's. He's not. Kate is not a perfect center, but he's played extraordinarily well, and I got to give him a ton of credit. And the thing that really impressed me in this game from Keita, he's sitting there at 22 points in the first half. His career high is 27. He just said it like a week or two ago. And in the second half, instead of going for it and this, I swear, this is not a shot at Bam out of bio. This is just the natural. Instead of going for his career high, the, the defense kind of adjusted and Neemi adjusted. Now he's. He's not good enough to do what Bam did, which is like, hey, you know what? I'm going to go for it. And, and he made it happen. Nemi just said, hey, I'm going to do what I do best and I'm going to do. I'm going to make the right read. I'm going to do what Joe Mazzulla wants. And, and in the second half, he only scored two points, but he still played really, really well. And so maybe it's because I'm sitting here, I'm going to say the phrase the mish k is not defined by his scoring. That's a very Joe Missoula thing to say in this seat. He. He's not defined by his scoring. He's. He's defined by. And Celtics players are defined by making the right read and the right play. And I'm going to get into a little bit more of that with Jaylen Brown later on because I thought he played great. And his numbers on the stat sheet and this box score here, I. The numbers will not look like anything special from Jaylen Brown, but he played better in this game than I think maybe a couple of his 30 point games that he had earlier this season. But so incredible, I think night for. For Keita, 24 points, 10 rebounds, the three assists, a couple of blocks of steel. Just overall, great night. The other big story here for the Celtics in this game, major takeaway is Jason Tatum's minutes up 32, 32 minutes, 3212 for 20 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals. Efficiency's not there yet. 8 of 19 overall, 2 of 9 from 3. Only two free throws. That's going to come. Not worried about that at all. He played the entire third quarter, which he said was not part of the plan, but he was ready for the minutes to go up. They're, they're kind of stretching him out. They're, they're, they're bringing him along. And each, each one of these games where he progresses, he gets to do a little bit more it. Do it a little differently too. Right. The first game was like six minute stints. So you get to 24. Six, like six. And change gets you up to 26 minutes or so. The second game he had a longer stretch and then he sat a little bit longer. Then it just kind of progressed to this point here where he played the entire third quarter and he got himself to 27 minutes. And at that point I wasn't sure was Joe saying, hey, we're up to. We're up 30. I want to get Tatum to the 27 minutes. This is not a scenario where you want to go under. You actually want to hit the minutes limit because you want him to feel that fatigue. You want him to feel that soreness so his body can start getting used to it. It's just like anything Else you're in a weight room, you start out, whatever you're benching, if you're benching 150, you want to get used to the 150. So you get to 175, into 200, into 2, whatever that you end up benching. Like, that's the progression. It's the same idea with Tatum that you want to get to a. A point where he's tired, you want to tire him out, you want to have him feel the fatigue, come back out, rest, get back out on the floor. So now his lungs are getting back to the. You getting used to NBA basketball, his muscles, the recovery, everything's starting to get back to where it used to be. So you want to stretch him out. You want to get that. Eventually playing a full quarter, you want to get him to that point. And they got him there at this. So I wasn't sure if getting into the fourth quarter, it's like, okay, they hit the 27 minutes into the fourth quarter. What were they going to do now? The. The Wizards cut it to 16 and ultimately down to. I mean, obviously down to 11 at the end. But it felt like the right time to bring Tatum back in anyway, just naturally. But they. Tatum said after the game, I knew that they were going to increase my minutes this week and kind of see how we respond. So this is good. This is a good step. Again, the efficiency isn't there. It's not where you. You want Jason Tatum to be. But already this is his fourth game back, and you're already stretching him out to 32 minutes. Amazing. This is amazing. And I cannot stress this enough. This is not how anybody expected this to go, except for maybe the Celtics. Obviously, they are the ones that Tatum and his team and the Celtics are the ones who put this plan together. But on the outside, without having inside knowledge of everything that that's been that was done and where he was, I'm telling you, this is. This is easily 3, 2, 3, 4 weeks ahead of what you would normally expect Tatum to be. I was expecting him to. Now, his fourth game in, I would have said 22, 23 minutes, tops. You know, 24, 6 minutes per quarter. 6, 12, 18, 24. That would have been my absolute max at this point. And here he is playing 32, so he's further along than any of us expected. It's a testament to his work, his rehab, doctors, trainers, the everything. Everybody who had any involvement getting him to this point. Absolutely. I cannot believe that he is here. It changes so much about this team. Because honestly, if he was at what I would expect it to be, normal 20 something minutes, you'd say, okay, couple weeks left, three weeks left in the regular season, four weeks left in the regular season, you maybe, maybe you can get to the end of the regular season to get him to look like this, right, like this is what I was expecting heading into maybe the playoffs. And I said, okay, can you get 30 minutes of Tatum in the playoffs? Maybe, maybe. And then that, that, that made me think like, well, the Celtics are probably going to be still due for if it's a second round exit, so be it right now, like, well, this is where he is and you still got 15 games left to ramp him up. Changes the entire dynamic of what I think the Cape the Celtics are capable of. So incredible, incredible stuff from Tatum, from his team, from the Celtics, everything. I cannot express how floored I am by all of this and the 14 rebounds. He's just a natural rebounder. He's a big dude. The rebounds find him. Thought the Celtics did a great job, a great job rebounding in the third quarter. I second quarter and third quarter. But second quarter is when they, they really, I think it was one offensive rebound for the, for the wizard. So good job there. Jalen Brown was incredible. I'm going to talk about him. I'll talk about some of the tanktastic wizardry that we've seen. All of that is coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by DoorDash. Season's heating up. Doordash has a way to keep you in your bag all the way through the season. And whether you're watching highlights, tunnel fits or Your favorite player, DoorDash makes the entire season more fun because every player has their bag and so do you, thanks to doordash. Doordash keeps your snack stocked, your gear fresh. The watch party vibes on point. So Saturday night, you're sitting there, maybe you're sitting there alone on a Saturday night watching basketball, listening to me talk. Not a problem. You're with me. You want to get some dessert? Doordash it you're want to get some chips? Door dash it. If the group chat says pull up, we're having a little get together. You can show it prepared. Snacks, cups. You get a phone charger, a backup phone charger because your friend's always on 2%. It's all there on door dash. Door dash from tip off to overtime. Stay in your bag and order on door dash. Get snacks, drinks, gear, whatever you get, whatever you need to get you through the season. Delivered right to your door. Door dash in your bag all season long. Today's show is also brought to you by FanDuel. College basketball is non stop. I was in the Celtics locker room. They were watching college basketball. Big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night. From tip off to late night west coast shootouts. There's always action on the board. Now FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into an even bigger potential win. With the college basketball Parlay Profit Boost. You build any college hoops parlay that you want. Rivalry games, ranked matchups, whatever you want. You can mix in spreads, totals, player props to match how you see this slate playing out. And 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 call. It's up to you. And now there's more upside behind it. Head to FanDuel.com to get started. That's FanDuel.com when you sign up they'll ask you to set a limit. Set your budget. Please do that. Whatever you can afford to lead to lose. That's going to be what your budget should be so you can gamble responsibly. FanDuel will help you do that. Over at FanDuel. Play your game. Thanks for being in every day or thanks for being here with me. If you're on this bonus podcast, chances are you're with me Monday through Friday. I got them going all all season long. All post season long bonus podcast. Join the everydayer club now. 5 bucks a month or 50 bucks for the year. You'll get ad free audio so you will not have heard what I just said for the past two minutes. We'll just skip right along to the the Celtics talk. So Go to lockdown celtics.supercast.com Lockdown celtics.supercast.Com Use the code MARCH. You'll get your first month free if you sign up before the tournament starts. You can get into the everyday club bracket pool on Discord for a chance to win Lockdown Merch. Obviously the Discord server is part of the deal for live in game chats so check it all out. Lockdown celtics.supercast.com Jalen Brown the numbers here. Excuse me. Numbers here. 16 points 6 of 13 shooting.05 from 3. Okay. Celtics didn't shoot well from 312 of 46. So nobody shot well outside of Sam Houser. 4 of 11. That's okay. Oh Luca Garza hit 2. Jalen 16 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, a steal. And you say, why would you look at that and say he played well? Because I think early on the passing was really good. I think he moved the ball really, really well. I thought Jalen kind of set a good tone for the Celtics at the beginning. And, you know, his streak of games with seven plus assists is over, but he probably passed as well or better in this game than he did in some of these other games. So sometimes it's a matter of the ball falling or not. He had one possession. It did end with Derrick White three pointer, but it was his very. I joked on Twitter about how it looked like just doing multiple takes of a TV show. Like, keep going until you get it right. Just reset it, start over, do it again till you get it right. You know, they. They. He kicked it over to. I forget who it was at first. In the corner. It was a miss. Offensive rebound, Jalen, turn around. No, look, pass back out to Derrick White. Miss. Offensive rebound, Jaylen Brown. No, look, pass back out to Derrick White. He just kept going and going and going. He made some incredible passes in this game. They didn't all lead to buckets, but again, I think the Celtics as a whole pass the ball very well. Now. They did have 29 assists. That's good. 29 assists on 41 buckets is good. The Celtics, I think, are starting to find a passing flow. They're. They're not forcing too much. They're not forcing the, you know, particular shots. They're reading the game, I think. Well, there's. I think they're really starting to hit a stride, reading the game, making the right plays. Obviously, Jalen and Jason are capable of doing their own individual things, but Jalen has not gone on any of those extended. I'm trying to do too much runs recently. He's moved the ball really, really well. So I'm impressed by that. This is a big deal. The Celtics, Jalen, Jason, they're all trying to figure out how to play with one another again. And so this, I think, is part of a concerted effort. Let's just move the ball. Whatever. Whatever the Reeds tell us, that's the play we're going to make. You know, Jalen did that, like I said, exceptionally. Jason did it. There was one play in particular they run. It's a. A play they run consistently where there's a flare screen out to the shooter. They. They've gotten really good at leading that pass on that flare screen. So basically you're looking. If you don't Know what a flare screen is? Many of you do, but some of you don't. A. A screen. Namish, K up about the top of the circle will set a pick so the shooter, Derrick White, Sam Houser, can flare out just on a. Out to, like, the sideline area. And we've seen these guys, Tatum and Brown especially, lead that pass really, really well. And so the defense is kind of out of position. I think it was D. White who got it from Tatum, and then he turned around and. And flung it inside to Keda. And this was the second quarter for a bucket. Beautiful stuff. Beautifully. Beautifully done. The passing. Sublime, I'll say. And I just gonna give a shout out to the. The Wizards for just being. They're taking the tank. And they are. They are. They're just living it up. They're living it up inside that tank. Their. Their logo should be one of those Abrams tanks. They are. They had. It was Tristan vukovic. He was 6 of 7 from 3. 7 of 9 overall. He was. He had scored 22 points. He was a plus 21, and he played 20 minutes. He's a young guy. He's capable of playing more than 20 minutes. He was having. He was on a heater. Heater. And the Wizards were like, no, no, you're gonna have to sit, buddy. That's great. Look, this is a perfect game. Perfect game. We got all this cool stuff for the Celtics, but the Celtics kind of like, took foot off the gas, foot completely off the gas in the second half, and the wizards won the third quarter by two, won the fourth quarter by 10. Now Washington can go into the. You know, onto the bus and be like, look, we won the second half against the. The Celtics. We got down 30, but we won that second half. Little bits that you could hang your hat on. You say, hey, when we want to do it, we can do it. But we also are under a directive, because we're not gonna let Tristan Vukovic botch a loss. They are bottom three. In the NBA, the bottom three teams get the 14 chance at the number one pick. They all have equal odds. You got to stay in that. That bottom three, so you can. They. They can keep their pick and get there. That's it. That is it. So there was never at no point during that comeback in the second half was I sitting there saying, oh, oh, no, here come the Wizards. You don't want. Because the Wizards were never going to allow that to happen. The Wizards were never. Even if the Celtics all passed out and fell down and fainted, and the Wizards had free reign and, and the refs, like, didn't stop the game. The Wizards would have turned the ball over somehow. They would have found a way until the Celtics woke up to trip over themselves and also faint to not win that game. That's, that's just how it is with the Wizards. So thank you, I guess, Washington, for being Tank Tastic. All right, we're going to come back. We'll talk about some of the individual performances, some of the other individual performances and the Charles Bassey, Max Shulga signings. That's all coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by five hour Energy. It's time for another flavor draft. You know what? I'm going to do the, it's not going to be my pick because we, if you've been with me all along here, my pick has always been something like the, the, the grape or the strawberry. Very berry centric for me. They've got 18 different flavors to choose from, including new options like confetti craze, fruity rainbow cotton candy. There's something for everyone. Now I'm gonna give my wife, who doesn't even know that I'm doing this, the second pick or the first pick. I'm gonna defer. I'm gonna defer to my wife. And I know what she does, what she likes. She has that sweet tooth that it's always a cookie or a cake or something. And so I am going to look, first of all, no sugar in this. You can satisfy your sweet tooth while getting that kick. Confetti craze is going to be the winner here. It's a rich blend of buttery fruit, fresh baked confetti cake, smooth vanilla frosting, sweet birthday cake, inspired flavor. So it's a hint of vanilla for that frosting, that sugary sprint sprinkles. It's indulgent. It's sweet. Not too sweet, but it gives you. If you want sweet and you want that, that kick, then confetti craze. I'm going to say if my wife was here, she would pick that as one of the 18 different flavors. It's her number one pick. You can get a boost with zero sugar@5hourenergy.com that's the number five hourenergy.com or you can pick some up at Amazon. Today's show is also brought to you by. Indeed. Now maybe you've taken one of those energy shots because you are dying to fill that one spot that's open, that one job that's open. And you know, it's crazy at work. Your inbox is overflowing. That's why you need Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Here's a stat that says everything you need to know in this minute that I'm talking to you. 27 people will be hired on Indeed worldwide according to Indeed data. You want to do what the Celtics do when you're hiring somebody, you got to find somebody that checks the boxes. You know what you need. And Indeed Sponsored Jobs will go find the people with the specs that you're asking for. So instead of just going through the papers and just hoping you'll be interviewing, spend less time searching, more time actually interviewing these candidates who check all the boxes. It's less stress. It's less time, it's more results. It's the most important thing when you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for Indeed sponsored job. You get a $75 sponsored job credit and get your job the premium status it deserves. Indeed.com podcast let them know that we sent you@ Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen. Every day being here with me, being an everydayer, I really do appreciate that you can go to Lockdown Wizards to get their take on this game Lockdown NBA for the National Take the Lockdown NBA game night has all the games from the association. So while you were watching this, you missed other games. Get caught up on Lockdown NBA game night. So let's run through some of the other individual performances performances here. Sam Houser did a good job. So the two plus minus leaders for the Celtics, Derrick White plus 33. He was 3 of 11, 3 of 8, but 6 of 6 from the line. He's been getting a lot to the line a bit more recently. Six rebounds, three of them offensive, five assists, a block, a steal. The the shooting is just not there for Derek this year. I'm hoping that something turns around here at some point soon, but the shooting is not there and that's a problem. I don't like it. But once again, despite the shooting, Derek a complete huge plus in this game. So. But he was plus 33 Sam Houser plus 2912 points on 4 of 11 shooting, 6 rebounds, 2 assists. I'll say it again, every time I talk about Sam Houser. Sam's having the most complete basketball season. I mean he's a basketball player, right? He's not just the shooter. It's not like a DH where you just step in and hit threes. And then step off the floor. He's a basketball player. He's a big dude. You know, he can get in there and get some rebounds, but he, he's getting to show a little bit of everything that he's capable of doing. A tough night for the bench. Other than Luca Garza, who was big. I gotta give Luca Garza a ton of credit, man. He. He was out of the rotation again because Vic was here. And so what? Get in there, play once Vuch gets hurt, get back out there and steps in and does his thing. Rebounds, set screens, high energy. The dude is just positive. All over the place. He's just. I would love to see him stick around just because of the attitude. He's such a good attitude. You need somebody like that. You need somebody that you can just DNP for 10 games and say, hey, okay, we need you now. And then for three games. He's gonna be great. You know, play his role, star in his role, all of that stuff. And then you probably. He's not good enough where he's going to be in the rotation all the time. But DNP him a few more times. Whenever you need him, he's there. He's that reliable. So. But also he's. He's good enough. Where. On a night where Vucovic doesn't have it. You can go with Garza. Just go with Garza. Fine. That's a fine thing to do right now. So good for him. Peyton pritchard. Rough night. 2 of 11 shooting. Just couldn't hit things. He got good looks, but couldn't hit anything. Baylor, Shireman, same thing. Peyton was 2 of 11, Baylor was 1 of 8. So just rough nights all the way around. Ugo, my guy, Ugo Gonzalez. Zero points, zero shots, zero free throws, zero assists, zero rebounds, three fouls. It was a minus 22. Minus 22 in nine minutes and 30 seconds. Oh, Ugo, it's really not helping me make my point. I still have lots of love for Ugo. I think he's going to be great. I think he's great. Gonna be great. And so good to. Good to hear. I heard that Bob Ryan, the legend Bob Ryan is also president of the Ugo Gonzalez fan club. Thank you so much. Love that. Love to hear that. All right, so that's the game. The Celtics win, beat the Wizards. If you can't beat the Wizards now, then literally you might have all fainted on the floor. A couple pieces of business here. The. The Celtics now have run out of days to be below the 14 player max or minimum. I Should say. And so, Charles Bassey. Welcome back. Charles Bassey. Remember over the summer when we were talking about Bassey and I was like, give this kid a shot, bring him to camp. And they didn't. And I was like, all right, I guess I don't know nothing. And now he's back. So in your face. I don't even know who I'm saying that to. But he's back. Not for long. He will be cut. He'll be here for the 10 days, maybe a second 10 day to get through the rest of the regular season. And then goodbye, Charles Bassey. Thank you for sticking around. We appreciate your efforts and here's a little reward, a little reward for everything you gave us this summer. And you know, that's, that's great. And who knows, maybe, maybe next year you give him another shot. Who knows? I don't know. But Bassey is here just to, to be here to fill a spot. Don't get too excited. I don't think he's going to be around for long. So that's that. Max Shulga, as we expected. If you heard the podcast with Keith Smith, he said the plan would be get Shulga on a rookie minimum. I wrote about this on Celtics on Si. Same thing. This is all part of the plan. He's going to be on a non guaranteed contract, so, well, a two year contract. So this will get him through the rest of the season. Next year is not guaranteed, so they're not committing to anything. He can. They can probably wave him next season and put him back on a two way deal if they so choose. It depends, who knows, maybe they just keep him on the standard deal, who knows. But you, you now have him filling a spot. The next step, the last day of the season. I expect Ron Harper to get a standard contract on the absolute final day of the season. So that would get them right under the tax. And that's important because you get under the tax, you get a tax payment from the people who are over the teams that are over the tax. So that's good. Something like Keith said, it was 8, 9 million, whatever it's going to be, that's good. That's money that comes in that pays for all of these things. It's so good. That's fun. If the Celtics next year, we'll talk about this over the summer. But you know, next year is possible depending on how the Vucovic thing goes. It's really important for the V thing to work out. It really is. Because if you can get another year, a good year out of Vuch next year and he's at the, you get him for somewhere between the minimum and the taxpayer mid level of 5, whatever million, $6 million. You get him in that range, you can have a good team next year. Use the, the, the mid level exception, the full mid level exception to bring in a player, a good player. You can make a trade because you have the big traded player exception for Anthony Simons. I'll drew a blank on his name for a second. Then you can do all of those things and still stay under the tax. It's possible if you can put together a good championship level team while staying under the tax. Now you've accomplished all your goals. You haven't jeopardized anything. You've spent money without going over the tax line. You reset the repeater tax next year and then after that you can go into full spending mode with Tatum. With Brown in their 30s, still early 30s, where you can make a last gasp and really push in and give them championship contender for the next couple years. After that you really extend, absolutely maximize the Jalen Brown Jayson Tatum duo into their early to mid-30s. 31, 32, 33. So that's why this is important. So credit to the Celtics front office for being awesome at their jobs. That'll do it for me. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. I hope you've appreciated this. You know I, I moved it off, I moved the backdrop off so it wasn't just full on amica so but I wanted to give you a sense of where I was. So hope you've enjoyed this podcast. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. I appreciate it. It's a bonus podcast now. Please share the podcast. Spread the word. Tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast. Here in the Lockdown Podcast network is your team. Every day
D
meet the energy shot that tastes just like birthday cake. Confetti craze extra strength five hour energy tastes like a rich buttery vanilla birthday cake Frosting and all. Light the candles, make a wish and get ready to celebrate with every sip. Feel unstoppably energized with as much caffeine as your favorite 12 ounce fancy coffee but with zero sugar with for zero sugar crashes. For more information and to get the party started, visit Fiveourenergy.com or visit Amazon.
A
Today it's tax time and for a
C
lot of us the old way of doing taxes is just a lot. But this year you're getting an upgrade. Intuit TurboTax now has in person locations where you can meet face to face with a real tax expert. Get your documents uploaded, and just like that, you're done. Your expert works to get you every dollar you deserve. While you get real time updates and go about your day, head to turbotax.com local to book your appointment.
E
You're juggling a lot, but you can still squeeze in a financial plan with the Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor as your partner. It's not only possible, it's personalized, so if you're tying the knot, closing on a house, or welcoming a little one, you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way. It's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain. That's a better way to money. Let's get started@nm.com the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Date: March 15, 2026
Host: John Karalis
In this bonus Saturday night episode, John Karalis breaks down the Boston Celtics' comfortable 11-point win over the Washington Wizards. The focus is on Neemias Queta’s breakout performance, Jayson Tatum’s increased workload as he ramps up post-injury, and evolving team chemistry—particularly the passing and rebounding. The episode also covers roster updates (Charles Bassey & Max Shulga signings) and the tanking Wizards’ odd coaching choices. Karalis’ seasoned, candid tone shines through as he shares insights from inside the team.
Queta’s Growth & Performance:
Neemias Queta exploded with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists. Karalis lauds his offensive development, citing how Queta steadily improved all season:
“Anytime something has come up where he's…not doing it well…he's been working on it and getting it better throughout the course of the season.” (07:00)
Adaptation Over Stat-Chasing:
Despite being close to his career high, Queta didn’t chase numbers in the second half—he let the game come to him, showing maturity.
“He’s not defined by his scoring. He’s defined by making the right read and the right play.” (09:15)
Limitations & Matchups:
Karalis notes Queta isn’t a perfect center—he struggles with certain matchups—but credits his progress and role acceptance.
Surprisingly Quick Recovery:
Tatum logged 32 minutes (20 PTS, 14 REB, 7 AST, 2 STL), further along in recovery than expected.
“This is easily 3, 2, 3, 4 weeks ahead of what you would normally expect Tatum to be.” (17:20)
Stamina Strategy:
Coaching staff purposefully stretched Tatum’s shifts to build up NBA-level endurance.
“You want him to feel that fatigue...so his body can start getting used to it. It’s just like being in the weight room.” (16:45)
Impact on Season Outlook:
Karalis admits this “changes the entire dynamic” for Boston’s postseason hopes.
Stat Line vs. Impact:
Brown’s numbers (16 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST, 6-13 FG, 0-5 3PT) weren’t flashy, but Karalis insists his impact was larger:
“He played better in this game than…a couple of his 30-point games…early on the passing was really good. He moved the ball really, really well.” (24:30)
Example of Persistence & Good Reads:
Karalis describes a sequence where Brown rebounds and repeatedly finds Derrick White for open threes, reflecting improved decision-making.
Team Passing:
Celtics have “29 assists on 41 buckets”—a sign of unselfish, flowing offense. Tatum and Brown excel at hitting shooters out of set plays (notably “flare screens”), highlighting improved chemistry.
Obvious Tanking:
Karalis calls out Washington for their blatant tank strategies—sitting Tristan Vukovic (22 PTS, 6-7 3PT, +21 in 20 mins) despite a hot hand.
“Their logo should be one of those Abrams tanks. They are just living it up inside that tank.” (29:10)
No Real Comeback Threat:
Even with the Wizards’ late push, Karalis never worried, as “they were never going to allow that to happen.” (30:24)
Charles Bassey:
Back on a short-term basis mostly for roster minimum compliance.
“He will be cut…he’ll be here for the 10 days, maybe a second 10 day…then goodbye, Charles Bassey. Thank you for sticking around.” (39:05)
Max Shulga:
Signed to a multi-year (partially guaranteed) contract—standard front office maneuvering.
Tax Implications & Front Office Praise:
Karalis details how upcoming moves (potential standard contract for Ron Harper on final day) are aimed at luxury tax strategizing:
“Credit to the Celtics front office for being awesome at their jobs.” (41:58)
On Queta’s Development:
“Shout out to Neemias K…he has really done a lot of work. I’m super, super impressed.” (08:45)
On Injured Tatum’s Return:
“I cannot express how floored I am by all of this…changes so much about this team.” (19:25)
On Wizards Tanking:
“There was never—at no point during that comeback in the second half was I saying, ‘Oh no, here come the Wizards.’ Even if the Celtics all passed out and fell down and fainted…the Wizards would have found a way somehow to not win that game.” (30:30)
On Luka Garza:
“He’s just positive all over the place. I would love to see him stick around just because of the attitude…You need somebody like that.” (34:45)
John Karalis combines inside-information reporting with a conversational, humorous tone. He’s candid about his early skepticism on Queta, honest about player progress, and praiseful of the organization’s strategic moves. The key takeaway: the Celtics are ahead of schedule with Tatum’s recovery and have a resilient, improving supporting cast. Team passing and unselfishness are peaking at the right time—and the front office continues to put the team in great financial and competitive position.
Recommended for:
Celtics fans eager for game analysis and inside scoops, NBA observers curious about player development and team strategies, or anyone who appreciates basketball X’s and O’s wrapped in sharp, entertaining commentary.