Upset Brad Stevens on Jaylen Brown, Losing to Good Teams, Struggling with Prosperity

Summary

Locked On Celtics – May 7, 2026

Episode: Upset Brad Stevens on Jaylen Brown, Losing to Good Teams, Struggling with Prosperity

Host: John Karalis (with recurring co-host Tom)
Focus: Brad Stevens’ candid post-season media availability – addressing Jaylen Brown speculation, the Celtics’ record against top teams, and the diagnosis of Boston’s continued struggles handling success.

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Episode Overview

This episode is a deep-dive reaction to Brad Stevens’ press conference following the Celtics' first-round playoff exit. John Karalis and Tom discuss Stevens’ pointed remarks concerning team frustrations, specifically those involving Jaylen Brown, Boston’s inability to beat top competition, and long-standing challenges with “handling prosperity.” The tone is forthright, at times frustrated, as both Karalis and Tom parse whether the Celtics are at a crossroads in their roster and culture.

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Main Topics & Key Discussion Points

1. The Jaylen Brown Situation: Frustration or False Alarm?

[02:13 - 13:34]

• Context: Rumors had circulated about friction between Jaylen Brown and the Celtics. Tracy McGrady publicly suggested Brown was unhappy; Stevens was directly questioned about the relationship.

• Brad Stevens’ Response (05:06):

  “I talked to Jalen Monday ... nothing but positive. He has not expressed those frustrations to me. ... My door is always open. ... That's 1 through 16, not just Jalen. ... None of that has been expressed to me.”

• Karalis’ Analysis:

  • Brown quickly diffused the rumors himself on a Twitch stream, saying:

    “I'm upset that Brad even had to answer this question. ... My relationship with Brad is a good one. I love Boston. I would play here. If it was up to me, I'd play here for the next 10 years.”
    (06:02, quoting Brown’s stream)

  • Both hosts point out that if Brown wanted out, it would be foolish to declare such affection and commitment publicly.

• Cynical Angle (09:06):

  • Karalis acknowledges skeptics might see “If it was up to me” as a hedge, referencing the infamous Kyrie Irving “I’ll re-sign if you’ll have me” moment. But both hosts agree the current public signals from Brown should settle, at least temporarily, the trade buzz.

• Personal Growth:

  • Karalis and Tom discuss Brown naming this his "favorite season," a sentiment he’s voiced since December, suggesting fulfillment in both team growth and personal vindication.

  “It's my favorite season because it was a big success. But I do also want Jalen to understand that we do know that it's also your favorite season because you got to do it on your terms.” (11:07, Karalis)

• Conclusion:

  • For now, Brown’s status in Boston seems secure. Long-term uncertainty in the NBA remains, but the drama can “be put to bed”—though, as Tom quips, that doesn’t mean it won’t get up and wander around again (13:13).

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2. Stevens’ Frustration – A Lack of Satisfaction with Shallow Success

[13:34 - 22:56]

• Brad Stevens’ “Iron Fist in Velvet Glove” (16:36, Karalis):

  • While known for a measured demeanor, Stevens delivered a stern message: winning 56 games means little if the Celtics falter against the league’s best.

  • Stevens initiated the press conference with an unusually direct opening statement:

    “If you would have told me last summer that we would have won 56 games ... I would have been thrilled with those results. But ... we came up short. ... When you look at what's true ... we lost in the first round, and we, you know, we were also 3 and 11 against the top three seeds... So we've got to get better.” (18:33, Stevens)

• Caveats and Context:

  • Stevens also noted 56 wins were partly fueled by facing “tanking” teams; next season will offer fewer easy wins.
  • Improvement among young players (notably Ugo and Baylor Shireman) was acknowledged (“critical piece of the team's future”), indicating discontent is aimed at the main rotation, not the developmental core.

• Accountability and Honest Assessment:

  “When you look at what's true ... though we did a lot of good things, we lost in the first round ... We're not good enough, and all the good stuff, fine. But we can't sit there and be like, look how close we got... we're not good enough and we need to make changes.” (20:08–21:00, Stevens/Karalis commentary)

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3. The Celtics’ Chronic Problem: Struggling with Prosperity

[22:56 - 41:20]

• Recurring Pattern:

  • Gary Washburn asked—why can't the Celtics handle prosperity? Why do they relax with big leads or after big wins?

• Brad Stevens' Candid Reflection (28:23):

  “You know, we win game one ... didn’t play well in game two ... you go back to the Miami series three years ago ... New York series last year ... game five this year. ... We need to get better in those moments.”

  • Traced this issue for "three years,” but Karalis notes it stretches across different coaching eras—including Stevens'.

• Core Issue Diagnostics:

  • Karalis and Tom are adamant that this is not merely an Xs-and-Os or situational issue but a deeply embedded mentality among the team's two stars (Tatum & Brown), occasionally enabled by Joe Mazzulla’s player-empowerment style.
  • Karalis: “I just think this is a pointed message to all of those guys that you have to be better. And he [Stevens] also is like, you know, we’re... we’ll bring somebody in. Yeah, I’m gonna fix this.” (33:35–34:16)
  • Tom: “When these issues cost you two playoff series in a row... I think that's where you get Brad coming out and answering Gary's question really honestly.” (36:40)

• Notable Quotes:

  • “If you take your foot off the gas at any point, it's going to come back to bite you.” (30:56, Stevens)
  • “Who are the constants? It's Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown ... they have a tendency to go for their own knockout punches.” (31:43, Karalis)

• Potential Solutions:

  • The team’s “niceness” is not in doubt, but perhaps a “veteran agitator”—someone with the playoff poise and audacity to call the team to attention when they coast—is missing.
  • The hosts cite the championship year’s Drew Holiday, often steadying the team during chaos, as the player archetype needed now.

  “Maybe they need more of an agitator out there ... a veteran that can kind of wake them up from time to time ... Like, I'm going to be the Drew Holiday. I'm going to make two plays and then you guys ... get back on track.” (40:00, Karalis)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Brad Stevens:

  • “What's true is the entire crux of that sign ... Number one, you're not good enough to beat the good teams.” (23:34)
  • “Those are things we got to get better with. And I don’t think we’re the only team ... but I don’t think we should ignore it.” (29:00)

• John Karalis:

  • “Brad has no qualms about ... making the hard decision, but ... he was mad. He ... was not happy with the team.” (16:36)
  • “The can't handle prosperity thing has been lingering for so long. ... Maybe they do need ... more of an agitator out there.” (37:27, 40:00)

• Tom (Co-host):

  • “[If] you're Ugo, you're not the full target of Brad's wrath ... what that leaves is a bunch of rotation guys who. Brad is saying we were not good enough.” (21:27)
  • “When these issues cost you two playoff series in a row... that's where you get Brad coming out and answering Gary's question really honestly.” (36:40)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Quote | |----------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:13 – 13:34 | The Jaylen Brown narrative: frustration rumors, public endorsements, and analysis | | 18:33 – 22:56 | Brad Stevens’ opening statement on the real meaning of the 56-win season | | 28:23 – 31:39 | Stevens on struggling with prosperity; playoff collapses and lessons not yet learned | | 34:16 – 41:20 | Personality, leadership, and what the Celtics might need to fix their mental lapses |

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Episode Takeaways

• Brad Stevens is not satisfied: The regular season win total means little after another early exit and poor performance versus elite teams.
• The Jaylen Brown rift is, for now, overblown: Both Stevens and Brown assert a strong relationship and commitment to Boston.
• Handling prosperity remains Boston’s “structural flaw”: The pattern of relaxing after success is entrenched and demands a cultural shift—possibly through strategic roster additions and/or more assertive responses from the coaching staff.
• The offseason could bring real change: Stevens’ deliberate openness about shortcomings, and his history of tough decisions, hint that major moves could be coming to break the cycle.

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For more on Stevens’ thoughts about the gap between regular season and playoffs, three-point shooting, and potential additions at the rim, tune in to Friday’s follow-up episode.

Transcript

[John Corrales]

Foreign podcast Network your team every day.

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[John Corrales]

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[John Corrales]

of the winners hey, welcome back to the show. I am John Corralis and today's show is brought to you by. Game time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code LOCKDOWN for $20 off your first purchase of tickets, sporting events, whatever you want. Brad Stevens spoke on Wednesday at the RBAC center and had a lot to say. So much so that we've got two parts. We're going to do this show and there's so Much to talk about. We're going to do another show about other things that Brad Stevens said. So two podcasts tomorrow. It's going to be about the three point shooting, adding a player to address their inability to get to the rim, and Joe Missoula's job. That's going to be tomorrow's podcast today. Later on, we're going to get into why the Celtics can't handle prosperity. The second segment, we're going to do the Celtics record against good teams and why that is informing him so much. We're going to start the conversation with how his relationship is with Jaylen Brown. We're going to do it with. The relationship that I have is a good one with.

[Tom]

Yeah, it's pretty good. I'm gonna go on. I'm gonna be on Twitch pretty soon. I'll give everybody my actual thoughts.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom]

On you and yeah, locked on Celtics as a whole. But, but, yeah, but you know what, you know, I look forward to when you like, hopefully you go on vacation at some point and I can have a week to do the podcast myself and that'll be my favorite week that I've ever done the podcast. So. Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Okay, fair hit. Fair hit at Jaylen Brown there. All right, so obviously the, the setup to this, what we're going to do, I'm going to play the clips from Brad Stevens. You can hear what he said. The setup is Jalen Brown has, since the end of Game 7, has been kind of like, we've done our, our bonus podcast on the stuff that he said. It's. It's just been a little. It hasn't sat well. And the, the interesting thing is right before we started recording, he went onto a stream, a Twitch stream, and actually kind of was like settled things down.

[Tom]

He diffused a little bit.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, he definitely did. But heading into this, Brad Stevens media availability yet Tracy McGrady saying, you know, I'm hearing, you know, how. How are you hearing Tracy McGrady, Jalen Brown's hero and confidant. How are you hearing that Jalen Brown is experiencing frustration with the team, with the organization? So with that in mind, I asked Brad Stevens about. The question was, you know, has. Has Jalen expressed any frustration to you? Is the relationship that the team has, how is that relationship? Here's Brad's answer.

[Brad Stevens]

I talked to Jalen Monday a little bit after. He just real quickly and was nothing but positive. He has not expressed those frustrations to me. We've been here 10 years together and I, I do think that, you know, obviously I love JB and everybody around here loves jb and, you know, I think just like any of our other guys, as we get to the end of the season, I'll be here and my door is always open. And if anybody ever wants to come in and talk about it and talk about, you know, their team, their place, whatever the case may be, I'm all ears. And that would be 1 through 16. Not just, you know, not just Jalen, not just Jason, not just the guys that have been here. I think it's really important to be available, so I certainly am. And, and none of that has been expressed to me.

[John Corrales]

So on the, on the stream again, at this point, an hour and a half before we started recording, Jalen was pretty clear. He's, he said, I'm, I'm upset that Brad even had to answer this question. Which means that, you know, look, because it got out there and once it's out there, Brad has to be asked the question. He said, my relationship with Brad is a good one. I love Boston. I would play here. If it was up to me, I'd play here for the next 10 years. So all of this kind of, hey, is Jalen angling for a way out, any of that stuff? Obviously people can say things and not mean them.

[Brad Stevens]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

But I feel like Jalen was pretty clear. And if you're, if you are angling for a way out, it would be pretty dumb to go on a live stream and say, I love Boston. If it was up to me, I would stay here for the next 10 years. So I don't know, what's your reaction?

[Tom]

Yeah, there's a passive aggressive way that these things are done if you want a way out. And that's exactly what we saw from the guy that is in all the Jaylen Brown rumors. Right. Like we've seen from Jonathan over the past, like two years that that's the passive aggressive way to get yourself out of a situation. Also, there's a way to do it. If you're trying to do it in a classy way. You can talk about it the way that Brad Stevens talked about Vucevich, right? Where he's like, he's a nice guy, liked him in the locker room. Really think he's a good vet for the locker room. It was a good experience having him here in the locker room. Like, you know, there's, there's a way that these things are done. And that, that way of, of of doing them is not one what Brad did. Right. Because, because Brad said, I think the relationship is great. Like Brad didn't, you know, sidestep any of that. He was just like, nope, I. I've spoken to him. Nothing was expressed to me. We love Jalen. This is, you know, like, we, you know, we love Jalen within the organization. Jalen comes out. Jalen says, I feel bad that Brad had to deal with this, which, again, like, you know, is kind of funny because it's like, yeah, my guy, like, all of this. Like, of course he was gonna have to do this as soon as. As you started, like, talking about this stuff, like, publicly, like, it was either going to be Brad or Joe. Right. Whoever. Whoever came up in front of the media first was going to deal with these questions. But. But Jalen was pretty clear about, you know, how he feels. Right. You don't say, I want to stay in Boston for the next 10 years. You don't say all this stuff if you're angling for a way out. So, yeah, I mean, it's. I don't think anything is, like, put to bed. I think that there's, you know, we're going to get into a lot of it here. Brad said a lot of stuff and is not happy with this team, but I do think that that part of it can sort of be like, okay, Jalen's not requesting a trade. The Celtics really like Jalen. Yeah, that part seems pretty squared away.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, I. I just think that if. If he was. If he was ever angling for a trade, which, look, some people have suggested. Jalen's looking for a way out to come out and say, I want to be here would be. That would be like, well, okay, you're just setting yourself up to get roasted because everybody has clipped that. It's all over Twitter, it's all over social media to say, I want to be here. If it was up to me, now the cynic would say, oh, well, he's leaving himself and out. If it was up to me, you can say, he could. He could. He could request a trade and be like, well, you took it out of my hands by doing X, Y, and Z. Now I have to request a trade. It's not. I didn't want to, but I had to. So there is some of that.

[Tom]

That spoiler Kyrie Irving, the old Kyrie Irving. I'm gonna resign if you'll have me.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's. It's the. You know, look at. Look at what you made me do to you. Like, that's like, look. Look at what you made me do. I had to go request a trade. Like, that's Not. No, you don't want to do that. So I. I feel like most of this stuff is put to bed, and you can chalk it up to post Game 7 frustrations. He also doubled down on the why this was his favorite season. And some of that doesn't sit well with people. And I understand. I also do understand, but, you know, saying, like, listen, man, we're, you know, we. We had. We were expected to do nothing, and look at all these cool things that happened. It's. I can't in good faith write a piece that said the season was a big success and then turn around and kill Jalen for saying my favorite. It's my favorite season because it was a. A big success. But I do also want Jalen to understand that we do know that it's also your favorite season because you got to do it on your terms.

[Tom]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And, like, that's also a part of it. Like, I will accept. Hey, man, like, he went on the stream and said, look at. I got to see Ugo do this. I got to see Baylor and Jordan, and I get to see Jason Tatum do all this cool stuff. Like, of course this is my favorite season. Like, yes, okay, I accept all of that.

[Tom]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

But also, the first time you said this was your favorite season, it was back in December. I remember it was December 20th. I looked it up, like, 20, December 22nd, after beating the Indiana Pacers, and he got MVP chance at the free throw line. And it's like, yeah, that's you. Part of why this is your favorite season. And he has said this. I'm not, like, psychoanalyzing. He has said, yeah, he got to prove things about himself to people. So it's both. And that's fine. That's fine. We all want to prove things. You know, I sit there, I want to prove things. Sometimes when I write or when I podcast, sometimes you just be like, hey, listen, man, I want to throw it out there that, you know, I'm good at this, and you want to have those moments for sure. But let's not pretend it's. It's. I'll accept the other stuff if Jalen accepts that stuff, and we can move on, and it's totally fine. And I think to me, Jaylen stuff is mostly put to bed for now.

[Tom]

I think for now is a very important caveat. But, yes, I think for now, it's

[John Corrales]

sure leaving the door open for who knows what, because there's always something. There's a who knows what that happens. But I think for now, if it's.

[Tom]

If it's up to us. We can put it to bed.

[John Corrales]

Okay, listen, like, before we came on, before we came on, you were being a good dad and hugging your son and. And putting him to bed.

[Tom]

Well, is he gonna come up there to go read? But yes.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, but does he always stay in bed? Does he show up every once in a while and be like, hey, you're supposed to be asleep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, every once in a while you look up and there's like a seven year old. Like, you were supposed to be put to bed a long time ago.

[Tom]

And, like, he's gonna make you feel old. He's almost nine,

[John Corrales]

damn it. Okay, fine. But in my mind, I'm gonna say seven year old, and it's a couple years off Miami. But that's. That's. That's how I look at the Jalen stuff. Yeah. It's put to bed. Hopefully he sleeps through the night and we can get.

[Tom]

It might get scared.

[John Corrales]

He might get scared and climb in bed with you and you're like, oh, we gotta do the Jalen thing again in July. All right. Brad Stevens said something, I think, like we did the Jalen Brown thing first because it was like, front of mind. I think the most important thing that he said actually is what we're going to talk about next because he's the one who brought this up. So that is coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by DoorDash. Postseason is hot right now. Doordash has a way to keep you in your bag the whole way through. Whether you're watching highlights, tunnel fits, or just Your favorite player, DoorDash makes this entire postseason run more fun. No matter which team you have attached to. After the Celtics are gone, every player has their bag. With DoorDash fans, you have one too. Door dash keeps your snacks stocked, your gear fresh, and your watch party vibes absolutely on point. So we know that you've been stressed out a bit. You can use doordash to get that post game therapy and get that dessert dessert delivered to you right away. I know that because there have been boxes of cookies showing up up in my door through DoorDash very often. The late night interviews. If you're watching a west coast game, you can get midnight deliveries there. And if the group chat says pull up, you can show up prepared snacks, cups, a phone charger, even for a friend who's always at 2% from tip off to overtime. Stay in your bag and order on DoorDash. Get snacks, drinks, gear, whatever you need throughout the postseason deliver right to your door. Doordash in your bag all season long. Today's show also brought to you by Game Time. There's nothing like playoff basketball live. I wish I was still there live, but I can tell you the intensity, the crowd, the rivalries. It's a completely different experience when you're in the building and the playoffs. It's where unforgettable moments happen. If you're around a playoff city, you want to try it, open up the Game Time app. It's very easy to find tickets there. The Game Time guarantee lets you know it's all 100% authentic tickets on time at the best price. So when you open up the Game Time app, what you're going to see is number one. The price that you see is the price that you're going to pay. Number two, a seat view feature. So whatever seat you punch in, it'll show you what the what the court or if you're going to a baseball game, what the field looks like or whatever it'll show you. If you like the view from that section, you can pick a zone deal. They'll pick the seats for you. If you pick the section, you get a better deal there. The lowest price guarantee and ticket coverage Coverage gets you the confidence you need every time you're buying tickets. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code LockedOn for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply. Create an account, redeem the code Locked on L O C K E D locked on for $20 off. Download the game Time app today. Thanks for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. Appreciate you being here every Monday through Friday. Got bonus podcasts sporadically during the week. When the regular season comes back and they play on weekends, you get bonus podcasts then too. So thank you for subscribing, watching the show on YouTube and joining me, John Corrales, beat writer covering the Celtics for Sports Illustrated's Celtics on si. I was at Brad Stevens event, asking questions, being there, listening to the questions, all that stuff. So you get behind the scenes firsthand accounting and opinions here. So thank you for checking me out here. I've been covering the team for 20 years doing this podcast for 10 and Tom, I look this was kind of to me the, the iron fist in the velvet in the velvet glove that Brad. Brad has no qualms about being like making the hard decision. He'll trade for somebody. He'll trade a guy away. Doesn't Matter. He makes the hard decision, but he. He was mad. He. I want to be clear. He was not happy. He is not happy with the. The team. He did not celebrate the regular season and be like, no, we're just. No, he very clearly was not happy.

[Tom]

Real interesting. Before you go to that, very interesting in the context of gap year, right, because we. We said. Like I said, I think that that's fine if it's a gap year. And we agreed. Well, it turns out this was a gap year, and Brad being mad about it makes you think that everybody might not have been so on board with this not being gap year.

[John Corrales]

The guy who.

[Tom]

The guy who maybe could have really used a higher draft pick this year to build his roster.

[John Corrales]

All right, this is the thing that he brought up. And we'll continue this, because I want to. He made an opening statement, which Brad doesn't always do. He came out and sat down and said before, basically, before you ask questions, I got some things to say. Yeah, this. He talked for, like, three minutes. This is 90 seconds of it, but this is the best 90 seconds of it. Again, he brought this up.

[Brad Stevens]

I guess the. The tough part that. The part that's hard to reconcile is just when we were sitting here, if you would have told me last summer that we would have won 56 games in the regular season, that, you know, the. The young guys would all become contributors, you know, that people would have great impact all up and down our roster, that we would get Tatum back for 20 games or whatever it was. I would have been thrilled with those results. But the reality is, is that, you know, we. We came up short. And so, you know, now the. The job is to do an honest assessment. You know, I've got. I've got a little sign above my. Above my desk that says, what do you want? What's true? And how do you get there? And there's no question what we want. There's no question when you look at what's true, that though we did a lot of good things, we lost in the first round, and we, you know, we were also 3 and 11 against the top three seeds in the. In the west and the other top two in the East. And so we've got. We've got to get better. And that's been the. The communication in here when just talking to the team. I think obviously these guys are really committed to growth. I thought the coaches did a really good job of helping guys all get better, but there's another step to take,

[John Corrales]

so bringing up the record against the good teams. Think to me, says a lot because he's acknowledging, look, we. We won 56 games, but we couldn't beat the best of the best. He brought up separately the fact that a lot of teams were tanking. And, yep, next season, that won't be the case. And so you'll get a better sense of who's good next season. So, again, a suggestion that maybe. Maybe a few of these wins. Maybe 56 wins. Wasn't really 56 wins. It was, you know, congratulations. Yeah, I mean, they played some tanking teams down the stretch, and, like, that's you. You probably fattened up a little bit on those. And everybody did. Everybody did.

[Tom]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

So I. I thought that him bringing that up just out of the blue was very telling, that he's like, listen, man, we are. We are not good. Not good enough, and all the good stuff, fine. But we can't sit there and be like, look how close we got. Joel Embiid came back. Whatever. No, he's like, we're not good enough and we need to make changes.

[Tom]

Yeah. And it's interesting that he, you know, that. That in the. In that context, he did bring up all the young guys improving a lot. Right. So it does. I mean, it does kind of seem like I. I don't know if he's happy with them, but I think maybe, you know, if you're. If you're Ugo, if you're Baylor Shireman, maybe you could feel like you're not. You're not the full target of Brad's wrath. You know what I mean? Let's. You're like. You get like a little.

[John Corrales]

Hey, listen, he called. He called Ugo critical piece of the team's future. So he did.

[Tom]

He also said, I. We. We've talked about you and I talked about this off. Off air. He. He was very dismissive about, like, he did not separate himself.

[John Corrales]

Like, it's like I'm choosing to, like, move past that part of the thing and just say, hey, he's a critical piece.

[Tom]

Critical piece for sure.

[John Corrales]

As the resident Ugo hype train driver. Anyway, continue.

[Tom]

No, you know, you're. You're 100. Right. It's interesting because what that leaves. Right. Is a bunch of rotation guys who. Brad is saying we were not good enough. And, you know, I mean, we'll get into this, I. I think on tomorrow's pod about, like, you know what that means. But, I mean, it was. I mean, it was. It was a really pointed opening statement. Really.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom]

Really direct. Really. I mean, there was. I think he. It Seemed very much like he wanted to make some things clear about what his plans are for this off season.

[John Corrales]

Not.

[Tom]

Not. I'm not so clear that he's, like, telegraphing anything, but kind of like, hey, listen, yeah, no, I'm, I'm not pumped about this. I, like, I'm glad that the young guys were good. I'm glad that we got a cute little 56 regular season win, but, like, I don't have a 56. I want to win 56 regular season games. That's not the message. That's above my desk. The thing that's above my desk is not that.

[John Corrales]

You know that. Right. It's the. And I like that he brought that up because it's like, what do you want? What's true? That's. That's the big part. Like, that's why he brought that up.

[Tom]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

What's true?

[Tom]

That that sign has really been, like, kind of knocking on the door of his brain for a couple. Yeah.

[John Corrales]

You know it. What's true is the entire crux of that sign and what is true are two things. Number one, you're not good enough to beat the good teams. And even if the Celtics did what they should have done, which is beat the 76ers and finish them off in game five or game two.

[Tom]

Hello.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, but just. Let's just say game five, which we'll get to in the next segment. If they had done that, I'm still. I don't think I would have picked them to beat New York. I think they would have lost to the Knicks. The Knicks have. First of all, the Knicks have beaten them this season. This isn't like last season where I walked into the playoffs and I was like, there's no way you should lose to the Knicks this season. I would have been like, this is going to be. This is going to be tough. Maybe Tatum, you know, if the knee thing didn't happen, maybe there would have been a little something. But regardless, Brad, when you talk about what's true, we're not good enough to beat the good teams. What do you want, championships? How do you get there? Well, if you're not good enough to get. To get past the good teams, how you get there is finding players to get you to those good teams. Yeah. Past those good teams, which I, I want to. I want to get to this next thing because. Shout out to Gary Washburn for asking this question. And I thought, man, this is a great question. And Brad Stevens on the question of why can't the Celtics handle prosperity? And do you need to bring somebody in who can essentially. That was a great one. That is coming up next.

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[John Corrales]

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[Brad Stevens]

I think that's a legitimate question. And you know, I would say the prosperity, you know, human nature's human nature for a reason. But, you know, we win, we win game one, you know, and played pretty well. And then we did not play well in game two. And it goes back one one. You know, it doesn't matter how much you win by in these series, they all count as one, right? Doesn't matter how much you lose by. They all count as one. But you go back to our championship year and we did that in the Miami series and the Cleveland series with a, with a very experienced, good team. Now you go back to the Miami series three years ago we had lead, big lead in game one, right? You go back to the New York series last year, big lead, game one and two. You go back to game five this year. And so to me, it is somewhat prosperity within the game and, and being able to in those moments be even more dialed in and locked in and recognize that, you know, yeah, we should have played better in games. We could have played better in game seven. We could have played better on the road in game six. But we had a chance to close that out in Game 5. And Embiid's, Embiid's level and Embiid coming back had a big part of that because, because he went on the run where he scored in the post a few times. But then the un. Kind of the backbreaker part or the part that brought them right back in the game was they made about four or five threes right before the end of the third. And then it's a game, you know, and then instead of a 13 point game being 15 at the start of the fourth quarter, it's a lower, more manageable, you know, margin. And so those are things we got to get better with. And I don't think we're the only team I Think there's a lot of. I think there's a lot of teams with how many teams shoot as well as they shoot and how people can go on flurries that, that deal with that. But I, But I don't think we should ignore it. I think that's a big. That's a big talking point, for sure. And I think, I think, Gary, in a lot of those cases, I think for whatever reason, we slowed down and, and, and, and when you slow down in the playoffs and get a little bit, you know, you're trying to protect something, whatever the case may be. I mean, the guys you're playing against, these are the best players on the other teams, and they're the best athletes left in the league. Right. Like those four guys we were trying to drive the ball against this week. Those are guys. Those guys are elite athletes, and they're hard to beat individually. And so you have to. You really have to play great to get what you want. And if. If you take your foot off the gas at any point, it's going to come back to bite you. And again, was it a little bit of us doing that? Was it a lot of Philly just playing really well in that stretch? Yeah, that could have been. But there's enough of a. Three years. Those three years. I agree with you. And I would even say our championship year year. I mean, we need to get better in those moments.

[John Corrales]

I mean, that's. Who's he talking about there?

[Tom]

Who.

[John Corrales]

What? Who are the constants? Who are the constants in there? It's Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown. Some of it is Joe Missoula. But I mean, you. You can go back before that. He did say the last three years, and that's all in the Joe Missoula era.

[Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Not like it wasn't happening before that. That was also in the Eme Udoka era. And listen, Brad was the coach for some of that, too. Yeah, Brad has seen it firsthand. I think this is a consistent issue with the Celtics that when things are going great, they have a tendency to relax, they have a tendency to go for their own knockout punches that I think Jalen and Jason are both equally guilty of. Okay, things are getting tough. Either things are getting tough. I can do it because I'm. I'm great.

[Brad Stevens]

Fair.

[John Corrales]

Okay. But they. They're not always able to deliver or they're like, I want. I want to be the one who throws the knockout punch. Maybe there's some of that. Those are the two constants throughout all of this. So I think this is to Me, a direct kind of not shot. It's a direct commentary on. Look, you've got two stars here that are on the floor. Whatever. You got some. Some of this is definitely coaching. And you, like, you cannot slow down. You cannot give into what. What you think I think you should do. If I have one criticism about Joe, I think when it comes to the playoffs, I think he defers a little too much to Jalen and Jason, and he. I think he coaches more. Like, he should coach. He thinks he should coach in the playoffs versus during the regular season where he's kind of like, whatever. I think he's always. Whatever it takes to win, but I think in the playoffs, he is a little bit more in. Under the. All right, this is where we get to the stars, and I'm giving it to the stars, and here we go. And you know what I mean? So I think. I think that that's the slowing down part, and I think the. The. The mentality is a Jalen and Jason thing. So I. I just think this is a pointed message to all of those guys that you. You have to be better. And he also is like, you know, we. We're. We'll bring somebody in. Yeah, I'm gonna fix this.

[Tom]

Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting, right, because he's. He's. It like when Joe. When that happens, right, in the playoffs, it cuts against everything that Joe says, because Joe's all about, you know, give the game what it needs, right? And like, you know, he's all. In the playoffs, he's all about, you know, just like, hey, like, nothing's different, right? But. But there is a difference there, right? There is a, like, you know, that deferring to. To Jalen and Jason that if. If that's not working, then that's not what the game needs, right? That's. That's just kind of right, the numbers there. So. Yeah, no, and I thought. I thought. I don't know, man. Brad's answer was. It was. It. It was. It was so pointed, you know, like, it was just so. And it was. We. I think part of it is that we've seen it now not only cost the Celtics, like, play, it's cost them entire series multiple times now, right? You go back to, like, precisely what he's talking about. You see it in the Knicks series. You go up and you, like, you just. You fall apart. You see it in. In the Sixers series where, you know, game two, game one is followed by game two. Like, that. That was weird. That. That was. And then, you know, like, game five could have been the closeout, probably should have been the closeout, and it wasn't. And like, these moments now, like, that's. That's two. Two playoffs in a row, one playoff. It happens. It's kind of fluky, right? The Celtics win a championship, they come back the next year, they're kind of tired. It's. It's tough to win two championships in a row. That's. That's difficult to do. You melt down a little bit, you start missing some shots, you get in your head, okay, all right, this sucks. J. You know, Tatum gets hurt. Sucks. Whatever. You know, we're out of the playoffs. That's. That's. That's a tough situation. But then when those things rear their heads again, you know, that championship, if the championship was like a line of demarcation, where it's like, okay, this is. This is where this stuff ended. We figured it out and we won a championship, and now we are a veteran playoff team that might not win a championship every year, but. But competes and knows how to win. That's one thing. Right? But then when they. When the. The issues that reared their heads before start to rear their heads again, and they cost you two playoff series in a row, I think that's where you get Brad coming out and answering Gary's question really honestly.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom]

And I think that's what we got.

[John Corrales]

It. It kind of brings up, like, do you re. Litigate the. The championship. Do you relitigate any of the stuff that they accomplished in the past against some of this? Like, it. Does. Does this change any. Does. Does any of this stuff change how you feel about what they accomplished in the past? And that. That in itself is probably an entirely different podcast that needs to, like, be broken down and discussed.

[Tom]

Good thing we got a long off season because.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. Yeah. This. This is an entire month where I was expecting to be doing post game podcasts.

[Tom]

That sounds like a great topic for when the good teams in the NBA are in the championship. We could. We could have this conversation.

[John Corrales]

Okay, Table that one. Yeah. Yeah, man. Like, I. I just think that the. The can't handle prosperity thing has been lingering for so long. Yeah. And look, Brad. Brad did hit on an important point. The. The three pointers that the Sixers hit to get back into the game, put them in a position to go to Joel and be. And to cl. You know, pull away and win that. The. The three point shooting in the league allows for these. These comebacks. I've thought this for a while. It just feels like the Celtics Operate like they're still in a world where 20 point leads, leads are. The game is over. Yeah, it seems like they always, whenever the lead hits 20, it's like, okay, hold on, hold on. We're about to hit some turbulence. The fastened seat belt light comes on at a 20 point lead and it just becomes, all right, let's see. And sometimes they, like in games one and three, you just pull away, but so often they don't. And it's that little bit of a letup and then it's three pointer, three pointer, three pointer and a 90 run makes it an 11 point game. And that, that stuff is like, that's easy to come back from now. You're reeling, you, you come down, you can trade baskets for a little while and then just go, you know, get a foul and all. Like, you can, you can cut into that depending how much time you have very easily. So I don't know what it is. Part of me thinks like the Celtics kind of the. I, I've sat here and said this, this locker room is so nice and they're all like the, the, the nicest dudes out there and top notch like citizens and all that. Like, and that's all true. May, maybe, maybe they do need, maybe they need like, I, I don't want to go like full Dylan Brooks or anything like that, but maybe they need more of an agitator out there. Maybe they need somebody that's a veteran that can kind of wake them up from time to time. Like, I bring up Drew Holiday, like, how many times in that championship run did the Celtics kind of like start to lose a little bit of control and then be like, then, then Drew came in and was like, okay, I'm gonna make three plays. Everybody settle down. I'm going to make these three plays and then we can get back onto things. Like, they're missing even that. Yeah. And I. Jalen Brown is great, he's an elite player. Jason Tatum's great, he's an elite player. But I just think either individually or combination of those two, they need somebody because every once in a while they're going to like lose the plot and you need somebody to get them back on. Either it's Joe subbing somebody in or calling a timeout or calling a play or something, or it's a player, a veteran, that's going to be like, hey guys, let's wake up here and get back on track. I'm going to be the Drew Holiday. I'm going to make two plays and then you guys can keep doing what you're doing and we'll, we'll kind of refocus. So.

[Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Tom]

Yep.

[John Corrales]

All right. I think there's a lot more to that conversation to be had, but for now, we're going to wrap it up. So again, we're gonna, what we're gonna do is I'm going to stop recording. I'm going to wrap up the show and we're immediately going to start recording the Friday show. This is the Thursday show. The Friday show will be part two of this conversation of Brad talking about the gap between the regular season and the playoffs, the three point shooting and the need to get somebody to get something at the rim, and his thoughts on Joe Missoula. That is all tomorrow. So for now, Tom, I'm gonna say goodbye.

[Tom]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. I appreciate you.

[Tom]

Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow.

[John Corrales]

I'll see you tomorrow. Wink. All right. Thanks everybody for listening. Thanks everybody for watching. Make sure you're here tomorrow for part two. Leave your comments, everything that we talked about here. Leave your comments in the YouTube comment section. And then I would love it if you shared the podcast. Tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast here on the Lockdown Podcast network. It's your team. Every day 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 [e-mail] the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There's an SUV that turns the unthinkable into the unforgettable. The new Nissan Pathfinder. Built for big adventures and all that family chaos. It's powered by a strong V6 engine with a nine speed automatic transmission. Inside, it's rugged and capable, but still premium and tech forward with room for up to eight passengers. It's also available with seven passenger seating and second row captain's chairs with massive hauling capability. Now you can bring all the gear you and your family need for unforgettable adventures. The new V6 Nissan Pathfinder power your adventure out on the road. It helps to have a partner like the Love's Rewards app. Download Luvs Rewards today to get sweet discounts and earn points on food, fuel, drinks and more. Every time you scan Love's rewards. Save and earn at every turn. Terms apply. See website for details.