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Speaker 1: Welcome to this League uncut in the world of twenty

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Speaker 1: four hour NBA news.

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Speaker 2: This is you, Lo.

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Speaker 1: Chris Hans. It's come time, work's time, It's so time.

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Speaker 1: This League uncut is underway and on fire. This should

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Speaker 1: be a good one.

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Speaker 3: Jalab Brown thirteen points in the corner, switches to the

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Speaker 3: left hand. Jalen tries right the mail class over Green,

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Speaker 3: throws it down with the right hand and puts a

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Speaker 3: signature punctuation.

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Speaker 4: Mark on a dominant third quarter.

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Speaker 5: Everyone, welcome in to another edition of this League uncut.

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Speaker 5: Mark Stein here operating solo, taping this on Thursday night,

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Speaker 5: on the eve of Game four in these NBA Finals,

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Speaker 5: operating solo in terms of our normal cast.

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Speaker 6: But I do have a special guest. He is the

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Speaker 6: play by play radio voice of the Boston Celtics, the

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Speaker 6: same Celtics who have stormed to a three to zero

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Speaker 6: lead in these finals. Who can complete the first sweep

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Speaker 6: in the finals that we've seen since twenty eighteen if

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Speaker 6: they can win Friday night in Dallas. A hearty this

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Speaker 6: league uncut.

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Speaker 5: Welcome to my former One time I can actually say

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Speaker 5: this and not be It sounds ridiculous, but it is

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Speaker 5: actually true. My former one time radio partner on a

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Speaker 5: Celtics A real live Celtics radio broadcast, the one and

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Speaker 5: only Sean Grandy.

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Speaker 2: You're on the list, man, You're on the all time

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Speaker 2: partner list. I granted, I've done twenty two hundred games

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Speaker 2: of Cedric Maxwell, you and I have only done one,

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Speaker 2: but it's all. It's if you're on the list, You're

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Speaker 2: on the list.

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Speaker 5: Man, Hey man, I was proud to do it. I

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Speaker 5: was honored when you asked me. It was four or

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Speaker 5: five years ago when Max was not on the road

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Speaker 5: with you, and you were in Dallas high high high

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Speaker 5: above the floor, in the very unwelcome radio position at

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Speaker 5: the AAC, and you asked me to join you. And

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Speaker 5: that was actually the first time I had ever tried

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Speaker 5: to do radio analyst work. And then this in these playoffs,

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Speaker 5: I had the same opportunity. I got to do three

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Speaker 5: games alongside MAVs radio play by play voice Chuck Cooper Stein.

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Speaker 5: I got to do three games in the Clippers series.

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Speaker 5: So I'm up to four career games on radio.

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Speaker 2: And listen this time of the year. And this is

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Speaker 2: obviously a big dilemma and a big choice I had

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Speaker 2: in my life. Over the last couple of years. This

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Speaker 2: is the one of the things about doing radio and TV.

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Speaker 2: I love doing both, but it's sort of like, you know,

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Speaker 2: the dark, dirty secret of the NBA with local television

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Speaker 2: is you don't get to do any of the good games,

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Speaker 2: and you don't get to do playoff games beyond maybe

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Speaker 2: a couple in the first round. And that to me

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Speaker 2: when people were when I was in this dilemma about

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Speaker 2: TV radio, what are you going to do? It was,

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Speaker 2: are you really the voice of the Celtics if you're

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Speaker 2: just doing the four games against Charlotte no offense, and

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Speaker 2: not doing the you know, the big ABC games during

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Speaker 2: the year, and then not doing the playoffs. And I

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Speaker 2: can't imagine if you're the voice of the Celtics, you're

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Speaker 2: not sitting at home tomorrow night. You know, you're documenting

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Speaker 2: the history and you're covering the team, and so that is.

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Speaker 2: You know, radio may have these terrible broadcast locations and

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Speaker 2: get you out of your special seat right at the

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Speaker 2: AAC and force you high upstairs, but I just can't imagine.

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Speaker 2: I was with Mark follow All the other night, I said,

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Speaker 2: you're handling it better than I would, because that was

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Speaker 2: that was The choice I made was that I just

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Speaker 2: couldn't give up. I wasn't going to give up these

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Speaker 2: games and telling the stories that matter.

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Speaker 4: And that's outwardlyaks, I know it is eating them up

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Speaker 4: inside it.

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Speaker 5: Like you said, every every team's local broadcast squad after

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Speaker 5: round one they have to step aside because in round

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Speaker 5: two everything goes national. And like you said, radio still look.

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Speaker 5: I have a as one tweeter once hit me with

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Speaker 5: and I I didn't I can't find the tweet, but

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Speaker 5: it was, I mean, it was such a it was

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Speaker 5: so cutting that I will never forget it. They said

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Speaker 5: something like Stein, you gotta face, you gotta you gotta

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Speaker 5: face for print.

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Speaker 4: No, you gotta face for radio and a voice for print.

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Speaker 4: So I do.

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Speaker 5: I am not exactly blessed with a broadcast voice, but

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Speaker 5: I love radio as a medium. So to have my

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Speaker 5: four career games as an NBA analyst, I am proud

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Speaker 5: that those are those. I'm never gonna get to twenty

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Speaker 5: two hundred or whatever the number is. You are, but

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Speaker 5: I will take my four, and I'm happy.

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Speaker 2: You're you're also. I mean, when you look at what

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Speaker 2: team has the best combination of TV play by play

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Speaker 2: and radio play by play in the NBA. I'm not

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Speaker 2: sure you beat Dallas, you know, with Mark and Chuck

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Speaker 2: are just so you know, legitimately two future Hall of

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Speaker 2: Fame guys. Liken Averick fans have been really lucky for

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Speaker 2: a really long time.

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Speaker 5: They will love hearing you say that let's get to

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Speaker 5: this series because man, better get so quick. The Celtics

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Speaker 5: have been just beyond impressive. I guess I'm you know,

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Speaker 5: I have to put my hand up and say that

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Speaker 5: I was one of those skeptics who said I still

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Speaker 5: need to see these guys do it on the grandest stage.

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Speaker 5: I have questions about their Eastern Conference path was so easy,

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Speaker 5: what is it going to look like against a Western

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Speaker 5: Conference team?

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Speaker 4: And whatever questions or skepticisms you want.

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Speaker 5: To raise about these guys, they have swatted it all

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Speaker 5: away really, really impressively.

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Speaker 4: Tell me what you're seeing.

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Speaker 2: Well, the reason that you were skeptical and so many

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Speaker 2: people were, is because you haven't seen it and you've

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Speaker 2: had so many shortcomings to see on the big stage

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Speaker 2: for so many years. But I go back to the

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Speaker 2: forementioned Cedric Maxwell and I during the fourteen to fifteen season,

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Speaker 2: when Golden State was starting to play. They were the

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Speaker 2: way they were playing, they were dominating, and they were

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Speaker 2: doing it with defense. Somebody was paying attention to that,

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Speaker 2: But nobody had won playing the way they had won,

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Speaker 2: and that team hadn't won Golden State hadn't been a

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Speaker 2: historically good team. Nobody that year, as it was going on,

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Speaker 2: thought they were gonna win. And I kept telling Max

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Speaker 2: that year they're gonna win, They're gonna win the championship,

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Speaker 2: and nobody could buy it because you couldn't picture it

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Speaker 2: because it hadn't happened twenty four hours from now. I

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Speaker 2: would imagine the way things are going when the Celtics

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Speaker 2: and this entire group and the franchise and all the

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Speaker 2: people involved here go through the looking glass to the

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Speaker 2: other side, which is a different world, as you know

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Speaker 2: with Dirk. Once you cross over that line and you

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Speaker 2: become different people in the history of the game, people

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Speaker 2: are gonna look back and say, oh, people doubt of

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Speaker 2: this team. May maybe they're gonna win two championships, maybe three,

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Speaker 2: we don't know. It's not the point. The point is

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Speaker 2: that you couldn't picture it because it hasn't happened yet yet.

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Speaker 2: As I tried to document its this year, went on,

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Speaker 2: I hope people weren't appreciating it the historical dominance as

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Speaker 2: it was happening, because they just pushed away with this

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Speaker 2: brain that said, yeah, but they haven't won the title yet. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: but something will go wrong when they And all I

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Speaker 2: kept saying is all year is they've checked every box.

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Speaker 2: And the end of the sentence was, they've checked every

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Speaker 2: box of a team that goes on to win the championship.

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Speaker 2: As I said all year, Maybe they won't win the championship,

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Speaker 2: but I don't think so, because I've never seen a

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Speaker 2: team play There's no team in history there's played this

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Speaker 2: well dominated the way they've had and not one. So

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Speaker 2: obviously I'm the least surprising person through ninety nine games

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Speaker 2: about to go into Game one hundred on Friday night

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Speaker 2: that this is where the Celtics are, because this is

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Speaker 2: where teams that play this way for ninety nine games

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Speaker 2: are going into Game one hundred.

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Speaker 5: No, it's totally true. I think I wrote it in

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Speaker 5: the second round. It's all hazy now. I can't remember yesterday,

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Speaker 5: but totally agree. In the NBA, this is always the

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Speaker 5: way it is. We doubt you until we see you

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Speaker 5: do it, and then we probably believe in you too much,

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Speaker 5: which is kind of what happened with the Nuggets that

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Speaker 5: we just thought, sure, now they've done it, They've gone

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Speaker 5: to a new level. And it was out right shock

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Speaker 5: when they lost three games at home in the second round.

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Speaker 5: That series with Minnesota was such a roller coaster, and

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Speaker 5: it was shocked to see the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic

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Speaker 5: exit the way they did.

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Speaker 4: But I totally agree with you that, no.

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Speaker 5: This Celtics team did not make a run at seventy

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Speaker 5: three wins, but apart from that, their regular season resume

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Speaker 5: literally has everything. I mean, it is a historically great season.

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Speaker 2: And I remember doing a podcast at midseason basically saying,

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Speaker 2: you know, what if I think people were picturing if

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Speaker 2: they ever got to the championship that it would be

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Speaker 2: similar to these playoff runs they've had in each of

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Speaker 2: the last couple of years the Celtics. In the last

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Speaker 2: two seasons, Mark won eight elimination games. They faced elimination

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Speaker 2: and won eight times. And now I remember saying a

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Speaker 2: midseason what if it's not going to be like that,

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Speaker 2: what if it's going to be just relatively easy. What

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Speaker 2: if they cut the same swath through the playoffs that

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Speaker 2: they do in the regular season, and your mind can't

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Speaker 2: really picture it. And yet here we are in this

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Speaker 2: night where they're fifteen and two in the playoffs, and

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Speaker 2: the real mystery isn't that they're historically dominant to how

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Speaker 2: they lose the two. Like that second game against Miami,

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Speaker 2: you play that ten times, they're probably gonna win it

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Speaker 2: out of ten. It's more amazing if they lost the

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Speaker 2: two than they that they haven't even come anywhere close

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Speaker 2: to lose.

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Speaker 4: It was total sky is falling after both losses.

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Speaker 2: Which was the way this season was. So we all

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Speaker 2: have our own relationship with social media and what it

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Speaker 2: is and how it's affected our life. At this point,

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Speaker 2: I've always tried to use it to engage or whatever,

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Speaker 2: but for the last year or two, I've gone to

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Speaker 2: some degree on occasional to kenbe mc tumble block parties

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Speaker 2: where I just can't take it anymore. Where essentially I

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Speaker 2: would call a game and use I use Twitter as

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Speaker 2: sort of a supplement to the broadcasts, and as I

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Speaker 2: use that's my game prep. I do my game prep

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Speaker 2: getting ready for the next game, and I'll share it

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Speaker 2: on social media. Because there's people that aren't always listening

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Speaker 2: or watching or whatever hour I'm calling the games, so

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Speaker 2: that's where the information is going to be. And here's

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Speaker 2: what would happen this year. Call a game and he'd say, well,

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Speaker 2: the Celtics did this thing tonight that's never been done before,

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Speaker 2: hasn't been done in sixty one years, whatever, And invariably

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Speaker 2: a thousand people would like it, but there was always

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Speaker 2: those three people that would reply, it doesn't Well, they

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Speaker 2: haven't won the championship, so it doesn't matter to which

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Speaker 2: I would make the point. I'd make a couple of points.

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Speaker 2: Number One, there's no championship to be won on December twelfth,

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Speaker 2: so that's number one. Number Two, I'm somewhat aware of

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Speaker 2: how many championships they have won. A nut one seeing

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Speaker 2: is how I've done every game for the last twenty

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Speaker 2: three years, so I kind of know. I was there,

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Speaker 2: Like I'm the guy that was there when they won

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Speaker 2: the last time, so I know. But I think the

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Speaker 2: combination of that skepticism and also what's happened because of

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Speaker 2: the near misses, because of the heartbreak the last few years,

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Speaker 2: and as a hockey guy, you will appreciate the Bruins

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Speaker 2: last year played into this regular season because they had

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Speaker 2: one of the greatest regular seasons. I'm not going to

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Speaker 2: be old man, get off my lawn. It wasn't the

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Speaker 2: greatest regular season ever because overtime losses were not a

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Speaker 2: thing back when we and the world were young. So

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Speaker 2: it wasn't the they weren't the seventy nine Canadians. But

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Speaker 2: it was a great season that ended in the first

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Speaker 2: round that all played into the psyche in Boston where

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Speaker 2: people were a little bit afraid. But the swagger to

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Speaker 2: fear ratio I thought among fans this year was way

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Speaker 2: too low for a team this dominant. That people didn't

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Speaker 2: you know, Boston's known for sort of sticking your chest

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Speaker 2: out and you know, we're the best team that were

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Speaker 2: the Celtics, And I didn't think there was nearly enough

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Speaker 2: of that because there was just so much fear that

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Speaker 2: what was going to happen to this team happened the

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Speaker 2: last few years when nothing we saw. There was no

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Speaker 2: evidence in twenty three twenty four that this team was

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Speaker 2: going to have the same slip ups that it did.

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Speaker 2: They won all of these games at home, they were dominant. Yes,

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Speaker 2: they would have thirty point leads get whittled down to

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Speaker 2: twelve because that's human nature. They were taking thirty point

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Speaker 2: leads that the numbers you would see and not just

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Speaker 2: scoring differential in net rating stuff. You know, we've been

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Speaker 2: doing this alone. We're old study. We've been doing this

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Speaker 2: a long time. We've seen a lot of things. Tell

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Speaker 2: me if you've ever seen this. The Celtics this year

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Speaker 2: took more thirty point leads than they had ten point deficits.

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Speaker 2: It's things like that. They had twenty point leads in

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Speaker 2: literally half of the games they played, they led by twenty.

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Speaker 5: And that is why, that is why your Twitter feed

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Speaker 5: is so good, because you're constantly tweeting all this research.

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Speaker 2: That's I mean, well, it's almost like you live long

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Speaker 2: enough and you like things resonate. And that's why when

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Speaker 2: a season comes up like this, you know that it's special. Listen,

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Speaker 2: you're trying to do the same thing and you say, hey, listen,

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Speaker 2: Delante West. That's the most steals that a second year

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Speaker 2: player has had for a Celtic on a Tuesday night

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Speaker 2: since what episode you have to fill whatever job you're

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Speaker 2: being called to describe. But I've had the chance to

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Speaker 2: be I was with the two thousand and eight Celtics

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Speaker 2: and I was with this team. Here's your sound bite.

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Speaker 2: This team's from better Listen to twenty eighteen fits better

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Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty four social media hot take world

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Speaker 2: in which we live, which, by the way, I sometimes

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Speaker 2: come across like a I'm looking down. I love hot

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Speaker 2: take theater like I love I went to a barbecue

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Speaker 2: place tonight. Will all my fancy ESPN s other friends,

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Speaker 2: they either they go to Morton's or Ruth c No.

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Speaker 2: I wanted to go to a barbecue place because I'm

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Speaker 2: in Dallas and I'm in Texas, so I want to

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Speaker 2: go eat real barbecue where they put the food on

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Speaker 2: the tray and you're like, you know, you've scored the

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Speaker 2: barbecue sauce in the tray with a paper. That's what

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Speaker 2: I want because I like that. So I like hot

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Speaker 2: take theater, but let's not confuse it with reality. I

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Speaker 2: call it hot take theater because it is theater. Twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty fourteen doesn't fit into any of those because they

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Speaker 2: reject all these narratives. They commit the cardinal sin, which

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Speaker 2: is that they're boring, you know, they This is a

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Speaker 2: team that doesn't There is no Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, dissension.

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Speaker 2: No one is undercutting the coach. No one is chasing

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Speaker 2: a game ball back in the locker room to make

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Speaker 2: sure it gets in the right hands. This stuff hasn't happened.

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Speaker 2: It's just they've just been a team that shows up

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Speaker 2: to work, beats the living daylights out of you, and

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Speaker 2: then goes on to the next goes on to the

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Speaker 2: next town. And so this yea, they have been poring.

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Speaker 5: And that's I think, why when they when they've lost,

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Speaker 5: we've just turned it into such a.

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Speaker 2: Because you have I get listen, that's that's the name

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Speaker 2: of the game. But the statistical cop this is just

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Speaker 2: the end of that long thought. And this is a

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Speaker 2: you know, occupational hazard when you can use why use

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Speaker 2: one sentence when you can use twelve? You know, that's

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Speaker 2: like you're just not trying hard enough if you're in

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Speaker 2: my line of work. But this, the statistical comp here

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Speaker 2: is in two thousand and eight, it's nineteen eighty six.

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Speaker 2: This is the eighty six Celtics. It's not the two

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Speaker 2: thousand and eight Celtics that have you know, cut this

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Speaker 2: historic swath by playing the right way. And I don't

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Speaker 2: want to give away too much of the end of

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Speaker 2: the game and the broadcast tomorrow night. But the twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty four Celtics are the perfect They're the perfect Celtics

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Speaker 2: team to fit in the tradition in the history, because

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Speaker 2: the tradition Boston Celtics tradition isn't that they have won

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Speaker 2: the championships. It's how they have won the championships and

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Speaker 2: what those teams have had in common, which historically is

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Speaker 2: this throughout the organization. It is players and coaches, broadcasters,

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Speaker 2: anybody who could probably have bigger roles on other teams,

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Speaker 2: but they take a smaller role for the sake of

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Speaker 2: a better team and winning a championship. And this team

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Speaker 2: is perfect. These are these six dudes would be bigger

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Speaker 2: stars or bigger numbers, and people complained about, oh, Jalen

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Speaker 2: Brown didn't make all NBA, which is obviously pretty absurd

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Speaker 2: if you think about it. Jason Tatum would have been hire.

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Speaker 2: Jason Tatum called the meeting in October of the six

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Speaker 2: guys and said, listen, we're all going to have to

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Speaker 2: sacrifice in order to achieve the ultimate goal here, and

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Speaker 2: then people would get mad when the award stuff came out.

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Speaker 2: That was the sacrifice. That's what he was talking about, Okay,

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna finish fifth in the MBF voting instead of third.

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Speaker 2: You're gonna finish third team All NBA or miss out

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Speaker 2: instead of being set. And that's the stuff. And honestly,

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Speaker 2: nobody in that room cares less. If they win one

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Speaker 2: more game, they will have done exactly what they wanted

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Speaker 2: to do. And nobody twenty years from now is going

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Speaker 2: to care who was third team All NBA or second

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Speaker 2: team All NBA, or for goodness sake, what Jason Tatum's

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Speaker 2: body language was when Jalen Brown was named the MVP

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Speaker 2: in the Eastern Conference finals. Nobody cares now the alone

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Speaker 2: twenty years from now, they're only going to care about

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Speaker 2: the eighteenth better.

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Speaker 5: Well, look, Jalen Brown should have been All NBA one

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Speaker 5: hundred percent. I mean, look, I thought. I I'm not

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Speaker 5: an official voter anymore, but I kind of I feel

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Speaker 5: like I have a pretty good feel of how voting

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Speaker 5: will turn out. So I didn't think Joe was gonna

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Speaker 5: win Coach of the Year and I didn't think Tatum

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Speaker 5: was gonna have a real MVP shot because the Celtics

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Speaker 5: were too good for that and too deep. But I

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Speaker 5: did think Okay, this has been the team of the season.

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Speaker 5: They have to have two guys on the All NBA team.

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Speaker 5: But look, you know how this works. If Jalen Brown,

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Speaker 5: if the script continues the way it has gone through

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Speaker 5: the first three games, and if the Celtics can finish

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Speaker 5: this off Friday Night, I mean you would have to

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Speaker 5: say Jalen Brown is the leader in the clubhouse for

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Speaker 5: Finals MVP. How will that go down? You don't think

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Speaker 5: that will be thrown in Tatum's face?

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Speaker 2: And again, I honestly, when Jason Tatum has Hilario Brian

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Speaker 2: Trophy and he hands it to his son, I can

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Speaker 2: assure you beyond any shadow of a doubt, he will

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Speaker 2: not have any care in the world who the MVP

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Speaker 2: of the Finals would be. In the fact that I thought,

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Speaker 2: by the way, Cedric Maxwell and I both thought Drew

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Speaker 2: Holliday should have been the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals,

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Speaker 2: not like it was any kind of robbery. It was

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Speaker 2: the fact that it's so close. You literally could have

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Speaker 2: a series if let's say Drew has a big game

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Speaker 2: in Game four and the Celtics win, and Drew Holiday

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Speaker 2: somehow ends up as MVP the Finals for the sake

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Speaker 2: of this discussion, you could make them the perfect case

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Speaker 2: that the MVP of the first round for the Celtics

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Speaker 2: was Derek White, there was probably Tatum in the second round,

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Speaker 2: Jalen in the conference finals, and then Drew Holliday. And

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Speaker 2: how Celtic twenty twenty four would that be if four

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Speaker 2: different guys for the MVPs of the four different series.

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Speaker 2: Because that has been the season it has been. And listen,

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Speaker 2: I believe firmly we are in chapter two of Luca's

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Speaker 2: Last Dance, right, and we all know because we're old

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Speaker 2: and have been doing this for a while. This when

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Speaker 2: Malika interviews Luca, not today but five years from now,

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Speaker 2: what she's going to be asking him before he goes

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Speaker 2: into the twenty twenty nine finals is what did you

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Speaker 2: learn in those difficult days as the twenty twenty four

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Speaker 2: finals were going on and you had that meltdown in

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Speaker 2: Game three. We all know what we're seeing because we

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Speaker 2: watched it happen on the same floor. I don't know

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Speaker 2: this for a fact, but I guarantee you had to

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Speaker 2: be two feet away when Lebron the same thing happened

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Speaker 2: to him on the scene in twenty eleven, Right, history

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Speaker 2: is just the same thing breaking over and over and

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Speaker 2: over again with different guys. This was not Lucas time.

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Speaker 2: We all know he's going to be one of the

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Speaker 2: greatest to ever play, but I you know, for ten

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Speaker 2: days we heard Luca Kyrie, Kyrie, Lucas. People were talking

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Speaker 2: themselves into Dallas in the series, and all I could

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Speaker 2: think of was, there's number one, there's two ends of

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Speaker 2: the floor, number two. This isn't two one, two and

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Speaker 2: number three. This is a fifty win team that wrote

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Speaker 2: a great story against a generational team, and this is

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Speaker 2: what was supposed to happen.

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Speaker 5: It's funny you bring up mister Maxwell, because I was

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Speaker 5: not in Boston unfortunately for the first two games, but

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Speaker 5: I did see when Dan Shaughnessy posted on Twitter. I

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Speaker 5: didn't realize that all Cedric Maxwell got the watch as

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Speaker 5: nineteen eighty one finals MVP was a watch. I'm sure

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Speaker 5: you've I'm sure you had seen that watch before. But

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Speaker 5: that is a modest prize for where this league was

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Speaker 5: forty something years.

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Speaker 2: Yes, but think about this, if it was a if

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Speaker 2: he got a car in nineteen eighty one, where would

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Speaker 2: that car be? He still has to watch, literally standing

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Speaker 2: in the test of time like a like a watch

404
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Speaker 2: would But and by the way, can you imagine again,

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Speaker 2: because it's the world we're in and I'm not a hater,

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Speaker 2: I love it. But in nineteen eighty one, first take

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Speaker 2: would have been, did you see Larry Bird's reaction when

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Speaker 2: Centric Maxwell got MVP of the eighty one? Can you

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Speaker 2: imagine a fan, a basketball fan in the nineteen sixties

410
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Speaker 2: being transformed into twenty twenty four. He would feel like

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Speaker 2: he was on Mars watching these shows, like you know,

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Speaker 2: like steven A getting on Bill Russell can't make a

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Speaker 2: free throw? How can a do you call this man

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Speaker 2: a great player when he shoots fifty one percent for

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Speaker 2: the free throw a lot? Because that's the that's the

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Speaker 2: name of the game. By the way, steven A does

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Speaker 2: it better than anybody has ever done it in history.

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Speaker 2: He's awesome. He's the hardest working man in show business.

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Speaker 2: That's that's the game now. And I think you have

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Speaker 2: in Brown and Tatum two guys. I think when you

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Speaker 2: have Luca Kyrie having the issues he's had obviously over

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Speaker 2: the years, and that whole Bosson story, which is his

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Speaker 2: own podcast done to itself, what you realize with Jalen

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Speaker 2: and Jason. How much in alle I have been of

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Speaker 2: them as young men that you think of the things

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Speaker 2: that happened to Luca, how many of us would have

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Speaker 2: had to melt down or a tantrum at twenty five

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Speaker 2: years old if the world was watching us. I don't

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Speaker 2: do you want anyone to know what you were doing?

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Speaker 2: Mark at twenty three years old? Like what if that

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Speaker 2: information came out?

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Speaker 4: And yet don't want them to know it? Don't want

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Speaker 4: them to know. In my fifties exactly so with.

434
00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,160
Speaker 2: These guys said, it's it's extraordinary to be around these

435
00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:40,200
Speaker 2: young guys, Like I became a dad in my late

436
00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,480
Speaker 2: thirties during the infamous I can't wait till one day

437
00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:45,440
Speaker 2: what if you have to write the official oral history

438
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,320
Speaker 2: of the two thousand and one twenty eleven lockout and

439
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:50,360
Speaker 2: like how that all got settled or whatever, because those

440
00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:52,920
Speaker 2: were amazing times at the very beginning of social media.

441
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,800
Speaker 2: But my son was born then. He was born during

442
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:58,159
Speaker 2: that time, in October of twenty eleven. I was in

443
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:01,439
Speaker 2: my late thirties. Always tell the story that my first

444
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,119
Speaker 2: because we were out, the league was out, so my

445
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,760
Speaker 2: son being born in the hospital that week, he won

446
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,760
Speaker 2: this like Cutest Baby contest that week in the hospital

447
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:11,919
Speaker 2: and he got a twenty five dollars gift certificate for it.

448
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:14,679
Speaker 2: So he out earned me his first week on the

449
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:16,679
Speaker 2: planet because we were out of work because it was

450
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:18,919
Speaker 2: a you know, the lockout going on. But you know,

451
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,600
Speaker 2: it's to be a dad. To become a first time

452
00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:25,600
Speaker 2: dad in near late thirties is overwhelming or whatever. Jason

453
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,359
Speaker 2: Tatum was twenty and playing in the NBA and he's

454
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,800
Speaker 2: just you know, become like that's when we talk, we bond.

455
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,200
Speaker 2: We usually are talking about our kids, right, not about basketball.

456
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,560
Speaker 2: And it's amazing to watch these two guys and you

457
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,000
Speaker 2: just appreciate it when you realize that they should be

458
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,720
Speaker 2: the exception, not the rule. And I watched Luca for

459
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:45,679
Speaker 2: all the grief he's getting today and that's the name

460
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,720
Speaker 2: of the game. I watched him conduct these news conferences

461
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,879
Speaker 2: in three languages and say, as someone who's you know,

462
00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:55,520
Speaker 2: I've traveled around the world a lot the last few

463
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,159
Speaker 2: years doing MMA, and you realize how ignorant we can

464
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,639
Speaker 2: be as America's just expecting everybody to speak English everywhere

465
00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,040
Speaker 2: we go and we're not even gonna make an effort

466
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,119
Speaker 2: like I used to. I travel the Buddapat to do shows,

467
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,440
Speaker 2: and there's people like making an effort to try to

468
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:10,159
Speaker 2: speak English, and like, when do we ever try to

469
00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:12,919
Speaker 2: speak Hungarian or do anything like that? And I'm in

470
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:16,560
Speaker 2: awe of the of the young talent and the players

471
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,639
Speaker 2: in this league and the character and the spotlight that

472
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:23,000
Speaker 2: they have to perform in front of. And that's why

473
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:25,199
Speaker 2: Jalen and Jason they don't buy into any of this

474
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 2: other stuff. They don't nobody cares who the best player

475
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:29,200
Speaker 2: is or whatever.

476
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:34,240
Speaker 5: They they have had to hear it for years with

477
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:37,680
Speaker 5: the capital s on the end trade, these guys break

478
00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 5: it up. And you know, I'm obviously not in Boston

479
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 5: very often, but I've said it for I don't know

480
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:47,240
Speaker 5: how many years. In today's NBA, two two way wings

481
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,240
Speaker 5: you never break that up. This is the dream. Every

482
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:54,399
Speaker 5: team wants two two way wings who can guard pretty

483
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,240
Speaker 5: much one through five and play at both ends the

484
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,720
Speaker 5: way these guys do. And you know this Obviously the

485
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,399
Speaker 5: Eastern Conference playoffs convinced no one, but they are. You know,

486
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 5: they are having their moment now, and something tells me,

487
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:09,480
Speaker 5: I don't think they're gonna have to hear a ton

488
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,359
Speaker 5: much more about should these guys be broken up now?

489
00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,200
Speaker 2: And by the way, the notion of well Halliburton missed

490
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,160
Speaker 2: a couple of games and Jimmy Butler didn't play whatever

491
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,119
Speaker 2: that is about the Vanish into thin air two in

492
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,439
Speaker 2: the midst of this historic season. First of all, as

493
00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:25,000
Speaker 2: if it would have made a difference, right, like they're

494
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 2: gonna go said, they go sixteen to two with a

495
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:30,919
Speaker 2: plus eleven scoring differential. Okay, maybe if the competition had

496
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,359
Speaker 2: been quote unquote tougher, it would have gone what sixteen

497
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 2: and five sixteen? The Celtics were gonna win this year.

498
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:37,919
Speaker 2: It didn't matter who they were gonna play. And I

499
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 2: include Denver in that, by the way, too, because I

500
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:42,119
Speaker 2: don't think Denver would have beat the Celtics six times

501
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,160
Speaker 2: out of nine this year. I think this was Boston's

502
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 2: year and it's historically the way it's always gone. But

503
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:49,680
Speaker 2: I've done this, you know, I've done this sound bite

504
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:54,320
Speaker 2: a few times. But there's no kid in Toronto that

505
00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:57,439
Speaker 2: wakes up in the morning it sees the poster and

506
00:24:57,480 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 2: his pennant of the championship in twenty nineteen in the

507
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:03,719
Speaker 2: world and says, you know, Kevin Durant got hurt in

508
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 2: that series, and I don't really I don't feel great

509
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,199
Speaker 2: about that. There's no kid in Denver that wakes up

510
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,439
Speaker 2: in the morning and has a poster of Mike Malone

511
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,960
Speaker 2: dancing at the parade and says, you know, we did

512
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 2: beat two eight seeds in the conference finals. That's not

513
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 2: part of that will vanish. Twenty twenty four will be

514
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,680
Speaker 2: remembered in NBA history as the year of the Celtics,

515
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:27,600
Speaker 2: and it was never even close.

516
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:32,159
Speaker 5: What was the broadcast like though, when a twenty plus

517
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,160
Speaker 5: point lead became a one point.

518
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,080
Speaker 2: Lead, different from the last few years in that I

519
00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:42,440
Speaker 2: was surprised, obviously, how quickly it happened. You're always expecting

520
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:44,920
Speaker 2: a run I saw in this game. I just mentioned

521
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:46,960
Speaker 2: all these crazy leads Celtics had. They had the most

522
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 2: thirty point leads ever, the most forty point leads ever.

523
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,080
Speaker 2: Obviously there's a human nature element. And the Celtics lost

524
00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:53,439
Speaker 2: the game late in the year where they were up

525
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:56,000
Speaker 2: by thirty in Atlanta and actually lost the game. That

526
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,480
Speaker 2: was a game I still think. I think Joe threw

527
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,439
Speaker 2: that the way Chuck Daily through that exhibition game against

528
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,480
Speaker 2: the college kids in ninety two with the Dream Team

529
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 2: when like he didn't play like again, I think he

530
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 2: kind of threw that game a little bit because he

531
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 2: was trying to try out certain combinations or whatever. But nevertheless,

532
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:13,399
Speaker 2: you knew a run was coming. I didn't think it

533
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,040
Speaker 2: was gonna happen that quickly. Certainly. I just never felt

534
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:20,680
Speaker 2: crazy as it seems. I just I didn't feel the

535
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 2: game was in that much danger. I thought, well, this

536
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:25,399
Speaker 2: could really be calamitous, certainly if they lose, because it

537
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,520
Speaker 2: happened so fast. But I'm a believer in the math.

538
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,280
Speaker 2: Particularly in this series. I thought this is a particularly

539
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:36,399
Speaker 2: bad matchup for Dallas compared to the other in the

540
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 2: other series, where there was always a guy you could

541
00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 2: hide for them to win. My quote unquote analysis for

542
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:43,840
Speaker 2: what that was worth at the start of the series

543
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,320
Speaker 2: was Kyrie and Luca were gonna have to be amazing.

544
00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:48,119
Speaker 2: We all knew that, but they were gonna have to

545
00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:50,160
Speaker 2: be on the floor a lot. You could get away

546
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,680
Speaker 2: with Kyrie and Luca on the floor defensively against the

547
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,199
Speaker 2: teams that Dallas has played to the first three rounds.

548
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,760
Speaker 2: You weren't gonna be able to do it against ninety

549
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 2: percent of these Boston lineups, particularly with Portsngus available, it

550
00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:04,159
Speaker 2: was going to be very difficult for them to defend.

551
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,640
Speaker 2: So even as it was happening, it was listen, Celtics

552
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,879
Speaker 2: were playing the playing the greatest tits right of the

553
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,479
Speaker 2: last few years, which is part of the oh my,

554
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:14,960
Speaker 2: just yeah, the Celtics. This has been the year go

555
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 2: up by thirty, win by twelve. Well, if you're up

556
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 2: by thirty and you win by twelve, there's gonna be

557
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:21,560
Speaker 2: some shaky moments in there somewhere. But I'm a believer

558
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 2: in the math in this series, that possession for possession.

559
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,600
Speaker 2: I just didn't think Dallas could defend enough to keep

560
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:30,879
Speaker 2: the Celtics at bay. And once the game got close

561
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,200
Speaker 2: once once that was a two point game at the

562
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:35,119
Speaker 2: end of the first quarter in Game three, I'm like,

563
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 2: this is this is not good, the same way I

564
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 2: felt in Game two when Dallas didn't have a bigger

565
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:41,520
Speaker 2: lead when they should have earlier. I'm like, this is

566
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:43,760
Speaker 2: not good. And when they look back at the end

567
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:45,720
Speaker 2: of the first quarter and the Celtics were still in

568
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:48,359
Speaker 2: the review, I said, this is this is the problem

569
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:55,960
Speaker 2: for Dallas.

570
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 4: And they haven't lost since May ninth.

571
00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:58,400
Speaker 2: It's crazy, is that right is my math?

572
00:27:58,480 --> 00:27:58,640
Speaker 1: Right?

573
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 2: Yeah? In game two. What's really rich more interesting when

574
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,600
Speaker 2: you look at Celtics history is that the Celtics did

575
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:07,200
Speaker 2: not own, until right now, one of the top ten

576
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,480
Speaker 2: playoff win streaks of all time. That the longest playoff

577
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,080
Speaker 2: win streak in the storied history of the most story franchise.

578
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 2: The longest win streak had been eight in the playoffs,

579
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,159
Speaker 2: which obviously it's amazing to win a and straight playoff

580
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,119
Speaker 2: games and many franchises haven't done it. But I think

581
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,520
Speaker 2: it was thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth all time and it took.

582
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 2: It wasn't until now that they won ten in a row.

583
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,800
Speaker 2: And obviously this is the second longest road when the

584
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 2: road thing has been crazy because this is two and

585
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,080
Speaker 2: a half years now where the Celtics have been better

586
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:37,720
Speaker 2: than any team has ever been on the road for

587
00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 2: two and a half years regular season and playoffs, and

588
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,320
Speaker 2: it's simply it's just insane. It boggles the mind. I'm

589
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 2: trying to I don't have a number off the top

590
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 2: of my have, but I think it's it's twenty one

591
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 2: and twenty one and seven or something like that. Celtics

592
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,880
Speaker 2: have won twenty one of twenty eight road playoff games

593
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 2: tried to pond.

594
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 5: And they've now won five in a row at home,

595
00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,440
Speaker 5: which was something I've been writing about a ton over

596
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,040
Speaker 5: the last week because it was just astonishing that they

597
00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,920
Speaker 5: were I think fifteen and fifteen in the previous thirty

598
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 5: playoff games before these five wins in a row. Because

599
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,280
Speaker 5: you lived with this team every day, did you what

600
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 5: was your theory on why the home court advantage just

601
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:17,920
Speaker 5: went away for years?

602
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:20,760
Speaker 2: Well, for there is a league wide nothing this dramatic,

603
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,000
Speaker 2: But first of all, as you know as well as anybody, yeah,

604
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 2: league wide, it's gone from our childhood was a sixty

605
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,880
Speaker 2: five percent home teams win. Now it's like fifty five.

606
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 2: There's a generation. I don't know how much that has

607
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,960
Speaker 2: to do with the ease of travel, all the other

608
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 2: things that are that are equal now and guys not

609
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 2: being affected by being on the road. For whatever it is,

610
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:43,160
Speaker 2: there's just more general equality. I don't think there was

611
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,360
Speaker 2: a reason to put your finger on other than human

612
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:48,040
Speaker 2: nature of the pressure to win games that you had

613
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,080
Speaker 2: to win when you were at home. And this goes

614
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:52,239
Speaker 2: back even into the Brad Stevens years. The Celtics had

615
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:54,400
Speaker 2: this crazy even the first year they made the playoffs

616
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,840
Speaker 2: under Brad Stevens in fourteen fifteen, the year they acquired

617
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:01,000
Speaker 2: Isaiah Thomas, there was they were trying I make the playoffs,

618
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,120
Speaker 2: and every week towards the end of the year they

619
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,160
Speaker 2: had play a Friday home game in a Saturday road game,

620
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 2: and they lose the Friday home game, and I'd end

621
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:08,960
Speaker 2: the broadcast. I said, well, that was probably their best

622
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:10,760
Speaker 2: chance of probably not going to make the playoffs. Then

623
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 2: they'd go on the road to win the road game

624
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:14,440
Speaker 2: on Saturday, and they get right back in it, and

625
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:17,400
Speaker 2: as a result, they made the playoffs and got crushed

626
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,719
Speaker 2: by Lebron and the Cavs in that first round. But

627
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:23,120
Speaker 2: it was a pretty remarkable thing because they've been pretty

628
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:26,400
Speaker 2: good home team in the regular season, but in the

629
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 2: playoffs again also home court, and that stuff goes away.

630
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,920
Speaker 2: Look at the Boston Dallas series. The Celtics is just

631
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,080
Speaker 2: a much better team than the Dallas Mavericks. So at

632
00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:41,480
Speaker 2: some point the gym you're playing in cannot overcome this

633
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,280
Speaker 2: notion that one team's just better than the other. And

634
00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 2: as much as people enjoyed in Boston enjoyed the narrative,

635
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 2: Kyrie is really affected here by the crowd. He's psyched

636
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 2: out playing in Boston and whatever. You know what Kyrie's

637
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,560
Speaker 2: problem was in Boston, he had to guard Jalen Brown.

638
00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,160
Speaker 2: That's the problem. Like eighteen thousand people dooing is not

639
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 2: nearly as complicated as trying to figure out how you

640
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 2: kind of stop Jalen Brown. That they've been out matched,

641
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:05,800
Speaker 2: They've been.

642
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 4: Out better than ever.

643
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 5: Jalen Brown, I mean, man, his his ruggedness, his physicality,

644
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 5: Like sitting courtside. Obviously I don't see nearly as many

645
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,680
Speaker 5: Celtics games as you, but I mean you just I

646
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 5: just feel it, like you can feel it sitting court side,

647
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:24,720
Speaker 5: the impact he puts on the game and both ends.

648
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 2: Now, he's been since fascinating guy. And I think there

649
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 2: was a you have to annoy, whether you're a talk

650
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,560
Speaker 2: show or even a fan base, your conditioned to think

651
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:37,760
Speaker 2: you have to have the guy right. And it's always

652
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,440
Speaker 2: been Jason was going to be the guy and Jalen's

653
00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:44,400
Speaker 2: and it never really mattered to them. But Jalen really

654
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,840
Speaker 2: has grown into it because he had more there were

655
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:51,520
Speaker 2: different gaps in his game that he had to close,

656
00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:53,720
Speaker 2: you know, more basic stuff. I'm not talking about making

657
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:55,880
Speaker 2: shots and things like that, which is obviously a factor,

658
00:31:55,920 --> 00:32:00,320
Speaker 2: but ball handling and just even more you know, basics stuff.

659
00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:04,600
Speaker 2: He still gets the advantage of not getting the same scrutiny.

660
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 2: If the roles were completely reversed and Jalen was treated

661
00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:10,640
Speaker 2: the way Jason was, we'd be talking all the time

662
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:14,120
Speaker 2: about the free throw shooting, about the other little the

663
00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,240
Speaker 2: holes in his game. He had what six turnovers in

664
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 2: Game two? That was the point the story of the

665
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:22,320
Speaker 2: series was in Game two, Dallas outshot the Celtics out

666
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:24,680
Speaker 2: rebound of the Celtics. Tatum went six of twenty two

667
00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 2: and Jalen Brown turned the ball over six times. That's

668
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,600
Speaker 2: a game you have to win. And this twenty twenty

669
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,640
Speaker 2: four Celtics, unlike previous years, they found a way to

670
00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:35,520
Speaker 2: win that game when we know Celtic teams in the

671
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,000
Speaker 2: last few years would not have won that game, particularly

672
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,000
Speaker 2: because there was a home game too, which has been

673
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:43,479
Speaker 2: their downfall, right And I think, you know, the improved

674
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:46,120
Speaker 2: Jalen's improvement is a big part of that. But again

675
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:48,720
Speaker 2: he doesn't get the same scrutiny. And now he's sort

676
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:50,880
Speaker 2: of now he's that I don't say the backup quarterback.

677
00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:52,760
Speaker 2: But he's that other guy. So now it's a cool

678
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,800
Speaker 2: thing to say, Oh, Jalen Brown's better than Jason. It's irrelevant.

679
00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:01,120
Speaker 2: They fit together. They play together. These team, this group

680
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:04,720
Speaker 2: all plays together, and they defend together, and that's how

681
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:07,080
Speaker 2: they win games. That's how they stopped the rally last night,

682
00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:09,600
Speaker 2: even when they weren't scoring. When it was what was

683
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:13,040
Speaker 2: the run twenty two to two for Dallas, like eighteen

684
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 2: or twenty of those points came in the first few

685
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 2: minutes of that run. Even when the Celtics weren't scoring.

686
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 2: You look at the last few minutes of what we

687
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 2: would call the run, and Dallas wasn't scoring in that

688
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:26,120
Speaker 2: they had the one you know, the Washington hit, the

689
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,400
Speaker 2: one shot Cayrie made. A mccovery was amazing by the

690
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:30,840
Speaker 2: way last night, as we as we kind of thought

691
00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 2: that he would be. But defensively, because they were the

692
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,000
Speaker 2: greatest offensive team in the history of offense this year,

693
00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:40,880
Speaker 2: nobody everyone just kind of blew off the fact that

694
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:43,200
Speaker 2: they were the number two team defensively because it didn't

695
00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:45,720
Speaker 2: fit the narrative. Joe Mazzulla is an offensive coach, emy

696
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,280
Speaker 2: was a defensive coach. So now it's all about offense

697
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:51,120
Speaker 2: and making threes. Celtics were the best defensive team, and

698
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:53,240
Speaker 2: they were like number two defensive team last year, number

699
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 2: two defensive team this year. They're elite on both ends

700
00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 2: because they've got elite, world class defensive player. And if

701
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,080
Speaker 2: I told you the Celtics would have to move on

702
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 2: from Marcus Smart and acquire the one player that could

703
00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 2: possibly fit his spot, which was impossible, and yet it happened,

704
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:17,279
Speaker 2: and that's how you stayed the number two defensive team

705
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:18,839
Speaker 2: in the league.

706
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:20,560
Speaker 5: I'm gonna let you go after this because I know

707
00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 5: you do need your voice tomorrow, win or lose, whether

708
00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 5: the Celtics finish this off, complete the sweep, or if

709
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,640
Speaker 5: the Mavericks give themselves a glimmer of hope and drag

710
00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:34,560
Speaker 5: this thing back to Boston for Game five. You mentioned

711
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,399
Speaker 5: Brad Stevens. I'm glad you brought him up because you were.

712
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:42,160
Speaker 5: You covered all his probably covered every game he ever coached.

713
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 5: He's been better as an executive than he was as

714
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:45,880
Speaker 5: a coach.

715
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,840
Speaker 4: I mean, it's what.

716
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,720
Speaker 5: Did we have any kind of inkling that this was possible.

717
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 5: I wrote about it within the last week as well.

718
00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:56,719
Speaker 5: I mean the run he is on as an executive

719
00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:58,560
Speaker 5: is just remarkable.

720
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,880
Speaker 2: And I almost feel in a backwards way, Brad Stevens

721
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,720
Speaker 2: the coach is almost getting short changed by how ridiculously

722
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,680
Speaker 2: good the first three years of Brad Stevens the GM

723
00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,719
Speaker 2: has been. And I'd remind you that he took the

724
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:17,920
Speaker 2: job the night after coaching in the playoffs a starting

725
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:22,240
Speaker 2: lineup that included Evan forty eight, Romeo Langford and Tristan

726
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:25,480
Speaker 2: Thompson in the starting lineup that he coached. That's where

727
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 2: the Celtics were when he took this thing over. And

728
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,080
Speaker 2: as respectful and deferential as he was to Danny Ainge,

729
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:35,799
Speaker 2: who did an amazing job, and we'll get his number

730
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:37,879
Speaker 2: up there in the rafters of Boston as he should

731
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,280
Speaker 2: one day, Brad did it completely the opposite way. Danny

732
00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:44,600
Speaker 2: spent all these years collecting first round draft picks, and

733
00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 2: Brad got into the first day and started giving him

734
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 2: away like he was Oprah, Like you get a first

735
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:50,759
Speaker 2: round picking, you get a first round picking, you get

736
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:54,440
Speaker 2: a And because he recognized what he wanted to do,

737
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:57,120
Speaker 2: and I for a guy that always preached hitting singles,

738
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:01,479
Speaker 2: he's just driving him into the gap left and right

739
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:04,919
Speaker 2: like extra base hit extra base hit home run. It's

740
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:08,080
Speaker 2: remarkable what he's done. I mean, as a GM ever

741
00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:10,840
Speaker 2: had a better three year run than he has had,

742
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:14,040
Speaker 2: and the ability to everyone's like, well, they never moved

743
00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:16,720
Speaker 2: down from the jas and they stayed the course. Stayed

744
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:20,280
Speaker 2: the course. They Rob Williams, Malcolm Brogden and Marcus Smart

745
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 2: were huge parts of last year's team that went to

746
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,759
Speaker 2: Game seven of the conference finals, and he moved them

747
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,400
Speaker 2: all because he had a chance to get marginally better,

748
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:32,239
Speaker 2: incrementally better himself this much a better chance and take

749
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:34,399
Speaker 2: a chance that it was going to go backwards. And

750
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,520
Speaker 2: that was what nobody knew. Nobody knew of Brad would

751
00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:39,879
Speaker 2: be able to coach NBA players when he got here

752
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:42,080
Speaker 2: because he hadn't done it, And nobody knew if he'd

753
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,120
Speaker 2: have the ability to make the tough decisions, not because

754
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:47,520
Speaker 2: he wasn't capable, because he hadn't done it. And doesn't

755
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,960
Speaker 2: that sound like here's the broadcaster in me us ending

756
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:53,520
Speaker 2: on the same note at which we began, in which

757
00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:57,600
Speaker 2: you couldn't picture things because they haven't happened yet. The

758
00:36:57,760 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 2: history we're going to look back to what an amazing

759
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,279
Speaker 2: GM Stevens was when on the day it happened, people

760
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 2: were like, what, Brad Stevens is gonna be the gn

761
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:07,600
Speaker 2: same way to said the start of a Celtics. Oh,

762
00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:11,520
Speaker 2: they'll never win really well, yeah, but something will happen

763
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:15,279
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. Really it's not going to because this

764
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:17,120
Speaker 2: is the way the NBA works.

765
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 5: Mister Grande, I'm so glad we were able to connect

766
00:37:21,239 --> 00:37:23,799
Speaker 5: and do this. Don't tell Bill Simmons I said this,

767
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:27,399
Speaker 5: but there is no one who knows the Celtics better

768
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:29,360
Speaker 5: than you, and that's why I knew I had to

769
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,719
Speaker 5: get you on while you were in our city. I

770
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:35,560
Speaker 5: hope Dallas is treating you well and we'll see what happens.

771
00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:38,759
Speaker 5: We have certainly been talking throughout this pod as if

772
00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,680
Speaker 5: it is over, and history tells us it is over,

773
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:44,759
Speaker 5: as everyone who follows the NBA can surely recite by

774
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,640
Speaker 5: now teams that fall behind three to zero in a

775
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,600
Speaker 5: best of seven series, now, oh, in one point fifty six.

776
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,680
Speaker 5: But I have to say I don't think we're taking

777
00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:57,040
Speaker 5: a huge risk. It's hard to see the Mavericks becoming

778
00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:58,880
Speaker 5: the first team that pulls that miracle.

779
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:01,640
Speaker 2: The other thing we know about history is that it's

780
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:04,439
Speaker 2: going to happen and in fact, if it was ever

781
00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:07,000
Speaker 2: going to happen last year, was when it's going to

782
00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:09,480
Speaker 2: happen in a situation like last year with a really

783
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,239
Speaker 2: good team as a bad start to a series that

784
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 2: certainly has home court advantage, that has five and seven

785
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:18,680
Speaker 2: at home. The Mavericks here do not fit the profile

786
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 2: in my view of a team. The team that eventually

787
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:26,000
Speaker 2: does this, it's going to be something strange is going

788
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:28,600
Speaker 2: to happen in the series. And listen, I went to

789
00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:30,920
Speaker 2: the media availability today just to kind of do that

790
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:36,520
Speaker 2: body language check, and there's a reality to these situations.

791
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:38,720
Speaker 2: The question is can they win the series? The question

792
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:42,000
Speaker 2: is do the Mavericks want to get on a plane

793
00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:45,759
Speaker 2: and go back to Boston? Which is the lesson. As

794
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:48,080
Speaker 2: we've said, how old we are I've been doing I've

795
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:50,200
Speaker 2: literally now spent half of my life in the NBA.

796
00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:53,359
Speaker 2: So it's my twenty sixth year, and so I've seen

797
00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:54,879
Speaker 2: a lot of games, and I've seen a lot of things.

798
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:57,280
Speaker 2: Of the thousands of games I've done, the biggest surprise

799
00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,960
Speaker 2: result to me remains that the Celtics did not win

800
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:02,719
Speaker 2: in Game five in two thousand and eight and wrap

801
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:04,960
Speaker 2: up the series in LA because teams find a way

802
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:08,120
Speaker 2: to lose these home games so that they don't have

803
00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:10,719
Speaker 2: to go on the road. The lesson being the eight Lakers.

804
00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:13,160
Speaker 2: You don't win that game, so you can get on

805
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,080
Speaker 2: a plane and fly three thousand miles to take the

806
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,680
Speaker 2: beating of a lifetime, because chances are if the Mavericks

807
00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:20,759
Speaker 2: find a way to win Game four, and by the way,

808
00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,120
Speaker 2: Luca could go nuts, the crowd could get into it.

809
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:26,400
Speaker 2: There's a lot of individual things. If there were no

810
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:28,760
Speaker 2: emotions or no three to zero choke hold or whatever,

811
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:32,439
Speaker 2: you'd say, listen, no porzingis al on just one day

812
00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 2: rest instead of two days rest. There's a lot of

813
00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:37,680
Speaker 2: individual things you could point to and say, man, I

814
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:40,680
Speaker 2: really like Dallas in this game. But when you have

815
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:45,480
Speaker 2: the python around your throat three to zero, you really

816
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:48,880
Speaker 2: have to find that inner motivation to get in. Some ways,

817
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:51,600
Speaker 2: the hardest game to get is the fourth to even

818
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,000
Speaker 2: say do you want this thing to continue or do

819
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:56,759
Speaker 2: you want to get it over with? Knowing what's inevitable.

820
00:39:57,920 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 5: I want to go because I want some soup, I

821
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,000
Speaker 5: want some I want a bisk man.

822
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:03,080
Speaker 4: I have a Dallas.

823
00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:05,319
Speaker 2: Colleague who posted, as I told you, top of.

824
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:08,520
Speaker 5: A cup of bisk from Boston sail Loft, and I've

825
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:11,799
Speaker 5: just been well. I told you well, you got your barbecue.

826
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:12,920
Speaker 5: I did not get anything yet.

827
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:14,520
Speaker 2: I told you when my son was born. So by

828
00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:16,240
Speaker 2: the math you could tell that of all the Celtic

829
00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:18,680
Speaker 2: fans in the world, the biggest one is twelve years

830
00:40:18,719 --> 00:40:21,680
Speaker 2: old and lives in my house. So I would like

831
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:23,960
Speaker 2: nothing would make me I'm gonna be the biggest Mavericks

832
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:26,399
Speaker 2: fan of the planet on Friday night because I want

833
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:28,719
Speaker 2: to get him a Game five so he could be

834
00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:32,840
Speaker 2: there to see it right, so that everyone's got their agenda,

835
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 2: that's mine. So there would be nobody happier, nobody with

836
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,319
Speaker 2: the more hidden agenda or non hidden agenda than me

837
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:42,120
Speaker 2: to get that Game five. It's just that I go

838
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:44,560
Speaker 2: as the last forty five minutes to tell you I'm

839
00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:46,760
Speaker 2: guided a lot in my history and what we learned

840
00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:50,279
Speaker 2: from it. As a guy who you live long enough,

841
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:53,200
Speaker 2: you see everything. You live really long enough, you see

842
00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:57,040
Speaker 2: everything twice. For example, the Lebron game in Boston in

843
00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:00,959
Speaker 2: twenty twelve. I called that game. I saw it happen,

844
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 2: I saw his legacy change, and then I told my

845
00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:05,520
Speaker 2: son about it as he was very young, and then

846
00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 2: when he was ten years old, he got to see

847
00:41:08,719 --> 00:41:11,799
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler had the exact same game in game six

848
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:14,799
Speaker 2: like it literally happened again, forcing a seventh game in

849
00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:18,760
Speaker 2: the Eastern Conference Final. So History, as our guide, says

850
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:21,200
Speaker 2: that not only can the Mavericks not win the series

851
00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:25,640
Speaker 2: from where they are, History is skeptical. That everybody gets

852
00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:27,480
Speaker 2: on a plane that I mean, we're going back to

853
00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:31,040
Speaker 2: Boston on Saturday, but History suggests that the Mavericks will

854
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:32,200
Speaker 2: not be joining us.

855
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:35,680
Speaker 4: Enjoy the ride, my friend. This was awesome.

856
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,480
Speaker 5: Thanks to Mil for doing it, and thank you everyone

857
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:43,359
Speaker 5: for listening to this edition of This League uncut I

858
00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:47,799
Speaker 5: promise Chris Haynes will be back at my side very

859
00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:50,800
Speaker 5: very soon, and we'll be back with you soon for

860
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:52,080
Speaker 5: another episode.

861
00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:55,800
Speaker 4: Until then, enjoy these finals.

862
00:41:58,640 --> 00:41:59,880
Speaker 1: And that'll do it for us.

863
00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:00,879
Speaker 2: See you next time.

864
00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:05,000
Speaker 1: This League Uncutta is an iHeartRadio production.

865
00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:07,719
Speaker 2: Putting suck a lock up

866
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:11,320
Speaker 1: Chris Haynes and Mark Stein