Speaker 1: The volume. Hi, everybody, it is time for instant reaction
Speaker 1: as the Celtics keep the series alive. Jason Tatum as
Speaker 1: a huge second half, finished with thirty four one sixteen
Speaker 1: to ninety nine Boston wins. So the Miami story has
Speaker 1: been a great story. It's a story of Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 1: of Eric Spolstro's coaching, and it's a story of effort
Speaker 1: and toughness and undrafted players playing for a contract. It's inspiring,
Speaker 1: it's fun, but they're not a good enough team in
Speaker 1: terms of talent to lack intensity and take the night
Speaker 1: off on the defensive end and win. They're not the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets can take a half off
Speaker 1: and win. That's the reality. We don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of great teams in the NBA, right. Dynasties get about
Speaker 1: one a decade and then it's good teams that stay healthy,
Speaker 1: have a good coach, you know, Lakers in the bubble,
Speaker 1: It all kind of it all kind of hits. So
Speaker 1: Miami's not a team that can play half assed defense,
Speaker 1: and they weren't great tonight and win a basketball game.
Speaker 1: They are winning this game on coaching, Butler and effort
Speaker 1: and a great example tonight, the Celtics had eight block shots.
Speaker 1: That's effort. They shot like fifty percent, they got more
Speaker 1: open looks, they had thirty percent fewer turnovers. Why they
Speaker 1: played cleaner, and then Tatum had a great second half.
Speaker 1: So Miami, listen. It's it's really really hard. That's why
Speaker 1: I think Denver is more talented than people are giving
Speaker 1: them credit for over the Lakers, because it is hard
Speaker 1: to sweep a team like and the Lakers have some
Speaker 1: talent and Boston's got talent. But the difference is Denver
Speaker 1: swept the Lakers because in the end they have significant,
Speaker 1: gantly more talent than the Lakers. Their four best players
Speaker 1: are all in their prime. The only Laker top player
Speaker 1: in their prime is Austin Reeves. It's pretty low ceiling prime.
Speaker 1: Boston's got more talent in Miami, and they've been playing
Speaker 1: together for like six years. And that's an interesting thing.
Speaker 1: There was a story Kevin O'Connor with the Ringer, had
Speaker 1: a story or he broke a report that one of
Speaker 1: the people inside that locker room said the Celtics are
Speaker 1: tired of faking like they like each other. And here's
Speaker 1: the thing. Had they won the championship last year, they'd
Speaker 1: like each other a lot more. Put you put people
Speaker 1: together for six years with disappointment at the end of
Speaker 1: all those seasons in a city like Boston. So I
Speaker 1: grew up in the Pacific Northwest, we didn't have sports
Speaker 1: talk radio, you know what I mean. So when I
Speaker 1: moved in my mid forties, I move to the Northeast.
Speaker 1: I live in West Hartford, Connecticut, beautiful small town in America.
Speaker 1: And it's about, you know, a couple hours to Boston,
Speaker 1: a couple hours to New York. And I went to
Speaker 1: New York a lot more than Boston. But when I
Speaker 1: went to Boston, I would watch nessen NESN. That's their ESPN, right,
Speaker 1: it's this regional network, and I would watch talk radio
Speaker 1: and the anger and the cynicism. And this is when
Speaker 1: the Red Sox were really good, and the Patriots were
Speaker 1: dominating football, and the Bruins had a couple of great teams,
Speaker 1: and the Celtics were pretty good. Like I was there
Speaker 1: for ten years and the Boston teams were winning a lot,
Speaker 1: baseball and football winning a lot. People were miserable. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's the cold winters, Maybe it's the kind of the
Speaker 1: provincial nature of that area where you know, Boston's one
Speaker 1: of the only cities in the country where people they
Speaker 1: don't leave to go to school because you have such
Speaker 1: great universities and some of the best prep schools in America.
Speaker 1: Most of the best prep schools in America are in
Speaker 1: that you know, Boston, New York area. So you get
Speaker 1: educated there, you go to college there, and you summer
Speaker 1: there Martha's Vineyard, the Cape Nantucket. So it's very provincial
Speaker 1: like New Yorkers. You know, the rich can go to
Speaker 1: sag Harbor for the summer, but a lot of people
Speaker 1: go down to you know, in the winter, they go
Speaker 1: down to Florida, they go down to the Carolina's New Yorkers,
Speaker 1: it's not a provincial city. You know. New York is
Speaker 1: very transient. Boston's not. People that are in Boston are
Speaker 1: mostly from Boston. They go to school in Boston, they
Speaker 1: vacation in Boston, they summer in Boston, and so they
Speaker 1: love Boston teams. In fact, years ago, when I first
Speaker 1: got into this business at ESBN, I was looking at
Speaker 1: some national radio demographics and the what you figured out
Speaker 1: very quickly is Boston had no interest in any sports
Speaker 1: talk radio outside of Boston, the two most provincial markets
Speaker 1: in the country. We're Providence, Rhode Island. I mean literally,
Speaker 1: nobody would watch the Rose Bowl in Boston or Providence,
Speaker 1: like nobody New Yorkers. It would get a ten rating
Speaker 1: every year the Rose Bowl because New Yorkers, you know,
Speaker 1: people from everywhere in the country live in New York. Boston.
Speaker 1: It's not that way. So when you listen to sports
Speaker 1: talk radio in Boston, it sounds like Boston, and Boston
Speaker 1: has a chip on its shoulder and it's in your face,
Speaker 1: and it's confrontational, and there's just what makes it such
Speaker 1: a vibrant political and sports town. But if you put
Speaker 1: guys together for six years on the Celtics and you
Speaker 1: have the history of Russell and then you know, not
Speaker 1: that long ago, KG you've got titles, and you can't
Speaker 1: win a title, and there's disappointment at the end of
Speaker 1: the year. You could see where the team would start
Speaker 1: eating itself alive. You're on your fourth coach, and this
Speaker 1: coach is a young coach. By the way, did you
Speaker 1: notice late in the game there was a huddle for
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics with five minutes left in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and a reporter noted that Marcus Smart's in the
Speaker 1: coach's chair, Joe Mozilla's chair. We started directing the team.
Speaker 1: It's like this team. The Celtics took it upon themselves
Speaker 1: on their day off in Miami and said, guys, we
Speaker 1: got to play with more effort. So they made an
Speaker 1: adjustment at half. The team played up tempo, more good looks,
Speaker 1: more open threes started hitting them, and Miami just didn't
Speaker 1: have the effort and that's the only way they can win.
Speaker 1: But Boston's got more good players here, and they'd been
Speaker 1: really good for a long time. But in Boston, if
Speaker 1: you don't win, man, you got a lot of Super
Speaker 1: Bowl rings, you got NBA championships, you got Stanley Cup championships,
Speaker 1: you got World Series crowns. This is a winner's town
Speaker 1: in Boston's becoming the most talented Boston team that's never
Speaker 1: won a championship. Not a good tag. So you could
Speaker 1: see were this team it would wear on them because
Speaker 1: nobody was talking about this team not liking each other
Speaker 1: a year ago. We know that Jalen Brown is not
Speaker 1: entirely happy there living there and went to cal Berkeley.
Speaker 1: But by and large, Tatum is easy to get along
Speaker 1: with al Horford's really easy to get along with Jalen Brown,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, it has a good reputation. Marcus
Speaker 1: Smart can be feisty, but there's no reason this team
Speaker 1: wouldn't get along. I think Boston the pressure cooker that
Speaker 1: is Boston sports listen. I grew up in Seattle. The
Speaker 1: Washington Huskies won a national championship in like nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 1: The Sonics won in the seventies. We don't win championships.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's why we celebrated. Like when the Seahawks
Speaker 1: win one and they should have won two, people don't
Speaker 1: freak out. We got one. And so it's not a
Speaker 1: pressure cooker. It's a friendlier media. Sports talk radio is
Speaker 1: not as big as I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 1: So when I moved out east and I saw it
Speaker 1: and I felt it, and I watched WFAN sports talk
Speaker 1: radio in New York. Literally the fans ripping the Mets
Speaker 1: front office. They didn't make a move in free agency,
Speaker 1: and then the Mets go get like Jason Bay and
Speaker 1: left Field a bad fit for the Mets. He struggles.
Speaker 1: That was like the fans demanding it and the GM
Speaker 1: for the Mets, apparently listening to sports talk radio. You
Speaker 1: would watch teams get influenced in New York by sports
Speaker 1: talk radio. You see teams get influenced in Boston by
Speaker 1: the pressure cooker, that is the fans in the media.
Speaker 1: So I think the Boston players took it upon themselves
Speaker 1: and they played with great intensity. It was a clean game.
Speaker 1: Tatum was great in the second half. But this isn't
Speaker 1: Denver and the Lakers. Denver's got more talent, they can
Speaker 1: sweep them. It's hard to sweep a team when you
Speaker 1: have inferior talent. Now, Miami's got a better coach. Miami
Speaker 1: may have the best player in Jimmy Butler. I like
Speaker 1: bam Autobayo a lot, but it's a lot of guys
Speaker 1: here playing for contracts, undrafted guys, and so the Celtics
Speaker 1: are alive. Got to tell you really interested. Thursday night,
Speaker 1: I'm going to do another instant reaction. You know, Boston,
Speaker 1: what did Marcus Smart say this week? Don't let us
Speaker 1: win one. Don't let us win one. So I cannot wait.
Speaker 1: I got a feel in Boston's going to go home
Speaker 1: and lose. I'm sorry, it's still spo against Missoula Spoilster's
Speaker 1: really good. All right. A quick word from our sponsor,
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Speaker 1: So one of the really interesting things because as many
Speaker 1: of you know, I've moved around the country, and you know,
Speaker 1: I've been a sportscaster in Vegas blah blah blah, and Portland,
Speaker 1: in Connecticut, in Tampa and now in Los Angeles and
Speaker 1: when you live in a city as a sportscaster, you know,
Speaker 1: you start liking the teams. I remember covering the Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay Buccaneers with Tony Dungee and Sam Wich, and I
Speaker 1: became a fan because you know, you know the players,
Speaker 1: you're hanging out, your friends in the town are fans,
Speaker 1: and so it's hard not to you know, I covered
Speaker 1: the Blazers they were getting to the Western Conference finals.
Speaker 1: I knew people in the front office. You want to
Speaker 1: see your friends do well, and so people, why don't
Speaker 1: you route for Seattle teams? Well, I've never worked there.
Speaker 1: I got a soft spot for the Huskies or the
Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks. My sister is not a sports fan, but she,
Speaker 1: you know, she likes the Seahawks, and it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: My sister and I are closer now than we were
Speaker 1: in high school, and some of that is, you know,
Speaker 1: her love on Sundays for the Seattle Seahawks, which to
Speaker 1: me is really cool because she never likes sports when
Speaker 1: I was a kid growing up, and my family wasn't
Speaker 1: a sports family. So living in Los Angeles and anybody
Speaker 1: that's lived in Los Angeles, it is a Laker Dodger
Speaker 1: town and If USC football is hummon it becomes very
Speaker 1: quickly a USC football town. That doesn't mean UCLA basketball,
Speaker 1: or the Angels don't have fans, or the LA Kings.
Speaker 1: But it's always been a Laker Dodgertown first. USC third.
Speaker 1: Rams are making some headway because of the Super Bowl McVeigh.
Speaker 1: They make some splashy moves. So and Justin Herbert has
Speaker 1: made people charger fans, But Rams feel like fourth behind
Speaker 1: USC football. But what's been interesting to watch and listen?
Speaker 1: So I've lived in Los Angeles now eight years, but
Speaker 1: I'd visited for years. I'm a West Coast guy. Blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. Is. People loved Kobe Bryant and they still
Speaker 1: love Magic. If you're at a Laker game, I've seen
Speaker 1: this multiple times, and Magic Johnson enters the arena, people stand.
Speaker 1: He is revered. It's like nothing I've ever seen in
Speaker 1: my life. I mean, he is still a legend. Kareem's
Speaker 1: the all time leading scorer until Lebron broke that record.
Speaker 1: It's not treated the same as many great players for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, not treated the same. Magic Johnson is Kobe beloved.
Speaker 1: It is interesting to listen to my friends in Los
Speaker 1: Angeles who loved the Lakers and don't like Lebron. It's
Speaker 1: weird to me. Maybe it's the politics, Maybe it's the
Speaker 1: perceived arrogance, or that he's not really their guy because
Speaker 1: he's bounced around the league. Or maybe it's because you know,
Speaker 1: he was called the chosen one of the king and
Speaker 1: he does the crown thing whatever. And a couple of
Speaker 1: them when I asked them about how you would feel
Speaker 1: if you know, Lebron retired, I texted a couple of
Speaker 1: them and it's like, good, start over, rebuild. This team's
Speaker 1: not a championship team. And somebody else pointed out something
Speaker 1: to me that they said, Lebron's ego is too big
Speaker 1: not to have a retirement tour. Now for me, I
Speaker 1: look at Lebron and I think, is the kind of
Speaker 1: above a retirement tour? I mean, is Sacramento going to
Speaker 1: give him a cow Bell Phoenix going to give him
Speaker 1: a Lebron jersey? Like? What does he need? Lebron's have
Speaker 1: been about winning in business from day one. Calculated, strategic,
Speaker 1: That's who he is and maybe that's what turns people off.
Speaker 1: But you know, when I think of Lebron's retirement, the
Speaker 1: two football retirements to me that were the greatest. We're
Speaker 1: John Elway with Denver won a Super Bowl and Roger
Speaker 1: Staubach with the Cowboys. They were both all pros, they
Speaker 1: were declining, still very good, and they both had their
Speaker 1: business ventures set and ready to go. So does Lebron.
Speaker 1: But I do think Lebron does look around the NBA
Speaker 1: and he has first halfs like he had in Game
Speaker 1: four the Lakers lost, where he's obviously the best player
Speaker 1: on the floor. And now he's going to have the
Speaker 1: first major surgery in his career, some ankle surgery, and
Speaker 1: I think Lebron's probably will talk himself into, hey, if
Speaker 1: we can get Kyrie Irving, Austin Reeves, Anthony Davis, we're
Speaker 1: not that far off from a championship, and they're probably
Speaker 1: with that lineup not far off a championship. But I've
Speaker 1: had some mobility in my career and there is no
Speaker 1: real home, even though I think southern California is my home.
Speaker 1: You know, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. My
Speaker 1: wife's favorite place is Naples, Florida, right like our kids,
Speaker 1: A lot of them like Connecticut in the northeast. So
Speaker 1: Lebron left his home Cleveland twice. They burned his jersey
Speaker 1: the first time. So although Lebron has benefited greatly from
Speaker 1: his mobility, where is he truly beloved. It's not Miami,
Speaker 1: it's not really Cleveland. It's not Los Angeles. Because I
Speaker 1: can attest to that because I live here. I think
Speaker 1: it would be the perfect time to call it a career.
Speaker 1: I thought Brady did it right. Todd Bowles wasn't the
Speaker 1: right coach. He clearly looked at Mahomes, Burrow, Allan Herbert,
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence, these really good players getting better, fully committed
Speaker 1: in their athletic Brian and Tom's like, you know what,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not I'm the goat, but I'm not the
Speaker 1: best quarterback in the league. Lebron's in a very similar situation.
Speaker 1: He's not the best player in the league because to
Speaker 1: be the best player in the league you have to
Speaker 1: be able to play entire games at a high level.
Speaker 1: But he's a top eight, top ten player. But I
Speaker 1: think one of the reasons Lebron will consider coming back
Speaker 1: is right now in the West outside of Denver, I mean,
Speaker 1: Golden State has no size, there's not a big market.
Speaker 1: I mean, if they're going to stay with Clay Draymond
Speaker 1: and Steph They can only make so many moves. Phoenix,
Speaker 1: Chris Paul and Kevin Durant have a very recent injury history.
Speaker 1: The Clippers still don't have a point guard in Kawhi,
Speaker 1: and Paul George aren't available regularly. You start looking at
Speaker 1: the West, and I think it's because I thought Brady
Speaker 1: would retire one year sooner. But I think one of
Speaker 1: the reasons he didn't he looked at the NFC, and
Speaker 1: he looked at the NFC South and thought, God, I'm
Speaker 1: surrounded by shit. I mean, I can come back and
Speaker 1: win my division and get a home playoff game. And
Speaker 1: he was right. They weren't great, and they still get
Speaker 1: a playoff game. And so I look at Lebron James
Speaker 1: and I think he looks at the Western Conference outside
Speaker 1: at Denver, and he's like, you know, if we add
Speaker 1: a Kyrie Irving, ad me Kyrie Irving, none of us
Speaker 1: have to play every night. All of us can play
Speaker 1: fifty eight games. One of us can take a night off.
Speaker 1: Bring back Austin Reeves, ruey Hacha Mora, add some depth
Speaker 1: in the back end, get rid of d Lo Beasley.
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt so I think it's really hard for athletes, and
Speaker 1: this was what Brady went through. I think Brady one
Speaker 1: of the reasons Brady retired. This has never been discussed,
Speaker 1: but he looks at the Eagles, and he looks at
Speaker 1: the Niners, and he's like, we just were not built
Speaker 1: to beat him. I'm not built to beat those teams
Speaker 1: in the NFC. Then he looks at Kansas City, he
Speaker 1: looks at Cincinnati, he looks at Buffalo. But in the NFC,
Speaker 1: Tom's like, strategic, Yeah, I'm not built. We're not. We
Speaker 1: don't have Philadelphia or San Francisco's roster. We're just not
Speaker 1: built to beat him. I think Lebron outside of Denver
Speaker 1: looks at the West and thinks, I get my ankle surgery,
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving, I'm not going to need seventy games from
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. I mean, you had Kyrie Irving, Ruy Austin
Speaker 1: ad Lebron. It's a better starting five the one that
Speaker 1: got to the Western Conference finals. But I do think
Speaker 1: it's interesting the initial reaction by friends I have in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles that are Laker fans Lebron's mobility and kind
Speaker 1: of strategic nature. Is it fair to say he's the
Speaker 1: least loved great Laker ever. I don't know, because Kareem
Speaker 1: was such a stoic, prickly figure. When you watch Winning
Speaker 1: Time based on Jeff Pearlman's book, I mean, Kareem doesn't
Speaker 1: let you love him. You know, he's kind of the academic,
Speaker 1: the intellect he's aloof. He's distant, he's prickly. It's never
Speaker 1: got the coaching opportunity he wanted to. Very smart man.
Speaker 1: But my gut tells me Lebron should retire, but probably won't.
Speaker 1: All right, good stuff. Instant reactions see Tomorrow and FS
Speaker 1: one and Premiere Idea. The volume