WEBVTT - #thisleague UNCUT: Hall of Fame columnist Bob Ryan 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.120 Welcome to this League Uncut in the rule of. 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:09.200 Twenty four hour NBA News. This is you, Chris Haynes. 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:18.120 It's time, works time, it's so time. This League uncut 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:22.720 is underway and on fire. This should be a good one. 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:27.360 Hey, everyone, welcome in to a very. 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:32.960 Special pre finals edition of this League Uncut. Chris Haynes 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.839 is on the move, so I'm here, but not solo. 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.519 This is an absolute treat for me, a treat and 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.839 an honor to be joined by truly one of the 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:48.280 best who has ever done it in our business and 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:52.280 knows more about the Celtics, the favorites in these NBA 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.880 Finals than anyone I've encountered on press row. I think 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.000 the last time we actually covered something together was at 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:01.200 the Rio Olympic in twenty sixteen. 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:03.120 But I am thrilled to be able. 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:06.640 To connect with him now, the one and only Bob 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:10.880 Ryan from the Boston Globe. Mister Ryan, an absolute pleasure, 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:12.520 sir to have you on well. 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.040 Thank you for the flattering introduction. 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:19.280 And these finals it's so much about the Celtics, obviously. 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:21.920 I live in Dallas, I'm based in Dallas. I talk 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.639 Mavericks all day. I wanted to get the. 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.280 Full on Boston perspective. 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.720 So just from your seat, I mean, you've seen this 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:32.919 team and I don't know how many of their twenty 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.360 three finals appearances. Close to all of them, I'm sure, 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:41.319 but this team in particular, facing so much championship or 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:42.240 bus talk. 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:44.840 How do you think they're going to deal with that pressure? 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:47.840 Well, for the record, my first one I actually went 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:51.520 to in person was sixty six Red Aurbacks last game, 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.840 Game seven against the Lakers. That's a story in itself, 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:58.560 and how we got the tickets. Anyway, there is one 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:03.840 very simple fact, and my opinion their co equal about 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:08.880 this finals. When the tournament, as Bill Parcells would call 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:14.720 it started, there were sixteen teams. Fifteen of them. We're 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:15.639 playing with house money. 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:16.880 From day one. 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.640 One had the weight of the world on its shoulders. 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:24.120 That one is the Boston Celtics. This is win or 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:28.000 bust for them. It's you know what or get off 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:32.000 the pot for them. And because they have knocked on 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:37.519 the door now with this or pair for several years 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.480 and they don't have they haven't closed the deal, and 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.200 here they are with really no excuses except what can 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:48.680 not condition what porzingis will be in having missed thirty 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.400 seven days since he's last played, so. 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:53.560 We don't know how good he's going to be. 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.600 But they now have their team intact for the first 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.280 time since period one of the first game, and they 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:00.120 have no excuses. 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:05.359 They got to win. That's that's their perspective, So that's 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:05.960 that's it. 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.320 They really haven't been tested because of course the East 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.760 has been absolutely racked by injuries. But my sense is 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:15.400 they're not going to apologize for that because they have 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:18.600 this enormous pression. You're going to take a berth in 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:22.680 the finals anyway it comes. But I really am curious now, 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:28.560 just as overwhelming favorites, how they are going to cope, 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:32.400 not only with expectations but obviously the challenges that Doncic 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.519 and Irving present to a defense. 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.520 When when the playoffs started, our number one question with 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:42.160 the Celtics was how would they fare with score tied 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.960 and two minutes to go against a good team because 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:50.640 they had just romped through the league and including winning 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.000 three games by fifty points. I said five oho not 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.480 and it's no one that's ever done. And they were 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.720 a little suspect. They lost two games to Denver unless 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:03.840 minute or so during the season which which gave you know, 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:05.560 people so well. See Denver knows how to do it 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:09.320 and they don't yet. Okay, so there's an open question. 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:10.360 They haven't fosd the deal. 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:11.680 You're right. 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.960 They they were lucky in that they played Miami without Butler, 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.480 and they played Cleveland without with Mitchell hurt and then 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:21.920 Haliburton got hurt. So in each series there was somebody missing. 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.679 Now in Cleveland's case, Garland stepped up and made great 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:28.719 against them. Andy and I got some contributions for people 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:33.320 as well, Siakam, et cetera. Anyway, they haven't been tested fully, 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:37.440 but they've done without their Keith component. And that's Forzingis now, 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:41.520 as far as Dawis is concerned. From our perspective here 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.280 outsiders watching the West in the second half of the season, 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:49.520 we're focused on the battle at the top with those 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:51.359 three teams who went up in a tie, as it 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:55.760 turned out, not to mention the plight of the Warriors, 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:57.719 the plight of the Suns, and the plight of the Lakers. 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.920 Nobody's paying attention to DAWs at all outside of Dallas. 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.000 And there they go, and they went sixteen on eighteen 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.000 in that run. And then they lose their last two. 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.240 I don't know what happened there, but but but they 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:12.520 end up great. But off the radar screen completely, no 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:15.960 one's talking about them. Their fifth seed, right, it was 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:22.040 about Minnesota case and you know, and Denver, so they had. 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:25.200 They don't have outside pressure at all, you know, I 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:27.880 don't know what internal pressure they've created for themselves. They 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.520 deserve to be here. They won fair and square. They 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.719 beat these teams, and those two guys, the two stars, 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.520 the super are playing as well as they can play. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.080 Irving it's a you know, Irving is coach is a 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.000 juicy subplot, you know, because of the return to Boston 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.880 and all that nonsense. But they've earned it and Nico 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:52.200 Harrison got a just reward yesterday and then Jason Kidd's 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.679 reputation is being polished up now as a coach. 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:56.200 And it's all good with Dallas. 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.920 They lose, won't they won't be happy, But the rest 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.080 there's no disgrace involved unless they get swept or something 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:04.640 not just like that, which I don't think is going 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:05.080 to happen. 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:08.880 Yeah, for me, it's really a second half surge kind 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.120 I don't know that we've ever seen anything like it. 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:13.279 And we always talk about how rare it is to 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:17.440 make a trade and then win it all. Obviously the 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.279 Clyde Drexler to Houston in ninety five, but the Rockets 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:21.279 were defending Champs. 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.760 Rashid Wallace to Detroit, No, the one I. 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:26.400 Always think of. They don't win without him, and that 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:27.680 was a crucial Yeah. 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.680 And then Marc Gasol to Toronto in twenty nineteen. 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.680 But like for this to come together, the MAVs made 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.120 two trades for it to come together this quickly, the 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:38.720 sixteen and two run you reference. I mean they were 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.320 twenty eight and twenty three on the morning of the 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:46.560 trade deadline. You're right, nobody saw any of this coming. 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.279 But of course, now with Kyrie going back to Boston, 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.920 how vitriolic do you think it's going to be? I mean, 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.880 that's one of the questions everybody's asking in the build 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:55.720 up to Game one. 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:58.240 I don't think it's going to be as bad as 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.920 the outside will thinks will be. They'll be booze, there's 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:03.960 no question, I don't think. I don't think they'd be 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:06.760 throwing tomatoes at him or anything else. There was a 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.560 nice story in the Boston Globe today talking about how 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.040 he's been so well received in Dallas, and he's saying 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:15.560 kind of the right things, if you will kind of 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.400 explain away a little bit about way he was here 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.920 and what he wasn't said. They were outside circumstances. There 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.040 was a like a death in the family, and there 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.720 was other outside issues that were bothering him. On top 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.640 of whatever basketball is. Shoes still were and that was 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.520 five years ago. Now it's five years ago, So come on, 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:34.840 A lot lots happened. He's thirty one years old. At 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.400 thirty two, whatever he is, you know, he may have 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:40.520 abandoned some of his conspiracy theories and he seems to 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:43.320 be in the best place that he's ever been as 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.360 a professional in his head. You know, he never explained 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:49.080 why he left Cleveland. That was impetuous and stupid and 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.160 youthful indiscretion. Never explained it. For we knew he wanted 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:54.320 his own show, but he wouldn't say it. And when 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:56.120 he was here, I'll tell you I said three things 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.680 about him when he was here. One he's not as 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:02.160 smart as he thinks he is. Two, this won't be 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.520 his last stop a boy? Was that correct? Three he's 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:07.440 searching for something in life, but he doesn't know what 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.400 it is. Well, I'm starting to think he may finally 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:16.040 have found it and got more power to him. Fine, now, 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.040 there's never been a question about his talent, this offensive 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:22.280 talent he goes to. He's a skill to guard at 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:24.920 his position as we've ever seen. The Mavericks are getting 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.280 the full benefit of you, of that blossoming if you will, 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:31.240 So you know, I don't wish him any of your will. 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.320 He seems to be a happy, happier guy and good. 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.760 But yeah, there'll be some the action, but I don't 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:38.000 think it's going to be the story. 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.880 You reference the nineteen sixty six finals being the first 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.080 you attended. I'm gonna guess that was still as a 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:45.880 young fan and not already. 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:50.920 Oh no, I was a junior Boston College. And here's 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:54.959 the story. They win Game six in LA and tickets 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:57.400 go on sale for Game seven. In those days, they 0:08:57.400 --> 0:08:58.240 weren't selling out. 0:08:58.120 --> 0:08:59.960 Automatically every night, even in the playoffs. 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:04.280 They would always get there and you could buy four 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.640 tickets per person, and we sent one of our guys 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:11.560 in the dorm down to sleep overnight at. 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.520 The Boston Garden with you to how you did it. 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:14.560 That's how you got tickets. 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.640 You slept overnight in the lobby and you got tickets, 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:19.640 and so he would get one set of those tickets 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.800 and the other three tickets were a lottery, and I 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.160 won one of the lottery, you know, the dorm lottery 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:26.840 to get that ticket, which is how I got the 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:28.040 red hour backs last game. 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:29.760 So that's how it was. 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:32.720 How do you plan to consume these finals? Do you 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:34.439 still go to the home games? Or you just take 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:35.120 it all in at home? 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.160 That graciously granted me a credential because I retired officially 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.880 at twenty twelve. I haven't covered anything since twenty twelve, 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:45.280 but I still do podcasts. 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:45.880 I do stuff. 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.360 I write Sunday every other Sunday anyway, So I'm planning 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:51.440 on being in present and accounted for on Thursday night 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:52.240 at the Boston Garden. 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:56.920 Yes, given your scene it all status, and again I 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.400 mean you you know, I'm not sure how many of 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.319 the listeners, but you know I've certainly studied it to agree. 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:03.800 I'm sure there's a lot I don't know. 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:06.280 But of course I got to work for Dave Smith 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.400 in Dallas, and I know he was your former sports 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:10.880 editor with the Globe, and the way I've always understood 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.600 the stories that the two of you, in essence basically 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.440 created the Sunday Notes page that I love so much. 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:19.000 When you were still a Celtics beat writer. 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.160 Dave took the boss of BILP sports section and turned 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:27.240 it into a piece of journalistic art, if you will, 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.679 and emphasis heavily on the notes. I first met my 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:32.960 first notes column in the summer in nineteen seventy, after 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:33.640 my first year on. 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:34.960 The beat in sixty nine to seventy. 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.000 The person who set the bar raised the bar for 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:43.600 the notes columns was Peter Gammons with baseball period. Peter's 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:47.079 baseball notes columns were unsurpassed, and I did my very best, 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:48.880 and we were friends from day one. We started the 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.439 Globe the same day June ten, nineteen sixty eight, this 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.760 summer interns and which used to have an anniversary coming 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:57.640 up next Monday. But anyway, I did my best to 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:02.280 match Peter Gammons's expertise in baseball with my basketball. But 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:07.439 Dave was a tremendous sports editor for the Globe. At 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:09.079 that point, it was just a Sunday sports editor. He 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.240 later became the sports editor. That Sunday sports page was 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.400 his baby. At the time, and he turned it as 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.640 something that really has never been equaled, frankly. 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.360 In American sports journalism, not the way it was at 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:21.480 the Globe in those days. 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.200 I still try to do Sunday notes, but it just 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:28.800 doesn't look quite as pretty on a computer screen as 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:31.959 it does when it when you have a whole page 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:37.040 of NBA notes, That one full broadsheet newspaper page with 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:38.960 nothing but NBA on it is. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:40.720 You know, we had in our peak, of course, in 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:44.720 addition to the four major sports golf, tennis, we had 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:46.920 the great Bud Collins, the greatest American tennis writer or 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:50.640 whoever lived Bud Collins writing. We had Jokin Caannon who 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:53.160 wrote road racing when that was you know, in the 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.160 aftermath the Bill Rogers winning the Marathon at seventy six 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.960 and set off a road racing craze around here. So 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:03.000 in college college notes as well, all these notes are 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.200 you know, is uh. At the same time those days 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:08.679 are gone, the big four are still around. You know 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.520 that we still have our notes on football, basketball, hockey, 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.400 and baseball, but but we don't have the notes the 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:15.600 way we used to have all the others. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.240 That was that was the golden era, the old the 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:19.840 eighties were the golden era for a lot. 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.880 Of things, and and and and the NBA particularly and 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:24.000 certainly journalism. 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:24.439 It was. 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.400 So Having covered the league for as long as you have, 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:38.960 I'd love to hear your thoughts on Dancic. 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.079 What strikes you about his game, what you like, what 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:42.760 you don't like? 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.560 Give me just your view of There's only one don't 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.959 you make of donches to this point, there's only. 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.200 One don't like, and it's what everybody knows. You know, 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.360 stop complaining. You know, the whining thing is, it's tedious, 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:57.000 it's old. Now you you've been around to stop it, 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.520 you know, come on, just play now. Everything else he's extraordinary, 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:06.360 and the shot making, the court vision that the remarkable. 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:07.559 Way that he goes about at his pace. 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.400 I'm going to use a reference that probably will be 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:12.320 over the head of too many of the younger people. 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:14.640 He doesn't go at seventy eight, he doesn't go at 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.000 forty five. He goes at thirty three and at third rpm, 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.600 and no one disrupts him. He does his piece, that's 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:24.319 his pace, and no one can bother him. He goes 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:28.839 wherever he wants to go, and nobody stops him. He's 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:30.679 a pleasure to watch. It's all there's to it. And 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:35.439 then the shot making, I mean obviously is extraordinary. You know, 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:40.280 he's just he's great, and he and djokitch of you know, 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:41.840 you have to stink of them in the same vein that. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:43.480 Really and they are. 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.760 They're remarkable and you know, the world's ucky to the 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:48.000 best bowl, world's lucky to have him. 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.199 I mean all season long, when I've talked about the Celtics, 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.280 I mean, look, their regular season resume is ridiculous. 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:55.920 It's one of the best we've ever seen. 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:59.000 Okay, they didn't make a run at seventy two or 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.160 seventy three wins, but apart from that, their regular season 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:06.560 resume has everything. But I have to admit from Afar 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:09.880 from fifteen hundred miles away, and I haven't seen them 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:13.679 as much as you, but I still don't fully trust them. 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.240 Maybe it is the crunch time failings that you stick 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:21.440 with me, but like I haven't fully shaken the skepticism. 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.560 And this is the series that they're going to have 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:25.720 to do it and can do it once and for all. 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:29.240 But Tatum and Brown as a duo, just where do 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:33.160 they kind of fall in terms of the Celtics pantheon 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:34.600 and how they're viewed locally. 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.600 Well, one of the problems when you come along in 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.320 Boston is that you're now bucking the history. 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:42.360 You're now being thrusted into the history. 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.880 Of course, we've had some duos, of course, starting out 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.360 with Kuzi and Russell, and later Cowans and Hablet check 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.240 shall we say, and of course Bird and the Kale. 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:53.640 But Parish makes. 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.480 Three, you know, yeah, and now the latest one of 0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:00.720 course when the championship was Garnett and Pierson down grenad 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:01.200 and Pierce. 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:02.920 They're making their mark there. 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.320 They needed they need a ring that fully enter into 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.600 the discussion. But both you know, but the Tatum, particularly 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:13.200 his hors historical ranking. You know, we've got you know, 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.680 our Rushmore all Time five kind of thing going, and 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:19.840 and he's knocking on the door to get included in 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:21.040 that all time five thing. 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:21.760 It's no doubt. 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:25.120 Uh, they're they're not the same player, They're different, you know, 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:28.640 he and Brown. I think they've become very complamentary. That's 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:32.240 what a E as well as I. And it's it's 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.560 a power. It's a formidable duo. And they can go 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.040 out and get you sixty and they've done it. You know, 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.840 more than one stif each had thirty point games. Tatum 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.760 has made himself into a pretty damn good defender. Brown 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.520 originally that was his calling card, and he's back playing 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.120 the way he used he once played defense. Uh, the 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:53.200 big problem with Brown has been ball handling and turnovers 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.040 and bad judgment and drimming into crowds. 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.440 And he doesn't go to his left particularly well even now. 0:15:57.760 --> 0:15:59.480 But boy does he go to his right strong. And 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:03.240 he's a great finisher and his three point shooting has 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:05.760 gotten better in the current NBA. 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.040 They're in the discussion is the best duo and sixty 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:11.920 four wins is certainly a testament to that. And you're right, 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:15.760 your skepticism is warranted. That's still the story here until 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:19.080 they do it. You know, the people are not fully 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.240 buying into their any historical greatness or anything like that 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.240 until they win a championship. Until they and you have 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:26.800 to figure somewhere along the way, you're going to have 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:28.840 to do it in the finals by winning a close game. 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.080 You're not going to win four games by twenty. 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:34.640 That final exam. It's a final exam, and we'll see 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:35.960 how they they pass. 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:37.040 It's past fail. 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:39.760 Well, every guy in this team can shoot the three ball, 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:44.880 and that's something Dallas hasn't seen. Oklahoma City and Minnesota, 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:50.080 their last two playoff opponents, definitely had limitations when it 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:54.320 came to stretching the floor, and Dallas exploited that this 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.440 is going to be a completely different situation. 0:16:57.600 --> 0:16:59.440 But just I think I know the answer. 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.440 But I want to ask you a team that shoots 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:06.480 from deep as much as these Celtics, what is that 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.040 viewing experience like for you? 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:13.000 You're talking to someone who is who believes that the 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.000 three point shot is the worst thing that happen in 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.440 basketball in my lifetime, and it has distorted the game 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.240 at every level and now is unfortunately, it's become the 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:24.120 currency of the game. So you know, it's a live 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.480 by it, die by it circumstance some nights. And this 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.680 is why I get so frustrated. And this is where 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.040 Perzingis now can fit in in a way that they 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.600 have not had in the past. They've got an option 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:40.840 now than a seven foot three guy who actually does 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.040 know his way around basket as well as being able 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.080 to shoot the three. But he gives you an option 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.040 that you don't have to rank up another three. 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:50.840 It worries me. 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:53.119 I mean, you know there are highly dependent on it 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:54.600 and yet are good at it. They had a game 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:57.400 this year which all starting five at at least three each, 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.400 and to come off the bench with two three point 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:04.159 shooters Richard and Hauser. Now, Sam Hauser has been in 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.360 a slump. He had a very good year, but he's 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.480 had a bad he's had a bad playoffs so far 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.800 shooting and well the time off, you know, has he 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:13.840 been able to get a shot back in this ten days? 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:17.040 It'll be between their last game and Thursday night. But 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.200 right A Horford shoots threes. They all shoot threes, You're right, 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:23.560 and back where both of them do, White and Holiday 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:27.880 and of course Tatum and Brown. Yeah, it's the three shot. 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:30.600 Point shots are everywhere. But that's the tricky thing for 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.720 any team that is it. Do you will you accept 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:35.800 oh it's not our knight and go try to win 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.600 another way? You know that that's been a question here. 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:40.119 Yeah, and then Porzingis. 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:42.720 And when Porzingis was in Dallas, I was amazed, obviously 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:47.280 having covered pretty much every dribble of Novitzky's career, and 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.520 you know, he really is the one who to me, 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:54.679 revolutionized the game. In terms of making it acceptable and 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.160 even desired for the seven foot or to step out 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:58.000 and shoot the three. 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:02.520 But porzingis I mean he range. He shoots it with such. 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:07.800 Ease, five seven, ten feet farther away than the line sometimes, 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.000 I mean he just makes it look so easy. 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:12.760 He shoots it from Caitlyn Clarkland, which we used to 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.840 call curry Land but now it's Clarkland. My mouth drops 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:17.960 open sometimes when I say I'm going he's not going 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.720 to it? Yeah he is, He's got I'm serious. Yeah, 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:24.119 you're absolutely right, that is at seven to three. That 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:27.000 the range of factor is not just his foot's on 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:28.560 the line. Boy, I know you're right, he's three and 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:29.800 four feet behind that line. 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:31.359 Yeah, it's it's a phenomenon. 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.320 It's it's the new world, you know. And look at 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:36.280 when Beyana. You know he's going to he's the next one. 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:39.880 He shoots them from from down there. And I'll tell 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.320 you he had a tremendous year. And right from the 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.000 beginning he was impactful, and he was impactful in defense 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.480 as well. And he passes better than I had no 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:50.240 idea whether he's had any court vision. 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:53.520 At all, Well, he does. And he had a really 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:54.400