
POSTGAME POD: Celtics dominate 76ers as Jayson Tatum’s return looms closer
About this episode
Chris Forsberg and Kayla Burton react to the Celtics blowing out the 76ers, 114 98, behind Neemias Queta’s career night. They also talk about Jayson Tatum’s looming return.
0:00 Neemias Queta scores career-high points in win over 76ers
15:43 Baylor Scheierman shines despite fracturing his thumb
21:05 When might Jayson Tatum make his return?
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Celtics Talk — POSTGAME POD: Celtics dominate 76ers as Jayson Tatum’s return looms closer. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
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three blocks. What can't Namiya's Kate to do? I can't even get through the intro. I can't even get through the intro, but I'll mention in the man's name, because he was that good. Career high, 27 points, 17 rebounds, three blocks. What can't Namiya's Kate to do? Other than when most improved player of the year. Oh. Hot take early. Hot take early. Well, like, look, what a launching off point. I'm mad at myself for not bringing that up at any point during our post game show. I didn't need anything. It's an excellent question. So, now, typically. This is a strong case. Most improved player goes to the player that, usually there's, like, level. So it's not usually the guy that comes out of nowhere and all of a sudden is an okay player, or, you know, like whatever role player on a team. It's usually guy that goes from being maybe a role player. Like, there's been years where Derek White made the leap. And everyone's like, oh, you know, Derek White should be in that conversation. Pete Pritchard has certainly been in that conversation,
especially after going to six man of the year. But you bring up a good point. Like, if you were just to go in a vacuum and say, which player, relatives of what they were, going from a fourth string big man, to now a starting center, putting up 27 and 17 on a 40 and 20 team. You talk from it. I'm going to look up his odds. I might have to wait. No, I'm trying to. Who else is in that conversation? I mean, obviously there's plenty in that conversation. But to, like, that's winning the case or making the argument. Because, again, I could be biased because we're watching every single game. But really, I mean, think about. I need to see on a scale like his numbers stat line by stat line. And, you know, but also the things that aren't on the stat line in terms of, like, the not only the blocking, but who he's matched up against. Like, going up against these big guys. Like, he's been scouts at it. Better shape.
He's getting down the court back and forth much better than he did last year. His, the way he's able to move like his body movement in terms of defensive presence, the blocking's insane. Yeah. The finishing at the rim. That was something he didn't do last year. I remember I was on the away trip with them in Scotty Barnes. Like, Joe Mozilla was so pissed at Mimi Kater. Because Scotty Barnes was having a freaking field day. And he's like getting on Mimi left and right. And there's just a demeanor. And Mimi Kater is extremely quiet. Right? Then he's not like the loudest. But just to see him kind of, he said it. I'm having fun. He's like breaking, kind of like having this breakthrough. And his guy is Jalen, Jason. Like, they're on the sidelines too. Losing their mind when he's doing what he's doing. And I just, I think he makes a strong case. Now you can go into the numbers. OK. Well, no, there's not even numbers. I'm just going to give you the, so I looked up the, there's 10 players. They're down. There's only 10 that they have like the, at least the book I'm looking at. Yeah. Suggest that there are 10 players in the conversation
were most improved. He better be in there. Number one up. And I'm, you know, it's kind of hard to argue with it. But it's Detroit Jalen Durn. And I mean, he has been pretty remarkable this year for the best team in the Eastern Conference. I'm not going to play with that one. I was going to say, I won't argue that. Number two, Jalen Johnson from the Atlanta Hawks, who is like putting up baby Yoke, it's numbers with floating with triple doubles every night. I'm like, all right. I'll, I'll allow that one. When you play with triple doubles, it's in conversation. Third is Danny, Danny Advia and Portland. And he's actually been very good. He's, he's a relentless driver this year. He's certainly helping, although, you know, the counter argument would be Portland is what Portland is. Not even Robert Williams can help them. So I'm going to, I think maybe that's our, yeah, that's, that's maybe where I'm starting to think, like maybe Neemie could get in on the odds. Next up is Ryan Rollins, who the Celtics will see on Monday night. That's a good one. For Milwaukee, having an excellent season. But same deal.
Is he, is he giving you? I mean, he's obviously playing a big role up there, especially for when they're honest lists. But the rest of them, Nikkei, Alexander Walker. Yeah. Okay. 70 year Keonte George, who actually I would, I would think it'd be higher than having. At least every time they play the Celtics, I'm like, oh my god. Everyone's like, watch out for Keonte George. Yeah. It's a real. Jalen Tyson, who is obviously elevated to a bigger role, calling Gillespie, Anthony Black in Orlando and Michael Porter, Jr. in Brooklyn, which is kind of funny. It's just, he's obviously more opportunity. But if you, can I ask you something? How much does it matter? In terms of like a barometer of. The team success correlated to the players, like the player success. That's a great question. Like you have to be, like right now, Namiha Shkaida, ball and do this thing, being the big man, they don't have their superstar in Jason Tatum, all the things. And they're second in the East, and he's doing what he's doing. Like, does that. I would say, how much is the factor in?
It's a great question, because I would think of all the awards. Most improve might be the one award where I would be like, I'm not sure team success. And maybe it's a good tiebreaker if I was like, deciding between two guys. But. Yeah. Most improve, but I feel like you could make a case, even for someone who wasn't on a great team. Now, that being said, do I think Namiha's impact is greater than, let's say, Ryan Rollins, because like the box order just, yeah, 100%. That's why, like, some of those names, like, I can get behind, like, Durham's having this monster season. But does Durham look greater? Because he's winning. And that's fair, too. Right. Like, does playing with Cade, where you get a million lobs and all that, does that help? No. But I think the bottom line is we have a great appreciation for what Cade is doing. When I first got to hop on the post game show, I was saying, I just want to say, and I, you know, try to do this every time we do the Cade conversation. Thank you to the Sacramento Kings, who in September of 2023, weaved Cade in order to make room
for Javail McGee, who was a veteran. I get what they were doing. They were coming off a playoff season. They're probably thinking, like, maybe they could build off that success. Maybe they could use a veteran. I think they were the ninth seed in the West that year. And I think they got bounced on the plan. So, I did not work out. And now here's Cade, and the, just like, certainly, I'm not looking for 27 and 17 every night. But, man, there were multiple stretches in this game, where he was just like, you could go be the best player on the floor right now. And also, thank you Portugal. Can we thank Portugal? Shout out Portugal. Shout out Portugal. Absolutely. Of Portugal. Who are very active on social media and warrants my heart that. I love it. As the, I believe he's the only Portuguese player. I remember, I think it was Giles, when he went on his honeymoon, and came back, and, or maybe was somebody. Someone went over there, and they were laughing, because like, they were asking about what they, about at the NBA, and they knew Naomi. And that was like the only person they knew, because it was, you know, whatever, it's Portugal. Yeah, he's like, he's part of waving their flag. Like, when it comes to that.
So good. It's, it's awesome. Um, he's been. Fantastic. And it's, the thing is too, like, I feel like, Jalen and this crew, they know how to utilize him, like more. Not only is he just like a screen-setter and kind of like, he doesn't just go into, dripped into the fog. Yeah. Like, he's, he's involved. They're looking for him on pick and roll. Like, they're, they're trying to feed the post. They're trying to feed Mimi. Because they, he's more reliable around the rim. Yeah. And then out of guy like Vouch too, who's also like, cranked up his game since being here, coming off the bench. Like, it's a great one to punch with this unit. And I know. I didn't even notice. They both got double, double. Yeah. That's the thing. Vouch kind of had like this. Vouch got a phase of the scene. He had some rough defensive moments. But, you know, like, that being said, like, when you're getting, so that would be 38 and 29 from your bigs tonight. My goodness. And then the energy that Naomi's playing with. Yeah. What a night ago or two nights ago, against Brooklyn, where they have that NBA record,
feel goal, the fish and percent. And right out the gate, who really cranked up the tempo? Was Mimi. He had those two early blocks that steal and that transition, dunk and then he got into foul trouble. So Vouch came in. But like, he's just playing with a different energy. And, and you know what's cool too? And I'm kind of going off the rail. I love it. But Jalen said in his post game, he was talking about Nemi, obviously. But he then he goes, he goes, Vooch only took nine shots tonight. I wanna get him more involved. For, for, can we just stop for a sec and realize what a leader that is of Jalen Brown to even know, hey, how many shots did Vooch get? Nine. That stood out to me. I'm like, oh, he's clocking what everyone's got tonight and how do we get more people involved? I feel like that's what he did with Mimi. He's elevated his role and now he's looking, hey, new guy coming in, let's get him more shots. Yeah, but both Boston sports radio, keep telling me how, you know, he's how Jason Tatum will possibly find shots coming back to the steam. You know, like, come on. Jalen's looking out for everybody. I think, I think I was gonna work out this fine. Hey, Vooch got nine, Mimi got, how many to, to whatever tonight?
We get 14 shots tonight. 14 shots. Jason, you can only get three and three and... All the starters got double digit shots tonight. You know, South Dakota 91 shots, it's a lot overall. I think one of the things I love the most, like I can't remember the last time a Celtic big up to the free throw line 10 times. Maybe, maybe poor thing is, but, you know, we've reached the nearest. I mean, that's incredible for him to get their 10 offensive rebounds, 10 of his 17 rebounds on that end of the block. I think what stands out most to me is, you know, look, the offense is gonna be what it is. It's like, if guys wanna collapse on Jalen or Derek or whatever, they're just gonna throw those lobs up there and Mimi's gonna mostly subsist off of either alleoops or putbacks or whatever the case may be. But what, I feel like really jumps out in the stretch has been what you mentioned, the defense and the energy, the blocks, like I think back to that Laker game, he was just like everywhere early on, he swats LeBron, he's just a deterrent at the rim.
And I think really that's all that, like, if the Celtic had a hope coming into the year, is again, like the point now put was gonna be what it was, but can you be an impactful presence on the defensive end? And it's further highlighted, again, when Vouch is an amazing offensive player, he's certainly learning and trying to figure out where he fits in defensively with this team, but he has some rough moments, just based on general defensive limitations. And then there's Mimi who's in the right spots, who's a deterrent, that's a valuable thing for the Boston Celtics, and if they're going to have success and scouts spend a lot of time when we were saying they're watching this tonight saying, it is, okay, can you lean on Mimi when it's beef stew and Jalen Dern on the other side? Can you lean on Mimi when it's Jared Allen and Evan Moly? Can you lean on Mimi Kada when it's Mitchell Robinson and Carl Anthony Towns? And, you know, there's no reason to believe that Mimi won't be ready for that moment based on how damn good he's been lately. Skull, wow, Skull, not Skull's Mimi game.
Skull also mentioned. That makes me feel better about the whole K2K like I'm just talking about this podcast. Blurring my words, slurring, blurring my words together. When we hit midnight on the podcast, that's when the talking thing becomes there. And when you slur your words at home, I'll be at dinner talking to my mom or whoever and I'm like, annunciate, annunciate. It's like, okay. How now, Brown County? So Skull is mentioning, in pre-game, we were talking about how, you know, the Knicks beat the spurs and how that's been like a thing. And I'm like, I ask Skull, I'm like, do you think that's a fluke and he's like, no, it's not a fluke and I know it's not. But, you know, why are the Knicks able to, like, hold on. Beat him in the NBA cup, they beat him up. Right, like, they give him trouble. But he was saying how Kat defends Wem, he's able to move Wem in a different way. And I wonder if it's the Knicks Celtics, do you think Kat, Carl Anthony Towns will have that same presence against like a guy like Mimi and how would Mimi be able to do it? Interesting, yeah, like again. I'm jumping way too far ahead, but. No, but I think it's like,
every round in the playoffs will be a little bit different about how you have to defend and, you know, Kat's so skilled offensively and, you know, having to negate some of that. And then you think about Moby and Alan, like, Alan's above the rim, especially now with Hardin and Moby can stretch you out, like, you're gonna have to be able to play every kind of which way. And then you're gonna have to go be physical against Detroit. So, um, Neem, the Celtics do shoot more threes, you know, like they're at the point shooting team, so it's not as. The, the, it's gonna be very interesting, like, how the Celtics have essentially approached Neem as a defender in those series. And vice versa, like, can, can Neem give the self-assoffice, if teams want to throw two-bought into Jay and then Brown, that's perfectly fine. They're gonna throw the lob up there and make things happen. Neem has been very, very good. Can I also say something? Yeah. To you calling you out. Oh, no. This is a first podcast in a minute. I'm not saying like, we're Ugo centric on this podcast. But I will say that play from Jalen to Ugo mid-air.
I don't know if you heard the halftime, but so that was our Zenny. And, you know, so we, because we, I think we're with enough replay, so I got to talk over at one point. And I said, there's Jalen dribbling up the court. We're those beautiful eyebrows. Are you 10? All right, that's my view. I didn't mean halftime. And, you know, because I mean, Ugo, that was a tough play. That was insane. The reverse layup mid-air. To catch, not only does it just like, streak ahead that fast to catch the ball and then finish like that. The Celtics have these like weird run of like, above average difficulty layups lately. Like, I think about Sam Haus was had a couple where he's been kind of floating at the basket. Neemies had some stuff. Which, by the way, Sam attacking the rim is like, I love it. Unbelievable. And then Ugo tonight was just flying down the court and transition and had no business putting that in. And did it, I'm glad you brought that up. Well, we now covered Spain and Portugal. Yeah, there you go. So, are there any other European nations that we'd like to get to? Nebraska. Well, yes.
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were previously best friends. No, you leave. Right, you leave, Igor. He can't talk to Igor anymore, right? You are left on red for a solid week and a half, two weeks. You are left on red. That's your prisoner of the moment. This is your bestie. There's maybe beef with the former bestie, but you leave him on red. They're going to be fine. Probably. But like, you can't be hurting his new best friend. I can't do it. And I think it was clearly Igor just taking out his jealous rage by inadvertently fracturing friendships and relationships. Yeah, there's love. So Baylor stays in that game and was actually like, you know, he watched the end of the first half and then he played like 12 more minutes in the second half. I was like, oh, he's fine. So I was actually, I was actually fine with them wanting to see that they listened to him as questionable. I said, oh, he's definitely playing. And I didn't know he would be as impactful as he was. Certainly didn't shoot the ball as quite as crisp as he has all season, but he didn't knock down a couple and the new celebration, a little thumbs up.
That was so good. Right at the half. It was so good. He also did another shot. That shot was not easy either, by the way. He also did another celebration. Sam Kassel was very close to him. And he did Sam Kassel's. We were not allowed to talk about it on air. But because we weren't, is that something? Yeah, we were told not to talk about it. I believe that he house did that same dance at one point in a fine money and is still waiting for a refund. The Sam Kassel dance is quite famous in lore. And it doesn't seem to matter who does it. They get fined a good amount. I don't know if he did it. I don't know if it's Baylor. He did it. He did it, but he didn't go down where you normally do that celebration. He just kind of kept it up here near Sam. He was doing six, seven more than maybe the big balls. He's like, I'm still young and still making money in this league. I don't want to get fined a fat fine, like some of these other guys.
And it was really just a shout out to Sam Kassel, who was right behind him. It's kind of like the J-Lim and you don't do the full screen in the half. Yeah, right. Just whatever. So we'll see if the league comes down on him. I'm afraid of bringing this up, like getting fined on this podcast. My lobby to Adam Silva would be Baylor's got a lot, like he's got the fractured thumb they're dealing with now. Like let's not add anything else to his plate. But Baylor's been really good. And Chris's defense. I mean, it's unbelievable. Like the one sequence that will stick with me is he, I forget if it was him or someone else turned the ball over. I think it was him. I think it was. I know what you're talking about. And Maxie breaks out the other way. And first off, trying to catch Maxie with a full head of steam is virtually impossible. Somehow Baylor is the guy that does it and not only does it do it, but he gets back and is able to poke the ball free. Now it's just kind of reset it. Like that was should have been an easy layup. Baylor's athleticism, Baylor's ability to defend different positions is just wildly underrated, cool to see him. Even after this little injury thing, still be a starter. I don't know how long it'll last.
Like ultimately, Jason Tatum will be back on the court at some point and he is the like the most likely guy to probably get knocked down the depth chart a little bit. And yet I think there is a nightly role for Baylor Shiam and who gets nothing but thumbs up from us. I love it. It's going to be like even if he does get knocked down, depth wise, this team, they really like each other. Do you see the chemistry flow? Like do you see how and I'm going to go on my cheesy rant of like, they like each other? They're going to make a strong potion. Go to these conference. But I mean it. Like there's second guys who thought that this group would be second in the East. I'll call myself out right now. I did not have them second in the East without Jason Tatum. I had him fourth, fifth, maybe six. But they're just, they get each other. And then I know a lot of the questioning is like, how is it for me? It's like how is Joe going to handle Jason Tatum being back, not because of JT being back, but the other guys who gets moved around, Joe is proved to everyone. And if you're not like, you know, sipping the cool aid, you should start because he's
proven to everyone that he can handle whoever coming from wherever and find a way to implement them in. He had he had Peyton Pritchard go to the bench. He's been even better. I mean, not necessarily, but, but for the most part, really strong, voodish, all these guys are just playing to their, no matter when someone has gotten sort of knocked down or like taken out of the rotation, you think about the time from the start of the year where Jordan Walsh was a starter and his mind was obviously a starter and got taken out. Like guys just like, okay, fine. Whenever minutes are available, I'm going to just go do the best I can. And I have no, no doubt in my mind. I'm not saying I just keep repeating myself like, I'm not naive enough to think there won't be some bumps in the road like he reintegrating players like it happens. But the the amount of of consternation I hear sometimes about like this, it makes me laugh. To the point where Michael Felger was on the radio, did you see this right yet on Twitter? I think so. So Felger was on the radio for, you know, three to six or two to six, whatever they're hours of their program hour. And he was like, this is like the weirdest thing and so it must be an NBA thing.
But why are people so worried about Tatum coming back? And you know, the dynamics and this and that and his whole point was in every other circumstance in the world, we'd be like, oh my God, this really good team is about to get the one of the best five basketball players in the world back. Now they should really be favored for the championship. And instead, there's this small subset of people that spend all day worrying about like, how it's going to look and how it's going to work. It's a good point. Maybe we should just be like, oh no, this is pretty good. Right. I think as people think that's a great point by Felger. I think it's people think it's like great point by Felger. Like, who would have thought those words would ever come out of our mouth? Right. And out of his mouth, being so proud of him, I'm like, hey, like see the glass half full now. I'm like, and did I take crazy pills? No, it's true. It's one of those like, is this too good to be true moments? And then you're like, wait, no, Jason Danham, you're perfect. You're going to come and you're too perfect and it's going to mess everything up because you're so perfect. And everyone has to like, play the way that we know how to play.
It's like, no, like this, it's a different challenge. It is, and I say challenge only because I don't know if it's a challenge, even maybe it's just. No, it's just bear word because again, you, when you've had a player like Jalen is elevated to a different level. Kate is elevated to a different level. The team looks different overall. They're, again, there's going to be things that maybe it's smoothed out, but that's no different than if you were adding a player at any other point in the process. And I get it. Like the window's getting tighter and that's why we all want to see him out there and see how this looks and see how it works and reapplying our expectations for how good they can be. But I just, I just laugh when people want to frame it negatively. It's like, I get it. And maybe we just have to wait. You guys are worry bugs. Some of you are just worry bugs. We have way too much time on our hands. I haven't had like, because I can, I cannot see a scenario where like, if I had to bet, like, 94% of me thinks it's going to be good and it'll be pushed to sell this to another level. And there's maybe 6% where they're just like, it's just the same as it is now.
And they've still got to work through some stuff and figure it out. And it's fine because in the long term, it'll probably be even better. But so I think parts two and three of the documentary aired tonight. It seems like we're, we're, we're, we're inching closer potential to a return like it. It's literally killing me. I know and it's tough. And people, the fact that the injury reporting on Saturday was hilarious. I mean, I had more people text me today. Is Tatum playing tonight than I probably had, and again, one was my daughter who just, you know, the checks and occasionally see if mostly because her friends are probably texting her and saying, hey, it's just Tatum playing tonight and she has to then check with dad to see what the answer should be. I would not be surprised if it was this week. I wouldn't be surprised if it's further into the month of March. I, you know, I think I've been, been through this a lot. I thought there was a chance it would move in the February when he was making so much progress. He's still clearly working through the final stages here.
He has the luxury of the seventh to have 40 and 20 like third best record, fourth best record in the NBA, second best net rating might be the best offense in the NBA. It probably not going to go up high enough today. But, you know, knocking on the door with the nuggets and like they're in a really good spot and they could just figure this out and maybe we'll pop up on Wednesday again before the game against the Charlotte Hornets and it's like, you know, a little Wednesday night against the Hornets on league pass, but mostly on NBC Sports Boston. And we'll say, man, I've never felt more like excited for that. So it's interesting too. And shame on. I mean, you see you got into the hype over the weekend. You're ready for the. I'm sold. I'm sold. I got, I feel like now I've become a fan of it being like, all right, like Ron Tatum watch. Going into this year, and I'm going to, I'm going to out myself going into this year. I said, this team is going to at best maybe ride the middle of the pack in the East. Maybe they can make a surprising push, but I wasn't even too optimistic.
I just didn't know. And then I said, you know what, I hope, and I still hope this. I hope to God that Jason Tatum does not rush any of this back. And it doesn't seem like he has his ad. And if you know Nick saying the trainers, like they take great care of him and his progress has been ridiculously impressive. Now I'm at the point, Chris, where I'm like, I'm ready for Tatum to come back, because it's, this is a movie we're watching right now. It's a bunch of kind of like underdog, like, I mean, Jalen Brown is playing ridiculous basketball. But the supporting cast is like, you know, on paper, doesn't look like this team should be second in the East and credits Joe credits of the players playing the way that they are as a team collectively individually. Now I had Tatum to the mix. Are you kidding me? Falker's right. This should be an automatic. You should be more surprised if they don't make a push to the Eastern Conference finals and beyond. It's going to be fun. I'm just I'm just sitting back. I'm not. You seem really cool. I don't seem like very chilly. I just. Well, here's the thing. I just can't. The target ad really had me rattled last week, where like, I can't, no dates.
No more dates. No dates in the in the post. Hey, man, the team is 40 and 20. You pick your spot, whatever you're most comfortable with. But certainly, I hope he doesn't, you know, because we're all just by nature and patient, like we want, you want something now. And so because there was always the possibility and we just assume, OK, they're back home, there's a chance here. So we're going to get greedy. And we're all going to be like every time there's a self-accom game. Wednesday against the Hornets, Friday against Dallas. Like it's just going to perpetually be there, especially when he's not thinking ahead the next week. The games get a little bit tougher. But man, it'd be really nice to have a Jason Tatum when you go in against Oklahoma City and Cleveland and San Antonio. But OK, even if it doesn't happen to the Wizards game on 314, St. Louis area code, whatever the reason is that that would be the day. That's the day. You would still have another month to shake the rust and see how this thing looks. And I'm just a piece at, it's going to happen when it's going to happen.
But I do sort of love that everyone else because we've lived it, we live it every day and like we, you know, we're, we have to, we get put on the spot to make predictions all the time. And I've already been wrong. And I'll be wrong a thousand more times. But I'm, you know, when it happens, that day's going to be great. I'm going to have chills. I'll probably shut it here just because like the hype of that's dramatic. But I'll probably like, it's going to be chilling. But standing ovation, whether he starts or comes off the bat, like it's going to be chilling. And on, did you see the tweeds crack me up right now? The anticipation because even like the other game against Brooklyn, Deuce is coming out and Deuce and they're like, someone like retweeted it or whatever, it was like, we haven't seen Deuce in the locker or like coming out the tunnel all season long. It's a sign that's pointing. Everyone's trying to figure out like, oh, like he was chewing gum before the game. He usually never does that until he's ready to put like everyone's over analyzing all of it. Abby did. I was grateful for Abby in her pregame report.
That was like, all you guys thought he was going to be back tonight, like chill out. That's not the vibe of the scene. She can't say that because as soon as he practiced with Maine back in like early February, I was convinced I was like, he might be playing tonight and I was way wrong, way wrong. And then Sean's is tweeting five on five. But again, like every little bit, I get over excited for it. And then I try to come on here and project chillness. Real quick, what do you think if you were to tap into his like him? Yeah. What game? I'm not. We're off the rail here when it comes to deciding which game, but like if you're tapping into him, which game on paper, if we do this every, if we do this exercise every time before like the next home game, we can just eventually will give you a be right. Yeah. Comment below too. Yeah. And then I just post. I'll be like, see, I told you guys all along. Yeah, I knew it. If you're tapping into Jason, I've talked to myself into that Hornets game five times day after his birthday against a team that, you know, there's a lot of Duke people be watching from afar. It is what we would call a little bit. I don't want to even say easier because it's not the right words. They're one. It's a good comeback game.
It's a less stressful game than if you were to come back against the thunder or the spurs or like teams that like could stress you in a variety of ways. You know, Friday is going to be flag day in Boston and it's Cooper flags first New England game. You know, I like, look, I feel like there's a chance that, you know, Jason with loves the Duke versus Duke stuff. There's always a chance. That's a national stage. Maybe that's the one. And same to you, like, he's just, he's just going to wake up one day and be like, you know, today's the day. And off we go. I'm just waiting for that injury report every time. Can you, you can last minute switch it? No, you can't last minute switch. You can. So it would be like probable. Right. I think the more likely scenario is, and that's why I thought it was funny because everyone was kind of like waiting for that 4.30, 5 o'clock release was that I'm just, my guess is like when it happens, it tatumal posted himself before it gets to the Celtics injury
report. But I hope the Celtics are enjoying just how popular the injury report is. Oh my god. Do you ever paid it's more attention to an injury report from the NFL, ML, all of that stuff. Like right now, the injury report for the Celtics matters more than anything. They should print it out when he gets upgraded to probable or whatever in place in that game and then he can sign them all walking off the board. But no, he'll probably do the Michael Jordan, send a fax to, to like, to ESPN or something that says, I'm back, whatever it is, whatever it's going to be. I feel like I do. I do. A new JT5 shoe. It's going to be like. Into a report available, like with a smiley, like the Celtics are going to do some kind of like smiley. Yeah. The first smiley face in the history of the injury and there will be fully allowed. All right. We have another game in like, it's today, technically. So I do everybody to go like, go subscribe, thank you for hanging out with us. It was supposed to be just a kid episode and somehow we incorporated the entire team and that's fine because that's what happens when you start talking about Jason Tatum around
these parts. Uh, we'll catch you tomorrow night on Selfie Talk podcast. You're juggling a lot, but you can still squeeze in a financial plan. With the Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor as your partner, it's not only possible, it's personalized. So if you're tying the knot, closing on a house, or welcoming a little one, you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way. It's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain. That's a better way to money. Let's get started at nm.com. The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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