POSTGAME POD: Jayson Tatum continues to ascend as Celtics take down Wizards

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1:01Oh, you just need Xfinity. Plug in your gateway and you're good. All set. Luckily, Xfinity has reliable self-healing Wi-Fi that keeps you safe from threats. Wow. You can even boost speeds to your most important devices. Get reliable Wi-Fi at one price for five years. Guaranteed. Xfinity. Imagine that. Watch Jurassic Park with Xfinity. Restrictions apply. Select plans only. Celtics Talk Podcast is presented by 24autogroup.com. New England gets more at 24. What's up, everybody? Is this the Celtics talk about the first half podcast? You know, we did that thing one night where the Celtics were big and the first half we said, let's just get this podcast over with 10 o'clock game. Celtics are rolling. And then it got like... How was that received, by the way? No, no one complained to me. Okay. I mean, if they did, I wasn't listening.

2:02Look, you know, especially there's been a lot of late games for us here. Now games like Oklahoma City the other night. It was still invigorating to get in here. You can fight and over who was going to get to do the pod. There are nights like that. Nice that we do not fight over who gets to do the pod. Tonight. Yeah, I mean, look, I almost cut your loose. No. They did some good things or some good things to take away from it. It's just the way the game ends. You're kind of like, eat. Just get to the finish line already, you know? Or the whistles are just chipping away. It almost felt like the Celtics were like, can we just get to the... Can we just get to the... Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I will say this. Yeah, we kind of knew when you told me pregame that the spread was Celtics by 20 and a half, the biggest spread in the NBA this season, I said. It's only because not only have the Wizards had quite a week, but it's just...

3:02I think it's so hard when you're the Celtics to go from San Antonio and Oklahoma City. Then fly home and you're still like coming down from the emotional high of playing two of the best teams in the NBA. And now you're like, washing tin wizards. You know? Like, God bless our network. I'm sure we ran promos for this game where we're, you know... Trigong! Anthony Nate. I don't know. Like, I don't know how they hyped it up. Maybe they should have done... I guess my... I'll say this half jokingly. Do we trade for the wrong Wukovic? Who is that? Who's Tristan Wukovic? He spells it differently, obviously. He was so good. He was six of seven from three. I mean, he was like the only one on the Florida night that actually shot well from three. I guess Ron Harper was... No, Luke of Garza was two of two. But, uh... Yeah, outside of that, the other Wukovic. Very good Wukovic. The other Wukovic. Wukovic.

4:02Whatever. Yeah, outside of that. All right. What does your biggest takeaway from a Celtics perspective? Jason Tatum continues to... Uh, I think a cent. You know, we saw him score in different ways again. He was against slowing the first quarter, which he was in the first home game. So, I don't know if that has anything to... If there's any correlation there. But, uh, heading scored in the first quarter of each of the first two home games here, uh, in the four games. But, comes back out, plays 32 minutes, 20 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists. So, he kind of gave you a little bit of everything. That's what I found most interesting was that Celtics were kind of in control of the game midway through that fourth quarter, or even early in the fourth quarter. And you thought, all right, Jason Tatum's night's probably over. He's at 27 minutes. The Wizard's chip away to the point where Joe put the charters back in. And that included Tatum, who went from 27 minutes to finishing with 32. So, it seems like, uh, they continue to put a little more on his plate. Even if you are playing the Wizards, which those minutes are going to compare very differently

5:05to playing the Spurs or an Oklahoma City. And I'm thinking back to that Spurs game. And, you know, he checked back in in the fourth quarter, had a good little stretch, but then they had to pull him because they were worried he was going to max out his minutes. The fact that even here, just 10 days or so into his return, they're already kind of boosting that number up. He is super encouraging. Uh, the fact that, and he said it in his walkoff with Abby, that there are just certain plays in the game where, you know, and he stopped short of saying it, where he said, where he just feels more comfortable. Where he's himself again, right? Like, stuff that his body is just not used to doing after nine plus months, not on the basketball court. And so, you know, sometimes it's whether it's just snake into the basket or, you know, what he does defensively recovering. And, uh, that's good. That's a good sign. And I think there is nothing more important over the final 16 games here than getting Jason Tatum back as close to the Jason Tatum that we saw in the playoffs last year before this catastrophic injury. And the, the game is what it is.

6:08But the fact that he got 32 minutes that he put up a pretty good stat line. Like, I think there's another night when I'm, I'm assuming when I check the potential assess, that number will be up there. Like, it just everyone, not a single Celtic player could hit a three pointer. There's 12 of 46. Incredible. So, in jobs, I think you summed it up the best. We were going, we were just getting ready to start the post game showing you, well, if you're going to have a night where you go 12 of 46, you can win by double digits, it's, you got to take it. And if you do that against OKC, you're probably lose by 25 points. Yeah. So, if you're going to have a night like that, let it be against the wizards, let it be a night where you can figure stuff out, let it be a night where, you know, nemicator was dominant early on and they force fed him. So, little things about this game, I enjoy it, but I'm with you. I think Tatum is the big thing for this game. How about the offense overall? I almost, because in Scal brought this up a number of times on the broadcast, I don't feel like we really got to see the offense evolve the same,

7:08in the same fashion that you're probably hoping to, because the wizards just didn't defend the interior, right? So, that, I mean, nemicator doesn't get 22 points in the first half accidentally. You know what I mean? That, that was just, he's getting easy looks. But because of that, I also feel like we, we didn't really get to see as much of the evolution of the Celtic's offense that you are hoping to see here. That's not to say that they took a step backwards. I'm just saying that you didn't get to, I don't think you got a real feel for it because so much of that offense early in the game was just to nemicator. I think in general, you walk away and you're like, if you're a coach, if you're Joe Misal, what are you taking away from this game? Is there anything that you think is going to be like a prevalent theme? Is there anything that, you know, you saw, and I don't know if, I don't know, like I just said, this is one of those games where it's like, you got to win, you got Jason Tatum a lot of time, you got Neemie Feeling confident about himself again, and onto the next one.

8:10Yeah. I think you just, you're just left with, okay, the wizards played, they probably came in and said, the only way to win this game is if we defend the three and even that wasn't enough. And make threes of their own. I mean, the first corner, right? It was a two point game at the end of the first quarter, because the wizards made, what was it? Like six, three, seven threes in the first quarter? And give them credit. Like, you know, everyone keeps saying, well, when they have Anthony Davis and when they have a healthy, a healthy, a young, I don't know if it's going to make a difference. But there are some interesting young parts there that, when, at least offensively, when you watch, you're like, oh, okay, I can see something there. I don't know what the road map is for them to be relevant again, but, you know, they've clearly decided that they needed to add some veteran pieces around that talent. I'm not, you know, the early returns are not having been great with the Trey Young experience in terms of, like, his ability to elevate the people around him. I mean, Abby said during the broadcast, he has not been on the floor for a game that his team has won since October,

9:13which is just, I know he's been enjoying. Jarring. Because Atlanta is not a bad team. Atlanta is one like 12 in a row now. And he's obviously not there. Right. And look, they've changed over the roster a little bit and moved on from poor Zingas as well, but they've tapped into a little something. They've figured out their future with Jalen Johnson and everything. So it's still a little bit unclear what the Wizards are doing. And yet, again, give them credit. They could have just rolled over after going down 30, but those young guys just, you know, hey, even if it's just getting your stats went out there. And I also got to think that there's a pride element that came up after the band. Because all you hear is headlines about was the Wizards. Right. You can't feel good. Yeah, and, you know, even at EMA, Doka had a comment about it's the Wizards and their defense and everything else. So they were, I think there's a pride element. They played Orlando really tough the other night, took him to overtime, got way down in this game.

10:13So I'm not surprised if they fought back the way they did. I mean, I'm just going to some of these shooting numbers. It's crazy that the Celtics even were up 30. Derek White, three of 11, Peyton, Pritchard, two of 11. Baylor Sharman, one of eight. Like, Sam Howes are finished four of 11, but I think that was. Yeah. Three is. Yeah. It was just like one of those nights where the Celtics really just kind of had to grind. And the fact that the some of the bench guys helped them stretch that lead. Your name was great for the start of the game. And parts of that, that second quarter, Sam knocked down a couple of threes. You know, you're able to stretch it out a little bit, but it was almost good. They did because they could kind of kick it on the, on the cruise control. But I go back to the, the centers, 17 of 20. If you combine it all up between Neemy, Garza, and even Amari Williams going one of one, Celtics took advantage of what the Wizards were giving them. And sometimes that's, that's all it is. In games like this, the next kick crawled up within a game, you know, even as fleeting as it feels,

11:14the one seed as Detroit takes advantage of their own easy schedule and starts to accelerate away. It felt, it feels important to grab that number two. Yeah. Now we'll see how much they want to do that based on what Charlotte does here and how they continue to accelerate. But you know, seating watching is going to be something we'll do for the last month of the season. And maybe most importantly, we didn't talk a single thing about a referee tonight. So that's true. That, uh, that's a win in and of itself. It is. Um, I'd say, you know, you brought up two like the little things to take away from it. Maybe there's just like little moments in that game. Like the, for instance, that two on one, that Taylor Sharman had with Jalen Brown. That's one like immediately. You can be like, okay, uh, Baylor probably gets rid of the ball immediately to Jalen Brown and then they run the two on one from there. Just like little things like that. I'm sure. But you're, you're overall points well taken, Chris. This is kind of get a win. Get your guys feeling better about things, particularly Jason Tatum. And I think that they accomplished that.

12:15Uh, the best thing is that it was an early game. So the Celtics will get like two good nights of rest after traveling out middle of the country. They got in at 5 30 on. I don't know how that works. Um, but yeah, you know, time's on. That game was late. Yeah, but it was a 9 30 star, which meant it was an 8 30 star at Oklahoma City, because that's only an hour difference. Yeah. So let's. And it was a two and a half hour game. So it still got over it. At 11 p.m. Out there. Right. And so even if you took, I mean, Oklahoma City can be a longish flight. Um, but they probably, but they probably didn't even take off until after midnight. Right. So four hours in the air. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Yeah. But I'll check out. You get, get in and get out. Um, 5 30 in the morning. Uh, you can hear it in Abby's voice. Or are you getting just absolutely like true. Drew had some. That's really. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, what happens when you take up smoking? But yeah. She, and you know what?

13:15I thought it was an entertaining entertaining broadcast. It was. Talk about a bunch. But, uh, honestly, she had fun in the pregame show too with all the other events that were going on behind her, which was just. It was like a karate tournament. And somehow she ended up with broken wood. Yeah. But then it like turned into like, it was like a variety show. There's like a dance troupe next. It was just like one thing after another. Uh, I know we're biased, but, uh, we have an entertaining broadcast. And even in a game like this where if you're a viewer, that second half was a little tough to get through. Uh, but Drew and Scal and Abby kept it entertaining and tried to do it. If I'm more entertaining than I can make this podcast because. It's just a lot to digest. I almost want to talk about the Oklahoma City game again. Having a vehicle you can rely on. That's important. That's why you can rely on 24 auto group. They will treat you like family. And that's because they are family owned and operated.

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15:17The youngest had a course concert on Wednesday night, one of the midweek nights. And one of the rare times that I've had to venture out in the public. Yeah. And I think my wife was like, maybe we should sit in another gym, not this one. And so, you know, is the back row taken? Luckily, if you just head on with me, you're like, oh, the mustache is back. That's embarrassing. But you kind of like, you don't get the full effect. And then when I turn, it's what has happened. No, no, it's, by the way, I appreciate it. I think I'm enjoying it. I think it was the first time tonight. There was a head on shot of you where I could see it, like a little bit on the sides. You know, like, you had it fluffed out a little bit. It was out the sides a little bit and I was like, okay, this thing is. It's to the point now where I can kind of, kind of let it kind of,

16:18I've never had long hair in my life. I've always, like, I've let it grow, like, pandemic and stuff like that. But I've never let this kind of grow. Yeah. And I mean, that was essentially, I will say this. And I mean this in full seriousness, when Baylor Shireman was rocking some variation of this, although it's not as, you know, I'm just going to, I'm just going to keep it honest. He hasn't got his locked in his idea. And I might need to get him on my barber, get him like, just get him, get him laser focus. I did like the idea, I'd like the little mustache and the tail. I don't know, maybe like more of like a hockey look. Yeah. But I was thinking to myself, at what point in my life am I going to have the opportunity to grow a disgusting mallet and have a mustache? And I was like, if you asked that question at home to see, and they're like, that point was 20 years ago, you missed it. Yeah. And I didn't, I just didn't think the opportunity would present itself. But you know, we had a little break over February vacation. I was like, all right, maybe bring the mustache back.

17:18And then was at the barber. I was just like, you know, maybe we'll let this go. Yeah. My barber Nick was like, we can make this work. But even when I went in a couple of weeks ago, he's like, you know, tail starting to come in. Yeah. Tail season. I appreciate you talking me up. We were out and about today and someone was kind enough to, she's like, you know, because she had seen, you know, she's seen the before and after. And she was very nice. She's like, wow, I like what you're good going on there. Probably just me just probably being nice. But I was like, you know, reception is improving everywhere, but home. You know, you're working so much. They don't care. Yeah. It's about us here in this building. I mean, it's just, I, and I say this every year. I mean, in complete honestness, I will do one ridiculous thing every season. Whether it's bow ties, whether it's growing the mustache lash lash, you got to keep people guessing. I was trying to explain the scale. He's like, what are you doing that, man? It was great. Did you get to a point where you had at least like, explain it to him where he could,

18:22where he grasped it or no, you know, you know, when you're trying to explain something. Right. And then he just continues. And then he's just like, all right. And then he just like, all right. And then just like decides. I'm done. He does. He does. And then it's just done to something else. Right. Yeah. You know, so luckily, yeah. But we'll see. Look, if you've got a hot take in the comments, if you, if you think maybe it should stick around to through the playoffs, I am. If it. Look, let's see. Last time I said, I forget why I started growing the mustache lash lash. And I think I was just bored. But I think I said, like, I'll, you know, I'll keep it as long as the Celtics are winning it. And then they went on a losing streak and we took it away. So as always, if I can shift the vibes at some point, I'm willing to sacrifice it. Although maybe more attached to the tail now than I was to the mustache last year. Look, it's given us vibes right now through some of the, these are still the dog days of the season, right? My hair single handedly got us through this podcast because we had nothing else to talk about.

19:22Yeah. We did wait till the end. We got through. I think we hit hit on the highlights. I think the people appreciate it. If you're on the YouTube version, you get to watch this thing. And if you're still around, that's on you. We'll be back on Monday night after the season. We did the business upfront. Are we partying in the back? I'm partying in the back. Like it. I mean, it all comes full circle. There you go. I didn't have to go like or subscribe. Leave a comment about how much you're loving the Molly Moe, which I think is the official title, Mullet Slash, mustache. Uh, we'll catch you next time on the Mullet Talk podcast. Every weekend. 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.

20:22It'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.