Previewing Celtics vs. Nuggets: Another potential Finals matchup?

0:00What's going on? I'm Archmaning, Viori athlete and college quarterback. Whether I'm running, training, traveling, or just unwinding at home, I love doing it in my core shorts from Viori. With a breathable box or brief liner, a quick to dry, super versatile, and stand-up to even my most intense training sessions. Plus, they come in three inseims and a ton of colors. Ready to try pair? Go to Viori.com, slash arch, and get 20% off at checkout. I think you're going to love them as much as I do. That's V-U-R-R-I dot com slash ARCH, and get 20% off your first order. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. Have a great day. Pizza sells like crazy on Friday nights. Who knew? At Odyssey, we have the expertise to get

1:01your media plan done right. With ads like you're hearing right now, to target its social media campaigns, search engine optimization, and location-based advertising. Advertise with Odyssey, and help us grow your business. Visit ads.auticy.com. As there is, it's got Joe Mizzoula, game previews in the opposite side, as the spurs beat the Celtics 125 to 160. Another potential NBA finals preview tonight, Keith. Sure is. Between the Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder, hopefully it's all hands-on deck for this one tonight because we got robbed of it the other day, which is frustrating. Well, looking at the most latest injury report, they'll update this again. Richard was what? Probably. Oh, he's all the way to probably. Richard's probable. Tatum and white are both questionable.

2:05So, Tatum's played every game since he's returned. I wonder if they were going to really do that. I didn't anticipate him playing every game, but he's listed as questionable. And then obviously, Vustavitch is out. He's going to be out for a while. Has Tatum been listed as questionable for all these? I don't recall. He wasn't on the injured poor at all. Yeah, so that's, I wonder what that means. Well, that would blow. Well, it even says as the distinction, right Achilles repair, re-conditioning. And so, I mean, he, they haven't had any back-to-back yet. The back-to-back should be an obvious place to sit him down, but he returned against Dallas, then he played in the Cleveland game, then he played in the San Antonio game and he's played exactly 27 minutes each night. So, I know we all want to see him against the Thunder. Trust me, I'd love to see him playing against the Thunder, but I wonder if part of their plan was play three games, take one off, play three games, take one off. And I don't know. We'll see. Is this as questionable and rule them out? Nope. So, maybe he will play. I don't know. Do any of these, I should check, like Sportsbook or Allen, see if they put them on there. Awesome things. Yeah, take a look, because right now, and this, this came out yesterday,

3:08and I'm just reading from ESPN courtesy of the Draft King Sportsbook, the top, well, the two teams of the best championship odds, which would make it the most likely NBA finals matchup. Oklahoma City is plus 135 to win the title. They're actually minus money to win the West at minus 125. The Celtics are next up plus 550 to win the championship, and they have the best odds in the East as we've been discussing at plus 175. So, to win the title, Keith, the Celtics have better odds than Denver, San Antonio, all those other teams in the East, Cleveland, New York, Detroit, like that is now how they're viewed. This, we maybe jumped the gun a little bit, saying Celtics and Spurs, that was a potential finals preview. I mean, this right now is the odds on favorite for an NBA finals matchup tonight. And it should be like, I still spurs thunder. If that's the Western Conference Finals, you might lean San Antonio, but right now, I think it's fair to say the defending champs with the best record and the expected MVP of the league are the best team. The Thunder are the best team in the league. I see Tatum on here. I think Draft King

4:14Sazam again at like 20, 20 points over on the 19 1 1 2 and a half somewhere in there. I mean, I hope he plays. Yes, so do I. That would be really disappointed. So I'm all I'm all in on, I'm all in on him playing and hopefully he does. And I guess if the plan was he wasn't going to play, just rule him out. Right. So I don't know why he's listed as questionable, whatever. Maybe maybe Terp can fill us in when we talk to him next, but yeah, this could be a potential collision course. I did think the Thunder after the year they had last year, we're going to be a little bit more of a wagon. And that's kind of weird to say because they are 51 and 15 and do have the best record in the league. But I don't know. It's been really tough for any team to win back to back. It's been a long time since teams have won back to back. We obscure. I should say I looked at it before as like, well, you can explain it away a bunch of them. But then when the Celtics didn't do the Denver Nuggets didn't do it. And you're like, I don't know. Maybe it is. Maybe it is a little

5:14tougher. And now the Thunder's rode ahead. If they have to play a series against the Nuggets, a series against the Spurs and then like the Celtics, like that's a tough road to go through. It is. And you know, Terp said this yesterday, I didn't jump down a store about it because he was like, oh, well, you know, I kind of look at Santa Oklahoma City. And he's like, I'm a little underwhelmed by how many game sevens they had to go to and how many injuries it took. And I'm like, well, the Celtics. Exactly. It sounded a lot like the Celtics. But doesn't that point to I agree. So this will ultimately why I didn't yell out of me yesterday is because, well, no, because I'm like, I think that is fair to say about Oklahoma City. I just, I would also, if it's fair to say about Oklahoma City, I would just also apply that to the Celtics. So I, I just, I would hope Celtics fans do the same. And they acknowledge, look, no one's taking the banner down. But you did have kind of an easy run that year. Everybody who you had to go through got hurt until you got a five seed in the NBA finals. But maybe that sort of speaks to why we haven't had that super team, right? We haven't had, and even the LeBron heat team,

6:14they only won two. I think it's a good theory. They did win back to back, but they only won two. Curry and Durant, that was sort of like a super team where you're like, are there? If they're healthy, that's unfair. Everybody else has been different. You had the bubble title. You had Kauai Leonard winning with the Raptors when the Warriors were really hurt. You had Steph Curry a little bit older, beating the Celtics in the NBA finals, but maybe the Celtics were a year early for them getting there. You had Yannis, who we all view as like a loser, go into the finals and beating another loser and Chris Paul. So it was like, all right, we're either one of those teams really going to go back and win it again. The one that stands out to me a little bit would be Yokech. Like, I, because I like Jamal Murray to use the first time I'll start this year, but I was like, they haven't gotten back. I thought they might win it again because Yokech to me still is like the best overall player in the league. But yeah, now you got the thunder here. I think there's more challenges in the West than I would have anticipated. Maybe even they would have anticipated it because they win the title. They're all really young. SGA is having an

7:16awesome season, you know, home grind and Williams. And I and Terp was also talking about how like, they haven't played all their guys every single night either. That's another thing where maybe come playoff time. They'll be fine. I don't know. That's dangerous game though. And I do agree with Terp yesterday saying the Southeast got into bad habits because they, they started prioritizing just resting everybody. And they played this game of well, if we're healthy, we're the best team. And they kind of stopped playing like the Celtics behind us stop playing last year in March and April. And they made it all about the postseason. And they made it all about being healthy. And it turns out they weren't healthy. Anyway, I mean, Tatum ultimately popped as a kill. But before that, he had missed a playoff game early on in the postseason against Orlando. Porzinga's had whatever the hell was going on with him last year, never healthy. And so you can't really control it. And the Celtics got into Terp's words. And I'd agree bad habits. And they kind of stopped playing is Oklahoma City doing some of that maybe. But the way they staggered guys, it is hard to realize what their ceiling really is sort of, you know, looking at winning

8:19the title. Yeah. A year ago. And yeah, they've been a little underwhelming to me. I would say this. I was saying it in real time about the Celtics last year. I would say it right now about Oklahoma City. I kind of thought they'd be running away with the best record in the NBA. And on pace for like mid 60s to high 60s, win total right now. They're 51 and 15. Yeah. So that's like a 63 win pace. And they've started to kick it up a little bit because Detroit for a long time was ahead of them. They have the best scoring differential in the league. But for most of the year, Detroit's had the best record in the league. They've been right there. I haven't felt like they're a cut above even San Antonio. Never mind some of the teams outies. So yeah, I would say I'm a little underwhelmed by the thunder. And if I had to wager on whether or not they're the next dynasty, a year ago, I would have said, hell, yeah, they're the next dynasty. And they're going to win two straight and three out of four or something like that. Now I'm not so sure. I think the league now has changed where it's super talented. I think there's a ton of great players in the NBA.

9:20But they're really spread out, right? Like there's that's why I take them brown or so special because there's not a lot of teams that say we have two of the 15 best players in the league. Like Victor won by Amma awesome. The next best guy, you could pick Castle, you could pick Fox, you could pick somebody, but probably not a top 15 player, right? Even like SGA with the thunder. I don't know how high do you have Jalen Williams on there? How high do you have Chad Humbren on there? Like Kate Cunningham, who's his second best guy? Like to me, it's pretty wide open in that sense where you don't have the obvious wagon super teams anymore. So it gives you a chance for like just more competitive, more, more balance where there were a number of years in the NBA where in October, I could tell you who is going to be in the end, but you or anybody could tell me who's going to be in the NBA finals. Now like at the beginning of this year, I'm sure a lot of people did have the thunder and maybe they'll get back. But who is the consensus pick in the east? It wasn't the pistons or the Celtics. And right now the mix, it was probably New York, but people were saying like the magic, people were saying the calves, people were,

10:22people like that lay it on Atlanta. The people were coming up with all kinds of different teams. And right now it seems like it's going to be the Celtics or I mean, if it's Celtics spurs, nobody was predicting that. Okay, the finals. I maybe to put it another way. This is kind of what you were saying earlier about how difficult the West is. I bet on the Celtics to win the east and feel pretty good about it. I wouldn't feel great about placing a bet on the, their mind is money to win the West. Yeah, I would not bet that. Me either. And maybe some of it is, it's not worth betting. But you could, you could throw a bet down on San Antonio. I'd feel good about it. You could throw a bet down on Denver. And I'd feel good about that. Right where I feel much more confident about the Celtics coming out of the east and Oklahoma City emerging from the West. Well, you remember like when they started the year, what did the thunder start the year? They were like 14 and oh, something like that. And like and like 19 and one. I'll look it up. So at that moment though, I think we brought him up on the show and we were like, would you take the thunder or the field? Yeah. And we were like thunder. Definitely. And now, I mean, the field bet would be way smarter than the thunder. They started eight and oh and one. Wow, 24 and one. Okay, so yeah,

11:26maybe it's like a 25 games into the season. I was like, they're insane. So that's another way looking at it too. So if they were 25 or 24 and one quick math, they're like 27 and 14. That's right. Beatable. This one. This is what happened in the Celtics last year. So yeah, what does that say? Could Oklahoma City get picked off in round two? Like the Celtics did a year ago? Maybe. Yeah, especially if you got, I mean, I don't know if you're going to get Denver in round two or how the all the matchups are going to play out. If the seating holds and it probably won't because seats 3, 4, 5, 6 are separated by a half game. And then even the suns are like a game and half behind the t-wolves. But if it just went based on seating, the thunder would have to go clippers, lakers or nuggets, then the spurs. So let's say clippers, nuggets, spurs. That's not easy at all. Versus. It's going on. I'm Archmaning, Viori athlete in college quarterback, whether I'm running, training, traveling, or just unlining at home, I love doing it in my core shorts from Viori. With a breathable box or brief liner, they're quick to dry, super versatile,

12:31and stand up to even my most intense training sessions. Plus, they come in three in seams and a ton of colors. Ready to try a pair? Go to Viori.com slash Arch and get 20% off at checkout. I think you're going to love them as much as I do. That's v-u-r-i.com slash ARCH and get 20% off your first order. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. Have a great day. The coming ourselves. Listen to becoming you wherever you get your podcasts.

13:33Because the Celtics would be raptors, Nick's pistons. Yeah, I mean, look, I don't think that's easy, but it's way harder road for Oklahoma City, the Celtics. Yeah, when you put it that way, they got to go through the Nick's and the pistons. I mean, that's what it looks like right now, unless one of them gets upset, obviously, because they wouldn't play either one on the first round, but that's where they're at. Celtic, I didn't ask Terp this yesterday, but do you think the Celtics can or will be the one seed right now? It's three and a half of pistons won again, but they have a chance. Forsberg wrote about this the other day at NBC Sports Boston. He just said, based on the Celtics having to make up ground and the pistons have, I don't remember the exact numbers, but the pistons have one of the easier schedules remaining. The Celtics have one of the more difficult schedules. You see me. No, you don't think he thinks it's unlikely. I think just because it's three and a half and the pistons aren't playing well and the Celtics are. Yeah, I think it's likely. I think there's a chance. Yeah, I think three and a half that's a better way to put it. Not likely. He's probably the wrong word, but I think it's definitely in play. But I think what you really want to do is make sure you hold off the nicks. You're two games up on the nicks because the nicks are a terrible road team.

14:34So if you get the nicks in the second round and you have home court advantage in that, that should be enough. Okay, I'm just trying to look at it quick for the Forsberg stat. Oh, I'm scrolling the week nominee. We do. So the pistons have the seventh easiest schedule remaining. This is a few days old, so maybe it's a little out of date. But the seventh easiest schedule in the NBA. The rest of the way 476 winning percentage. The Celtics have the third toughest opponents winning percentage 539. That includes a San Antonio game. They're already through. And of course, Oklahoma City tonight. So the schedule favors Detroit holding on for the one seed. But I wouldn't rule that out. And all by the way, the Celtics, if you're in an Eastern conference finals, shouldn't be afraid of a game seven at Detroit. I'd rather have it here. Oh, yeah. But they shouldn't be afraid of a game seven in Detroit. Meanwhile, Jalen Brown. Yeah. And I heard this on Greg's show today. I was unaware of this. I guess Jalen was on with team act and Vince Carter. Oh, nice talking about orders of the bills. The guys on the bills. Correct. Yeah. Well, pretty much everybody Toronto is a bills fan.

15:34I think he's how that works. Yeah. Um, he was asked about coexisting with Jason Tatum. Here's how Jalen Brown discussed that. Yeah, we had a great talk today. And I think that's the most important thing is going to be a lot of outside noise. Because we had, you know, we've accomplished a lot. We've won a lot. And we wanted a bigger profiles in the game. And you the Boston Celtics. And forget this. And it's the Boston stuff. Yeah. Anytime. If one of us scratch our ass like it's going to be on the news, right? You know what I mean? So true. Yeah. You know, we are aware. And we're both on the same page. We had a good talk today about what we want. The most we both, you know, talk to the team as well, which is important. So if they, I feel like the team kind of goes off. We'll go off of what our energy is. Yeah. Let's galvanize them. You know, me and JT have been to the conference finals five, six, seven times with just different dues around us. You know, I mean, like at different points in time, like before we had Karee and Gordon and we had

16:36Kimber. There's just been different people. But we've been the constant. So you just understanding that we got to have each other there. The ultimate goal is to win and try to make a run into this thing. Okay. I don't think you meant you're nodding along. Yeah. I don't think you meant it this way, but I'm going to take it as a shot at Karee, which I think is always great when you're like, yeah, we were there with other dudes. That didn't really matter who we play with. We're going to get to the conference finals. I can be Karee. I can be Gordon. I can be Kimber. I can be smart. We didn't mention him, but it could be anybody. We'll get there. But yeah, I mean, so far so good. I think with these three guys now, unfortunately, the last game, it would have been pretty interesting to see how like the last five minutes of a close game against the Spurs would have worked out. Unfortunately, Jalen Brown was not a part of that. Yeah. Jalen could keep his head. Yeah. Well, that's why I'm going all over. It's by the way, my sports. Do you have it for tonight? Yeah, it's so it's like for Jalen Brown's 24 hours. Before he say this, people, I'm on a heater. No, if you're driving pull over for a second. Listen to this because Keith, Keith has hit on his last two. Use your ears. So listen up. Keith is making this is free money right here. So let

17:38pull over. Find a safe spot. Keith has hit on two of these in a row. What is your pack of the week? Jalen's going to be super motivated based off of what happened to him on Tuesday night. So the numbers are 24 and a half points over six and a half boards over five and a half assists over. I think Brown has a monster game now what I can't. So just three legs. Well, that alone is plus four 15. There you go. That's making people that's making a lot of money because I'm not sure if I want to go create you could really, if you think the Celtics win, you can take that money line. Celtics money line. How do you see that? That would juice it up pretty pretty big. That's that has to be plus money at OKC. It'd be plus. Yeah, there are plus two 22 on its own. That would make the point like plus nine seventy four. Hell yeah. Well, I don't want to tell you what to do. I don't you like them winning tonight? Well, no. Oh, I don't know if Tatum's playing. Yeah, exactly. Look, they're plus six and a half. Four fifty five. That's good. Four fifty five is plenty juicy enough, but let the people know. Yeah, yeah. If you want to add an extra leg on, that's at your discretion. Your discretion. If you want to add an extra leg on to the official keybed of the week, which isn't two in a row, he's heating up in NBA jam parlance. Yeah,

18:41there are both Celtics bets. If you want to add on an extra leg at your own discretion, feel free and really what do we do? Chase that money. What do we do here? So it is a shot at those other guys. I just take it as what, what he says, we out of talk. What does that mean? Like, we're just sitting next to each other on the bench and we kind of have like an informal conversation. I bet it wasn't even on the bench. I bet it was like a one-on-one somewhere maybe after a shoot around or practice or something. Why do they need to do that? Well, just like a. But, but Claire, you know, for everybody who's like, it's going to be easy. They get along. There's nothing there. Was this like a summit? They had to like go meet somewhere and they're going to sit down. Well, maybe it was also like he said they address the team about it too. So it's like, all right, like don't tell me there's nothing there when they have to address the team about it. And they have to sit down and talk to each other about it. If that's what you think it, I don't know what it is. Was it, hey, we're just sitting next to each other, tying our shoes, getting ready to go out to practice, quick conversation. Did they go to dinner somewhere and have a summit? Like, what, what was this talk? I'd like to know more info on that. But like, don't tell me there's

19:43nothing there with the two of them coexisting and how they're going to play together. And yeah, they'll probably figure it out. But they're not just shrugging their shoulders and saying, we got it. They're, they're having little powwows and addressing the team about it according to Jalen. Yeah. I mean, I guess just trying to get on the same page. I wonder if part of the two was, I'm sure they've had conversations throughout the season. But then they got to see what it looks like. Potato's going to see how he feels. Then they actually go through these games. And so he really only had two and a half games, I guess, to sort of get adjusted to it and sort of, you know, see how it's going or and just make sure that there's no like, you know, blow up on the court or anything like that, like, which there hasn't been. I don't predict that there will be. But they just want to make sure everything's on the same page. But no, I've always maintained that it's something. When people say, Oh, it's lazy or oh, these guys already proved it. Yeah, they proved it before. But Jalen Brown was never first team all NBA and getting MVP votes. That's different. And he's talked about how much funny he's had. So it was the most fun season he's ever had prior to Tatum returning. Things change when you get a guy, one of the few players in the league who is better than you.

20:44And that changes things. And by the way, Tatum is not for everybody who says, Tatum knows he's coming back on Jalen's team. That's not how Tatum is playing. Yeah. Tatum isn't sacrificing any shots. I mean, I'm not saying he's not like, he's a ball hog. He's not passing. Like, of course, he's passing. He even said in his little mini document. Oh, yeah. He's not coming back to the role. No, I know. I know. It's clear. His shot totals have gone 16, 16, 24 and that 24 is a little misleading because Jalen was out of the game. But like, he's not coming back and sacrificing anything. He's coming back and getting his shots. So that's what we're talking about. I know the team's working with Jalen as the lead dog this year. I know it. How is it going to work if Tatum's in Jalen's shadow? Does Tatum want to be in Jalen's shadow? If he doesn't, will Jalen adjust back to Tatum's shadow? I don't think that's lazy at all. I think anybody who says they know the answer is lying. They might think they know the answer. They may want to wish cast what they think the answer is. And I think Jalen just, there was a little tell there. Yeah. We, we had a chat about it and we addressed the team about it. I don't think everybody's just struggling their shoulders and saying they're going to figure it out. They had to talk about it and they had

21:45to talk to the team about it. Six, according to Jalen, I'm not making it. I don't know. We just said, six, I like team back in Vince Carter being very active listeners. They were. They were. That's an active, uh-huh. Sure. Sure you are. Yeah. Yeah. You'll hear the boss Celtics like he didn't know that. Six, one, seven, seven, seven, nine, seven, nine, three, seven. You can jump in there at Jones and Keith. You can still vote, by the way, in our first matchup of the day, round two, already on around two, round two in the Jones and Keith, 1990 slash early 2000s heavy metal, new metal grunge alternative pop, punk, rock, rock bands, bracket, corn and bush live at Jones and Keith. We're about, uh, what, 25 minutes away from getting to the offspring and limb biscuit. Another round two matchup, Woodstock, 99, you can still vote in some of yesterday's matchups finishing out round one in the grab bag region. Again, at Jones and Keith, give, keep a follow, at key 21, follow me at Jones, W E E I Billy Lanny with all the latest here in trending and when we come back, we'll talk to Brad foe about the world baseball classic and what's going on with

22:47the red socks. That's next. It's going on. I'm archmaning Viori athlete in college quarterback, whether I'm running, training, traveling or just unlining at home, I love doing it in my core shorts from Viori with a breathable box of brief liner. They're quick to dry, super versatile and stand up to even my most intense training sessions. Plus, they come in three in seems and a ton of colors. Ready to try pair? Go to Viori.com slash arch and get 20% off at checkout. I think you're going to love them as much as I do. That's Viori.com slash ARCH and get 20% off your first order. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. Have a great day. What's up, it's Draymond Green. I'm back for my 14th NBA season and my podcast at Draymond Green show is back to this season. I'm breaking down games reacted to the biggest NBA stories and sitting down with teammates rivals and culture shapers. And trust me, I'm not holding

23:48back on the court or on the mic. Two new episodes every week. New segments, big conversations, real basketball talk for the real hoop heads. Listen to and follow the Draymond Green show wherever you get your podcast. We're back. We're better. Let's get it.