Tag: Celtics

The Celtics Are Even Getting Ripped by Team Broadcaster Mike Gorman Now

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The Celtics are officially a sub .500 team and things have gotten so bad that even team broadcaster Mike Gorman is now ripping them on the radio. Last night’s loss to the Mavericks was an absolute heart breaker, but at least you got beat by Luka Doncic, who is arguably the best player in the league right now.

The Celtics nearly came back and showed some balls making it a game in the final 5 minutes, but it was ultimately another display of miserable basketball down the stretch that sunk this team yet again as they fell to 15-16. In the last month the Celtics have lost to some of the worst teams in the league including the Kings, Pistons, Hawks, Wizards, and not to mention blowing a 24 point lead in New Orleans.

And now they’ve pissed off local legend Mike Gorman. During his weekly appearance on Toucher and Rich, Gorman came in hot right out of the gate.

“The All-Star game is a perfect showcase for [Tatum and Brown] because they have an abundance of individual skills and that’s what the All-Star game is all about, individuals going one on one. Unfortunately last time I looked basketball is a team game, it’s not tennis, it’s a team game, and we just played like we met on the bus on the way over. It’s really sad to watch these guys right now.”

The Celtics have been playing middling defense the last few weeks and are statistically one of the worst 4th quarter teams in the league. Gorman ripped the players for not owning up to their own failures and even had to get dumped by T&R for swearing, which was hilarious and something I’ve never heard from the always even-keeled broadcaster.

“We have a tendency in all sports to always point at the manager or the coach and fire him. How about the players stepping up and taking some responsibility here? How about these guys stepping up and saying hey look I know we didn’t play well, or we came out flat, we weren’t ready to play. That is such a bullshit excuse. You gotta be ready to play, it’s your job…The players need to be accountable. “

With all of that the Celtics are now a sub .500 team nearly halfway through the season, which is not something I would have ever expected. Yes, Marcus Smart has been out a couple of weeks and Kemba is hobbled by a knee injury, but Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are both All-Stars and the Celtics have one of the best coaches in the league. Yet they’re now 15-16 and are currently the No. 6 seed. How??

“Am I saying Tatum and Brown are responsible for the Celtics current record? Yea I am, I really believe that to be the case because when you’re the best player on a team you also get the glory and you also get the gas,” Gorman said. “You also have to lead by example, if you expect your teammates to be unselfish, you need to be unselfish. If you expect your teammates to play hard, you gotta play hard ALL THE TIME. It’s terrific that you can get 27 a night, but how about 22 and the C’s win the game? Enough with the one on one at the end of every quarter, enough with no assists over the course of a half. It’s really tough to watch these guys play right now, they do really play like they just met.”

With Kemba hobbled and Smart out, the C’s are basically Brown and Tatum and then just a bunch of guys. You’d think two All-Stars would be able to feast on basement dwelling competition, but that has not been the case. It was another thing that jumped out at me from the Gorman interview. When T&R asked if he thought Brown and Tatum have the killer instinct that someone like Luka Doncic showed in spades last night, here was his response:

“I think they have the game for it, I don’t know if they have the personality for it.”

That is concerning.

In fairness, after Tatum and Brown there’s no real scoring threat on this team. The bench is comprised of young unproven guys and disappointing veterans. There’s not a single guy on that bench who could threaten to be a starter, which I know is a delicate balance (see Terry Rozier) but the C’s just don’t have much firepower after the Jays.

Attitude has been an issue at times too. Jaylen Brown is a smart, thoughtful guy, but he was asked about the team’s ball movement recently and his response was no comment.

Not a good look.

Then we have Danny Ainge on Toucher and Rich saying maybe this just isn’t their year. WHAT? I appreciate the honesty and the pragmatism, but it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. I understand it would be stupid to rush into a trade and massively overpay for anyone, but we also have to realize that this team needs to be continuously improving or at least trying to improve. For the past few years the C’s have mainly stood pat at the trade deadline, which is fine when you’re building towards something. You have to remember though that even though Tatum and Brown are only 22 and 24, these guys aren’t on lifetime contracts. The clock is ticking and I think there needs to be a sense of urgency that this team hasn’t faced in a while. If another year or two goes by without the C’s improving and making progress towards winning a title what’s to stop Tatum from saying ya know I’ve always wanted to play in LA like my idol Kobe Bryant? Or god forbid this team gets worse and your two stars start lining up their next spot like half the league’s best players seem to do routinely these days.

The Celtics have trusted the process and stuck to their guns and been rewarded with two under 25 all-stars that could very easily become superstars, but they can’t afford to just sit on their hands.

1.3.21 Hoop Tales: What Can (Jaylen) Brown Do For You Edition

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Saturday: 1-1 (-0.06 units)

Season: 8-15 (-8.24 units)

Recap: Richaun Holmes made us sweat to get to 9 rebs, but missed a couple of acrobatic layups late in the fourth quarter, so we missed that over by the hook.


First pick: Jaylen Brown O22.5 pts vs DET (-110) – winner

Fact #1: He has totaled 23+ points in four of six games, including 25 on New Year’s Day against these same Pistons.

Fact #2: Detroit allows 25.4 points per game to the 2-guard position, which I would expect Brown to occupy again if Teague comes off the bench rather than starting.


Second pick: Joe Harris O12.5 pts vs WAS (-120)

Fact #1: Harris has 13+ pts in three of his last four

Fact #2: The Wizards give up an average of 26.2 points to the 2-guard position this season

Fact #3: Assuming Russ takes Kyrie, that potential means Harris gets to run Beal around screens all night. We like!


Third pick: Kevin Durant O27.5 pts vs WAS (-120)

Fact #1: Durant has 28+ points four of his five games this season, so I’m going to keep playing this until it doesn’t hit.

Jayson Tatum Has an A++ Nickname for Rookie Payton Pritchard

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Jayson Tatum has already blessed Payton Pritchard with the honor of an official nickname and we’re only four games into the season. Is 8 Mile the most original nickname for a white boy playing ball? No, not really. But Pritchard does have the dark high fade buzz cut so he actually looks pretty similar to B-Rabbit.

Finkle is Einhorn, Einhorn is Finkle!

Plus if the nickname sticks then it’s definitely a future t-shirt we’ll cook up in the lab. More than anything though it gives me an excuse to post the 8 Mile rap battles every time Pritchard has a big game. Again it’s only been 4 games, but it’s looking like Danny may have hit on something here with the rookie PG out of Oregon (8.3 PPG in 22 MPG) so you may be seeing a lot of 8 Mile rap battle videos this season. 3-1-3!

Kyrie Irving Was Acting Like an Insufferable Asshole Once Again Before the Nets Celtics Game

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Is Kyrie gonna read some horoscopes and tarot cards like your earthy crunchy ex-girlfriend after the game too?

I understand this probably comes off as sour grapes to anyone that hasn’t had to listen to Kyrie’s bizarre press conferences and media appearances on a daily basis (buckle up Nets fans), but I swear the Celtics dodged a bullet when this guy decided to skip town. I’m not a very religious or spiritual person so I’m not here to dump on anyone’s beliefs, but seriously what in the hell is Kyrie doing here? He is legit every girl I went to school with that uses crystals and what position the moon is in to guide their life decisions.

If there’s one thing I give credit for it’s for just not giving a shit how out to lunch you appear to be to just about everyone because this little act came just hours after Charles Barkley roasted Kyrie for his media act.

Jayson Tatum Ranked No. 11 On ESPN Top 100 NBA Players List

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Jayson Tatum was recently named the No. 11 player in the NBA according to ESPN (so it’s a good thing we have a fire flames JT t-shirt you can buy) with three of his teammates also landing in the Top 50. Jaylen Brown was ranked No. 32, Marcus Smart No. 37, and Kemba Walker No. 48 to round out the list.

I would expect Kemba to be ranked higher, buttt he did deal with a knee injury before returning to the bubble last season and looking less than 100% and now he’s out until at least January so I’m sure that knocked him down this list a bit.

Jayson Tatum was ranked No. 35 by ESPN before the start of last season so it’s a substantial leap for the young forward prior to his fourth NBA season. It’s not like Danny offering the deal was ever in question, but all this talk of Tatum knocking on the door of becoming a Top 10 player in the NBA makes his recent 5-year $195 million max extension look even better.

Tatum also came in at No. 2 on Complex’s Top 24 Players 24 and Under list (Jaylen Brown was No. 12) behind only Luka Doncic. Here’s what Complex had to say about Tatum, which has me looking like the Three Eyed Raven (or an overly optimistic Celtics fan).

“We all thought Tatum would be pretty good coming out of Duke when the Celtics made him the third pick in the 2017 NBA Draft because Danny Ainge usually knows what he’s doing up in Boston. But if you saw Tatum elevating his game to All-NBA status in three short seasons you need to play the lottery because Tatum really burst onto the scene last season. “

Roll the tape from Dec. 18th, 2017:

I don’t think it was a stretch to assume the No. 3 overall pick was going to become a very good player, but not many people expected such a meteoric rise for Jayson Tatum. I know they lost the series and there’s no moral victories in sports, but Jayson Tatum ended his rookie season by dunking over LeBron James in the Eastern Conference Finals.

If that didn’t tip people off to greatness bubbling under the surface then you just weren’t paying attention.

Depending on where you fall on the blind optimism meter, Danny Ainge is either a so-so GM whose won just one title in nearly 20 years on the job and is a terrible drafter OR he’s a master chess player that turned a bunch of scrubs and Al Jefferson into Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and a Larry O’Brien Trophy and THEN turned those guys in their late 30s into Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart (and Kyrie Irving). I fall somewhere in the middle because Danny obviously orchestrated the Brooklyn trade and has nailed his picks when the Celtics get that high up in the draft. BUT he has also had some horrific misses like trading up to draft Kelly Olynyk over Giannis Antetokounmpo as well as some really bad draft picks like Guerschon Yabusele, RJ Hunter, James Young, Fab Melo etc.

As we all know Danny has borderline fetishized acquiring assets and stockpiling draft picks, so much so that he often hurt his own leverage because teams knew he couldn’t actually use all the picks he had. Thats how you build the best G-League team in the entire NBA! But seriously, this led to years like 2016 when Danny drafted 6 players + two more guys that he traded away. So my point is, over the years I have seen A LOT of Danny’s crappy draft picks playing meaningful minutes for the Celtics and none of them ever had the potential that Jayson Tatum had on Day 1. Again, obviously he was the No. 3 overall pick so he should have great potential, but even Jaylen Brown was a No. 3 overall pick and for the first few years of his career he was looked at as a jack of all trades, athletic, defensive specialist type player. Marcus Smart was the No. 6 overall pick and is the heart and soul of the team, but I still cringe when he pulls up for a 3 in a big spot. Tatum though, from Day 1 you could see they had something special, and he’s only gotten better ever year.

He’s improved in just about every statistical area significantly including Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, and Blocks per game. Even the nerds love him as Tatum’s advanced analytics have improved substantially from Year 1 to Year 3 including his PER (Player Efficiency Rating) and his VORP (Value Over Replacement Player). Thats the full package, folks.

Tatum is now signed through 2026, which means the Celtics are married to him and are quite frankly dependent on him turning into a Top 5 player if they have any hope of winning their first title since 2008. Top tier free agents never have and never will make Boston a destination so the Celtics are all in on Jayson Tatum being that piece. The way things are looking now, so far so good.

So grab your JT shirts before the new season kicks off!

Shawn Kemp Talks About the Time Larry Bird Straight Up Bullied Him and It’s Awesome

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Yahoo – The former Seattle SuperSonics big man found out the hard way just how ruthless of a trash-talker Bird was when he faced him as a rookie in 1989. During a recent appearance on the Knuckleheads podcast with Quentin Richardson & Darius Miles, Kemp recalled a meeting with Bird that has stuck with him to this day.

“We were playing the Boston Celtics, so the great Larry Bird. I’m from Indiana and Larry’s from Indiana,” Kemp said. “I knew about the history of Larry but I didn’t realize how he really got down. …

“Larry gave me 50 [points] in three quarters. And he talked to me the whole entire game. He asked me at the jump ball, ‘You’re the one that broke all my records in high school right?’ and I said ‘Yeah, that’s me.’ and he said ‘I’ve got something for you tonight.'”

In honor of today being Larry Bird’s 64th birthday, it’s a great time to remind everyone how Larry Legend wasn’t just a basketball icon, he was also a shit talking savant.

Michael Jordan gets tons of credit for being a master trash talker and somehow figuring out a way to make everything a slight against him,

But people don’t realize how ruthless Larry Bird was because he looks like an unassuming white dude putting up mid range jumpers at the Y.

Here comes this rookie in Shawn Kemp and Bird already knows his whole life story and takes it personal that Kemp broke his high school scoring records. Mind you, this is after Bird had already won three championships and three MVP awards in the NBA. Just an all-time shit talker from his “Who’s coming in second?” line at the 3 point contest, to playing a game left handed, to his “Merry fucking Christmas” line during a Christmas Day game, to telling Reggie Miller “I am the best fucking shooter in the league.”

Check out a collection of the best stories here, put some Larry Bird YouTube highlights on loop, and then weep that we were too young to watch him play. We did get another Hall of Fame shit talker in Kevin Garnett though and for that I am grateful.

Are the Celtics Cursed at Point Guard?

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It was announced this week that Kemba Walker will be out until at least early January with a knee injury that continues to bother him and it got me thinking, why are all of the Celtics point guards almost always suffering from a debilitating injury? Is there some sort of curse on this team? Is this the curse of trading Rajon Rondo? The Celtics traded their, at the time, best player and 4x All-Star in Rondo on Dec. 18th, 2014 and the team has been like the Red Sox trying to replace Nomar at shortstop ever since. Pokey Reese, Orlando Cabrera, Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo, Alex Gonzalez etc. etc. Ever since trading Rondo it seems like Celtics have seemingly always had a point guard dealing with career altering injuries.

Kemba met with the media today and detailed how his knee is still bothering him and how he got a stem cell injection to hopefully help, but he still doesn’t really know what the issue is. Cool. Kemba played his fewest minutes per game since his rookie year last season and started just 56 games in his first season with the C’s, which obviously was a disjointed mess due to the pandemic. Even Danny Ainge admits the team probably brought Kemba back from injury too soon as he played on a gimpy knee throughout the entire bubble it seemed.

Before that is what Kyrie Irving who missed 20+ games in 2017-18 plus the entire postseason with a knee injury of his own. Kyrie then missed 15 games the following season as he nursed the injury on his way out of town. I guess that shouldn’t have come as a surprise as Kyrie missed 10 or more games in five different seasons prior to his time in Boston, not to mention playing just 11 games at Duke before an injury ended his brief college career.

Before that it was Isaiah Thomas who had a debilitating hip injury in the 2017 playoffs. Granted it was in the playoffs and the Celtics traded him that offseason, but his absence killed a surging Celtics team that was making a run. Before that Isaiah was absolute nails as he finished 5th in MVP voting, playing in 76 regular season games (28.9 Points per game) that season, and 82 games (22.2 PPG) in 2015-16.

The Celtics did also draft Marcus Smart before the 2015 season at No. 6 overall, but opted to use him more as an off ball player/backup PG. Maybe Danny was protecting Smarf from the curse??

Looking back at the timeline of all this, the Celtics actually acquired Isaiah just two months after trading away Rondo so now I’m torn. Is this the curse of Rondo or Isaiah? Since the C’s traded Rondo he has yet to make another All-Star team and has only averaged double digit points once, but he did just win a ring with LeBron and the Lakers. Isaiah however has continued the #SlowGrind as he works his way back from said hip injury, but a lot of the league still thinks Danny did Isaiah dirty.

So name it after whoever you want, but one thing is clear, the Celtics are cursed at the point guard position.

The Celtics Are Hosting the Nets on Christmas Day

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Christmas Day NBA is my favorite sports day of the year hands down. You get five marquee basketball games to watch from your morning mimosa coffee all the way to your post-Xmas dinner blackout when all the IPAs you’ve been guzzling catch up to you late night. Obviously 2020 is a little bit different as I had Thanksgiving dinner at my house with just my wife and my dog like I live in Siberia, but Christmas Day NBA is a tradition that needs to continue. Not to mention we get gifted with the excellent Christmas present sneakers (we used to get Christmas Day jerseys before the Nike overlords stole that joy from us).

The Celtics are no stranger to Christmas Day games as they were featured for five straight seasons during the Pierce, KG, Ray Allen era when they were routinely one of the best teams in the league. They got relegated to spectators during much of the post-Big 3 rebuilding era and didn’t play again on Christmas until 2016, but the Celtics actually hosted their first Christmas Day game *ever* in 2017.

Now we turn to the actual matchup, which is so choice. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and co. vs the rebuilt on the fly sudden powerhouse New Jersey Brooklyn Nets led by Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Now Kyrie would like everyone to think he doesn’t care about any perceived “rivalry” with his former team in Boston, but he does seem to dodge the Celtics every time the Nets play them. This would be Kyrie’s first game back in Boston since leaving the C’s in free agency if he does indeed suit up. With his buddy KD back in action though I would expect Kyrie to want to show off his shiny new toy.

And for that reason…

This will be the biggest rivalry shit talking season between myself and James in a decade when the Patriots made a habit of breaking my heart and losing to the Giants. Well after YEARS of us roasting all Nets fans for the trade that shall not be named…

…Brooklyn is looking for some long awaited revenge. How this Nets team is actually going to mesh though remains to be seen. With notable pill Kyrie, otherworldly talented yet hyper sensitive KD, and a brand new first year coach in Steve Nash, the Nets are either going to come out of the gates on fire like the ’07-’08 Celtics and win 66 games orrr they’ll be a complete dumpster fire.

So even though Kemba Walker will miss this game with his everlasting gobstopper of a knee injury, I need Tatum to drop 40 on the Nets on Christmas Day. Don’t want it, need it.

20% OFF The 300s Store for Cyber Monday. Get Your Merch for Cheap!

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20% OFF The 300s Store for Cyber Monday! Use code: DEALS2020

Whether you’re looking for a new C’s shirt now that Tatum has signed a long term extension, some Pats gear, Bear Force One swag, or just shirts that generally mock the Red Sox, we’ve got you covered. We also have plenty of The 300s merch too if you want to rep the brand around town. So grab your shirts, stickers, hoodies and more today and save 20% with code DEALS2020. Shop now!

Celtics Top Pick Aaron Nesmith and His Vanderbilt Track Star Girlfriend Immediately Become Most Athletic Couple in Boston

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With Tom Brady retiring down to Florida there’s been a huge void created to be named the new First Couple of Boston. Most of the top athletes in Boston now are either single or understandably private about who they’re dating. Julian Edelman lives in town year round, but he’s yet to take the plunge. Jayson Tatum is only 22 and while his son Deuce is already a bigger celebrity than most players in Boston, Taco Jay remains a bachelor as far as I know. Hockey players in general are pretty private guys so you don’t hear a whole lot about the WAGS in that sport. Although the Real Housewives of the North End is a show I would watch every single week. And with the Red Sox in a constant state of flux there hasn’t really been anyone established enough to take the mantle with their Queen by their side.

Enter Aaron Nesmith and his Vanderbilt track star girlfriend Jordan Smith and we have without a doubt the most athletic couple in Boston, if not contenders for First Couple status. It’s a lofty title, but it’s something a 1st round draft pick has on their career Bucket List right alongside Larry O’Brien trophies and All-NBA selections. Probably.