Wins, Challenges, and Rising Stars in Team Dynamics

Untitled project from SquadCast === squadcaster-ch46_1_01-12-2026_121636: [00:00:00] Welcome to another week of Celtic Chalk Talk. My name's Steve Purciello, a lifelong Celtic fan going back to the Bill Russell days. Always with him. Always watch him. And enjoy them. This week was an interesting week. We went two and two and it could have been better and we just didn't play well as we have. The first game was against the bulls. You are always worried in that first game about a letdown after being out west. First game back is always trouble. First quarter. In the first half, Celtics came out like there was no lett down. They shot the ball well, they played well and they. Open up a 20 point lead. Now the bulls aren't a great team, but they opened up a 20 point lead because the bulls couldn't make a three. Predominantly they had to open looks, they couldn't do anything. The game moved on by the third and fourth quarter. Third quarter, Boston continued a big lead. Fourth quarter it got interest.[00:01:00] And by that the bulls came back and cut it to 11 and you got worried. Here we go again. But Boston held on one by 15 and it really wasn't much of a problem of a game. They the, I at least thought that you needed two of the three to win, meaning brown, white, and Pritchard. This game, Anthony Simons answered a lot. He had 27 points in the second half. He went off he was on fire and he really carried them. Pritchard had 21 which was good. The other thing that was really a positive was Namias cda. Namias had 13 and 13. Think about that for a while. Now think about. Coming into the season, what we thought we were gonna get from the myosins. Think about what we're getting. He has played way better than anybody thought, and along with Garza, they make a great pair as the bigs for Boston. So that's a positive for them. And that's important. The next two nights later, they played Denver. [00:02:00] Home again. All four games were home. Denver shot the ball tremendously. They didn't have Yage, but Murray it was just tremendous. And they shot, they hit some big threes down the stretch. Watson played well, and Boston just didn't have it. They were sluggish. They didn't play well. Just not a good night. And they were beaten and things happened like that in the NBA season, you just write it off and move on. By Friday night, they were playing the Toronto Raptors. That was an interesting game. Raptors had a lot of guys out, but Boston shot the ball real well. They had a tremendously hot first half. They were getting open threes. And they were just they were just making everything. But with Barnes and Perle out they weren't their best as well as Ingram. They weren't their best. And it showed Pritchard had 27 and Brown had 25. And I guess I would look at it as eight rebounds and seven assist for Brown. Hauser had 19. He shot [00:03:00] well, and he's been in a little bit of a hot streak except he missed the Spurs game, which I'll get to. The one thing that bothered me in this game. Boston doesn't always contain the ball. It's pretty easy to see. But the best results you'll see is that. That allows open threes. Anytime the dribble drive breaks down the defender and they get to the BA towards the basket and they kick out, that three is gonna be wide open. Boston in this game and in the San Antonio game began the habit of not containing the ball when you don't. Like I said, you get hurt with the three, and that's what it seemed Toronto was able to do. I don't think they, they were just outmanned and they were beaten. With the injuries that they had coming in, but that's something to watch because it continued into the Spurs game and the Spurs hurt, hurt Boston numerous times with wide open threes. Boston was up [00:04:00] five. At the end of three and really looked like they had a good shot. They rebounded well, early in the game, we ign Yama was not a factor. JB was playing well got off quickly and real well. And then, by halftime, brown and White had 17 each and it looked really good. The ball pressure was good in the first half, but then in the third quarter, in fourth quarter rather it started breaking down. Now I'm gonna, I'm gonna offer something to think about. Boston was coming off to a back to back. Generally they say the third quarter is when a team breaks down in the back to back. Boston kind of shows signs. In the fourth quarter, they're hitting front rim on some shots. JB stopped hitting Derek White, who always makes the big shot in the fourth quarter, had nothing and these were things that you don't usually see now, some positives. Joe Missoula used j [00:05:00] Jordan Walsh, and it's crazy, but it works. Jordan Walsh on the big guy, WEMA, and every time Wema was in, Walsh was in. When he wasn't in Walsh came out. Hugo started because Weby came off the bench. And then they used, walsh, the fourth quarter was rough. There's a couple things that, that just didn't work out. You hoped that guy like Anthony Simons is a game where they can pick it up and maybe help them get over the top. He wasn't, and I'll talk about that. The first thing I wanted to mention, Anthony Simons, he's valuable on a given night. He can go off at any time and he, like he did against the balls, the thing that bothered me. Now, when we go to the converse, again, San Antonio and Finney Simons in the fourth quarter seemed to defer to Jalen Brown deferred. Everybody though Missoula had him out there with that first unit and Pritchard was sitting and I think they were looking for Simons to hit a few, and he [00:06:00] wasn't even looking for a shot. And that was bothering me because you needed his offense in the back to back. Now let's talk about Derrick White. Derek White. Wow. I can't, he should be an all star. The seven, six or seven box shots he had earlier in the week is amazing when you consider he's a guard under six four. It's just amazing. What really is impressive when you think about it is. He doesn't look like a great athlete. He doesn't play like this great athlete, but the, his decision making is tremendous. That and the fourth quarter ability to take a game over is just outstanding. These are like things that you don't teach. They just have that in them. And Derek White does going back to Simons, he's shooting 41% from three and that. Again, goes back to the San Antonio game, why you would've liked him to start shooting. And this is in 23.9 minutes a game going into [00:07:00] Saturday. He was averaging 13.6, which is pretty good. And in the last six games he shot 57% from three. Championship teams need guys like that off the bench and he is without a doubt, one of the best players coming off the bench in the league there. There's no question on that. The biggest problem I saw all week was the ball pressure. And the ball pressure allowed, as I said earlier, those open threes that hurt Boston. They need to do a better job guarding the ball and stay keeping men in front of them. It's very important because if you give an NBA player a wide open three, they'll knock 'em down over 50% of the time, I believe. An interesting thing I wanted to just touch on. If you looked into the season and you had a bunch of things that if this happens, we're gonna do okay, and I'm gonna use it Walsh, we didn't expect anything from. Uo is much better than we thought, and he will be a real [00:08:00] player in time. CADA has played well, as I said earlier, Luca Gars a perfect compliment for Cada to a little different. Garza can shoot from three CADA camp but both of them are great as centers. Who else? Shyman, who played great against San Antonio. Good bench player. So everything you thought about if this happens is working out for the Celtics. That's why they're so in third place, close to the Knicks for a second. That's why it is no's. A couple of interesting things. Amari Williams is chewing it up in the in the G League. He's really doing great. Where do you find time for him and do you begin to move him in? And that's, if you're looking at the future, there's a lot of rumors that the Celtics want to trade and get some and get another big, but if they believe Amari Williams can do that, they don't need to trade. And by the way, a scout for another team said something like he, he's on [00:09:00] his way to being a player, meaning, look out Amari can play. I think at this point in this season, we can look at the Celtics as a team. The Celtics are pretty good. They're not right now, a title team. They're very close and I think what's needed here? What's needed? Maybe Tatum. Maybe Tatum. I don't know where you trade. Because as I said, if you are planning on seeing Amari Williams become the big, you don't need bigs. Then what do you do if he does move in? What do he do with Garza? Arcada? So that's one thing. I think they're fine with shooting. I think they're fine with JB and White and Pritchard being your leads. And Simon's off the bench. They don't need to trade him either. So right now, maybe it's Tatum, but the Celtics are close to being a real good team and in the Eastern Conference with nobody. Nobody really knocking everybody over. [00:10:00] I gotta think if you do something or if Tatum comes back healthy and is good, you've got as good a shot as any. And that's something to hold our hopes to as Celtic fans. 'cause we came into the season expecting nothing and look at what we've gotten. So all in all, it's been a fun year so far. It's enjoyable. I enjoy watching their games. I enjoy talking about their games and it's been a great thing. That's it for now. Tune in again next week when we do another week of Celtic Chalk Talk. Thank you.