After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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Find out more at T-Mobile.com. That's S-E-E-W-H-Y. So we're not going to have four sweeps in the conference finals in hoops and hockey. I'm not sure how I feel about it actually. So there's there's two parts of this. Maybe there's more than two parts. There might be three parts of this.

Number one, it would be history. We're pretty sure. I don't know that it's ever happened before. We can't remember a time that it's happened. I don't think we've ever heard about it happening.

I've been looking. Can't really come up with anything that even would resemble this going back to the current formats that there would be four sweeps in all four conference finals. So there's that. We don't want to take a ton of time off in between the conference finals and the championship series because I feel like the sports lose momentum a little bit. Though, selfishly, and here's the other factor, I wouldn't mind a few nights off from hoops and hockey. I'll be okay with that.

It's funny because people ask me these days about going out, getting together, my church small group, are you available? No, my entire evening schedule revolves around hoops and hockey right now. So to not necessarily be attached to the TV for every single night of the next week, including Memorial Day weekend, though I think Memorial Day around the weekend, they'd probably change the times. Well, basketball will be off regardless. Even if Boston and Miami go the distance, still the times will kind of change and there'll be time off over the weekend. So yeah, on this hump show, I don't mind being a little selfish and telling you that, yeah, I wouldn't mind one or two nights off without basketball. No days off! Whatever. How much do you want to bet that Bill Belichick does in fact take days off?

Every now and then, how much you want to bet? I hope you had a terrific Tuesday. Thank you for hanging out with us right away here on After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Even while I've been talking to you for these last, gosh, what, 90 seconds, I've been fiddling in my bag because I pulled my headphones off of the console and realized one of the foam earpieces was missing. So I don't wear over the ear headphones. I wear earbuds. No, they're not wireless. Our studio is not Bluetooth equipped.

You can have a microphone that's Bluetooth in a professional radio studio. So I do have wires and cords on my headphones and so they're earbuds. And I guess when I pulled one out of my bag, the foam piece came off the end. You ever tried to wear your earphones without the foam piece? Just kind of stick the little metal knob or plastic knob, whatever it is, into your ear?

It feels weird. I've done shows in a lot of different places. I've done shows in hotel rooms, in my mom's spare bedroom, in her house.

I've done remotes from all over the place, events. The audio is not always perfecto, but I can't be wearing a little knob stuck into my ear for an entire show. That and ChapStick, I can't really do an entire show without ChapStick, although I did last night and I never mentioned it. I'm actually kind of proud of myself. It's after hours with AirMe Lawrence.

I don't even know what I just called myself. It is a home show. It's a week. Still, the playoffs, while they aren't replete with as many games, the games still matter, right? And they're intense. And I think sometimes when there's just one game or two games, there's actually a little more pressure to watch the entire thing, right? To be so locked into everything that's happening.

I think about the NFL postseason and it's always a relief to have Sundays with just two games as opposed to Sundays that require 16-hour stretches of work, right? We require us to keep track of 12 or 13 games. So in this case, it's late in the playoffs and there's only one basketball, one hockey game at the most each night. And yet you got to be locked in so you know all of the nuances and all the context and all the ins and outs and the ebbs and flows.

But again, I will say it's a little easier than following seven to eight games, but it still requires mental toughness and focus. I wouldn't say the Heat were not focused in this game. I don't love the narrative that they weren't as intense as they've been for most of the series. I think what we saw in game number four is the Celtics potential, right? This is who the Celtics can be. They've not been this. They've not played defense the way they did in the second half. Now they didn't play great defense in the first half. They did come out with intensity though. They came out with an edge to them and they were together. What I noticed throughout this game, but starting in the first half, is the communication. They were together and there's a reason for that which we'll explain coming up.

Win, lose, or draw. They were going to go down fighting and you could see that right away. You could see that there was in fact some pride behind the effort. They worked hard. They talked.

They encouraged each other. And then with a pretty critical situation, maybe not dire because it's still the NBA in nine points is just three possessions, but with them facing kind of a gut check moment early in the third quarter, they showed us who they really can be. We haven't seen a lot of that this certainly not this series. We saw it late in the series against Philadelphia, but we saw them screw around early in the Philadelphia series too. We definitely saw them screw around against Atlanta. I don't think there's anybody on the planet who knows basketball that would tell you Atlanta is a better team than the Boston Celtics are, but they didn't play like it. They almost played like they thought they could just show up and fire up a ton of threes and that would be enough, except Atlanta does that too. This was a team on both ends of the court that A, cared obviously.

B, didn't just care about themselves, but cared about the guy to the left and the guy to the right. This was a team. This was much more like the Boston Celtics that were the second best record in the NBA this season and I appreciate that you've got guys like Malcolm Brogdon and Jalen Brown and Marcus Smart who will admit we've not played great defense. We've not taken the care. We've not been disciplined on defense. I don't think there's extra pressure on the Miami Heat. They're not a team that's going to crack under pressure anyway, but let's just say for the sake of argument, this game goes back to Boston on Thursday. The Celtics win with another one of these double-digit performances and again I'm just saying for the sake of argument, I don't think the Heat are intimidated by a hostile environment. This Heat team is different. You want to talk about staying together. This team is of one accord and they do have a huge upper hand for now, but if the series goes back to Miami for a game six, let's just say the Celtics win back to back and they are back in Miami and I think Marcus even said or maybe it was Jalen, we intend to go back to Miami. Well then the pressure starts to shift a little bit and then there's the talk of history.

Again, I think with Eric Spolstra and Jimmy Butler and and Bam Adebayo, some of the other leadership on this Heat roster, they aren't likely to cave or collapse, but the deeper this series goes, the more you'll see that pressure start to shift. I love the way Jimmy Butler answered questions in his post-game press conference, by the way. Wait until you hear what he had to say. He's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

I said it right that time. It is the hump show, which means you can ask Amy anything. We've already got a post up on Twitter after our CBS or on my Twitter, ALawRadio, and then on our Facebook page too. I know the questions were pouring in.

I looked at it when I first got into the building and we already had several dozen questions. So fun for producer Jay. We do have a programming announcement to come up this hour. Actually, we'll probably make it every hour just so we are clear about what's happening and when, but one of your favorite goofy games is soon to be back on the airwaves before the end of the week, actually.

So it is the hump show. We've got a lot to get to, including football, a ton of football. Maybe you've noticed that there's been more chatter around the NFL because practices are taking place. OTAs are taking place. Whether it's Josh Allen or Aaron Rodgers, because they are in the same division now.

And that's fine. Whether it's Justin Fields, the Carolina Panthers who have a good old fashioned quarterback competition. Whether we're talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars because they actually could be the, I don't even know if I could say it, the favorites. They could be the favorites in the AFC South to start the year.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it went. For those of you who enjoy ranking things like division winners, division standings, there's a good kind of pressure on the Jaguars. Expectations is what we call them.

Expectations lead to pressure. And then how about the San Francisco 49ers, which is probably where we'll start when we pull on the pads and hit somebody. Oh, actually you can't hit quarterbacks right now, or ever really, but you can't hit them right now because they're wearing red jerseys or some other. Oh, they are red jerseys.

I see them. Even in a red jersey, Aaron Rodgers got hurt. How did that happen? Ruh-roh.

These things tend to manifest themselves with gang green. It's a minor calf injury. No need to panic. No need to panic. Box breathing. Jets fans, you better engage in some box breathing. It's totally fine. No, the Niners is a serious situation.

Actually, there could be good news for you Niners fans. So we have a lot to get to, but as I say, we want to have fun on the hump show to help you get over the hump. So find the bright orange box on Twitter and Facebook and send your questions for Ask Amy Anything and we'll get to them coming up later on. About an hour and, uh, would it be, yeah, it'd be like an hour and 90 minutes from now.

An hour and 90 minutes. That sounds very weird. Uh-oh. We're not even 15 minutes into the show and I've already made up things.

This is what happens when my brain and my mouth are not in sync. Actually, speaking of that, I saw some guy write to me on Twitter and tell me he knows I'm always eating in the final hour of the show, the second segment. But I'm not. I don't, I don't eat while I'm on the air.

I'm not sure what he's referring to. I can tell you're eating. What are you eating?

I don't know. What am I eating? He's got it timed to that exact moment in the show every day. He says, I can tell you're eating while you're on the air at 5 20 a.m. Eastern time. Like you can. What am I eating? I would like some.

Yeah, whatever it is. I wish I could get to breakfast early. My stomach is always, always growling by the time I leave here and then get in the car and sometimes it starts even earlier than walking out the building and getting into the car. That is one of the reasons that I leave right away.

Although mostly it's because of my dog and how traffic can be a bear if I wait too long here. But yeah, some man is determined to find out what it is that I'm eating while I'm on the air in the second segment of our last hour. What do you think, Jay?

I don't know. Hmm. I mean, if we're going to get accused of that, we might as well eat. Right. If they're going to, if they think you're eating anyway, then I guess we're going to have to have some snacks.

I usually run out of food by then, which is, yeah, which is a sad state of affairs. So we're going to dive into basketball. We're going to run full court.

I hope you had a good Tuesday. Mostly we want to usher in your hump day. We want to get through this hump show. No need to deliver a eulogy for the Boston Celtics just yet. Will they become, how many times are you going to hear this question the next couple of days?

Will they become the first team in 151 tries to rally from an 0-3 deficit to win a playoff series? I don't know. Well, if you don't know, who does? Jason Tatum. Hey, guess what? Jason Tatum actually had a basket in the fourth quarter of this game.

The clouds were parting. Jason Tatum, not Jason Taylor. No, not that guy. The other guy.

All right. Now friends tell me the show's funnier when I'm goofier. I suppose this will be one of those nights. Actually, my brother and sister-in-law and my two nieces just got to Hawaii a couple hours ago and they're already in bed. I thought they might stay up and listen to the show. No, the sister-in-law, my sister-in-law sent a text to our group chat that said it's 6 30 and we're going to bed because they've been up in all fairness.

They've been up essentially 24 hours because they left DC. Well, they don't ask me how this started. You know what? Let's do this. It'll be goofy.

It has nothing to do with basketball. And I don't know that we'll actually get to all the answers on the air, but I'm interested in your answers. Are you ready? How early do you get to the airport for a flight? Jay, how early does your family get to the airport for a flight? I mean, if we're going international flight.

No, no, no. This is Hawaii's national. It's domestic. It varies.

It's different. So I mean, my dad is someone I'm going with my family who likes to get there ample time. So we're talking if it's domestic flight.

Don't say three hours, minimum three hours. We're looking like four hours, like five hours out the house, like, just so we have time. So there's, there might be traffic.

There might be a tornado that touches down on our way out of nowhere. I would go separately. If my mother tried to make me go to the airport that early, I would go separately.

No, no, I'm sorry. I'll meet you there. I'm going to, I I'll get there two hours after you. I'd still be there early enough.

There's been so many times in my life where I've been sitting in an airport with like two and a half hours left until the flight. Oh my God. We're here though. We made it. At least nothing went wrong.

Oh my no. So my brother and sister-in-law, and I don't know why, maybe because they were worried about DC area traffic. They fly out of Dulles and which is actually in Northern Virginia, not in the Metro. They were at the airport. They were already at the airport three hours before the flight this morning.

So I kind of feel like it's your own fault. If you're needing to go to bed at six thirty, well maybe it's your own fault. Maybe don't get up so early and go to the airport. Three, they live, I'm not joking, 10 minutes from the airport. It's not like they had to drive an hour and a half. There's numerous back ways to get to Dulles from my brother's house if there's traffic at 6 a.m. Yeah and it's midweek too. Three hours. Are you kidding me?

I would have said no. I'll get an Uber in two hours and meet you there at the gate. No, I'm the, I get there an hour and 15 minutes into the airport property. An hour and 15 minutes. I've never missed a flight because I was too late getting to the airport.

Never. You see and personally I'm someone who likes to get on the plane towards the end because why do I want to sit on the plane for an extra hour? Right. Well the only thing is you miss overhead space. If you get on the plane late you miss overhead space if you need it. That is one thing.

Okay so let's put this out there. The hump show question, we'll call this a life, wait is this a life hack? I'm gonna hack you all if you get to the airport three hours ahead of time.

Is this a life hack? How early do you get to the airport when you take a domestic flight? We're not talking international here. That's a little different because you have to go through customs. Sometimes you have to go through customs before you get on the flight.

So how early do you get to the airport? So yes my sister-in-law said they were going to bed. I'm thinking they're going to listen to my show.

They get to hear my show live. It's, it's, it's evening. Nah, don't care. Already in bed. It's kind of your own fault you got up at the butt crack of midnight to get to the airport.

But they made it right? Nothing worse than sitting in the airport for hours. The worst and you're right when you fly on a Tuesday or Wednesday, most airports most major unless it's a holiday week or there's something else going on this time of the year a lot of airports are not busy at all. Three hours ahead of time. Three hours for a domestic flight.

No, that's a negative Ghost Rider. But I'll try to be respectful of your wishes. So how early, how many hours do you leave ahead of time? No, how early do you get to the airport for a U.S. domestic flight? That's all I'm asking.

And then we'll get to some basketball. It's great. They get to fly charter so I don't have to worry about it. Have you ever flown charter? It is the bomb.

Oh, it's so good. You don't even have to go through regular security. It's a completely different part of the airport.

You just walk on out. You get the whole section to yourself. Oh, it's the best. Sounds fancy. Yeah, it was pretty sweet to travel with a couple of different teams that I've worked with before. It is fancy schmancy and you don't have to worry about overhead space. You don't have to worry about checking your bag.

Is there good food on there? Well, it depends on what the airline is and how long you're on the flight. But yes, it's a different kind of service, shall we say. I like that. Yeah.

How early do you get to the airport before a domestic flight? That is the question on this hump show after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Portrait. The HealthONE Healthcare System is proud to have been named one of the top places to work for women in the nation by Newsweek. HealthONE is the only healthcare provider in Colorado and one of only six organizations in the state to be recognized with this award. Thank you to all our colleagues, physicians, and volunteers for making HealthONE a great place to give and receive care. Learn more about our services, physicians, and locations by visiting healthonecares.com.

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Donate today at your local CSL plasma center and be rewarded for your generosity. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. He did just that. The whole defense collapsed on Namdian. The BAM collapsed on the rim. BAM, the jumper, bottom of the circle, doesn't go. Rebound. Turnover ball.

Lowry ahead to Martin. Here he comes. Throwdown.

Gliding in like a beautiful kite flying through the night sky. Got it smart. Pitching out top. Williams sidestep three. It's off. Jimmy tracking it. Tatum tapped it right to Jimmy. Ahead to Caleb. Get up. Get up. Right hand. In the bucket. That man is six for six. He has 14.

This is After Hours with Amy Lauren. It looked like this could be another Miami Heat win. Their formula with the intensity, the athleticism, the aggressiveness of forcing the issue. And of course, Jimmy Butler. But man, when they get close to the hoop, what they're trying to do is find the highest percentage shot.

They're real good at that. And while the Celtics fought hard, they weren't making the three pointers. They really do rely on the threes a ton. They weren't making the three pointers early. And Jason Tatum, still a little out of sorts. I wouldn't say he was playing poorly. Just that, as much as they were working and they were out there giving it the old college try.

No, they were out there. There's one thing between, there's one thing to be said for working hard. There's another thing to be said for working efficiently.

Okay. So they were working hard. They were giving maximum effort. They were communicating. They were rallying the troops. They were talking.

It just didn't click until the second half. And meanwhile, the Miami Heat, they were looking good. They were doing what they do. They don't change their formula. They have their identity. They know exactly who they are.

Sometimes it's ugly. They couldn't give a crap. That's who they are.

They don't try to be someone that they are not. The third quarter has always been critical in this series. And it was critical again. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, Jason Jackson on the Miami Heat Radio Network. So they're up six at the break. Then they take a nine point lead early in the third quarter. I think it was a Caleb Martin triple that put them up by three. And this was the moment when it was do or die for the Celtics. Whether it was Kevin Harlan saying it on TV, whether it was fans watching in the building, whether it's the Celtics huddle, this was the moment. Gut check time.

Either put up or go home. Al Horford's got it. Puts in the hands of Tatum. Pretty good look. It's three. Got it.

Maybe it's that time. Back to back threes for Tatum. And the Celtics are only down by three.

Struce runs behind the screen. Right hand dribble attacks the paint. Horford reaches in, knocks it away, and Jalen has the steal. Jalen running with Tatum. He's going to keep it himself and score with the left hand. The Celtics had the lead. Tatum puts it in the right hand, past the elbow, floats it up and in. A 13-0 run. And the Celtics try to save their season right now. They've gone from down nine to up four.

65-61 with 718 to go into third. Tatum to the left side of the floor. Jacklock at 10. Cross court. Marcus Smart. He's due. Three in the air.

Got it. Time out, Eric Spolstra. A 16-0 Boston run. Marcus Smart is finally on the board. And with this thing teetering on the brink of disaster, the Celtics suddenly had their largest lead of game four.

Sean Grandy, Cedric Maxwell, and Sean nails it there. This game four was teetering on the brink of disaster for Boston. They're down nine. They needed to lock in quickly.

And they did. Jason Tatum, beast mode. Like what we saw late in game six against Philadelphia and then on through game seven when he set a record for most points ever in a game seven.

This was the Jason Tatum that humbly is one of the best players in the world. An 18-0 run. Do you know how long that took for the Celtics to score 18 straight points? Do you know how long it took? Three minutes. Three minutes. It was the turning point of game number four.

No, the game wasn't over. We know the Heat excel in the fourth quarter. They kind of like it when their backs are against the wall. Some people, some humans perform better under pressure. Some people, some humans perform better with deadlines.

That's me. I'm a major procrastinator. But when the pressure's on, mentally everything slows down for me. When I have a deadline, I am far more focused than when I have a ton of time to play with. That's the Heat.

They actually like it when their backs are against the wall because it puts them in that mode where they're fight or flight, right? And we know the Heat will fight. So the Celtics had to take this 18-0 run, in which, by the way, Tatum scored nine of the 18 points. He had a couple of triples.

He was a beast. The reason it happened so quickly is because their defense was smothering. They challenged everything at the rim. If I remember correctly, there were four straight Miami possessions with turnovers. And in that quarter, at least six turnovers. Miami had more turnovers in Game 4 than any of the games in the playoffs so far. The Celtics challenged everything. And then, because they were able to get steals, they were able to get the takeaways, they were off and running, they were aggressive, they had a full head of steam. This is who the Celtics can be. And let's not forget, they were knocking down threes. I don't love a team that relies so heavily on threes, especially when they've got such athletic players. They don't need to. But that's the NBA, right?

That's what happens. Do you know they had 30 more points than the Heat in Game 4 on three pointers alone? 30 more points from beyond the arc than did Miami. And 27 points off turnovers.

Those are your two stats. They hit the shots, they spread the floor, they hit the shots, they played defense. This is the Celtics defense that makes life so difficult for other teams because they challenge everything. But it's not the defense that we've seen the majority of this playoff run and certainly not this series. So one last push to make sure the series would return to Boston. Can we please get that as a drop from Max?

They're sticking forks in ya! Oh, could you imagine how he will sing if this goes back to a Game 7 in Boston? And right now it's ridiculous to even talk about it, which is why we can joke. Right now it's ludicrous to think that this goes to Game 7. I can't imagine Miami dropping four games in a row. Not the way they're playing right now. And remember, they had a nine-point lead in this game in the third quarter. The Celtics, as I say, they were working hard.

They weren't necessarily working efficiently. We're sticking forks in ya! That's gonna be our new phrase for when a team is done. We're sticking forks in ya! We're sticking forks in ya! No sticking forks in the Celtics just yet because they pushed back. Sean Grady, Cedric Maxwell, and Celtics radio. You'll hear from the Celtics themselves what they were doing the night before Game 4 that made a difference.

How they determined they were not going to be an easy out. Nobody talking about firing the coach tonight. Huh. Crazy how that happens.

And why is Jimmy Butler not upset that the series isn't done? And I love this guy. He thinks about life in a completely different way. Also, in addition to being a fan of the Backstreet Boys, whoo! He's a Nickelback fan. Eh. I think that may be where we differ.

I mean, I do believe that we are twins separated at birth, but I, no. Not with the Nickelback. Hell no. Still ahead on the show, lots of QB news. QB conundrums, if you will. Also, I heard on a national TV outlet, a host say, we've got a lot of QB news. Cheaters. They stole it from us. He said, we've got a lot of QB news.

NFL QB news is what he said. I'm offended. How could you possibly say that? I'm offended too. You stole it from us, you big jerk. Give it back right now before I stick a fork in you. I'm going to stick a fork in your eye. We're sticking forks in you. Now, can I get fired for saying I'm going to stick a fork in someone's eye? Do you think that's a need to call HR?

No, I don't think so. What if I actually do stick a fork in someone's eye? Then, you know, actions are a little more than words. This is a rhetorical question, so I don't require an answer.

What is wrong with me right now? Oh my goodness. So, we're already getting a ton of responses to our question on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, on Facebook, named after the show, easy to find, look for Seinfeld. That's all I'm going to tell you.

Look for Seinfeld. You'll know that's the post. How early do you get to the airport when you take a US flight, so a domestic flight? My brother and sister-in-law and my nieces, I'm sure my nieces were not on board with this, they were at the airport three hours before their domestic flight on Tuesday morning. Are you kidding me? Three hours on a Tuesday?

I would have been so mad. You live 10 minutes from the airport. Even if you got stuck in traffic, it would take like, let's just say, it was a total red on your Google Maps. You can go the back roads to the airport. It's crazy, but at least they got there safely.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Surgeons keep our hearts beating. They do the amazing, help save lives, and so can you. Your CSL plasma donation can help create 24 critical life-saving medicines that can give grandpa the chance for his heart to swell when he meets his new grandson or give a bride the chance for her heart to skip a beat on her wedding day. Every plasma donation helps more than you know. Do the amazing, help save lives.

Donate today at your local CSL plasma center and be rewarded for your generosity. The After Hours podcast. Please come to Boston is what the Celtics have said in the heat tonight. Tatum stepped back in the corner long two bounces in and the Celtics finally get a leprechaun bounce. Tatum up to 33 points, 11 rebounds, 7 to 6.

Getting you to the good half of your week, it's the Hump Show on After Hours. It was a different version of the Boston Celtics specifically in the second half when they not only had an 18-0 run that took just three minutes. That's the power of the Celtics. We have not seen it but it was defense to offense.

It was efficient. They were sharing the ball. A lot of different guys pitching in. They challenged everything on the other end and Miami went through one of their stretches where they couldn't score. I mean that's what the heat are prone to.

We know this. It's just been a different offense of an offense that after a season in which it could not stay consistent and consistently find a rhythm, the Heat themselves have been playing their best basketball of the year. And so now you've got the Celtics who are able to disrupt that with their defense and then turn it into other opportunities offensively for not just Jason Tatum but Jalen Brown and Derek White and Grant Williams off the bench. This was as close to as close to the best the Celtics could play in that three-minute stretch but you get to see what this team is all about. And then again they scored 12 straight points in the fourth quarter. It felt a little bit like putting their foot on the gas but can they do it three more games in a row? And can they do it for an entire game and not just for a second half? They outscored the Heat by 21 points in the second half and this is after they're down nine right? It took that kind of gut check moment for them to rediscover who they are and how they can play what they're capable of.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Jalen Brown admitted following the game that they had a team meeting if you will. They got together.

I heard him talk about it postgame. They looked each other in the eye. They felt it was important to get together and make sure that they were all on the same page moving forward as a team not as individuals. Just coming together talking it talking it out and like a lot of times when you a lot of times when you get to this point you know down 3-0 you see you know locker rooms and teams start to go in the other direction. We wanted to make sure that we stayed together. We wanted to make sure that we you know look each other in the eye and came out today and put our best foot forward and I'm proud of our group for doing that because you know as you see teams with they back against the wall you see they just collapse. You didn't see that tonight. You've seen us come together. You've seen us play defense. You've seen us make the right plays and I feel like that shows a lot about our character especially in a game where everything has you know is on the line and everything has went wrong in the last couple of games. So they get together. They look each other in the eye. They talk about it.

I'm sure there were mixed feelings maybe guys taking responsibility other guys pretty disgusted and yet recognizing the chance is still there. Can the Celtics win four games in a row? Of course. If you take it in that context can we win four games in a row? Absolutely.

Are we a better offensive team when everyone's playing at their best? Absolutely. But they put themselves in quite a hole. Pressure matters. Momentum matters.

Experience matters. Yeah. It's too bad the Celtics waited this long but now their perspective is different. I think anytime you're in a do or die situation it forces you to build an awareness and a perspective and so it's always been there and I think just the perspective of understanding just a week ago we had it and so it's just it's fragile you know during these times and so we just had to remind each other of that and I thought the guys were very they were connected. They were connected. They were connected. You could see that communication on the court. That really stood out to me. They were talking.

They were supporting each other. Kind of reminded me of game six against Philadelphia. Do you remember how Jason Tatum had been just brutal? He looked like he hadn't played basketball in his life actually. He just he was clumsy and he was out of sorts and he was turning the ball over for the first three quarters. He'd had one basket.

One. I mean he was trying. He just looked awkward out there but Malcolm Brogdon got in his ear. Al Horford got in his ear. Marcus Smart got in his ear. They recognized that their teammate needed them. Well that's what we got in this second half against the Heat.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Malcolm Brogdon's been really pointed in his comments. First year with the Celtics but he's been outspoken about their effort and about their identity. This team beats you by playing hard in you and knocking down those threes and open opportunities. So we have to just have to maintain our pressure. Maintain that perspective understanding that no matter what's going on just make that extra effort and whether that's on we still gave up a lot of offensive rebounds tonight which we have to get better at and then on that side of the ball we still have to make sure that even when we're tired we get back and don't allow easy transition baskets.

That's how leads slip. I can remember vividly Jimmy got almost two dunks going to transition those last I think four minutes of play and that can happen if you want to succeed. Doing the little things over and over tonight was the little things. You know we trusted in each other. We believed in each other continuously. Even when we're down we continuously believe in each other and that's what we got to continue to do no matter what. We got to continue to play the right way.

Continue to believe in each other and let the chips fall where they may. Yeah you notice they're not really talking about basketball a whole lot. They're talking about heart. They're talking about perspective. They're talking about identity. They're talking about discipline. I mean does it matter that they play defense in this game?

Sure. I mean that's the big deal. That's what Jason Tatum talked about even as he went out there and had 33. 25 of those coming in the second half by the way and he sparked them offensively. He's looking at the D. Today was our best defensive game.

Just how we were moving, how we were rotating. You know we tried to make guys uncomfortable and we were just there for one another. It's not gonna be perfect. You're gonna get beat. You're gonna go for a pump fake but you know it just felt like we were all connected especially in that second half defensively just rotating, helping, things like that.

And they end up with 27 points off the Miami turnovers. I've said this before and it really applies to most sports. At the pro level of any sport sure there are nuances to a defense. It can be more complicated.

You can have wrinkles. You can have different different portions of your defense. So whoever it is that's on the court, you can have them react. You can have them make choices and rotations.

You can double here. You can trap here. You know you can jump out and screen or or I'm trying to think of some words that would apply to most to most defenses.

I mean you get what I'm saying. There could be motion. There could be movement.

There could be tangents. There can be wrinkles to the defense and and the better players are at the higher levels of course you can add those in right because they this is what they do for a living. But ultimately defense comes down to communication. It comes down to discipline. It comes down to effort. It comes down to position. It comes down to recognition of where you are, where your teammates are.

It really is. It's about effort. It's about paying attention. It's about focus and the Celtics had that tonight which made the difference.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Surgeons keep our hearts beating. They do the amazing. Help save lives and so can you. Your CSL plasma donation can help create 24 critical life-saving medicines that can give grandpa the chance for his heart to swell when he meets his new grandson or give a bride the chance for her heart to skip a beat on her wedding day. Every plasma donation helps more than you know. Do the amazing. Help save lives. Donate today at your local CSL plasma center and be rewarded for your generosity.