Oh, such a clutch pickup, Dave.
I was worried we'd bring back the same team. I meant those blackout motorized shades. Blinds.com made it crazy affordable to replace our old blinds. Hard to install?
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Minimum $10 per order, additional term supply. It is the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Oh yeah, that was the final call from the Celtics radio network. As the Celtics, they wasted no time advancing to the NBA Finals.
Feels like forever ago because it was. The Celtics have been resting. They got more resting to do, more preparation to make. After last night, we know their opponent when the NBA Finals get started next Thursday, June 6th in TD Garden. Joining us right now to talk about it is someone who covers and knows what's going on the ins and outs of the Celtics and the organization. It is Jay King joining us from The Athletic. Hey Jay, thank you for taking the time. Yeah, thanks for having me. Absolutely.
I guess the first question that people want answered. I heard he's feeling better. What's the latest with Kristaps Porzingis? As practice ended today, he was out shooting around.
He did some drills in practice, according to Joe Missoula. At this point, based on how much time has passed, based on the progress he's said to be making, I would be surprised if we don't see Kristaps Porzingis early in the Finals. Jay, when you talk about early, what do you think we're going to see from a minute standpoint?
The Celtics have been rolling. We know this is a different type of opponent. He's susceptible to leg injuries throughout the course of his career.
Are they going to throw him into the deep end of the pool or are they going to babysit him a little bit? Yeah, I think you just have to be cautious. Obviously, it depends on how the series goes too. If it's early in the series, you go up one, go up two games, then be as cautious as possible.
If he has pain, be as cautious as possible. I think he's really important in this series. I think he'll need to play significant minutes if he is available. I think just because of how much rim protection the Mavericks have, because of how much size they have with Gafford and Lively down low, you need a big man to be able to stretch those guys out to the perimeter. You need somebody to punish them for when they spend too much time at the rim. And with Porzingis and Al Horford when both those guys are available, the Celtics have 48 minutes of that. And I just think that's going to be a big deal in this matchup. They didn't need Porzingis to beat the Heat. They didn't need Porzingis to sweep the Pacers or beat the Cavaliers.
But in this matchup, I really think he's important. The Celtics reporter Jay King is here with us. The JR Sport Brief show on the Infinity Sports Network coast to coast. It feels like it's already been forever. How have the Celtics decided to spend this time? Couple days off, a little bit of film work. What exactly have they been doing?
What will they be doing? They had a couple days off. Today was their first day of practice, I believe, since they closed out the Pacers. And they're used to this by now. They had a week after the regular season while other teams participated in the playing tournament.
They had basically a week after the first round, another week after the second round. It's kind of been the most restful playoff run that I've ever covered. And especially for the Celtics team, which over the recent years has just had seven game series after seven game series, bloodbath after bloodbath. This has been a welcome change for them, I think.
Well, you talk about the success that the Celtics have had over the past few years, two out of the last three finals. Joe Mazzulla is in the big boy's chair in the biggest moment. Based on how things went last year and how things are going so far this season, have you noticed any changes in him, his behavior, how he interacts with you, the media, the team, or has he just been the same exact guy? I think the biggest change for him was just being comfortable in his role and knowing from day one that he's going to be in the role.
Last year, he took under such unique circumstances. Took over days before training camp when Imeo Doka was suspended and eventually the Celtics parted ways with Idoak. And it was just really hard because he wasn't supposed to be coaching the team.
He hadn't even really thought about being the head coach of the team. And with an offseason to map things out, to really think about changing the culture, and how even the Celtics operated on a day-to-day basis, that was really important for him. On top of the crazy circumstances last year, he didn't want to change anything because that team was loyal to Idoak. That team loved the way Idoak coached them.
And if he had changed anything significantly, I think guys would have looked at him sideways. But after the way last season ended, it's Joe Missoula's team now. And I think he's done a great job. I think he's gotten everybody bought into sacrificing for the team, which I don't think was an easy sell. This is a loaded roster.
They've got Drew Holliday as the fifth option. And he was an All-Star last season. And his usage rate dipped as much as anybody's in the NBA this season. And he's been okay with it. Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, those guys have given up shots and touches.
They're okay with it. And I think a lot of that goes to Joe and what he's taught them and the synergy that they've shown and the camaraderie that they've shown through ups and downs I think is really important. And I think a lot of that goes back to Joe. Jay King is here with us from The Athletic. You talk about the depth of the Celtics. And we know that the tip of the spear with the Dallas Mavericks is going to be Luka and Kyrie. Kyrie getting ready to make his return? How much fireworks should we expect? At what point do people at the Garden get tired of booing him?
Or is that impossible? It's funny because the emotions had kind of died down. When Kyrie came to Boston recently, it just hasn't felt the same. But this will ramp it all the way up again. It'll be like he just left. It will be people angry, people upset, people chanting I'm sure cuss words at him.
It will be a revved up TD Garden on Thursday night for game one. And that's not the only storyline like that. Christoph Swierzingis, obviously he played with the Mavericks and I don't think his time there was always smooth. So the series lacks no storylines, that's for sure.
Not at all. And for people who aren't as familiar, what was kind of the final nail in the coffin in the relationship between Kyrie Irving and the Celtics fans? Was it ultimately rooted in the promise to return and the love?
Is that the root or is there more? I don't think it was just the promise to return and then he left. It was the entire way his final season in Boston unfolded. And that team had all sorts of issues. It was pretty dysfunctional from the start and not everything was due to Kyrie.
But he could have been a force to lead people back together and instead he was divisive. He called out the young players in press conferences. He just constantly criticized them for not being championship ready. And I just thought that he approached that season all wrong. In the playoffs they played the Bucks and he just didn't have the appropriate focus. He had a terrible series against Milwaukee. And things went really, really sour between him and the fan base. So it wasn't just the promise to leave or to stay and then him eventually leaving. Everything about that season was just really rocky and I think he handled it all wrong.
And I think if he had to do it again he would have done a lot of things differently. The Celtics reporter from The Athletic, Jay King, is joining us here on the JR Sportbrief show. It seems like he has things figured out with Luka Doncic right now, especially after a mid-season trade last year. How do the Celtics, and they got plenty of size and plenty of guards to throw at him, how do they handle Doncic?
Yeah, I think in the regular season at least the primary matchup for him was normally Jalen Brown. And I think that could be how they start games. But they'll throw Drew Holliday at him. I'm sure they'll throw Jason Tatum at him sometimes. They will throw different bodies. They'll switch. They'll play drop coverage. They'll try everything because you have to against Luka. The one thing that I'm interested in seeing is if Porzingis is back, who do they match him up against? Is he guarding Derrick Jones Jr. so that he can sag off and protect the paint and help out on Luka and take away some of Luka's driving lane?
How does that work? And are the Mavericks able to punish that? Can Derrick Jones make enough shots to punish that? That's going to be a huge, huge theme for this series and a factor that I think could go a long way toward deciding whether Dallas is able to score enough in this series. Do you think we get a long series? We go on six.
We go on seven. What do you foresee happening? I actually think this is a really bad matchup for Dallas. I think that the Celtics just have so many guys you have to guard. And Luka and Tyree, those guys have bought into defense this year.
But you can go after them a little bit. Lively has been fantastic. As a rim protector, fantastic. As a rookie, with just his polish defensively.
But I think he's going to have trouble against Porzingis and Horford, two guys who space the court as well as any big man pretty much in the game. So you could spend the weekend doing the same old whatever, or you could conquer the weekend in the all new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for more details.
Hyundai, there's joy in every journey. They bag expiration date detectives. They bag eggs like the 12 precious pieces of cargo they are. So let Instacart shoppers overthink your groceries so that you can overthink what you'll wear on that third date. Download the Instacart app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order, additional term supply. Oh, such a clutch pickup, Dave.
I was worried we'd bring back the same team. I meant those blackout motorized shades. Blinds.com made it crazy affordable to replace our old blinds. Hard to install?
No, it was easy. I installed these and then got some for my mom too. She talked to a design consultant for free and scheduled a professional measure and install. Hall of Fame sun. They're the number one online retailer of custom window coverings in the world. Blinds.com is the GOAT. The GOAT. Go to Blinds.com for up to 40% off site wide.
Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. I just think this is a bad matchup for Dallas. As good as Luca is, as fantastic as he is, as great as Kyrie Irving and his skill set is just mesmerizing. I've got Celtics in five in this series. Okay.
Wow, Jay. Celtics in five? Should we get ready for the parade?
Do I need to get like, they still do the duck parade out there? They do. I could absolutely be wrong. It could come down to, look, Luca is a better player than anyone else in this series. He can control the game in a way that nobody on the Celtics can. And maybe I'm not giving them enough credit for their defensive improvement over the last 20 games of the regular season. They had the best defense in the NBA. That has carried over to the playoffs.
They are big. They are athletic around Luca and Kyrie. But I just think it's going to be a different beef for them guarding Boston and just all their shooting threats, all the guys who can put it on the floor. It's not a similar offense to Oklahoma City or Minnesota, the last two teams that the Mavericks have played. Okay.
No, I'm not I'm not doubting you. I mean, I take a look at the Celtics. Come on now. It's a deep team.
This is my final question for you, Jay. You follow this team, you cover the team. We've seen some wild parades.
Players getting over served and stumbling and fumbling and having a good old time. If the parade takes place for the Boston Celtics, who the hell are you keeping your eye on? Who is must watch? I think Joe Missoula, after winning a championship, would probably be electric at the parade. I don't know what he would do, but I'm sure it would be crazy. Sam Houser, based on the shotgunning that he did in the locker room after the Eastern Conference Finals, I think he's someone to keep an eye on. That man can really shotgun a beer.
Okay. Joe Missoula is going to show everybody a little bit more personality. He's going to show America a personality?
Yeah. And he's done a much better job of that this season. He is a competitive, a ruthless competitor. He's kind of crazy.
And I think he's just been more comfortable being himself this year. Hey, that's all anybody could ask for. Hey, Jay, where can people follow you and your great work with the athletic? Read up on me at The Athletic. Follow me at ByJKing on Twitter. And listen to my podcast, Still Potable, about the Celtics.
No doubt about it. And what are you going to be doing between now and Thursday? You got a lot of time. You taking a break too?
I do. I have a six-week-old baby boy at home, so I'll be with him a lot of the time. Beautiful, beautiful. And congratulations to you, man. Enjoy the time.
It goes by fast. I appreciate it. I sure will.
My man, thank you so much to Jay King for joining us from The Athletic. Okay. Picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you.
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The steeper the better. Because my all-new Santa Fe is available with H-TRAC all-wheel drive, so I can hit the trail without a worry in the world. Heck, with three rows and best-in-class rear cargo space, I can pack the whole family in with all our gear.
We've got available dual wireless charging for our phones so we'll never lose touch with civilization, and we won't lose touch with the primordial power of Mother Earth. So which is it? Waste the weekend or do something a little more epic? And conquer it in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. On Monday, there's joy in every journey. Rules and restrictions may apply.
