Bam Adebayo’s 83-Point Explosion, Heat Surge, and Western Conference Playoff Chaos

Untitled project from SquadCast === ​[00:00:00] Jose: All right, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, Editor at thePeachBasket.net. He is Steve Purciello, longtime educator, vice principal high school basketball coach, athletic director, and the host of Celtic Chalk Talk. Celtic Chalk Talk is a pod dedicated to the latest news and opinion surrounding the Boston Celtics, who we're gonna talk about today from a lifelong fan. Steve, that pod will drop new episodes every Monday, but this is the shot clock pod, the best 24 minutes of NBA random clocks online. This podcast was born outta the contents of Steve's 13 rules random NBA Thoughts articles which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 24 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA today. We'll discuss a wild week in the BA and he wrote about, in his latest 13 rules, random NBA thoughts article. Again, where he shares his random thoughts after. Again, a wild week 21 of the 20 25, 26 NBA season. I gotta ask 'cause it's written down, but I know the answer. Steve, are you ready? Steve: Yes, sir.[00:01:00] Jose: Let's do it. As always, if you got this far, please subscribe, comment, all of that stuff means the world to us and we're grateful for it all. The clock is going, all right, let's do it. Let's start right off the bat with the hottest. Topic in the wildest week in the NBA we've seen in a while. It happened March 10th bam. Started off on fire with a lot of people out, right? He had to carry the offensive load. Think he had 36 points after the first quarter. And I got an alert and I was, shocked. But other people have had big quarters. You didn't expect them to score 120 points. But he kept going. Now there's a lot of chatter right in the basketball universe about that game you wrote. You had no problem with spoke, keeping him in, but you did have a problem. You tell [00:02:00] us. What problem did you have with that E 3 83 point outburst? Steve: pretty simple. Play basketball. The last couple minutes of that was a farce and root for anybody to break records and score a lot of points and all that good stuff, but you want it in the concept of the game. The one thing I'll say over the years. The other people who broke the record the last couple minutes turned into the same thing. Get Jose: Yeah. Steve: and, let 'em get fouled and, whatever it is, and let 'em, and get 'em to score. So Jose: Right. Steve: knock that. But I just think you wanna see a guy score 83 within the context of a game or 60 or whatever it is, they score within that, that game. It is a surprise to see Bam, be the guy to do it because he's not known to score baskets. Now Jose: Yeah. Steve: the east coast, you're out in la. the feeling out there? Jose: It's wild, right? Because who did bam surpass with 83 Kobe [00:03:00] Bryant, right? With 81. And a lot of people here took it very personal. There's just no way of putting it. They took it very personal and they feel like, yeah, Kobe's came within the flow of the game. He was playing the Raptors. They were down the whole time. He had to score. They don't feel, really it's the same thing you're saying. They feel like what band did certainly the last, some are saying four minutes. I watched the last quarter. It was closer to the last two things. Got a little weird undeniably, right? And so people here are upset. They're saying it's, there's an asterisk on it. It doesn't matter. It doesn't count. But 83 is 83. Man I got no problem with it. But that's what they're saying out here. Steve: It, first of all, look, Kobe was a great player and all that nice stuff. who cares? This guy had a chance to beat his record. What do we have to all stop for him? And I think that's a little silly, Jose: Yeah. Steve: Great player and nobody's going to think less of Kobe after this. So I think it's really silly to, to [00:04:00] claim ownership of Kobe. I guess as the LA people were doing, ~you know,~ Jose: ~Yeah.~ Steve: ~fans are starting to become like Nick fans and that's not a good thing,~ Jose: ~How dare you. Well,~ Steve: ~It's true.~ Jose: Let's dive into this a little bit because again, this is the hottest topic Steve: yeah. Jose: And it blows my mind. I've got a couple of questions for you. You've been watching the game a while, certainly longer than me. And I get your point, right? You wanna see the kind of the game come to you as opposed to you forcing. Something onto the game. And when you look at bam and what he did, you could make an argument, he shouldn't have played the fourth, right? You could make that argument if this was just a normal game. Kobe had 65 at the end of three against the Dallas Mavericks, and Phil Jackson pulled in, right? And then a couple months later he, he dropped 81. So you could make that argument. But here's the counter, and I want your thoughts. Kobe Bryant had 65 through three. Kobe Bryant, nobody was shocked when he dropped 81. 'cause he's a scorer. And I think if Kevin Durant were to do this tomorrow, or [00:05:00] Luca, nobody would be, shocked. You said it. Bam. On a bio. It was shocking. Probably shocking to bam. So when somebody catches lightning in a bottle like that, a very journeyman player, sleepy Floyd, golden state warrior player once had 50 in a game. I can't remember the player's name. Brady something for the Baltimore Oreos. Once hit 50 home runs, you catch lightning in a bottle. Sometimes when you get that close within sniffing distance of 81 is, it is, do the rules even matter at that point? Just go for it Again, I have no problem with what happened. What do you think about that counterargument? Steve: I don't either. And it's fine. I just wish it was in the basketball context. Let me just bring something up. you go back and look in 1969. Jerry West and John Havlicek in the finals. I believe Jerry West went for over 50 and I think the first two games there was pretty in the forties, but he had two great games and Havlicek was in the high thirties or maybe 40 in [00:06:00] those games. Those were within the context of a finals series. The Lakers won those two games. That's to me. To me is more valuable than a record of 83 or 73 or 80 or whatever it may be, because this is playing in a pressure situation and really taking over a game and just being tremendous. That's how I would look at it. It's good. Records are nice. People break records, all that good stuff. And it's all beautiful. But again you gotta put it in context. I think Jerry West going out and scoring whatever it was he scored in that in the first two games. That's just amazing to me, and it is the finals and I put that as a better game than bam, scoring 83. And Jose: Okay. Steve: finish with, against the Washington Wizards. Jose: Right. Steve: Wizards, the only thing they're playing for is a draft pick. Jose: Yeah. Steve: Put it in context. And again, [00:07:00] I wish I, I like ba I think he, he plays hard he's a real heat, Guy carrying that tradition of the Adonis Haslum and all that. So I, I think he's great for the game and great for the heat. And I'm glad he did it however. I just look at other games players have had in pressure situations and think that's better. Jose: You you bring up an interesting point. You're not taking away the 83, but you are diminishing the value of the game. When you look at all time best games played Steve: That's right. Jose: that 83 might be, might not even make the top 10. There were better individual games, but it's undeniable that he had 83. Steve: That's right. Jose: I love it. Steve: More power to him. And again, he's good for the game. He's a good person and a good player, so you're Jose: Yeah. Steve: him. But again, just try to put it in and think about it in comparison with all the other stuff. Jose: Yeah. Steve: You realize guys get Jordan making that shot against Cleveland that began the run for them. That's Jose: [00:08:00] Yeah. Steve: That in itself, that one shot. Is bigger than BA's game. Jose: Yeah. Steve: It, that's what started the dynasty. Jose: Yep. Magic's mini sky hook against the Celtics in Boston. Steve: Yeah. That was in game five and, or game four rather. I'm sorry, game four, was it? Yeah, I believe it was two one. And that put the end of the series really? 'cause Boston Jose: it's huge. Yep. Steve: it up with that, that those are big things and big That you remember About BA's game, you say, yeah, I remember he had 83 and he did this, and this. Jose: Yeah. Steve: But then you start thinking, was it, was there pressure? No. Jose: Yeah. Steve: no pressure. Jose: Yeah, no great point. I liken it to Kobe 60 in his last game where he took I think 56 shots to get to 60. It was the same kind of game. Interesting point on on, on free throws. The average NBA team this season average, right? Takes 25 free throws a game. The Miami heat took 90 [00:09:00] that game, so that's why people are upset. Steve: The thing about that's really interesting, 43 foul shots is more than any player has ever had, Jose: Right. Steve: had 30 something in his record game. So that in its own right is amazing and especially in the year when you have a lot of players complaining that they're not calling anything. Jose: Yeah. Steve: that's interesting too. Jose: Yeah, no, certainly lots to talk about. Lots to unpack. We talked a lot about it here. Before I leave the topic, I gotta ask 'cause everybody's talking about wilt again and I love when he comes up. 'Cause people forget how incredible he was. I was surprised to find out in social media there is a subset of fans. Who think Wilts a hundred point game never happened. There's no video evidence, there's no proof of it. You're closer to it than I am, than a lot of us are. Did it happen? Did it not happen? What do you think Steve: Vaguely, I was eight years old, I guess when it happened. And I do remember like a big thing in the [00:10:00] paper. I lived in the New York area and the Knicks at that Jose: it was in New York, wasn't it? Steve: It was in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Jose: Pennsylvania? That's right. Steve: covered real well because they were terrible. It was late in the season, all that stuff. So it, but I do remember a hundred points and so on. So I think it happened, and I think those conspiracy theorists have to, ease up on it. Jose: Yeah. Fair enough. All right, let's move on. Lots more to talk about. In a wild week, you we're talking about the heat. You mentioned the heat, the clippers, and the magic as teams that are surging. And now's the time you wanna have that surge, right? You want to be able to turn it on right about now. So these are teams that maybe you don't wanna meet in the playoffs. Let's take what each one individually. All right. Start with the heat because we just got done talking about them. Again, lightning in a bottle and bam, he followed up that 83 point game with a 20 some odd game, still playing really well. And they've been doing all of this without Norman Powell are the heat scary? Steve: They're gonna be a tough out for somebody in the playoffs. Right now [00:11:00] they're fighting for fifth with Orlando. What that means is if they're fifth or sixth. It's really important to get the second seed because I don't know if you wanna play the heat, I think the magic would be more vulnerable but both of them are playing real well and the heat, and there's always that, that variable Miami, pat, Riley, Eric Sultra and all that stuff. You just, you gotta deal with it as it goes on. So nobody wants, I don't think. wants any part of them in the playoffs? Jose: Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. And that's the theme for all of these teams. Nobody wants any part of these teams. Another team that. It's shocking when you think of what the start of the season was like. We talked about them before here on the show. And it, shocking. There's no other word for it. They started six and 21, I believe, but now nobody wants to play the clippers. What's and the Clippers blew it up. They tried to blow it up. They got rid of arguably their second. No, [00:12:00] not arguably. There's no argument. Their second best player in James Harden and they've gotten better. What's going on? Steve: First of all, Kawhi Leonard is healthy. Kawhi Leonard is great. He is one of the all time greats and because of all the injuries, you don't realize it. He's averaging to over 28 this year and he is really he, the other night he had a big game against Minnesota and they beat Minnesota a, a team ahead of them. The other guy that's really surprising is Benedict Mathen. Now he will be a re restrictive free agent and he's making a good push to make some money. He's averaging about 18 and he's talking, if you're reading anything, he's talking about his defense. He wants to get better defensively saying all the right things for the money. I'm sure the Clippers are gonna probably open up the, and give him something because they like to keep him with Leonard. And he's part of what they got for zoo bats well as the Those guys are playing well and then Tyron Lou, gotta give him a lot of credit. He kept this thing together. That's the hardest thing a coach can do is [00:13:00] keep it Jose: Right. Steve: And keep, and win. And after six and 21, a lot of guys are thinking, I'm gonna get mine and I don't really care what happens. But instead those guys are going out and they're playing as a team and he's making all the right moves at the right time, and Brooke Lopez is. half decently. Jose: Yeah. Steve: a fountain of youth. When they traded OTs, he became the guy. Jose: Yeah. Steve: John Collins has been out, who's a pretty good player. The, it's just it's a great story when you think Jose: Yeah. Steve: it really be something, I don't think anybody wants to play them in the playoffs. It really would be something if they pulled it upset in the first round. Jose: Funny you say that. I, on social media yesterday, somebody posted there, if the playoffs were to start today, right? And here's what I think. And this guy had the clippers. Beating the Thunder and getting to the Western Conference finals. So I had to comment because listen, Clippers are good. I don't know if they're that good, [00:14:00] but it's possible, right? Steve: Yeah, it's possible. I think the thunder are vulnerable. I didn't, I thought this would be a, an easy march. think so. I've watched a couple of their games in the last few weeks I'm just not, they've got talent. They defend really well. But it just, and they've been hurt a lot I wanna think they will, and I would think it'd be a mismatch. They go so deep. They just keep Jose: Yeah. Steve: guys at you and what Shea is just a great player. So in Jose: Yeah. Steve: talk about him. He set the record for over 20 points. Jose: A record I didn't even know existed, to be honest. Steve: here's the irony. Here's the irony. Wilt had the record. I don't remember. I don't know what exactly happened when he didn't get it, that game, but after not getting it and breaking the streak, he went 90 something more games, scoring Jose: You are kidding me. Wow. Wow. Steve: When people start talking and I'm an old timer, people start talking. We'll, if you begin to look [00:15:00] at the record books, you're just astounded. Jose: Yeah. Steve: He's so much, he was such a great player. Jose: Yeah. No that, that's that's staggering. I did not know that. But yeah. Congrats to SGA probably sewed up the MVP. With that performance, with that record breaking performance, we talked about surging teams, we talked about the heat, we talked about the clippers. We dabbled in the magic, but let's dive a little deeper into them. 'cause this is a team that was underperforming. We've talked about them before, but now they're surging again. Do they have enough to, to really, you make some noise in the east, Steve: A week ago I was criticizing them for Ben Carroll and the coach going Jose: right? Steve: at it. do they, I don't, I the whole team, and I've been saying it forever, is Jalen Suggs availability. They're 20 and eight when he's played this year only played 28 games. Was that not even 50% of their games? So it tells you defensively they give up 10 less points per a hundred possessions, with him on the court. So it's it really comes down to him. And if he's [00:16:00] there the problem is he's not a healthy, he gets hurt easily and he's had a lot Jose: Yeah. Steve: And issues. So if he can play, it will be, and by the way they're doing this. Without Franz Wagner, been out for forever. He tried to play when he went to Germany and since then he hasn't played again. He was hurt before and now again, and they're still doing it without it. And I real, and I haven't done a deep dive, but I think the smart thing would be they need to sit with Ben Carro and really talk to him about his game. He's physical, he's strong, he can score. But when you're taking 18 footers. A couple feet back and you got a three. And those are not great percentage shots. And you know what he does? He could be much better. He's not had the year. He should have, Jose: Yeah. It really speaks to the evolution of the game. I think of a player like Carl Malone, right? It, I'm not comparing Suggs to, to Malone, [00:17:00] but this is a guy who had a good mid-range shot, but he preferred to be down low, grabbing the rebounds, bumping you. That was a power forward that I grew up watching, right? But today everybody wants to go beyond the line and shoot that three The game. Steve: the game has changed in a way. Young kids growing up, no matter how big they are, they can shoot threes. Jose: True. Steve: put themselves out there as a guard and Jose: Yeah. Steve: how to handle the ball at all. Back when, when I was younger, much younger, the whole thing was you took anybody, in high school you took a guy over six foot. When I coach, if I had a guy that was 6 3, 6 4, oh my god, he's my big, but, and you look Jose: Yeah. Steve: him and taught him how to post up. You rarely see somebody catch the ball in the post and score in the last two days. Last night I was watching some of indiana played a Knicks, OTTs took the ball in the post and scored. And before I just had the Atlanta Hawk game out in Milwaukee and Jock Landell of all people caught the ball in the post, came across the [00:18:00] middle and like a little hook and made that, and I was like, amazing that he would even be on the, in the post, on the block So that's how far the game has changed. Jose: yeah. Great opportunity to segue to the unicorn in the NBA right now. Steve: let me just Jose: Go ahead please. Steve: Let me add, I'm gonna quiz you. Jose: Oh, okay. Steve: big was Willis Reed? Jose: Six nine, Steve: Six, eight and a half. They said. How big was Bill Russell? Jose: I think Bill Russell was six 10. Steve: Six, nine. Now, Jose: Really? Wow. Steve: the, with those guys, what would've happened to them in today's game? Willis Jose: Yeah. Small forward. Steve: he could shoot 12 footers, but what would've Wes Unsell was six eight. Happened in today's game with those guys? Jose: Yeah. Steve: Russell was not a good offensive player, Jose: right. Steve: And we used to laugh and say he runs lefty. Everything he did was with the left. It was totally [00:19:00] different. Game back then. Jose: Yeah. No, undeniable. And again the greatest example of how much the game has changed is now we have a seven foot. Four sensor who can shoot threes? Seven, five, I don't know. Probably still growing. Who can shoot threes? Who can defend? Who's just passionate about the game? Who plays the game? Differently. He just plays the game differently. He's getting bodied and he and you see him in the sidelines, just meditating. He's just a unique individual. You had a chance to see him up close. You were at the potential finals preview Celtics versus the Spurs in San Antonio. Tell us about that wild game and what you saw from Wendy. Steve: I believe he made a threes and Jose: That's stupid. Steve: interesting to me, not that he did that at one point, he wasn't in the post, but he was like mid post meaning about four people at a foul on caught the ball. I believe Bear was, [00:20:00] Shireman was guarding. And Shyman, comes up to, maybe you know his neck. But Jose: Yeah. Steve: just turned and nobody's guarding him really? And he just shot and just and he's just sitting there saying, this guy can do anything he wants. There's one other thing. Boston a couple times went to the basket and he came over. Derek White had him one time and white. Kept faking and put the layup in past him and which was a great shot. And Jose: Yeah. Steve: Brown went at him once. It didn't work out. But the other times you'd see Boston go to the basket, he comes over and they kick it right out. 'cause they didn't want any part of him. That's how he changes the game. And just that presence in his ability to block shots just, it changes everything that goes on around you. Jose: Yeah. Now, Steve: the future of basketball, let's just put it that way. Jose: so explain that statement. Do you see more people being wimpy or is [00:21:00] wimpy a one-off? 'cause I see him as a unicorn. I don't think he's the future. He's the, now You can't replicate this guy. You can't clone this guy. What do you mean? Steve: Meaning he will be the next Jordan LeBron. If he stays healthy, Jose: yeah, Steve: he will be that's what I mean by future. He just, it's amazing to, to see what he does on the court and his effect on the game. And he's, and you know what? The best part, he's a good person. Hard. He's a team player. There's no. going on with him and it's really good to watch for the game. And, Jose: i. Steve: and he's a bright kid. Seems to be very bright. It's Jose: Yeah. Steve: the whole package. And that's Jose: Yeah, Steve: NBA because you need people like that out front. 'cause people Lead and Jose: yeah. Steve: is all good. Look at what happened in the All-Star game. So it, it's Jose: Good point. Steve: a great Jose: Yep. Steve: situation for the ga for the league and the game. Jose: So great player, great game. But you called us something in your article that [00:22:00] wasn't so great, right? And you had a, again, a bird's eye view of it. What happened with the ejection? Steve: We were sitting, we had pretty good seats, but we were sitting opposite side. We were sitting behind the square table the Celtic bench and Jaylen Brown dribbled, he was across from us. Jose: I. Steve: dribbled and evidently, and I went back. When I came home and I looked at the tape of it, he got pushed. Now the referee, Tyler Ford, was a pretty good official, was in front of the play. So he didn't see the push from behind. went out of bounds. Brown went flying and he called San Antonio Ball. And you understand it because he was and if you watch referees, you know when they know they got one right or didn't get one. Jose: Yeah. Steve: up to court. Now you gotta understand something. Boston played San Antonio last time, San Antonio shot 20 foul shots. Boston shot four. So there was, and Brown. And Brown was complaining about that, that it wasn't right. So now that [00:23:00] had to Incense brown went back up to court and he was going at it with Ford, but he never rai until he raised his hand and pointed. That's when Ford took him, meaning Tatu and Brown was getting madder and continuing to yell, but moving, sideways, like away. But he continued to yell. Now. Tyler Ford was the crew Chief Sue y Metta was the third official. Really? And he's fairly new. He was 20 feet away towards the opposite, like fowl and extended. He took him, he gave him the second and tossed him. Now there's an old thing, this goes back to when I tried to coach high school basketball. You don't do that because that official, that called the first technical and is getting the heat, he's gotta take care of it. You look like Jose: Yeah. Steve: taking care of you. So it was not a good situation. And there's more to it. The game was on Peacock and Channel four on [00:24:00] NBC rather. And people were watching this. Now I understand if Brown got outta control, you gotta do what you gotta do. However, in a game like that, knowing this is two good teams playing, you gotta think, and I think Maita. I have to think the NBA had to, have something to say about that, and I think Ford, by only hitting him once with the T and that was only after being appointed at knew, he might have missed it because he was behind the play and so it was a bad situation. But the worst part is Brown gets thrown out, Tatum's on a minutes restriction. Derek White's having a great game. I think he had 34 but, and Peyton Pritts out. So you got a problem and basically there's the second quarter, about three minutes left. So now Boston had to play 27 minutes without what would be considered their best player. And that's the shame of it. Not if Brown said something, I couldn't hear that. But if he said something wrong, then it's [00:25:00] right. However, that in that's a showcase game for the NBA. You Jose: Yeah. Steve: that happening. Jose: Yeah, so you, you heard the buzz will go off but I gotta ask the leading question here, which I, you're circling, but you're not all the way there. Does the NBA have a referee problem? Steve: I think they've had a big turnover in the last couple years and some of the younger officials. learning. If you look, there's an NBA ref assignments every day. You can look on the computer and see who's working the game. see some of the newer refs will get sent down and work some G League games because they're trying to get them more experienced, I believe. Made a I think Ford worked over a thousand games in the NBA and many playoff games, and he's pretty close to becoming a finals official, but May, I think had 190 games in his career. So Jose: I got one 17. I got 'em. Steve: Yeah. And they're having a problem because these guys are coming in and they're not ready yet. And it [00:26:00] takes time. Now, the Jose: Yeah. Steve: was taking guys, and I'm thinking of the guy who worked finals. He runs the replay center. He was a guy who worked finals a couple years ago. I can't think of the name off the top of my head, but he's in the replay center. So you took a real good official. And now you put him in replay. That's great, but you just lost one of your best officials. It's a it's a major problem. Who else? There's a couple other officials that they gave jobs as supervisors of officiating and different things, so move them out. These are guys that are at the top of their game. So you're, and you're bringing in the young guys, which is good. You gotta keep it moving. But over the last Jose: Yeah Steve: between Jose: I Steve: and officials moving up, this is what you got. Jose: yeah. Steve: mb and these are the best officials in the world. And if you think about it, these guys are making calls like, like that. They're making quick calls and that's a tough Jose: Yeah. Steve: That's a rough job. Jose: Not de Noble. Steve: that, [00:27:00] the thing that I have the problem with is on the technical. It's just not your place. You, it's not your place to make the call. If Ford had enough, he would've Jose: Yeah. Steve: Ford has thrown people out before and he'll throw 'em out again. That was my problem with it. And I'm sure Ford swallowed the whistle for a while. 'cause he knew he screwed up. Let him get his complaints in two. Jose: Yeah, Ronald. Fair enough. That's it. Our shot clock went off. You heard it. We violated the shot clock. Another l for us, but on we go. Our time is up. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Please make sure to read all of Steve's article. We'll link it wherever you're watching or listening to this show today to get more thoughts on what we discussed as well as things we didn't get to. He talked about the wolves taking two steps back for every one step forward, and he talked about the wild West. So make sure you read that article and join us again next week for more random thoughts as we recap week number 22. We'll talk then. Thanks Steve. Steve: Take care.