Celtic Chalk Talk: Episode 5 - Celtics Road to Improvement, Key Games and Player Insights

Untitled project from SquadCast === squadcaster-2749_1_11-17-2025_142744: [00:00:00] Welcome to Celtic Chalk Talk. This is ~our daily,~ our weekly session. Just discussing some of the Celtics progress or non progress over the last week. We're on Mondays every week throughout the season. My name's Steve Purciello. I'm a lifelong Celtic fan. And that goes a long way. It goes back to the Bill Russell days. This week we're gonna talk about the Celtics and what went on. They opened the week with a game against Philly and should have won it. First half they shot 28% and they were just, it was really, it just, it was a slog. The second half they came to life, they had a lead down the stretch and they lost it. Another game where they were winning and should have held on, I believe there are two and five in games that are considered clutch games, which means I think inside five points with five minutes or less. Left. And that's not a good sign. Kelly Ure won the game when he put a put back at the [00:01:00] buzzer, and it, or right before the buzzer, and it cost him the game. Obviously KAA could have won it. Derek White fumbled the pass from Jalen Brown at the buzzer, threw up a prayer for about 40 feet. Kaden went above the rim, caught it, and I don't know if he tried to tip it or what exactly, but he missed and that was the game. It's terrible loss. There was some great things though in the game. One of the things, and I can't talk enough about Walsh, he, he's played, Jordan Walsh has just played tremendous defense against Maxie. He guarded him for six minutes. Ell yeah, six minutes. Maxie went one for nine. And he had two free throws and two assists. So again, he just did a tremendous job. And remember, Tyrus, Maxey always kills the Celtics, so that, that's a good start right there. And his play is just great. The other thing that was glaring was Anthony Simons. [00:02:00] He went on a heater in the second, I believe in the third quarter when Boston was struggling. And he got him back in the game. You watch Anthony Simons and he could have a role like the old Detroit Pistons. The microwave, Vinny Johnson. He just comes off the bench and if he's got it going, boy, he's tough to stop. And in this game he was, and he was one of the people that was the energy. In bringing Boston back in this game. They came back and they should have won the game, as I said. Just a tough way to win to lose a game. The next game they played Memphis. Now I guess I could spend an hour talking about Memphis's problems. They have a ton of problems. John didn't play in this game and Boston just blew him out. You almost feel from Memphis for what they're going through. They were pretty good a couple years ago, and it's just. Deteriorated since there's not a lot to talk about. Boston just had an easy time of it from beginning to end. Never close. And then Sunday, yesterday they played the Clippers in a very interesting game. To [00:03:00] win the game. They had a survive three at the buzzer by Harden who went off. I think he had 11 points in the last minute or two, and he had two threes to get 'em close. The Clippers ran a beautiful play where they had the long pass inbounds from behind Boston's basket all the way down to the foul line. To Zoo Bots, and he flipped it back to Harden who had about a three or four feet behind the three point line three, and he front rimmed it. Boston did manage to hold on and Boston was lucky. They should have been prepared for that. They could have fouled or, and forced them to have to rebound and put something back in. When Z bots caught the ball, they didn't. I wanna think that Missoula explained not to. Because I think a coach needs to have his finger on that situation and know what he wants his team to do. But that was how they survived. What was good about the game? Boston proved for the first time they can win some tough [00:04:00] games. And maybe that's a growth thing. They will grow from that and that's what you can hope for. It only takes one game, one game to do something like that and say, okay, we're gonna pull this one off and believing in it. That's the piece that, that's good. Brown had over 30, I think he had 33 14 rebounds. Fourth quarter he went off. Didn't shoot well though. He missed a lot of layups. Really not one of his best games. Key points were Pritchard and Derek White who have not shot threes, and I'll mention that later. Not shot threes real well this year. They both were 50% or so in that game, and those were things as they progressed, Boston will get better. Again, they've, they're seven and seven now without great play from Prichard and White until yesterday, really. And now they're starting to come out of it. It was needed. That type of game is what's needed. Caden Garza played very well as a combo. They did real [00:05:00] well. I'll talk more about that in a second. I wanna mention something that's really interesting to me. The Celtics have a four point plus 4.1 point differential so far this year. Now, right now that's 10th in the NBA. What's really interesting, seven teams, seven. Teams with better records than Boston have less of a point differential. What does that mean? Again, we go back to not winning close games. Hopefully they begin to win and fit because I would think with the situation they're in, they should be more like 10. A couple more wins, two or three more wins on the year. And maybe nine and five type team. And maybe, and hopefully they will get there coming off that, that game. But there are seven teams, like I said, with better records below them, that's just, mind bog boggling and it tells you. But don't forget, this is a new group. [00:06:00] A new group is gonna take time and they lost their best player who has been out. Jason Tatum, it takes a while. Now when we talk about different things, a couple things Boston needs to work on. They foul way too much. It seems like teams are in the bonus at all times. When we talked about Pritchard and White, just wanna mention, Boston as a team is shooting only 34% from three. This is a team that lives on threes. They wanna get higher. For example, Anthony Simon's at 39. Jaylen Brown is at 34. What's really interesting about this is Peyton Pritchards only at 32 and Derek White's at 31. Now, I'm not a betting man, but if I were a betting man, I have to believe that both of those guys. Be at least 36 or 37% when the season ends, and Jalen Brown should go up a little bit also, so that's one good thing. The other thing you like about this team, they play hard. They wanna win. And they [00:07:00] seem committed to the team. You gotta a team like that because most teams aren't com. There's always one or two guys. Of course they're playing for contracts and they're not always thinking team first. This team, it seems to be, I've watched you watch closely and you see a guy like Anthony Simons, who really. He can play. I don't know if he has a great role with this team, but he plays hard every time he goes out there and he, this is a guy that averaged 20 points a game and he's being put in a position where he is not gonna score those points and he, and not getting the minutes that he wanted. So that, that's fun to watch. And I have to give Joe Missoula a ton of credit. 'cause if you think about the NBA, it's a player's league. Players play. Coaches set the way they're going to play, but the players have responded quite well to Missoula and that is a great positive. We talked, I talk a lot about they need a big man. You know what, I'm starting to believe that maybe Deia Cana [00:08:00] can be that guy. He's playing better and better getting a couple double doubles along the way and he's developing. He's still got some work but he's developing. And for Boston, they're not paying him a lot. They got another year on his contract. That could be a good thing. The other thing that fits, and by the way, Kada is becoming a good rim protector. Luca Garza is a nice one. B Player Center, backup center, whatever you wanna say. But he's not a rim protector, but he does a lot of things on the court that keep him out there and you'll like him. The problem is, again, the protection of the rim isn't there when he's in the game. So that's something that you have to look at. Other players, I just wanna mention a few. Jordan Walsh I don't know what happened here. This guy played in the summer league, wasn't dominant. This year you waited for him to start becoming a player. He's become a player. He's a very good defensive player. And with time he will be a great defensive player. [00:09:00] He can really defend and that's a great thing. And the other thing he is he's a spark. He's a spark. Now, it's also a couple things. It's interesting to watch how Missoula's been playing. Hugo Gonzalez and Shyman. Yesterday, shaman got the minutes. Uo didn't I? I would strongly suggest if you're not going to use uo, I would. Get him in Maine and let him get some minutes because I think he's a player. Jalen Brown pointed out that he sat out a lot of games, his rookie year and things worked out well, and he thinks it'll work out for Hugo. I believe that. But I just wanna see him play. I not, that's not the takeaway from Shireman. 'cause Shireman hustles. Can defend and could hit the open three. So there's some good things outta Shyman and he did some nice things in yesterday's game. So that's an interesting thing. Jalen Brown, you gotta say great things about him. He's come in, he was not number one last year. It was Tatum. He's become number. He's the guy that [00:10:00] wants the ball down the stretch, and he's the guy that makes things happen. And by the way, he just doesn't miss from midrange. It's always bottom of the net. Every time he shoots or he shoot well over I'd say over 60% with his midrange and that, that's 14 to 18 feet type thing. And he's got so many moves and things he can do that he gets himself open and can hit that shot. And that's really a great thing. I mentioned after Lee Simons before, I'm gonna mention him again. This is a guy who can play, he can score, and he's hustling, playing hard on defense. Not a great defender, but he's playing hard. That's all you want. I don't know if there's a rule for him. I. And looking down the road when Tatum comes back I just don't see a big role for him. You gotta hope UO and Shireman begin to play more and develop into that player. And I guess where I'm going with that is, I guess Boston needs to showcase him and think about dealing him. And maybe you can get that big or, and, [00:11:00] or a good wing and build your bench. That might be the best way to go. He makes a lot of money. His contract's up might be best that he moves on or they get rid of him though while they have him. They have Vinny Johnson, the human microwave. He can come in and throw 'em in at any time. And if he gets on a heater, we've seen it a couple times this year. Look out, he can, he could get the 20 points in no time. And that's a great thing. The other thing that I noticed was Sam Houser. Houses is not shooting well. If, and if he can't shoot, he can't play. It's really simple. He's making 11 million. Maybe it's time to think about this. And what do you wanna do with him? Right now he, you gotta hope that he comes out of a slum. He's too good a shooter to shoot this poorly. He's 33% I believe, from three. That's not Hauser. You, this is the guy that would throw seven or eight in the game, like last year against Washington. It just isn't there. Now when I talk about the Celtics, I'm just going to mention a couple things. [00:12:00] First of all, I think this team is headed for something. I think they're pretty good. I think they're going to be in the playoffs and I think they can do very well. This could be a great year for them. Not a great year, but a year that they can make some trouble. If Tatum comes back, they really can make some trouble. But I like this team and I think they're going to do fine. That's all for now. Be sure to listen next week. And we'll do it again and we'll talk about this. Week's games, two games with the Nets. And a Sunday with Orlando, which will be interesting. Hopefully we can get the sweep and get it rolling. Boston, it looks like they can develop into a pretty good team. As I said, please tune in every week we'll have a new one about the Celtics and glad to hear your comments. Thank you.