Neemias Queta Shines, Tatum Return Looms

Untitled project from SquadCast === squadcaster-23ee_2_03-02-2026_133416: [00:00:00] Welcome to Celtic Chalk. Talk another good week of basketball for the Celtics. My name's Steve Purciello diehard Celtic fan. Go back to the bill Russell Days can tell you stories. Remember those days fondly. Though I didn't get to see him as often on TV as we do today, but let's look at the Celtics at the present time. Last week. Good. Week three in one. I look at the Denver game, which was the second game as a scheduling loss. I'll get into that in a minute. But first game they opened up with was with Phoenix last week and with Jay Jaylen Brown out, even though Phoenix didn't have Booker and Brooks, you are worried, and Boston just played one of the best third quarters of the year. They beat Phoenix 30 to 11 in the quarter with their defense. Probably one of the better defensive efforts I've seen in quite a while from a team. Yeah, Phoenix couldn't score. They just couldn't score Boston, just shut them off [00:01:00] completely. White shot, in the first half. In the second half. Shyman had a double and he played well. Good defender. He is in the third quarter, CDA and Hauser came to life. Hauser had eight quick points in that quarter. History Point shooting. If he gets open it's really something beautiful to watch. And what's really interesting about Hauser. Oh, so you get to gauge how another team is prepared for the Celtics if house is getting wide open. It tells you they didn't really pay a lot of attention to detail, and they've allowed this guy to go off on them. But anyway, the Phoenix game was a, an easy game for the Celtics, but now the next game was Denver the next night. Now you're not happy because earlier in the year, Denver beat Boston. In Boston and they did it. In a way that wasn't very ha easy to watch. Yage didn't play, and Boston just didn't play well. And at that point in the year, it was in early January, you're questioning whether the [00:02:00] Celtics are good or who knows, but. Now, I could tell you they're good, but it, I looked at it as scheduling loss in the third quarter and you could tell something in the team in a back to back. The third quarter is the key quarter and generally in a back to back the third quarter is the team. The team on the back to back has a rougher time in this game, the third quarter. Denver went off on a 10. Oh, it was a back and forth game until then, and Denver just went off on a 10. Oh, and that was the game. Vouch didn't play well. He's been struggling up until that point. Offensively we got him there to play and the score. But he really didn't have it that night. And it was upsetting because we needed him to really help us in this kind of game. Because again, the back to back situation it, it was tough. And you begin to think to yourself, he's 35. He ain't gonna bring it every night. It just doesn't happen as you age, so you just left it. Now we come to Friday night and then play [00:03:00] the nets. In the first two quarters, I'm saying, oh, this team just. They think they can beat Boston and they just give us a hard time. Every time the nets were on the back to back, and now we go to the third quarter. Boston outscored them 43 to 26. It just, it, everything was working. They shot the ball. The net. Playing the defense. The nets was terrible. JB went off he for a few minutes and just kid scored or passed or assisted for everything Boston did for about 15 points or so. And it just, it was incredible in the game. What's really a great thing to look at, the Celtics shot 67% from the floor, 65%. From three. Think about that for a while. 22 for 34. They just couldn't miss and they were getting open shots. 'Cause the nets I guess you might say they were going through the through the motions and it just looked like a [00:04:00] team that just didn't, once Boston got on him in the third it was over and they just wanted to get it outta there. Go back to Brooklyn. And so Boston had a, had an easy time and it was good. J b's 28 points came in, really two and a half quarters of play. And he was dominating for a stretch in that game. Now we look at the Sixers last night, interesting game. And it was a Kaden night. It was a breakout night. He had 27 and 17. 27 and 17. Think about that for a while and think about how far this man has come in his couple of three years with Boston. It's really remarkable because he's made himself into a pretty good center. Two blocks. I didn't think he'd be this good earlier in the year I was calling for somebody bulky or in the middle, but he held his own. In fact, he made Andre Drummond. Look really bad. And I guess Drummond is getting near the end of the career, but he just he just ate him [00:05:00] alive. He had two beautiful blocks. He just did things that were tremendous. I think Boston's gonna have to make some decisions. He's got one more year on a contract. They're gonna have to, figure out how to pay him and get him his money because. He's just way better and he might as well look to pay him now before it gets even better and there's more money involved and they can't afford to pay him. It was a good win. They were down 10, early 25, 15. I'm thinking, oh God, we're in trouble. And they didn't shoot well. But from that point on, they just took over the game and down the stretch. The Boston Celtics you got a little nervous, they cut it to six. Philly and Maxie didn't have a great night. He could still score, he was, I believe 34 shots, or 33 shots and 34 point whatever wasn't a great night for him. And I think Baylor Shireman gets a great deal of that credit for his defense in the game. Just, worked out for Boston. [00:06:00] They did have 10 offensive rebounds in the game. And now we go back to Drummond, who was self-proclaimed one of the greatest rebounders in basketball history. So that was the game down the stretch. Kda put it away with a big dunk and an end won. After he, him and Edgecomb were fighting for the ball, he grabbed it, put it up, and he got whacked to get the three point play. The 10 offensive rebounds. Obviously that was an offensive rebound when he did that. That was a big basket at that time and kind of put it away. It was the big play of the game that, I guess Boston then took an eater eight point lead where. Two minutes, and it made it a little safer for Boston. Negatives. Boston was sloppy. There were a lot of plays. The turnovers were there. They were very sloppy. There were a lot of bad passes. Like they would take the, a pass from the point to the wing and the defensive wing was overplaying and they would throw it and they'd pick it, Philly, pick it and go down for a layup. [00:07:00] It happened a few times and it just. Didn't sit well because you're just sloppy. You're playing sloppy basketball. The other negative, and I hope it's just a blip, was Peyton Prichard. Not only did he not score after about the third, by the third quarter, I guess he wasn't looking to score, he would dribble into the paint and usually he makes that fall away or something in there and he would kick it back out and. Boston, they got by 'cause of Kate's game, but they need Peyton Pritchard to score and he wasn't really thinking about scoring and that's a difficult thing. But otherwise it was a good win. It settled things down with Philadelphia. Philadelphia's in sixth place fighting for a playoff spot. Now, as for what I did see over the week. They do need more. They got some from from Vukovich on, on the last two games, but they need more on a more consistent basis. He's gonna play 20 minutes a night. [00:08:00] He's got, and he's not out there to defend, he's out there to score. Last night, he shot well with the three and he's a, an added weapon. Al Horford can shoot not as good a defender, but can shoot and he can post. Horford could shoot and can break games up with his wide open threes that he hit last year. But we need that consistently for Vukovich, just the shooting part, not all the other things. And by that the open three, if he does that, he brings the big man out and that opens up things for Jaylen brown and also Pritchard and D White. So it's a very important piece that Boston needs when they put him in. With Cada, he's not a threat to hit a three right now, so it's a little bit different. BA was, Shiman got, he's, he moves his feet. He looks like he's slow, but he's always in front of the ball. He contains dribbles. He's also a very good rebounder, and even when he [00:09:00] doesn't rebound he knocks the ball out. Now he's gonna be the guy that probably gets hurt minute wise when Tatum hopefully comes back, but. He's really proven his worth and his shooting can get better, though he is playing with a broken thumb. And let's give him credit for playing with a broken thumb. So Baylor Shire deserves a lot of credit for what he does on the court. He's an unsung part of Boston's offense. Against the Nets we saw how good the offense could be when everybody is shooting well. It's really the ball moves, guys just whack down the threes and really indefensible if the ball does move. And that was fun to watch. The other thing that was interesting was Kate's development. He's becoming a player better than the average center and heading upward. That can only help Boston. As I mentioned before about the signing of him. It would be a great idea for Boston to [00:10:00] look into that this summer because, get him now before it, the amount of money goes off the charts. The last thing I want to just talk about is Jason Tatum. There's a lot of talk, bill Simmons today was talking that he thought he'd be back Friday. That's what I thought. I had hoped it would be last night, but I think it'll be Friday. Against Dallas, because that'll be a if Cooper Flag plays, it'll be an, a, a crowd that'll be into the game. And seeing Tatum come back will be just more for the Celtics to look forward to and see how he can integrate into what they have. As Tatum said, I didn't come back to be a role player, and if he comes back and is. Near as great as he was. Boston has a great shot at advancing in the playoffs. That's it for this week. We'll be back next week, like always with Celtic Chalk Talk. Thank you and take care. I.