Celtics Talk Radio

Happy New Years Celtics fans from your Celtics Talk crew. The Boston Celtics gave their fans something to start the celebrating early on New Years Eve. When they took on the NBA's top team in the Phoenix Suns. With both teams missing key players the celtics were victorious after going up by 30 points in the 1st half in route to a 123-108 win. This win was viewed by many insiders as the Celtics best win of the season. However many of those insiders also said that fans should put their foot on the brakes and wait to see what would happen in the Celtics next game because if the team had a letdown and lost then the win over the Suns would mean nothing. Sure enough the Celtics in their next game against the 2nd worst team in the NBA blew double digit 1st half lead to ultimately go down by double digits. The Celtics would trail by 12 points with just over 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter before they mounted a comeback to force overtime and would win it 116-111. So with 2 wins in a row including a win over the Suns. What are we looking at now from this team as they start this month where out of 15 games the Celtics are slated to play 10 games will feature an opponent who is currently behind the Celtics in the standings. Meaning if the Celtics can take advantage of these weaker teams which is something they have not shown themselves to be able to do thus far thie season they could make some progress in the Eastern Conference standings. Also we got 1 month left before the trade deadline which also means Celtics GM Brad Stevens, Head Coach Ime Udoka and other Celtics management must make their final decisions over the next month as to BUY or SALE players on the current roster for the playoff run. We will be joined by Rich Conte (richconte on twitter) as we discuss the last 2 games as well as what the team must do in the next month before the deadline

The Celtics finished their 5 game Western Conference Road Trip last night by facing the defending Western Conference Champion Phoenix Suns. The Celtics on the road trip took on the Jazz, Trailblazers, Lakers, Clippers and Suns which included 2 back to backs (Jazz/Trailblazers, Lakers/Clippers). The Celtics started the trip losing to the Jazz 137-130. They rebounded the next night beating the Trailblazers 145-117. The Celtics had 2 days off before taking on the arch rival Lakers in LA and would go on to lose that one 117-102 in a game that saw the Celtics keep the game close in the 1st half before Lebron and company blew the game open in the 2nd half. The very next night the Celtics would take on the Clippers who played without their top 2 players in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and yet the Celtics still lost 114-111. The Celtics would then have a day off before taking on the Phoenix Suns. The Celtics would take on the Suns in a game that would see the Celtics again play an opponent missing a key piece of their roster as the Suns were missing All-Star Devin Booker but the Celtics would again be missing Jaylen Brown as he would be missing his 5th straight game. The Celtics would keep the game close in the 1st quarter before the Suns pulled away in the 2nd. Jayson Tatum and Dennis Schroder were the only 2 players who showed any fight in the game last night.Not putting up a fight and having a lack of energy or will to compete was a major trend in this 5 game stretch where the Celtics went 1-4 without Brown where their only win was a 28 point win over the Trailblazers who didnt have Damian Lillard. The Celtics in this road trip lost to a Clippers team missing Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and a Suns team missing Devin Booker while having the best player on the floor in Jayson Tatum. We discuss the 5 game road trip with Mike Dynon (@MikeDynon on twitter) as well as let you hear the frustration many celtics experts are now having with the team via our audios

The Boston Celtics took on the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday night at the TD Garden in Boston. It was a game that many took as a measuring stick to see if this years version of the Boston Celtics could hang with the Eastern Conferences best team and truly be viewed as a threat to come out of the Eastern Conference. Yet despite the Brooklyn Nets still missing Kyrie Irving meaning both teams were playing with 2 Stars meaning the matchup should be easier for the Celtics. The Brooklyn Nets made the game a 1 sided affair going up by as much as 29 points in route to a 123-104 win. This game saw the Celtics players fighting with the refs over what many inluding even the broadcast team saw as questionable officiating being done in favor of the Nets throughout the game. The Celtics taking a ton of 3 pointers which pretty much caused them to shoot themselves out of the game from beyond the arc as they took 48 3 pointers and make only 11 of them. It also saw the Celtics dynamic duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown both struggle to live up to the Superstar status that many Celtics fans seem to be giving them as the duo combined scored only 28 points on 9/31 shooting in a combined 54 minutes. So we will discuss this loss and the lack of production we saw from the Celtics 2 golden boys. Also what was being said about the officiating during and after the game by the broadcasters and the celtics players and coach Ime Udoka. Should we take this 1st matchup and throw it away knowing players from both teams who would play come playoff time were missing plus 1 key player was hobbled despite being on the floor. That and more on this weeks edition of Celtics Talk Radio

The Celtics last night were scheduled to take on the defending NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks for the 1st time this season. However the game was far from the spectacle every was hoping to see as major names from both teams were missing which left the anticipation for the game at a much more lower level. The Celtics were already with Jaylen Brown for 2 games and knew he wasn't gonna play in this game as he is expected to remain out a few more games. Yet despite Browns absence people seemed to feel the Celtics were playing better without him. Meanwhile the Bucks were coming into this game with Khris Middleton who had missed 6 straight and Brook Lopez who had missed 11 straight both expected to be out. Then 1 hour before tip off Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out as well meaning the Bucks would be without 3 of their starting 5 players. You would think the Celtics would have this game in hand and it would be rather easy knowing they still had Jayson Tatum to lead the way right? NOPE. The celtics would come away with the win but the Celtics would end up allowing the injury riddled Milwaukee Bucks team to forced them all the way into overtime before they finally said enough is enough and would put them away. The Celtics needed a monster performance from Dennish Schroder in order this win this game as Schroder scored 38 points on 16/27 shooting in 41 minutes while Tatum added 27 points, Smart had 19 and Timelord added 12. Schroder was honored with an M.V.P chant as he took free throws late in the OT for his performance as Schroder was the difference maker for the Celtics in this game but many feel the fact the Celtics even were in the position to lose this game ws a bad look on their part. So we will discuss this game and that very topic with our special guest Bobby Krivitsky (@BobbyKrivitsky on twitter) who will join us.

The Celtics after starting the season 1-2 due to losses to the Knicks and Raptors and a win over the Houston Rockets. The Celtics since our video chat Sunday afternoon did battle with the Charlotte Hornets on Monday. A game where the Celtics trailed by 9 points with less then 5 minutes to go before mounting a comeback to force ovetime and win the game by 11 by the final score of 140-129. The Celtics 2 nights later would welcome the Washington Wizards to Boston. Of course this game was a game that had TD Garden fans looking to try and do their magic and entire Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal to want to come to Boston as there are rumors linking him to the C's but of course the Celtics were looking to finally get over the 500 mark by moving to 3-2. Instead after seeing his team in the pregame walkaround showing signs that they didnt have the right energy needed to beat the Wizards and him even saying it to the Celtics players faces the Celtics would show up at the start of the game without focusing much on defense. A lot of headlines came out of this game. Then 2 days laters as we started this show the Celtics we thought the Celtics would be done playing instead they would be doing battle with the Wizard again this time from Washington. Then just as our show was starting the Celtics were in a close battle with the Wizards again that went to Overtime this time in Washington which our co-host Daniel was giving a play by play for those to hear what was going on while they discussed other topics about the game during the timeouts. Ultimately the Celtics would lose 115-112 to fall to 2-4 on the season. So what the heck is up with this team and their lack of defensive intensity? What about the fact that Ime Udoka is able to tell the team he sees a problem before a game and they still dont respond to correct it before the game starts? We will be joined by NBA Writer and Podcaster Adam Taylor

The Celtics Talk Radio Crew Review the Celtics 4 game Preseason and look towards opening night. The Celtics Preseason started off with them going 2-0 after they beat the Orlando Magic 98-97 and then the Toronto Raptors 113-111. Then the Celtics would go on to lose their last 2 preseason games first to the Orlando Magic 103-102 and then the preseason finale to the Miami Heat 121-100. Putting them at the final record of 2-2 during the preseason. The Celtics during the preseason lost both Jaylen Brown and Al Horford who were both diagnosed with Covid 19 and had to go into quarantine. Meawhile the Celtics also had an issue with starting guard Marcus Smart as he missed the team flight to Miami which resulted in Celtics coach Ime Udoka suspending Smart for the Heat game even though it was reported he and the other stars werent likely to play in the game. So now the team looks towards the season opener on Wednesday against the New York Knicks. Due to the fact that the main players didnt play in the Miami game it is still a question as to who will Ime Udoka choose to have as his starting 5 outside of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Will Al Horford or Timelord start at Center or will he choose to start them both and let Horford be the PF and Timelord be the C and go with 3 small players rather then going with the way the NBA has kinda been trending which is the 4 small and 1 big lineup? Is Smarts spot in the lineup or any of his minutes in jeopardy with players like Dennis Schroder and Jason Richardson here now? Who will the 2nd lineup consist of? We give our thoughts on those questions in this final before the season edition of Celtics Talk Radio

In just 1 week the Boys in Green will be back as Training Camp for the Boston Celtics will have officially started. However this will not be any ordinary training camp as the Celtics have quite a bit of work to do before their opening night game against the New York Knicks on October 20th. The Celtics players now have to gel with newly hired head coach Ime Udoka. All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown now have to work in all of their new teammates into the pecking order alongside their new head coach based on the type of system the 3 decided is best for the team to have this season. Meanwhile there are several questions that could be answered during training camp. What 5 players will Ime Udoka have for his starting 5 as outside of Tatum and Brown the other 3 spots are pretty much up for grabs? What about the bench will Ime Udoka make a 5 man rotation for the bench and stick to those 5 being the group that plays or will he be more of a 1 player this night 1 player that night type person? What have the Celtics 2 stars done to improve themselves during the offseason we have seen photos showing Jayson Tatum has gained a lot of muscle possibly to bang with some of the bigger players in the league whats his reasoning and is it true? There are many questions that Celtics fans want answered before that October 20 game and we will look to talk about a few of the big questions tonight. Tonight is also the We Bleed Green Celtics Fan Forum Member Ticket Giveaway. Where we will be giving a member of our We Bleed Green group 2 tickets to go see a Boston Celtics preseason game. So expect several Celtics fans to call in as well.

Celtics Nation now knows when and where they will get to see this years Celtics team play and now its time for the Celtics Talk Crew to break down the schedule and give their thoughts on how diffucult of a schedule the league gave our boys in green and the key dates for the Celtics fans to keep an eye out for. The Celtics will open up the season on October 20th in New York against the Knicks. The Celtics will start the season with an 11 game stretch from October 20th to November 10th where only 2 games will feature teams who finished ahead of the Celtics in last years standings. It will be crucial for the Celtics to gel as quickly as possibly in that 11 game stretch as they begin a month and a half stretch on November 12th where they will run a gauntlet facing several of the leagues top teams all the way till the end of the 2021 calender year which could truly put them in a nice spot in the standings if they win most of those games or in bad position if they lose most of them. That month and a half span features 25 games which includes 3 games vs the Bucks, 2 vs the Suns, 2 vs the Clippers, 1 vs the Hawks, 2 vs the Lakers, 1 vs the Nets, 1 vs the Spurs, 1 vs the Raptors, 2 vs the 76ers, 1 vs the Jazz, 1 vs the Blazers, 1 vs the Warriors, 1 vs Knicks. The Celtics will have 5 back to backs in that span vs MIL @ CLE, vs LAL vs OKC, @ UTAH @ POR, @ LAL @ LAC, vs GS vs NYK. The Celtics schedule will get easier once they get to January, The Celtics will play 15 back to backs and only 3 of them will be without travel included the league average is 13.5 back to backs. The Celtics will play the Bulls, Heat, Cavs and Magic 3 times instead of 4 times. The Celtics in total will travel 43,000 miles this season which is 3,000 more then the Eastern Conference Average. So we will discuss this schedule and any other key dates that have been revealed for fans.

The NBA Free Agency Period is underway and boy there have been some big time signging for the Championship contenders. However one contender that has not fallen in that bracket of making a big time deal has been the Boston Celtics. Several insiders have reported the Celtics seem content to focus on signing players who would accept 1 year deals so like that the Celtics would preserve all the cap space they would have in the summer of 2022. Due to this the Celtics have lost Evan Fournier in free agency and thus far have signed only 1 player in former Celtics center Enes Kanter. So what is it the Celtics could be planning for next summer that they were willing to lose Evan Fournier and appear to be willing to waive the white flag on this season in order to accomplish. Meanwhile what about the other teams the Celtics have been expected to contend with like the Nets, Lakers, Bucks, 76ers and Raptors. Did those teams jump way ahead of the Celtics with any moves early in free agency hence the rich get richer of did they lose key players? Meanwhile the Celtics had contract discussions with Marcus Smart despite Smart not being a free agent until next summer which has people questioning what the Celtics might be planning for Smarts future if he was to sign on the dotted line? So we will discuss all of that plus anything else that has gone on in the first week of NBA Free Agency on todays show

Celtics Gm Brad Stevens game stars Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart the right to impact who would be their next head coach after reports of turmoil in the locker room under his leadership last season. The players chose Brooklyn Nets assistant Ime Udoka who already has experienced coaching the 3 stars as he was an assistant coach for Team USA for the Fiba World Cup in 2019 which Smart, Tatum and Brown all participated. This move gives the Celtics a coach of color which many felt was gonna happen and was likely something players were gonna force due to the current issues in the country and the fact the NBA players are trying to send a political message which only intensified after the incident with Brooklyn Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving in the Celtics 1st round playoff loss in game 4 of the NBA Playoffs. So with this move now officially in the books how does the Celtics Talk Radio Crew feel about it? Do they feel Ime Udoka was the best option available knowing the issues that have been reporting regarding the players on the roster or did the ownership and Brad Stevens give in to the players demands too easily? What about expectations now since this is the coach the players chose should expectations be lifted for this team going foward meaning if they fail the coach can no longer be blamed? What about the issue of free agency in a month you now no longer have Ainge as your GM, you got a black coach instead of a white one which seems to be a something the NBA Players care about now a days will Brad Stevens now be able to make moves compared to what Ainge did? What about our top stars are they now willing to recruit or will they still say thats not their jobs like Tatum recently did?  We try to discuss all of it in 3 hours and let you hear what insiders are saying on tonights Celtics Talk Radio. We will be joined by Adam Taylor (@AdamTaylorNBA on twitter) of Celtics Blog