Welcoming into NBA Pulster production of iHeartRadio in the NBA. I'm Sir Kustak, NBA analyst for the Yes Network, and today is Tuesday, June eighteenth. From our extraordinary core group of NBA journalists are joined now by NBA dot Com senior writer Michael C. Rights and Michael, We've got a
NBA champion. This season has come to a close in some capacity as the Boston Celtics, the best team in the NBA throughout the course of the regular season, sixty four wins, essentially rolled through the playoffs, sixteen and three record, and they finally have been crowned as champs after what they put together. You look at this core, it's really a celebration of a true team. We've talked a lot
about Jason Tatum, about Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown the Finals MVP after being named the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, Joe Missoula turning thirty six, only thirty six in two weeks in his second year. This is a Celtics team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals in five of the last seven years, that included a trip to the finals just two seasons ago. But banner number eighteen. Banner number eighteen, passing the Lakers. We now have six straight champions without
a repeat. There was a lot to dig into. I think you saw the celebration. You saw not only the excitement but also seeming a relief out of a lot of these players, in particular a player like Jason Tatum, who we've looked at a bunch, but as I mentioned, it was everyone true holiday tremendous in this series. Can't say enough about Derek White. Christaps porzingis in and out of the lineup throughout the course of this postseason, but
you felt his impact. The list goes on. What was your biggest takeaway from the Celtics finally winning this title.
I would say that for the Superstars it was sort of their like their bachoration, their final there to the point where they're finally like, okay, we've we've silenced all the critics, We've won a championship. And as Jason Tatum said, which y'all gonna say now, you know, I go back to two years ago watching that series against the Warriors, and if you remember, the Warriors won won the championship on their home court, and so to go from that disappointment two years ago and then to go to this
what we saw last night. I don't think I've ever seen that much confetti and stuff flying out of the air in any game. It was crazy, but it was just amazing to finally see them sort of get that off their backs. And you know, because it wasn't that long ago when people were saying, well they should go ahead and separate Jason Tatum and Jaln Brown.
You know, see what trade one of them?
Long stretch of time. Yeah, for a long stretch of time.
And so it was so it was actually fun for me to see that because those guys have been through so much together and people just forget that. You know, Jason Tatum is twenty six years old. Twenty six, He's been to all those conference finals. He's got a championship now, you know, Luka Doncicch I think is twenty five. So you know, he's accomplished quite a bit in his career and he finally got the hardware to show for it.
You know, he was talking about how you play all this basketball, especially when you make it as far in the finals as the Celtics over these last few years, and he's like, you play all this basketball and then at the end of it, you have nothing to show for it. Well, finally he does, so I was actually happy to see it.
Yeah, we had mentioned about what more can you say? Probably we're going to say, Okay, what's next? How many more of these are you gonna win? I wish I will ask you about the Boston Celtics getting there, But you said two years ago lose, and so the Warriors on their home court. You look at last year losing Game seven on their home court to the Miami Heat.
So there's been and there's been many iterations. You can't talk about this title without also talking about Brad Stevens and just how he constructed this roster, what they put together. You go back to mention Danny Ainge as well, you go back to Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown. Those are the Brooklyn Nets. Pick from the Kevin Garnette, Kevin Garnett Paul Pierce trade way back when there's been a lot of
ups and downs for this group. I mentioned how they achieved that success early, and I think maybe that's why some of the expectations were put on them, given the fact they had been to the Eastern Conference finals. So many times there was expectations once they had made it to the finals. Jason Tatum twenty six, Jalen Brown twenty seven.
What do you make of There's obviously been a lot of talk about those two, the tandem that they created, how it took evolution and growth to kind of figure out the best way not only to to play together on the floor, but I think too just the differences in their personality. What do you make of Jalen Brown winning the MVP of the Finals.
I was thrilled for him, just absolutely thrilled for him, because Jalen is sort of He's a really deep guy who you know, sort of as much as he loves the sport of basketball, you know, he sort of used it as a platform to something larger, and so he was on the ultimate stage last night, and so you know, I think, you know, going back to that two years ago, I mean, he shot thirty one point eight percent over the last three games of the finals. He turned it
over ten times in those last two games. So to be able to come back from that and perform the way he did this year in the playoffs, I mean, even if you go back to last night, he was coming off a career low in scoring. He only had fifteen points. Now, he didn't play a ton because Dallas just mopped the floor with him in Game four. But you know, his story is sort of one of just resilience, Like he keeps bouncing back and he's learned every time
from every setback, he's figured out something else. You remember two years ago they were saying he was a right hand dominant guy. He can only go to his right, and then we see it at the All Star Game, you know, and the All Star festivity's playing around so and everybody he can go left, and so it's just it.
It's the same thing with Jason Tatum.
I heard you DONNISASLM talking about it last night that you know, he was talking about like the heat knocking at the Celtics out and he's like, you know, every time you came back, you had something new in your arsenal, you came back better. And that's what they kept doing over a period of years and years and years. So for Jalen Brown to win that MVP, it was great.
But and the funny thing about it was, you know, last night, I think he was what seven of twenty three twenty one points, So it wasn't like an MVP performance, but him winning the award was about the way he performed all finals, you know, and he did it on both both ends of the floor offensively and defensively. He gave Luca Dodge y'all kins problems last night, and so just to see him do that and leadership, this team is built to be right there in the mix for
a championship for the next five six years. The only guy that we were really thinking about, like maybe it's not time for him to hang it up, but maybe he will is Al Horford and got to be happy for him.
I mean, the guy was with seventeen.
League years in the league and only missed the playoffs twice, and so for him to finally get over the hump and win that championship thirty eight years old, I was happy for him. It was great to see him celebrating with his family.
Excellent mention. Yeah, I forgot to say Al Horford and just what he meant to see his opportunity to win a title. You said about Brown and just the totality of his performance. Jason Tatum did lead the team throughout the course of the finals in points, in assists, and rebounds, doing at both ends. So again, I think there's just a lot of things you look at with this team, which continues to circle back. Even at the beginning of this game, it was Drew Holliday that kind of set
the tone. The Celtics weren't hitting shots. Yeah he hit shots early. Yeah, we remember what he was able to do in Game one. So there's there's, of course a lot of contributions. And that goes back to the historical perspective of this team. Where this team ranks. I said it early on sixty four wins this season. They went through the playoffs sixteen and three. Throughout the course of the regular season, they had a plus a level of plus eleven point of differential plus eight throughout the course
of the postseason. They were dominant histories historically, And say what you want, and then we all have I had about the teams that they played missing key players. So they play a Miami team that is without Jimmy Butler, they play a Cleveland team without Donovan Mitchell, Tyres Halliburn
missing some time for Indigain. There were certain stretches throughout the course of this However, where would you rank this Boston Celtics team historically some of the great old time great teams that have won titles.
Oh that's tough. Are we talking about just Celtics teams or all of them? No?
All of them?
Okay, because of Celtics, that's even hard. I don't know.
I don't know, but I will say that, like, like you mentioned that they were historically dominant, and I mean during the regular season, and it was just like the Celtics were sort of an afterthought in a way, because it was like they just went about their business beating everybody up, and nobody really talked about them.
You know.
Everybody was like talking about teams like Philadelphia in the East and you know, just in the Knicks because everybody was happy that the Knicks were finally good again Milwaukee because of everything it went on with the coaches and Dame coming in there and all that stuff. But it was like the Celtics just kind of quietly went about their way beating people and nobody saw them coming until they were there.
You know. So I don't know how.
I don't know how to frame them historically, because let's let's be honest here, this finals just the way it felt, like you mentioned they were playing all these teams that were missing their best player for different stretches, and so it like, I'll be honest, coming into this series, I thought the Celtics really hadn't been tested in the playoffs, and so I thought that I actually picked the Mavericks
to win because the Mavericks had been tested. They played a good Oklahoma City team, they played they beat a good Minnesota team and the Clippers. So I just thought Dallas was more battle tested. But point it was our wrong because I didn't what I didn't think about, or what I underestimated, was the fact that over a course of year, the Boston Celtics had been battle tested, not just this playoffs, you.
Know what I mean.
So I don't know exactly where to rank them, and you know how that is comparison is what the thief of joy I want to I don't want to do that to them.
You said a lot of things there, and we'll get to Dallas in a second, because I do think that's the other component of it. And I did the same as you, and I think for a lot of us. You looked at Luca and you looked at Kyrie, and you're like, oh, if they can keep this a close game, down the stretch they got the two closers. Yeah, that's where I thought they would have the edge over Boston, a Boston team that held Dallas under one hundred points
all but that game four blowout loss. I think for better or worse, And I don't like this viewpoint my own or just how sometimes I think the historical place takes time to see, Okay, what happens next? And so are they able to run this back? Do they do it again? You mentioned other teams some of the injuries. And that's not to say that you win a title. You win a title, however, you're playing the team and
the players and the rotation in front of you. But I think you you kind of look, Okay, what happens next? Can they keep this team together? And how many times can you continue to put it together? Sometimes that where that's where we start to look back historically, start to look back and see where teams place. I think we've done that with the Warriors. You know you do that with a lot of teams. We were sitting here last year saying no one was going to beat the Denver
Nuggets and how many titles would they reel off? And and this is a situation we're sitting in, so we're going to get to We're going to get to next year. Right after the break, Welcome back to NBA. Paul Sarakustak joined by the great Michael C. Wright. Okay, Michael, we mentioned it talking about next year because I also want to get your perspective on Dallas as well and just the way things look, what we saw out of Luca Kyrie and also really the counterparts that they were playing
with throughout the course of the series. But I would say a lot of that had to do with Boston. I mentioned the fact that Dallas did not hit one hundred but for one game in that Game four at Dallas. Give a lot of credit to Boston's defense. We could talk so much about things offensively, but the door was open at times because Boston wasn't always perfect offensively, not always hitting shots. But their defense is what held them down,
helped them to this title. It's about the team. It's about players like a Drew Holliday about and Derek White. But the question becomes, especially with the new CBA, how long can you keep this group together? What does that
look like? What is salary cap situation all of that, What do you see as being next or at least next year for the Celtics, And whether it's Julius Randall sitting there on set with ESPN about it, he's not He's not going to continue, you know, see kind of how things shake out, Joel Embiid having joined it, and say if I was healthy, and all of those things are factors. You look at a lot of the other
teams in the Eastern Conference. If Giannis and Dame spend some more time together, will that acclamation process help them to look different? Uh? What is your take on what things will look like for the Boston Celtics next year.
It's I think it's going to be just given like the health situation for these different teams. All these teams are going to be healthy again next year hopefully, and so it's not going to be easy for him.
I think that.
You know, obviously Philly's a rival, uh, Joel Embiid, They're going to be better and they you know, they're going to do something this offseason to add to that team. Tyrese Maxi, the guy's a rising star. So they're gonna they're going to be in the mix, you know, and you look at Milwaukee like you said, another year with Dame and and be honest, they're gonna be better, especially
you know, with another year under Doc Rivers Cleveland. I just don't know what they're gonna do right now, but if they get Donovan Mitchell to re sign there, they're gonna be right back there in the mix. So, you know, the Indiana, like they gave Yea, they gave Boston trouble.
You know, it's funny to think about they gave them trouble because they played so unconventionally that you know, as good as Boston's defense is, you can't really set your defense up when all you're doing is running all game, and so you know, I think that they're only going to sort of add to that style and make it even more hectic for teams to deal with. So Boston's
gonna have It's not gonna be easy for them. They're not just gonna magically appear back in the conference finals or the NBA Finals next year.
It's gonna be a dogfight for them.
But they are equipped, though to handle it, because like I said, they've got all this and all these big games, and they sort of have the ingredients, Like you know, you just look at those guards. I would argue that those are the best best two way duo in the in the NBA right now. Derek White Drew Holliday super tough. You saw Derek White fall on his face, and I'm just like, ah, but I knew he was going to get up because I had him here, and yes, I had him here in San Antonio, so I know the kid.
I knew he was going to get up. But then I saw his face, his teeth and everything. I was like, oh, and did.
You see they had Jalen Brown miked up? He said, boy, you's ugly.
Yeah, but that's that's the toughness of this group. And we saw that it manifest itself in a lot of different ways. And I do think to your point, once you kind of get get that monkey off your back, for lack of a better way to describe it, in terms of how much scrutiny was around their failures of not winning, I'm curious to see how that release of some pressure pressure that can now turn into motivation to get another may change on the side of Dallas. You
said it early, so Luka Doncic. He's going to be entering his seventh year in the league. He's only twenty five years old. Give credit to Dallas. I know the way things look throughout the course of this series, but they were a five seed coming in, Michael, you said it multiple times, the fact that at the trade deadline they were a playing team. There was really nice moves that were made in bringing in a handful of players
that were able to contribute. You saw Derek Lively and what he was able to do on the stage at his age as a rookie. There's a lot of things to be optimistic about one player, though that seemingly fell short of what you hoped he would do on the stage having been a champion before. Was Kyrie Irving And obviously there was the backside of things with his time in Boston and how that may have affected him in some of those road games. But what do you think
is next for Dallas. They just sign Jason Kidd to an extension, But but there's opportunity for movement on this roster. What do you think is going to happen with this MAVs team next year?
Well, I think the Mavericks at the trade deadline, the moves that they made, I think that showed them the way that they want to play like, Okay, this is the style we want to play. Okay, so now it's going to be about, Okay, how do we enhance that? And so I could see them definitely running it back with the same guys. Now they got to they got to figure out a way to bring a couple guys back though, like Derreck Jones Jr.
I believe he is going to be a free agent, and.
Like you could, you know, like you could sort of like he's gonna he's gonna get paid outside of the Mavericks. So the MAVs are gonna have to figure out a way to bring him back. But I think you can run it back with these guys. Derek Lively the second, he didn't look like a rookie until this series. Like throughout the whole playoffs, that kid was dominant, just running all over the floor, getting from corner to corner, defending shots, and all of a sudden, the Celtics made him look
like a rookie. But you saw him take and make his first career three pointer. I think in Game four that was his first three. And so he's going to work this offseason and get better and shooting threes, and then you know, we.
Talk about five out ball.
Well, if you add that to the arsenal you got, now you have that and the live thread, and then you know, just the pressure that Kyrie Irving and lukadancis the pressure that they're gonna put on you to make a decision. You know, Hey, if you come up on me, I'm throwing a live If you stay back, I'm just gonna hit this floater. So they know how they want to play now, and so like I said, it's just about sort of adding in the pieces around them to sort of enhance that style of play. And you know,
it's fun to watch. It's really fun to watch. And you know, looking at Kyrie Irving, I think he is just in the right head space because even though he wasn't successful, even though he struggled against the Boston Celtics, you saw it all throughout the finals, it really didn't affect him that negatively. Like he could he could sort of take a bird's eye view of the situation and say, yeah, you know, I'm struggling, but you know it's that's.
Just the Celtics.
I'm playing against a very good team here, and so he could put it in proper perspective not get frustrated, not lash out at the media. He's in a great head space. So I see him and Luca only getting closer as these next couple of years kind.
Of go on, yeah, you said that, And even like the fact you look at Derek Lively's twenty years old, what Josh Green was it to do with twenty three years old? How he's expanded his game, like him knocking down threes. I remember we came in the league and that was you know, that was a part that he was still trying to work on and figure out how how to play that way.
PJ.
Washington just twenty five years old was the big pick up in same with Daniel Gafford twenty five years old. So the core of some of those players and who they decide to keep or what they decide to do can continue to grow. With Luca and obviously Kyrie had shown, as you mentioned, just his ability to be a leader in different ways and bring a level of experience. And I think obviously anytime you make a run to the finals and have this type of experience, there's a lot
you could take from it. But there is a lot a lot to handle from the Western Conference because you imagine there is. I mean, start the list of teams that are chopping at the bit and ready to get going again, with Minnesota, Denver, what Oklahoma City is gonna come back and look like again, some questions about what happens with the Clippers, and in just a lot of teams. Again, the list goes on, and so it'll be it'll be continue to be interesting to watch on both the Western
and Eastern Conference level of competition. But but I do think Dallas getting here credit to them, but it is not going to be easy for them to make a return trip back.
I mean just think about this, like we we just totally forgot about Memphis, and Memphis was like a scene.
So you know, Josh, and they'll be back, and that's that's where injuries coming to play. I mean, obviously we'll see what happens between the draft, free agency and how things shake out. But yeah, there's a lot, a lot for us to look forward to. But in the meantime, we're going to take a breath because it was our final episode of the season, and Michael, you you deserve some vacation time, so much much deserved vacation time. I
hope you get it. I will get it. We will all and we will get ourselves set for what should be a very interesting summer to see how handful of things shake out. But as always, we appreciate you, We appreciate your time. Will continue reading and watching all your stuff on NBA TV and NBA dot Com. NBA Pulse with Sarahustack is a production of the NBA and iHeart Radio. Please rate, review, and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.