Colin Cowherd’s Instant Reaction -  Celtics/Heat Game 4

and toughness and undrafted players playing for a contract. It's inspiring, it's fun, but they're not a good enough team in terms of talent to lack intensity and take the night off on the defensive end and win. They're not the Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets can take a half off and win. That's the reality. We don't have a lot of great teams in the NBA, right. Dynasties get about one a decade and then it's good teams that stay healthy, have a good coach, you know, Lakers in the bubble,

It all kind of it all kind of hits. So Miami's not a team that can play half assed defense, and they weren't great tonight and win a basketball game. They are winning this game on coaching, Butler and effort and a great example tonight, the Celtics had eight block shots. That's effort. They shot like fifty percent, they got more open looks, they had thirty percent fewer turnovers. Why they played cleaner, and then Tatum had a great second half.

So Miami, listen. It's it's really really hard. That's why I think Denver is more talented than people are giving them credit for over the Lakers, because it is hard to sweep a team like and the Lakers have some talent and Boston's got talent. But the difference is Denver swept the Lakers because in the end they have significant, gantly more talent than the Lakers. Their four best players are all in their prime. The only Laker top player

in their prime is Austin Reeves. It's pretty low ceiling prime. Boston's got more talent in Miami, and they've been playing together for like six years. And that's an interesting thing. There was a story Kevin O'Connor with the Ringer, had a story or he broke a report that one of the people inside that locker room said the Celtics are tired of faking like they like each other. And here's the thing. Had they won the championship last year, they'd

like each other a lot more. Put you put people together for six years with disappointment at the end of all those seasons in a city like Boston. So I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, we didn't have sports talk radio, you know what I mean. So when I moved in my mid forties, I move to the Northeast. I live in West Hartford, Connecticut, beautiful small town in America. And it's about, you know, a couple hours to Boston, a couple hours to New York. And I went to

New York a lot more than Boston. But when I went to Boston, I would watch nessen NESN. That's their ESPN, right, it's this regional network, and I would watch talk radio and the anger and the cynicism. And this is when the Red Sox were really good, and the Patriots were dominating football, and the Bruins had a couple of great teams, and the Celtics were pretty good. Like I was there for ten years and the Boston teams were winning a lot,

baseball and football winning a lot. People were miserable. Maybe it's the cold winters, Maybe it's the kind of the provincial nature of that area where you know, Boston's one of the only cities in the country where people they don't leave to go to school because you have such great universities and some of the best prep schools in America. Most of the best prep schools in America are in that you know, Boston, New York area. So you get educated there, you go to college there, and you summer

there Martha's Vineyard, the Cape Nantucket. So it's very provincial like New Yorkers. You know, the rich can go to sag Harbor for the summer, but a lot of people go down to you know, in the winter, they go down to Florida, they go down to the Carolina's New Yorkers, it's not a provincial city. You know. New York is very transient. Boston's not. People that are in Boston are mostly from Boston. They go to school in Boston, they vacation in Boston, they summer in Boston, and so they

love Boston teams. In fact, years ago, when I first got into this business at ESBN, I was looking at some national radio demographics and the what you figured out very quickly is Boston had no interest in any sports talk radio outside of Boston, the two most provincial markets in the country. We're Providence, Rhode Island. I mean literally, nobody would watch the Rose Bowl in Boston or Providence,

like nobody New Yorkers. It would get a ten rating every year the Rose Bowl because New Yorkers, you know, people from everywhere in the country live in New York. Boston. It's not that way. So when you listen to sports talk radio in Boston, it sounds like Boston, and Boston has a chip on its shoulder and it's in your face, and it's confrontational, and there's just what makes it such

a vibrant political and sports town. But if you put guys together for six years on the Celtics and you have the history of Russell and then you know, not that long ago, KG you've got titles, and you can't win a title, and there's disappointment at the end of the year. You could see where the team would start eating itself alive. You're on your fourth coach, and this

coach is a young coach. By the way, did you notice late in the game there was a huddle for the Boston Celtics with five minutes left in the fourth quarter and a reporter noted that Marcus Smart's in the coach's chair, Joe Mozilla's chair. We started directing the team. It's like this team. The Celtics took it upon themselves on their day off in Miami and said, guys, we got to play with more effort. So they made an

adjustment at half. The team played up tempo, more good looks, more open threes started hitting them, and Miami just didn't have the effort and that's the only way they can win. But Boston's got more good players here, and they'd been really good for a long time. But in Boston, if you don't win, man, you got a lot of Super Bowl rings, you got NBA championships, you got Stanley Cup championships,

you got World Series crowns. This is a winner's town in Boston's becoming the most talented Boston team that's never won a championship. Not a good tag. So you could see were this team it would wear on them because nobody was talking about this team not liking each other a year ago. We know that Jalen Brown is not entirely happy there living there and went to cal Berkeley. But by and large, Tatum is easy to get along with al Horford's really easy to get along with Jalen Brown,

you know. I mean, it has a good reputation. Marcus Smart can be feisty, but there's no reason this team wouldn't get along. I think Boston the pressure cooker that is Boston sports listen. I grew up in Seattle. The Washington Huskies won a national championship in like nineteen ninety one. The Sonics won in the seventies. We don't win championships. I mean, that's why we celebrated. Like when the Seahawks win one and they should have won two, people don't freak out. We got one. And so it's not a

pressure cooker. It's a friendlier media. Sports talk radio is not as big as I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. So when I moved out east and I saw it and I felt it, and I watched WFAN sports talk radio in New York. Literally the fans ripping the Mets front office. They didn't make a move in free agency, and then the Mets go get like Jason Bay and left Field a bad fit for the Mets. He struggles. That was like the fans demanding it and the GM

for the Mets, apparently listening to sports talk radio. You would watch teams get influenced in New York by sports talk radio. You see teams get influenced in Boston by the pressure cooker, that is the fans in the media. So I think the Boston players took it upon themselves and they played with great intensity. It was a clean game. Tatum was great in the second half. But this isn't Denver and the Lakers. Denver's got more talent, they can sweep them. It's hard to sweep a team when you

have inferior talent. Now, Miami's got a better coach. Miami may have the best player in Jimmy Butler. I like bam Autobayo a lot, but it's a lot of guys here playing for contracts, undrafted guys, and so the Celtics are alive. Got to tell you really interested. Thursday night, I'm going to do another instant reaction. You know, Boston, what did Marcus Smart say this week? Don't let us win one. Don't let us win one. So I cannot wait. I got a feel in Boston's going to go home

and lose. I'm sorry, it's still spo against Missoula Spoilster's really good. All right. A quick word from our sponsor, game Time, and some thoughts on Lebron james potential retirement after this. How great have the NBA Playoffs been so far? If you live in one of those cities and wanted to go to the games, there is only one place to get tickets, The game Time App, the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, for last minute, amazing deals.

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So one of the really interesting things because as many of you know, I've moved around the country, and you know, I've been a sportscaster in Vegas blah blah blah, and Portland, in Connecticut, in Tampa and now in Los Angeles and when you live in a city as a sportscaster, you know,

you start liking the teams. I remember covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Tony Dungee and Sam Wich, and I became a fan because you know, you know the players, you're hanging out, your friends in the town are fans, and so it's hard not to you know, I covered the Blazers they were getting to the Western Conference finals. I knew people in the front office. You want to see your friends do well, and so people, why don't you route for Seattle teams? Well, I've never worked there.

I got a soft spot for the Huskies or the Seattle Seahawks. My sister is not a sports fan, but she, you know, she likes the Seahawks, and it's pretty cool. My sister and I are closer now than we were in high school, and some of that is, you know, her love on Sundays for the Seattle Seahawks, which to me is really cool because she never likes sports when I was a kid growing up, and my family wasn't

a sports family. So living in Los Angeles and anybody that's lived in Los Angeles, it is a Laker Dodger town and If USC football is hummon it becomes very quickly a USC football town. That doesn't mean UCLA basketball, or the Angels don't have fans, or the LA Kings. But it's always been a Laker Dodgertown first. USC third. Rams are making some headway because of the Super Bowl McVeigh.

They make some splashy moves. So and Justin Herbert has made people charger fans, But Rams feel like fourth behind USC football. But what's been interesting to watch and listen? So I've lived in Los Angeles now eight years, but I'd visited for years. I'm a West Coast guy. Blah blah blah. Is. People loved Kobe Bryant and they still love Magic. If you're at a Laker game, I've seen this multiple times, and Magic Johnson enters the arena, people stand.

He is revered. It's like nothing I've ever seen in my life. I mean, he is still a legend. Kareem's the all time leading scorer until Lebron broke that record. It's not treated the same as many great players for the Lakers, not treated the same. Magic Johnson is Kobe beloved. It is interesting to listen to my friends in Los Angeles who loved the Lakers and don't like Lebron. It's weird to me. Maybe it's the politics, Maybe it's the perceived arrogance, or that he's not really their guy because

he's bounced around the league. Or maybe it's because you know, he was called the chosen one of the king and he does the crown thing whatever. And a couple of them when I asked them about how you would feel if you know, Lebron retired, I texted a couple of them and it's like, good, start over, rebuild. This team's not a championship team. And somebody else pointed out something to me that they said, Lebron's ego is too big

not to have a retirement tour. Now for me, I look at Lebron and I think, is the kind of above a retirement tour? I mean, is Sacramento going to give him a cow Bell Phoenix going to give him a Lebron jersey? Like? What does he need? Lebron's have been about winning in business from day one. Calculated, strategic, That's who he is and maybe that's what turns people off. But you know, when I think of Lebron's retirement, the

two football retirements to me that were the greatest. We're John Elway with Denver won a Super Bowl and Roger Staubach with the Cowboys. They were both all pros, they were declining, still very good, and they both had their business ventures set and ready to go. So does Lebron. But I do think Lebron does look around the NBA and he has first halfs like he had in Game four the Lakers lost, where he's obviously the best player

on the floor. And now he's going to have the first major surgery in his career, some ankle surgery, and I think Lebron's probably will talk himself into, hey, if we can get Kyrie Irving, Austin Reeves, Anthony Davis, we're not that far off from a championship, and they're probably with that lineup not far off a championship. But I've had some mobility in my career and there is no real home, even though I think southern California is my home.

You know, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. My wife's favorite place is Naples, Florida, right like our kids, A lot of them like Connecticut in the northeast. So Lebron left his home Cleveland twice. They burned his jersey the first time. So although Lebron has benefited greatly from his mobility, where is he truly beloved. It's not Miami, it's not really Cleveland. It's not Los Angeles. Because I can attest to that because I live here. I think it would be the perfect time to call it a career.

I thought Brady did it right. Todd Bowles wasn't the right coach. He clearly looked at Mahomes, Burrow, Allan Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, these really good players getting better, fully committed in their athletic Brian and Tom's like, you know what, Like I'm not I'm the goat, but I'm not the best quarterback in the league. Lebron's in a very similar situation.

He's not the best player in the league because to be the best player in the league you have to be able to play entire games at a high level. But he's a top eight, top ten player. But I think one of the reasons Lebron will consider coming back is right now in the West outside of Denver, I mean, Golden State has no size, there's not a big market. I mean, if they're going to stay with Clay Draymond

and Steph They can only make so many moves. Phoenix, Chris Paul and Kevin Durant have a very recent injury history. The Clippers still don't have a point guard in Kawhi, and Paul George aren't available regularly. You start looking at the West, and I think it's because I thought Brady would retire one year sooner. But I think one of the reasons he didn't he looked at the NFC, and he looked at the NFC South and thought, God, I'm surrounded by shit. I mean, I can come back and

win my division and get a home playoff game. And he was right. They weren't great, and they still get a playoff game. And so I look at Lebron James and I think he looks at the Western Conference outside at Denver, and he's like, you know, if we add a Kyrie Irving, ad me Kyrie Irving, none of us have to play every night. All of us can play fifty eight games. One of us can take a night off. Bring back Austin Reeves, ruey Hacha Mora, add some depth in the back end, get rid of d Lo Beasley.

Vanderbilt so I think it's really hard for athletes, and this was what Brady went through. I think Brady one of the reasons Brady retired. This has never been discussed, but he looks at the Eagles, and he looks at the Niners, and he's like, we just were not built to beat him. I'm not built to beat those teams in the NFC. Then he looks at Kansas City, he looks at Cincinnati, he looks at Buffalo. But in the NFC, Tom's like, strategic, Yeah, I'm not built. We're not. We

don't have Philadelphia or San Francisco's roster. We're just not built to beat him. I think Lebron outside of Denver looks at the West and thinks, I get my ankle surgery, Kyrie Irving, I'm not going to need seventy games from Anthony Davis. I mean, you had Kyrie Irving, Ruy Austin ad Lebron. It's a better starting five the one that

got to the Western Conference finals. But I do think it's interesting the initial reaction by friends I have in Los Angeles that are Laker fans Lebron's mobility and kind of strategic nature. Is it fair to say he's the least loved great Laker ever. I don't know, because Kareem was such a stoic, prickly figure. When you watch Winning Time based on Jeff Pearlman's book, I mean, Kareem doesn't let you love him. You know, he's kind of the academic,

the intellect he's aloof. He's distant, he's prickly. It's never got the coaching opportunity he wanted to. Very smart man. But my gut tells me Lebron should retire, but probably won't. All right, good stuff. Instant reactions see Tomorrow and FS one and Premiere Idea. The volume