SOUND OFF: Celtics Drub Dubs by 52 Points

what did you see out on the court. And I'm gonna pull a handful of them to discuss each and every night. And tonight the perfect night to get this rolling. The Boston Celtics absolutely took it to the Golden State Warriors from start to finish. We come out of the gates with Golden State daring Jalen Brown to take shots, and boy did he take them. He opened up the game with nineteen points in the first quarter and lit

the Celtics on fire. It opened up twenty one twenty one a piece, and then by the end of the first quarter, the Celtics had already pulled ahead forty four to twenty two, doubling up the Warriors during that first quarter and It only got worse from there. The Celtics at the end of the first half were up by forty four points. It was eighty two to thirty eight

at halftime. I repeat eighty two to thirty eight. At halftime, Jalen Brown had scored twenty five, Jason Tatum had scored twenty two, and this game was all but over at that point. Steve Kerk waved the white flag at halftime, did not play his core players during the second half. Stephan Curry was on the sideline, Klay Thompson was on the sideline, Draymond Green was on the sideline. And you know why, It's because they had an absolute zero chance

of coming back to win this game. It's the same thing Joe Mizzoula did earlier this season when the Celtics were getting blown out in a game in Milwaukee. He said, listen, it's gonna benefit my guys more to get the rest than it would to put them out there and subject them to this for the rest of the game. And the Boston Celtics just got cruising from there. During the third quarter, Joe Mizula put his starters back in the game. They continued to cruise for the first few minutes maintain

that lead. Joe Mizula said, all right, I'm gonna get my guy has some rest as well, and he took the starters out and the reserves just took it from there. The stay Ready group. They were ready, and by the end of the night, the Celtics had logged a fifty two point win over the champions from two seasons ago, a team that again had won thirteen of its last sixteen games. The Boston Celtics made a statement on Sunday, and that's what we're about to talk about. Let's dive

into our first comment from RV. All Right, r VV Villanuevas says, this was personal for the seas. I love it with a shamrock at the end. RV, I'm right there with you. I love this as well. The Celtics did take this personal. It felt that way, and not only for the actual team on the court, it felt that way for the crowd. Like when you walked into this arena, there was an extra energy. It felt like a playoff game. And obviously it's a Sunday on ABC. It's a big time game no matter what. Steph Curry,

Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are in town. It's gonna be a big game no matter what, but this one did feel like it had a little bit extra on top. It was like it was time for the Celtics to make their statement that this is not the same team that the Warriors came into TD Garden and beat in the NBA Finals two seasons ago. The Celtics wanted to

make a statement and they did. And the thing that really stood out to me that we already touched on very briefly during that first quarter, is it felt like this was personal for Jalen Brown. Okay, because we came out in the first few minutes of this game and Draymond Green was defending him, or lack thereof. He was literally allowing Jalen to shoot open shots from the perimeter as if that was Golden State's game plan, and not many teams do that to a guy like Jalen Brown,

who's a three time All Star. And I don't know what was going through Jalen's head, but it certainly looked like he took offence to that, and he said, if you're gonna leave me open, I'm gonna drive you guys right into the ground and that's exactly what he did. Nineteen points during the first quarter. He shot six of twelve from the field during that quarter, also had three

rebounds and an assist. He dominated that quarter and it was all because Golden State set the table for him to do so, which really stands out to me by the way that Steve Kerr, if this was actually the game plan going into the game, Steve Kerr and his staff and the players decided the best way for us to try to win this game is to just allow one person to do something so that we can be

tight on everything else. But Jalen Brown again is a three time All Star who is averaging twenty two points per game and just came off of averaging twenty seven last season. This guy's going to take advantage of it. And that's exactly what he did, and I loved every second of it. Like we said, it felt personal to him. When he saw what the Warriors were trying to do to him, he took advantage and the Boston Celtics followed

in his footsteps. It was personal for the team, it was personal for the city, it was personal for all Celtics nation. And now the Celtics can say, hey, We've got that monkey off our back. Obviously, this doesn't redeem the loss in the twenty two finals, but it makes us feel good that, yes, this team is different than it was two years ago. Now, Frank Win, he wants

to bring us back down to earth. After this fifty two point win over the Warriors, he says, great win, but our blowout loss to the Bucks was just one loss too. Keep going, and I'm with you, Frank, I understand what you're saying. You're basically saying, let's not get too high, let's not get too low. It's only one game. However, I do have to say, Frank, this is one game of eleven in a row that the Boston Celtics have won. They have been dominant during the stretch and winning the

last six of those eleven, all in runaway form. I mean, the team has been dominant. They're playing the best basketball of their season. That's saying a lot, by the way, and it's dominant at both ends of the court. What I said during the game is that the offense, you know, that's the anything that everyone's gonna attach to. You see Jalen and Jason and all these guys making shots and really making themselves unstoppable on the offensive end. There, the

Warriors just could do nothing to stop them. But it was at the other end of the court that really stood out to me. The defense. I mean, they were on the Warriors like White on Rice. They had absolutely no room to even try to get shots off. Jason Tatum all over, Steph Curry at times, Drew Holliday, Peyton Pritchett, all these guys putting pressure on and switching and communicating in Golden State just had no airspace to do anything.

And I said, this is borderline the best defense the Celtics have ever played, and I meant ever, like in the history of the organization. And the reason I said that is because you literally could not get much better than the defense that they were playing. During a solid stretch of that second quarter. It was dominant. It was impossible to overcome, and that's why the Celtics wound up with a fifty two point win. So listen, I do get where you're coming from, Frank. We got to keep

level heads after a victory like that. However, the Celtics really are playing at a totally other level right now than any other team in the NBA. When you are blowing out teams that come into your town red hot. That's really making a statement. This was a statement when and the Celtics have had a bunch of them lately, and they've got another opportunity to get three more on this upcoming road trip heading out to Cleveland, Denver and Phoenix. And that last comment plays right into what Brian is

talking about here. In his comment, he says, I know they can't play like this every game, but if they could, I would feel bad for any other team. The tag hashtag different here is so appropriate. The level they played today, it's different than anyone else. Brian Boom hit the nail right on the head, my friend. The Boston Celtics are at a level right now that no other team can match. And I understand some people are probably gonna say, are

they peaking too early? Are they reaching their highest level right now with twenty plus games left in the regular season. I don't care. You shouldn't care. This has been an entire season of dominance. This team right now is forty eight and twelve. This is the same pace that the championship team in two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight had. Okay, that is not a farce that when you get this far into a season, you know that

this is real, This is legitimate. What this team is doing on a nightly basis is not something that's gonna go away. And the Celtics are now their point differential is plus eleven point four. This is historical, folks, historical. We're talking about one of the ten best point differentials in the history of the NBA that the Boston Celtics have a chance to log this season. You just cannot overlook that. So when Brian is saying it really is

different here, it is. It is appropriate. It is different here. No other team in the league has reached this level of play at all this season, let alone reaching this level for a sustained period like the Boston Celtics have, literally from the start of the season until now we are into March, and the Celtics have lost consecutive games

one time. One time that was all the way back on November sixth and November eighth in Minnesota, which was an overtime game they easily could have won, and then another game the next night in Philadelphia that they easily could have won. That's the only time all season that

the team has lost consecutive games. So again, back to my point and back to Brian's point that it really is different here because this team has been playing at this level all season long, and obviously, yes, right now, are they playing exceptional basketball as dominant as you can possibly play. Yes, Okay, they haven't been quite playing at that level all season long, but they have been sustainably great to the entire season. This is real. There's nothing

to read into here. You can be confident that it's different here and that's not going anywhere despite the playoffs still being six weeks away. All right, jumping into our last comment from X, it is Steven and he's coming in with a very succinct and straight to the point comment. He says, JT for MVP, period. And listen, Stephen, I'm right there with you, man. Like at this point, you know, the talk around Jason and his candidacy for MVP has started.

It has started to get louder and louder over the past couple of weeks. And this is just so happens to coincide with obviously the Celtics winning eleven games in a row now, which is the longest winning streak in the NBA this season. But we're getting to a point now where what he is doing and what this team is doing, it's just impossible to overlook. I mean, I think he entered this week fourth in the NBA's MVP Ladder,

behind Giannisan Tootakoupo, Giljess Alexander and Nikola Jokic. But I've got to say, I think that this should be a race between Jokic and Tatum. And here's why. I think Tatum's case is a case that no other player can make, and that's that he is offensively great. He is bringing the numbers on a nightly basis. He's done it all

season long. He's been efficient. He's been leading this team and scoring all season long, averaging better than twenty seven points per game, grabbing better than eight and a half rebounds per game. He's been excellent on offense. Okay, But the other notches on his belt that these other guys don't necessarily have is that Jason Tatum is an elite defender on top of being an elite offensive player. And together with those, he is on a team that is

torching the entire NBA. There is no one else in the NBA who has that type of resume, excellent numbers on offense, a game changer on defense, and playing on a team that is running away with the best record in the league. Like I get it. Yeah, Shay has been great on defense. He's an excellent offensive player, scoring better than thirty one points per game this season. Jokic,

He's a magician with the ball in his hands. He is borderline the best offensive player all around in the NBA with what he can do around the basket, passing the ball, scoring the basketball, shooting it from the perimeter. Yes, I understand this, But when you look at the entire resume at work, not just the raw numbers, Jason Tatum puts together a combination of offense defensive team success that no one else in the NBA can compete with. That's

the bottom line. So when we're talking about looking at who's going to win the MVP for this season, that is what the voters should be looking at. That is what everyone in the media should be talking about. It's not just about the numbers. We've seen this forever. You rewind to the years when Lebron James won MVPs with the Miami Heat, to the years that Steph Curry, who we just saw Tonight score only four points against the

Boston Celtics. By the way, but when he won his two MVP awards with the Golden State Warriors, those guys were not held back from winning MVPs simply because they played on really good teams. Were Lebron James played with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and a bunch of other great players on that team. Okay, those are surefire Hall of famers. Jason Tatum is twenty five years old playing with, yes, a lot of other great players on this team, but

it shouldn't be a detriment to his MVP candidacy. He has the best combination of offensive excellence, defensive dominance, and team success bottom line, end of story. And listen, does that mean that he's definitely going to win the MVP or that he definitely should win the MVP. No, I don't think that we're at that place yet. We've got to see how these final twenty plus games unfold for all of these MVP candidates. But right now he should be higher in the rankings. And that is why. The

combination of offensive greatness, defensive greatness, and team success. What he has with that combination is unmatched anywhere in the NBA. All Right, folks, that's gonna do it for our very first episode of sound Off. I appreciate the fans who took part in this tonight. We hope that we can include many more of you as we move forward. We will be right back here in the very same spot Tuesday night after the Southic kN KAZ playing Cleveland, and I hope to hear from a bunch of you after

that game ends. Thanks a lot of folks, to see you next time.