Celtics Stuff Live | The Original Boston Celtics Podcast

The much anticipated matchup with the Raptors went about as well as going through Customs with a machete, but Celtics Stuff Live gave thanks to the Cavs for making the rubber glove treatment seem pale in comparison. Jon and Justin took pride in calling the demise of the Cavs as far back as this fall and noted how Kyrie truly was the canary in the coal mine.   In the show's second half, Jon detailed some of the options before the Celtics at the trade deadline and Jon and Justin laid out Marcus Smart's future with the team.   To wrap up the show, Justin looked ahead to Sunday's game against the Cavs and the retirement of Paul Pierce's #34 jersey in a special postgame ceremony. Jon and Justin discussed Paul Pierce's legacy and what he has meant to the franchise and its fans over the last 20 years.    And in building the connection with its fans, Justin had the opportunity to attend the Super Bowl Sunday game against Portland. What made this visit so special is that Justin was able to bring his son Riley to his

The Celtics took a huge blow losing to the Warriors 109-105, but Jon and Justin are very encouraged to the point where both were ready to call this a Finals preview.    Next up, the Marcus Smart injury caused Jon and Justin to debate what Smart's role is on the team going forward and whether he has any trade value. Pairing the Smart injury with the recent rumor of Tyreke Evans possibly joining the Celtics per Ron Tillery of the Commerical Appeal.   To wrap up, Justin talked about the flack the show received for discussing Jayson Tatum hitting the rookie wall and how so many local and national observers have come to Jon and Justin's side of the debate. Let's hope Tatum breaks through soon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

O'fer the week is never good, but coming on a 3 game homestand against teams that are not among the league's best, is not what the team hoped for coming back from London.    Jon and Justin dug into the team's recent struggles and zeroed in on Jayson Tatum and asked whether he had hit the Rookie Wall.   Before wrapping up, Cleveland's defensive struggles put Isaiah Thomas into the cross hairs. Jon and Justin talked about the absurd machinations it would take to bring Isaiah back to Boston via the Disabled Player Exception. Unlikely? Definitely, but not impossible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

London called and the Celtics answered against the Sixers last week with a great comeback last week in jolly old England.   Justin and Jon recapped the Sixer game and discussed Kyrie's postgame visit to the JJ Reddick podcast, which generated far more headlines than it deserved. Transitioning from the Philly game, the conversation moved to Markelle Fultz's horrific looking jumpshot and how the Lakers are faring in relation to giving the Celtics another top 5 pick in June.   To wrap up, Justin and Jon looked to the week ahead just after some interesting discussion on the fit of Marvin Bagley, DeAndre Ayton, and Mo Bamba in the Celtics lineup next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What a first half of the season it has been! Jon and Justin took a look back at the Celtics play to this point and discussed how the team moved from a gruesome injury to one of its cornerstone players to the best record in the Eastern Conference at the halfway mark.   In particular, Terry Rozier's recent hot streak spurring the Celtics six game win streak next to Marky Marcus and the Spunky Bunch. Will it continue and will it impact the Celtics' targets in the trade market over the next month?   To wrap up, the potential Lakers draft pick was a hot topic as Justin talked about the three big men around the top of the draft boards... Ayton, Bomba, and Bagley. You can guess who Jon likes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's 2018 and the Celtics have entered the new year with half of their season already complete and a league best 31 wins to show for it. Jon and Justin discussed the Celtics latest conquest over the Cleveland Cavaliers and the recently healthy Isaiah Thomas. Though IT didn't play, Celtics Twitter was ablaze over the past 2 days as Thomas asked to postpone a video tribute to him until the next Cavs game in Boston... when Paul Pierce's jersey goes into the rafters. In the 2nd half of the show, Jon recounted his trip to the Garden with his family to see the epic comeback against the Rockets last week and hanging out with the legendary Tommy Heinsohn. Jon and Justin wrapped up the show with a look ahead and how the London trip may impact the team moving forward.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They're back No, they aren't No.. really.. they're back. The Celtics have been consistently inconsistent in their play, but Jon and Justin try to figure out how the team can turn out of the skid they both feel is on the way. Jon and Justin talked about Jayson Tatum's strong game in Memphis on Saturday and how that could portend to fix many of the team's ills. To wrap, Jon and Justin spent some time looking at the Christmas week schedule and a pair of standout home contests against the Wizards on Christmas Day and the league leading Houston Rockets three days later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Celtics were not singing "Sweet Home Chicago" after an embarrassing blowout Monday night and a 1-2 weekend, but Celtics fans saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel. The report from the Globe's Adam Himmelsbach that Gordon Hayward has designs on a return this season provided a great amount of optimism on a generally dour week. Jon and Justin discussed how staggering the minutes of Kyrie and a recovering Hayward could provide a boost for the Celtics postseason run. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Goodbye losses, hello winning ways. The Celtics returned to the land of the successful with a trio of wins before heading into some treacherous waters in the week to come. Justin and Jon talked about the improved Celtics offense and the corresponding defensive slippage. Can the Celtics continue their success without the defense they exhibited in the season's first month? To wrap up the show, the CSL guys picked games of the week ahead and Jon jumped up on his soapbox to tear into the NBA-Nike apparel deal. It IS Christmas, after all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a taking a turkey fueled break last week, Celtics Stuff Live returned with the Celtics streaking once again and a big birthday celebration for Mike Gorman on Friday night.  Justin and Jon explained how important Gorman was in the creation of Celtics Stuff Live and then proceeded to give their grades on Gorman's Saturday evening replacement, Kyle Draper. In the second half of the show, the hosts, being Smart-inistas, discussed the idea of moving the colonel of the Combat Muscles Army to the starting lineup permanently.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How does 12 wins in a row sound? It sounds real good to Jon and Justin as they looked carefully at a defense which is fueling this unbelievable run and contributions from players beyond anyone's reasonable expectations. Perhaps most of all, Jayson Tatum's performance has been phenomenal and causes Jon and Justin to revisit the Pierce comparisons to another Celtic great. The offensive burst from Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart in the second unit received a fair amount of discussion prior to a close up look at the match of the best teams in the NBA on Thursday... the Golden State Warriors and your Boston Celtics. To wrap... Justin eviscerates League Pass and it is glorious. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon and Justin are simply amazed at the Celtics performance as of late, and the fact that they possess the best record in all of the NBA despite the injury bug hitting hard at the outset of the season.  The discussion surrounds praise for Kyrie being unselfish and buying into the system, credit due Brad Stevens for being such a masterful creator of culture, the play of the bench unit and the Lakers Pick/Jahlil Okafor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you thought the Celtics would be in first place just under two weeks after Gordon Hayward's injury, then you better head to Vegas. Jon and Justin figure out how the Celtics were able to make this leap, largely thanks to long and stretchy defense, Jayson Tatum man-child-ing, and Kyrie and Horford getting themselves some mojo. The nonsense going on in Philly with Markelle Fultz got the CSL Boys Hanes in a bunch and they look ahead to a very interesting week ahead with games against the Spurs, Thunder, Kangz, and fellow first place Magic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon and Justin make their first comments since the Hayward Injury discussing the waterfall effect it has had on the second unit rotations which was a point of contentious debate between the hosts in the preseason.  This leads to emphasis on the need for the extra practice time that all teams are benefiting from this season.  From there, discussions who will provide offense punch on the second unit (Rozier/Tatum) and the gaps they fill from last year's team in terms of rebounding and shot blocking respectively.  To close out the show, Jon wants to know when Kyrie (and his teammates) are going to pull it all together, meanwhile hoping that Irving goes supernova to win one of the upcoming games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon and Justin preview the season, make their predictions for the number of wins and compare the construct of this team versus last year, specifically in regards to the bench depth.  Neither is certain that this team will be any worse defensively, especially with the flexibility so many players have to switch.  However, the real debate comes when discussing whether Brown/Tatum can or should be expected to stay in the starting line-up and whether the second unit needs some veteran players to stabilize the defense and still generate offense in the early to mid second quarter.  That period of time in the game was particularly troublesome for last season's version of the Celtics who struggled to generate offense with IT4 on the bench and frequently let large leads slip away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Celtics Stuff Live gives Marcus Smart a new nickname, scratches their heads at the Embiid contract extension, and hypothesizes why the Celtics Org hasn't at least opened a dialogue with Marcus Smart with only a week left to extend his deal when you have to assume a larger contract would be key in future trades at the very least if they did not want to keep him around after this season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon and Justin give their assessment of the overall performance of the roster in the first preseason game of action for a lot of new Celtics players.  The guys have praise for Aaron Baynes, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Daniel Theiss.  More focus on the end of the bench as Kyrie Irving's confidence, ability, and emerging leadership efforts are notable.  Jason Tatum also rebounds in the 4th quarter against the Hornets' bench after struggling through 3 quarters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon and Justin go back to the well on Marcus Smart now that the pictures are out and this is no BS weight loss, the beast is noticeably lighter.  While the early reports say that the weight loss = quickness Justin is more interested in seeing the impact on his leaping ability when the Celtics finally play a game this Monday evening.  From there they catch up on late late late offseason action with the Carmelo trade to OKC and breakdown that gamble by Sam Presti with a number of expiring contracts on the roster.  Finally, we skipped the opportunity on the last show to let Jon let his freak flag fly on Yabusele.  Not this time, the wait is over not only for Jon but Yabu too! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon and Justin can't wait another day for training camp.  With Media Day just a week away the show is immediately derailed with Duck Boat Hot Takes and a really bad Christmas week analogy.  Eventually, the show gets back on track in discussing Kyrie Irving's appearance on ESPN's First Take.  In the second half of the show, a quick rundown of the roster gets the crew close enough to training camp that they can taste it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon and Justin, like Ray Allen, can't help themselves and let that conversation die.  Mostly cuz, that's the way Ray wants it.  Isaiah Thomas excellent work in The Players Tribune and the awkward press conference also make their way into the opening segment of the show.  But in the second half, the guys side step Marcus Smart (20 lbs lighter) and a rap writing Jaylen Brown in possible favor of Terry Rozier in the starting line-up because #3 is always the breakout year on Celtics Stuff Live.  Guest appearance from Downtown Julie Brown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices