Picks 'n Pops: A genius play, Tatum's Pau Gasol, and wardrobe malfunctions

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I have to earn some cash after buying all that Detroit Lions stock.

- It’s good to see Joe Mazzulla be willing to bench key players when it’s obvious they don’t have it. Between the early third quarter of last night’s game and the second half of the Milwaukee game, Mazzulla is clearly displaying the confidence necessary to deal with NBA egos. 

- Considering Charles Barkley’s track record with predictions, getting him off the Celtics bandwagon is encouraging news. 

- My toughest job is trying to get people to understand the human being behind the athlete. So many people see super-humans who make obscene amounts of money and dismiss things like fatigue or frustration. 

If I asked a person to get on a treadmill and run until exhaustion, there's no amount of money I could give that person that could get them to run another mile. 

- The Celtics finished January 11-5 with the fourth-best net rating in the league. For all the negative talk after some games, things still ended up going pretty damn well for them during a tough schedule. 

- RIP Carl Weathers. This one hurts. I loved him as Apollo Creed, but I think his role as a parody of himself in Arrested Development was brilliant comedy. 

- Playing one game in five days must feel like a vacation to these guys

- I feel like I’m very alone on this play, but I still think Derrick White knowing to take the foul to give in order to set a scrambling defense during a key late possession against Indiana is brilliant. I think it’s because it takes so many calculations and such situational awareness. Part of me feels silly for gushing so much about a guy taking a foul, but I think Mazzulla was right to call it a “genius play.” 

Plays like that make me trust White implicitly in clutch situations. He should have the ball in his hands down the stretch much more often just because of the decisions he’s capable of making.

- Congratulations Marc Gasol on your retirement from basketball. Also, congratulations to any of you who knew he wasn’t already retired from basketball. 

- Who was the first person to talk to a groundhog about the weather, and why did we believe that person when he said the groundhog could predict it? 

- Mazzulla’s cryptic digs continue. This time, instead of movie scenes, he referred to himself as a “bird brain” in a self-deprecating response to a reporter's question. This was clearly a reference to Kendrick Perkins saying if Mazzulla’s brain was put into a bird, it would fly backward. 

- Jayson Tatum, to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, on Kristaps Porzingis: "Kobe really needed Pau for those last two championships that they won together, …  Whatever path that I'm on and we're on, KP really feels like the missing piece."

I can’t argue with that. 

- Damian Lillard says he can see his career finishing in Portland. Must be great to hear for Bucks fans. Lillard has three more seasons on his contract. I don’t think they are all played in Milwaukee. 

- The Jaylen Brown “lookalike” looks more like Al Jefferson. 

- Personally, I’m glad they found lead inside Stanley cups. At least now there's an explanation to the lunacy gripping people obsessed with Stanley cups.

- Injuries to Julius Randle and Joel Embiid mean there's a chance Porzingis or White could still make the All-Star game. 

- Jayson Tatum has the second-best-selling jersey in the league behind Steph Curry. There's a lot of talk about faces of the league. There's no doubt Jayson Tatum is right there with everyone else in the discussion.

- Trivia question: What was the Boston Celtics record against the five worst teams in the league in 1986?

Answer: 21-5. They lost five games against the five worst teams in the league during the greatest season in team history. 

- All this scoring around the league just makes me dig in on my take that the corner 3-pointer should be eliminated. 

- Celtics Director of Community Engagement Kash Cannon was recently named one of Project 351’s 2024 Service Heroes. She is a star in the organization and is out in the community on a regular basis, hosing clinics and other events with players. She played college ball at Northeastern University and she’s using basketball to connect with kids in underprivileged communities. 

More people need to know Kash Cannon. She’s doing very important work. 

- Sad to see Natisha Hideman traded to Minnesota by the Connecticut Sun. I know she was never the best player on the team, but she’s a scrappy, hard worker who plays with no fear. I enjoyed watching her play. 

- I’m no Swiftie, but all Taylor Swift has done is go to football games to support her boyfriend. Why is that driving so many people crazy? Are they all drinking from Stanley cups?

- Malcolm Brogdon can feel like he wasn’t valued all he wants. This is how players will react to trades like that. I don’t think I’d feel any differently if it was me. 

That said, he knows better than anybody that business is business and being traded doesn’t mean not being valued. It mostly means he made the right amount of money to be moved for a player who fits better. 

- Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction was TWENTY years ago? 

- Speaking of wardrobe malfunctions: 

- Deuce Tatum is going to be posting up Payton Pritchard in about four months:

- The most embarrassing performance at the Garden wasn’t the game against the Lakers, it was Pritchard trying to name famous animals. 

We shouldn’t be surprised. Who has time to name animals when all you do is dribble a basketball for seven hours a day?

- This week’s AI image: The lucky groundhog predicting four more months of basketball for the Celtics

- Your current NBA Belt champion … ugh … the Lakers: 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN... YOUR WINNERS AND NEWWWWW NBA BELT CHAMPIONS.... THE LOS ANGELES LAAAAAKERRRSSS

Celtics were unable to defend it last night. The New York Knicks get a title shot tomorrow. Last time the Lakers won the belt, they lost 12 of their next 17 games pic.twitter.com/ZlweptNURz

— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) February 2, 2024

- Here’s my latest podcast, if you’re bored: