Picks 'n Pops: Attitudes, reading the room, and officiating

CLEVELAND — Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because my slot at the Tom Brady roast was cut because I was making nothing but massage jokes.

- The thing the Celtics are missing is an “F-you” attitude. They have all the talent they need, they have good schemes, and they generally have good execution. They do have heart and desire to win. They work hard, they want to get better, and they play unselfish, team basketball. I think they are well-coached, well-prepared, and well-equipped to handle adversity in the moment. 

They have everything they need to win a championship. Despite their allergy to Games 2, they are probably going to win a championship this season. I don’t think this costs them a title.

But they don’t have that attitude. They are not a ruthless team. They are not soul-snatchers. They are more tai chi than MMA. If they were to get into a cage, they’d step back and let the ref check on an opponent they’ve knocked down instead of jumping into a ground-and-pound until they're pulled off by the ref. 

If they had that attitude, they’d be the most feared team in the league. For the first time this season, I kinda wish Marcus Smart was here to rip into these guys just to maybe get a little bit of this in them. 

- It would be nice to get some more scoring out of Jrue Holiday. 

- Kristaps Porzingis will be back. I’m sure of that. And I don’t think they’ll have to wait until the Finals for it to happen. 

- I’ve been in Cleveland for an hour and I can’t for the life of me believe that a kid who grew up an hour outside of Manhattan wouldn’t just LOVE this place. 

- The first restaurant I saw in the airport was called “The Lube,” so I honestly don’t even know what I’m walking into here. 

- Brad Stevens, on NBC Sports Boston, said “If we could keep Derrick White around here, that’s probably a good idea.” The man is not Executive of the Year for nothin’, folks. 

- Charles Lee is hiring Lamar Skeeter to be his top assistant. Skeeter and Lee sound like a comedy duo touring with Larry the Cable Guy. 

- Here is a bunch of bad defense the Celtics played just on Evan Mobley in Game 2.

Jayson Tatum hopping over with his hands down and allowing an easy pass, the Celtics doubling ball-handlers on a pick-and-roll and just leaving Mobley alone, and Jrue Holiday just letting Mobley run to rim so he can stand in the middle of nowhere. 

These are just egregious errors. Luckily, I was able to sneak into the Celtics film room and get exclusive footage of Joe Mazzulla addressing these mistakes. 

- Tatum after the loss: “You never wanna lose, especially in the playoffs. There's a lot of things we can learn from, and we get it, right? The world thinks we're never supposed to lose. We're supposed to win every game by 25. And it's just not gonna be like that all the time.”4

No, Jayson, we don’t expect the Celtics to win by 25 every game. We expect the Celtics to try to win every game by 25 and then whatever happens, happens. 

Listen, I don’t disagree with what Tatum said in the grand scheme of things. But saying it after that game, after that defensive effort, was not the time to express that sentiment. If the Celtics came out, played hard, executed well, and Mobley just found a gear to dominate the game, then that's when you say that. If the Celtics played fast, made the right rim reads, and simply missed shots, then THAT'S when you say “eh, can’t win ‘em all.” 

Last night was a night to admit you didn’t have it, you made too many mistakes, and say “we’ll be better.” Don’t put the reaction to THAT game on fans. 

- One more from Tatum, continuing the theme of people being spoiled by Boston’s success. “I mean, that's the narrative you might see on TV; the idea that we have a super team. It's twofold, right? We didn't have Coach of the Year, didn't have the MVP. We only had two All-Stars, so you say we're a super team but we didn't get rewarded like we are. But we know we've got a good team. We're not perfect, we play the right way more often than not, and we know we've gotta be better. 

"But you know, for, I guess, the same people that are spoiled from our success, we don't pay attention to those things. We just go out there and control what we can control."

I love when players say they don’t pay attention to things after giving a long answer with specific arguments that show they do, in fact, pay attention to those things. 

- Patrick Beverley only getting four games for throwing the ball into the stands twice, once hitting an innocent bystander, is absolutely outrageous. Adam Silver’s NBA has a lot of positive to it, but the leniency on punishments like this is the one thing he can be rightfully blasted on. 

Throwing the ball into the stands and hitting a fan in the face should be 10 games on its own. He did it twice. And then was a jerk about it in the locker room. 

- No team has benefited more from the wild swing in how the game is officiated than the Minnesota Timberwolves. 

- We aren’t talking enough about the NBA’s decision to fundamentally change the sport in the middle of the season. They completely changed what was and wasn’t a foul. They pivoted from free-flowing, non-contact basketball to beat ‘em up, 90’s physicality. And I’m not saying they shouldn’t have adjusted, but this was basically a 180 in how the game was called. That has a big impact on the game. 

- Pat Riley lighting up Jimmy Butler in his postseason press conference actually makes me almost sort of but not really kinda like him ol’ Riles. He was right on all counts, too. Most notably, if you’re not playing against a team, you’ve lost the right to talk trash. 

- Glen Davis was sentenced to 40 months for defrauding the NBA health care benefits plan. Here’s his reaction: 

I hope they have a therapist in prison. 

- When did people listening to music on speaker in public become okay? Are we really going to throw away decades of headphone technology just like that?

- I think someone REALLY liked Luka Doncic’s performance in OKC last night

- It’s being reported that Rick Carlisle was fined $35,000 for blasting referees. But what really happened is that he was charged $448.72 for each officiating complaint he filed with the league. 

- How the hell did TJ Ford find his way into the "Boxy Boys" commercial?

- Here’s today’s Bing AI-generated image: 

It was supposed to be a Celtics player stumbling over an obstacle labeled Game 2. I didn't know the obstacle was going to start actually consuming him in a Little Shop of Horrors-style attack. It's a real shame for unidentified player number 2. But, if we're being fair, he did steal Red Auerbach's retired number, and that's not cool.

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