Welcome to another episode of in the zone. I of course am your host Chris Broussard We've got another dynamic show for you Our interview is with longtime Celtics play-by-play man Mike Gormy's been 37 years with the team He's got some fantastic stories for you about Larry Bird Paul Pierce all the way up to Kyrie Irving so a great listen. You definitely want to check it out We got my man Jason McIntyre here for another exciting fun even Comical episode of not down Jay, but of course we start things off as always with the top five Now talking to Mike Gorman made me think about hmm Who are the best Celtics the best five Celtics of all time and man like the Lakers?  I mean come on. It's the Celtics.  Mikhail one of the greatest power forwards of all time. He also did not make the list It was tough, but I had to go with that number five Dave Cowins people forget about Dave Cowins Dave Cowins was nice. He was an undersized center just six foot nine in a league of giants in the 70s But he was fantastic. This guy was rookie of the year. He was MVP one season He was all-star game MVP He led the Celtics along with John Havlicek to two titles in 1974 and 1976 and in 1974 he averaged 23 points and 10 rebounds Against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the Celtics beat the Bucks who also had Oscar Robertson though He was older in the finals they beat him in seven with Cowins leading the way 23 and 10 against Kareem Gotta give him number five just crazy Accomplishments at number four John Havlicek the Celtics all-time leading scored with more than 26,000 points, but he was more than a scorer. He also got it done on the defensive end He had endless amounts of energy played with incredible hustle and made eight Count them eight all defensive teams. There's something else about eight. He won eight Championships seems crazy today, but he was always holding up the championship trophy He averaged 20 points six rebounds five assists across his 16-year career a top 50 player of all-time Like everybody on this list John Havlicek number four at number three, you know the legend Bob Coosie Coosie was the league's first great point guard and Shobin that position has had tons of flashy players But Coosie was the first he was the first with the behind the back dribble the spin dribble the behind the Backpass the no-look pass Coosie was Dynamic as a player he averaged 18 points eight assists across his career led the NBA and assists eight straight season and won six Championships six that equals Michael Jordan at number two Larry Bird, of course in the 1980s He resurrected the NBA along with Magic Johnson he is one of the greatest shooters and Passers of all time. Here's how good bird was the year before he got there the Celtics won 29 games His rookie year they won 61 bird was absolutely phenomenal He's one of three players along with Wilts Chamberlain and Bill Russell to win three straight MVP awards he won three Championships and here's some players on the list of guys he beat in the NBA finals Magic Johnson Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Moses Malone Hakeem Elijah one Ralph Samson bird number two and at number one Bill Russell look this guy played 13 years in the NBA and won 11 Championships, I mean we can't even imagine Anybody doing that nowadays and for three years. He was the Celtics player coach and won two Championships in those years, and it's not like he wasn't playing against anybody Wilts Chamberlain Oscar Roberts and you asked some great players in that era, but Russell Dominated he only averaged 15 points a game So you don't hear a lot about him as being the greatest player of all time But when it came to Championships, he is the hands-down winner not only in basketball, but in all American sports Here's how respected Bill Russell was in 1961 62 that season Wilts Chamberlain averaged 50 points a game 26 almost 26 rebounds a game Oscar Roberts and average a triple double and Bill Russell was the MVP. That's crazy. That was one of five MVP awards He won same as Michael Jordan and one fewer than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Bill Russell hands down the greatest Celtic of all time now. I got to say this I know you're gonna shoot at me for leaving off Paul Pierce. Maybe Kevin McHale.  It's a great franchise All right, we're back with another segment of knockdown Jay feeling all right man After last week's beating I know I mess with you a lot, you know, I knock down Jay I tease you all that stuff, but I respect your perseverance your determination Okay, you're stick to it if miss the fact that you're like the Wayne Wade in the old commercials You keep getting knocked down and you keep getting up. Hey, by the way, you know who else likes it the YouTube commenters out there I was telling the producer I read the comments. Yes, they're starting to swing to my side Chris Today, I wouldn't go right. Okay. They're starting not to dislike you as much as they used to Let's get started with this one Chris the all NBA teams were near in the end of the season and the center position looks locked Right Joelle and bead the power forward Anthony Davis the other forward LeBron the guard of injuries Yeah, the guard situation is up in the air. We know James Harden's got one guard position Which leaves I believe two people well Steph is Injuries, but I believe it's between Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook I mean Damian Lillard's been off the hook. That's my pick for first team all NBA. I go Lillard over Westbrook I mean you got to start with third in the West. Okay 13 game winning streak now I believe they have the Rockets up next Lillard is a legitimate MVP candidate one of the most clutch players in the league I know his numbers aren't up significantly from last year, but in a loaded West Absolutely loaded. He has outperformed the Thunder significantly. Nobody had Portland ahead of okc at this stage in the game But in the preseason I go Damian Lillard over Russell Westbrook for the guard position all in the end Look Lillard has been phenomenal. I think I'm glad he's starting to get the love He deserves there a few years last few years. He didn't even make the all-star team Well, the West is so deep, but you know, he's having a phenomenal season and if He ends up being first team all NBA I'm not gonna be upset. I mean he's certainly deserving and playing You almost sound like you're gonna lean Westbrook, but well, I'm going Westbrook I mean what people don't understand is Westbrook is Essentially averaging another triple double. Okay, 25 points a game. That's one fewer than Lillard Ten assist a game. That's the best in the league. Pick all your past first point guards Pick all your great passing point guards James Harden LeBron's a wonderful passer Chris Paul, you know John Wall whoever you want to name Russell Westbrook is ahead of all of them in assist and he's four ahead of Lillard Lillard six and a half assist a game not that great. All right for a point guard Then Russ has given me 9.7 rebounds a game So if we could round up this dude is averaging another Triple double. We've got it's kind of like LeBron. We've gotten so used to LeBron's greatness that we just He had 37 and 7 again. Well, they take it Because at the end of the day they will both be in the same hall of fame and We'll see Russell Westbrook Russell Westbrook is averaging a triple double Essentially for the second straight year something we never thought we'd see anyone else do and Since you think Westbrook is nothing but a gunner a volume shooter. Guess what? He's shooting a higher percentage than Damien Lillard. Lillard is 44% from the floor Damien or Russell Westbrook is 45 What about from 3.5%? 3.5% is Chris. That's not the only shot. That doesn't matter. Okay. No, it matters But it's not the only shot. But just tell everybody what he is from deep. 28 percent. He's not a 3.5% Damien Lillard is 37. He's not a 3.5% You don't like him? The bet Simmons hasn't made a 3.  I'm not just about the 3 because there's other parts of your game. But you're about the rebounds for Russell Westbrook. Yeah, of course. I don't want to interrupt you. It's a triple double. Beyond that Russell Westbrook since December. We know in the first month and a half of the season he was deferring to his new players Paul George Mellow he was giving them involved getting the ball in December. Everybody in OKC said Russ be Russ He started being Russ started averaging about a triple double and they have gone 35 and 17 That's a 55 win pace since then and there only a game and a half behind Portland There is time for them to catch the warrior or the Blazers and finish third in the West. Look, I love Lillard but without question Russell Westbrook is First team all NBA. It's not look Lillard. He's doing great in March, right 29 points Everybody's raving about what he's doing in in you right February was February 1st Anthony Davis is first in the league in scoring Damien Lillard is second Guess what Damien Lillard is shooting from the floor in March? Go ahead and tell me 40% Okay, Russell Westbrook is shooting over 50% that's great in March. So come on man. I slaughtered you I got the stats for you on clutch time, which is where Damien Lillard shows up. He's the most I would say Damien Lillard's the most clutch player in the league Okay, why would you say that rookie year final minute to tie or go ahead? Lillard has the most baskets in clutch time number one over LeBron over Russell Westbrook number one first of all That has had this year. This year. This is all NBA 2017-18. Okay. I don't want to hear about Five years Like that matter no, I was talking about this year when was the last time Russell Westbrook took a team In the playoffs and won by himself without any help. Well, he's only had one year Yeah, and what happened and bouncing the first round. What did Damien Lillard do? Oh, so CJ McCollum is He's a good player Stop that's disrespectful Okay I know that's what I'm saying Damien's doing it by himself when when he's got CJ McCollum there. So now we're disco. So Paul George is chopliver No, but you ask me you love to say as a hall of favor the thunder of a better roster No doubt your arguments are all over because I'm responding to your nonsense You asked me you asked me When was the last time Russell Westbrook went to the playoffs by himself and won a round He's only had one chance. Yes last year. So Paul George was not there last year. So now all of a sudden you threw George in it I'm not talking about what he had. He did not have the equivalent of a cj. McCollum last year fair enough That's totally fair. Who has a better roster this year. Okay, so you're portland Don't even say okay. See without question Stephen Adams is one of the best post players in the league Paul George Paul George is a superstar star Carmelo anthins the hall of famer Yes, but a old hall of fame portland does not have anything close to that portlands ahead in the standings because of damien lillard game set match Let's toss the game and a half. You want to you want to say anything else? No, I'm just saying as your game and a half the race is close Yeah, okay. Yeah, he doesn't have to say anything else because I got to go with bruce. I'm sorry numbers don't lie Look, no disrespect to video game day. He's phenomenal, but russ come on He just ended what he had his fifth consecutive triple double third such streak I mean, he's just going off and he uh ended the raptors 11 game win streak with absurd numbers and 68.2 percent shooting I believe it was my game So I rest my case Humble you all right All over fs1 it's you it's nick right tour everybody loves russo west He is we never did you ever think you would see a player average a triple double? I never thought of that I it doesn't oh you never thought of that. Do you watch basketball? I don't look at stat patterns like russo westbrook. I'm not uh, oh, we got a triple double. He's a stat pattern The proof is in the pudding last year. We saw it. We saw the videos Letting him get rebounds at foul shots Come on. We ran that video average a triple double and he's bounced in the first round He's basically doing it again. Lonzo ball shooting better than from deep Okay, then russo westbrook. That's all I gotta say. You got mad at me for putting westbrook in the same sense with Lebron and now you're putting Lonzo in the same sense with westbrook. I'm just saying three point shooting Are you saying Lonzo's better than westbrook? Yeah, that's what I know man. Come on move on. All right, let's get off a topic that you're not strong on Let's go to another one in the west chris. Okay. We got two teams suffering injuries Minnesota timber wolves lost jimmy butler. They were third in the west. They've fallen to eighth St. Antonio spurs have had kawai for nine games. They've fallen to I believe seventh in the west right now Six or seven felt like it. Well, we're at fifth, but it's by like half a game It's all so close, but they're fifth Okay, they are supposed to come back for the playoffs. Both of them jimmy butler wore his jersey this week on the bench under his Sport jacket. Why we know is kawai. I mean one network reported. He was going to be back last I mean, we still haven't even exactly Both players are supposed to come back for the playoffs. Who's more dangerous in the post season timber wolves with butler Spurs with kawai and i'm going to go with the timber wolves with jimmy butler Because when he was on the court, he was their clutch player. He was their best defender I know jeff teague missed a lot of time. But that team with wiggins towns butler teague jamal crawford off the bench They were gelling. They were third in the west The spurs. This is an old team From manu at 40 lamarcus is 32 playing out of his mind. He's he's 32 palga soul 37 Tony parker 35. This is an old roster. I don't see it with the spurs this year I think the wolves are more dangerous. They've been an old roster They were old when they ran circles around the miami heat in 2014 tim duncan was a shell of himself Manu was old then. Tony parker was old then. He was like 31. Yeah, but he had been in the leagues since he was 19 I mean 35 is different. There is look i minnesota jimmy butler has been great this year phenomenal Yeah, he's all nba level. We'll see. I mean it's tough. It's 15 players, but he's certainly been at that level no question But If you're asking me in the playoff Yes Who i'm going to take between a san antonio spurs team coach by gregg popovich and a young minnesota team I have to go with pop and the spurs five championships for pop. I love tibs. He's a great coach, but none for tibs um then They have virtually no Among their best players butler's got some playoff experience But not that deep playoff experience, correct Where then carl anthony towns and andrew wiggins. This will be their first trip to the playoffs I mean, do I have to even go through the do I have to even go through the list of champions on the spurs? I don't think so my point is they're two second their second third best players Have never even been in a playoffs. This will be their first trip to the playoffs The spurs. We know have a ton of experience They popovich had them They were the ones that were third in the west for most of the season Without kawaii Leonard with a roster full of People most people couldn't even name They were ahead of the timber wolves when butler was playing for them. Remember the spurs have been with they have a better record than minnesota They've been without kawaii for all but nine games. Yes the timber wolves have only been without butler for like A half But that's my my point is there's not going to be this whole new incorporation of butler because they played with him for 50 games kawaii Okay, you think it's going to be hard for them to work kawaii Marcus Aldridge is the number one option on that team this year when kawaii comes back. Who's the number one option? kawaii Leonard Exactly now he has he's gone the entire season not playing He's got a mess with the new point guard murray who hasn't he hasn't played a lot with this year nine games I just think it's going to be tough to jam it all together here's the playoffs when kawaii hasn't been there all year and hold on The cloud hovering over kawaii. Is he going to get the super max offer? Does he want to stay in san antonio beef with the organization? They're just about andrew wiggins andrew wiggins didn't raise a beat. He's not happy being the third option That that's a considerable hover that's gonna. But he can't do anything. He just got a huge contract He's got a huge contract. It does not hover You know what will hover even more the fact that minnesota Unbelievably, I never thought I'd say this about a time tibetho team doesn't play That that sickens me. They're 26th in the league in defense. Guess where the spurs are top 10 Top two. Yes. All right. What matters in the playoffs Defense. Yeah, the rockets found out last year the spurs will have the best player kawaii is better than butler The spurs. Oh, hold on. The spurs are the best player. They will have the best coach. They will have the best defense case Close. They will have the experience. That's a fair argument. I Disagree completely torii. Look I don't want you to take this personal, but the spurs are always old. They're always boring and they're always a problem Oh Do not disrespect torii born I only played 210 minutes this season. I get it, but he's that guy you put him back in pop in the post season I'm sorry. I got to go bruce hardigan. I actually think torii should be arguing these things. She'd give me better arguments than me There's no arguments. He's on your side. All right. Let's move on to another topic. I can win another topic I can win. Are you sure? This one's silly. Okay. We came up with this last minute. Perseverance determination We're getting more sick. We're just sitting here rapping and all of a sudden boussard says What's rather would what's roster would you rather have? 76ers or lakers and it took me what half a second lakers. I mean no doubt about it I mean, where do you want to start? They they've got Lonzo ball the point card of the future on the in the organization They got Brandon Ingram. I've got Ben Simmons. Yeah, but you you'll have your time patience. Okay.  Lonzo ball.  They don't have to stick around lakers have flexibility The question was roster right now That's what I didn't say with them right now, but that's what I love about flexibility Well, that's what you wanted to roster flexibility. You don't be hamstrung with bad They will but I've got Lonzo Ingram and kuzma. You've only got mbid and uh sarich and Simmons I love this lakers Look, I mean unless you're gonna talk about marquel folds. I can't wait for you to bring that guy. I am ready to say with absolute certainty, okay Let's hear it that if philadelphia's players and it goes the same thing for the lakers Let's say all these players philly and lakers stay healthy Ben Simmons love him and joel mb Will be all-time great. I don't doubt that that's not a there is not Now you got some you got some players on the lakers that are going to be good Lakers have 31 wins in the much better west. Let me finish versus 39 for philly Let's not act like the 76ers are world beaters here, okay? I like Simmons and mb. Well when mb 39 wins in the east mb missed 11 games They were three and how many games london missed how many games ingram missed like we can play When I'm saying when Ingram when when mb's healthy there on a 50 win page certainly, okay? Here's the thing Lonzo will he be an all-star? Maybe I mean, remember he's in the west I mean russia westbrook still relatively young damien lilor cj mccollom Stephon clay I mean, i'm just saying it's tough in the west. Lonzo's not playing well. He is shooting better I'm saying is he's not a guaranteed all-star let alone nobody's guaranteed all-time greatest Simmons and mb are going to be all-time greatest. Assuming health. Lonzo I don't I'm not willing to say he's definitely going to be an all-time great. No brandon ingram Definitely going to be an all-time great. No. No. Calcuzma. No, julius randall. No, there's not one player on that roster There's not one player on the lakers roster that you know is going to be an all-time great goes to your question The roster I look at it. That's what i'm saying. That guy ain't gonna be here next year That guy's not going to be here next year Flexibility Look, so, you know, no, no, you can't talk about the players you have right now. You guys just signed robert covington do a long Yeah, I love covington with these two. What number is he on the 6th roster? He's a 3 and d player Go down the 6th roster. Where is he? Tell me on the roster. What do you mean? And beat is 1 Simmons is 2 Who's 3? Is covington your third best player? Right now he has been He's better. I take you over there. Is he better than foals? What foals we haven't seen I would take cow kuzma over robert covington I would take Simmons and mb over london and big three. No big three. You got two to two You said roster You don't do a roster by That way who's a better team who fits better together? I like I like flexibility and youth. I didn't give joe I don't have flexibility. How much money how much money they gotta be money to offer lebron They got yeah one on one max. They only need one because i got two all-time greats in the future I don't need two max players potential all-time greats. You're talking about right now roster about potential now Yeah potential for the roster. They have flexibility. Look, I have got. What do you want? I have got I have got Uh the um the closest thing we've ever seen to magic johnson I would I would argue and then I've got the closest thing in the league right now To a kareem abdu jabar type dominant center There's no other I love. I'm not saying he's kareem. I'm just saying there is no other Dominant back to the basket center who can score on you put 40 on you if he wants to has that dog nasty mentality There's no other center like that in the mba Maybe carl anthony towns, but he's not as strong and big as mb this So now i've got the building box a great point guard and a great center Those are typically the building box. That was shack and kobe guard center That was the way in wait and shack guard center when you that was magic and kareem guard center You're talking about a bunch of guys who might make some all-star teams I'm talking about two dudes that could end up in the hall of fame fundamental difference when you when the question is Which roster would you rather have to me that question is you can be the gm Of one of these two teams you can take the roster that you want sixers or lakers I take lakers three really good young players josh hard on the side really nice randall's really nice And guess what I've got flexibility in the off season. You're talking roster to build out my roster No, you can't add two max guys. I don't need to I got joel mb. I got ben sims. I knew it Now don't forget need I don't want to I'm serious. I don't want two stars. You can't have but so many stars Yours needs to be a pecking order. I need one more player and he don't even have to be a star So he can be a great shoot. He can be a three and d guy So based on that you think joel and bead can lead the sixers as a best player to a title. Yes Okay, interesting. And who on the lakers roster can do it. Well, that's where the lakers rosters That's the beauty of it They have the room to bring in that guy see and I know you don't like that.  They've got because there's nobody on that team that can lead you to a champion How about phoenix nobody on that team that's leading now you just don't do respect to my man Check that bottle for uh, is that is that I mean, what do you you just said? That's the beauty of the roster You what if you don't get lebron and george didn't what you've got the cap room to chase someone else And you've got the three youthful building blocks three awesome players under 22 Tory, this is a no-brainer Maybe until you said that Tory tell me your kid. I just I hear the thing the lakers are banking on lebron They need And indeed they're having fun They're jiving their trust in the process the most impressive thing to me about the lakers roster roster as it stands right now Is julius randall out there looking like zebo? I don't think there's anything to get You gotta reassess on that so if you could be the gm today of the six But I thought we're talking about the roster as it is now that's not about what happens job is to shape the roster I just I think they have a brighter future. I think with the pieces you've gotten Yeah Again, let me go back to this 39 wins in the east and you've already got your two best players Simmons and imb 31 in the west and you don't have anything you just undressed the lakers roster said all that We don't know if they're all stars and they got 31 wins that roster to me with the cap flexibility is a no-brainer How are you not seeing this?  I can't believe you guys see this We're gonna have to take this we're gonna do this again because this i'm gonna have to teach you This is a no-brainer to me Dallas mavericks young man stop talking stop talking That was it for knock down jay and we and in the zone in general, we hope you enjoyed it. I know you enjoyed that Great comic relief. We're like You know, but but look go to itunes apple podcast soundcloud Then go to the lakers roster and look at it and be like mac and tires. So right give us five stars Leave us a comment and we will see you next week. I can't believe I'm shocked All right, we're excited to have mic gorman joining us in the zone He is the play by play man for the Celtics and has been since 1981 that's 37 years for those who don't know the math We're very honored to have him. You can check him out on twitter at Celtics voice On twitter at Celtics voice, but mic, how you doing? Good Chris. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. No, no, we're we're glad to have you. Um, I just Got done rating my top five Celtics of all time. I'm gonna run the list by you and get your thoughts At number five.  Yeah, talk to me why you would You know, uh, put pierce ahead of him or just pierce in that top five and even like, you know It was robert perish who I think most of people believe was an overstatement saying that uh Pierce was the best offensive player the Celtics have ever had, but I think someone else said Uh, who was it a Celtics legend a few years ago said pierce is the best score Or in selts, Tommy high, Tommy That's what I thought he had said Yeah, Tommy said on numerous occasions that if he had the ball with Five seconds left in the game and could have it in the hands of one guy whoever was in Celtic He'd put it in paul pierce's hands. So are we underestimating pierce? I mean those of us who don't see him every night or talk to talk to me about that Yeah, I think I think people do underestimate paul paul is I had the pleasure of uh, he's my favorite Celtic of all time Because I got a chance to really do his whole career Back in the early part first 15 years or so that I did the Celtics during the 80s I only did the home games and then we'd go do the big east When the Celtics were on the road So I didn't really get to see some of the great Performances by that Celtic team on the road in the 80s However, I got to do paul pierce's whole career and I saw some Remarkable performances by him in times when the Celtics in the 90s were not a good basketball team But paul just went out there every night and was a warrior Uh, I couldn't event he was the guy I was happy as for when they won a championship because of all he had done But uh, I just I just think paul's career in total Puts him in the top five. He was just again a much better player than people gave him credit for I know when we put the other highlight reels for the retirement of his number Some of the dunks that paul threw down over the coast of his career He was just a much more athletic player than people realize a much bigger player than people realize One of those guys who when you saw him walking across the court because he was just so proportionately Built he didn't look that big but they're closely got to you the wider those shoulders got the bigger he got um, so Yeah, again, Dave's a good friend of mine and and Dave were in the room right now to be throwing bricks at me I was uh, I would slide paul into that fifth spot and come off the bench with Dave As you said you saw paul's whole career Talk about the growth you saw in him just as a person, you know from early in his career to Now he's going to be uh, if he already isn't an ambassador of the of the league Yeah It it was really great to watch because I saw a young man a kid come into the system and and leave a man And to watch that growth to see him go through some hard times to see him have some Make some personal mistakes Which paul would be the first one to admit along the line Of course with that stabbing incident in Boston that a lot of people remember paul You know put himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and would be the first one to admit that but to I had a chance to mc both a dinner for about a hundred people the night before we retired his number and then mc the actual ceremony On the court and to see paul with his with his kids now and his wife and and he's a father and he's uh You know christie, I wouldn't have thought paul was going to be a broadcaster I just didn't think he really necessarily had that in him But uh, he's really impressed me with what he's done. He's done a terrific job On espn with some of the work that he's doing and Yeah, I think paul you're right paul's going to become a very good ambassador for this league over the next 10 years Yeah, I thought he's I think he's done a great job on tv. I told him uh I said you used to get mad at the media for saying and writing stuff And now you're a part of it doing the same thing. That's right. I don't care what the players think I'm just going to say what I want to say That's right. What was What you see is what you get with paul. That's why I always like the bottom is right up front. He didn't he didn't hide anything Again, I think people are going to luring to like him in the coming years as a Spokesperson for the nba and as a broadcaster. What was your take? There was obviously some hubbub about the syrup the retirement ceremony for his jersey And ray island not being there and all that. What's your take on that whole situation? Well, I guess we're going to find out chris when the book comes out because that's that's what everybody's talking about now Yeah, I You know, that was a very interesting team, you know, kevin garnett was the dominant personality on that team and You know kevin kind of rules the roost And it was okay with some guys It wasn't as as okay with some of the other guys and ray was one of the guys who really had his own routine That he necessarily wanted to follow so You know the the real rift seems to be between rajah londo and ray at least the rajah has become a spokesperson for the other side But john I was in New Orleans the other night And john said that he may try to call ray on the phone and see if he can work this stuff out So I'd like to see it happen because you know, we're coming up on a 10-year anniversary of that team And it would be a shame if you couldn't have all three of those guys together Oh for those guys counting rajah And any kind of you know, ceremonial thing that you would do Uh, I'd hate to see some petty stuff Mess that up because that was there that was a really fun team to do and that was uh That was the highlight of my broadcasting career was just doing that that season with those guys They were they just were so much fun to be around. So that was your favorite team So without question. Yeah, you better get big again chris because you know I might have been one of the calari bird teams if I had traveled with them. But as you know, uh, you get to know guys And you get to make friends establish relationships with guys on the road You don't necessarily do it at home when you're doing home games Everybody's coming from their home and as soon as the game's over they're kind of anxious to get back to their home Um, whereas when you're on the road You get non-bustly as you're checking in the hotels at three or four o'clock in the morning You're scraping snow off your car against the man for his pace at three a.m Um, you get to know people a lot better than so I was doing all of South Dakota games when the championship 2018 rolled around and uh You know, I like to remember dany age, you know, not that dany run things by me But I remember dany and I was somewhere and dany said mike if you had a chance to uh, get kevin garnett Would you give up about jefferson to which I said no Really? That was the last time denny consulted me That's a great story. I I I felt like that 2018 I thought that was an outstanding team. Um, I think that was I I actually feel like It's unfortunate that they didn't win more than one championship because I really think they were that good I thought they should have got at least two and it and and you know the injuries It was what injuries the garnet and then they traded perk and so Some of it was out of their hands, but what's your thought on that is on that team? How good they were I agree. I think the perk didn't get hurt. We would have won two championships. Yep And uh, the thing I loved about that team most chris was was uh Two things one you and I saw it before anybody else because When we saw them play in london in the preseason that year And and we saw what kevin garnett was going to do in terms of energizing this group I think all of us walked out of that first preseason game in london going Like yeah, I know this is the preseason, but wow these guys could be special to think play like this every night And they did and the the thing is in traveling with them is I loved about them as they They love playing on the road as much more than they love playing at home They wanted to go into your building and beat you up Um, and they they came in with that kind of attitude every night. Uh, they were a great road team Um, and they were they were just fun to be around, you know, it was uh I I felt that year like I was the kid in that movie almost famous, you know I was kind of a lot. I was along for the ride What was I'm sure you got some great garnet stories about his intensity I heard one that when he he had left boston and was playing for the nets And he was sitting out of practice Because I don't know if he was injured a little bit or they just wanted to give him a rest But he was they were scrimmaging in practice And they wouldn't let him scrimmage because they just wanted to arrest him. So he is Literally as the team scrimmaging They said he was running up and down the sidelines with the flow of the action Yelling stuff, you know encouragement what to do just basically coaching the guys and encouraging them Throughout the scrimmage and running up and down the court Did you see that type of intensity? And do you have any stories kind of that show how intense and how great of a leader garnet was? Well, he was he was a great leader. He was the best and you know, this is hard to say My guy who did most of Larry verge career, if not all Larry verge career broadcasting I think Kevin was probably the best teammate that I've ever seen A team have I mean he he just organized everything He did tend to micro manage a little bit, but that's that's kind of how he was He was probably told your way to sit in the plane what what you're supposed to do what you weren't supposed to do But again as a teammate, he was a great teammate and was on the court and When I say on the court, I'm not even talking about just simply the game I'm talking about the whole the practice the day of the game that he just As soon as he got on the plane He was he was kevin garnet and this was kevin garnets bunch And uh, you remember when he was doing the press conferences early on when he first came to boston Um, he insisted that ray and paul always be on the uh podium with him. Yep So it was always the three of them, you know, it was uh, it was like watching the godfather all over again These were the three sons that were up there and red was the godfather and uh, these were the guys who were gonna win the championships for them And they and they did and they should have not should have but they could have went to i'm convinced of perk It never got hurt. They would have won a second championship and uh, That that was again the most I won't say the most fun team I've been around because that would sound like I participated In stuff with them off the court and I really didn't do that But in terms of once you walked into the arena, uh, you know When you're the when you're the play by play guy for for an mba team you you do feel like you're part of the team Yeah, uh, and when you're going through a stress like we went through in the 90s Um, that was a tough job because you were getting your ass handed to you every night But it became a lot different when kevin showed up And we were the ones who were handed out the punishment That was a lot that after a lot of years in the 90s that was that was really a lot of a lot of fun This is a tough question. But can you compare that o8 seltsic's team to Some of those great burr mackayl parish teams? Well, you know, it's funny all the good things I just said if they played each other in the series I'd probably take the burr mackayl parish group to win the series. Uh, I think it would be stretched out But I think they would win the series. Um You know chris, you and I it was such a different game that you know the basketball has really changed a lot in the last 20 years And uh, you know, robert parish. I don't know if robert parish plays a whole lot today the way robert played Because of the way the game has changed kevin mackayl would have to become a three point shooter To to be a factor in today's game.  They can't really match Yeah, I hear, you know, especially younger guys, um You know, they'll hear about larry bird or look at some of the highlights and think oh He couldn't play he couldn't do that today because of the athleticism or whatever And I'm like first of all guys were athletic back then too And secondly, he wouldn't be able to get it done. I mean he was so great Seeing it up close Where you did you ever marvel about a guy that you know, didn't have the great speed or jumping ability But how he was just obviously just incredible and was able to Play better than these guys who might have been a lot more athletic Yeah, you know, nobody worked like he did, you know, I can remember very clearly Uh, we started the game time would be like 7 30 in boston and about 4 30 in the afternoon I'd show up at the old boston garden and they they used to you remember the old boston garden Chris because of the the circus they used to have ramps It was the stairways that you went up to get in and it was all these ramps You walked up and down so they could get the elephant sword And I can remember I'd be walking up that ramp and I hear I gave a ball hitting the court And it knew the noise would get louder and louder the closer I got to the court By the time I get in it again about 4 33 hours before the game There was larry out there with with corky who used to be his guy on the team On the training staff and he was out there shooting and he was very much like Like like kairi I watch kairi do warm-ups and kairi Does these funny little bank shots and throws up these little left-handed things when he's working out And that's the same way larry was larry worked on What I would call funny looking shots and then all of a sudden when the opportunity presented itself in the game You go, oh my god, that's the shot he was practicing three hours ago when I walked in here And but instead he's doing it in the face of somebody throwing up a left hand or high off the glass for two so Um larry larry could play at any game anywhere in any era and be If not the best One of the best players on the court one of the top two players on the court He he just had an understanding of the game that was beyond everybody else Who played it? He he didn't go he wasn't big on handshaking with other guys He wasn't big on greeting hugging guys on the opposite team He came out and he did his job and he You know, I know this sounds kind of obvious, but he as soon as he stepped across the line He was playing the game You know, I did he wasn't waiting for the whistle to be blown to play the game As soon as he stepped across the line on the court, he was playing the game And that's why he was able to do some things to guys That other people couldn't and I'll I'll always have that image in my mind of the guys on the atlantic bench tonight The larry scored 60 The guys in the atlantic bench were literally high-fiving themselves on birds baskets Because he's put he put on he put on such a show he watched the end of the game And the guys he he had a three from in front of the atlantic bench and the entire atlantic bench just collapsed He just collapsed himself down because And the great story about that was that nine days previously kevin mcale had scored 56 against Kent Benson and I think was playing for detroit at the time and that was the south x all-time record And and bird said to him after the game. He said enjoy it because I'm going to go get 60 in the next week or two here and And it got 69 days nine days later scored 60 against atlanta to break kevin's record And to this day larry would tell you he said I told kevin you should you should have gone for like 65 or so Because like as soon as you said it I was like oh, I'm not letting him have the back Let me have it had up a nine days. That was it. Wow. What what was their relationship like mcale and burr when they were playing?  It's obvious you to have a routine Again, these are the pre security days So the the guys in the media in the local city that we were going to When you walked off the plane, they were literally standing right there at the end of the uh the Passageway looking to do with you. So the topics used to sell send ml car off the plane first And and ml used to go out and greet everybody. Hey guys, how are you come on? What do you need to know and then all of a sudden like larry and kevin and chief would like slink behind them You try to get by get by the gauntlet while ml who was uh very good at that was able to track their attention But yeah, they were they were a good group gany was it was a part of that team Um, Dennis johnson god bless the soul was it was a really good Solid player for that pass the ball team. I mean that they had quality at every position and uh and had arguably along with magic or poise Uh One of the three best players in the game Uh, this was actually before michael james. So one of the two best players the game magic and larry was special They saved the mba. A lot of people think yeah What obviously it was bird's team, but what kind of leader was he? I don't I don't think he was like that much of a vocal leader. What kind of leader was he? No, he wasn't He led by example He just he led by example He set a stand in both in practice and in games and playing hard and and and playing the right way Uh, he reminds me it's interesting. They're both in the same neck of the woods Uh, you hear here brad seaman say that all the time like, you know Make the right play make the right basketball play. That's all I'm really asking you to do and uh, You watch brad and sometimes when the ball is moving around the court Two passes before the shot is actually made you'll see brad clapping his hands because because the The guys are doing it the way it should be done. That's the way larry was larry understood the game and wanted to play the way it should be done And eight just got everybody else to follow his suit Again, he was a remarkable player to watch night in night out With the things that he would do it again He you see him out there at four thirty in the afternoon and he's throwing up left-handed hooks from you know 13 14 feet to the left side of the basket you're going why you're practicing that and then All of a sudden he gets double team and he spins out of the double team late in the game And it's suddenly that left-handed hook. He's going in the basket. You're going, oh, okay 430 this afternoon 430 this afternoon when you figured out I'm going to need this shot against these guys because they do this or that He was just again I know it's a it's a cliche but most of the guys are playing checkers. He was playing chess. Yeah when he played He of course had that famous quote about jordan. I think it was after jordan scored 63 on him in the playoffs and he said It was god disguised as michael jordan What was your impression When you first saw michael jordan It was that game. Yo, you did that. Okay Yeah, what what was your impression not not just from that game, but when you first saw jordan Come into the league like was it kind of did you feel like it was something you had never seen? before Yeah, I was I was actually surprised how good he was because again, he was kind of Restrained for lack of a better way to put it in north caroline system So, I mean he was a very good player at north caroline. They'll get me wrong But I didn't think he was going to be michael jordan when he when he came into the league But uh, yeah, he he right away. You knew he was He was You said earlier and I agree with you that the the guys back in those days were athletes and they were But but michael was much more today's athlete. Yeah, uh, he was he was he was special physically the things he was able to do the You know the great players chris. I'm not telling you anything. You don't know the great players Slow the game down. They make the game play at their pace You know the game can be playing at any pace at all But then the ball hits lebron's hands the ball hits larry's hands the ball hits michael's hands And all of a sudden it's like everything comes to an instant stop and then proceeds at the pace. They wanted to go at and You know that that's the way larry was that's the kind of teammate he was that's the way he he led by example and You know, they were they were just a good bunch around kevin was the intellectual the group kevin Okay, it was a guy who read the books on the plane Um You know, that was another thing too chris. I'm getting off the subject here That was another thing that was fascinating in those days is sometimes we'd fly on planes where there were only six or eight first five seats So, um, you you haven't seen anything because you're seeing like robert carish in the middle seat and coach Now I heard that they determined it was it seniority Determined who got in the first class. It wasn't like who's the better players necessarily Uh it was kind of like larry got there and um Then everybody kind of followed you that was the way it was with kevin although we were flying in the charter in those days You know, uh, larry got to sit where larry wanted larry was always first class Yeah, larry was always yeah larry was always first class the coaches sometimes get kicked out of this class In fact, most of the time they kicked out of first class, but uh, I remember very distinctly with fly there. It was like an eighth 15 seater somewhere on going from new walkie to chicago or something like that. Uh, I'll just remember seeing robert carish sitting in the middle seat and coached It was two people who were just your ordinary businessman or whatever next to him Um, and on either side of them they just they didn't know what to think That's incredible. I mean we can't even fathom that today with these guys flying charter and you know what I mean It's um, it's a totally different life. Totally different But it it it's a totally different life But it's not a whole lot easier I mean the road is still really a grind and and it wears on people after a while And it wears on the level of play because We're going out on a road trip on thursday where we Going to portland, which is not a place you really want to be want to go right now the way they're playing And then we have then we go to sacramento and phoenix and utah three There are four games. I think in six nights and you know how utah is playing right now You know how portland's playing right now. That's going to be a difficult trip with all the injuries that the southeast have right now So yeah, the travel the travel can be a real grind, uh, even though People on the outside say, oh, you have this wonderful world at charter and stuff like that It's still no fun getting on a bus in the middle of the snowstorm in chicago at three a.m. Of the morning That's no that's not any fun at all. Yeah. Yeah um Speaking of this this current Celtics team Obviously, you know, lebron james has ruled the east for what seven straight years And a lot of people just feel like, you know, you give him the benefit of the doubt They're going to win the east I you say back in november, you know, this cast team will not Uh, even make the eastern conference finals. Obviously they've had some trade since then Where do you stand on that now? What's your kind of thoughts on the eastern conference playoffs and how they could play out? I think it's going to be a struggle for cleveland to get there. I still do Um, I wish we were healthier if we get end up getting cleveland in the second round Uh, if we get to the second round right now, we're not very healthy at all. So, um But I I still think cleveland's got their work cut out to themselves to get to the eastern conference finals I I think toronto is for real Um, I don't think this is the you know, people say, uh, toronto's done like this before and then they fade in the playoffs This is a different team Uh, it's still lauri and still derosin, but they got a lot of other people who can play Uh and play hard Casey's doing a great coaching job up there So I think toronto's going to be a very good show and it can beat houston. They can beat very good teams um I think toronto's the odds on favorite to get to the eastern conference Finals and probably to get to represent the east and uh the championship finals, but um There are some other teams that are going to be tough outs I think philadelphia is going to be a tough out come to playoffs when it can be can play every night with a day off in between Um, I think phil I think indianapolis, indiana rather is better than people think oladipo is having a great year Um, the day at nate mcvillain center a really good job for that team. I think they're going to be a tough out Um, I Milwaukee. I know it's struggling right now, but you still got Uh, the greek freak to deal with and you know, he can he can turn the game around all by himself So I just think the eastern conference playoffs are going to be much more competitive Then uh, then people think and I think cleveland. I'm not saying they won't get there I I do like the trade. They got kevin love back last night and that certainly helped um, I I still maintain the bronze the best player in the league. Um, and so He's going to be very difficult to out right now the way he's playing. He's got to put triples doubles up He's getting ready for his playoff run. He looks like he's in just great shape. He doesn't look more known at all from the season um And I think he's continues to make a statement that he's Maybe the best player of all time, which I get a lot of grief here in the city of boston But he's the best player I've ever seen. I know that Yeah, yeah, he uh, he's It's amazing his longevity too the way he's been able to To keep up the way he's playing um Do you mention the injuries with the seltsics earlier? um Do you think there's I mean, I know Danny or brad brad stevens. I think said that gordon hayward will not be back this season What's your do you think he might or you what do you think about that? Yeah, I'm not in a lot of trouble around the city of boston on that one. Um Yeah, people I think he might be back and here's why I think he might be Because he's working very very hard right now. He's working eight nine hours a day people tell me all the time He's trying to get through as as all those stages He has to go through and they're mapped out recovery process as quickly as he can if if gordon Didn't think in the back of his mind. I can still play this year If he thought his next basketball game was going to be next october um, I don't think you would see I won't say the effort because it's simple for the effort But I don't think you would see the dead degree of dedication and is working out If he didn't believe in a similar in his heart of hearts that I can come back and help this team this year. So um You know as much as brad looks at me like why you're saying stuff like that I'm just saying I I have no information here. I'm not talking to gordon on the slide I'm not getting stuff through the medical. I'm just saying I'm watching from the outside I'm seeing a guy who's just working his tail off eight to ten hours a day to get back and I think I see him walking around. He seems to be moving very well. I know he's not doing a lot of serious running and basketball stuff right now But if he walked into a room right now, you would say you wouldn't say that guy's got any issues at all so I just I think there's a chance especially if the south east can get through the first round of the playoffs Which I think it's going to be a struggle I think there's a chance we might see him. I'm not saying we're gonna see him. I think there's a chance you might say Danny would tell me I'm crazy Coach looks at me and just shakes his head But um, I just I just think there's a chance How far do you think this Celtics team can go this year? I mean with I guess with hayward without him, whatever, but you know I I think brad is going to be tested Um Severely in terms of his coaching, which I think he will respond very well because I think he's a brilliant coach I think he's the harry potter of the nba as far as coaching goes um, but marcus mark Hit the loss of marcus mark really hurts us Marcus brings a toughness and the determination to the game when he's in it It is contagious and when he's not on the court to be that leader It's extremely hard to replace him He he makes one two three plays a week that just Turn your head. They don't show up in any column in the box or if he's slipping the screen It's it's it's go it's diving for a loose ball and instead of calling time out Which is 90% of the guys in the league do when they dive for a loose ball If they get the hands on it marcus is looking to make a pass from a lying down position And it's very successful at doing it Um Again, I think he's a key part of our team that we're missing and that's going to be a real problem Come playoff time, you know, the Celtics right now You could make an argument that the go-to guy is uh, it's jason tater Uh, we just turned 20 years old and it's in his rookie season um Jaylen brown going down with the concussion. He hasn't come back from that yet And here he's doing well in the nba protocol, but that's taken him a while to get back You don't know how he's going to react to that long term um I think a lot of negative things have happened for the Celtics of late If I had talked to you a month ago, I would have told you I thought they're an eastern conference finals team And in the hunt to go with the nba files now getting through that second round is going to be very difficult this there's no hayward and there's no marcus smart and uh Jaylen brown's not playing up to 100% And you know the people would have thought you really were on drugs I told you that if daniel tice not being in the lineup, it's going to be a blow for the Celtics But uh, daniel daniel tice turned out to be a very good player for our southeast bench Uh, and gave a size gave us some of that toughness. I was talking about that marcus springs Uh, and we miss him. We miss him a lot. Uh, so I think we're on demand going into the playoffs You know the we can't complain about that because when you look around the league so many big-time players right now Is who and I speak are injured And it could really affect the uh, both the western conference and the eastern conference, but uh, what would look to me like a A very doable road to the eastern conference finals for the Celtics now Is going to be a real challenge for them, especially if they get into the second round You mentioned some of the young talent Jaylen brown jason tatum. Obviously. Hey, we're coming back at some point. If not this year next year Do you think this is the core kairi Irving? Obviously of A championship team.  You know what a championship team looks like You think they have that core now? Or does dany need to use some of his other at the assets that he has to you know, make it even better Well, um I think they do have the core to win it right now I think if you have any chance to get anthony davis you Completely reevaluate your thinking as to who your core is because if suddenly anthony davis can become part of your core You're going to have to give up a lot. You're going to have to Consider giving up the browns and the tatums of the world. Um, but but that said if you can't get an anthony davis I think the south it's a very comfortable going to battle with a healthy group They have right now and and they still got a bunch of number one draft picks piled up here if they can use So, yeah, I think they do have the base in place to be a very good team for the next four or five years But again shows you what injuries can do injuries can really wreak havoc on a team and make you second guess the approach That you're taking I think the south it's a pretty firm and and what they want to do Again, I think if they thought they had a chance to get anthony davis I think they were right in that discussion but uh You could probably forget counting on one hand you they count on two or three fingers the number of guys. They're willing to Radically change their current plan to get anthony davis would be one. I'm not even sure who the others would be But uh, I was anthony is just so fresh in my mind because he torched us for 45 in Boston and torched us again Torched us again the other night in New Orleans and you know, he's another one of those guys You know the brawn is like that Chris we're privileged and lucky that we get to get really good seats So we really get to see these guys close up and and if you can see when a LeBron or an athlete davis is on the floor They're just going to dominate the game and and Kevin Durant is on the floor You they're just they're going to dominate the game and they're going to play the game the way they want to play it And there's really not much you can do about um But again as size and guys like that like LeBron and and Durant and davis Otherwise, I think the salty state puts what they have and feel pretty good about it. How special Do you feel like kairi Irving is? I mean, is there anything you've seen that surprised you about him? He's he's a special offensive player. He's gifted an offensive player as I think I've ever seen Because he has that ridiculous handle They can get into places and again, I watch him. I watch him work out.  I'm I'm concerned about the nagging problems. He seems to be having with his knee Uh, but Kairi can take you a long way. There's no question about that and if he's healthy He's shown that in big moments. He's he's more than willing to not only take the shots but make the shots So, um, you throw in Tatum. You throw in brown. You throw in Hayward You throw in Al Horford, who I think is an underrated player and people get on his case around here in bosson Because I think he's supposed to get 25 points in 18 rebounds game. That's not who he is But but who he is is a very very good A teammate but very very good player who if you run the ball through him, he will make the right quote basketball decision 99 percent of the time So yeah, I think the Celtics feel like they have the pieces that they need to win and You know, it's obviously a shame what happened to Gordon But if Gordon comes back at 100 and the bronze a year older next year Uh, it's Celtics and geological. So we'll we'll be the two teams if people talk about these I'm going to take you on a trip down memory lane Send it in Jerome I think I did a terrible bill raftery Impression, but you were calling that game with him when Jerome Lane broke the backboard What are your memories from from that moment? My first memory from that moment was it was like those old snickers commercials. We're going to be here a while Because um, you know People didn't have extra backwards floating around thinking if we allow us to throw up like So that was my first that we had that Johnny Nelson Came over and talked to that's for like 35 minutes to fill time I The big East was a really great experience to me. I mean I feel like arguably I had as good a job Uh as anybody in basketball through the the 80s and 90s because I would I would do the Celtics In the 80s, I would do the Celtics on three nights a week where they never lost at home And and larry was putting on shows every single night And then when the south is people on the road, I'd go do syracuse at georgetown or St. John's and and and and Seaton Hall and Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 people I could remember going to keep doing georgetown and syracuse where there's what 28,000 people in the carry adobe so um I was I was really There was a period there christ where I was doing Sometimes eight games a week because I had to do two games on sadly I do a big east regional games at noontime And then I'd drive to like Seaton Hall of St. John's or some places and do it game that on saturday night I come back and do the Celtics on sunday But you never got tired of it And and even again the great moments like your own lane break in the park board But I can remember the big east tournament through a wonderful wonderful moments there It was it was a great basketball life.  So I was great. I was a great broadcast Oh, that's great stuff. That's great stuff.  So I want to hit you with those real quick Fire away. All right. What's the angriest you've ever seen Tommy Heinzen at officials? We had this uh, this Tommy was probably this is probably 15 years ago. Tommy's uh, 82 I think right now 83 So Tommy was in his late 60s, maybe 70 Uh, I forget who the official was but Tommy went after him in the corridor after the game Uh, and we had we had to separate them physically separate them And and you know, you haven't seen anything for you seem like a six eight 70 year old guy taken on a 55 year old guy. He's not in great shape So that was That was really something because I Actually got to the official Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, we're we're walking down the corridor after the game and uh, the official was was coming out of uh Had you know changed clothes and showered and was about to leave and he was coming out And you know in the garden, it's all down that corridor the officials room that the team room the media room They're all off the mon cart of it and the guy comes out the door and Tommy said something to him The guy said something back and next thing I know Tommy's going over me after And uh, they had to physically get the cops and they were separating It was a scene That would be but what Tommy does Which is he he bates the officials and he he waits until the official is running by our broadcast position Uh and gets close and that's when he goes off on some of his rants It's to make sure that the guy can hear it on the way on the way by But but a lot of the guys can Kenny, my old Tony brothers They they have figured it out and and the way to figure it out is come over and pay the guy a little respect I mean he is a guy who won eight championships. I think as a player and two more as a coach Um, he does know what he's talking about. Yeah, they might not like what he says He does know it's talking that's a long answer to a rapid fire question. No, but that's that's great. That's great All right, so besides walter mccarty, who is Tommy's favorite player of all time? Paul pierce Pierce, okay. There's a quick answer for him. Yeah, Paul pierce. See the Tommy's the one who said this again to Uh, considering Larry and the people that have played for the southeast of the years John Halichuck you can go on and on Uh to say like a five seconds to go in the game Who's who's who would you put the ball give the ball to to win the game? Without just hesitation Tommy says Paul pierce Wow, wouldn't what would your answer to that be? Paul pierce really over birds. Yeah Yeah, because yeah, um, yeah Yeah I kind of think of why Because Larry can continue to do most of the same things but but paul paul is an excellent free-flow shooter Had added brilliant in between game of 15 to 18 feet For pull-up jump shots and could shoot threes Um, so he was he was really a triple truck that way and he and he could take it to the basket Probably that's where he had an edge on larry and he could take it to the basket with real physical authority Uh, so, uh, yeah, I would all do respect to larry. I would give the ball to paul and take my chances Wow What was your reaction when Tommy made the greg steamsma bill russell comparison?  Uh, I sometimes uh There's a lot of things with tommy that i've done where I When tommy says something that it's just completely off the wall Or or goes after the officials in a way that I prefer not to be included I just do a silent can count in my head before I say anything because I'm just going like they're gonna have to struggle to find me on this tape All right explain now tommy he he gave your career a big boost because he went to bat for you to call Celtics games Yeah, that's true tommy. Um, I was in providence ron island doing Six and 11 o'clock newscasts at the sports guy and part of the deal that that the local station channel 12 At the time the province had the province college was that they had five games a year that they were they were televised locally and um When I got the job as a monday to friday guy along with the king's job is to play by play guys with five games and we're in a meeting one day and Uh, they said well, we got to try to find somebody to do color in the name and all these obscure lex province college players And I said, why don't we just get tommy heisen and they said oh tommy heisen will never want to do the game And I said, well, let's give it a shot and chris This is a good case in you and I fully appreciate it as to how things have changed I called the boston garden and got the switchboard and I said, uh Share in the south east office, please And somebody takes the phone says good morning boston seldox and I said, yeah, uh, can I get tommy heisen's phone number? And the person goes, sure just a moment and gives me his phone number So then I called tommy at home And identified myself in I've never met. I said tommy. I'm working in prominent short island. They could find PC games. I need a color guy for you interested. He goes, absolutely So that's that's how I going on 42 year relationship. Wow started now. Wow. Wow last one It's a bonus one. Do you remember calling bonzy wells a budget paul pierce years ago? No, really, please erase that tape That was from the producer. So, uh, we'll do our best to find any Well, Mike, it's been great. We appreciate your time. Um, outstanding interview and and Keep doing a great job with the uh seldox. Um, you're going to be doing this for a long lot longer. I imagine I got I got no future plans that don't include that chris. Great. Great. Great. That's good for all of us. So Thanks a lot, man. And uh, I'll see you down the road in the playoffs Great talk to you chris. All right, Mike. See you


the Meyerson's characterization result now and we also know what kind of what is the type of mechanism which are truthful in single object allocation domain. Let us now look at some of the examples of such mechanisms which are truthful and false in this class. So, the first two examples are quite standard. So, constant allocation and dictatorial we know that those are monotone allocations, but they are not super interesting because they are very trivial mechanisms. The first interesting mechanism is that of second price auction. We have already seen it in various contexts. Let us see why it is falling in the same class and how we can actually pictorially represent the second price auction in the context of Meyerson. So, let us look at the payment formula in this case. So, we know that the first part is let us say it is assumed to be equal to 0. Then the second price auction we know that this is not a randomized allocation, it is a deterministic allocation. You give the object to the highest valued agent. If that agent is a high highest value then it gets this object with probability 1 and all other agents get it with probability 0 and it pays the second highest bid. So, let us look at that agent which has the highest value in this case. So, imagine agent i is the highest valued agent, then this function is nothing but a step function. We already have seen this diagram before that this is the allocation. So, this is the fi of ti t minus i and where i is the highest valued agent. So, the ti value is the highest. So, we can look at the second highest value and denote that with t minus i 2. So, this is the max over all the other agent's valuations of their types. So, as long as it is the type of agent i is below this value it is not going to win that object and after that it is going to win that object with probability 1 and exactly at that point the allocation can be anything. So, that could be multiple agents who can be probabilistically given this object. That will not have any impact in terms of the payment that it makes. So, you can look at this. So, this is going to be exactly 1 for player 1. So, this is going to be ti. So, essentially this is nothing but this whole rectangle here. Now, if you look at this quantity here this is nothing but this green shaded region. So, if you subtract that out payment is nothing but this red part here. And therefore, the utility is this the ti which is nothing but the whole area of this rectangle minus that payment which is going coming back again to this blue this green part here. So, and as we can see that the payment is just this part which is nothing but the 1. So, what is this area under this red region? It is the second highest bit multiplied by 1. So, therefore, this is the second highest bit. So, we know that this payment is nothing but the second highest bit. So, this is the second price option and it can be very well classified inside this Myerson class of mechanisms with the appropriate values of fi and ti. Now, let us look at the efficient allocation with the reserve price. So, we have seen this earlier that the second price auction in the second price auction on top of asking the agent for the second highest bit as their payment one can also set a reserve price and fix something like the maximum value of t minus i2 and that reserve price i. So, what happens in that case is this threshold gets replaced by the max of these two quantities t minus i2 and that reserve price here. And there also we can see that the allocation rule is monotone and therefore, the corresponding payment will be just this this point. So, max of these two things and the argument is exactly similar to the second price option. So, we will not go over it once again. So, this efficient allocation with reserve price is also a non-decreasing allocation rule and therefore, you can design this Myerson mechanism which will be truthful. But now, let us look at some not so common allocation rules. These are something which we have not seen before and we unless we knew the Myerson mechanism or the Myerson's characterization, perhaps we would not have thought about this kind of rules to be truthful. So, suppose the allocation has three components. The first component is whether to decide that if that agent that object is to be sold at all or not. So, a0 is the decision where it is not sold, a1 is the decision where it is sold to agent1 and a2 is sold to player2 and there are only two players in this case. So, now given the type profile t1 comma t2, the seller first computes this corresponding number which is a maximum between three numbers. So, the first thing is some arbitrary constant let us say 2 and the second and third are t1 square. So, the type of player1 squared and t2 the type of player2 cubed and select it will select a0 a1 or a2 depending on which of this is the maximum. So, if this is this maximum, so if this turns out to be the maximum then the mechanism will not sell this object at all. If this happens to be the maximum then it will give the object to player1 and in this case it is going to give it to agent2. This is a very strange mechanism but what we are going to argue is that here also this mechanism, this allocation rule is monotone and therefore you can design the corresponding the payment formula which will make sure that this mechanism is implementable in dominant strategies. So, why is this monotone? So, you can see that you can break the tie in whichever order and suppose there exists already a tie breaking rule. So, the player1 will get this object if it is t1 crosses this threshold of max of 2 times t2 square t2 cube. So, essentially square root of that. So, if this happens, so it is essentially spelling out the condition under which this becomes the maximum. So, if that becomes the maximum then player1 will get that object. So, in the it will have a very similar allocation function it will also be a step function and this threshold will be given by different numbers something like this. This is for player1. If this threshold becomes this then it will after that it will start getting that object before that it will not get that object. Similarly, for player2 we will get this object where this threshold is being replaced by this. So, this will then that will be the allocation rule for player2. Actually, this should be t1 and this should be t2. There is no t3 anywhere. Okay. So, that is the condition. So, what we can see is this allocation rule for both this both these players is a monotone allocation rule and therefore, we can equivalently compute the corresponding payments using the Meyerson's formula and we can make this mechanism terminally strategic incentive compatible. Okay. So, let us now look at the property of individual rationality. We have seen this property earlier but in the context of single object allocation this will have certain implications on the on the Meyerson's result that we have shown in the previous module. So, the mechanism is exposed individually rational and we emphasize this term exposed which means that even after all the agents have revealed their types participating is weakly preferred. So, this is the meaning of exposed even after all agents have revealed their types. So, even after observing everyone else's type it will be beneficial for you to participate. So, the definition is fairly simple your expected utility is going to be non-negative for every type of your own and the types of the other players and this should hold for every player. So, what is the so what are the implications of individual rationality on the Meyerson's characterization result that we have seen. So, here is the lemma which says that formally. So, a single object allocation in the single object allocation setting if we have a DSIC mechanism f comma p then it is going to be individually rational if and only if this the constant that we had in the in that integral formula is going to be non-positive and on top of that if you also want to ensure no subsidy condition then this P i T i t minus i has to be non-negative for all these all these players then this constant quantity is going to be exactly equal to 0. So, this is this is nothing but the condition of no subsidy that is the payment given by each of these players has to be non-negative then this quantity has to be exactly equal to 0. So, let us look at why this is true and in fact the proof is really very simple and straightforward because this is a individually rational we already know that this mechanism is DSIC. So, we can without loss of generality assume that the Meyerson's payment formula holds and the payment formula so because we will have to ensure that this is going to be non-negative for every valuation. So, what is the definition of individual rationality this inequality should hold for every T i and T minus i and we know this from the Meyerson's result this the payment formula that we have to satisfy we just replace those values with T i to be equal to 0. So, then the first part actually goes away it is going to be 0 and also those two integral parts. So, P i had P i T i T minus i had the first term was just the 0 and P minus i, but the second part has T i F i T i T minus i this also goes to 0 when you have plug in T i to be equal to 0 and integral from 0 to T i F of x T minus i d x that will also go to 0 if we plug T i to be equal to 0. So, essentially in this part there will be only this term left and because it has to be non-negative we have this P i has to be non-positive P i 0 of T minus i has to be non-positive. So, conversely if you have this to be non-positive then we will have to show that this also satisfies the individual rationality constraint and we can do that just by writing down the utility expression explicitly we have this T i F T i T minus i and then expand out the the payment formula as we have here. We notice that these two terms get cancelled out and now this quantity is nothing but this is a probability distribution. So, therefore all these terms will be non-negative and we are taking the integrals of this part will be non-negative as well and because this term is this P i 0 is non-positive so negative of that will be non-negative. So, the whole term will be non-negative as well. So, therefore we have proved that this mechanism with this condition of on P i 0 is going to be individually rational. Okay, so in part 2 we are going to prove on top of individual rationality you also want to ensure no subsidy. So, all the payments has to be non-negative and if that has to happen for all T i's you can as well put that T i to be equal to 0 and that has non-negativity now and by individual rationality we already know that this has to be non-positive. So, the only possibility is that this is exactly equal to 0. So, and the converse thing is always true that if we have this to be exactly equal to 0 then it is very straight forward to see that this is going to be individually rational by the very condition that this is exactly equal to 0 and it is also not going to be not going to have any no subsidy condition because it is not going to give any subsidy because because of the fact that the allocation policy is monotone. So, we can again draw something like that that the picture that we have shown last time the payment is always going to be non-negative. Okay, so that with that let us now go into some mechanisms which are non-vickery options. So, so far we have discussed only vickery options that you have a threshold and only one agent who is crossing that threshold is the sole winner. So, this is something like a mechanism which is a deterministic mechanism but our characterization result of Myerson does not only apply to deterministic mechanisms it also applies to non-deterministic or randomized mechanisms. So, let us look at some of those examples some randomized mechanisms which is also truthful under this setting of single object allocation. And we are going to focus mostly on budget balance that is the payment that has been made by all the players if that if we take their sum that should be very close to 0 if not exactly equal to 0. Okay, so the first mechanism that we are going to define is that the object belongs to the highest bidder again this is a deterministic mechanism but the payment is such that everyone is compensated some amount here also the allocation is very straightforward the highest bidder gets the whole object and all the other agents get zero allocation. So, their payment if you look at the Myerson's formula only the constant term remains everything else goes away. So, but for player one there is something which is left over so we will calculate that. So, let us assume that so in this mechanism those constant values are decided in the following way the constant value for player one and that for player two is nothing but minus 1 1 nth of the third highest bid. So, without loss of generality we are assuming that this t1 is greater than t2 t2 is greater than t3 and so on they are ordered in a decreasing order of their of their types. Now everyone else apart from this highest and the second highest bidder receives 1 nth of the second highest bid. So, which means that this is going to be t i 0 comma t i t minus i that is going to be minus 1 by n of the second highest in the rest of the set tj j is not equal to i. So, in this case this is just going to be t2 because that is the second highest bid. So, now we can use that constant things and the fact that because this is dominant strategy incentive compatible the Myerson's payment formula will will hold. First thing to notice that this kind of a mechanism is a monotone allocation rule. So, you are always giving it to the highest bidder. So, the highest bidder the threshold that when it crosses the threshold of the second highest bid it is going to be the winner before that it is 0 and therefore, this is a monotone allocation rule. So, the the payment. So, this is the that constant part. So, p0 p1 0 comma 2 minus 1 this is the this is that expression which we have already defined. Now, the player 1 is going to be the winner. So, therefore, this this is t1 multiplied by 1 and the last term of that integral formula is integral from 0 to t1 if 1 x or t minus 1 dx and this player does not win until t2. So, therefore, this integral will be nothing but t1 minus t2 after t2 it starts winning with probability 1 and therefore, when you sum all of them up t1 cancels out from both sides from here and here and what we are left with is this. So, similarly player 2 pays just this amount because the rest of the part is 0 because it does not get that object all the other agents are getting minus 1 by n times t2. So, this is according to the definition. Now, if you look at the the sum of all these payments you can do this calculation there will be m minus 2 all other agents what you will have is 2 by n times t2 minus t3 and as n increases you can see that this excess amount of money that is going to be taken away by the auctioneer goes very much close to 0. So, this is a deterministic mechanism that also redistributes the money but it redistributes ensuring that this is truthful. Let us look at a non-deterministic mechanism a randomized mechanism which allocates the object with probability 1 minus 1 by n to the highest bidder and with probability 1 by n to the second highest bidder. So, this is also a monotone allocation rule you can convince yourself. So, what is this constants? So, constant is nothing but minus 1 by n we can pick the constants in whichever way we want this mechanism picks it as minus 1 by n times the second highest bid in the rest of the agents. So, for for instance this will be t3 for player 1 this will be t2 t3 for both player 1 and player 2 and t2 for all the other players. So, so we can we can do this calculation so we can see that so when player 1 so again we are assuming that the value the type of player 1 is the highest and it keeps on decreasing with increasing index of this players. So, the first constant so this is the p0 the constant of this integral and so with probability this the player becomes the winner. So, this is t1 times f1 and f1 is nothing but 1 minus 1 by n and then we have the the integral so this this entire part is the integral from 0 to t1 ff1 of x comma t minus 1 dx. Now, we know that between 0 to t3 the player does not win from t3 to t2 this is the second highest bidder. So, therefore, it has a probability of winning which is 1 by n so between t2 and t3 and from t2 onwards to t1 this is the highest bidder. So, it will have this probability of winning which is 1 minus 1 by n this is between t1 and t2. So, if you do the integral divide the integral into these parts you will get this all these terms and if you sum them up you will get this quantity here. Similarly, you can compute the second highest bidder a second highest bidder will only have up to this point here it is not winning here it is winning with probability 1 by n and when you take the sum you will see that this is going to be exactly equal to 0 and for all other players this the the payment is going to be just the constant quantity because they never win. So, their the only constant quantity is their their payment and because this is negative it means that they are getting paid. So, player 1 is actually paying player 2 is paying nothing even though it is getting some share of this allocation the all the other players are not getting anything but they are getting some payment. So, they are being compensated with some payment but the interesting thing is now if you sum all these payments together it will be exactly equal to 0. So, this mechanism is certainly strategy the this mechanism is certainly strategy proof because of the property that we have used this is the this is following in the Myerson's class the allocation is monotone and the payment is following this payment formula but additionally it is also ensuring budget balance. What it is losing because of this allocation rule it is not efficient and we have seen this before the allocation if that becomes efficient then it is not going to be budget balanced which is the problem with VCG that that problem persists even in this situation we have found a mechanism which is which is redistributing the money. So, someone is paying and someone is getting paid and the allocation is such that this is monotone and it is strategy proof but it is not efficient yet it is budget balanced. So, since our objective is budget balance we have seen a mechanism which is budget balance and also calls in the Myerson's class.


Welcome back to Tennis Talk, my name's Cam Williams and Roger Federer is in serious doubt of playing the Laver Cup in a couple weekends time. Of course we haven't seen Federer since Wimbledon of last year and he's been out with the knee problems for over 12 months now. He was supposed to make his return in a couple weeks. This is what his agent had to say though giving us a little bit of hope that maybe Federer might play the event after all. This is what Federer's manager Tony Godsick had to say in an interview recently. Federer has been practicing for some weeks now. He is feeling some pain but keeps trying. He's been training for a few weeks and wants to start in London at the Laver Cup and play Basel. We'll see at the Laver Cup whether his knee will hold up. So there you have it. That's what Federer's manager had to say and it's I guess promising. It seems like a wait and see even though there seems to be pain in the Federer leg at the moment and in his knee in particular. But we haven't seen Federer like I said since Wimbledon of last year with the knee problems over the last two years. But Laver Cup he's supposed to be coming back. That is his event. He usually plays that event every chance he gets. He was the creator of that event and of course with Raffer and Novak Djokovic playing as well. There was going to be the big goats the big four with Andy Murray as well playing that event but might not happen. Let me know down in the comments below. Do you think Federer will play or do you think he'll wait until Basel at the end of the year and play at his home tournament and also do you think he's going to play next year? Because a lot of people think that maybe he will retire at the end of the season or possibly next season. But Federer might not be playing the Laver Cup due to his knee.


My name is Richard Boyer. We are Team Pythia from Greece and Nashville, Tennessee. George Bertos, who is leading Team Pythia, and I decided to collaborate on a project where we would combine the knowledge of human physiology and medicine that I'm studying with George's expertise in biomedical engineering and biotechnology. We started working in mobile health and in closed-loop control of medication delivery, iPhone, iOS. We have a smart healthcare platform at Vanderbilt that we've been working on for over five years now that is a modular and peripheral centric design where we actually have a core module that integrates into the healthcare EMR systems. There are a few technologies that we're using that one is actually a combination of human electrocardiographic data with a method that's been used for a few years in experimental labs which is impedance tomography. So using impedance which is electrical, basically analysis of an electrical signal as it's sent through the body similar to an EKG that's measuring the heart's native signal. We're actually able to model similar to a CT scan basically. We have a design that's very clinician-centric. We are a team of clinicians, a few engineers, and a few combinations of engineers and clinicians and I think that gives us a unique insight into how physicians will eventually interact with these devices. Actually I have a very personal story that is relevant to this device. When we were testing, we actually put it on the professor of biomedical engineering that's on our Franz who's on our team and he was at home and we had we were practicing looking at the wireless transmission of the EKG data. Our cardiothoracic anesthesiologist was actually watching that data stream through and as she was watching he actually Franz actually started having a heart block and he was rushed into the emergency room and through this they actually were able to catch that he was that Franz was having a heart attack and he had at the end of the night he had a triple bypass surgery. He actually probably would have died if we actually hadn't caught it in time. I think that really shows the impact of mobile health care and how these can make a huge difference.


Welcome, traders, to another tick mill, Charles here with me, Patrick Mulli. What's your story of tension today? Two of the Dow Jones, we're on a daily timeframe. As noted in the last week's live analysis session, we have this trendline off the pandemic lows that was breached last week, and we're now setting up in a retest pattern to retest the trendline, broken trendline support now as resistance, and we have this descending trendline coming off the current price, that will be the third test. And so what I'm looking for is bearish investment patterns at the 34,600 level to set short positions, certainly targeting a retest of the prior lows at 33,000, and ideally down to test the projected descending trendline support at 32,650. As always, traders, plan the trade, trade the plan, and most importantly, manage a risk. Until next time, thanks very much.


who stay up late have higher IQs, at least according to one study. Also, they're better at drawing larger conclusions from less evidence, and they have better problem solving skills.  Well, not quite, because early risers have their own strengths too. They perform better at work, get better grades, and they might even have better verbal skills. So though we technically can't say one is better, we will just point out that Lady Gaga, Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Taylor Swift, and Winston Churchill are all known night owls. So take that mom.


T.F.N. News Update. Good morning folks, this is Steve Rhodes coming to you live from the shores of sunny Delray Beach, Florida. This year 11 a.m. update and currently we have a bit of a mixed bag out there, that mixed bag coming from the Dow which is down 200, about six tenths of a percent. The S&P half percent are 21 and the Aztec 80 points of downside are seven tenths. The Russell's up three, the Semi-Zero up 15, the other U.S. indices trading to the downside. The spot follow tunics, that's trading still below its 50-day exponential moving average. That's pretty right now at 26-13. Gold's up eight bucks, Silver's up 56 pennies, that's three percent to the upside. Gold, silver, lights we crude is up two bucks, that's up about two percent, 30-year treasuries up 20 ticks, 124-oh-tick, and the natural gas is up about 46 pennies. Let's take a look at that nine-panel market update chart. We begin with the ES mini upper left, forms a TD9 count on the bar following bar number nine on Friday. That says at that high of 39, 24, 25 is a key level to watch and observe. Right now prices back inside its daily profile of my black background charts at 38, 97, 50. That would suggest price might target the top of the weekly profile 38, 38. So that becomes target number one. You see that spot follow tunics as long as it remains below that blue line, that's a 50-day exponential moving average. That is a bullish market condition. The NASDAQ 100 continues to consolidate with inside its daily profile. That's between the range of 10, 917, and 11, 631. US dollar index consolidating with inside its daily profile as well as its weekly support being down at the 109.81 on the daily basis, 111.09 on the weekly basis. Goldilocks not really doing a whole heck of a lot out there. It did last week come back and test support, both its TD9 count breakout support level and its roads went to indicator bottoms for right now. Prices consolidating with inside its weekly and its daily profile. Silver trying to break out and trying to form an A to B equals CDT upside. A close above 1968 today, we're trading right now in 1967, we'll do the job. And that job would then take us up towards the 2040 level. Lightspeed crude consolidating with inside its daily profile should go target the 9094 level natural gas, just a consolidation between support and resistance support at 568 resistance, $6.36 in a 30 year treasury continues to be. Find resistance at the bottom of that daily profile. That's a real key level of resistance. That's one 21 and a quarter. I will tell you we ended the month, obviously yesterday and on a monthly basis, the 30 year treasury negated its TD9 count bottom pattern. That says expect lower prices over time in the 30 year folks. They do for the trader's edge show. But if you have to start your Tuesday, please have a terrific one. Thanks much for joining us and we'll look forward to seeing you again soon. Take care.