The Celtics are staring at what I would consider a disastrous year. 1201 AM, Magic's at LeBron's house. Polinka should have been at Paul George's house. Both of these games are right there for the taking. There have been a dozen previous games. Right there for the taking. The best player on the planet has to close. Chris Broussard here and welcome to the brand new Hoops on Fox podcast. This podcast will give you your daily dose of all things NBA from Fox Sports, including the best content from Skip and Shannon, Nick Wright, plus special guests, fresh NBA content from myself, post-game interviews from NBA stars around the league, and much, much more. Well, are we talking, I don't know if you're talking about Genie Buss at the top or Magic? Magic and Polinka. Magic and Polinka. It goes back further than most people acknowledge. Now, we don't know what Paul George would have done. Maybe he would have stayed in Oklahoma City. But part of why he didn't really strongly consider the Lakers, because they kind of softened on him. They started thinking LeBron and Kauai instead of, remember how they were so much in on Paul George? Okay, yeah. And then I'm not saying they didn't want him to some degree. But obviously him and his camp felt that. Right, no question. Like 1201 AM, Magic's at LeBron's house. Polinka should have been at Paul George's house. They should have recruited him just as hard as they did LeBron. Now nobody saw him playing as well as he is now, but can you imagine him and LeBron together if he is playing like this? And they wouldn't have had to recruit him, by the way. They could have traded for him. They could have done that. They could have traded for him and just said, we're not gonna rely on Lakers' exceptionalism to get him there. Real quick, the other point here, Genie Buss is wrong. She's either knowingly or unknowingly lying. The word she's using, entire roster. This ever was the entire. And when she calls it, just throws that fake news slur out there. Like the people reporting on this, whether it's Broderick Turner in Los Angeles or Chris Haynes or Tonya Ganguly, these are credible reporters who were not making this up.   You are not running with specific names unless someone who is in a position to tell you these things has told you these things. So she's just flatly lying there. The only leg she has to stand on is there were reports that, like, of six players and things like that. What I'm told is it was like, take any of these six players. Like, take three or four, rather than we're gonna send six guys to you for two and things like. So she's nitpicking and then using that to paint everything with a brush. Right, right. So that's the first thing with the front office. Secondly is the composition of the roster. And LeBron had something to do with this. LeBron was looking at it like, look, you can't out-shoot Golden State. We tried that in Cleveland. The Cavs shot more threes than the Warriors the last few years because they tried to out-shoot them. So he thought, let's get some gritty, tough grinders, defenders that we can switch everything. We can be tough with Lance and Rondo because that was the formula they used when they beat them in 2016. So he's thinking that, but at the end of the day, magic and polinker in charge. And so they, the buck stops with them. We've all been watching James Hardin go absolutely berserk on the rest of the NBA. But is this the most dominant statistical run we've ever seen? I'm gonna answer that question for you. Here are the five most dominant streaks in NBA history. And for all you stat heads out there, this is post-NBA-ABA merger in 1976. So no-wilt Chamberlain. At number five, Steph Curry, February 2016. Over an 11-game stretch, Steph averaged 36.7 points, 7.3 assists, and shot 53.6% from 3-point land.  Of course, Golden State won 10 of the 11 games. They went on to win 73 that season. And Curry had his second MVP award. At number four, Kobe Bryant. March 2007. This is a year after he dropped 81 points on the Toronto Raptors. Kobe joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in history to have a four-game streak of 50 or more points in each game. And the Lakers won every game. Kobe dropped 65 on Portland. He dropped 50 on Minnesota. He dropped 60 on Memphis. And another 50 on New Orleans. And shot 54% from the field. At number three, Michael Jordan. The last 24 games of the 88-89 season. His coach, Doug Collins, put him at point guard. And we got a taste of the type of numbers Jordan would put up if he was as ball dominant as a lot of the guys today. Bringing the ball up court, making all the passes, all the shots, all the decisions. He averaged 30 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds a game. In one 11-game stretch, he had 10 triple doubles, including seven straight. MJ all day, baby. At number two, James Harden. December 13, 2018, to the present. He's had 21 straight games of at least 30 points. That's the longest streak since the merger. You've heard it before. He's averaged 43 points, eight assists, and eight rebounds during the streak. And one of the most impressive things is without Chris Paul for any of the games, the Rockets have gone 15 and six. All right, so if James Harden is not number one, who could it be? Russell Westbrook. The last three seasons. Here's how good he's been. The triple double, which was this haloed statistical achievement, has become ho-hum for Westbrook. He does it all the time. This guy's averaged a triple double for three years. We never thought we'd see another player since Oscar Robertson do it. We didn't think Magic would do it. He didn't. We didn't think LeBron could do it. He didn't. We didn't think Jason Kidd could do it. He didn't. Nobody's done it except Russell Westbrook. Everybody's starting to hate on Russ, but this is still a tremendous statistical accomplishments. It's incredible what this guy's doing. And oh, by the way, the Thunder are 62 and 19 in the last three years when Westbrook has a triple double. So his triple doubles are great for Oklahoma City. Russell Westbrook's run these last three years is the greatest statistical run in NBA history. Joined by FS1 NBA analyst, Stephen Jackson. Good morning, Stephen. Good morning, man. You know, we need to get your take on this. We haven't heard from him in a bit. What's wrong with the Lakers? Well, you see a lot of what's been going on all year. LeBron come here, kind of what Katie said, the media frenzy. Then you go to, OK, we're trying to get AD, that frenzy. Then you go to the players. Well, I don't know if I'm going to be here frenzy. I don't know if I can trust him frenzy. Is he really trying to trade me? Is he telling me this frenzy? Then you get to the point where, OK, now there's no trade. Now guys are pointing fingers at each other because a few minutes ago you said I wouldn't be here. I don't know if I was going to be here. I want to try to help the team get out of the slump. So it's more of a everybody pointing fingers and it goes to show that everything they've been through this year goes that the team is in turmoil and the players starting to show. You can tell they're not on the same page when LeBron is throwing a ball out his head in the back. He don't do stuff like that. Right. He doesn't. So it's even starting to take a toll on the best player in the world. Is it frustrating or just a lack of focus? No, it's frustrating skill because it's finally starting to take a toll on him now. It's been taking toll on the young players. We expect that. But I'm not counting them out. We're still talking about LeBron. Those young guys still can play. It's going to be hard to pick up those four games, but I still think LeBron can do it. I think the biggest thing I see is defensively. You can't keep giving up 33 points in the first quarter, giving up 64 points at the half. You give up 64 points at the half. That's 128 for the game. You're going to lose most of those games. And that's what they've been doing. They're not good enough to overcome the lapses that they have defensively because what LeBron is used to is having shooters. They don't have shooters. They have to play a almost perfect game in order for them to win. And veterans. And the thing is, if you look at them, okay, they'll play the pick and roll. They'll close it out or they'll show or Rondo will fight over the top. And then the next minute, they forget, Javelle backs off to get the guy gets a wide over 15 footer. You look at that lineup. And I said this, and I told Skip, I said, Skip, Rondo was knocking down shots. But if he's not knocking down those shots, they're a small team.  And they got pounded on the board. Phoenix pounded them plus 11. Mill walking, because they got great size. Pounded them plus 13. You're not winning like that. Rondo shooting 12 threes. In both games, they had leads. Nice side leads. Rondo shooting 12 threes. Look, yeah, he got to contribute more. The veterans got to contribute more. LeBron can't lead you in points, assists and rebounds every night. That's why they're not winning. Every night. Skip, you heard what Stacks say. Stacks say to a man every night. Every night. So can we give some help? Little help. This is not the Eastern Conference, LeBron. So I hope he comes to the media one day and say, OK, now I really see that the Western Conference is a different monster. Because if he was in the East, we wouldn't be talking about this. He'll still be at the top. And he's not used to being in a situation where he's losing. And at the end of the season, he talking about the players don't need to be looking at the records and the clock and stuff. Well, he used to looking at it because he used to see if he was at the top of the East fighting against Boston the last couple of years. Well, it's a different story in the West. What did he tell you last year? He said, I don't care if I'm the first seed, second seed, AC, or mustard seed. Will LeBron say it coming to you? He said, if I come to your building, you got problems. Yeah. Now he go to people building, the Lakers got problems. Even Phoenix's building? I just said that, yes. What's it called? Talking stick? You got problems at Talking Stick? At Talking Stick. Women's stick or that. Come on, give that in the name of the building. You made that up. I did not. Talking Stick Resort Arena. That's it. Talking Stick. Right. So you lost that in the casino. That was at the casino. Yeah, but at the same time, Golden State losing to Orlando, so you can't really pay attention to stuff like that. So here we go again. Poor LeBron, he's got enough help. He's got enough help. Right, yeah, I'm not hearing it. Poor LeBron, poor kid. Get him, Skip. Here we go. Both of these games are right there for the taking. There have been a dozen previous games right there for the taking. The best player on the planet has to close. He is the best setup man in basketball because he will put you right on the verge of closing the game. Then he needs to close it. The kids are still too much kids to close these games because these are feeling like playoff games. And Kuzma, he's not there yet. And Brandon Ingram will still attack, but then he starts to shrink a little bit at the end because he doesn't really, he's not sure, is it really my turn to do this? It's up to LeBron and you keep talking he's more magic than Michael, right? He is. But you can be magic only so long. And then with three minutes left in the game, you have to go full on Michael Jordan. If you're about to pass him on the all time scoring list, you got to show us you can be him when it matters. Or even Kobe. Or even we can go Kobe. We talked about this earlier. You got to be Kobe. Tonight. Well, he can be magic. Johnson game six against Philly. 42, 15, 17. He's going to be that magic. That didn't happen very often. No, but I'm saying if he's going to be that magic. Right. Okay. So let's go back to Friday night. LeBron hit a three and I was highly impressed because they just dared him to shoot it with three 11 left and he just flat out clean ripped it. And all of a sudden, boom, that arena just erupts and they're up two with three minutes left and Yannis goes down and charges and it's Lakers ball. You got the ball in your hands with three minutes left. Who do you have to charge on? He ain't playing no D. Well, they tell me LeBron ain't playing no D. Who do we have to charge on? Well, he can only just stand flat. Y'all do this. See that? You go skill. Come on, Sean. Come on, Sean. The last two games he played D. The last two games. I've seen some efforts. You just said, yeah, last two. Yeah, last two. So it took this long. It took this long. It took this long. Right? It took this long. He's two admitted. We missed a third of the season with Idris. He hasn't been running down shot either. So the ball is in your hands. And again, I could tell you 100 ways LeBron could close against Milwaukee, but he doesn't. The Bucks go on a 15-2 run at Staples and it is over like that. It just happened like that. You're like, wait a minute. What just happened? Rondo and LeBron don't connect on a pass. And it's like, what are you guys doing?   We're not going to give you anything. You're six, nine, 280 pounds. We're giving you nothing. So he gets the offensive foul and all of a sudden I look up and the game is virtually over and LeBron gets an easy layup at the end of the game. And then what did he do? 14 seconds left. He starts walking and he keeps walking and he keeps walking five, four, three, two, one.  And the body language is I ain't associated with that mess out there. I'm not part of that mess. You blame those guys. Don't blame me. And then he goes in the locker room. The first thing he says is, everybody talks about Giannis, but it's the supporting cast. They've surrounded Giannis with a great cast. They did. Fingers pointed. I know you can't say that.  You want to ship out half the locker room for AD. And all of a sudden you're just basically just rubbing their noses in it in the locker room after a close loss to Giannis. And Giannis wasn't great. He's still got a knee issue. They got a good supporting cast, but there are a lot of spare parts. And you have a great coach, too. They got a great coach. And you make LeBron. That's a great good point. And you make LeBron point for him. With Giannis hurt with 16 points, he didn't close. Brogdon got two, not Brogdon. Blesso got two and one. Brogdon knocked that knock down three in the corner. Do you see that? That was after the turnover on the inbounds by KCP. They just fell all apart. What is KCP doing? They got three guys around LeBron and he's still trying to throw it to him. With all that's going on, with all the players not understanding where they rose or if they can take a shot if they can overstep LeBron. With all that's going on, what is Luke Walton doing to keep the peace in his locker room? Nothing. But you know why? Because they don't respect him. They don't. They don't. Yeah, they been left. When you got guys like Mike Beasley going at a coach, like when I was on the Angel list, I would never say nothing to pop. If I wouldn't get in the game, I would never have the audacity to say nothing to pop. When you have guys like that going at the coach, there's no respect on the team. No respect for them. And you would go at pop occasionally. When I was playing. I know, I got it. When I came out the game, stuff like that. But if I had no room or if I had nothing to stand on, I played my role. You know? And I would never try to show up, Greg Popovich is always something that I feel I was right, but at the end of the day, he's the coach. Right. They just showing Luke up, even in the media they was talking about. Next 20 games, I think the Lakers are out of the playoffs, four and a half back. Teams in front of them, I think now are better and certainly more unified. With that, we go to New York City, first things first. You hear him on our show all the time, Chris Broussard via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Chris, I said this, LeBron's still a great player. But when you're on the stage and people are looking up at you, be it the Pope and St. Peter's Square, be it Tony Robbins, be it Ted Talks.  But the really engaging moment is when you step off the stage as a politician and you meet people eye to eye and a selfie and a high five and a fist bump. LeBron's been on the stage for 12 years and most of the time he has connected very well with teammates. You know, J.R. Smith's not a great player. He reached down. James Jones, one of his best buddies. I think, Chris, LeBron's had a bad year in leadership where he's done too many star-driven projects. He's never come off the stage and connected with Luke, connected with some of the young players. That's just my takeaway. He's still a great player, great guy, but I don't think it's been a great LeBron leadership year. How's that land for you? Well, Colin, I think the main difference between this year with LeBron and the previous four at least has just been the winning. You know, there's different ways to lead a team. We can look at all of the guys or a lot of them that we consider great leaders in the past and the reason their leadership was good was because they won. Michael Jordan, we know he punched out Steve Kerr. We know he had issues with some teammates here and there. He told his teammates, don't pass the ball to Bill Cartwright. Cartwright said, I'll break your legs if you ever say that again. You know what I mean? Kobe Bryant, I came on your couch and said, Kobe was a good leader. Why? He won five rings. Isaiah Thomas had, he punched out Bill Lambeer. Isaiah Thomas ran Adrian Dantley, a great player out of town in Detroit and got his buddy Mark Aguirre there. I mean, LeBron had his drama in the past four years. I mean, yeah, there's some different things now. But let's not forget the cryptic tweets. Let's not forget or Instagram, whatever it was. Let's not forget the issues with Kevin Love. Are you in? Buying in, buying out, whatever it was, he said. Kyrie Irving, David Black. I mean, LeBron's had this type of drama the past four years. The difference was they won. They got to the Eastern Conference or they got to the finals and they won one championship. So we looked at it as great leadership. Now he's doing similar things. Some little different, but similar things and they're not going to make the playoffs. So we're looking at as, whoa, Michael Jordan's last season in Washington. Colin, I was there. I covered a lot of it for the New York Times.  Why? He was the same MJ as he was in Chicago. The one difference was in Chicago, he's leading you to championships. In Washington, he wasn't quite good enough anymore to even get you in the playoffs. Good stuff, Chris Broussard joining us. You know, you and I had this discussion a couple of weeks ago, is that outside of Tom Brady, it all works the same way for even superstars. There's a domino effect. They have a big injury. They don't make the playoffs. Suddenly, they're off the front page. They're on page three of the sports section. So LeBron now, first major injury, not going to make the playoffs. Chris, if they don't land AD, is he on page two of the sports section? Yeah, yes. I mean, there's no doubt about it. It's AD or bust for the Lakers. And even if they get AD, look, I'm not ever going to write LeBron James off right now as a guy that won't win another championship. But if you put a gun to my head, AD or not, and said, is LeBron James going to win another championship? Your life depends on it. I would say no, he's not. Now that said, let me go here. I actually think LeBron could have a very successful run here with the Lakers. You see, he's still a great player, as you said. But this year, at least, he isn't able to dominate the game like he used to. His numbers are still what they always are, but he's not dominating the game, controlling the actual game like he has in the past. I think LeBron could use that for a good thing because one of the strengths of his game and weaknesses of his game throughout his career has been that he does everything. I had a guy who won championships a few years ago tell me, LeBron would win more rings if he just did one thing. Either be Magic Johnson at point guard, and average 22 points and 12 assists, or be a small forward, a real small forward, and lead the league in scoring and get nine or 10 rebounds because he does everything that makes it hard for players to play around him. Not role players. Role players can't do much, so they need you to create everything for them and give them the ball and they can shoot it. But other talented players, it's harder. So as he declines a little bit, why not go to a straight point guard, period? Or go to a straight small forward, period. And then it'll be easier for other players with talent to play around you, and maybe you could win more. Yeah, by the way, this is a great point. As your skills decline, you can't do as many things well, then just zone in on the one thing you do well. Chris Broussard, very good point. Finally, Kyrie Irving is a great player. Okay, but something's not working, Chris, because Boston is worse with him on the floor. I just told Joy. When you get an Antonio Brown or a Kyrie, we know they're great. Generally, if they're struggling with what appears to be a great situation, there's a relationship issue in the building. We know Antonio Brown's was Big Ben. What is going on with Kyrie in that building, Chris? What are your sources say? Because he is an unhappy dude right now. Yeah, he is. I have not been told of a poor relationship in the building. I've actually been told that off the court, his relationships with adjacent Tatum, Terry Rogier are fine. I'm not saying they're bosom buddies, but they're fine. It's more the on-the-court chemistry. Remember last year in the playoffs, we talked about it, Collin. The team went from being Kyrie's to Brad Stevens' team. He was the superstar. Remember, Kyrie wasn't even there for what was a game seven in the playoffs. It wasn't a good look. So you wonder, did that bother Kyrie the fact? And we know that's been a source of the problems in Boston is that the young guys feel like they went far without him and do they really need him? And he's since that because he said it repeatedly in the public. So that is bothering him right there. But I really think too, Collin, that Kyrie has let the media criticism really deflate him. If you look at before the All-Star Game, there was a six or seven game stretch where he averaged 30 points, 10 assists, led him to a six and one record and was looking fantastic. He is taking over the team and they're winning. And then at the All-Star break, he's criticized because he and K.D. are in the hallway talking. And people make a big deal out of him staying on the court for K.D.'s MVP awards session after the All-Star Game. And he talked about how he hated that. And notice from that point on, his answers to the media have been small, clipped, basically no comments. You saw the clip you showed earlier him walking in, the arena saying, I won't miss this stuff when I'm done playing. So I think he's let this media criticism deflate him. He's got rabbit ears, kind of like Kevin Durant. And you wonder, both of those guys are talking about going to New York. It's worse in New York. So that's going to be interesting to see if that impacts their decision. Chris Broussard, good seeing you, bud. Nice work today. Thanks. I think so. I mean, look, I'm losing faith in them. But I do think that, like I have more faith in them than the Lakers turning it around. That's not saying much. But here's the three things I think have to happen. One, I think- You're still going to need a thing on Leprechaun to get this one. Like, I can understand saying, oh, yeah, I got more confidence than them the Lakers, but yeah. I think they got Philadelphia's number. They need to help Philadelphia remains in that four-slot, you know, because they could pass Indiana. I don't think they want Indiana in the first round because I just think they're a tough matchup for the Sixers, even though the Sixers have more talent. But for the Celtics, Kyrie number one has, he has let the media criticism deflate him. And you can see it in the way he's responding to the media. Like, remember he had that 30, like that streak about six games, seven games, where he averaged about 30 and 10 right before the All-Star break. They went six and one in those games. Then at the All-Star break, everybody, you know, he's talking with Kevin Durant in the hallway and the media makes a big deal out of it. He stays and watches the MVP ceremony with Katie on the court for the All-Star game. The media makes a big deal. And he has come out and talked about it and he's let it deflate him. And I think it's impacting his play to some degree. So I think that's number one. He's got to do some soul searching, get his swag back, and not worry about all the outside stuff. Secondly, some of the other players, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they have become more isolation players, too. Bad shots waiting to happen. Right. Remember, now, last year, it was just do what Brad says and we do that. Now they've gotten a little bit better. They're feeling themselves a little more. So they're going ISO.  And I think with Kyrie playing that way, they have become that. They need to realize, look, what's going to help our stock, Jason and Jaylen, is if we win. Nobody's looking at your numbers necessarily. It's if you win. And then the third thing, Brad Stevens, and I know you've talked about it rightly so, Kenny handled the superstar egos and all that. He's going to have to make a hard decision with Gordon Hayward. Gordon Hayward, since the all-star break, 23 minutes a game, 31% shooting, five points a game. He's taken minutes from some of these young guys who already are bucking. We've made a big deal out of Kyrie's return, but we need to really look at Gordon Hayward's return and him taking minutes from these guys and hurting the chemistry. So those three things have to happen for them to turn. I agree with your list of three things. Where I disagree with you is the idea that winning a first round series is somehow some silver lining for this team. Anything short of a very competitive conference finals appearance is an abject failure by the Boston Celtics. Let's make that they've made the conference finals each of the last two years. East was a lot weaker. Okay, but they were, they were projected to be at the top of this strong. Do they have more talent than Toronto to Toronto? What, more talent than Toronto? I don't think so. When they started the season, we thought on paper, pick these rosters, I'll take that roster. Now we've seen Toronto's role players get better. And then also, we didn't know if Kawhi was going to be top five or not. Now we see top five on both ends of the court. So now it doesn't look like it, but before the season, I think we took this up. It was very controversial of me to not have them in the NBA finals. They had the second... I didn't have an air either. They had the second highest projected win total of any team in basketball going into this season. How many times did we hear that? I mean, they made the conference finals last year and they're getting two All-Stars. Now it turns out they only got one All-Star. Because Gordon Hayward and I totally agree with you. And that is the one movable piece as far as move him to the bench that is doable for this team. Because you can say, listen, man, it's not about long-term, it's just about the injury. But see, you brought up the fact, how long has Brad Stevens known Gordon Hayward? Oh, man, since high school. Since he's like... He built the program at Butler around them. Right. And so there's the emotional and human element there for that decision. But the Celtics are staring at what I would consider a disastrous year. Because whether they get bounced in the first round or the second round, Kawhi's gone if that's the result. Their only chance to keep him is a deep playoff run. And what evidence do we have from this team that they are capable of winning four of seven against a good team? Yeah, we don't have the evidence. We can say we appropriate that like the way we used to do with LeBron. Oh, man, the Cavs don't look good. But we believe in LeBron. There's nothing that we have. Brad Stevens, we did have that. Oh, man, Brad Stevens is gonna be able to get them through this. No, we don't have that. We could be... Man, they're an elite defensive team. Sometimes they are. Most of the times they're not. Offensively, their inability to have a system and the system that works for them worked better when they had less talent. Because in that system, it doesn't require your individual ability to be able to score the basketball. But what happens is when you have a player like Kawhi and I'm watching him because Jalen Brown and Tatum, I'll use them as examples. This off season, they worked on their individual game because when you're in the gym as a player, you're not thinking about the team. I'm working on myself. Kawhi's working on himself. Tatum's working on himself. So all of them came back to training camp and you know what, after an exciting post-season, each one of them thought, I can do more. I got more moves. I got more stuff I can do. I can't wait for my second year. Terry Rogier, he's got his own agenda. I want to be a starter. I want to be paid. So now you got all these different stories that people are trying... that are bigger in their life than the Celtics winning. That's why I don't believe. I don't believe they're going to be able to get back on the same page. I always believe Tyloo talked about it. Man, Kawhi Irving is not about that team and ball movement. He is about, uh, I can take them off the dribble. I can take them off the bounce. And that does not fit in the Brad system. So I don't see them turning it around, Chris. This is why you typically don't see teams with a lot of young players contend. Because when you're... Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum are in their rookie-scale deal. When you're a rookie in that four-year window or whatever, your main goal, and I got to be honest, I think rightly so, establish yourself as a star. So you can get that big deal. Kyrie didn't come close to winning early in his career. Because that's... LeBron didn't really either in his first few years. You want to establish yourself as a star. Then you get that max deal. Then that's usually when the winning becomes the priority. And that's the problem. I still have a little faith in that date. But I think Toronto and Milwaukee are just better. Okay. I think their ceiling is the second round anyway. I don't think that's their ceiling. I would not be shocked if they can get past a Milwaukee or a Toronto. Milwaukee, we haven't seen do it. I like picking up Powell Gasol, some experience. But they don't really have much experience going deep. Toronto, I think, is better than Boston. But I give them a shot. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a five-star review.