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The Raptors center made some terrible decisions, but in a league that has preached second chances when it comes to domestic violence — all while spamming sports betting promotions — Jontay Porter is not solely to blame.
On Wednesday, the NBA announced that Raptors two-way player Jontay Porter was banned for life from the NBA after a league investigation found that he violated league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors. He was also found guilty of limiting his own participation in at least one game for betting purposes, and of betting on NBA games himself – all strictly prohibited actions.
Perhaps most damning, the investigation found that on March 20th, Porter played only three minutes — claiming that he felt ill — after previously sharing medical information with a bettor. That better subsequently placed an $80,000 bet with an online sportsbook to win $1.1 million, which ultimately spurred the league investigation.
It’s a brutal set of allegations that has been likened by some to insider trading. Last week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver characterized Porter’s behavior as a “cardinal sin.” And most people agree that an example had to be made out of Porter in order to send the unequivocal message that the league won’t tolerate any sort of betting misconduct, all in the name of preserving “the integrity of the game.”
In a press release, Silver drove home this point: “There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams, and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishments.”
But, Jontay Porter still doesn’t deserve a lifetime ban from the NBA, and here’s why.
Until now, the NBA has operated under the premise that a lifetime ban is not a tool to address wrongdoing.
When players have made truly awful decisions, like committing domestic assault, Silver opted not to lay down the law in a permanent way. Last summer, Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges was accused of beating the mother of his children in front of them. The victim, Mychelle Johnson, in a since-deleted post on her Instagram, posted a photo of her bruised face and body, along with a caption that read, in part, “Adult victim of physical abuse by male partner; Assault by strangulation; Brain concussion; closed fracture of nasal bone; Contusion of rib; Multiple bruises; Strain of neck muscle.”
When Charles Barkley asked Adam Silver about the domestic violence issues within the league, his response was vague.
“We have state-of-the-art counselors dealing with our players, but of course, if it crosses the line, the consequences are going to be enormous,” Silver said.
"Enormous," he said – but certainly not a permanent ban. It’s not language the commissioner has ever evoked on the topic of domestic violence.
It’s been years since the league has laid the hammer down on a player like this – the last multi-year suspension being O.J. Mayo’s in 2016, a two-year suspension for drug abuse. Mayo is the only other player since 2000 to be banned from the league.
Over the past 25 years, we’ve seen players beat their wives, break restraining orders, and commit a whole suite of violent offenses. I won’t detail them all here, but you can read my earlier piecesummarizing just some of the heinous behavior perpetrated by former and current NBA players and coaches — a substantial amount of which remains unaddressed.
Silver has had the discretion to completely disqualify a player from the NBA dozens of times. Each time, he’s opted not to do so. To date, Miles Bridges’s 30-game suspension is one of the largest domestic violence suspensions in league history.
Critics of this comparison will say that domestic violence should be dealt with through the court of law, and that the NBA has to prioritize punishing actions that directly impact the game, like doping and betting. But the court of law has routinely failed survivors of domestic violence, and so has the NBA.
The league’s decision-making is rooted in the concept that if consumers start to believe the league is rigged, that notion will severely hurt the league’s bottom line. It’s a fair point. Consumers have already shown that they don’t actually care about the off-court behavior of players, about whether they’ve perpetrated violence, about whether they’ve laid their hands on women, about whether they’ve committed sexual assault. It’s that reality that’s at the root of the discrepancy in responses.
Sure, people appreciate hearing about their favorite player doing a good deed off the court, but that’s a distant second priority compared to the player’s on-court impact. The Charlotte Hornets fan base welcomed Miles Bridges back with fervent enthusiasm because he’s one of the most talented players on the roster, regardless of his past wrongdoings.
Hornets fans get in their feet and cheer as Miles Bridges enters the game for the first time this season
Adam Silver is concerned about the “integrity” of the game — but “integrity” extends beyond the basketball court. “Integrity” means you don’t make the decision to promote sports betting on League Pass when millions of your viewers already grappling with gambling addiction.
“Integrity” also means that if you maintain that a person deserves a second chance after hitting the mother of their kids, they also probably deserve a second chance for abusing sports betting – particularly in the context that it has become part of the fabric of the NBA seemingly overnight, with little training or support for players.
The uninhibited rise of sports betting made this outcome inevitable
If you’re a consumer of professional sports, you have no way to escape from online gambling. I don’t need to tell you that – there’s probably an ad on this very page, directing you to place a bet on Pelicans vs. Kings. And if you turn on tonight’s game, you’ll be further encouraged to spend on parlays and money lines — all throughout pregame shows, halftime, and postgame analysis.
Players themselves have said time and again that they are constantly harassed by fans about parlays, both in-game and online. Jayson Tatum said at a Celtics practice last month that during games, he regularly hears players yelling at him about his stats.
Jayson Tatum on sports betting in the NBA:
“Fans yell shit all the time, shoot one more three, get one more rebound, get 25 before the half is over… I guess I do feel bad when I don't hit people's parlays. I dont want to them lose money.” pic.twitter.com/k6CHnL6CDF
The constant heckling is only going to get more prevalent as more states legalize online gambling and the league continues its incessant promotions. Most recently, the NBA announced that League Pass will have the option for fans to wager on games in real time through FanDuel and DraftKings sportsbooks (in states where online sports gambling is legal).
Making sports betting this accessible is harmful to the millions who have already become addicted to it. The Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling reported a 91 percent spike in calls in 2022, the year Connecticut legalized gambling. New Jersey’s Council on Compulsive Gambling similarly found that hotline calls have tripled since gambling in the state was legalized in 2019.
You can be an alcoholic and see an ad for beer on TV, but you can’t then access that beer on demand. But if you’re addicted to gambling, all it takes is five seconds and you’re down another thousand dollars.
As a member of the media, I don’t have all the answers. It’d be nearly impossible to avoid creating content for sites and channels completely devoid of sports betting, and as the sports journalism industry continues to struggle, making the choice to completely depart from all media platforms that advertise online gambling would effectively be making the decision to terminate a career in this field.
And yes, sports betting has helped make the league a boatload of money. It will be a crucial component of the NBA’s upcoming TV deals, and it’s a big part of why players have the exorbitant salaries that they have. To date, 38 states and Washington DC have legalized sports betting, and more will soon follow suit. We’re in the early days of this whole thing completely inundating society.
So within the context of our current climate around sports betting, putting all the blame on Porter — and giving him no pathway toward rehabilitation — is short-sighted. As it currently stands, the only delineated stipulation related to gambling prevention is requiring players to participate in a singular yearly anti-gambling session conducted by their team or the NBA, per the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. That’s it.
Regardless of the proliferation of this industry, Jontay Porter should have known better.
It would be disingenuous to say that Porter’s behavior can be completely chalked up to the promotion of sports betting. But it’s also very possible that like so many, he was struggling with his own addiction, and in turn, the 24-year-old made a really, really idiotic mistake. All in all, Porter made less than $22,000 betting, an amount that is laughable in the context of his NBA earnings, which equal $2.7 million to date, and likely lots more left on the table.
In turn, Jontay Porter’s professional basketball career, at least in this country, will permanently come to an end. He’ll go down in history as the first NBA player to receive a lifetime ban for sports gambling, and most people will forever admonish him for that terrible choice. Even if the NBA hadn’t enacted the sweeping ban, teams likely would have shied away from a two-way guy embroiled in controversy.
At the same time, people who have committed far graver offenses — with actions reaping far more serious consequences — will continue to sign contracts worth millions. Some won’t mind that, maintaining that the domestic violence comparison is a false equivalency.
But Adam Silver called Porter’s behavior a “cardinal sin.” He used language we haven’t heard him use in reference to far more morally reprehensible acts.
Jontay Porter never should have gambled on NBA games, nor should he have disclosed his medical status to sports bettors ahead of games. That much is obvious.
But his actions reflect a society that churns out and promotes sports gambling in an unfettered way. And the decision to give him a lifetime ban reflects a society that cares much more about bottom line than morality.
If perpetrators of domestic violence get a second chance, so should Jontay Porter. And while we’re at it, let’s reconsider the ongoing proliferation of sports betting ads, partnerships, and promotions, all with limited guardrails in place.
The results of the past two postseasons just isn’t going to cut it.
The Boston Celtics will begin their climb towards Banner 18 on Sunday afternoon when they host a mystery opponent (thanks a lot, Play-In Tournament) at 1 p.m.
Regardless if it’s the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, or Atlanta Hawks, the Celtics have to get their $#@% together and start the series off with a win at home.
Wins at TD Garden have eluded the Cs over the past two postseasons. In their 2022 NBA Finals run, they went a combined 6-6 at home. A year later, they managed to regress, winning just five of 11 games in Boston. If you neglect first-round games, their record over that two-year span is 7-11 on the parquet.
Of the teams that have played more than 10 home playoff games since 2022, Boston stands alone having a losing record.
To make matters worse, many of those losses have come in huge spots. The Celtics dropped the following key games while playing on their home floor:
2022 Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 1 vs. Milwaukee (fell behind 0-1)
2022 Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 5 vs. Milwaukee (fell behind 2-3)
2022 Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 vs. Miami (fell behind 1-2)
2022 Eastern Conference Finals Game 6 vs. Miami (failed to close out Heat)
2022 NBA Finals vs. Golden State Game 4 (failed to take 3-1 lead)
2022 NBA Finals vs. Golden State Game 6 (lose Finals 2-4)
2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 1 vs. Philadelphia (fell behind 0-1 to Joel Embiid-less 76ers)
2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 5 vs. Philadelphia (fell behind 2-3)
2023 Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 vs. Miami (fell behind 0-1)
2023 Eastern Conference Finals Game 2 vs. Miami (fell behind 0-2)
2023 Eastern Conference Finals Game 7 vs Miami (Lose series 3-4)
Playing at home isn’t going to guarantee victory in the playoffs. But, the fact that the list of brutal losses at TD Garden is that long in just a two-year span is unacceptable.
In a year where the expectations are higher than ever, Boston can’t afford to let teams come into their building and win anymore, they just can’t.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Jrue Holiday, Boston Celtics
They’ve done a tremendous job of protecting home court throughout the 2023-24 season, losing only four games at TD Garden all year. Only one of those losses (April 11 against the New York Knicks, where many have speculated that the Cs weren’t engaged in the slightest) came against an Eastern Conference opponent.
Not only has Boston won their home games, but they’ve dominated. Their average point differential at the Garden this year is +15.2.
To put that in perspective, they had a +10 point differential last season when they went 32-9 at home, and a +7 in 2022, where they logged a 28-13 record on the parquet.
Despite their atrocious, borderline embarrassing, postseason record in front of the Garden faithful, the Celtics have still managed to make runs deep into the playoffs.
Had they just won their home games, they could very well be looking at an opportunity to three-peat this season.
Again, this season’s team has been unbelievably good, not only at home but overall. If there’s any group that can make TD Garden a postseason fortress again, it’s them.
Blake Griffin, Boston Celtics. | Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Boston was the only team he would’ve suited up for.
Blake Griffin announced his retirement from basketball on Tuesday afternoon. The 35-year-old spent his final season as a pro with the Boston Celtics last year.
Fans had hoped that Griffin may have come back to the team for another championship push with their final roster spot open for the majority of the year.
According to the former No. 1 overall pick, the fans weren’t the only ones who hoped he’d come back.
During an appearance on “Pardon My Take,” Griffin revealed that he had a standing offer to return to the Celtics throughout the season.
“I kind of left it open, for a while,” he said. “I did have sort of a standing offer to go back to Boston. I remember the end of December hit and I called Brad Stevens and I was like, ‘man, I really appreciate it.’ I had communication with him the whole time. I just wasn’t there, man. Something changed and I knew when something changed like that it was time to be done.”
Unfortunately, it just sounds like Griffin had had enough of the travel and strenuous schedule that comes with the NBA, otherwise, the Celtics, and their fans, would’ve gotten their wish.
“Yeah, I mean if I had gone anywhere, I would’ve gone back to Boston,” Griffin explained. “I love those guys and I’m pulling for them and they’ve got a great shot. But, it was just time for me to be done. I wouldn’t have been able to give what I should be able to give to a team if my heart wasn’t in it.”
Griffin was a key member of last season’s Celtics squad. Though he didn’t log a ton of minutes, he was well-liked by all of his teammates and was simply, great for the vibes. He also did a solid job of stepping in when Al Horford or Robert Williams III needed the night off.
“Great teammate,” Horford told reporters at Tuesday’s Celtics practice, (h/t NBCS Sports Boston). “Everybody here, we love Blake. The year that he was here, he made it enjoyable for me. It was fun to come into work with him every day and getting to talk to him and getting to know him with some of the things off the court and him as a person. Just a great guy.”
Griffin wrapped his chat about the Cs but voicing his appreciation for Stevens and the organization.
“I’m super appreciative of Boston and all of those guys, Brad and all of those guys, but it was time.”
Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
How do the Celtics stack up compared to some of our favorite playoff tropes?
Just like in literature, movies, and television, basketball is an ever-changing narrative landscape. Plots that felt novel and unique in the 90’s are now weathered tropes that probably get solved with a cell phone. Seinfeld and company aimlessly walking through a parking garage is solved by a simple glance down at your iPhone’s parked car feature. So too have we seen some of our beloved NBA Playoffs tropes eroded to extinction with the passage of time and evolution of the game.
One of my favorite dead tropes is that “jump shooting teams can’t win the title.” While Steph Curry and the Warriors were the beginning of the end for this one (and maybe the end of the end in 2022), every modern NBA team would qualify as a jump shooting team when compared to the early 2000s.
There are, however, some classic tropes that still hold strong, three of which we will jump into today. First, we have a crowd favorite: “the game slows down.” The second is probably less applicable given the way refs have started calling games, but alas, it’s also true in the playoffs: “the refs swallow their whistles.” The third is an amalgamation of a few tropes, things like not turning it over and protecting the defensive glass. I’ve summed it up into one catch-all trope: “you have to win the possession battle.”
*Part 2 will discuss “the refs swallow their whistles” and “you have to win the possession battle.”*
Trope #1: the game slows down
This one sounds a bit like me trying to convince my friends to watch The Wire(it’s slower, but it’s totally worth it, I promise). When we talk about the game slowing down, that’s basically shorthand for saying defenses get back quicker and crisper. Teams are more careful on offense, which limits transition opportunities. To sum it up, playoff basketball is half-court basketball. Well, good news, everyone!
The Celtics (unsurprisingly) have the number 1 halfcourt offense in the league, but "only" the 5th best halfcourt defense. pic.twitter.com/lwRQQx2AvB
The Celtics elite offense is, shockingly, elite in the half-court (stats per Cleaning the Glass). Like G.O.B. looking into a paper bag labeled “dead dove,” that might seem ridiculously obvious, but there have been excellent regular season offenses that relied heavily on transition buckets to bolster their efficiency. Some of the Nick Nurse Raptors teams fit that profile. It’s like Seinfeld finding a girlfriend, looks great on paper, but they’ll have trouble putting a ring on their finger (probably due to the size of her hands). Although the Celtics do rank in the middle of the league in difference between total offensive efficiency and halfcourt offensive efficiency.
Here's every team sorted by the difference between their total offensive efficiency and their halfcourt offensive efficiency. Teams at the top tend to rely more on transition opportunities to score efficiently. Worth noting the Cs have the best halfcourt offense (and total) pic.twitter.com/crFPpG9CH0
There are a few reasons for the offensive eliteness, one simply being the ridiculous amount of talent on the roster. The Celtics’ half court offense is the NBA equivalent of the Cheers cast. But talent is meaningless if it isn’t deployed properly, and Joe Mazzulla has these guys drilled to a Dr. Cox level of smart team basketball.
To state the obvious for a second time in this brief section, part of the Celtics’ efficiency is their 3-point attack. Lovingly described as Mazzullaball by some, and mockingly so by others.
No matter your personal feelings on the Cs’ three-point heavy attack, it has been highly successful. But we saw in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals what it can look like when the 3s aren’t falling.
Mazzulla promised to develop some curveballs in the offseason to get the offense humming when the 3s aren’t blowing teams off the court. Well, Joe must have watched some Sandy Koufax tape (excluding that time Mister Ed hit a homerun off him) because he came up with an elite one: the post up.
There are 83 players that have 30 or more post up possessions this season (per Synergy), four Celtics are in the top-25 of efficiency: Jaylen Brown (25th), Jayson Tatum (17th), Al Horford!! (4th!), and Kristaps Porzingis (1st!). All four are deployed differently, which gives the Celtics a varied attack even within the same playtype. Porzingis is very often used as a high-post hub where he can shoot over the top or work himself closer to the hoop. JB’s post-ups are usually just tools for getting off his elite mid-range jumper, and Tatum often attacks with spins and fall-aways near the blocks. Horford post-ups are the equivalent of a clip show: they aren’t your preference, but sometimes they work just fine. He punishes small defenders and poor alike when teams try to hide them on him.
Add the post-ups with the Celtics long-range attack, and including their other various sets that lead to pick and roll possessions and buckets off cuts, and it’s easy to see why their half court offense is so deadly. Not many teams can boast four elite post up options and 7 of their top 8 shooting 37.5% or better from three (Jaylen being the only guy below that mark). The Celtics have more counters than Avon Barksdale. There is just no good way to defend this team.
Now, let’s flip to the other side of the court. Celtics fans can, at times, tap into their inner Kahn and Mihn from King of the Hill.We become theoverbearing parent expecting the team to earn an A+ in every subject, which is objectively impossible in the NBA. In this instance, the C’s half court defense would bring shame to the family as it fails to meet that lofty standard and settles in around the A- range.
Per Cleaning the Glass, the C’s have the 5th best half court defense in the league, and the 3rd best defense overall (they are ridiculously good in transition). Their statistical profile is encouraging. The aim of the Celtics is to protect the rim and limit straight-line drives that force help and lead to easy 2s and wide-open 3s. They have been extremely successful at this; not only do they limit the attempts at the rim, but they force a higher percentage of misses on the shots that do get off.
Celtics limit opponent shots at the rim and are the 7th best team at forcing misses on rim FGAs. pic.twitter.com/i2NT7Wyqzu
And while the Cs are middle of the pack in opponent three-point rate, they are elite at defending the line.
They also force the 4th most worst shots in basketball, the Sandy Lyle memorial long mid-range jumper (“rain dance!”). While Sandy was exceptionally terrible, his efficiency was exponentially damaged by his reliance on the long middy, and NBA offenses are no different. You want opponents relying on these shots to generate offense, because the math will win the day over the long run.
Allowing around 42.5% on these shots, which is about average, is equivalent to an offensive rating of 85 points per 100 possessions. Even the Celtics’ middling middy defense equals a defensive win when they force opponents into this look. That efficiency would rank dead last even in some of the NBA’s most offensive starved eras.
Much like Dr. Evil’s Preparation H, the Celtics’ gameplan is working, and all of the stats above are evidence of such. The Celtics are not an aggressive defensive team, and basically don’t force turnovers (which we will discuss in part 2).
Instead, Mazzulla has instituted almost a contain style defense, keeping everything in front on the perimeter and funneling drives towards the Celtics’ Bond villain stand-in, Kristaps Porzingis. Their elite wing and guard defenders can help and recover against any kick-outs from deterred rim attacks, allowing teams to generate threes, but often against a hard contest.
Playing defense this way doesn’t serve to strangle offenses in quite the same way that the Celtics’ aggressive, switch-everything style under Udoka did. The Cs invite teams to shoot long midrange jumpers (although Jrue and White are so good getting around screens, lock and trails, and rear-view contests that it’s not as open as our strategy would normally dictate), so teams with players comfortable in the midrange can generate a decent shot nearly every possession.
And that’s just fine, the Celtics half court offense and defense is playing the math, betting they can outscore you with 3s and rim attacks while forcing you to shoot the lights out on the league’s least efficient shot or make some well contested threes. To quote Ron Burgundy, “it’s science!”
Boston’s playoff journey will begin April 21, though their opponent is not yet known.
Wednesday morning, the NBA announced the schedule for the upcoming first-round series’ of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, including Boston’s clash with a still-undetermined opponent.
Boston will host the winner of the 8-seed Play-In Game to kick off their first-round series at 1 pm EST on Sunday, April 21. The remaining schedule for the series will be as follows, per NBA.com:
Game 1: TBD at Celtics - Sunday, April 21 (1 pm EST on ABC)
Game 2: TBD at Celtics - Wednesday, April 24 (7 pm EST on TNT)
Game 3: Celtics at TBD - Saturday, April 27 (6 pm EST on TNT)
Game 4:Celtics at TBD - Monday, April 29 (Time/Network TBD)
Game 5:TBD at Celtics - Wednesday, May 1 (Time/Network TBD)*
Game 6:Celtics at TBD - Friday, May 3 (Time/Network TBD)*
Game 7:TBD at Celtics - Sunday, May 5 (Time/Network TBD)*
*if necessary
The Celtics won’t find out their exact opponent until late the night of April 19, after the conclusion of the 8-seed Play-In Game at 7 pm EST on ESPN. This game will pit the winner of the Chicago Bulls vs. Atlanta Hawks 9-10 matchup and the loser of the Philadelphia 76ers vs. Miami Heat 7-8 matchup, with the winner advancing with the 8 seed.
As of now, the Celtics could theoretically play any of the four Eastern Conference Play-In teams, though Wednesday night will whittle the options down to two teams. Whoever wins 76ers-Heat will face the Knicks in Round 1, and the loser of Bulls-Hawks will be eliminated.
Tune into ESPN tonight at 7:00 pm EST and again at 9:30 pm EST to find out which two teams could be traveling to Boston this weekend.
In the third and final part of the Celtics award predictions, we check out Boston's backcourt's All-Defensive cases, and then we beg the voters to accept them.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s the best defensive backcourt in the league, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday!
On September 28, I wrote that “the Celtics should absolutely trade for Jrue Holiday,” which included a whole section about what trade packages would make sense. I openly stated I would be alright with trading Malcolm Brogdon—who seemed unhappy anyway—as well as Robert Williams III and/or Payton Pritchard, but also that if any blogger, reporter, or 6th grader in Boston advocated for trading White for Holiday I would completely lose it.
Of course, that was never in the cards. The Celtics knew how good White was and had no interest of shipping off the 29-year-old—who is something between a star and the best role player of all time—for the 33-year-old Holiday for what would amount to maybea minor upgrade and potentially a downgrade.
My real concern was the Portland would draw the line at White versus Brogdon, saying that they had no interest in the disgruntled Sixth Man of the Year and wanted to center the deal around White and Williams III. But thankfully, the Trail Blazers had no interest in winning games and couldn’t find a better offer.
And… man.
If you asked me what my best case scenario for Holiday on the Celtics was, here’s what I would have said: defensive quarterback, ready and able to guard the NBA’s best wings and guards one-on-one. Real offensive chops, ability to bail the Celtics out of bad situations, and shoot around 38 percent from beyond the arc. That would have been gravy.
Instead, we’ve been treated to not only gravy, but the accompanying turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and apple pie. My vision for Holiday guarding the Damian Lillards and Jalen Brunsons of the world on an island has been replaced with an infinitely cooler version: he and White roaming around like free safeties and obliterating plays before they even have a chance to develop.
Call them White Christmas (get it, because Christmas is a Holiday?), the Stock Exchange (Steals + Blocks = Stocks… I’m not sold), or whatever you want to. Watching those two play off each other has been a treat like no other. So let’s give them some awards for their hard work. Please, NBA media, can we give them some awards?
Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images
Derrick White
Possible Awards: All-Defensive First Team (maybe), All-Defensive Second Team (please, bro)
Likely award coolness ranking:B/A Tier (Used to win arguments about if a player is actually good or not/Wikipedia Article enhancer)
Jrue Holiday
Possible Awards: All-Defensive First Team (probably a better chance than White), All-Defensive Second Team (very likely)
Likely award coolness ranking:B/A Tier (Used to win arguments about if a player is actually good or not/Wikipedia Article enhancer)
Look, I can’t predict All-Defensive teams, nor should I even be trusted to. I frankly have no idea if Jalen Suggs or Holiday is a better defender, nor am I even really sure how I’m supposed to compare guys like White to Rudy Gobert since their games are about as similar to a unicycle and a 1999 Toyota Corolla. They’re both modes of transportation… with wheels… yeah that’s all I got.
Between guys like Suggs and Alex Caruso versus White and Holiday, the “best” defender would be whoever most players in the league would least like guarding them with the game on the line. That’s not something we can easily measure—but we kind of can, which we’ll discuss later—and I’m not jealous of the voters who have to make these calls.
So instead of telling you why the members of White Christmas are better defenders than the rest of the field, I’m just going to articulate how freaking amazing they are as best as I can. Then we can all just leave it up to fate. Deal? Deal.
Holiday has been one of the NBA’s best defenders—if not the very best—throughout his long and decorated career, and this season has seen him adapt his clamps to a more freeing system. He doesn’t have to shut down the other team’s best player while Giannis Antetokounmpo roams and Brook Lopez drops on every screen. He actually gets to do some roaming, allowing his instincts to disrupt all five choke points of the half court.
On the other side of the aisle we have White, who—with increased playing time—has become one of the NBA’s best shot blockers, not merely among guards. He is 16th in the NBA in blocks per game, but is the only guard in the top-20. All 15 guys ahead of him are 6’10” or taller, with White coming in at a cool 6’4”.
What’s even cooler is how he achieves these blocks. Most of the NBA’s swat artists are pure rim protectors, camping in the paint and spiking any floating orange sphere into the shadow realm. But White is cooler than that, usually following his mark from the point of attack all the way to the rim and then swallowing the shot at any point during the motion. He will also chase you down from behind or just block a three-pointer like he’s playing in slow motion. It’s bonkers to watch.
Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
On the Celtics, straight up one-on-one guarding duties have fallen mostly to Jaylen Brown and occasionally Jayson Tatum, with a smattering of Al Horford when a few larger customers—namely Joel Embiid—show up. But Holiday has even had success guarding Embiid in the post, as he has the physical profile to at least survive in that matchup and the footwork to make the reigning MVP constantly second guess himself.
Does your team have a point guard that can defend one of the most physically dominant centers in NBA history? Yeah, ours has two. Next question.
White and Holiday have also been sacrifice machines, giving up what could be much larger roles on other teams in favor of buckling down on the Celtics and trying to win. This says nothing of their offensive impact, which has been immense. White is third in the NBAin plus/minus, while Holiday is shooting a preposterous 42.9 percent from beyond the arc, good for 6th in the NBA. He’s also hitting over 60 percent of his corner threes, which sounds like a fake number.
Holiday recently signed a four-year extension to remain in Boston, and one can only hope White does the same this offseason. The path towards doing that isn’t entirely straightforward, as White may have to leave some money on the table to stay in Boston depending on how the books straighten out. If White moves elsewhere, I’ll probably need a week to recover.
For now, I hope the voters got the gist. These guys are ballers, plain and simple. They bring defense, winning, and impeccable vibes to every Celtics function they attend, and that will be invaluable in the playoffs. In my under-researched and very biased opinion, they deserve All-Defensive nods.
And that concludes this year’s awards predictions! Kristaps Porzingis unfortunately will not be hitting the 65-game mark, and while Al Horford is the Sixth Man of the Year in my heart, he won’t be taking that one home in the real world. Cheers to an amazing season, and the honors that may or may not come with it!
Side note: these three articles evaluating Celtics award cases were written entirely on long-distance train rides through Central Europe. The governments of Slovenia, Switzerland, and Germany do not officially endorse this content, but I bet they would if I asked nicely.
Brad Stevens spoke about the Jrue Holiday extension, the Celtics’ playoff push ahead and the team’s future on Tuesday.
BOSTON — Brad Stevens spoke for the first time since the Celtics signed Jrue Holiday to a contract extension on Tuesday, holding an impromptu press conference five days from the NBA Playoffs.
Ahead of a critical moment for the franchise, he praised the job Joe Mazzulla did this year, explained why Boston acted now to retain Holiday long-term and expressed optimism toward keeping his back court mate Derrick White in green.
“I can’t talk about much with things that we’re not allowed to discuss until July 1,” Stevens said. “But Derrick has had an amazing year. Derrick is a huge, huge part of our team and we want him around for as long as we can keep him around.”
The Celtics and Holiday agreed to a four-year, $135 million extension earlier this month after the guard became eligible for a new deal on Apr. 1. White and Boston can’t negotiate until the summer, when he’ll become open to a new deal through the end of his current one, which expires at the end of the 2024-25 season.
That two-year window limited the urgency to close on a contract last summer, and CBA limitations (allowing him to sign for roughly 4yr, $120M) could hinder efforts to lock up White this summer. Considering Stevens and White’s comments over the past year, motivation seems to exist on both sides to keep him around.
First, this group will have to affirm its ability to win, the Holiday extension in part an effort to extend the team’s window in the near future. A combination of repeater tax and second apron penalties will make it difficult to keep the Celtics together annually beginning in 2025-26, when Jayson Tatum will inevitably begin a super max extension with Boston.
That raised questions about White’s future with the team. Stevens considered the Holiday move a bridge between Holiday’s two-way impact he provides and the mentorship he’ll continue to give the team’s younger players like Jordan Walsh. The front end of the deal could also aid in keeping the team’s starters together.
“Jrue came here, joined our team and all he tried to do is add to win. For a guy who is as accomplished as he is, that is as used to more usage, more reps, more touches,” Stevens said. “All that came into play was what kind of a teammate am I being and can I help us win?... also the fact that he can play off the ball and be as effective as he’s been, I just think it shows another layer of what a guy can do... as you look at a person like him and you think about the long term of a group, you think, obviously, you need really good players and guys that can play on both ends of the court. You also want people that young players can look up to and he is a person they should look up to, and certainly do look up to.”
Stevens didn’t consider a 64-win season a given despite the talent Boston brought into camp. He placed credit for that, in part, on Mazzulla’s ability to instill a message to a team capable of playing on that level at both ends. The team’s desire to be part of something bigger than themselves, he said, also played into that and became obvious in the opening days of training camp. So the fourth-best year in franchise history didn’t surprise him, he only wanted to stress how difficult it is to get there.
The playoff run will be difficult too, he asserted, beginning round one whether Boston draws Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago or Atlanta following Wednesday and Friday’s play-in round. He expects the mix of playoff experience and some of the freshness younger players bring to their first postseason run as important too. Payton Pritchard projects to step into a significant playoff bench role for the first time in his career to finish his fourth NBA season.
Stevens also explained the team’s decision to sign Neemias Queta to the 15th roster spot. A move that doesn’t project to impact the postseason much, but considered him another young bench piece that can improve into the future and help sustain an increasingly expensive roster. When asked, his description of ownership’s commitment to spend hasn’t changed. Green light. Whatever it takes.
As for rumors he could return to college to fill potential openings in his home state of Indiana, Stevens smiled and laughed.
“I don’t get into any of the rumor stuff,” Stevens said. “I got a heck of an opportunity here. We’ve been here 11 years now and gotten a chance to see this team do a lot of cool things and go a long way. Our goals have been the same since we moved here. We’d like to get over that hump. So I’ve got plenty enough to do right now rather than think about all that.”
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In addition to the nationally-broadcast NBA games highlighted previously, all other NBA games are broadcast on regional sports networks available in different parts of the country. So if you’re a fan hoping to use a streaming TV service to watch the local NBA team, you must check and see if the package includes the regional sports network with rights to air the games. The internet links listed below are suited mostly to a mobile device. Some streaming providers will allow you to sign in with an email and password from your existing account with a Cable, Satellite, or Telco TV Provider with no additional cost.
It is possible that the NBA with its broadcast partner TNT will offer a free streamed presentation of any particular game, subject to time slot and teams matched up. When checking whether your chosen team is to be streamed for a scheduled game, visit the NBA.com site and find the scheduled matchup(s) found along the pages left column. Locate the "Watch" link to click on which will then present you with a "How To Watch" selection palate to choose from. If it is available you will see Video Streams... Watch TNT offered on the palate to select.
Also, check to see if the TNT Overtime option appears within the NBA League Pass selection box (depending on what teams are playing) which should allow you some free streaming options to select from.
Keep in mind that free streaming may not run as smoothly as a premium video service. Revisiting these streaming sites will help you learn how to best navigate them. Sometimes there are ads to click through. There is a reason why it's free. If the stream is not working properly or lagging, just refresh the page or try another stream channel on the same network. Reddit NBA streams will generally provide a listing of newly activated streams, so check just before game time to find out what's available.
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