Category: Audio

CLAB 13: Talking the 76ers-Celtics 1st-round matchup with Anna Horford

With Boston set to face Philadelphia in the playoffs with Al Horford a 76er for the first time, we invited his sister Anna Horford to share her thoughts on the series.

With the Boston Celtics set to face the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2020 NBA Playoffs for the third time in three seasons, a Sixers – Celtics postseason series is becoming something of a tradition again.

This time however, there’s an awkward new twist — Al Horford is a 76er, facing his old team for the first time in the playoffs. To that end, we put together a crossover pod with Ky Carlin, the editor of our sister site Sixers Wire, and a very special guest able to speak to that awkwardness better than anyone save Al himself, Anna Horford.

Join Justin Quinn and Josh Coyne of Celtics Lab as we talk everything from the Xs and Os of Al’s role against his former team to the vagaries of British English and the unusually gruff style of Philly fandom.

Apologies in advance for some intermittent glitchiness with Ky — the logistics of recording across three countries (USA, Mexico and the UK) evidently presents unique challenges.

[lawrence-related id=40698,40686,39150,32008]

Ex-teammate Bismack Biyombo happy for Kemba Walker’s Celtics success

Former Charlotte Hornets teammate Bismack Biyombo is happy to see his friend Kemba Walker spread his wings with the Boston Celtics.

Boston Celtics All-Star point guard Kemba Walker inspires fierce loyalty among his teammates going all the way back to his days as a UConn Husky, and former Charlotte Hornets teammates still consider him among their closest friends despite his departure to Boston this summer.

One such former teammate is big man Bismack Biyombo, who was drafted two spots ahead of the Bronx native in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings and immediately traded to the then-Charlotte Bobcats.

The pair came up together, and reunited for a season on the Hornets after stints on the Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic for Biyombo.

[protected-iframe id=”536ae7b9e66c8a3c22de420065b42c62-134770808-157869264″ info=”https://tunein.com/embed/player/t155952610/” scrolling=”no”]

Speaking about their time together in a recent interview with Heavy.com’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson on the “Scoop B Radio” podcast, Biyombo shared some thoughts about his friend and now former teammate.

“Kemba has always been a hard worker and he’s my friend, my family; we came in the league together and we grew throughout the years,” began the Congolese center.

“One thing that I’ve always admired about Kemba is his work ethic … I remember one time, it was practice and it was the lockout year and a lot of our guys were hurt and we went up and we called a practice. It was just him and I; he was working out on one side and I was working out on the other side.

I can’t remember how long that we were working out, but at the end he was just joking about it like, ‘The NBA is really crazy; and a lot of this hard work will get you so far in this league and you just have to be patient in the process.'”

Walker has long had a reputation as a near-constant grinder, putting in work on whatever aspect of his game or body needs attention — and then putting in more.

And while it stinks for Biyombo he will have to watch his friend’s successes continue with the New Yorker on a different team again, the Lubumbashi native seems genuinely excited for the possibilities ahead of Walker.

For Biyombo, their friendship transcends the game.

“Just being able to see him going from being the rookie of the young guys to becoming the leader, to All-Star starter…this is beyond amazing to witness that and to get to know him as a person; he is the coolest person outside of basketball.”

“So, there’s only so much that I can say about my brother,” added Biyombo.

UConn fans in southern New England already know what Celtics fans and of course our Congolese friend have known for years now.

A not-small part of what has made Walker’s career as successful as it has been is his “Ubuntu” – like approach to life that seems to breed success wherever the point guard has landed.

Incidentally, a philosophy that helped carry the franchise to its last banner; will it carry it to another?

A longshot to be sure, but then — the odds have never bothered the former Husky before.

[lawrence-related id=39520,39514,39492,39487]

CLAB 12: Examining the NBA’s racial justice plans with N. Jeremi Duru

In this episode of Celtics Lab, we talk with of American University’s Professor N. Jeremi Duru on the NBA’s racial justice commitment.

In this podcast, Celtics Lab hosts Cam Tabatabaie (Celtics Hub / Off the Glass) and Justin Quinn (Celtic Wire) speak with special guest Professor of Law N. Jeremi Duru of American University’s Washington College of Law.

The author of “Sports Law and Regulation: Cases and Materials”, “The Business of Sports Agents” and “Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL,” Professor Duru joins us to talk about the NBA’s commitment to racial justice in the Disney restart.

With players unhappy with the degree of control they have over pro-racial justice slogans to be printed on jerseys but also excited to have an expansive platform to address the injustice that sparked the issue in the first place, we examine the various ways the league plans to tackle racism.

[protected-iframe id=”1764a0b3c3bfab7dbf7fea83446f1722-134770808-157869264″ info=”https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/699228?theme=dark&visual=true&autoplay=true&enable-volume=true” width=”100%” height=”190″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

We talk everything from Black Lives Matter, anthem protests, and Len Bias to symbolic and structural anti-racism and general strikes, so be sure to bring a snorkel, because this episode goes DEEP.

[lawrence-related id=38767,37987,37338,37051]

CLAB 11: The NBA is back and headed to the bubble – but should it be?

Join Cam Tabatabaie of Celtics Hub, Justin Quinn of Celtics Wire and Alex Goldberg of Off the Glass as we take as deep a dive as we feel comfortable on the ethics of reopening the NBA.

The NBA is back with actual games of the 2019-20 NBA season scheduled once again. Teams are gearing up to head to the Disney-hosted bubble taking place in Florida next week, and conversation is already starting to shift towards sports again.

But should it?

Join Cam Tabatabaie of Celtics Hub, Justin Quinn of Celtics Wire and Alex Goldberg of Off the Glass as we take as deep a dive as we feel comfortable on the ethics of reopening the NBA.

For those of you less prone to wax philosophical about such a serious issue, we do talk about the restart, schedule and playoffs as well.

[protected-iframe id=”3745fa81535ecb51d69882ae719cb185-134770808-157869264″ info=”https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/688833?theme=dark&visual=true&autoplay=true&enable-volume=true” width=”100%” height=”190″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

So listen to the podcast embedded above if you share our concerns about the not-small risk vs. the platform and revenue it provides — or skip the first half if you’d prefer to cut to the purely basketball-oriented analysis.

But we hope you prefer the former.

[lawrence-related id=37987,37969,37959,37897]

Celtics Lab 009: Cap navigation in a pandemic, and the NBA’s going to Disney

With the Boston Celtics and NBA poised to return, we helped put together a roundtable to talk about the short-term future of the Celtics and several other teams in terms of everything from the cap in a pandemic to who will be contending in a restarted season and beyond.

With a real return to action for the Boston Celtics and rest of the NBA looking more likely than ever, it was time to fire up the Celtics Lab and talk about the team’s future this season and beyond.

In this episode, we host a special roundtable on the future of the cap in an uncertain moment of NBA history.

Organized and moderated by Chicago-area publicist Andrew Gretchko, we spoke with Early Bird Rights’ Jeff Siegel, SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell, Vik Chokshi, formerly of The Big Lead and Derek Spallone of Spallone Sports.

Topics include how the Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors and several other teams around the league will be looking to manage cap and contention concerns.

[protected-iframe id=”0095b4441dadf83823bff16084c9d1a8-134770808-157869264″ info=”https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/660111?theme=dark&visual=true&autoplay=true&enable-volume=true” width=”100%” height=”190″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

Justin Quinn and Cam Tabatabaie also get into the growing drumbeat of restarting the 2019-20 NBA season at Disney, Paul Pierce inserting himself into a variety of debates, put The Last Dance to bed — and more.

[lawrence-related id=34955,34913,34901,34801]

Celtics Lab 8: How the pandemic is changing our consumption of sports

The coronavirus pandemic and the hiatus it’s forced on the NBA has changed the way we consume and produce sports content — but how?

Sick of H-O-R-S-E, into the history articles and podcasts, and confused about what the future of NBA and Boston Celtics basketball may hold?

You’re far from alone, so the Celtics Wire decided to take a closer look at the state of basketball media while we get up to speed on the latest happenings, few and far between they may be.

In this pod, we take a deep dive into how the coronavirus pandemic has changed our engagement with sports.

Whether from the perspective of fans, with history, interviews and well-intentioned if snooze-worthy live events, or from the perspective of content producers, we discuss what NBA basketball and Boston Celtics coverage looks like in the era of COVID-19, and what we can expect in the future.

[protected-iframe id=”095f9d5deb744143df20db9f7a2aacd2-134770808-157869264″ info=”https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/640175?theme=dark&visual=true&autoplay=true&enable-volume=true” width=”100%” height=”190″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

Join Off the Glass’ Justin Quinn and Cam Tabatabaie of Celtics Hub along with guest Nick Friar of the Nets Wire as we talk about the state of the sport, the news and more.

[lawrence-related id=33401,33389,33379,33370]

Celtics Lab Podcast: COVID-19’s NBA impact and unsung rebuild heroes

In this episode, we discuss how the pandemic could affect the Boston Celtics and NBA’s future, and talk about unsung heroes from the last rebuild.

The Boston Celtics and NBA are looking at the most uncertainty in the short term as perhaps any time in the league’s history.

How could things change for the team and the wider NBA world? What are the potential impacts of a longer delay, or a complete cancelation?

In this episode of the Celtics Lab podcast, we break down the various ways the Celtics and NBA could see changes in the near term due to the coronavirus pandemic.

We also look back at some of the unsung heroes of Boston’s last rebuild, holding a draft for an imaginary 3-on-3 tournament in the style of the Big3.

[protected-iframe id=”4a4ec35d2b81e6ee6201c0d7befaf2dd-134770808-157869264″ info=”https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/603590?theme=dark&enable-volume=true” width=”100%” height=”190″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

Join Celtics Lab’s Mark Allison, Double Clutch’s Justin Quinn and Celtics Hub’s Cam Tabatabaie as they get us caught up to all the news that’s broken since the last pod, and a little bit of weirdness to close things out.

[lawrence-related id=31471,31302,30561]

LISTEN: 3/27 conference call with Celtics head coach Brad Stevens

Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens held a conference call with beat reporters Friday to give an update on what the team has been up to in light of the pandemic.

Yesterday, the Celtics Wire reported on a conference call given by Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens to beat reporters on what he and the team have been up to since the onset of the coronavirus shutdown.

Today, the team released the audio of the call, which includes a lot of details not covered by many reporters as they focused on the more important details.

From how the team responded to the initial suspension of league activities, how Stevens and various players have been keeping busy, to how Stevens envisions the short-term future and life in a regime of physical distancing, there’s a wealth of information available to hear in the video below.

Stevens addresses quotidian concerns like how the team is keeping up with conditioning in the absence of available facilities, and also the sheer magnitude of the challenge we all face in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

[lawrence-related id=31696,31689,31678,31671]

The Celtics Lab Podcast: Back to fill the COVID-19 basketball void

We’re bringing back the Celtics Lab podcast to help fill the basketball-sized hole in our lives caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the absence of team sports at any level and the coronavirus pandemic’s requisite social distancing, many of us have much more time to fill and much less of the game we love to do fill it with.

But we do have each other, our memories of the NBA season that was, and a future resumption of basketball to look forward to at some point in the future, so we decided to revive the Celtic Lab podcast to help us get through the pandemic and talk about the team and sport we all miss right now.

Join CelticsHub and Off the Glass’ Cam Tabatabaie, Red’s Army’s Matt Esposito and Celtics Wire’s Justin Quinn as we talk how our lives have changed due to COVID-19, our thoughts on the season before it was interrupted, and what we think the future will hold for basketball and the wider world.

Most importantly, let us know what you want to hear about in terms of topics, and we’ll do our best to accomodate in future episodes — we’ve likely got at least a few months before we’re back into the thick of an NBA season of any sort, so let us know what you want that time filled with.

[protected-iframe id=”d67daa512b18432f39ac6e59f715e9d9-134770808-157869264″ info=”https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/599228?theme=dark&visual=true&autoplay=true&enable-volume=true” width=”100%” height=”190″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

Leave us your thoughts on Twitter, or in the comment section below, and we’ll do our best to include it in future episodes.

In this pod, we talk about how life has changed since the fateful day of March 11th, how we feel about the season so far and who would get what awards if it ended today, as well as our thoughts on the resumption of action hopefully coming this season.

[lawrence-related id=31281,31257,31250,31244]

Ex-Celtic Dominique Wilkins recalls Larry Bird’s epic trash talking

Former Boston Celtics forward Dominique Wilkins recalls the legendary trash talk leveled by Larry Bird at opponents as sought whatever advantage he could get.

Former Boston Celtics forward Dominique Wilkins recently appeared on the nationally syndicated Dan Patrick show, a popular staple of sports talk radio, and related his two favorite trash talkers during his time in the game.

One of the duo was fellow Celtics alumnus Larry Bird, who ‘Nique held in high regard for his ability to get under his opponents’ skin, even Wilkins’.

The nine-time All-Star recalled how the pair first met when Wilkins was a rookie, stating, “Larry was an unbelievable competitor.”

“The first time I played him in the Boston Garden, I go to shake his hand, and he puts his hands behind his back. I’m like, ‘Oh, OK?'”

Thinking maybe Bird was trying to get into a game mindset, Wilkins paid it no mind. He continued, “The first play of the game, he says, ‘You don’t even belong in this league,’ and he hits a three. He did it again on the second time down.”

Angry at the taunt, Wilkins started to attack.

“I jump and he jumps. I got him, and I dunked it on him. I’m talking at him. I’m talking crap. He said, ‘I like you, you’ve got heart.’ Except he didn’t say heart.”

“[Then he said], ‘I’m still getting 40 on you tonight’.”

That exchange summed up Larry Bird’s competitive nature and in-game approach that made him such a consistent threat. He was able to size up an opponent and pick at their weak spots both in their game and in their head in ways which infuriated many into making costly mistakes.

While the pair would share time as Celtics in their Hall of Fame careers, they were always on opposing teams while in the league. And hearing tidbits like this from their time in the league is a treat for those of us old enough to remember watching the pair face off on the court.

As well as a potential tool for the next generation to try sharpening.

[lawrence-related id=24777,23457,20246]