Picks 'n Pops: Embracing physicality, schadenfreude, and Darth Vader

- Am I nuts for thinking the Cavs are the better matchup for Boston?

- The Bucks have no way out of their mess. They are about to spend two years making panic “keep Giannis Antetokounmpo” moves and he’s going to leave anyway. 

- From the man who brought you “how to tie a tie,” it’s “how to tie a shoe.”

And if you think what I wrote was just me trying to be clever about Tatum instructional videos, his “how to tie a tie” is literally the last video he posted, and that was 11 years ago.

So maybe his shoe company put him up to it. If they did, then someone over at Jordan brand is thinking.

- I don’t care that Miami fans chanted “we want Boston.” Isn’t sports full of unchecked bravado? You talk your talk and deal with the consequences after. 

- Payton Pritchard, when asked whether teams are guarding him differently in the playoffs this year than last year: “I didn’t really play last year, so that’s probably the difference. I was watching rather than out here playing, so that’s the difference.”

- Patrick Beverly is the biggest [very long string of expletives deleted] in the league. Not only did he throw the ball at a fan in the stands, hit the wrong person, get the ball back, and then throw the ball back in the stands … 

… he then booted an ESPN reporter from the scrum for not subscribing to his podcast 

He needs to be suspended for a long time just for the ball incident. Then he needs another couple of weeks tacked onto it because he’s a total Richard to the media all season, refusing to talk to anyone who hasn’t subscribed to his podcast. This was just the highest-profile incident. 

Side note: Where was Bucks PR all season? How do they let that happen?

- Jimmy Butler is done being "that guy". If he was still “him” he would have gotten them out of the play-in tournament. Butler getting hurt allows him to maintain that aura for one more year, but in reality, it's gone. 

- Darvin Ham is out in L.A. I expect Phoenix to fire Frank Vogel. I’m wondering which of those situation Mike Budenholzer will choose. 

- Who won the race to the “canned Ham” headline?

- Tatum’s willingness to be a decoy was a big deal in the Heat series, and will continue to be moving forward. Here’s how Boston opened Game 5: 

The Heat put Bam Adebayo on Tatum, so Tatum went into the corner and kept Adebayo away from the rim. Brown went to work, carrying the offense while the Heat were forced to readjust. This is what dictating the terms of engagement looks like. If the Celtics are willing to keep playing like this, they will be just fine. 

- I can’t be the only one thinking of Isaiah Thomas’ run with Boston when I see what Jalen Brunson is doing in New York. 

- Congratulations to Brad Stevens on being named Executive of the Year. It’s about time someone from a 64-win team won something. 

- ESPN Bet has been a disappointment so far, which shows we’re at least hitting a saturation point when it comes to gambling. Now let’s see if we can get things back under some control after the Jontay Porter mess. 

- I’m looking to invest in a local knife company because I heard Britney Spears might be moving to Boston. 

- Anthony Edwards is a bleepin’ star. It’s nice to have a superstar with a personality out here.

- I like that Tatum is taking physicality personally 

“I think just being honest with ourselves, right? What are teams -- what's their message, what’s their game plan to beat us?” he said after closing out Miami. “And it’s to pick up the pace, the pressure, be more physical, crash the glass, do all the intangible things. So we know that. Why don't why don't we flip the script and be the tougher team? Why don't we crash the glass more? Why don’t we pick up the pressure on defense while still being the talented team that we are? It’ll be tough to beat us.”

This version of the Celtics has been a finesse team, and in the NBA, that's another F-word. There's a baked-in basketball slur to being called a finesse team. So I think it’s about time that these guys embrace that criticism and hit back. 

"I think he was dead-on about it,” Mazzulla said. “It's going to be defined in a bunch of different ways. I think sometimes, the simplicity, the discipline to think to do the right thing over and over again gets overlooked because you don't always see it. There is obviously is a huge physicality standpoint, a toughness standpoint, rebounding, screening. But it's also the discipline and the details that you gotta do every day."

- I’m not happy to be working on May the 4th, but as I get to wear my Darth Vader costume to practice, I’ll get by.

- Here’s today’s Bing AI-generated image: Just waiting for these guys to figure it out

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