The 'film session' Celtics showed up at the TD Garden and played nearly perfectly and handed the Milwaukee Bucks a 14 point loss. John Karalis explains how a marathon film session helped refocus the team, and how the defensive play from Al Horford on Giannis Antetokounmpo and Marcus Smart on Khris Middleton won the game. Plus, Jayson Tatum's huge night could have even been better and Jaylen Brown gave everyone the space to work. And then Grant Williams is on fire, and hopefully this helps show people why patience and context are helpful

Jaylen Brown is back and -- no pressure, Jaylen -- it comes at exactly the right time. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal gets into the reasons why it took Jaylen so long to get back and why the C's swear he's ok now. Plus, what went wrong in the Suns game and the difference between trying to answer Phoenix baskets and running their offense. And, how the Celtics are just like New Years resolutioners trying to get back into shape, and why their ability to recover is critical for the team's future.

The Boston Celtics did it again... falling behind by a lot to a team missing its star player, fighting back, and falling short. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal runs through the turnover issues that destroyed Boston's chances, the real turning point, why Josh Richardson needs to start, and why this team needs to answer one honest question about itself.

The Celtics were hoping to continue their good basketball against the Lakers but L.A. had different ideas. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal runs through why Jayson Tatum was really the only good Celtic in this game and why his early outburst might have actually been counterproductive. Plus, why Dennis Schröder really let the Celtics down, the defensive mistakes by Robert Williams and others, and why the Celtics have a real problem handling success.

The Celtics win over the LA Lakers was one of their easiest of the season, so they're in Los Angeles hoping for a repeat performance. In this Locked on Celtics and Locked on Lakers crossover, John Karalis joins Brian and Andy Kamenetzky to discuss some rivalry history, Jayson Tatum's early issues, LeBron James and Anthony Davis biding their time, and more.

The Celtics beat the doors off the Blazers, who were without Damian Lillard, to get a huge win behind big performances by Jayson Tatum and Dennis Schröder. Payton Pritchard was also awesome in the fourth quarter which led to hilarious technical foul. That came after a historic shooting performance by Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, and the Jazz, which handed the C's a tough loss. John Karalis gets into both games, and how Jayson Tatum is getting to the rim a bit easier than he used to.

There was yet another suggestion that it's time to trade Marcus Smart. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal wonders why this lazy idea is happening when Smart is playing well? Plus, Jaylen Brown is out, and David Locke hops on for a crossover to preview the Celtics-Jazz game Friday night, and why the Celtics might have the right defense to give the Jazz trouble.

It didn't look great, but the Celtics came away with an 88-87 win over the Sixers in a game Joel Embiid was clearly not himself. The Celtics sort of took advantage behind early offense and late defense from Al Horford in a revenge game after a tough year in Philadelphia for him. Ime Udoka and Josh Richardson also savored this win. John Karalis runs through all of that, why the late game execution with Jayson Tatum and Dennis Schröder needs a lot of work, and the apparent reinjury of Jaylen Brown's hamstring.

How are the Celtics going to handle Joel Embiid on Wednesday night? Is it time to start Grant Williams? What's behind Jayson Tatum's struggles and does he get more criticism than Jaylen Brown? Is there a way to get Evan Fournier back from the New York Knicks? John Karalis opens up a new Celtics mailbag ahead of a very tough December schedule for Boston.

We're a quarter of the way into the season, which is a good time to start looking at some trends. John Karalis looks at Jayson Tatum's evolution as a playmaker and why the Toronto game could be such an important flashpoint in his season, Marcus Smart's point guard numbers and why they support him in that starting role, and how the Celtics defense has risen to one of the league's elite.

The Boston Celtics really struggled through most of this game, especially with turnovers and rebounding. But they never deviated from Ime Udoka's game plan, and their willingness to follow the script for most of the 48 minutes despite things not working well for most of that time makes this the most impressive win of the season. John Karalis explains that further before getting into some of the key individuals like Josh Richardson and Enes Kanter, and two guys people shouldn't have written off in Romeo Langford and Grant Williams. Plus, a quick look at the loss to San Antonio.

This did not turn out to be the good basketball game we thought it might be. The Brooklyn Nets walked into the TD Garden and waxed the parquet with the Celtics from the jump. Patty Mills exploded out of the gates, Kevin Durant was unstoppable, and the Nets made it look easy. The Celtics, meanwhile, did more settling than the Pilgrims. Their intensity rose in the fourth quarter as they made their obligatory run, but it was too big a hill to climb. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal discusses that, Jayson Tatum getting a little to caught up in the Kevin Durant matchup and everyone getting too caught up with the refs.

The Celtics and Nets are the two hottest teams in the East and each does something the other team struggles with. John Karalis of Locked on Celtics and Adam Armbrecht of Locked On Nets discuss the game in this crossover episode that includes Kevin Durant vs. Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart vs. James Harden, Jaylen Brown's health, and more.

Jaylen Brown returned from his hamstring injury but wasn't "normal normal" according to Ime Udoka. He still dropped 19 in a blowout Celtics win over the Rockets. John Karalis runs through the game's big stories, Jayson Tatum's fourth straight 30 point game, how Udoka switched up his fourth quarter approach to get the blowout, and why Brown didn't sound confident about his hamstring.

The Celtics are now 7-3 over their last 10 games after weekend wins over the Lakers and Thunder. Of course, there was a fourth quarter meltdown against a bad team, but they also beat a surprisingly passive LeBron James in front of Paul Pierce and Bill Russell. John Karalis runs through the two wins, and then previews the Rockets game with Locked On Rockets host Jackson Gatlin.

The Boston Celtics need shooting, but how are they going to get it. Maybe it will come internally, but maybe Brad Stevens will have to trade for it. John Karalis and Keith Smith discuss the trade assets at his disposal, the possibilities for using them, and a potential trade target. Plus, creative use for the traded player exception.

Jayson Tatum got back on track and Grant Williams joined him in the hot zone, but that was it for the Celtics. No one else could find the range all night and it resulted in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal gets into Tatum's night, how the C's went away from him in the fourth quarter (which needs to be fixed) and why someone, somewhere, needs to find some shooting for this team.

After 14 games, the numbers show Marcus Smart's value to the Celtics is pretty high. John Karalis is joined by Tom Westerholm to discuss that, Jayson Tatum's slump, how he can get back on track, and then the step he needs to take to really become an elite offensive player.

The Celtics had another tight one against the Cavs on Monday night in a game that was sort of the inverse of their first matchup. They got aggressive in the second half behind Marcus Smart and Dennis Schröder, with an extra hand from Al Horford and Jayson Tatum. John Karalis runs through why the C's were able to turn it up against the Cavs, and why this should be a very clear message to the team and Tatum. Plus, the Celtics are still in position to come out of November pretty much where they should be in the standings.

The Celtics played a couple of games since the last podcast, a fourth quarter collapse to Cleveland and an OT win over the Milwaukee Bucks. John Karalis gets into why Dennis Schröder was important against Milwaukee but also deceiving against Cleveland, the late game mistakes that erased a great game from Marcus Smart, and why Robert Williams was so great. Also, what's wrong with Jayson Tatum?

Jayson Tatum showed a level of aggressiveness and creating in Toronto that we haven't seen this season season. John Karalis talks about that before answering mailbag questions on the team's poor transition defense, ways to use the TPE (and a potential target), and who on the Celtics he could beat 1-on-1.

The Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors for their first home win of the season. Jayson Tatum's passing was on display while Robert Williams was all over the offensive boards. John Karalis runs through their nights, Marcus Smart's passing and defense, a weird game from Dennis Schröder, and how the Celtics are finally showing some fight.

The Celtics take on the Raptors on Wednesday night, so John Karalis and Sean Woodley decided to chop it up and discuss each other's teams heading into the game. The big takeaways from the earlier game, what Boston has to do to avoid a repeat, Jayson Tatum's focus without Jaylen Brown, and how Pascal Siakam changes things.

No, Ben Simmons will not be traded for Jaylen Brown. John Karalis gets into why that due diligence becomes silly reports, Jaylen's hamstring injury, the defensive statistics that show how much better the Celtics has been over the last five games, and how the Raptors will be a true test to see how good that defense is.