- 5/9/2025
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00:00Celtics trail the New York Knicks 0-2 in their best of seven series with game three set for
00:05tomorrow and we figure we could break it down with former Providence head coach Tim Welsh joining us
00:09here on Jones and Keefe. Tim thanks for joining us here high noon. Well it's always a pleasure to
00:15be with you guys I just want to get something straight before we get going here is uh I heard
00:20you talking about your skill levels and competition Adam with your juggling and uh that I can make a
00:25killer spaghetti carbonara so you know if you guys are interested uh we could enter that in any type
00:31of competition moving forward definitely that paired nicely with our with our skills oh that sounds
00:37wonderful no one ever made you that when you were at Hobart Rich that's true that is true I can come
00:42up to Boston and stir one up one day but yeah thanks for having us on no well of course now uh now I uh
00:48speaking of uh Braggs I uh I ran into Tim at TV the other week at NBC Sports Boston you guys are TV
00:53guys yeah and so I I didn't realize you were quite uh the the renaissance man that you are
00:58so we might as well start with this you have you have like sneaky Bill Belichick you had all kinds
01:03of Belichick intel that we were talking about on TV the other week that's that's kind of that's kind
01:09of blown up I think that's a stretch Adam that I had all sorts of stuff I mean he's a Belichick
01:15insider wow it's kind of common knowledge amongst the ACC people that we do know that uh you know I
01:22don't think they're going to be very good this year so that'll be even more fun to watch when
01:26you know those beautiful press conferences but you know I do know the people uh some of the media
01:31people in the area down there whether it's the ACC network or the locals and uh you know they haven't
01:37been really welcomed into the fraternity yet so and we kind of know what that looks like up here but
01:43you know as a college coach and having been one and been with different college coaches and at
01:49different universities I mean obviously it's a totally different nut than being a pro coach you
01:54got to do a lot of things and you know Jeff and Gundy once told me he says you know the difference
02:00between being a college coach and a pro coach he says my phone never rings when you're a pro coach
02:06no one's ever talked to you and I've been to Brad Stevens office and his kids are running around his
02:10wife's there but when you're a college coach you have so many things thrown at you all the time so
02:15many responsibilities and people that think they own you and including the boosters that are paying
02:21a lot of your salary so if you're not keeping those people happy then um you're starting off
02:26on the wrong foot that's all I'll say about that and uh but he's got the six Super Bowl rings and it's
02:31really going to come down if he wins or not and right now it doesn't look like you know they're going
02:36to be that good this year because of the quarterback situation but time will tell so before we get to
02:42the Celtics speaking of college coaches uh and your your time at Providence one of the all-time
02:47great coach rants was Jim Calhoun at UConn after you guys beat him and he was asked about Ryan Gomes
02:54and he goes on and on and on and on about Ryan Gomes and how he bleeped up he should have gone after
02:59Ryan Gomes of course you had Ryan Gomes where were did you hear that live did you hear that were you in
03:04that room what's the story on from your side of things when Calhoun went nuts about that well the great
03:10thing about that story Rich is that every year on the anniversary of it somebody tweets it out
03:15whether it's Big East memes or something then somebody sends it to me and finally my son's 14
03:20now and I can finally show it to him I wanted to show I've been wanting to show it to him for like 10
03:24years but I just couldn't because of the language but uh because the full version uncut version is
03:30classic no actually you know that was before Twitter and cell phones and all this other stuff I think it's
03:362004 and uh he I got a call we actually rolled into Hartford and they they actually won the national
03:45championship that year and they were number two at the time we went in and we beat him pretty good
03:50we beat him by like 12 or 14 and Ryan Gomes uh just had an unbelievable game and Ryan was from down the
03:57road uh he's from Waterbury Connecticut and UConn didn't recruit him I mean how could they I mean Ryan
04:04was like and Jim told the story he's like 6'5 and he was overweight and you know he he really wasn't
04:10that well coached coming bounced around a couple schools whatever there's no way they were going
04:16to recruit him I mean we hardly recruited him until the end I mean he was going to go to Siena I think
04:21and then we jumped in right at the end and got him and you know he went in and had 28 and 15 against
04:27the Mecca Okafor and he just absolutely destroyed UConn single-handedly and Jim had been leading up
04:33the game Jim had been very complimentary about Ryan explained the whole story the whole nine why
04:39he didn't recruit him how you know he liked him he's a great player great kid blah blah blah but after
04:44the game okay he was annoyed of course after they lost and somebody asked him again I guess do you wish
04:53you would you would have recruited him or why didn't you something like to that effect and then
04:58he off he went and uh you know I happened to be home back in Rhode Island at the time and one of my
05:04assistants called me and said coach you got to turn on sports center uh Calhoun went off after the game
05:10you know in today's day and age you'd see it 10 minutes later but this was like three or four hours
05:15later we guy I did the press conference first we got on the bus we came home I'm ready to go out to
05:19dinner that night we're happy as heck we just beat UConn on the road and all of a sudden now Jim
05:25Jim went off and then then the reporters started calling me and said well is Jim going to apologize
05:30to you I said heck no yeah why Jim just put Jim just put Ryan Gomes on the map yeah that was amazing
05:36so that that was the story and Jim and I laugh about it we're good friends we laugh about it to this
05:41day and uh but yes that story still is alive and well out on the interwebs for sure well no and for
05:48that's uh ex-Celtic uh Ryan Gomes played for you at Providence College Tim Welsh uh Welsh former
05:54Providence head coach uh you can catch him Sundays in Providence 1037 WEI with meter uh seven to nine
05:59every Sunday morning uh here all over WEI uh let's focus in on the Celtics you're talking Ryan Gomes
06:05ex-Celtic uh they're down 0-2 to the New York Knicks game three tomorrow at MSG uh why what's the
06:11biggest factor in why the Celtics are down two games to zero well I just think there's a myriad of factors
06:17but the biggest thing is that Tatum hasn't hasn't played like an all-star I mean you can't you can't
06:22step up and play in the second round of the NBA playoffs and do what he's done the last two games
06:27especially especially the other night the second game too I mean just a no total no show I mean
06:31we've seen it before with him uh you wonder why it happens I don't know if there's a reason I think
06:37he's just too aloof at times he's not locked in enough he's not gritty enough uh the people that I
06:43know around that know him uh kind of say the same thing that at times he just kind of floats out
06:48there and he saw it the other night he was floating and right down to the last play of the game you
06:53know he couldn't even get a shot off coming down the floor so uh he's got to play better and I think
06:59he will usually he does when his back's against the wall but we'll see if it's too late I mean you saw
07:05him in the Orlando series you know the stuff that he's hurt I don't buy that I mean the end of the
07:10Orlando series he was just the best player in the playoffs uh the last three or four games in that
07:15series so uh having said that he's just got to lock in I mean I don't know what the problem is if
07:22it's you know the matchups whatever it doesn't matter you can't say I'm one of the best players
07:28in the world and go out and play like that in the playoffs knowing that the philosophy is to take a lot
07:33of threes and if it's an open three you absolutely take it at what point though as the head coach do you
07:39step in and say all right we're shooting 25 as a team so even though we are getting good looks
07:44everybody is cold from three or do you go the Missoula route and say keep you know make the
07:50next one whatever it is make the next one yeah I know math comes into play and you think it's going
07:55to turn around but at some point especially when you have the lead rich it becomes the clock as well
08:01it's not just about the scoreboard and threes versus twos it's about how much time is left and how
08:06many actual possessions are left in the game and using a little bit more clock and finding a good
08:11three not getting the ball in in the lane and dribbling it back out to the corner and just turn
08:17and firing and and that's the problem I think you saw especially in game one it's just they just didn't
08:23look at the clock they played like there was no clock like it was just first to 110 wins this game
08:29and uh you know Joe talked about it after the next day he said there's different ebbs and flows and I
08:36think obviously what he's referring to was time and score I mean that's so important I mean you watch
08:42all these games and you have to have an understanding that it's not just the coach it's the players the
08:48player that you have to look at the clock and understand what a good shot is and how you're up by
08:5420 points there's only so many possessions left in the game and I don't mean taking air out of out
08:59of the ball for sure but New York is not a very good defensive team and Tom Thibodeau is a is an
09:05excellent defensive coach we all know that from his days back here with the Celtics as an assistant he
09:10was a specialist on defense but you got two weak weak links out there on the floor most of the time
09:15in Brunson and Towns and you know you got to exploit that you have to exploit that you got to try to get
09:21Brunson in switches and take him to the basket because he can't defend you if you're driving if
09:27you get him in a switch on the wing it's two points and I don't care if it's two is less than
09:34three it doesn't matter two is two and when you keep chucking and missing you've got to try to
09:39re-establish and rethink your plan as the game goes on right three is more than two but two is a heck
09:45of a lot more than zero I'm with you on that math I'm no math expert but I'm with you on that
09:49uh what do you think of Missoula and his approach with Mitchell Robinson the hack of Mitch which has
09:55us perplexed it was extra frustrating in game two where they weren't even sending him to the line
10:00they were just fouling him fouling him fouling him just to put New York in the bonus which didn't make
10:04any sense what's your thoughts on on that approach and the viability of Joe Missoula hacking away at
10:10Mitchell Robinson well you know I know Detroit did it but you're better than Detroit no one disputes
10:17that uh I wouldn't I wouldn't copy Detroit what they're doing I would just do what they did in
10:23the regular season which I don't believe they did that in the regular season and it worked out pretty
10:28well for me Mitchell Robinson's a nice player but I don't think you want to focus your game plan
10:33on him uh I wouldn't I wouldn't do it I think it takes a little flow out of your game takes takes
10:41just the wind out of your sails I know you don't play that way all season long now you're playing
10:44that way I don't know if that's an organizational philosophy it came down after looking at analytics
10:50I have no idea I was surprised they did it uh I would think they're going to move away from it I
10:55would think they're going to move away from a few different things tomorrow uh they're smart they're
10:59smart Brad's there Brad's going to have his input for sure he's not going to try to coach the team
11:04but I know he enjoyed Joe do talk and you know I would go small too against them I would go smaller
11:10uh late in the game I thought that they'd gotten some bad matchups out front when Horford was trying
11:16to guard Brunson because Thibodeau just got him in switches and all of a sudden you're looking at
11:20Horford trying to guard Brunson out on the perimeter and that's a no-win situation I would go small
11:24I'd put Tatum on towns and I'd bring Pritchard in have Pritchard harass uh harassed uh Brunson out
11:31on the perimeter you know if he picks up three four fouls good just let him harass him and and he
11:37gets the loose balls he's a better defensive player than you think he's certainly better than
11:41Al Horford on the perimeter as a defender uh so I'm sure they'll make some adjustments they have to
11:46because it's not it's uh it's not looking good right now just as far as their confidence
11:51and I think just as a coach sometimes you have to just change tweak something where it's not a big
11:57tweak but it just gives the team an idea and something in their head well okay coach has made
12:03an adjustment here we're going to do this differently and it'll help us and certainly the
12:07Knicks aren't invincible they lost two home games to the Pistons in the first round so
12:11but New York can definitely lose two to Boston this weekend and uh but the Knicks have to make
12:16excuse me the Celtics have to make some tweaks in order to do it what's the challenge as a coach
12:21with a guy like Porzingis where he's available but apparently he's not available enough to start
12:26which would be his normal role you use him off the bench he actually played more minutes in the
12:30second half than the first half but it still wasn't his normal workload so I'm sure like you'd say
12:36well any Porzingis is better than none but at the same time that really changes your normal rotations
12:42yeah I don't understand why you wouldn't start him uh you know my philosophy always and I a lot of
12:48coaches I talked to agree with this I mean if you have a guy that is limited in minutes that is a starter
12:54why wouldn't you just start him he's the freshest at the beginning of the game you know why would you
12:59rest him when he's already rested if you know what I mean you know when the game's when the clock
13:04starts he's already been resting okay so just play him until he's tired so the mystery illness part
13:11is is baffling uh obviously there's something there but I would expect him to be back in the
13:18starting lineup tomorrow I would think that would be another one of their tweaks just to try to give
13:22them a little life he's played well at MSG in the past he's made a lot of shots in that building
13:28I think he likes playing there against the Knicks since he was there I would think they're going to
13:32start him but I I would I wouldn't I wouldn't start the game with him on the bench if he's ready if
13:37he's available to play a good coaching insight Tim Welsh from Providence head coach joining us here
13:42on Jones and Keith again you can check him out Sunday mornings 1037 WEI in Providence of the meter
13:47um when it comes to the end of the game sequence the final 12 seconds whatever it was uh did you
13:55think Missoula should have initially called a timeout what did you think of him running the same play
13:59a second time should he have bailed Tatum out on that play with a timeout like what did you think of
14:04that whole approach to the final sequence well I think it's not even debatable you have to call
14:09the timeout first first of all there's only 12 seconds to go uh when you call the timeout you
14:14get the ball at half court so now you're saving it some seconds not having to bring the ball up the
14:19full length of the floor so now you get the ball at half court you can design a lot of different
14:24things from the sidelines differently you have a myriad of plays that you have from the sideline out of
14:30bounds and uh then you got to go quickly you can't wait to take the last shot because it's either
14:37you know make or miss and win or lose on that one shot and you're putting too much pressure on that
14:43one play you've got to go quickly to the basket to number one give yourself a chance for an offensive
14:49rebound and then a put back to win or number two if you don't make it a chance to foul quickly and
14:56then get the ball back again and maybe take a three you know if you're down three go for the three
15:01at the end because Thibodeau doesn't foul uh down three we've seen that in the past we saw it at MSG
15:07when Tatum made the three to send the game in overtime the last time they played in the regular
15:11season uh so I just think that you you have to rethink that even if you don't you want to run the
15:17same play whatever that's fine uh but you've got to try to get the ball at half course half court and
15:23you've got to try to go a lot sooner than they did uh Tim good question here from our text line
15:29as uh going back to your days at Providence Joe Missoula of course a Rhode Island product he ended
15:35up at West Virginia I'm curious did did you guys recruit Joe Missoula and what if anything do you
15:40remember about high school player Joe Missoula well we had a long relationship with Joe Missoula he
15:47grew up like 10 minutes from our campus so and his dad was a high school coach Dan was an excellent
15:52high school coach in Johnston Rhode Island and Joe came to our camp since he was in sixth grade I
15:58believe sixth grade all the way through high school he was a very good high school basketball player at
16:03Hendrickon we did recruit him we talked to him a lot over the years uh it just didn't fit for him or for
16:11us at that time sometimes it's just the timing the fit of your roster doesn't fit uh we had a lot of
16:16guys that couldn't make shots and Joe wasn't a great shooter at the time but I'll tell you what he had a
16:21heck of a college career at at uh West Virginia and I'll give you a little tidbit that I only saw
16:28is that my last game that I ever coached at Providence uh I re-watched it for some reason I
16:36don't know why oh I think my son asked me did you ever coach against Joe Missoula I said yeah let's
16:41pop it on and it was in the Big East tournament Madison Square Garden and he scored the final basket
16:46of my career wow so that's that's something we'll uh I don't think I've ever told Joe that I think I
16:52just looked that up uh this year when we were watching Celtic games or whatever but no he was
16:57an excellent player played for John Beeline and Bob Huggins you know got West Virginia to the final four
17:03and I know Bob Huggins just loves him as loved him as a player and as a leader and uh a lot of the
17:10coaches that I know in not only in the NBA but the college guys Joe was very very active during COVID
17:17setting up Zooms with other coaches around the country just talking basketball almost every other
17:23day during COVID when no one had anything to do so glad he got this opportunity he's worked hard he's
17:29what came up in a coach's family and I know Brad uh didn't have no thoughts other than Joe Missoula
17:36putting him into that seat and you know he listen he's grown as a coach we saw the first year he
17:40didn't call timeouts enough and the other night if Tatum gets to his right hand we're probably not
17:47even having this conversation whether he should have called his timeout or not I mean that's easy
17:50to second guess but I absolutely Tatum's got to understand you got to go quicker and the other
17:56thing I would have done in that situation is when you re-watch the play is Brunson's out on the
18:01right wing I would have started Tatum somewhere away from the ball and then have him come back and
18:05try to get him in another switching situation where maybe he's on Brunson has to guard him
18:10but when he came right down the middle of the floor he got tangled up and they forced him to his left
18:15and the rest is history so we'll see what happens tomorrow but I have a feeling that Tatum's going
18:20to come out and be very motivated tomorrow and you're going to see a different guy speaking of
18:25history Joe Missoula gets the final bucket against Tim Welsh at Providence I would have wagered on
18:29Pitts Noggle Keith oh you got Pitts Noggle I would have thought it was Pitts Noggle or Gansey you guys were
18:33shutting him down Pitts Noggle yeah yeah it was a it was kind of a nothing play it wasn't a wasn't a
18:39one-point game it was I think we lost by a five or something like that but that team did go to the
18:44final four and uh Joe was a pain in the neck we watched we watched the game he was a pain in the
18:51neck to play against because he was all over you defensively he was a hard-nosed tough tough hard-nosed
18:57kid and and he became a good shooter and became a solid firm offensive player which he really wasn't
19:03growing up because he was so good getting to the rim he really never worked on his perimeter game and
19:07then once he started really getting into shooting the basketball he became a good player well did
19:12they play like a 1-3-1 because there was a clip going around the other day on Instagram of West
19:17Virginia versus Kentucky and you have little Joe Missoula like body and DeMarcus Cousins at the bottom of
19:22the yeah like pushing him out of the lane and stuff is that what they ran yes yeah yeah they did
19:27and well first when he first went there John Beeline famously all played a lot of 1-3-1 and then John
19:32left and went to Michigan and Huggins came in and coached Joe and yes and Huggins told me this that
19:39one of the reasons they got to the final four is Joe told them to switch defenses at some point maybe
19:45it was in the Elite Eight game and play the 1-3-1 and yes they played it a lot and Joe was in the back
19:51of it that's usually put your toughest hard-nosed defender guy who can get from one side of the
19:56court to the other fastest in the back and Joe did play the back he they played a lot of 1-3-1 but
20:02Huggins to this day credits Joe for you know even helping him with some coaching situations as a player
20:07yeah all right excellent stuff Tim Welsh from a Providence head coach catch him Sunday mornings
20:12on 1037 in Providence with meter follow him on Twitter at Tim Welsh 5 Tim we appreciate the time
20:17thanks so much all right guys anytime great to be with you thank you all right Tim Welsh joining us
20:22you're on Jones and Keefe high noon
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