He is not playing tonight because they're not going to play him back to backs. He's on a minute's

restriction because of his hip. He was really good last night too. I watched almost the entire game

and I mean better than I thought he was going to be. He had 17 points and 19 minutes, but he

has some great assists. He did that thing that he likes to do where he drives the basket and you're like,

how the hell did that get in? And then he gets crushed by a defender and just slammed to the ground. So he took some hard hits last night to break in that hip. And he continued to play well. I think he had three, three-pointers. I mean, he looked like Isaiah Thomas last night. Well, so I bet he wished, because it was up to Isaiah Thomas, obviously, if he was going to play tonight.

I mean, the cavaliers weren't going to go, oh, no, no, no, you have to play the first night of a back-to-back. He could have said, I want to play against the Celtic. Sure, if he had his choice, he would have done that. Yes. Obviously the team would have acquiesced to that, and then he could have come out, and then he would have gotten his precious video tribute,

which he thinks everyone's going to go bananas for.

But he has chosen not only not to play, but he has requested that the Celtics don't play their tribute for him

until they come back on February 11th.

He says that, use the excuse that his family, he can't get his family in town, to which I would say, since the trade, you've known this game has been happening for months and months.

You're a very wealthy individual.

You could have flown your family out there.

It's a complete BS thing.

And it's not some school thing or my kids are in school. You could have flown everyone out for the evening in Boston. I bet the calves would have done it for you. Sure. Just say, hey, listen, you know, it's a big night. Would you mind flying my family out there? I mean, that's... They probably would have sent... Gilbert probably would have given him the team jet and they probably could have flown out. But here's the reason he doesn't want to do it now is because he wants when he comes back to light up the court and make Danny Ains feel bad about getting rid of him. And he's not in the shape where he's able to do that. He's not going to be playing. Well, he thought he wasn't. Yeah, he thought he wasn't. But now he looks very good. If he had known he was going to play that well last night, he would have played his first game tonight.

And he thinks every time he touches the ball, the crowd is going to go nuts. It would have. If tonight he would have played, the place would have gone crazy. No, it's not a bad crowd. Every time he touches the ball? Well, not every time. But at the beginning of the game, it would have been that way. And the video montage would have been fantastic.

It would have been that.

John, would it not have been that way at the beginning of the game.

I can't imagine another place in Boston where you would go that nuts for someone who played two and a half years for the organization.

I'm not saying change the landscape. He was a big reason that people came around on this team. By the way, Brad Stevens is the main reason that people came around in this team. Brad Stevens has been the ticket. But Brad Stevens needed one player that he could show the world. It was nothing until Brad Stevens came around and turned him to a superstar. Brad Stevens is one of the best head coaches at the NBA.

Everyone knows that.

But you don't show up to watch him.

You show up to watch a guy like Isaiah.

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