Celtics-Lakers rivalry carries on without the crowd

LeBron James, who has always enjoyed playing in front of the Garden crowd, lamented earlier this week that it just won’t be the same when the Lakers make their annual visit on Saturday against the Celtics.

The Celtics, who won’t have fan support when they go up against the defending champs, understand what’s missing in the Garden air better than anyone.

“I totally understand what he’s saying… (during the) first game of the season walking into TD Garden getting ready to play Milwaukee, it was like, man, I wish the other 19,000 people were here with us,” said Brad Stevens. “And even on the road when you don’t get a chance to play in those environments — a road win is one thing but a road win and in a raucous environment in front of fans is a totally different experience. We’re all doing our best to navigate this, the NBA is doing its best to navigate this, but it’s not as good without fans. And that’s the reality of it. And I agree with him on that.”

The absent crowd aside, though, Stevens admits that as someone who grew up watching those Celtics/Lakers battles from the 80’s, the matchup is still a dream.

“First of all, you always have to remind yourself what you at eight years old would have thought, you at 15 years old would have thought,” said Stevens. “I’ve said that before when we’re getting ready to play the Lakers to our team.

“When you’re concerned about your role in this game, or how many minutes you’re going to play, don’t forget about that 15-year-old who would have died to be on the end of the bench. This is a special opportunity, a special rivalry. Obviously the opportunity to compete against the very best is always a great challenge. They’re excellent. They have an excellent team on top of all that. We’ll certainly look forward to the challenge, and I don’t think we’ll look at it as anything but being grateful to be in the game at hand.”

Injury updates

Though Payton Pritchard (sprained MCL) and Romeo Langford (wrist surgery) are both shooting on the side, neither player appears to be close to a return, according to Stevens. The Celtics coach added that Pritchard is probably further along than Langford.

And Pritchard, who is now dealing with the first debilitating injury of his career, had to battle his own fears after first spraining his knee.

“That was my first ever knee injury so obviously when I got hit and then feeling like it popped and the pain, instantly I go to the worst,” said Pritchard. “Your mind is like, ‘I’m done for however long’ so you start to not necessarily panic but that was the first time it happened it happened to me. That was my thought process at the time. I ended up going to the back and ended up being an MCL sprain so I should be able to come back pretty quickly.

“As far as the timetable goes, it’s really going to be when I feel the best and our staff feels that I’m able to go out there and go 100 percent. That’s the biggest thing. I’m not trying to go out there if I’m only 80, 90 percent. I want to be back fully. As far as helping the team, I mean through this experience of sitting on the bench, I’ve been able to pick up the game and find little ways and see things that I probably didn’t see while I was playing. For me, it’s just a learning experience and sitting over there with the coaches and just talking through things.”

‘A different breed’

James, at 36, is an NBA marvel, all seem to agree.

“Man, LeBron is a different breed,” said Kemba Walker. “He’s incredible and it’s inspiring, for the most part to see someone who just takes care of his body, takes care of himself, every year proves the doubters wrong. Always so much pressure on that man and he always comes through, regardless of what’s said about him. He’s a really inspiring person in our world. He’s someone that everyone looks up to and wishes to be like. He’s a special talent.”

Said Stevens: “He is as special as special gets and he would be a multiple-time more MVP award winner if people weren’t bored and looking for other things to discuss. He’s been the best player in the league for however many years now. He’s an amazing offensive player, his ability to pass, drive downhill, shooting the career high percentage from three, just keeps getting better and better and better and then obviously he’s, physically, what you would want in a defender, right?

“He’s got great size, he can guard one through five, he’s super smart, he knows what’s coming before it happens. Nothing but the utmost respect for him. Never had anything but. We’ve all had some playoff series that were pretty one-sided against him and one that went down to the wire and I just think it just makes you appreciate him even more as the years go on. And I think that he’s played as well in some ways in the last year and a half, as I’ve seen him play.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3ckhZOx