League rides developing wave
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
WALTHAM — The NBA has experienced great waves of young talent before. The 2003 LeBron James/Dwyane Wade/Chris Bosh/Carmelo Anthony draft has defined the league for an entire generation.
But Al Horford believes another wave, perhaps more gradual and coming out of the last two or three drafts, is defining the league once again.
Tonight’s Garden matchup between the Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum on one side and Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, provided his sore ankle is OK for him to play, on the other, will be a veritable NBA futures showcase.
“I have not (seen anything like it),” Horford said yesterday. “I’ve been fortunate, this is my 11th season, but the amount of talented players in this league today is scary. The league is in a great place, and the younger guys who are coming in are stepping up at a high level. Hard to believe when you look at them, ‘Oh, he’s 22, 21?’ We have Tatum at 19, and wait until you see him in two years. He’s way ahead of the game. We weren’t expecting this from him. It gets you excited when you think about it.”
Memorable meeting
Coach Brad Stevens didn’t need to remind his players that their first game against Philadelphia on Oct. 20, which was the 76ers’ home opener, very nearly dropped the Celtics to an 0-3 start. Instead, the C’s came back for a win that kicked off a 16-game streak.
Kyrie Irving remembers the game for two reasons, the comeback, which helped bond the team, and the $25,000 fine he received for telling a fan to do something inappropriate.
“Just a lot of energy in the building, and when you get down like that, especially with a high-energy young team like that, they’re trying to jump on you,” Irving said. “And it’s great to be in those types of environments early in the season. And we had a halftime talk. I think that’s the game I got fined at.
“So it was one of those games where it showed some character for all of us, and collectively as a group we stayed together, we stayed the course, and we came out with a win. So I guess you could say we learned a little bit about ourselves and we made some steps in the right direction in Game 3 of the season.”
Practice pace helps
The Celtics practiced for the first time in 35 days, and the timing was good, considering that they lost for the second time in four games Monday night at home to the Detroit Pistons.
“The biggest thing is you’re not in a hurry,” Stevens said of the difference between shootarounds, the shorter sessions the Celtics thrived on for the last month, and practices. “You’re not in that small set amount of time. Like, if we need to go a little bit longer in film, if we need to be on the court a little bit longer, we can do what we need to do. We try to keep it, as you know, concise as possible. But you’re not crunched, necessarily, for time.”
Added Horford: “In practice we’re able to accomplish a lot more, and work on some of the things we can’t do on game day. We’re making sure our defense is running properly, running through different drills, it’s more intense. In shootaround it’s more like a walkthrough, making sure we understand the game. But in practice it’s very productive.”
Operator assistance
Irving was asked about the difference in his assist opportunities now and last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. And he had a very interesting way of pointing out that there’s no comparison.
“Man, comparison’s a thief of joy,” Irving said. “It’s kind of hard to compare it because I feel like my role was probably a little bit different last year in Cleveland.”
Irving, of course, shared the floor in Cleveland with probably the most famous surrogate point guard in the history of the game in LeBron James.