The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Brown tells Carter-Williams to ‘have a blast’
PHILADELPHIA — Brett Brown has a leg-up on his rookie point guard, in that the 76ers’ first-year coach once played a game at the Boston Garden. The same can’t be said for Hamilton, Mass., native Michael Carter-Williams.
So Brown kept it short and sweet when he told reporters after Tuesday’s practice what kind of advice he’d planned to offer up to Carter-Williams upon making his homecoming Wednesday night against the Celtics.
“Have a blast,” Brown said. “Be so proud of your accomplishments, go back there and enjoy the experience of playing where you grew up, now as an NBA starting point guard. I want him to enjoy the experience.”
Carter-Williams doesn’t have any special accommodations waiting for him when he gets home, he said. The 22-year-old said he would have dinner Tuesday night with family members, upon the Sixers’ flight landing at Logan International. Other than that, it’s all business.
The Sixers’ meeting with the Celtics represents Carter-Williams first opportunity to play at Boston Garden. In his sophomore season at Syracuse, he and the Orange played the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds of the NCAA Tournament there, though CarterWilliams did not check in to either game.
“It is what it is,” said Carter-Williams, who recalled the Garden as “a great atmosphere. They were good. The crowd was great.”
No doubt, it will be a comforting roadtrip also for Nerlens Noel, the Sixers’ injured rookie center who hails from Malden, Mass.
As is the case with those two, it will be an equally important game for Brown, a native of South Portland, Maine, who routinely took trips with his parents into Boston as a youth to watch the Celtics. Brown spoke glowingly, even during his introductory press conference last summer, about procuring tickets for Sixers/Celtics games. Brown also played at the Garden a handful of times as an undergrad at Boston University.
“In the seats I had,” Brown said, “you’d look up five feet to the roof and see the moss and the stalagmites or stalactites. I don’t remember which one goes up or down. You’re in an old, dingy building that had so much character.”
Part of that character, as Brown recalled, was the frustrating charm of the Garden’s parquet floor.
“I played there a few times during my Boston University days,” he said. “You’d play in Christmas tournaments — BC, Northeastern, UMass. You’d be flying up the court, dribbling and you’d hit one of the dead squares and you’re upset because it’s a turnover with nobody around and (the ball) just wouldn’t come up. It’s funny.
“You started learning, as a point guard, where you could go for steals. Sometimes, with other point guards you were guarding were going to have trouble with the floor. You’d try to manipulate it and try to take it as an advantage.”
The NBA games at the Garden to which Brown held tickets were far more entertaining and far more meaningful in the standings than what’s expected Wednesday. The Celtics and the Sixers are stuck in fourth- and fifth-place, respectively, in the Atlantic Division standings. Still ... “It’s nice to be home,” Carter-Williams said, grinning.