NEWBIE MAKES RUCKUS
Baynes’ Celtics win despite Kyrie loss
THERE are more NBL podcasts popping up every week. The Long & Short of it podcast, run by Townsville coach Rodney Anderson and Townsville Basketball development manager Greg Vanderjagt, was a hit during the QBL season and they have continued with some summer hoops.
They are always a good listen, while retired NBL point guard Derek Rucker dropped his first The Ruckus podcast last week. With basketball writer Boti Nagy on as a guest, it was top stuff. ARON Baynes would be a relieved man after Boston’s 95-94 NBA win over Toronto was achieved without All-Star guard Kyrie Irving.
The Celtics made it 12 straight victories despite Irving’s absence after he took an inadvertent elbow to the face from teammate Baynes in Friday night’s win over Charlotte.
Irving has a minor facial fracture but has not been diagnosed with a concussion as initially feared. He visited a facial specialist on Sunday and was fitted for a mask.
The last time Irving played in a mask was on December 15, 2012, when he scored a thencareer-high 41 points against New York with Cleveland.
Al Horford had 24 points in his return from a two-game absence due to a concussion as Boston improved their leaguebest record to 12-2.
Jaylen Brown added 18 points for the Celtics and Terry Rozier helped fill in for Irving with 16 points off the bench.
Australian big man Baynes had an off shooting night, making just one of six, for three points but had an equal game-high eight rebounds.
DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points and Kyle Lowry had 19 points and seven rebounds for Toronto. The Raptors dropped to 7-5. Jayson Tatum’s acrobatic layup with 1min 26sec remaining in the game put the Celtics up 95-90.
DeRozan missed a potential go-ahead step-back jumper with 19 seconds remaining.
Tobias Harris scored 25 points and Avery Bradley added 24 points in Detroit’s 112-103 victory over Miami.
Reggie Jackson scored 17 points, rookie Luke Kennard had 14 and Andre Drummond added eight points and 17 rebounds for the Pistons. At 10-3, they are second behind Boston in the Eastern Conference.