Minus Brown, C’s edge Toronto
The idea with Jaylen Brown probably out for the rest of the preseason, according to Ime Udoka, is that all of his deep rotation candidates now have a better chance to show something.
And opportunity was certainly the theme in the Celtics’ narrow 113-111 win over Toronto Saturday night at TD Garden, from a 13-point, 5-for-6 performance from the Game 1 exhibition hero,
Romeo Langford, to 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting from
Grant Williams. Juancho Hernangomez broke a 111-111 tie with two free throws with 7.4 seconds left. The Raptors answered with an empty three-shot possession as the clock expired.
And finding them all, seemingly, was Jayson Tatum, with a 20-point, nine-rebound, seven-assist performance. The latter stat highlighted a 29-assists-on-38baskets performance by the Celtics.
Al Horford, covering the floor as if that season in Oklahoma City was a spa stop for his 35-year-old legs, was one of the prime beneficiaries of Tatum’s kick-out game. The latter, playing out of the post, was responsible for two of Horford’s three 3-pointers on a 16-point, 6-for-9 night.
Brown’s down time
Udoka doesn’t anticipate getting Brown back for the rest of exhibition season, but Saturday night expressed hope his All-Star forward will return in time to log practice time prior to the Oct. 20 season opener in New York.
Brown, though asymptomatic, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, and under NBA guidelines, must go into quarantine for a minimum of 10 days. Udoka knows the drill well, since his own breakout case of COVID forced him into quarantine.
“With the time frame and the quarantine we’re thinking he’ll miss the preseason, but hopefully everything goes well and he’s back before the season starts,” Udoka said before the Celtics faced Toronto in their second exhibition season game.
“When I had it I had a 10day period, so with that timeline he should be back,” said the coach. “Depending on that, he’ll have a chance to get in shape and pick up where he left off. Hopefully he’s good to go by the season.”
Though Udoka was vaccinated, he would not say whether Brown was also a breakout case.
“Overall we don’t speak on our players,” he said. “They have personal preference and in general that’s something we don’t discuss, our players. The main thing is we’re worried about his health and safety and getting him back on the court as soon as possible. Leave it at that.”
Josh Richardson, who has indicated he’s not vaccinated, would not answer a similar question two days earlier.
“I mean, I’m not really here to talk about that right now,” he said. “If you want to talk about basketball or anything that related, we can talk about that. I’ve already spoken on that subject.”
Richardson did not attend a team dinner on Wednesday night. Under NBA regulations, non-vaccinated players are subject to more testing and not allowed to dine or sit on an airplane or bus in close proximity to their vaccinated teammates.
Udoka said he’s confident the proper protocols are in place, and added that every player except Brown tested negative during the latest round of testing..
“It’s always a concern, but we have the proper testing protocols in place and everybody’s getting checked out,” he said. “So far so good, as was the case with me; it didn’t affect anybody else overall, and I was around the guys for a little bit before I found out. So we’re hoping it stays with that. Like I said, we’ve been more vigorous with the testing the last few days, and everybody’s coming out clean.”
Schroder sits
The Celtics were also missing Dennis Schroder Saturday night as the result of a left knee contusion suffered in practice. The guard attempted to loosen up his leg during pre-game warmups, to no avail.
“He took a fall yesterday in practice,” said Udoka. “He went through shoot-around fine today and wanted to pick it up and go a little more vigorously on the court pregame, and so he’s out there now.”