Green With Envy: scenes from San Antonio and a Robert Williams sighting

I’m from Dorchester however have lived in Austin, TX for the previous ten years. My dad and mom grew up in Boston and have by no means lived wherever else. My sister, up till just lately, was a staple of the Boston Red Sox organization and is as Boston because it will get, and my brother owns a thriving enterprise in Marina Bay (shoutout to The Modern Dog Boston). I’m additionally a BLS and Boston School graduate, so residing outdoors of Boston by no means crossed my thoughts till it truly occurred.

In the future, I used to be residing on the identical avenue as my dad and mom, and the subsequent, I used to be in a metropolis over 2000 miles from dwelling chasing the dream of changing into an expert musician. Being away from my household is without doubt one of the hardest components about residing down right here, however one factor that has all the time stored me related to my roots is my love for Boston sports activities, particularly the Boston Celtics.

I used to be born in 1989, so most of my childhood was spent rooting for horrible basketball groups, by no means realizing how dangerous these groups have been. I keep in mind cheering for Rick Fox (household legend has it that he as soon as skateboarded over my Uncle Jim’s automobile in Waltham), Todd Day, Greg Minor, and my childhood hero, Dana Barros. I keep in mind Ron Mercer and giving up on Chauncey Billups. I keep in mind being 11 years outdated considering Jerome Moiso was going to be an enormous addition. The staff wasn’t good, however I simply liked watching my Celtics.

Clearly, the early Paul Pierce years had their moments, however issues modified without end with The Large Three. Kevin Garnett was my older brother’s favourite basketball participant (to at the present time nearly all of his usernames contain “KG”), in order that’s when my household determined to splurge for season tickets and I started attending basketball video games reside frequently. My all-time favourite recreation I noticed reside? Game 7, Pierce vs. LeBron. The expertise actually remodeled my life. I believe I’ll have died in some unspecified time in the future in that recreation and been reborn as somebody who, along with my love for music, aspired to put in writing about and canopy basketball with this new, elevated perspective of the sport.

Residing down right here in Austin doesn’t afford me many alternatives to see the Celtics in individual, however every year I make the journey with my finest mates to catch the Celtics sq. off with the San Antonio Spurs. It’s one of many highlights of each single yr. Saturday’s recreation was no exception, so I figured I’d write about my huge takeaways from seeing my first reside recreation for the reason that pandemic started:

Celtics followers journey

As we entered the world, we began to see a handful of inexperienced jerseys, however by tipoff, I’d say the attendance was not less than 30% Celtics followers. I’m all the time by which gamers get probably the most love on the jersey entrance, so listed below are my tough estimates: 40% Tatum, 35% Brown, 10% Hen, 5% Pierce/KG/Ray, 5% Marcus Good, 5% miscellaneous. Additionally, there was one man sporting a Ben Coates Patriots jersey. He has to get some love on this piece.

Photograph by Bart Younger/NBAE through Getty Photos

Rob Williams is superhuman

I haven’t seen this model of Rob Williams in individual as a result of the final time I used to be in a position to attend a recreation in individual, he had but to crack the rotation. Rob was all over the place on this recreation and you might really feel his presence each second he was on the courtroom. It jogged my memory of watching a younger Dwight Howard within the 2009 NBA Playoffs. Spurs gamers have been terrified of him and Rob’s teammates have been emboldened by his presence. Blocking a three-pointer and going coast-to-coast is one thing solely a handful of men within the NBA can pull off, and Rob is considered one of them. I like him a lot.

Joe Mazzulla’s closing lineups have been complicated

Malcolm Brogdon had it going final evening. Rob Williams was spectacular. Al Horford was not. He appeared a step sluggish a lot of the evening and was not impacting the sport on both finish. Primarily based on the movement of the sport, I’d’ve anticipated to see the Celtics shut with Brogdon, White, the Jays, and Rob. Mazzulla noticed it in a different way and it was a think about that collapse.

On the 5-minute mark, Rob ran to the scorer’s desk, however Mazzulla stopped him and despatched him again to the bench. Contemplating Rob finally subbed for Brogdon, I can see why Coach determined to carry him out a pair extra minutes, but it surely felt apparent within the enviornment that Rob ought to’ve been on the courtroom in favor of Horford. Hopefully, Coach takes his finish of recreation lineups a bit extra game-by-game and goes with the blokes who’ve earned it that evening. We now have the expertise and depth to take action.

The Spurs love Derrick White

There was a touching tribute to Derrick White earlier than the sport, and he bought cheers from the house crowd at any time when he did something all through the sport. White was impactful in his minutes and appeared assured all evening. With Good happening with a knee contusion, hopefully White can proceed to point out indicators of enchancment after a tough December.

Josh Richardson can be on one other staff by the commerce deadline

I by no means wished to commerce J-Wealthy. I assumed he added some nice wing depth to our staff final yr, however in the end, he was a casualty within the White deal. Nonetheless, Richardson can nonetheless play and I’d be shocked if he wasn’t dealt earlier than the deadline. I believe he’s a rotation participant on playoff staff, and I hope he will get an opportunity to play significant minutes this yr.

Romeo Langford had his moments

I’m no Adam Taylor, however I all the time appreciated Romeo Langford. He had a tough go of it across the rim final evening, however he appeared good general. He was an issue on the boards and performed efficient protection all recreation. I’m unsure he’ll have a protracted profession within the NBA, however I believe he’ll get a second contract.

Tune into this episode of Green With Envy for extra dialog in regards to the Celtics latest play and a glance forward on the subsequent few video games!