Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis’ chemistry is rising not solely on the court docket, however off the court docket as effectively.
The Celtics stars dwell in the identical constructing in Boston, and Brown has been capable of get to know his new teammate fairly effectively this season.
“It’s been a joy,” Brown mentioned. “We dwell in the identical constructing, so I’ve been capable of spend a while driving again from the airport with him or at any time when. KP is hilarious. He’s funnier than you most likely all suppose, however he’s a very good man. …
“Every time he sees you, he winks at you,” Brown elaborated with a smile. “(I’m like), ‘What are you winking at me for, man?’ But KP is a smooth guy.”
Their connection appears to be translating to the court docket. Entering Monday’s recreation towards the Knicks, Brown and Porzingis had performed 241 minutes collectively, the third-most of any two-player mixture on the Celtics. In these minutes, the duo had an offensive ranking of 121.0 and a web ranking of 19.3. Their prolific two-man recreation was on show in Saturday’s win over the Raptors throughout a dominant third quarter, once they mixed to attain 26 of the Celtics’ 33 factors that included a number of straightforward buckets in decide and roll actions.
“We’ve been able to develop some actions that have been pretty good,” Brown mentioned. “(Teams) gotta make a choice between stopping me or stopping him, and you guys have seen a little bit of that.”
Porzingis thinks he and Brown are simply getting began.
“It’s just going to get so much better,” Porzingis mentioned. “Like, I’m telling you, you’re just going to see, like it’s going to get a lot better. But I love playing with him. He creates a lot of situations, he draws a lot of attention and it’s just opened things up for myself, for everyone else.”
C’s honor Walker
The Celtics honored late government Heather Walker on Monday by naming their media heart on the Auerbach Center after her.
Walker died in April after battling glioblastoma, a uncommon type of mind most cancers, for nearly two years. A beloved member of the Celtics, Walker began the #Move4Heather marketing campaign shortly after prognosis in 2021 and the motion raised greater than $715,000 for the Heather Walker Glioblastoma Fund on the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The Heather Walker Media Center ensures her legacy and reminiscence will carry ahead.
Walker, who was the Celtics’ vice chairman of public relations, was a fixture contained in the group. Brown remembered her fondly as somebody who helped him behind the scenes quickly after he was drafted by the Celtics in 2016.
“Heather Walker meant everything,” Brown mentioned. “She was the person that I worked with a lot early on in my career with media stuff and everything I was doing off the court, in the community, outside of the basketball, Heather was handling and coordinating a lot of that stuff early in my career, so now that she’s no longer with us, it’s extremely sad. But for her to get a media center here in the building named after her, it’s a great way for her, her legacy and her family to be able to be proud about something because Heather was one of my first introductions to Boston.”
Brown took a second after Monday’s shootaround to go to the media heart, which now contains a number of images of Walker on the partitions resulting in the apply court docket.
“She was just there with me every step of the way,” Brown mentioned. “All of the schools that I visited, community centers, all of the work I was doing early in my career off the court, Heather was there for pretty much everything.”
Tip-ins
Entering Monday, Jayson Tatum – with the assistance of a plus-42 in Saturday’s win over the Raptors – led the NBA in plus/minus by a big margin. Tatum’s plus-166 was effectively forward of the following finest, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, who had a plus-121.
“I just try to make good things happen when I’m on the floor, play right away, and try to impact winning. I don’t necessarily think about plus/minus, I just try to go out there every time I’m on the floor and do the things that help us win. So hopefully I can keep that up because that means I’m doing something right.” …
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau performed at Salem State and it’s the place he obtained his teaching begin within the early Nineteen Eighties. He mentioned he had a bunch of teammates at Monday’s evening recreation, which is widespread. “They’re the ones that are booing,” Thibodeau joked. “They like me, but they love the Celtics.” …
Celtics large man Neemias Queta was out for a tenth recreation to begin the season as he continued to get well from a foot damage. He was collaborating in some gentle capturing drills at Monday’s shootaround. … Knicks ahead R.J. Barrett was out of Monday’s recreation on account of a migraine.
Source: www.bostonherald.com