Post-Ups

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Taylor Snow

Today, the Boston Celtics will celebrate a legend.

After 43 remarkable years in the broadcast booth, Mike Gorman is set to call his final regular-season game for the NBA’s most storied franchise when they host the Washington Wizards at TD Garden.

The entire afternoon will be filled with tributes for the Hall-of-Fame commentator both in the arena and on the NBC Sports Boston broadcast.

An extended in-arena halftime session will include a video montage of Gorman’s career along with speeches from Celtics ownership, an exclusive interview with Gorman led by his broadcast partner Brian Scalabrine, and other surprises.

Gorman’s last regular-season call is also being honored league-wide. The NBA shared a video on social media Sunday morning that included several esteemed broadcasters paying their respects such as Mike Breen, Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, and Reggie Miller.

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla also had some kind words to share pregame after growing close to Gorman over the last few years.

“Just in the back of the plane my first couple of years, I would always walk back there, we would have certain conversations, just listening to his insight, listening to his wisdom,” Mazzulla said. “I think just his humility, his ability to just connect with different people and then just being a voice of the team. He has a distinct voice that whether it’s on TV or in person, it sounds the same all the time. So I've been honored to get to know him and honored to be a part of his last few days here with the Celtics.”

After Sunday’s celebrations, Gorman will remain on the call through the first round of the playoffs until it's finally time to turn off the mic and give those legendary vocal cords a rest.

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Pregame Post-Ups: Celtics to Honor Gorman in Last Regular-Season Game

Marc D'Amico

In a first-ever scenario Friday night, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame held a press conference at TD Garden ahead of a Celtics game in order to make a first-ever announcement. The Basketball Hall of Fame announced that it will soon be launching a new yearly exhibit titled “The Vault,” which in its first year of existence will feature an exclusive gallery detailing the history of the Boston Celtics.

John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame, was on hand to make the announcement. He stated that the purpose behind the new exhibit is to bring a new element to the Hall of Fame each and every year.

“One thing we learned was, it’s almost like running an amusement park, right?” he commented. “So you need a new rollercoaster or some thrill ride every year, so that you can keep people coming back and keep them interested.”

For the first year of its existence, that thrill ride will revolve around the history of the most storied franchise in the history of the sport.

Doleva and Celtics Team President Rich Gotham stated that there will be items in the gallery that highlight the entire existence of the Celtics, but noted that there will be a strong emphasis on current times. In fact, Jayson Tatum and Paul Pierce are the voices of the gallery.

Some of the items from the gallery were on display during the press conference, including:

Some other items that will be on display, among many others, are highlighted below:

Gotham said that what he appreciates most about the gallery is that it “creates a thread, starting with Red (Auerbach) and (Bill) Russell, all the way through to [Jayson Tatum] and [Jaylen Brown] today.”

He added, “I just think that’s a really cool thing to see for the franchise, to sort of see how the baton has been passed through the generations, and how the success has been passed down. And I just think it’s a great way to kind of capture that.”

The items which will tell the team’s story were collected from a combination of the team, players, and top-of-the-market collectors around the world. One of those collectors has a collection that is so exclusive and valuable that they have an armed guard defending the storage site 24 hours a day. That small detail is a perfect indication of just how exclusive this Hall-of-Fame display really is.

That premise also correlates perfectly to the name of the new exhibit. The Hall of Fame is calling it “The Vault” to showcase the exclusivity behind the items within the gallery.

The first edition of The Vault, highlighting the Celtics, will open May 31st at the Basketball Hall of Fame, which is located 70 miles west of Boston in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts.

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Pregame Post-Ups: HOF Announces New Exhibit That Will Highlight Celtics History

BOSTON – Earlier this week, Al Horford was named one of 12 finalists for the NBA's Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award. The nomination shouldn’t come as a surprise, given how the 17-year vet has navigated this season by embracing his new role, being a mentor for his teammates, and carrying a positive attitude into the gym every day while leading by example.

Horford’s colleagues have endorsed him as the ultimate teammate in several instances of late, including Derrick White, who shared his viewpoint shortly after the finalists were revealed.

“We all know Al is special,” White said. “The things he does for us on the court, off the court, you can’t measure it. I think he should win it running away. He’s an amazing human being, and I’m thankful to be his teammate.”

Horford has had an unpredictable role this season from the standpoint of starting or coming off the bench. He has spent exactly half of his games (31 out of 62) as a starter and the other half as a reserve after starting in all but 10 of his 1,003 regular season appearances entering the season. Despite the change of pace, he's appreciative of his situation, and he has continued to be one of the more respected voices in the locker room.

“Al is one of the most experienced players that I've ever played with,” said frontcourt mate Kristaps Porzingis. “In timeouts when he speaks up, everybody listens.”

That means everybody – from the role players to the stars.  Stars such as Jayson Tatum, who claimed, “I learned a lot from Al from a routine standpoint, and as I’ve gotten older, our relationship has grown. “It’s based on respect – the respect I have for him and likewise. Al’s my favorite teammate I’ve ever had.”

That sounds like Teammate of the Year material to us.

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Pregame Post-Ups: Horford Earns Endorsements for Teammate of the Year

BOSTON - You’ve heard the term “control what you can control,” right? It’s been a mantra the Celtics have lived by since Brad Stevens first came to town in 2013, and they’ll need to live by it again tonight when they play host to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Why, you might ask? Because these Lakers won’t be the Lakers we all expected them to be during tonight’s game.

Unfortunately for everyone hoping to tune into greatness on both sides of the most storied rivalry in the game of basketball, only Boston will live up to those expectations. The Celtics will have their full complement of players available tonight with the exception of backup center Luke Kornet (left hamstring strain). The Lakers, meanwhile, will play without the only two future Hall of Famers on their roster: LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

It was announced about five hours before tip-off that James will miss just his sixth game of the season due to left ankle peroneal tendinopathy. Davis, meanwhile, will just his fourth game overall of the season as a result of bilateral Achilles tendinopathy.

Boston’s game plan will certainly change quite a bit with LA’s two stars being sidelined for the contest. That being said, head coach Joe Mazzulla won’t allow that fact to distract his team from its ultimate goal as it steps onto the court tonight.

“Win the game. That’s how I look at it,” he said after being asked about James and Davis missing the game. “Our guys are available. Just play to put yourself in position to win the game. The only thing that matters is winning.”

That’s regardless of who takes the court for LA, which points right back to the team’s mantra of controlling what it can control.

In short, Boston can’t control who plays tonight for the Lakers. It can, however, control its approach to the game, and the way the team plays once the ball is tossed up at center court.

So that’s what tonight is all about. The Celtics will be tasked with the mental challenge of approaching this game the same way with James and Davis sidelined as they would if James and Davis were active. Sometimes that’s easier said than done in the NBA. We’ll find out shortly whether or not Boston can overcome that challenge and grab its sixth win in its last seven games.

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Pregame Post-Ups: Celts Prepare for LeBron-less Lakers

BOSTON – The In-Season Tournament produced a few new schedule quirks, one of which resulted in an additional fifth game being tacked onto the Celtics-Pacers season series.

We’re not even 50 games deep in the regular season, and that fifth matchup is already upon us Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Boston and Indiana split the first four games, including the Pacers’ IST quarterfinals win on Dec. 5 in Indy.

“It’s challenging, playing five times against a really good team,” Jayson Tatum said ahead of the series' deciding game.

Added Jaylen Brown "They’re a really tough team, a hungry team. Obviously they play fast, got a lot of young guys who are hungry. It won't be easy for us, playing on a back-to-back. We'll have to come out and be ready to play. Because if not, they can get out and get hot early.”

Indiana’s offense is ranked No. 1 in the league, one spot ahead of the C’s. Though, Boston also boasts the No. 2 defense, which has enabled it to hold Indiana to 105 points or fewer in two out of the four matchups.

However, this matchup should have a different feel to it compared to the previous four, since the Pacers have added a two-time All-Star wing to their roster since the last meeting.

On January 17, Indiana acquired Pascal Siakam in a trade with the Toronto Raptors, which has added an even deeper layer to their elite offense.

In six games with the Pacers, Siakam has averaged 21.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game, while shooting 57.6 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from 3-point range. He’s also helped to lead them to three consecutive wins.

“They play really fast,” said Tatum, “and now adding somebody as athletic as he is who can kinda create for himself in that bigger wing position, it’s a great addition to their team. Every other game that we’ve played them so far has been a really good one, so [tonight] should be fun as well.”

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Pregame Post-Ups: Fifth Matchup with Indy Features a New Star

BOSTON - If you’ve been living under a rock, we’re here to inform you that players around the NBA have been going off for some insane scoring nights this week. Like, historically insane.

Joel Embiid just scored 70 points Monday night. That same night, Karl-Anthony Towns dropped 62.

Then came Friday, when Luka Doncic three-upped Embiid with a 73-point effort against the Atlanta Hawks. Seventy-three! And that same night, Devin Booker hung 62 on the Indiana Pacers.

That’s a lot of scoring, and what makes these numbers even more impressive is the fact that all of them were recorded in regulation. None of the four games went to overtime.

There are plenty of opinions out there as to why this scoring surge has occurred. Two of them were relayed Saturday night at TD Garden, by two of the most respected basketball voices in the world.

Prior to their matchup at TD Garden, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue were both asked about the surge in individual scoring. Surprisingly, they took different approaches to answering the question.

Mazzulla went straight to the defensive side of the ball, where his team ranks second in the league in defensive rating. Defense – or lack thereof – is what he believes has allowed players to go off.

“I think if you look around the league, what separates us – and there’s a few teams – is that the best players play defense. So that’s the only thing I care about,” Mazzulla said. “They take pride in it. They’re willing to work at it every day. They’re willing to put in a defensive system that has adjustments, that has philosophies, and I think that’s the most important thing.”

Lue, meanwhile, leaned in the other direction while answering the question. He is of the opinion that offensive talent and an emphasis on the 3-point line has led to the scoring outbursts.

“I just think a lot of 3s. Teams playing smaller. Now you have five guys on the floor that can shoot 3s, also can drive and kick as well. So it just makes it tough,” he said. “There’s a lot of shooting on the floor nowadays. Back in the day it was a [power forward] on this block, a [center] on this block, cross-screen. Now it’s more spread pick-and-roll, take advantage of mismatches and shooting 3s.”

As is with most things in this world, the true answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. These ridiculous individual scoring nights are likely due both to few star players defending at a high level, as well as the spread-it-out nature of offenses nowadays.

One thing we guarantee you won’t need to worry about tonight is someone going off for 60 or 70 points at TD Garden. That’s because these two teams, with one side featuring Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and the other side featuring Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, have stars who are capable of locking opposing scorers up at any given moment.

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Pregame Post-Ups: What's Leading to NBA's Scoring Outbursts?

BOSTON – Derrick White’s NBA journey has been a remarkable story of perennial progress, and no one could be more proud of the Celtics guard than the man who helped bring him into the league.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, with whom White spent his first four-plus NBA seasons, gushed over White’s transformation into an All-Star-caliber player ahead of Wednesday night’s matchup with the Celtics at TD Garden.

“I'm thrilled for him. I love the kid,” Popovich said. “I keep in touch with him and he's one of the great examples of working through it. Played in the G League for a couple of years, (he) didn't even think he belonged in the [NBA]. Started out at a small school in Colorado Springs and ended up his final year at [the University of] Colorado.

"But he's worked his fanny off. He got all those minutes there and gained confidence with each year developing and it's never stopped. He's gotten better every single year. Whether it's shooting or understanding pick-and-roll. He always could pass really well. He had a good affinity for passing. He had a good sense of space defensively on how to get some things done. But it was mostly a matter of confidence and it took time, but he got there. And then when he got here playing with the guys he's playing with, he took another step.

"I couldn't be more thrilled for him. Wonderful young man.”

White is averaging career-highs in all five major statistical categories this season: 15.9 points, 4.9 assists, 3.9 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. He’s also shooting 47.0 percent from the field, along with career-highs of 41.2 percent from long range and 90.3 percent from the free-throw line.

Unfortunately, White won’t be able to suit up against his former team, as he is sidelined with a minor ankle sprain.

Popovich joked about the one-game absence, claiming with a smile, “He’s afraid of us, not playing tonight. I had stuff planned for him where we would just destroy him, so he sat out.”

Jokes aside, White has made one serious leap since his entrance into the league. And Popovich has remained his No. 1 fan from Day 1.

“I just couldn’t be more proud of a player.”

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Pregame Post-Ups: Popovich ‘Thrilled’ About White’s Progress

Raise your hand if you expected to see a partnership between the Boston Celtics and a famous snowboard company in 2023.

The pairing of the Celtics and Burton MINE77 may come off on the surface as odd, but dig a bit deeper into the story and it all makes sense.

The two iconic brands collaborated this year on the design of a new snowboard that is constructed from wood from the 2008 championship parquet floor. Tonight at TD Garden, the brands will cross paths again on the newest parquet floor as the Celtics play host to the New York Knicks.

Burton’s founder, the late Jake Burton Carpenter, was a huge fan of the Celtics. He was a New Englander who started the brand in 1977 in Vermont.

His fandom contributed to the two franchises teaming up this year to create the Burton MINE77 x Celtics Floor Board. In a nod to Carpenter’s affinity for the No. 77, only 77 of the floor boards will be released to the public for purchase. The limited-edition boards go on sale tomorrow for $1,300.77, and they can be found here.

In celebration of the board going on sale, Burton snowboarder and 2020 XGames gold medalist Zeb Powell will be at the game tonight at TD Garden. Powell also just so happens to be a friend of Celtics star wing Jaylen Brown, so Brown is planning to present Powell with a Celtics jersey on the court prior to the game.

This is certainly an odd pairing, but it turned into a perfect combination at the perfect time of year. The collaboration led to a stunningly beautiful board hitting the marketplace just ahead of ski and snowboard season in the Northeast, just as the Celtics’ latest pursuit of an 18th championship got underway.

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