CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Terry Rozier would qualify as an expert on recent Boston Celtics history. He spent the last four years with them, and, after moving on to the Charlotte Hornets, he’s gotten to see them from the other side of the fence.
And the latter look can’t be too pretty, with the Celtics taking the season series from Charlotte 3-0 with wins of 21, 26 and 17 points – the latest a 109-92 victory on Tuesday.
Rozier is impressed with the evolution of the Celtics from an underachieving 2018-19 to a club that’s 23-8 and second in the Eastern Conference.
“Last year obviously we had bumps in the road that we couldn’t overcome,” said Rozier, who shot 11 of 41 from the floor in the three games against the Celtics (4 of 13, 10 points Tuesday). “This year I think they’ve got a lot of guys that’s just leading the way and putting everything aside and just having fun for the most part, and I think it’s working for them.”
One could easily make the argument that the Celtics had more talent last season.
“Yeah, you could say that. But talent, it can’t always get you to where you want to go,” said Rozier. “You’ve got to have the guys that want to be good, want to play hard, want to learn – stuff like that. Obviously you can have all the talent in the world; if you don’t put it together and everybody don’t buy in, it’s not going to work out. And I think that’s what we got caught up in last year. But this year I’m happy for them. It’s like they pulled it back together.”
Sort of how the Celtics, minus the injured Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward and with Rozier starting at the point, made it to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals in 2018?
“For sure,” Rozier said. “Like I said, when you come together, man, the sky’s the limit – for any team. That’s what we did that year, and that’s what they’re doing right now. I’m happy for them.”
STAR ON THE RISE
Shortly after being named Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday, Jaylen Brown was unable to make the flight to Charlotte because of a sinus infection. Coach Brad Stevens reported that Brown is “feeling better (Tuesday), thankfully… I think he’s day-to-day. He feels a lot better than he did. (Monday) was the worst of it from what I’ve heard.”
As for what’s gotten Brown to this latest honor, the coach said, “I think he’s improved his reads with the ball, driving and kicking and making the right play. And the more that happens, the more the ball finds you again. He’s always been able to drive it through contact, but now he picks his spots, I think, well. He’s playing really assertive, really aggressive. He’s having a great year. But just like I’ve said with Jayson (Tatum) too, I just think he can get that much better, so that’s the fun part about it.”
KANTER BLOCK PARTY
Enes Kanter had a big day against the Hornets with 13 points and 14 rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. He also had a career-high six blocked shots, eclipsing the four he’s had on three occasions.
He came in averaging 0.6 blocks this season and 0.5 for his career.
“Yup, new year, new me, baby,” Kanter said with a smile. “Nah, it’s good to be out there, because, I mean, we know we’re going to score the ball. We’ve got enough talent to go out there and score the ball, so the thing coach Brad is always talking about, if you want to get to the next level, it’s defensively. So that was focus. That was everybody’s focus for (Tuesday).”
Regarding the blocks, he said, “I would like to give the credit to my teammates. I think they put me in a really good position. And before the game, Brad had a really good game plan, so it was all about the game plan and my teammates.
“Obviously I’m a shot-blocker,” he added with another smile.
Kanter’s bigger role here is as an offensive rebounder, and he had two key putback scores against the Hornets.
“That’s been my job my whole career,” he said. “I always try to give my teammates a lot of confidence whenever they’re out there. ‘Hey, shoot the ball. If you miss, I promise I’m going to go get that offensive rebound.’ So I want them to shoot with a lot of confidence.”
Said Kemba Walker, “We all love shooting, so we’re going to keep shooting. And he’s going to try his best to get those offensive rebounds. That’s the kind of guy he is. You have to love bigs like that, guys who don’t really care about the basketball much – especially with so much scoring that we have on the perimeter. You just have to respect it.”
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