You hear “subsequent man up” on a regular basis in sports activities. It’s grow to be a cliche throughout all workforce competitions, however it really applies to the Boston Celtics. Head coach Joe Mazzulla has been outspoken about how a lot he trusts the fellows on his workforce and that mentality has embedded itself throughout the gamers themselves.
Saturday evening’s win towards the Charlotte Hornets was an incredible instance of why that belief is there. The workforce nonetheless managed a double-digit win with out reigning Finals MVP Jaylen Brown within the beginning lineup as a result of guys like Luke Kornet seamlessly dealt along with his inheritance of added accountability.
Kornet was inserted in Boston’s beginning 5 towards the Hornets and delivered a 19-point efficiency to assist his squad come away with the W.
When requested about his spectacular outing, he pointed to the workforce’s mindset as a complete.
“I feel it’s simply sort of what our id is,” Kornet advised NBC Sports activities Boston’s Kayla Burton. “It’s all about simply successful the sport in hand. You don’t know who it’s going to be, however everybody who got here in contributed and it’s all rolling in the identical path to get the win.”
Regardless of a season-high in minutes, Saturday’s field rating solely reveals 4 rebounds for Kornet. In line with Mazzulla, these statistics are fairly flawed in terms of capturing the large man’s effectiveness on the glass.
“He will get loads of stuff that goes unnoticed,” mentioned Mazzulla (through NBC Sports activities Boston). “One of many issues that they don’t chart is block outs when another person will get the rebound…An ideal job retaining his man off the glass so another person can get it.”
An outing like Saturday’s shouldn’t come as a shock. Final yr, when he was given an analogous alternative towards the Toronto Raptors he had his greatest recreation of the season. Kornet completed that evening with 20 factors, eight rebounds, and three blocks towards the Raptors. Two of the factors got here within the closing minute and proved to be the deciding issue within the win.
“I feel a few years taking part in the way in which I’ve, I feel I simply bought actually comfy with it. The main target for me this yr has been actually in step with caring for my physique and placing myself in an excellent place each single day,” Kornet advised CelticsBlog’s Bobby Manning. “I really feel like so long as I’m caring for these issues and after video games, trying again and seeing what choices I made after which simply persevering with on with that course of.”
It may well’t be acknowledged sufficient how lucky the Celtics are that Kornet elected to re-up on a minimal multi-year deal. He may’ve definitely gotten paid extra by groups across the affiliation however determined to stick with the champs. This not solely says so much about Kornet’s character and what’s necessary to him as a basketball participant, but additionally to the setting that the Cs have constructed.
Massive Korn isn’t the one man who’s having video games like this. As a workforce, Boston has constructed an id of being prepared for the second. Each Kornet and Payton Pritchard, members of final season’s “keep prepared group,” have had strong begins to the 2024-25 marketing campaign by thriving within the area of interest areas that the workforce wants them to.
