The Celtics player Jaylen Brown grew up in the state of Georgia watching the Hawks play Joe Johnson, star player of that Atlanta that at that time the Brown kid looked with real admiration. Today, Brown and Johnson, separated by 15 years, share a team, a circumstance that neither Brown nor Johnson had even imagined until a few hours ago.
Brown was the leader of the Celtics with 34 points and 5 triples in a comfortable victory against the Cavaliers (111-101), but Johnson was the sentimental protagonist of the game.
Joe Johnson’s emotional return to the NBA. The 7-time All-Star had not played in the league since the 2017-2018 season and returned to the TD Garden defending the Boston Celtics jersey, a team in which he played as a rookie in the 2001-2002 season. Two decades separate his previous game with Boston from this one.
In fact, Johnson today set a record in the Celtics’ victory over the Cavaliers, that of being the player who has waited the longest to return to a team in NBA history. Between his previous game with Celtics and the one he played today, 19 years and 308 days have passed, thus pulverizing the previous record set by the pivot James Edwards with Lakers, who was at 14 years and 331 days.
Johnson, who at 40 is the second oldest player in the current NBA, is the only active player in the league who came to face on the court with Michael Jordan, which already gives an idea of the temporal dimension of the new Boston player.
The old ‘Iso’ Joe came out already in the inconsequential minutes, but he did it to gain importance. He was on the track for 1 minute and 57 seconds and he left us a beautiful basket. Everything between songs from the stands of “We want Joe!“, a crowd that received him with a warm ovation when he entered the track.
Beyond the recovered relationship between Johnson and the Celtics after two decades of separation, the game left us a good victory for Boston taking advantage of the great losses of Cleveland.
It is true that Celtics currently have 7 players in the Covid-19 protocols (they do not present casualties due to injury), but it is that the Cavaliers have 7 players in those same circumstances and the injured Collin Sexton, being in the protocols players like Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley The Isaac Okoro.
And it was the loss of his tall men – Allen and Mobley – that did the most damage to the Cavs, as they had to field the giant as a starting center. Tacko Fall, first title in the NBA, an endearing player who is not for such high substance. The beneficiary, Robert Williams III. The local pivot found no opposition in the paint and finished the game with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 10 of 12 in the field goal. It was the best of the game with Jaylen Brown. Little could be expected of Fall’s inner defense, Lauri Markkanen Y Kevin Love, so it was.
Jayson Tatum this time he stayed at 18 points and 9 rebounds after missing 13 of his 19 field goals, Romeo Langford contributed as owner and Marcus Smart Y Dennis Schröder they had had enough of missing shots, with the first making a 1 of 7 on the field and the second signing a ghastly 1 of 11 in just 18 minutes of play. The stay of the German in Celtics does not look good.
Boston came into the halftime winning 63-48 and held a maximum lead in the game of 22 points, but Cleveland managed to get closer to the start of the fourth quarter to 85-75. It was there that the Celtics gave their last acceleration with a partial 8-0 that resolved any doubts.
The Cavaliers, who did not reach 40% in the field goal and signed 9 of 38 from the triple, were coming off a great streak of results that ended in the Garden.
Darius Garland (28 points and 6 assists) and Kevin Love (18 points and 12 rebounds in 23 minutes) were his best pieces in attack, while between Lauri Markkanen and Ricky Rubio they signed a 4 of 24 in the field goal.
The Spanish player was a starter this time. He added 8 points, 6 assists and 3 ball recoveries in 31 minutes, offered a 2 of 12 in the launch and his team made a -20 with him on the court. It was not his best night, although the circumstances, it must be said, were not very conducive to his squad from the beginning.
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