Friday evening’s blockbuster commerce sending former Minnesota Timberwolves huge man Karl-Anthony Cities to the New York Knicks prompted many to query whether or not or not New York now has the expertise to beat the reigning-champion Boston Celtics in a seven-game sequence.
It’s protected to say that the Cs don’t appear to be shaking of their boots over this one.
Sunday marked the primary time Boston held observe because the information of the swap broke. Some highlights of the session included duck-duck-goose with the youngsters and wiffleball.
Now, the Knicks have been a whole joke of a franchise for my total lifetime. I believe I’ve seen them play previous the primary spherical of the playoffs simply 3 times. It’s fairly humorous that they’ve put collectively their most proficient roster in fairly a while simply to have the Celtics having essentially the most enjoyable potential, proper of their face.
Boston’s enjoyable and video games didn’t come and not using a function, although (do you actually suppose Joe Mazzulla would do something and not using a purpose?). The group was capable of invite their households to the Auerbach Heart for his or her remaining observe earlier than heading to kick of the preseason in Abu Dhabi.
“Gotta preserve the steadiness,” Mazzulla stated of Sunday’s household day. “Nice to have the youngsters to look at their dads compete.”
That is nothing new for the Rhode Island native. He hasn’t been shy about seeing nearly all the things as a chance for studying. Mazzulla has had his guys take part in a number of unorthodox actions since taking on the top teaching position two years in the past. Sunday was simply one other instance.
For his gamers, the non-basketball stuff might be an effective way to reset earlier than issues actually get getting into observe.
“You get to get your thoughts off the sport for a second earlier than all of us lock in for the observe,” Derrick White stated of Mazzulla’s outside-the-box observe actions (h/t Noa Dalzell). “You may study a lot from each sport. Any time you’ll be able to have enjoyable out right here, that’s the aim.”
Mazzulla was positive to notice that his guys had been competing arduous from the beginning of coaching camp and that he was happy with them for setting the tone from the get-go.
As for Cities and his arrival to a rival, he was the recipient of reward from a couple of Celtics.
For those who ask Al Horford, KAT’s versatile skillset goes to be good for Boston’s contending counterpart.
“Karl is a superb participant. It’s going to be good for them. He does a variety of issues on the ground.”
Boston’s man in cost echoed the reward, however confused that his guys must give attention to themselves and put within the work each single day.
“Karl-Anthony Cities is a superb participant and they’re an amazing group,” Mazzulla defined. “We’ve gotta give attention to us and we’ve gotta get higher each day.”
The Celtics will fly to Abu Dhabi on Monday to prepare for Friday’s preseason opener in opposition to the Denver Nuggets.
For extra on how the Cities commerce impacts the Celtics, try the most recent “How ‘Bout Them Celtics” episode the place Jack Simone and I break it down.
