Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

Boston Celtics Wolverine-of-the-Hardwood, Marcus Smart, not only played ferocious defense against Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo in Team USA's 69-53 victory, at times he seemed to be guarding every opponent on the floor. Smart is guarding just about every player on the floor on just about every defensive possession. — Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) September 7, 2019 The first half ended with Team USA up by 13 points, 38-25. Jaylen Brown was high man for Team Shamrock with eight points and an aggressive seven rebounds. Kemba Walker notched five points and three assists. Marcus Smart scored three points but gave Giannis Antetokounpo fits with his defense. Giannis had a first-half high of nine points for Greece. He also matched Brown on rebounds with seven. Just watch Marcus Smart work on Giannis and then fly into a closeout. Great stuff. pic.twitter.com/4Vqe6NlP5h — Jay King (@ByJayKing) September 7, 2019 Just watch Marcus Smart work on Giannis and then fly into a closeout....

The Boston Celtics acquired Tremont Waters with the 51st pick in the 2019 NBA draft, so the first reaction may be to dismiss this young man as a late second-rounder. Not so fast. The information below by Tomek Kordylewski came as a surprise to me, possibly because most of us don't pay a lot of attention to late second-rounders. Did you know that Tremont Waters was named SEC Defensive Player of Year last year at @LSUBasketball ? He lead the SEC in steals average with 2.9 per game (4th in the nation). pic.twitter.com/4QSorC6ZQG — Tomek Kordylewski (@Timi_093) September 6, 2019 We may remember that Isaiah Thomas was the "last kid picked" at #60 in 2011 - as late a 2nd round pick as you can get. The 5'11" Waters was solid in Summer League for the Celtics, averaging 10.0 PPG, 5.3 APG, 2.0 RPG and 2.0 SPG in only 22.5 minutes of floor time. He has been signed by Boston as a two-way player - meaning he will split time between the G-League Maine Red Claws and the Bos...

After three games in World Cup competition, Boston Celtics point guard, Kemba Walker, has become the face of Team USA. In 23.7 minutes of action per game, he is notching 14.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 6.3 APG, 1.3 SPG and only one turnover per contest. His speed and wizardry on the court have thrown opponents off balance, and his defense has been outstanding. So what does this mean for the Celtics upcoming season? And where does Gordon Hayward rank in Boston's pecking order? With Kyrie Irving in charge of Boston's offense last season and Gordon struggling to regain his All-Star form, Hayward ranked behind both Kyrie and Al Horford - and possibly lower than that by many estimates. Gordon will earn $32.7 million this season and $34.2 million in 2010-21, but with a player option. Give the blame to injury and internal disruption, but Gordon in his 2-year tenure has not come close to earning that kind of money. I expect that to change this season. Hayward has had the chance to totally str...

The Boston Celtics will be signing former Xavier forward, Kaiser Gates, to a training camp contract. The 6'8" forward left Xavier after his junior year but went undrafted in 2018. He played for the G-League Windy City Bulls last season, averaging 12.7 PPG and 6.4 RPG. The Boston Celtics are signing former Xavier forward Kaiser Gates to a training camp contract to compete for the 15th roster spot along with Tacko Fall and others, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium . — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 5, 2019 Being that Boston is loaded at the wing position, it appears unlikely that Gates will be able to grab that final 15th roster slot with the Celtics. But this does give the versatile youngster another chance to demonstrate what he can offer at the NBA level. Kaiser does many things quite well, but nothing truly stands out in his overall game. But it is noteworthy that in his junior year at Xavier, most of his shots were launched beyond the arc. He pu...

Boston Celtics wing, Jaylen Brown, redeemed himself in Team USA's demolishing of Japan, 98-45 . The game was never in doubt as the Americans got off to a 13-0 start. 1Q: 🇺🇸 USA 23, 🇯🇵 JPN 9 A 13-0 start gets us rolling! Nine of the 10 available players already on the scoresheet. #USAGotGame pic.twitter.com/yuFTY2rqXm — USA Basketball (@usabasketball) September 5, 2019 Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart both sat this one out. Tatum was nursing a sore ankle , injured in the final seconds of Team USA's narrow win over Turkey. No reason was evident for Smart not playing in the contest. JAYLEN BROWN WINDMILL LET'S GOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/8HsRdMvjza — Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) September 5, 2019 The score was 56-23 at the end of the first half and 84-31 after three quarters. After a poor performance against Turkey, Jaylen Brown redeemed himself in this game. His scoring and rebounding were exceptional. Jaylen Brown killed a guy pic.twitter.com/jn4ltB2lwM ...

The Boston Celtics G-League affiliate happens to be the Maine Red Claws. Their mascot is a large red lobster - as in one that has already been boiled to death. Live lobsters are a brown/green color. What was the team thinking? One of my readers, David Anthopoulos, broached this question some time ago, and it got my attention. I even took a Twitter poll on this matter. Should the Maine Red Claws have a dead, red lobster as their mascot? — Tom Lane (@TomLaneHC) October 2, 2018 How can 30% of respondents not care about this? The current red mascot leaves the door open for rival announcers to come up with such demeaning statements as: "Looks like the Red Claws are dead in the water!" "There was just no life in the Red Claws right from the start!" See what I mean? It gets worse. According to NewMaineNews.com , the Red Claws mascot, Crusher got tossed back into the sea to breed. I am not making this up! Maine Red Claws Mascot Seized by Wardens for Being Over t...

Bill Fitch coached the Boston Celtics from 1979-1983, winning a Championship in 1981. He was tough as nails and a strict disciplinarian. Larry Bird, who matched Fitch's toughness, joined Bill in the mutual-admiration pairing. Other Celtics players didn't seem to share Larry's fondness for "Captain Video", as Bill was called for his love of having his understudies watch game film. Now the 87-year-old Fitch may miss his enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame due to illness. Former Celtics head coach Bill Fitch to miss Hall of Fame enshrinement https://t.co/fNMGHgYEte — The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) September 4, 2019 Fitch is a 2-Time Coach-of-the-Year winner (1976 and 1980) and a top-10 NBA Coach. It is fitting that Bird is scheduled to be Bill's presenter as the mutual fondness persists. Here is an excerpt from a book by Larry Bird and Jackie MacMullan, Bird Watching: On Playing and Coaching the Game I Love : I bet we weren't in practice 20 ...