Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
The two just combined nearly equally for 45 points in the Celtics’ 110-89 victory against what passes for the Knicks these days, becoming, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the first pair of 21-or-younger players in franchise history to score 20-plus points in the same game.
To which Stevens pretty much responded: Neato. There’s a game tomorrow in Milwaukee.
“They are young guys,” the coach said in actual quotage. “But to us, with the situation we’re in, they’re guys. Like, we need them to be guys.”
“I just got asked if there was any praise I’d like to heap on them,” Stevens said. “I’ll deal in reality and let everybody else praise them, and we need them to play well on Thursday. We’re in a situation right now where we’re going to expect a lot out of those guys, and we need them to be great. We need them to be able to respond to adversity, and we need to be able to respond to pats on the back just the same. We have high expectations for them; they should have high expectations for themselves.
“And they’re getting a great opportunity. So we need them to continue to be good, and there’s a lot of fun in that, I think.”
Euphoric? Orgasmic? I’m still searching for the right adjective to describe my feelings about Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
These boys look good. And spare me your “it’s early” and/or “the Knicks are garbage” counter points. Last I checked, every team in the league gets to play them.
Remember when we thought Brown couldn’t shoot?
Or the talk about Tatum’s lack of athleticism?
Right now they are capitalizing on the defensive attention paid to Kyrie Irving and Al Horford. If they keep this up, that will change.
But for now, be excited. Live in the moment. Ignore the naysayers and leave the pragmatic stuff to Brad.
And can someone come up with a decent nickname for these two?
Related: Globe – Celtics have no problem with Knicks | Tatum with green light to shoot | ESPN – Celtics get major lift from young Jays | Herald – Celtics bury Knicks with flurry of 3s | Mass LIVE – 10 takeaways | NBC Boston – Young duo continues to shine
On Page 2, Kyrie has no time for the Knicks questions.
“Where is this gonna go?,’’ said Irving, who can opt out of his contract and become a free agent in 2018. “It’s pretty easy man. They were on my list for a reason, I think you guys know that. Close to home, that’s about it. I’m not going to go into detail about all that extra stuff because I know where this is going to lead.’’
When Irving looked up, a phalanx of cameras started walking over to the small group. “Cameras all here, I know exactly where this is going to go,’’ Irving said before walking out of the arena.
“Close to home, that’s about it.”
Outside of Porzingis, the Knicks are a mess of mediocrity. You got Courtney Lee saying no one knows the plays and Tim Hardaway Jr. saying guys are running around without a clue.
Never change, Knicks. Never change.
The rest of the links:
NBC Philly – Fultz cannot raise his arms to shoot | ESPN – Anthony Davis exits with knee injury
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