Jrue Vacation’s been a picture-perfect match with the Boston Celtics and that feeling is mutual, based on the 33-year-old veteran guard.
It took two out-of-the-blue trades simply days forward of coaching camp earlier than Vacation knew the place he would play this season, however the offseason craze has paid off tremendously. First, the Milwaukee Bucks traded Vacation for Damian Lillard, which allowed the opportunistic Celtics to swoop in and barter with the Portland Path Blazers at simply the proper time.
Quick ahead 5 months later and the Celtics have already clinched the Japanese Convention’s No. 1 seed with a league-best 57-15 document and 11 video games left scheduled earlier than the playoffs.
“It’s been enjoyable, bro. I’m not gonna lie, it’s been enjoyable,” Vacation mentioned throughout an look on “The Draymond Inexperienced Present.” “The tradition right here in Boston, what it means to win, the historical past that it has. Me being from LA, rising up a Laker fan, that was most likely the weirdest half for me. Like, being in that inexperienced, being a Celtic, understanding I used to be going to signal to be a Celtic was like, ‘Am I betraying my roots and the place I got here from?’”
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Whereas Vacation’s childhood favourite Lakers have desperately held on for pricey life because the No. 9 seed within the Western Convention, the Celtics have been the group in Boston. The Celtics haven’t undergone a shedding streak longer than two video games, are undefeated when lacking two or extra starters, and haven’t misplaced the highest seed since taking up the East on Nov. 14.
Other than Vacation’s most up-to-date shoulder harm, the two-time All-Star has been loads dependable for the Celtics, beginning in 61 of the group’s first 67 video games.
Vacation was seen as the perfect obtainable candidate to exchange Marcus Sensible, who departed through a commerce to the Memphis Grizzlies almost 4 months earlier than Vacation left Milwaukee. Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens welcomed Vacation because the second main blockbuster in an entire roster transformation that’s propelled the group to stellar heights.
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Nonetheless, the primary commerce — from the Bucks — was each sudden and didn’t rub Vacation the proper means.
“I feel for me it was a shock as a result of at the very least let me know 24 hours prematurely, not 5 minutes prematurely,” Vacation recalled when discovering he’d been traded from Miluwake. “Perhaps I’m asking for an excessive amount of.”
Now added to the combo of an already-well-established title contender that’s routinely fallen quick, Vacation’s fulfilled the function of Boston’s defensive captain plus extra. He’s averaged 12.8 factors with 5.4 rebounds to guide all guards within the East whereas capturing 48.5% from the ground and 60-plus p.c from the nook three — better of any participant within the NBA.
“All they discuss right here is profitable and the one factor that’s essential is profitable,” Vacation defined. “And I’m like, ‘Man, I’m right here for it, bro. I’m right here for the trip.’”
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Like in Milwaukee, Vacation is thrown proper into the competition hearth in Boston with expectations of an NBA Finals look at an all-time excessive within the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown period. That’s nothing new for Vacation, who performed a pivotal within the 2021 championship run with the Bucks, having a serious hand in stumping the Phoenix Suns and their offensive sport plan.
Vacation has taken a slight again seat with the Celtics, making an attempt his fewest shot complete (10) since Vacation’s rookie season in 2009-10, enjoying behind Boston’s co-stars Tatum and Brown. However it’s all been for the larger good.
“I feel that enjoying with them and seeing — now that I’m on this aspect and seeing the stress that they undergo, and the way they deal with themselves, it’s final skilled,” Vacation mentioned. “I don’t assume lots of people would be capable of do what they do. … Simply how they deal with themselves has been sensible past their years so it’s been cool to sort of see that.”
There’s just one solution to cap off Vacation’s first of presumably a number of runs with the Celtics: profitable the 2024 NBA Finals and lastly elevating Banner 18.
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