NEW YORK — Hugo Gonzalez didn’t consider his defensive efficiency Friday evening was one value praising.
In spite of everything, Knicks star Jalen Brunson, whom Gonzalez spent a lot of the sport guarding, poured in a game-high 31 factors as New York defeated the Celtics 105-95 at Madison Sq. Backyard.
“Properly, I might say that Jalen Brunson dropped 30 factors at the moment,” Boston’s first-round draft decide stated postgame, “so it’s not the day to say that I’m an amazing defender, I might say truthfully.”
Two of Gonzalez’s veteran teammates, nevertheless, had no such reservations. Nor did head coach Joe Mazzulla.
All three raved concerning the outing Gonzalez put collectively as a 19-year-old rookie in his NBA debut.
“He was superior,” Sam Hauser stated. “A bunch of deflections, performed actually onerous, performed nice protection, rebounding the ball, ran in transition. For a rookie to step right into a place like that on a giant stage in Madison Sq. Backyard, it’s fairly cool to see. We’re pleased for him, and he’s going to must proceed to do this for us to seek out minutes and likewise assist positively affect the group.”
Gonzalez, who was a healthy DNP in Wednesday’s season-opening loss to Philadelphia, checked in halfway via the primary quarter and made a right away affect. His first field-goal try was an off-hand, high-glass layup in site visitors, and he performed aggressive protection on Brunson, a second-team All-Professional in every of the final two seasons. The Celtics outscored the Knicks by seven factors over Gonzalez’s six first-quarter minutes.
Later, Gonzalez’s infectious power and in-your-face protection helped the Celtics climb again into the sport after an unpleasant second quarter caught them in a 64-44 halftime gap. Trailing by 22 factors when Gonzalez checked in on the 4:39 mark of the third quarter, Boston steadily chipped away at New York’s lead, finally pulling to inside single digits earlier than stalling within the closing minutes.
“Hugo’s wanting nice, man,” Jaylen Brown stated. “He’s taking part in with power, he’s taking part in with combat. That’s the kind of mentality we want. He’s selecting up guys. I appreciated what I’ve seen, how he was guarding among the different group’s finest gamers. We want extra of that. We want extra of what Hugo’s bought. It might’t be simply from the rook.”
The Celtics had been drawn to Gonzalez as a draft prospect as a result of they valued the toughness, excessive motor, competitiveness and team-first angle he displayed as a teenager on a Real Madrid team that was stocked with former NBA gamers. As Brad Stevens put it after they selected him 28th overall: “He’s bought all of the intangibles of a successful basketball participant.”
Gonzalez confirmed lots of these traits throughout his promising preseason, and he did so once more Friday evening. Mazzulla, who’s putting a newfound emphasis on pace and defensive pressure this season, left him within the recreation for practically 15 uninterrupted minutes whereas the Celtics staged their ill-fated comeback.
“He’s good for what we want,” stated Hauser, who first seen Gonzalez’s defensive depth in NBA Summer time League and witnessed it first-hand all through coaching camp.
Requested what he needed Gonzalez to usher in his first NBA look, Mazzulla replied: “What he did.”
“He’s been well-coached earlier than he’s gotten right here, clearly being part of an amazing group and having nice coaches,” the Celtics coach stated. “So he understands what it takes, and I believe he has a transparent understanding of what his position is, and it’s to defend on the highest ranges and play with a degree of effort on the offensive finish. And he’s in a position to do this. There’s issues he wants to scrub up, clearly, however I assumed he did an amazing job serving to set that third-quarter tone together with his effort and his toughness.”
Gonzalez’s closing stat line was unremarkable, as will seemingly be the case in most of his appearances. He completed with six factors on 3-of-6 taking pictures (0-for-2 on 3-pointers), 4 rebounds, one help, two steals, 4 fouls and no turnovers in 23 minutes, 16 of which got here after halftime.
However on a Celtics group missing off-the-bench difference-makers after its offseason teardown, Gonzalez already appears like an asset. Simply ask the Amazon Prime crew that referred to as his debut.
“I’ll say, Hugo Gonzalez, my gosh,” former Celtics ahead Blake Griffin stated on Friday evening’s postgame present. “The child earned himself some minutes tonight.”
“I’m falling in love with Hugo Gonzalez,” NBA coach-turned-analyst Stan Van Gundy declared after one third-quarter deflection.
Boston’s different reserve wings both performed sparingly (six complete minutes for Baylor Scheierman and Jordan Walsh) or by no means (zero for preseason standout Josh Minott) within the loss.
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