Jared Weiss

BOSTON — As the wrapped their final practice before the came to town, was working on missing. Remember that in Miami last year? It wasn’t random. White practices that. That’s why on Monday, a big plastic egg crate covered the rim where White and his coaches were working. His touch has been so good lately, that they couldn’t let him practice offensive rebounding without a lid on the hoop. Derrick White practicing scoring on — Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) In the opposite corner of the gym was…

MIAMI — is going to make you work. With out, the guard has stepped up into the primary creator role for Miami and has been running ’s defense in circles all series. He had just about the best performance of his career in the Heat’s Game 2 win, putting the challenge on the Celtics to make a statement in Game 3. This was the moment for to show why the Celtics brought him in. Advertisement Holiday has been instrumental in shaping and directing the defense with his versatility and great reads, b…

As the bench dismantled the in a 131-98 win Friday, it felt like some fun but meaningless basketball for the team that clinched the top seed some time ago. But around the East, some serious battles were going on. Boston’s spot at the top was the only thing set entering the evening. As the prepares for Sunday’s final matchups of the regular season, plenty is still up in the air. Advertisement Boston’s path in the playoffs still remains unclear, so let’s break down where things stand. The Play-…

BOSTON — didn’t know if this day would come. His arrival in Boston was a whirlwind. He was suddenly traded from Milwaukee, where he was a pillar in the community, rerouted through Portland and then landed in Boston. It was a disorienting event requiring time to orient himself to his new reality. Advertisement “I think there was a little bump there in the beginning, just trying to get my bearings in the city in general,” Holiday said. “But I think it comes pretty easy, just that type of guy that…

The and guard have agreed on a four-year, $135 million contract extension, league sources confirmed Wednesday. ESPN first reported the news of the deal. “Once I knew I was getting traded here, this is a part of what I wanted or what I envisioned,” Holiday said Thursday. “Being in a great organization, being here for a lengthy amount of time and being able to play along guys like () and () and really try to get more banners, get more rings here.” Advertisement was involved in the trade last off…

BOSTON — Most players dream of winning a title one day. Basketball stories are regularly told through the lens of pursuing championships. But the reality in the is that it’s a job, a high-paying one, and many players just want to survive in the league. For , that meant being a minimum-salary player riding the bench for the best team in the league. Advertisement He came to the hoping to find some minutes, providing defensive size and rebounding while being able to run some point when the Celtic…

NEW YORK — knew this would work. He’s seen a few imperfect teams in his time. When he played for the they were, quite simply, flawed. Dallas, Washington, it was all the same thing. A team with a couple of dominant players, but missing a coherent identity that worked for him and everybody else. Then Brad Stevens and the front office pitched him on, well, this. Advertisement “When the opportunity presented, for me at least, I said this is gonna work, 100 percent,” Porziņģis said after the beat…

The have swung a deal for P.J. Washington, sending the a package centered around , and a top-two protected first-round pick in 2027. Washington, who started 17 games, is averaging 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in 44 contests this season. The 6-foot-7 forward has shot 35.9 percent from 3 in his career but is shooting a career-low 32.4 percent this season. Williams arrived in Dallas after agreeing to a four-year, $53.34 million deal. He spent the first four years of his career with the…

is a case study: in a player’s maturation, in the importance of role acceptance, in the beneficial nature of a different sports scenery completely changing who you can be. Porziņģis’ departure from the , and his renaissance season with the , has been discussed online recently, but there’s only so much nuance that can be crammed into social-media discourse. The Athletic ’s Tim Cato, who covers the Mavericks, and Jared Weiss, who covers the Celtics, decided to have a conversation about Porziņģis’…

BOSTON — There was a time when couldn’t stand . As Brown was ascending toward being a perennial All-Star, Smart was always in the way. It wasn’t that was impeding his progress toward the upper echelon of the league. Smart was just everywhere in every way. He was unavoidable. He was a basketball maverick with carte blanche to do anything and everything he could think of in the pursuit of winning. That got to be a lot. Too much at times. Sometimes it could be talked out. Other times, they needed…

BOSTON — At one point, the home winning streak had been going on for so long that it became an afterthought. By the time they reached 20-0 at the Garden, it just felt like they might never lose. Since then, it’s two losses in a row to two teams who might be back in this building in June. At least the game was close. This was the Celtics’ biggest home loss since Ime Udoka’s first game in charge. It took that team awhile to find its identity, but the Celtics have been an elite team ever since. T…

BOSTON — Finals previews are more than just a battle between two great teams. There’s a tension in the air. A jarring physicality. A true test of their physical and mental stamina. Everyone in the rotation has been there and seen what it takes, except for . Ten players were on the floor when the Celtics and tipped off Friday night. Porziņģis was the only one who had never been to the NBA Finals. He’s never even made it out of the opening round. Advertisement Ever since the Celtics traded for h…

LOS ANGELES — has been going up against his whole career. Tatum arrived in the league as a skinny finesse midrange scorer, a player who needed to completely evolve several times to become more than someone who just gets buckets. Then he “. Suddenly, the world realized there was more to his game. A little more than half a decade later, finesse midrange scorer isn’t even a part of his game anymore. Just like James, he’s now defined by all the things he does besides hitting those shots. “It’s jus…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — History would not repeat itself this time around. Not the franchise record 41 missed 3s. Not the annual loss to the dovetailing into a bevy of losses that turn into a wake-up call. The shook off a disappointing thriller the night before and stripped the of their offensive royalty. The beam would not illuminate as Boston lit up Sacramento 144-119 for a defiant win without its biggest star. Well … were the Celtics without their biggest star? As the Celtics have had guys in…

BOSTON — The always knew the cliff was steep on their center depth. has been great … when healthy … and is reliable unless it’s a back-to-back. So what happens when their first, second and even third-string center, , are in street clothes? Well, you get a little bit of everything. Advertisement started at the five. came in as the bench sparked a huge turnaround in the first quarter. Even played center. In the end, no matter how small they were, the Celtics responded with force to one of the…

There’s a perception the have long been a great third-quarter team. But after another game blown following halftime, that reputation is fading this season. Looking at net rating in the third quarter, the Celtics have generally been toward the top of the league in the regular season. But then in the playoffs, it tends to fall steeply. Over the past four years, they’ve ranked second, first, ninth, and first in the regular season, then ninth, 10th, 14th and eighth out of the 16 playoff teams. They…

BOSTON — Everything looked a little different. The paint is green in Boston. The rest of the court is a familiar blend of tan wooden shades that make up the parquet floor. Yet Friday, the color scheme was inverted. This is what the NBA Cup is all about. In promoting the new In-Season Tournament in which the made their debut Friday night, Adam Silver has spent the past year lionizing tournaments like the in England. It’s the competition that pits tiny local clubs from around the world against t…

NEW YORK — remembered the first time he was in the Barclays Center. Draft night, June 2017, third overall pick to a storied franchise back on the rise. It was a bizarre experience to be drafted. He chose to go to Chaminade High in St. Louis, following in the footsteps of his big bro Brad Beal. He knew he had one year in college before he made the league, so he joined the Duke brotherhood. At 19, he spent his life a walking bucket, always able to choose the shot, the play, the uniform he was wea…

Every day seems like a different blast from the past at training camp. While former players have occasionally stopped by to observe from a distance, guys such as Paul Pierce and Eddie House have been holding 3-point contests in gear and talking enough trash for the whole organization to hear. didn’t put out an open call to Celtics alumni to say a few words, but rather to come back to town and forge a real connection with his team. Mazzulla started his first year on the back foot, fighting for…

While there was much excitement around the sudden trade, the were already in for a slight makeover this season, was brought in to open up the Celtics offense but also to cover several offensive roles in one player. The Celtics have always been able to do most things under the sun but just one or two at a time. The whole point of having Porziņģis is to be less predictable and keep cycling through alternatives every time the defense takes away what they want to do. Advertisement As preseason got…