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The Boston Celtics are on the cusp of their return as they get ready to face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday afternoon. For the first time in what seems like forever, it appears like the entire Boston Celtics roster is healthy. Although Kemba Walker isn’t up to full speed yet, no one has expressed any concern about where he’s at now. Stevens had this update on Walker:
#NEBHInjuryReport Kemba Walker (knee) is unlikely to play in Friday’s scrimmage vs. OKC, but went through an hour of practice today and “is pretty darn close,” according to Brad Stevens. “He’s been going every day to some level in the last five days ... He’s felt great.”
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) July 21, 2020
I’m not a doctor, but “he’s felt great” is better than “he’s felt not great” if you ask me. Stevens also mentioned that the starters will take it easy in shorter stints in Friday’s game. This serves two purposes: 1) It’ll help ease them into their first game action since March and 2) it’ll give us more of a look at the second unit and less experienced players who have been well reported on since training camp in Orlando started.
If you’ve been hearing about how good Carsen Edwards and Romeo Langford look so far, Friday will be a good opportunity to see it. With 10-minutes quarters, it’s likely that no one will get extended run. After all, everyone needs to be eased back in all the same. However, this will still be a good chance to see how the younger guys have grown and how they’ll adapt to a completely new environment.
In other news, we were treated to an entertaining and controlled 1-on-1 between Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the two biggest building blocks of the franchise currently.
After about eight scoreless possessions in their battle, Jayson Tatum is able to get buckets on Jaylen Brown in a rare 1 on 1 between two #Celtics cornerstones. pic.twitter.com/SfzVOAKOja
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) July 21, 2020
Between this film, the good update on Kemba Walker and the praise the younger players are receiving, the restart to Orlando seems to be a success from a basketball perspective. Now they have to go out and show it. The Boston Celtics will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first of the scrimmage games in the Orlando Bubble on Friday at 5PM EST on NBATV.