Pioneers

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Somewhere, Gregg Popovich must be pleased.
Ime Udoka and Steve Kerr played for Popovich with of the San Antonio Spurs, both served as assistant coaches under him, and neither makes any effort to hide the affinity they have for the NBA&rsquo;s career victory leader.
And now, Udoka and Kerr are about to go head-to-head &mdash; in the NBA Finals.
The title matchup is set: It&rsquo;ll be Udoka and the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics facing Kerr and the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors, a series that begins Thursday night in San Francisco. The teams split their two regular-season meetings, each winning on the other&rsquo;s home floor.
The Warriors have been waiting for an opponent since this past Thursday after needing only five games to beat Dallas for the West title. The Celtics got there the hard way, winning Game 7 in Miami on Sunday night to capture the East.
&ldquo;We stayed with it. We believed in each other. We made a commitment on the defensive end," said Celtics forward Al Horford, who, after 141 playoff games, is headed to the NBA Finals for the first time. &ldquo;That was the biggest thing, defending."
For the Celtics, it&rsquo;s a chance at an 18th NBA championship &mdash; which would break the tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in league history. For the Warriors, it&rsquo;s a chance at a seventh crown &mdash; which would break a tie with the Chicago Bulls for third-most in league history.
It&rsquo;s also a rematch of the 1964 finals, when Bill Russell and the Celtics topped the Warriors in five games.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said it many times: You go to the finals, it&rsquo;s almost a two-month journey filled with stress and fatigue and everything else,&rdquo; said Kerr, who gave his team Friday and Saturday off before bringing them back to work Sunday. &ldquo;So, if you can get a little bit of a break, it&rsquo;s very meaningful. Hopefully, we can get healthy and have a few days of really good prep and be ready to go on Thursday.&rdquo;
Golden State won at Boston 111-107 on Dec. 17, behind 30 points from Stephen Curry. The Celtics rolled on Golden State&rsquo;s home floor in the rematch on March 16, winning 110-88 in the game in which Curry injured his foot &mdash; and that&rsquo;s where his regular season ended.
Curry was ready to go for the playoffs. So were the rest of the Warriors. They&rsquo;re 12-4 in the playoffs, getting through Denver, Memphis and Dallas to get to the title round.
&ldquo;It all starts with Steph,&rdquo; Kerr said.
Udoka has a chance to become the 10th coach to win a title in his first season. Eddie Gottlieb (1947 Philadelphia Warriors), Buddy Jeanette (1948 Baltimore Bullets), John Kundla (1949 Minneapolis Lakers), George Senesky (1956 Philadelphia Warriors), Paul Westhead (1980 Los Angeles Lakers), Pat Riley (1982 Los Angeles Lakers), Tyronn Lue (2016 Cleveland Cavaliers) and Nick Nurse (2019 Toronto Raptors) are eight of the coaches who have pulled off the feat.
The other name on that list is Kerr &mdash; who did it with Golden State in 2015, the start of this run of greatness from the Warriors. That was the beginning of six finals appearances in eight years, the two exceptions being when injuries and a roster reset kept them from the playoffs in 2020 and 2021.
&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t take it for granted,&rdquo; Curry said after the West title series. &ldquo;Nothing&rsquo;s ever guaranteed. We understand how hard it is to win. We&rsquo;ve said that until we&rsquo;re blue in the face the last two years. This is definitely special. Proud of everybody that is in that locker room, that came with it all year. Now we have an opportunity to go finish a job.&rdquo;
Udoka played for Popovich and later was a San Antonio assistant. Kerr played for the Spurs, then assisted Popovich with USA Basketball through last summer&rsquo;s Tokyo Olympics &mdash; when the Americans won a fourth consecutive gold medal.
The Warriors&rsquo; Draymond Green was on that Olympic team. So was Boston&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum. They celebrated winning gold together, and now they&rsquo;ll try to go through one another to get their fingerprints on the gold trophy that goes to the NBA champions &mdash; the Larry O&rsquo;Brien.
&ldquo;This is an opportunity that players dream of,&rdquo; Golden State's Andrew Wiggins said. &ldquo;To be put in a position to win it all.&rdquo;
And if nothing else, a Warriors-Celtics matchup made Green seem prophetic.
After the Warriors won the West, Green visited the TNT broadcast set after the game and was prodded by Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal to say which team from the then-undecided East title series that he would like to play.
Green began giving a diplomatic answer, saying that both the Heat and Celtics were tough. O&rsquo;Neal pressed him to be honest, and Green &mdash; never shy with words &mdash; gave in.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re asking me who I want to play. I&rsquo;m gonna tell who I think we&rsquo;re going to play: We&rsquo;re going to play Boston,&rdquo; Green said Thursday night. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s who we&rsquo;re going to play.&rdquo;
He was right.
&nbsp;

The matchup is set: it will be the Boston Celtics facing the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.

The Finals matchup: Celtics vs. Warriors for NBA title

It still feels like yesterday.
Boston Garden was going crazy because we knew the championship was ours. Guys started celebrating, Paul dumped that red Gatorade on Doc&rsquo;s head and we all celebrated like 10-year-old kids.
Somehow, it&rsquo;s already been 14 years since we beat the Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals, and even after all this time, I haven&rsquo;t forgotten those moments. It&rsquo;s like I have pictures ingrained in my head.
And going back to where it all went down to join my teammates to honor Kevin Garnett &mdash; even after all these years, man, Boston still feels like home.
I feel so blessed to have been able to play a part in such a great team accomplishing the ultimate goal. And we all felt like we played a small part in Ticket&rsquo;s jersey getting retired.
Last weekend, I was invited by the Celtics organization to attend Kevin Garnett&rsquo;s jersey retirement ceremony. It was scheduled to happen during Sunday&rsquo;s game against the Mavericks, and a bunch of the members of the 2008 team got together and spent the entire weekend in Boston. It was amazing.
It was like the band was back together. Just like old times, I was hanging out, cracking jokes and reminiscing with Paul Pierce, Big Baby Davis and Eddie House. I got to chop it up a bit and catch up with Danny Ainge. And of course, I got to not only catch up with Ray Allen and KG; I got to see them publicly, and once and for all, squash whatever beef they may have had.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
About last night. Appreciate the love as always <a href="https://twitter.com/celtics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@celtics</a> Great to be HOME<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KGweekend?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KGweekend</a> <a href="https://t.co/Vt5ZRqw8bP">pic.twitter.com/Vt5ZRqw8bP</a>
&mdash; James Posey (@James_Posey41) <a href="https://twitter.com/James_Posey41/status/1502702175775907840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Sometimes in life, one tiny decision you make ends up having such a huge impact. Before I signed with Boston, I really thought I was going to New Jersey to play with Jason Kidd and the Nets. But for a few reasons, I ended up heading to Boston instead.
One of the things I&rsquo;ll always remember about being a Celtic was the fact that when I came to Boston, I was the only player on the team who had already won a championship. Doc would sometimes ask me questions in front of the team and want to get my perspective. He&rsquo;d ask me about things that Pat Riley preached and habits that Dwyane Wade and Shaq had. He figured that I&rsquo;d gotten the top of the mountain, so I at least knew what the view looked like, you know?
But even though I had that experience, being around Ticket was just different.
He was so easy to rally around because he made it his personal duty to do all that he could to push everybody around him. And even after all these years, he still has the same unique energy.
When Ticket walks in the room, it&rsquo;s like you immediately get on guard. He just makes you want to be sharp and on point. He has the same energy today, but it was that times 10 when he was your teammate pushing you on the floor.
Everyone on the 2008 team just has a special love and appreciation for Ticket.
So being able to reconnect with guys that you won a championship with and doing it in honor of someone who helped to bring out the best in you, that just made the entire weekend in Boston all the more enjoyable.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
It felt like everywhere we went in the city this past Friday and Saturday, people loved us and respected us and knew us by name. With the Celtics organization itself, they treated us like first-class citizens and made sure we were taken care of.
Not only does Boston remember what we achieved, they will never stop showing us love. And we owe a lot of that to KG. It was nice to see him get the highest honor that an organization is able to bestow on one of its own.
What I&rsquo;ll remember most from that weekend &mdash; aside from Jaylen Brown&rsquo;s <a href="https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1503106193102831620" target="_blank" rel="noopener">monstrous dunk</a> over Maxi Kleber &mdash; was KG shedding tears as he saw his jersey go up into the rafters.
A couple of us, including Big Kendrick Perkins, may have had one or two side bets about whether Ticket would cry. KG himself didn&rsquo;t think he would crack, but he obviously couldn&rsquo;t hold it all together, so we at least have something to tease him about the next time we see one another.
When I replay the weekend in my head, though, I kept finding myself thinking about Ray Allen. I was happy to see him there, but wasn&rsquo;t surprised that he attended.
I knew that everything that was said about him after he left for Miami would eventually become water under the bridge. But I knew that because I was a member of that team. The guys on that 2008 team simply loved each other too much and had too strong of a bond to let Ray&rsquo;s decision to leave ruin the bond forever. Even as words were exchanged over the years, I had all the confidence in the world that KG and Ray would bury the hatchet, and it unexpectedly happened during KG&rsquo;s moment.
While being interviewed during his jersey-retirement ceremony, out of nowhere, Ticket basically interrupted the interviewer just to say that it was good to see Ray there. Everyone started cheering before the two met at halfcourt and hugged.
As great as he was, Ticket was truly unselfish. So I guess it was fitting for him to share his moment in the spotlight with Ray and finally, publicly, squash the beef.
Nothing says &ldquo;brother&rdquo; more than that.
I think what most people don&rsquo;t really understand about being a pro athlete is how strong the relationship between teammates can become. The longer guys are together, the deeper the connection usually gets. And when you actually have success as teammates and when you win a championship together, it&rsquo;s almost as if the bond is solidified. And I speak from experience. Not only do you become members of an elite fraternity together, you helped one another get there.
Deep down inside, I think Ticket and Ray both had those feelings about each other.
After what&rsquo;s been said over the past few years, that was a beautiful thing to witness, and I&rsquo;m happy I was there in person to see it.
I&rsquo;ll never forget seeing KG and Ray hugging and jumping up and down at halfcourt at TD Garden back in 2008. It truly feels like yesterday.
In honor of Kevin Garnett &mdash; our leader and the engine that pushed that team &mdash; no other Celtic will ever wear No. 5.
I&rsquo;m proud to call him a friend and a teammate, and even prouder to see him receive the ultimate honor.
Fortunately, I have some new memories that I&rsquo;ll forever cherish.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

James Posey recounts his trip to Boston for Kevin Garnett's jersey retirement, which basically became a 2008 Celtics reunion weekend.

Even after 14 years, I was right at home with Kevin Garnett in Boston

Jaylen Brown had 29 points, Jayson Tatum added 20 points and 12 rebounds and the Boston Celtics rolled past the Miami Heat 122-92 on Monday night.
Boston led by as many as 32 on its way to claiming its fourth victory in five outings. Marcus Smart added 16 points and seven assists.
It was Brown&rsquo;s fourth consecutive game with 25 or more points, and Tatum has scored 20 or more in his last six games.
The Celtics' onslaught was keyed on the defensive end, where they forced 18 turnovers.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still working on some things, but I&rsquo;m very encouraged by the progress of our group," said Celtics big man Al Horford, who contributed 14 points and nine rebounds. "Now we can kind of see what we can do and who we are.&rdquo;
Miami has lost two straight and struggled mightily without several key players in the first of its six-game road trip: Jimmy Butler (toe), P.J. Tucker (knee) and point guard Kyle Lowry, who missed his eighth consecutive game for personal reasons.
In their absence, Max Strus finished 27 points. Caleb Martin had 14 points and Bam Adebayo chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. Miami also was coming off a triple-overtime loss to Toronto on Saturday.
&ldquo;We played about seven good minutes of basketball. The rest of it I would love to just put in a dumpster truck,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;It was just uncharacteristic for us. But we've been through a bunch of stuff in the last 72 hours.
The Celtics connected on eight of their first 11 shots and jumped out to a 21-7 lead. Miami struggled for quality looks on its end of the floor, shooting just 29% (6 of 21) in the opening period.
The Heat settled down, starting the second quarter on an 18-5 run to tie the game at 32. It prompted Celtics coach Ime Udoka to call a timeout. His team immediately responded with seven straight points to key a 22-13 run to close the half.
Udoka said the team heeded his message to limit the open looks for Miami's shooters.
&ldquo;We got our physicality back," Udoka said. &ldquo;Credit to our guys. They bounced back and finished out the half, then carried it over to the third quarter.&rdquo;
Boston led 67-52 in the third when Adebayo was assessed a technical at the 8:38 mark and pulled from the game by Spoelstra. By the time Adebayo returned with 2:04 left in the period, Boston's lead had grown to 86-67. The Celtics took a 94-70 edge into the fourth and cruised the rest of the way.
Smart said he feels like the team is finding its way after some rough patches earlier in the season.
&ldquo;I love it, especially with the adversity that we've been dealing with this whole season &mdash; the up and down, not being consistent,&rdquo; Smart said. &ldquo;For us to finally make start to make that walk in the right direction, it's big for us. .... It's something that we needed. It's happening at the right time for us.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Heat: Shot 39% (34 of 87) for the game. &hellip; Had five turnovers leading to 10 Boston points in the third quarter. &hellip; Rookie C Omer Yurtseven missed the game after being placed in the health and safety protocols.
Celtics: Had 16 3-pointers. &hellip; Outscored the Heat 40-25 in the third quarter. ... Shot just 5 of 12 from the free-throw line in the second quarter. &hellip; Recognized former players Eddie House (2007-10) and Brandon Bass (2011-15) in continuation of their season-long salute to past Celtics as part of the NBA&rsquo;s 75th anniversary season. House also played four seasons for the Heat. &ldquo;That was probably the only highlight of the night,&rdquo; Spoelstra said.
UP NEXT
Heat: At Toronto on Tuesday.
Celtics: Host Hornets on Wednesday.

Jaylen Brown had 29 points, Jayson Tatum added 20 points and 12 rebounds and the Celtics rolled past the Heat 122-92.

Brown scores 29, Celtics run past shorthanded Heat 122-92

Aaron Nesmith&rsquo;s rookie season didn&rsquo;t end the way he wanted.&nbsp;
Downed at the hands of the star-studded Brooklyn Nets in five games, the Boston Celtics were a first-round exit, leading to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-boston-celtics-unprecedented-front-office-overhaul-gives-brad-stevens-the-keys" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a number of organizational changes</a> this offseason. But nine days after the team was eliminated from contention, the 21-year-old made sure that his summer got off to an uplifting start &ndash; buying a new car for his mother, Erine.&nbsp;
He got the idea during the Celtics' game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on Jan. 25, while taking a quick walk on the sidelines.
&ldquo;It was when we had no fans, and there was a Kia on the floor,&rdquo; Nesmith told BasketballNews.com in a phone interview. &ldquo;I remember I checked out of the game, and I was walking to the designated area they had for us where we could take our masks off. And they had the white version of the Kia Sorrento there. I think that is a really nice car. It was the model that my mom likes.&rdquo;
Nesmith&rsquo;s mother had been driving the same vehicle for the past 15 years, so Aaron decided to buy her that same Kia Sorrento he laid eyes on, but in Crystal Beige. Setting up the surprise wasn&rsquo;t too difficult, especially since he was able to get his father, Bernie, in on the fun.
By the time Kia brought the car to the family&rsquo;s hometown of Charleston, SC, Aaron had it all planned out. After grabbing a bite to eat, he dropped her off at home, while he and his dad secretly went to the dealership to get a decorative bow. Bernie returned to the house early and told Erine that Aaron was going to meet them to go to dinner, and when Aaron pulled up, she went outside and saw that there was a brand new car in the driveway.
&ldquo;It was a dream come true,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;Growing up and wanting to play basketball, every kid also wants to do something special for their parents. Everything that my mom's done for me, she doesn't really get any gifts... It's really awesome. To see her smile puts a smile on my face.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
This is awesome. Celtics rookie Aaron Nesmith surprised his mom with a new car 🙏 <a href="https://twitter.com/aaronnesmith24?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@aaronnesmith24</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSCeltics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBCSCeltics</a><a href="https://t.co/5ZM7giLRyC">pic.twitter.com/5ZM7giLRyC</a>
&mdash; Dime (@DimeUPROXX) <a href="https://twitter.com/DimeUPROXX/status/1403423583636910083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Nesmith felt indebted to her. An early-riser, Aaron woke up at 6 a.m. to work out when he was in high school, and this continued when he was going through the pre-draft process less than a year ago. Erine would always roll out of bed 45 minutes earlier, just so that he could eat a homemade breakfast instead of a bowl of cereal.
&ldquo;She's always on me about taking my vitamins and making sure I eat healthy,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;She's always on me to try to help me be the best person that I can be, and same goes for my brother (Eddie) with academics and what he wants to achieve, so I just wanted to be able to give back to the effort that she puts in for her boys.&rdquo;
The Nesmiths are a family that values higher education. Eddie just finished studying Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University, while Aaron majored in Human and Organizational Development at Vanderbilt, a program focusing on business and marketing. Growing up, however, Aaron had a passion for math.
&ldquo;It was always a direct answer &ndash; you either get it right or you get it wrong &ndash; so I always kinda liked math for that,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;There was no room for interpretation (laughs).&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
The 2020-21 NBA season, on the other hand, was very open to interpretation &ndash; especially for a rookie class that was thrown into the fire instead of going through the usual months of preparation with a summer league and proper preseason. Nesmith joined a Celtics team that would go on to battle setback after setback.
&ldquo;When the season started, Coach Brad Stevens told us to be ready to hit curveballs. Because the way the season was set up, anything could happen,&rdquo; Nesmith said. "For my rookie class, we had to hit a couple curveballs before even making it to the NBA. The draft got pushed back twice, two separate days, we didn't have a normal pre-draft process... From the get-go with this NBA journey, it was pretty much hitting curveballs.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was pretty much ready for anything that could be thrown at me. My team individually, we got hit pretty hard by COVID and had a almost a week stretch where we had only seven players available. So really, just waking up and expecting anything, [it was about] being ready for that... Whenever I work out early in the morning, it's so that when my name is called, I'm ready and I'm not caught off guard. [I was] just pretty much waiting for my name to be called.&rdquo;
Going into Year 2, Nesmith has had more curveballs hurled at him &ndash; initially in the form of former Celtics president Danny Ainge&rsquo;s dismissal and the subsequent promotion of his first-year head coach, Stevens, assuming Ainge&rsquo;s position.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I mean, I definitely didn't see it coming,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;But I think it was great for Brad Stevens and his journey going forward. He's a great basketball mind. I think the Boston Celtics are in great hands with him moving up into the position that he took.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I owe [Danny] a lot. He believed in me, and he picked me in last year's draft, so I'll be forever grateful for that. Even after the last game, he came to me and congratulated me on the season and the turnaround that I had from the beginning to the end. So I thank him for believing in me, even in the beginning where I had a rough start and he continued to believe in me, continued to give me advice even 'til when it started to turn around for me.&rdquo;
Stevens&rsquo; promotion meant a vacancy at head coach, and in turn led to the hiring of Brooklyn Nets associate head coach and longtime assistant Ime Udoka. Though the conversations have been brief, Nesmith has gotten to know him, and learned that Udoka lived in Charleston at one point of his life.
&ldquo;[He&rsquo;s a] players coach. He seems like he's a big development guy, really cares for his guys,&rdquo; Nesmith said of Udoka. &ldquo;He wants to win. He's out there coaching with Team USA because he loves developing guys and he loves being around high-level basketball players. So, I'm excited to get to work with him just 'cause you can see how much he loves the game.&rdquo;
In addition, since Kemba Walker was dealt to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Nesmith will have some new teammates in Boston. Budding big man Moses Brown is coming to town along with veteran forward Al Horford, a Celtics fan favorite who will be back for his second stint with the franchise.
&ldquo;(Laughs) Mhm, that's what I've heard,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;I'm excited to meet him... I watched him growing up some, but the thing that I think will help me the most is just being able to watch how he conducts himself and the way that he approaches the game mentally more than anything. He's been in the NBA for so long. He seems like he's a really good leader, so I'm really excited to be able to work with him.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
This was another good game from Aaron Nesmith. He's figuring things out. He hit three triples, but this was my favorite play. Nesmith misses from deep in the corner. Then watch him bust back to make sure Zach LaVine doesn't get an easy layup. This is part of how he'll earn time. <a href="https://t.co/d7WSc3L7hH">pic.twitter.com/d7WSc3L7hH</a>
&mdash; Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1354084314963714050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Making up for lost time, Nesmith is excited to be playing for the Celtics in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in a few weeks. He sees it as an opportunity to keep his individual momentum from last year going, and a chance to expand on some of the work he&rsquo;s put in over this current offseason.
&ldquo;To be able to play five-on-five again, in a game setting, bringing out the competitive juices &ndash; I just love playing and winning,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;Even though it's not a ring ring, we still get a tournament and we still have to declare the winner at the end, so now that's the current objective: to win that.&rdquo;
When asked to evaluate his rookie year, Nesmith considered himself &ldquo;definitely happy.&rdquo; He is grateful that he had the opportunity to compete against Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and the high-level players the Celtics had, and credits all the veterans who were on the team for their advice and passing knowledge onto him.
&ldquo;I'm ready to do it again,&rdquo; an eager Nesmith said of his upcoming second season. &ldquo;The thing that sticks with me the most [from my rookie year] is just how much you have to give 110% every day, mentally and physically &ndash; 'cause everybody's really good at this game. Everybody works to perfect their craft, so how hard can you outwork the person next to you or in the room that you can't see?&nbsp;
&ldquo;So every day, you've got to go in and give it your all. Even on an off-night &ndash; we play so many games &ndash; you still have to get up just like everybody else does, tie your shoes just like everybody else does and go out there and play as hard as you can. Or else, you're not gonna win.&rdquo;
Nesmith quickly learned to expect the unexpected at the pro level, with &ldquo;the roller coaster of playing and not playing&rdquo; acting as his most difficult adjustment. On the court, his role with the Celtics was much different than it was with the Commodores, too.
A standout at Vanderbilt, Nesmith led the team in scoring (23.0 points per game) his sophomore year prior to a season-ending foot injury. He touched the ball a ton, and put it in the bucket with ease, notably with his scorching 52.2% clip from deep on over eight attempts per game. The &lsquo;Dores depended on him to be their primary team leader in many different facets.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When he got to the pros, that was no longer the case. Coming off the bench in a much-reduced role than what he was used to in Nashville, Nesmith had to find other ways to make an impact for his new squad &ndash; going hard on the defensive end, diving for loose balls, making hustle plays &ndash; when the starters needed an extra push. &nbsp;And in those times where he was on the floor with Tatum and Brown, he picked up on their tendencies.
&ldquo;It definitely helps that they're on my side. I would rather be playing with them than against them,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;They were our best scorers last year, and you&rsquo;ve got to be able to play off of them and off the ball [and] learn where their spots are. If Jayson and Jaylen shoot a pretty good percentage in *this* area, if they have the ball, you probably don't want to shoot it [there]. For me, that's how I was able to get a lot of my offensive rebounds, based on where they were on the floor and if they had the ball, and whatever dribble combinations they were putting together.
&ldquo;Just doing whatever the team needs to win. Basketball's a team sport, so you have to put the team first. Playing in the NBA and playing with such a talented team, everything that I did at Vandy is not what I need to do here on the Boston Celtics. I have to be able to adapt and change my game in order to help my team win games.&rdquo;
Luckily for him and the Celtics, Nesmith has the instincts and a natural motor to help him do those things. At an early age, his father instilled an outwork-everybody attitude that Aaron still carries with him on the floor and in life.&nbsp;
Nesmith put those qualities to use in arguably his signature performance as a rook. In the midst of a four-loss-in-six-game stretch, Boston came out flat in front of its home fans on April 30 against the San Antonio Spurs. The C&rsquo;s trailed 77-48 at halftime, and even plummeted into a 32-point hole... but the guys in green did not fold. In fact, Nesmith was a catalyst to one of the most unlikely comebacks of the year (and the third-largest in league history).
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4vcUqUGnMtU" width="100%" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
He scored all 16 of his points in the second half and overtime, knocking down clutch threes, ball-hawking for easy opportunities inside and helping Tatum&rsquo;s 60-point night come in a victory. Nesmith admits that the moment was a proud one for him. He legitimately affected the outcome of the game and played 30 minutes that night.
And the day before, in a win at Charlotte, Nesmith became the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-aaron-nesmith-is-first-boston-celtics-rookie-with-15-points-3-steals-and-blocks-since-paul-pierce" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first Celtics rookie since Paul Pierce</a> to record 15 points, 3 steals and 3 blocks in a single game.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It was just part of the journey. That's not the last thing I want my name next to, either,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;So I'll chalk that up, put that up next to some of my other awards I've gotten and just keep moving forward, and try to get some more... an NBA championship, first and foremost. And then hopefully a couple years down the line also be able to make the All-Star game, and everything that comes with that as well.&rdquo;
Reflecting on his own pre-draft process happening so recently, Nesmith said it&rsquo;s crazy to think about the next class entering the league in just six days.
&ldquo;It really did fly by; I think about it all the time,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;I got to Boston on November 19, I left in early June after we lost to the Nets, and that's at least seven months. Those seven months flew by like they were two.&rdquo;
Falling to the Nets in the opening round of the postseason left a bad taste in Boston&rsquo;s mouth, but Nesmith believes that experience will prove to be a positive one heading into the 2021-22 campaign.
&ldquo;We learned a little bit more about resilience and having to really fight and win it on the defensive end, especially against a team like the Brooklyn Nets, who have so much offensive firepower,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;It's pretty tough to keep up with a team on that offensive level. But if we can buckle down on the defensive side and we can limit those options &ndash; we're also a very potent offensive team &ndash; that'll take care of itself. I think we learned that our identity going forward needs to be a defensive-minded team. Because even in years past, if you look at the Boston Celtics before I joined the team, they were pretty much a top-five, top-seven defense in the NBA, and it served them well in the postseason. So I think we got away from that a little bit last year, and going back to that next year will serve us greatly.&rdquo;
For Nesmith and the Celtics, the slate is now clean.
&ldquo;We got a new coach, new systems to learn, new guys to play with. And with the old guys, it's just fun being around them, fun competing with them every day,&rdquo; Nesmith said. &ldquo;I'm excited to take what we learned from last year playing in the first round of the playoffs, taking that into next season and putting it to use throughout the regular season, and then making a deep postseason run as far as we can. For me, I'm excited to expand my role, get a more consistent role with my team,and be able to help my team win games any way I can.&rdquo;

Celtics wing Aaron Nesmith spoke to Spencer Davies about his rookie season, Boston's changes, gifting his mother a car and more.