Luke Kornet is too often relegated to the “funny guy.” The guy that does weird celebrations. The guy that gives a joke-filled interview. The guy that we named a unique-looking contest after. And yes, Luke Kornet is all of those things.
But despite his quirks off the court, and his sometimes-awkward looking presence on it, Luke Kornet is also a legitimately good NBA basketball player.
We’ve known for a while now that Kornet is a serviceable backup center. For the past two regular seasons, Kornet has consistently given positive bench minutes for the Celtics whenever called upon. “He does his job,” as Bill Belichick would say. But reasonable questions were asked about whether Luke could actually hold his own when it really counted. Could he stay on the court in the playoffs?
While it’s certainly a small sample size, Kornet’s Game 5 performance against the Heat provided us with groundbreaking evidence that suggests Kornet isn’t just a placeholder until Kristaps Porzingis gets back. He’s a really good player who can help this team win when it matters most. He won’t be played off the court, because he’s quite valuable on it.
Luke’s most notable achievement in Game 5 was holding Bam Adebayo, whose midrange game was Miami’s best bet at any semblance of offense throughout the series, to 2-10 shooting on mostly midrange attempts. Kornet used his size and length to disrupt Bam in a way that no other Boston big was able to, at least as effectively as Luke was.
Here, Bam tries to lure Kornet into a contest with his array of jab steps and pump fakes, but Luke doesn’t bite. He’s clearly locked into the scouting report – he does his job. Kornet uses his length to get a near-perfect contest on a shot that Bam normally shoots comfortably. A less experienced Kornet might have also been pushed off his spot by Bam’s shoulder, but not this version of the Green Kornet. Just a wonderful defensive possession against a tough offensive player.
This is where Kornet really shows his growth. He slides his feet to stay in front of one of the most mobile bigs in the league, and then he takes the shoulder from Bam – while moving backwards, mind you – and still gets a hand up to contest the shot. It’s just phenomenal stuff from Kornet, and it really shows the added strength and toughness he plays with these days.
AMAZING job here staying down. So many big men would go for these up-fakes, but Kornet has an amazing feel for when Bam is actually going to shoot. He stays disciplined and gets a really solid contest on the eventual Adebayo shot.
If there was a player I would’ve been fearful about Luke Kornet defending, it would have been a player like Bam Adebayo — someone smaller, quicker, and more compact than he is, with the ability to draw him away from the paint. But Kornet stood his ground, both horizontally and strength-wise. He looked about as good as he could have on that end of the floor.
While we generally think of Kornet as a non-factor offensively, he does a couple things that really help make the Celtics’ offense flow. And again, even though we’ve seen him do it in the regular season, it was something else to see him do it in a close-out playoff game.
Luke is a smart passer. Here, Kornet makes an excellent feed off the short-roll pass. Quick, decisive decision-making and a great understanding of his teammates’ strengths. He’s a ball mover.
He’s also an excellent screener, and that’s something that’ll absolutely translate from the regular season to the playoffs.
Here’s a perfect example of Kornet’s supreme understanding of screening angles. He sees that Jalen McDaniels is trying to muck up the play by not allowing him to make contact with Payton Pritchard’s defender, so Luke just stays there and lets McDaniels act as a screener, also. Then, he gets out of the screen and rolls to the rim at the perfect moment.
Luke should continue to receive the bulk (if not all) of the backup center minutes in the Celtics’ second round series, no matter who they play. Against both teams, Kornet can either hide himself defensively on a non-shooting wing (Gary Harris, Isaac Okoro) or the big man himself, who won’t be much of a shooter (Wendell Carter Jr., Mo Wagner, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley). He already showed he can hang against Bam Adebayo, and he’ll have an easier matchup in Round Two regardless of the matchup.
Luke isn’t going anywhere. In fact, this may just be the beginning of his rise on the national stage.
