We’re still just under a month away from training camps opening up and preseason games giving us a glimpse of what the Celtics will look like on October 25th. If you’re like me, even Media Day gives me goosebumps; seeing the players — especially the new guys — in the uniform is a thrill.
Thankfully, we have NBA 2K. The franchise usually premieres about seven weeks before Opening Night and gives us gamers us a little virtual preview of the parquet. So, in the spirit of scratching an itch, here are some highlights from a simulated game a YouTuber posted last week.
Spoiler alert: what makes it even sweeter is the outcome against Miami.
With Kristaps Porzingis joining Al Horford and Robert Williams in the frount court, we’re going to see a lot of double big lineups and with that, mismatches for them to take advantage of in the post.
It’s a simple cross match here in semi-transition with Porzingis taking Kyle Lowry in the post and drawing the Bam Adebayo double. Swing-swing and Jaylen Brown gets the open catch-and-shoot three at the top of the arc. More shots like that from JB rather than self-creation 3’s should help an already efficient All-NBA All-Star.
The same goes for Jayson Tatum. Just over 55% of JT’s field goals were assisted, but with another superstar creator in the floor, he’ll be able to do more defensive manipulation working off the ball.
Williams’ and Brogdon’s health are two of Boston’s biggest x-factors heading into 2023-2024. The strip from the Time Lord on the defensive end leading to six passes on offense culimating on Malcolm Brogdon’s strong drive and dunk is a thing of digital beauty.
This isn’t exactly how the Payton Pritchard-Jayson Tatum two-man game is going to look, but if you believe the summer hype and the necessity to have a third guard in the rotation with Marcus Smart now in Memphis, Pritchard is going to be a contributor next season. The newly wed has shown out in Pacific Northwest Pro-Am, on the Team USA Select, and now, in pixels finding Williams for the short jump hook.
As mentioned, I’m a sucker for this stuff. In fact, whenever the Celtics lose in frustrating fashion, I’ll fire up the XBox, set the game on Hall of Fame difficulty, and replay the loss on 2K to see if I can forge a different result.
So, to see Porzingis jump the entry pass, force a turnover, and then hit the 3 to beat the Heat made me giggle with delight. Sure, this isn’t real life, but after being basketball-starved for the last four months (save for a five games of Summer League), I’ll take what I can get.
One of my favorite things to do this late in the offseason is play Celtics vs. Celtics for a little training camp scrimmage. If we have any 2K gamers out there that would like to get a run in, drop your gamer tag in the comments and let’s set up a pick-up game.
