We are just two days into Celtics training camp, and the excitement for this team is palpable. I’ve found myself refreshing Twitter habitually for a frame of footage, or even a snapshot of the practice facility.
The desperation is setting in. It feels like preseason may never come. But the Celtics social media accounts continue to drop just enough content to hold us over.
Today, they delivered.
The emotions jump out immediately here.
There’s a look of pure joy on the faces of Payton Pritchard, Xavier Tillman and Lonnie Walker IV that tells us they just pulled off an upset over the green jersey starters in Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday. Jayson looks particularly irritated here as well.
Taking it a step further, some of the context clues point to this being a thrilling ending. It would have to be something particularly exciting for Pritchard and Tillman to celebrate with a chest bump.
This point is reinforced by the red rectangle of LED lights triggered on the basket, indicating that time has expired. Along with that, their assistant/referee for this contest seems to have both hands in the air, signaling a made three. It’s unclear from this angle, but Walker may have a hand up celebrating the three himself.
Who made this potential game-winning three is the real question.
Pritchard is the easy answer, and the betting favorite. Could it be Tillman though? He’s been known to knock down a timely three-pointer when called upon. Pritchard almost looks as if he’s celebrating for Tillman, who displays a more stoic reaction.
Maybe I’m in too deep, maybe not. What I do know, is that a single image increased my eagerness for this season by 110%.
If a picture was ever worth a thousand words..