Garnett stops to sign autographs at the conclusion of the open pratice |
Instead they will fly out a day early and land in Miami Sunday night.
The annual open practice, held for ticket holders, was a regular team practice. Instead of having the usual open practice format, which usually includes a scrimmage of the starters versus the reserves, coach Rivers wanted to keep his boys focused by having an average practice for the crowd.
"It's so close to our first game, so we wanted to get some actual work in," said Rivers. "I actually liked the fact that there was a crowd. We hadn't seen one in a while, maybe that'll help."The annual open practice is usually held early in the preseason. And although there wasn't a lot of 5 on 5 going on, season ticket-holders still filled the seats and watched their team run through various plays and drills. Paul Pierce was impressed with the size of the crowd, and talked about how passionate his fans are.
The crowd were eventually rewarded with a 5 on 5 scrimmage. One play that stood out was a left-handed dunk by Jeff Green who slamed it over Fab Melo off of a pass from Pierce."The fans really love us," said Pierce. "We were joking, this would have been a packed arena in the Hawks arena. These people come out, watch our practice, that just shows the loyalty and the type of fans we have around here. Just to come out here and check us out for about an hour and a half. It's like no other place"
Towards the end of the practice, a "Beat the Heat" chant started among the crowd and the players, and the coach?
Celtics will practice tomorrow morning in Miami before their Tuesday night season opener against the Heat."I think Doc might have kicked that off," said Terry. "But I wasn't far behind."
Josue Pavon
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