With Al Horford out yet again, the Boston Celtics turned to Luke Kornet to fill the void as starting center. It took no time at all for Kornet to show how seamless a fit he was as their starting center.
Granted, the Philadelphia 76ers were missing most of their starting rotation, but Kornet dominated a game that he should have dominated knowing the opposition.
After the game, Kornet explained to reporters that his continuity in Boston has been key to playing so comfortably with the starters.
"I have been able to play with those guys for quite a few years now," Kornet said. "I think it's a pretty good starting point and I think we'll have to keep getting better and getting back into the speed of things."
Kornet is going into his fifth season of playing with the Celtics, so it's no surprise that in the time that he's been with Boston, he's understood how adapt his game around the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Brown himself praised Kornet for his on-court awareness
“Luke just knows how to play, being in the right palace at the right time,” Brown told reporters. “So being able to find him and get him going helps our offense and helps everybody else get easy ones. So I’m looking forward to Luke being able to step up and make plays for us on both ends. He’s a big part of our offense.”
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla also sung Kornet's praises, singling out his individual improvement as a player. He even explained why he believes Kornet is one of the Celtics' better defenders.
“He worked really hard this summer and I’ve definitely seen him get better,” Mazzulla said. “Just his screen reads, his spacing recognition. He’s one of our best defenders because of his ability to communicate on the fly the different stuff we do every single possession, and he does a great job of reading each possession.”
With Kristaps Porzingis out until December at the earliest, and Al Horford going to be rested on back-to-backs, Kornet may get the nod at starting center when both are out. Kornet may not be as good as those two, but on continuity on IQ alone, having him hold the fort down is an easy decision for them until they get back.
