London Hodgepodge Day 2


The Boston Celtics have been busy for the past few days in London, and them taking it international has brought a ton of things out of the woodwork. For the conglomeration that was yesterday: Day 1 for the Cs in London, click here. Otherwise, strap in and check out what's been going on today.

The Celtics practiced for the second day in a row. Only one of a handful of practices that they've had in the past month. Celticslife's own, Tomek Kordylewski, the master mixtape-maker, worked his magic and merged all of today's highlights into one video.


Of course, the team spent a fair share of time with the media. Here's some of the players talking about tomorrow afternoon's matchup.
Coach Brad Stevens hopped on the horn to chat with some of the hometown media who weren't able to make it across the Atlantic. He discusses Kyrie Irving's role, the happenings in England, their gameplan for the match tomorrow, among other things.

Of course, Kyrie was a main stage topic. He's the new kid in town, and everyone wants to be clued in into how he's coping. By the stats, it seems like he's doing just fine in his new home.



More uncommon eating habits on this team! Apparently, Jaylen Brown was starving himself all summer to benefit his mental and physical wellbeing. He says it's helped to make him mentally tough, and I believe it. I've been trying to cut off the late night snacks for months now, and just can't seem to wean myself off. It's all will-power. I recognize that, but my mental toughness just isn't at the point that I need it to be at. How feeble minded I am.

The Cs also mixed with some finer folk. This guy is in a French rock band called Naosol and Waxx. Pretty neat.

The Celtics also interviewed some local fans. I don't think that the video has been released yet, but be on the lookout. Maybe it'll drop during the game tomorrow.


Ben Simmons was asked about his Rookie of the Year rival, Jayson Tatum.
And here's a video of Kyrie discussing the style of game that he expects to see from the Sixers. Ideally it'd be embedded in the post and you'd just have to click 'Play' to hear Kyrie speak, but ESPN has a faulty embed code and it won't paste. Anyways, you can inconveniently click here if you want to go through this whole hassle of a process that ESPN has created. Those guys, let me tell ya...

A big plus about playing overseas is surely the tourism aspect of the trip, and the Celtics did plenty to keep themselves busy today.

Lucky the Leprechaun took in the sights.

Kyrie and Jaylen are doing their best to take in the culture and spread the goodness that is the game of basketball.


And as we already saw, Kyrie is out there signing autographs, shaking hands, kissing babies and whatnot.
Unfortunately, Big Ben is under construction and is surrounded by scaffolding. The worst. I once went to a castle in Ireland and the thing was being worked on. The pictures came out terribly. Just me with a construction zone in the background. Noonan.

Last night, the entire organization and their families went out to a nice, fancy dinner together, where they were able to bond and have some tasty eats. Per Marc D'Amico:
“I think it’s just great, anytime that you get a chance to get everybody together outside of the court, get to spend time, get to know each other a little bit more in a different country, trying different food and things like that,” said Al Horford. “I think it’s pretty cool. I think it makes our group tighter. It was a good experience.”

The menu for the night was English and was curated by team chef Nick Arcuri, who travels with the team full-time. The main courses for the meal were chicken and salmon.

“Me and the guys hung out, me and most of the guys,” said Jaylen Brown. “After dinner, we got back on the first bus, chopped it up, hung out a little bit, and had a good time here in London.




And here's what some of the players have planned for tonight, which was technically a few hours ago, seeing as it's almost 3:00 AM in London as I type this sentence.
Al Horford
Horford didn’t have a well-laid-out plan, but he did have an idea of what he’ll do with his night.
“Today, I’ll probably go out to dinner again and then probably just walk around the city,” Horford said. “Just do something like that, keep it low-key before the game.”
Jaylen Brown
Brown will be attending a top-flight soccer game between Chelsea and Arsenal, to be played at Stamford Bridge Stadium. Brown called attending the game “a dream come true” before revealing an actual dream he had as a youngster.
“I remember I had a dream when I was like seven years old and I played in the Premier League for, I don’t know – it was like [Manchester United], I don’t remember what team I was on,” he remembered. “But I had a dream that I was running onto the soccer field and they were all screaming and chanting my name. Hopefully that comes true, but I doubt it.”
Maybe that dream will come true tonight, Jaylen. Hold out hope!
Abdel Nader
Abdel Nader is looking to continue to dive into the local food scene, as well as to scope out the city with his significant other.
“My girlfriend is a big foodie and she’s in town with me, so she’s looking up places right now for us to go check out,” he said, noting that he is a big steak fan. “Yesterday we didn’t have a bunch of time, so we’re just going to explore. I’m a big outdoors guy, so I want to take a look, and it’ll be fun.”
Daniel Theis
It will now become clear to all Celtics fans that Daniel Theis is a planner. Here’s what he told Celtics.com when asked about his plans for the night:
“I’ll take my wife to a musical,” he said. “We’re going to Aladdin. That was my Christmas gift. It’s going to be fun with her.”
Aron Baynes
Theis isn’t the only one catching a show. Aron Baynes has plans to take in a musical as well.
Asked about his plans for the night, Baynes replied, “This afternoon, mate, I’m going down to the West End, going to go watch Book of Mormon with the Mrs.”
And if you know Baynes, you also know he’s going to test the city’s cuisine.
“Definitely grab some food,” he added with a smile. “We haven’t locked in anywhere yet. I’ve got a few restaurants that I’ve got the name of, but still haven’t made a decision. We’ll see what the appetite is like later on.”
Marcus Smart
Picture Marcus Smart as a 23-year-old who would want to run around London? You’re wrong.
“nah, I’m gonna relax,” he said after being asked if he had any plans for the night. “I’ll probably go shopping a little bit, but that’s about it.”
Terry Rozier
Shopping quickly became a theme. Smart wasn’t the only one thinking about picking something up for himself.
“I’m going shopping,” Terry Rozier said definitively, before adding in another possibility. “ I might go to the soccer game with Jaylen, but other than that, nothing.”
Semi Ojeleye
The shopping train continues to chug along here…
“I’m going to try to go to the mall, for sure,” Semi Ojeleye said. “Everybody was talking about it, so I think we’re going to try to do that. And then I’m going to try to see Big Ben… if I don’t run out of energy first.”
We then had to break the unfortunate news to Ojeleye that Big Ben is currently under construction and is not visible to the public. That just means more time for shopping, we suppose?
Guerschon Yabusele
You’d never believe it, but…
“I was hoping to go to the mall to shop a little bit,” he said, before being notified that he was the fourth player to make that claim. “Shopping is my thing tonight, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Jayson Tatum
Jayson Tatum is a quiet guy who is about as calm as they come. It’s no surprise, then, that he’s just going to let the night unfold in an unscripted manner. Asked if he had any plans, Tatum replied, “I don’t think so.” He then said he’d let the night take him wherever it takes him, before Nader joked from a couple of feet away, “He’s lying… he’s a part animal.”
It doesn't look like Terry Rozier made it to the game.

This happened last night, so its semi-old news, but some former NBA studs hung out with Gordon Ramsay and made an English delicacy. The White Mamba was the taste-tester.

I love this. The Cs made sure to make some time for the kids.


Okay, this next part gets a bit fishy. LeBron James out of nowhere posted a photo of Terry Rozier jamming at practice. He evens calls him the 'young king.' I don't know if this is an intimidation tactic from LeBron, or a recruitment pitch, but he's got to back off. Terry is ours. It, of course, could have been because Terry was wearing LeBron's signature shoes, but I'm unsure. LeBron is suspect.

A blast from the past to when the Celtics visited Spain back in the day when Danny Ainge still put on the green jersey. Classic Danny embracing the hate.

Yesterday, Markelle Fultz said that he had a surprise for everyone in London. Obviously, speculation was that he'd potentially return from his injury to face the Celtics. Apparently, that's not the case. Now I'm anxious about the surprise. What could it be?

The Boston Celtics will take on the Philadelphia 76ers tomorrow in London, England. The game starts at 3:00pm EST. I used this joke in yesterday's post, but will use it again because I think it's funny:

I'm still trying to figure out an excuse to get out of work early to catch the game. 'My girlfriend fell off a cliff and died on impact,' can only be used so many times.

Ba-dum Ching!



I've watched both of these videos fifty times each in the past 36 hours and I've laughed everytime. Classic.

Follow OWaukewan

Photo: NBA
Share