On Friday night, the Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers, 139-89. Many anticipated Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to steal the stage. Instead, Luke Kornet emerged as the night’s star, capturing everyone’s attention with his outstanding performance. His exceptional show, specially at the first quarter, drew high praise from teammate Jaylen Brown
Kornet, who has been stepping up in the absence of Al Horford, dominated the first quarter with 11 points and four rebounds, setting the tone for the game. Upon reaching double digits in the first quarter, Luke Kornet excitedly celebrated by flashing ten fingers.
After the game, Jaylen Brown praised Kornet’s fun spirit, saying, “Gotta love the Kornet celebrations. Where would we be without those? We love to have personality on our team and have fun, and Luke, he’s the spirit of that. So, we like to get him going. We like to get those celebrations going. That means we’re doing good in the game.”
Luke Kornet’s 15 points and 8 rebounds greatly impacted the Celtics’ final score. Not only did Kornet’s play fill the hole left by Kristaps Porzingis’s absence, it also showed that he could be a key player for the Celtics this season.
Celtics Coach calls Luke Kornet one of the team’s best defenders
Luke Kornet is usually the third choice for the Celtics, behind Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford. But since Porzingis is healing from leg surgery and Horford hasn’t played this preseason, Kornet has stepped up. He did really well in all three of Boston’s practice games.
In his 18 minutes on the court, Kornet impressed Coach Joe Mazzulla, who said Kornet is one of the team’s best defenders. He said, “He’s worked really hard this summer, and I’ve definitely seen him get better. Just his screens, his spacing recognition. He’s one of our best defenders because of his ability to communicate on the fly … and I think he’s gotten really good offensively up until this point.”
