The Celtics are one of the most legendary franchises in sports, and there will always be some things that set them apart in the eyes of careful observers, whether it’s a look at history, experiencing the atmosphere, or something else. Here’s the Boston Herald reporting on new Celtics guard Kyrie Irving, who already sounds quite at home:
The Celtics have held this annual open practice in the Garden for season ticket-holders since the latter part of the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett era, but the experience had a kind of newness for Kyrie Irving last night.
From the crowd, to the banners and the floor — even the nets as it turned out — had a special meaning for the Celtics guard.
“The energy. The energy, man,” said Irving, before going into intricate detail with a unique description of the Garden parquet.
“It has that vintage, intimate, kind of replicated vibe for what the Garden used to look like,” he said of the original Garden. “The misfit of the squares in where they’re placed on the floor. They’re going in opposite directions — the perpendicular one if you know what I’m saying. I just appreciate all that. And then the nets as well as the whole intimacy as well. I just like the whole aura of it.
“It’s nothing like it. It’s nothing like it,” he said. “Even the energy in here, I can feel it. All these fans about to pile in. It’s about to be a great day.”
