With the NBA All-Star break finally here, the Celtics get a much-needed rest and hopefully get back on track because they have just looked winded and lost at times lately. However, this weekend won't have all the Celtics resting, Friday night was the Rising Stars Challenge and the Celtics had two representatives, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. If you didn't get a chance to watch, allow me to recap this for you and just say, our future looks really bright after watching these two play.Representing just the third team in history to have two all-stars (Kyrie and Horford) and two rising stars, safe to say this was just the beginning of what looks like it could be a fun Celtics filled weekend. These two are the very definition of Rising Stars, and last night was a great example of why.
First, we had Jaylen Brown, known as an incredible athlete and big-time dunker, he led all scorers with a nice little 35/10 performance on 14-21 shooting and had his own dunk contest showing that just maybe he got snubbed from the dunk contest Saturday night. Jaylen lives for these moments, plain and simple. Even though this is a game that doesn’t count and people weren’t really trying, just watching him dominate like he was, is all I needed to see as a reminder that the Celtics should not consider trading this guy. He is going to be a full-on monster and is going to get better every year.
Next, was Jayson Tatum, our favorite 19-year-old. As we know, Tatum has been slumping as of late and hopefully, this was just the kind of thing he needed to get his groove back. He finished with 15 points (3rd highest on the team) on 7-13 shooting and he looked like he was having a good time out there doing it too. Most importantly also, no one got hurt! You're always worried in these kinds of games that if someone tries to pull off a crazy looking play, they may pull something but no injuries and the young guys look like they got some kind of confidence back in them. Hopefully, this leads to the team coming out on all cylinders right out the gate too.
