Richard Jefferson is on the call for the Celtics’ Christmas game, and he likes what he sees
“I don’t think it’s any surprise that they are where they are.’’
Richard Jefferson never played for the Celtics in his eight-team, 17-season NBA career, but he had a couple of memorable encounters playing against them.
He was a high-flying rookie on the New Jersey Nets teams that bounced the overachieving Paul Pierce/Antoine Walker Celtics from the 2001-02 Eastern Conference finals. (The Nets also eliminated the Celtics the following season.) In 2017, he was a nearly 37-year-old reserve on the Cleveland Cavaliers squad that bounced Isaiah Thomas and the Celtics from the postseason, again in the conference finals.
Jefferson has run into some interesting and successful Celtics incarnations over his career. Now in his second career as an NBA analyst for ESPN, he likes what he sees from this current edition, which takes a 20-7 record into its Christmas Day matchup with the champion Raptors in Toronto.
“I don’t think it’s any surprise that they are where they are,’’ said Jefferson, who will call the game on ESPN along with play-by-play voice Adam Amin. “I know people want to talk about Kyrie [Irving], but understand that they were very, very good Kyrie’s first year and obviously some things changed, but I think this is a very, very talented team, and I think this team has the opportunity to upset some teams and possibly make an Eastern Conference final run.’’
Jefferson acknowledges this roster is imperfect – especially when it comes to matching up with bigger teams. But he does not believe it is a lesser roster to the one the Celtics deployed last season, when Al Horford and Aron Baynes anchored the front line and Irving was the focal point, for better or worse.
“They lost some size in Al Horford and Baynes, but you add an all-NBA guard in Kemba Walker and a healthy Gordon Hayward, that’s something to me,’’ he said. “I wouldn’t say [it’s] a lesser roster. And then you add the growth of Jaylen Brown, the growth of Jayson Tatum . . .
“When you look at Milwaukee and you look at Philly [the two preseason favorites in the East], their size, in my opinion, is what’s going to separate them, and I think that’s an area that Boston is lacking. But I think this is a very, very good team, and they all are going to get better as they get healthier.’’
Wednesday will mark the 18th straight Christmas for NBA basketball on ESPN and ABC. With compelling matchups headlined by the Lakers-Clippers showdown, it’s a chance for the networks not only to continue the tradition of entertaining games on the holiday, but to perhaps begin to turn the league’s ratings back in a positive direction.
As of early December, NBA television ratings were down 15 percent from the 2018-19 season. There are plenty theories on why ratings are down — the China controversy, annoyance at teams resting stars, the lack of a single team to capture fans’ consciousness like the Warriors did in recent seasons.
It’s an unavoidable topic even for those in the league. “NBA Countdown’’ analyst Jalen Rose has his own theory, one that has been espoused before in this space: There’s a little less wattage in the star power this season.
“When you look at the landscape of the league, usually when the schedule is laid out, it’s based on the success of the teams, that either have a bright future by projection, for example, the Pelicans drafting Zion Williamson, or past success, like the Golden State Warriors making it to five Finals and three championships,’’ said Rose. “Both teams will be heavily featured on national television this year, and you see the results of Steph [Curry] being injured, Klay [Thompson] was already gone, and so there goes a lot of the team, along with the Pelicans.
“Then when you look at the Eastern Conference, it was great that the Nets were able to secure KD [Kevin Durant] and Kyrie, and they’re going to be right in the mix for best team in the East next season, but this year KD is out all year and Kyrie is dealing with an injury. Couple that with so many of the top players, LeBron, [Anthony Davis], Kawhi [Leonard] and Paul George playing on West Coast time, that’s why the league tried to do things like move the games up 30 minutes and things like that so that they could get the East Coast fans.
Rose had one more variable that he thinks had an effect, too.
“I think some people probably initially got turned off by, you know the term ‘load management’ and/or rest happening and/or being used,’’ he said. “That’s why I think the league smartly eliminated it from the stat sheet.’’
NBA Christmas lineup
Noon: Celtics at Raptors, ESPN, NBCSB
2:30 p.m.: Bucks at 76ers, ABC
5 p.m.: Rockets at Warriors, ABC
8 p.m.: Clippers at Lakers, ABC, ESPN
10:30 p.m.: Pelicans at Nuggets, ESPN
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