BOSTON — Sometimes, MVP chants ring out through TD Garden. A show of devotion for when Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, or even Derrick White steps to the free-throw line. Boos pour down for the likes of Kyrie Irving, Joel Embiid, or now, Jalen Brunson. There are ‘You Got Boston’ shouts, choruses of expletive-filled referee slander, and thunderous cheers that can be heard from Causeway to Fenway Park. The fans who occupy the building on game days are a loud, multi-faceted bunch. They give the moment what it needs.
And on Wednesday night, there were 19,580 dogs in attendance.
With 6:43 left in the fourth quarter, OG Anunoby drove into the paint, drew Luke Kornet in to help, and kicked the ball to an open Josh Hart in the corner. Kornet sprinted back out to the three-point line, launched himself into the air, and swatted Hart’s three-point attempt.
The crowd went berserk, and he immediately turned to the fans and started barking. And in an instant, he had thousands of people barking with him.
“There was a good amount of barking today,” Kornet said post-game with a smile.
“Yeah, I was barking with him,” White said. “It’s just fun to see him do that.”
White’s decision to join in on Kornet’s antics was prefaced with an initiation that he took upon himself.
“Shoutout to D-White, because he fostered me into joining back [to the barking] because I was a little just trying to live in the moment and survive in the moment,” Kornet said. “But the barking has caught on, so shoutout to the barking.”
“He kind of started it at one point, or at least, to me, and I was like, ‘Ah. I need to [bark].”
Luke Kornet helped save the Celtics' season
The Celtics walked into TD Garden on Wednesday night with everything to lose. Tatum lost to a ruptured Achilles, down 3-1 in the series, one loss away from the end of their season (and potentially the end of this core as it's known).
Playing a basketball game was the last thing on the team’s mind just two nights prior when their teammate and brother went down in a heap, yet now, it was all they could possibly worry about.
The moment Kornet tried so hard to survive could not have been bigger. And somehow, someway, he could not have responded any better.
In the first half, Kornet only played 6:30, all of which came in the first quarter. Kristaps Porzingis was given the bulk of the big-man minutes alongside Al Horford, logging 12:03. But his illness kept him off the floor past halftime. “He couldn’t breathe,” Joe Mazzulla revealed post-game.
That left Kornet to start in his place. “Joe just told me that I was going to start the second half, and I just kind of went from there,” Kornet said.
What happened next were some of the most incredible 12 minutes of basketball the building had witnessed in years.
Block after block, rebound after rebound, Kornet completely destroyed the Knicks, wiping away seemingly every shot they took inside the arc.
“He was unbelievable tonight, and really stepped up when we needed him,” White said. “He's had a great season and was a big-time for us tonight.”
By the time the horn sounded to mark the end of the third quarter, Kornet had four points, five rebounds, and five blocks—all in that period alone. He was so spectacular that the broadcast had him do the post-third quarter interview, though Kornet wasn’t thrilled with his on-air performance. “I was unfortunately a little tired and didn’t have my usual wit and charm,” he said with a smirk.
Kornet finished the game with 10 points, nine rebounds, one assist, one steal, and seven blocks while shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the field.
“I feel like I was just trying to make plays,” said Kornet. “Obviously, our season’s on the line, so [just] trying to have a lot of energy. Make plays. I feel like it was everybody. Everybody stepped up. We were very connected and very aggressive and forceful. Obviously, did our job for the day, and we got to go out and do it again. And it will require different things on Friday, but just kind of keep that same mentality and just do whatever it takes.”
The Luke Kornet block party
Kornet’s block party was a sight to be seen in the third quarter. Each rejection was paired with the booming roar of the crowd and a possessed reaction from the Celtics bench.
His second block of the frame saw him turn Hart away at the rim. The Knicks wing tried to challenge Kornet one-on-one, got sent backwards, and when he tried to kick the ball out to Mikal Bridges off after rebounding his own miss, he threw the ball into the first row. Bridges had already relocated.
The ball went bouncing out-of-bounds into the hands of Wyc Grousbeck, and Kornet looked at his team and screamed. Everyone from Al Horford to assistant coach DJ MacLeay to head athletic trainer Patrick Chasse matched his energy, yelling right back in his face.
Grousbeck emphatically lifted the ball into the air as Kornet marched down to the other end of the court. It was as loud as the building had been all night.
“Luke was huge tonight,” said Brown. “Defensively and offensively, he was stellar. And that's the type of performance that we need in the playoffs. Defensively, getting stops, making plays.”
Boston played defense in front of its own bench in the second half, meaning six of Kornet’s seven blocks took place in front of the biggest hype crew he could dream of.
Every swat—from the Hart three to the block-to-turnover pipeline—brought the Celtics out of their seats. A block-induced frenzy every—single—time.
“Sometimes it’s weird where it just feels like the plays kind of line up,” Kornet said of his block-ridden hot stretch. “It’s hard to really say anything other than you’re just kind of reacting. It’s just happening. Just being in the right spots and trying to be aggressive.
“Yeah, sometimes it sort of feels that same kind of way, although it’s weird to say if that’s actually real or if it just quantifies. There’s the old hot-hand fallacy. I don’t know if that applies to blocking shots. Someone can do the research.”
He was in a shot-blocking flow state.
“I feel like the thing that you do feel in that is that you’re just lost in the moment and you’re not really second-guessing or doubting anything,” said Kornet. “You’re just sort of reacting and playing. So I do feel like that’s kind of a similarity of like, I feel like when guys are feeling good when it comes to shooting, you’re kind of subconscious to it all.”
With 2:27 remaining in the third, Kornet helped over to block OG Anunoby at the rim, chased the ball into the corner, and nearly went crashing into the crowd in order to save it and keep possession for Boston. And on the ensuing play, he pitched the ball to Sam Hauser at the three-point line, slipped the screen, and dove into the paint for an open dunk.
Once again, the crowd went nuts.
“He was great,” said Mazzulla. “Just both ends of the floor. Did a great job protecting the rim, did a great defending without fouling, did a great job on both ends of the floor. So, I just thought his presence was good, especially rebounding. Had nine rebounds, two offensive ones. He made some big-time plays for us.”
This Luke Kornet talent is rare (yet unappreciated)
Kornet’s ability to read and react to open space on the floor made him the ultimate weapon for the Celtics on Wednesday night. It’s the same way he’s emerged as an irreplaceable rotation piece throughout the course of this season.
Defensively, he guarded Hart, helping off when necessary to block shots in the paint, but always at the right time. He gave himself enough leeway to time up soul-crushing rejections in the paint, but never too much to the point where he couldn’t sprint back to the three-point line and contest a shot.
Meanwhile, his knack for playing out of the dunker spot and rolling into uninhabited areas of the floor gave the Celtics new, unexpected offensive options.
Whether this was the action with Hauser out of the corner or setting a pick for Brown, running off of a Payton Pritchard back screen, and finishing a backwards alley-oop at the rim, Kornet was ready to accept the moment. “Big finishes, you got that backwards lob,” Brown recalled. “Luke was great tonight.”
Players are almost always praised for their exceptional athleticism, elite shooting, and creative passing. All of the flashy traits that translate to positive results. But Kornet’s innate aptitude for timing and spacing is just as rare.
“He's just good at being in the right place at the right time,” said Mazzulla. “Anticipating the play on both ends. He can [play in] different layers of our defense, he can do different stuff on offense, but just his basketball IQ. He works at it, he's also a really smart player, and he works hard.”
The Luke Kornet legacy game was special
This season was a revelatory one for Kornet and the Celtics. He showed glimpses throughout the 2023-24 championship year, but in this current campaign, he broke out into a truly elite backup center, enjoying starter-caliber flashes.
That’s exactly what Wednesday night was. The impending free agent showed precisely why he’ll be a hot-ticket item on the open market this summer, and also why the Celtics should be overeager to do anything in their power to keep him around.
Yet somehow, his basketball talent is outdone by the way he carries himself.
“Throughout this year and throughout my time with the Celtics and throughout my career, whatever coach asks me to do, I’m just there to do it,” Kornet said. “Whether I’m starting or coming off the bench or not playing at all, that kind of comes with the responsibility that is, and you just have to do your best job with whatever position that you’re put in, and that’s what we’re always trying to do as a team.”
In a city like Boston, heroes are made out of moments. They’re often born from the fires where the biggest stages meet the most unlikely stories. Grant Williams’ Game 7 against the Milwaukee Bucks in 2022. Kelly Olynyk drowning the Washington Wizards in Game 7 in 2017. Payton Pritchard sinking a half-court shot in Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals.
Wednesday night was Kornet’s moment.
“I’m very grateful just to be able to have the opportunity to play and to make a big impact,” Kornet said. “I feel like, honestly, just the connection that we had as a team, and with all the teammates and the situation that we’re in, I feel like it was just really special to be a part of.
“When you’re doing it, you just kind of get lost in it. But it was obviously a lot of fun to have the night that was tonight, and you have to be able to just do what the part calls for the next time.”