BOSTON — Jrue Vacation received a champion’s welcome in his return to Boston.
The Path Blazers guard acquired a giant cheer when he was proven on the scoreboard throughout warmups, one other when he was launched earlier than the sport, and a standing ovation after a tribute video of highlights that included him clutching the NBA championship trophy he helped Boston win in 2024.
“Introduced again good instances,” Vacation mentioned Monday evening after Portland’s 102-94 loss to the Celtics. “One thing like that — for me, it felt prefer it was like that each single recreation. You play exhausting for this group and this metropolis, they usually undoubtedly have your again.”
The Celtics acquired Vacation from the Blazers earlier than the 2023-24 season and rode his two-way prowess to their 18th NBA title. However they needed to jettison him and heart Kristaps Porzingis final summer season to get beneath the league’s punitive second apron luxurious tax.
This season was presupposed to be a bridge yr whereas the Celtics anticipate star Jayson Tatum to return from an Achilles tendon damage. However Boston leads the Atlantic Division and holds the No. 2 seed within the Jap Convention, with hope that Tatum might return for a playoff run.
In the meantime, Vacation missed two months this season with a proper calf pressure and stays on a minutes restriction since returning two weeks in the past. He scored 14 factors in 24 minutes Monday evening, then hugged it out together with his former teammates on the courtroom.
“It is identical to household. There is a normalcy to it,” Vacation mentioned. “You spend a lot time with them that they change into household after which simply abruptly you are on a unique group. So it is all the time good to see them.”
For Vacation, altering groups is not a shock anymore. He was initially drafted by Philadelphia and in addition hung out in New Orleans and Milwaukee earlier than coming to Boston. However teammate Robert Williams III was a bit of shocked when the Celtics traded him to the Blazers — for Vacation — in 2023.
“Everyone’s first commerce is simply sort of a tough one,” mentioned Williams, who needed to watch from afar because the group that drafted him gained all of it.
“I watched the entire Finals. I watched them win it. Me and my woman,” he mentioned. “I went by way of a second of claiming I used to be glad for my canine. Then I went by way of ‘F ’em,’ you already know what I am saying? It was combined feelings, however I am glad they did it for positive.”
