Former Boston Celtics forward Xavier McDaniel sent a strong message to Jayson Tatum and the rest of the Celtics via Twitter for when they face off against the Brooklyn Nets this coming Sunday. In his tweet, McDaniel wrote, “Good luck to the Celtics and one of my favorite players in the game right now, Jayson Tatum. Beat the Nets!”
For those of you who may not have been around in the 1990s, McDaniel played for the Celtics from 1992 to 1995. After playing the first five and a half years of his career with the Seattle Supersonics – and making the all-star team in 1988 – McDaniels made pit stops with Phoenix and New York before signing with Boston. At the time, McDaniel was a substantial addition via free agency because the Celtics didn’t typically bring in free agents. Of course, until then, the Celtics didn’t particularly need big-name free agents.
It’s heartwarming to hear that all these years later, the X-Man still has a connection with the Celtics and wants to demonstrate as such when he can. What’s even better is that he evidently has a stronger connection with the Celtics than he does with his other former teams like the Nets, as he spent the last two years of his NBA career with the latter back when they were in New Jersey from 1996 to 1998.
Former Celtic Kenny Anderson Shows Love to Celtics Fans
It appears Xavier McDaniel isn’t the only former Celtic to show love for his former team in recent days. Former Celtics point guard Kenny Anderson also took to Twitter to show his love for the Celtics organization. However, unlike McDaniel, Anderson tweeted his love specifically for Celtics fans, saying, “Good morning my Celtics fans much love always !”
Odds are, Celtics fans are more likely to be familiar with Anderson than they are with McDaniel considering Anderson came to Boston later on and played on Celtics teams that were more successful. For anyone who is not familiar, Anderson was traded to the Celtics mid-season in 1998 and played there until 2002 when he was traded to Seattle.
While Anderson may not have put up the same individual numbers that he did when he played for the Nets earlier in his career, he was the starting point guard on a Celtics team that was two wins away from the NBA finals his last season with the team. The image that he posted here was a still from when the Celtics pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in NBA Playoff History. In Game 3 of the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals, Boston came down from 21 points to beat the Nets 94-90 to take a 2-1 lead, which Anderson played a role in doing. The Celtics wouldn’t win another game in that series, but that comeback is cemented as one of the greatest playoff games in franchise history.
Kenny Anderson Divided on Celtics-Nets Series
If you follow Anderson on Twitter, you’ll see that he often shouts out the teams that he used to play for, most namely the Celtics and the Nets. It makes sense as to why he shouts out those two teams in particular. In his 15-year career, Anderson garnered the most individual accolades as a player with the Nets, including an all-star appearance in 1994, while he experienced the most team success with the Celtics, having gone to the Eastern Conference Finals with the team in 2002.
So understandably, Anderson has stated on his Twitter that he’s not rooting for anyone in particular for this upcoming Celtics-Nets series because of his loyalties to both teams.
In fact, Anderson has even stated that he won’t watch the series evidently because of how strong his ties are to both the Nets and the Celtics.
Anderson should be commended for his mindset in all of this because it’s tough to pick a side in his situation. It’s like asking a parent to pick a side if their kids were going up against each other in a game of pickup basketball. He shouldn’t have to if he doesn’t want to.
Besides, it’s just great to see that there are former Celtics out there from decades ago who clearly still have an attachment to the team after all the time that’s passed.
Ex-Celtics Star Sends Strong Message to Jayson Tatum Ahead of Nets Clash