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Boston’s break-the-glass-in-case-of-emergency-center Luke Kornet seized the opportunity like he used to do all season during the Celtics‘ 120-95 blowout victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
With Kristaps Porzingis still on the shelf with a calf injury, Kornet played meaningful minutes off the bench for the Celtics.
The 7-foot-1 gangling center pulled down 10 rebounds while adding 4 points, 2 rebounds and 2 blocks in 21 minutes off the bench.
Kornet has quietly developed into one of the underrated backup bigs in the NBA today. He has put together his best season with the Celtics, averaging a career-high 4.1 rebounds with 5.3 points, 1.1 assists and 1.o blocks. His development has not gone unnoticed.
Former two-time NBA All-Star center Roy Hibbert used Kornet as a case study for an under-the-radar big men prospect, who dreams of carving a path to the pros, such as Richmond’s 7-foot-center Neil Quinn.
“He asked me, like, ‘Do you think that I can get to do things in the NBA?'” Hibbert said in an interview with The Celtics Chronicle’s Adam Taylor.
Hibbert, who called Quinn’s game twice as a college basketball analyst for CBS Sports, pointed to Kornet’s fundamentally sound game as something he could emulate.
“I sent him film of Luke Kornet,” Hibbert said. “Just saying, like, literally, you run, you set screens, you have good hands. You know, you move your feet, you can play in this league. This guy is like 6’10, 6’11 kind of athletic, and Kornet can catch lobs and everything like that. [Quinn’s] very physically gifted, but I feel like there is a path to the NBA.”
Luke Kornets’ NBA Journey
Tuesday’s game was a surreal moment for Kornet as the 19,156 TD Garden crowd serenaded him, chanting his name.
“It was cool,” Kornet told The Athletic. “I haven’t really had that since college, where they’d do that a little bit.”
A skinny white American big man is a rare specie in today’s NBA. But Kornet has persevered to carve his path to the NBA after a four-year collegiate career at Vanderbilt.
But even after averaging a career-high 13.2 points and 6.2 rebounds and All-SEC and All-SEC Defensive team honors in his final year with the Commodores, Kornet went undrafted in 2017.
Finding Home in Boston
Kornet did not give up on his NBA dream.
He worked his way up from the New York Knicks’ Summer League team that year to a two-way contract until he earned a standard contract. Thus began his journeyman career in the NBA with stops at Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Milwaukee and return to Boston via its G-League affiliate Maine Celtics in 2022.
Kornet was in street clothes when the Celtics came two wins away from winning an NBA title in the 2022 NBA Finals. He is hoping he would be on the floor the next time Celtics play for the championship again, which appears likely this season.
“It’s definitely nice to be able to come into the game and make a contribution early on,” Kornet told The Athletic. “That’s something I’d like to be able to do going forward, just to be able to do my job.”
Hibbert hopes Kornet’s journey would serve as an inspiration for players like Quinn.
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