Tacko Fall must have been confused.
He was sitting on the bench inside the TD Garden. Garbage time was coming up. People started their “we want” chants.
But something was … different
“We want Joe! We want Joe!”
Times change quickly, and the fickle fancy of the local fans pushes new obsessions into their hearts. Where 2021 began with visions of Tacko dancing in their heads, it ends with something out of NBA Mad Libs.
Joe Johnson is a Celtic.
JOE. JOHNSON.
This is the NBA version of the “It’s been 84 years” Titanic meme. There is a palpable giddiness with the Celtics having “Iso Joe” on the team.
“In Atlanta, I got to go to a lot of those games,” Jaylen Brown recalled. “I remember when it went to seven games, the Hawks went to seven games with KG, Paul Pierce, I remember that was a big deal in the city. So definitely a childhood icon, and having him here in the locker room is great.”
Brown and his Celtics teammates joined with the Garden faithful in begging Johnson to shoot when he finally got onto the floor. It’s a good thing that he did, because Brown and his teammates nearly wasted this opportunity for Johnson to get one more defender on his hip.
“I would have liked to get him in sooner except the lead got down to 12 or so, but that was the plan to get those guys some run if possible,” Ime Udoka said after beating the Cavs. “It happened a little later than we would’ve liked but the thing he joked in the locker room, ‘If I get them on that hip, they’re done, they’re dead.’ So, we know what he is. Everybody said it as they walked in, Joe’s a bucket. That’s what he is and he’s always been and so that’s not gonna change. I’m happy for him.”
Johnson bumped his career scoring total from 20,405 to 20,407 with his late bucket in this win. For all we know, it might be the last one he ever scores. Maybe he can add a few more and hold off LaMarcus Aldridge, who is at 20,300 points and gaining.
Maybe none of that matters.
When you’re 40-years-old and all you want is one more go in the NBA, your perspective changes. Especially when you feel like that moment has passed.
“I wouldn’t say give up, but I didn’t have high hopes,” he said of his potential for a return. But the rash of NBA players entering Health and Safety protocols opened a door for him. Now, he has what most guys forced out of the game dream of.
One more shot. One more introduction. One more ovation.
“For me, yeah, it is kind of surreal, to have them chanting my name like that,” he said. “To come in the game and be somewhat effective, that's fun. At my age, man, you just try to relish every moment, enjoy the process and live in the moment. That's kind of what I'm doing right now, just living in the moment. And it's fun.”
A dose of fun is very welcome around this gym right now. The Celtics are driving up antacid sales in Boston with their erratic play, much of which was on display in this game. A well-respected veteran player who has played at a very high level walking into the locker room with a “live in the moment” attitude is very welcome.
“We need some vet leadership, we need some guys that kind of get the energy, the tone, the pace, the maturity level to where it needs to be,” Brown said. He later added, “We got a lot of young guys … it can’t hurt to have some extra voices that have been through the experience to add value to our locker room.”
Maybe Johnson is some kind of basketball Mary Poppins, floating in out of nowhere to help with nurturing guidance at a desperate time. Maybe he’s just a dude who stayed in shape and has a good agent. Either way, he has something to offer if these young, inconsistent Celtics want to listen.
“I don't try to force that. That's going to naturally happen,” he said. “Me and Tatum, me and Brown, Schroder, we all just within the little time I've been here have had 1-on-1 talks. It's little things like that. I'm gonna try to do whatever I can to help these guys, help this organization, help this team gets wins, man, and see where we go from there.”
If he’s lucky, he can get one more ride with an old partner. He and Al Horford made some serious runs as Atlanta Hawks. Real life doesn’t usually offer up this kind of scripted closure, but it would be really cool to see Horford set one more pick to free up Johnson for an elbow jumper.
“Hey man, we'll see what happens,” Johnson said. “I talked to Big Al earlier this morning. So, yeah, it's exciting. I hope he gets back out here and me and him get a chance to share the floor again. Only time will tell that. We just got to take it one day at a time.”