Malcolm Brogdon knew he was going to be a sixth man when the Celtics traded for him last summer and he may have become the best in the league at that role, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. Brogdon, who’s in a battle with the Knicks’ Immanuel Quickley for Sixth Man of the Year honors, is making a late push for the award, delivering a 29-point performance in Wednesday’s win over the Raptors. While Brogdon would welcome the recognition, he considers it secondary to being part of a winning team again.
“I want to win,” he said. “The last two seasons for me were rough, not being able to win. I’m a winner. I feel like I’ve been known as a winner. I want to be known as a winner when I’m done playing in this league, and I want to win at the highest level, and that’s winning a championship. So being in Boston, being a Celtic fits me perfectly.”
Celtics officials view the fit the same way, Terada adds, as Brogdon has become a leader in the locker room in addition to his on-court production. He also provides additional depth that the team lacked last season when it appeared to run out of gas during the NBA Finals.
“The humility that he brings to our team, he takes that pride in the second unit,” coach Joe Mazzulla said. “In order to be a great team, you have to have people like that and we have that from top to bottom. Different guys do different things, and Malcolm has come in here with patience, humility and understanding.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- Mike Muscala delivered 12 points and six rebounds in 32 minutes Wednesday while making his third start since Boston acquired him from the Thunder at the trade deadline, per Brian Robb of MassLive. Muscala, who suffered through a shooting slump in March, was 3-for-5 on three-pointers, including a clutch shot in the closing minutes. That’s the kind of production he’ll need to carve out a role in the playoffs. “I think the challenge for me is to keep that mindset regardless of how many minutes you’re playing because those are the players that are harder to guard when you have that mindset,” Muscala said. “No matter if you’re playing five minutes or playing 30, you come in and you’re aggressive and that part should not waver.”
- The Celtics are likely to bring back Danilo Gallinari for another season rather than try to deal him during the summer, Robb states in a mailbag column. Robb believes the team showed its commitment to the veteran forward, who suffered a torn ACL shortly after signing as a free agent, by not moving him at the trade deadline.
- With the second seed wrapped up, Brogdon, Marcus Smart, Payton Pritchard and Derrick White are all listed as questionable for Friday’s rematch with Toronto, tweets Blake Murphy of SportsNet.