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‘To us, they are heroes’: Celtics trio draws massive crowd in Boston
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BOSTON — The line of green stretched down the street. Fans — young and old — stood in the April sun for hours, awaiting the arrival of the guests of honor.
Some Celtics fans were local, of course. But most traveled from all over to arrive at I Love Boston Sports, a small store at Faneuil Hall that sells Celtics, Red Sox, and Patriots merch. One family hailed from South Dakota. Another arrived from Germany, suitcases in hand. A couple from Australia, a man from upstate New York, two college-aged girls from Florida, the list goes on.
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On this particular Saturday afternoon, the special guests weren’t Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown. But from the look of the ocean of green forming outside the store, it certainly looked like prominent Boston athletes were inside.
In reality, it was three Celtics bench players — all of whom have experienced long stretches of DNPs this season — who arrived on the last off-day of the regular season to sign autographs and take photos with fans.
Luke Garza arrived first, then Ron Harper Jr, and then Jordan Walsh. For two uninterrupted hours, the trio of Celtics bench players snapped photos and signed merch for kids and adults alike. At I Love Boston Sports, fans got special Bus 1 Boys and t-shirts and posters signed, which depict Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, Garza, Harper Jr, and Walsh as a five-person boy band, with the Celtics schedule listed below in tour-date fashion.
Marie, a 40-year Celtics fan decked out in green, said she drove two hours to attend the meet-and-greet. And, finding out which players would be in attendance made the trip all the more compelling.
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“These three have embodied what this Celtics season has been all about,” she said. “To us, they are heroes.”
Garza joined the Celtics on a minimum contract in the offseason and emerged as a fan favorite due to his relentless hustle. The 27-year-old is having a career season — he’s averaging 7.8 points and 4 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per game — but three times this season, he’s fallen completely out of the rotation.
One Celtics superfan, Dale, told Garza he was nervous after the Nikola Vucevic trade because he didn’t it to cut into his minutes.
“I wasn’t happy these last couple of games,” Dale said, referencing the most recent three-game stretch in which Garza fell out of the rotation. “That’s my boy!”
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Harper Jr., meanwhile, was just a few weeks removed from signing his first standard NBA contract, after four two-way deals and a major shoulder injury. And, by the looks of it, the allure of being a Boston Celtic had not worn off — the 26-year-old did not stop grinning the entire afternoon.
“Mr. Harper!” said one little boy in a Banner 18 jersey. “You’re my favorite player.”
And, Walsh signed a slew of #27 jerseys, his teammates teasing him about the relative popularity of his jersey and jokingly getting out of the way. Garza and Harper Jr. clapped as Walsh signed his superfans’ jerseys.
The Celtics fans travelled from all over to celebrate a special regular season
One older fan, Chris, drove from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to attend the meet-and-greet.
“I just wouldn’t miss it,” he said. “I’m so excited for the playoffs. It’s absolutely worth it. Being three hours away, we don’t get the opportunity to meet these guys. So, you’ve got to do the drive.”
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On his way out, Chris tapped Garza, Walsh, and Harper on the chest and urged them to deliver Banner 19.
Farrell, who became a Celtics fan during the pandemic, was not surprised at the Celtics’ success this year, in large part because he’s long had an undying belief in Payton Pritchard.
“I was a Pritchard fan before Pritchard really started to come into his own,” he said. “And nobody believed me. Everybody said, ‘Yeah, he’s just another player. He gets a three-pointer every now and then.‘ I said, ‘No, no, no. This guy has some magic.’ And now that he’s a Celtics star, my friends all think I’m psychic.”
Another superfan, Chris Breen, travelled from Canada, where he is based. He dons a bright green beard and is usually front and center at Celtics-Raptors games at Scotiabank Arena.
Outside, one woman, Angela, said she normally wouldn’t feel this giddy after a regular season. But the Celtics just won 55 games in a supposed Gap Year, in a season in which Jayson Tatum was largely sidelined, nearly half of the rotation was lost due to free agency or trades.
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“In Boston, we only celebrate championships,” she said. “But just once, I’m making an exception. I’m celebrating this season.”