The first year in the NBA is important above all to know the tendencies of the stars in order to learn how to defend them in the future, to know where they feel less comfortable dribbling, what type of shots they like more or less. And everyone needs to go through that time of adaptation except for a privileged few, a select group of which a victor is part. Hugo Gonzalez last night in the Boston Celtics’ victory against Cooper Flagg’s Dallas Mavericks (100-110).
A Flagg to whom the former Real Madrid added to his already long list of stars defended in his short NBA career. The forward who is about to turn 20 years old faced the successor of Luka Doncic in a night again with more impact than statistics for Hugo, 2 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in 17 minutes.
A little bit of everything to be the only player who added positively from the bench with a +9 despite his 1/6 in field goals and his misguided 0/3 in triples. And although Cooper Flagg He went to 36 points, Hugo made him uncomfortable when he defended him, squeezing him and rushing him in some possessions to make decisions although the 2.06 forward also knew how to get out of the mess with his suspicious reading of the game.
As a sign of his defensive versatility – even centers like Karl-Anthony Towns-, the Spanish international defended a 2.06 player like Flagg but also an elusive point guard like Jaden Hardy (1.91), making life difficult for him who was once one of Doncic’s second in command.
But the most outstanding sequence of the number 28 in the draft was one in which he exhibited his skills as a player two-wayruining a alley-oop to Daniel Gafford and setting up Derrick White for an open three-pointer. Jaylen Brown, with 33 points, and Payton Pritchard, with 26, were the top scorers for the Celtics who yesterday transferred Anfernee Simons to reinforce their paint with Nikola Vucevic.
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Boston is preparing for a playoffs in which few expected the 2024 champion, just as few expected Hugo González to be consolidated in the Celtics’ rotation after the halfway point of the season. The ex of Real Madrid he continues to make himself known to the rival stars by giving his business card last night to the young 19-year-old prodigy Cooper Flagg, who could have met one of the defenders who is going to score him the most dearly in the next decade.
