Boston’s Vincent Poirier talks quarantine, staying ready for playoffs

Boston Celtics rookie center Vincent Poirier spoke with team reporter Amanda Pflugrad about his quarantine life, staying ready for the playoffs, and keeping in touch with teammates and family.

Boston Celtics rookie center Vincent Poirier recently caught up with team reporter Amanda Pflugrad, and shared what he has been up to since the Celtics and the rest of the NBA went into lockdown mode on March 12.

For many fans and players both, it’s been a challenge adjusting to the new normal of the coronavirus quarantine, but several players on Boston’s roster have been sharing some of their daily routines, thoughts and feelings on the viral pandemic on social media.

And, as Poirier has, occasionally in remote interviews.

Pflugrad began with a question about how Poirier and is family have settled into that new normal, and the French big man reflected some of the same issues many of us our dealing with.

“We’ve been at home for two weeks now, so it’s kind of odd,” he began. “It’s better for everybody — I would try to stay in shape and to do something during the day, because the time is long.”

Asked how he’s staying in shape in light of reports of the team bringing workout equipment to players in quarantine, Poirier responded he and his teammates “are in touch with the trainer, so every morning I try to do some [training],” which is “pretty hard because I don’t have anyway to do anything.”

“There is some exercise you can do with just your body,” he continued,”and I try to do the most I can. I find a little track next to my place, so I try to run in the morning.”

“After that, there’s … video games, just sitting around,” he added.

While some of that gaming has been played with fans through Poirier’s partnership with Yoke, a celebrity video chatting company alongside teammate Tacko Fall, he hasn’t been doing much gaming with his other gamer teammates like Grant Williams or Gordon Hayward.

Circling back to the start of the shutdown, Poirier revealed on the night when it was related fellow Frenchman Rudy Gobert had tested positive for the coronavirus, he’d been with the Utah Jazz center just five days earlier.

“So, he called me before [the news came out], and said, ‘yeah, I’m positive’; so I went back to my room to stay safe, stay quarantined — you never know”

“It’s something nobody was ready for, but I think the team entered [quarantine] in a good way, [and] we came back on the day after and they tried to test us really fast.”

“That’s pretty pretty tough to feel like there’s no more NBA right now at this time of the year,” he added, “and we don’t even know if it’s going to come back … it’s sad, because you don’t know if you need to stay in shape … you don’t know [they will have] the playoffs or not, so that’s a weird feeling.”

The French center noted it’s their job to stay in shape, and that in addition to the physical side of things, he’s keeping his mind focused, he’s been learning, watching old games, and staying in contact with people, in particular the coaching staff.

In the regular teleconferences held by the Celtics, Poirier related how they’d share information about what was going on with the NBA in terms of future plans and important news, but spoke little about the specifics of the game itself, echoing comments by head coach Brad Stevens in an earlier conference call from last week.

The team has been using those calls to stay connected during this time of physical distancing, and though digital, they’ve been an important means of maintaining the bonds forged over the course of the 2019-20 NBA season.

“The fact is like we have a good chemistry, so we’ve always been checking [in on] each other even before that. So, we keep doing that. We love each other, we appreciate each other, so that’s just natural for us to check on everybody. I just [did that] this morning; we try to stay in contact.”

The interview was a long and wide-ranging one, and worth a watch if you haven’t already seen it. Watch the video above for all the details of the exchange, where Poirier discusses teammate Marcus Smart beating the virus, Tik Tok videos, a new addition to the Poirier family — and more.

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