Hayward: Disney courts have ‘different vibe’ Celts must get used to

Boston Celtics veteran forward Gordon Hayward shared it wasn’t just defensive communication the team needs to get used to at Disney.

It isn’t just getting used to being ready on the defensive end of the floor the Boston Celtics are going to need to get used to in a hurry.

Veteran forward Gordon Hayward related the on-court experience at Disney was quite different than a usual game in a lot of ways — and not all of them are positive.

Without leaning on the fact that the Friday afternoon loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder was the team’s first organized basketball played against an opponent in over four months, the Butler product emphasized that even excellent practices are simply a different beast.

The subtext perhaps being that a lack of live game action may have clouded the team’s own self-assessment.

But the novelty of the Disney restart itself was at least as much of a surprise, according to Hayward

“It is definitely way different; just a different vibe for one,” he explained. “The atmosphere is so much different … The lights, the backdrop, just getting used to the whole thing I think is important, so it’s good to get some shots up.”

The lighting and the sidelines were other issues Hayward felt were a bit of a distraction as well.

“It seems like it’s a little darker around the edges but then you have some of the LED screens that are right by the court — it’s definitely nothing like I’ve ever been a part of,” he offered.

“I think it’s just one of the things we’ve got to get used to … we are given 15 minutes before to shoot a little bit. I was actually slipping on the court a lot and I brought that up to them. Maybe that was my shoes, but it was definitely was an issue with  something going on there.”

“So I think some of this is trying to try to work out, being getting used to playing in this gym getting used to the atmosphere, that type of thing,” he added.

That a team needs to tighten up on defense after nearly a third of a year off the court shouldn’t surprise — and that a fanless arena with giant video boards and unusual lighting schema is also a bit of a distraction probably shouldn’t either.

But as star shooting guard Jaylen Brown related after the scrimmage, the Celtics don’t have a lot of time to get their house in order.

From the sounds of things, they at least seem to believe they aren’t very far from that state of affairs, and it’s still too early to worry given all the variables coming together to create the situation Boston finds themselves in.

The clock is, however, ticking.

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