Stevens, Fournier, Nesmith talk excitement, impact of playing for near-full Garden crowds

The trio shared their thoughts on how it will feel to play for the first packed house in the Garden in a very long time.

The Boston Celtics are set to have a packed house in their next tilt with the Brooklyn Nets, with a near-capacity crowd cheering on TD Garden’s home NBA team for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state government having lifted restrictions on arena capacity the day before.

The increased crowd presence clearly gave a lift to the Celtics in Game 3 to help hand them their first win of three games played in the best-of-seven series so far, and that with just 5,000 fans compared to the roughly 17,000 who will be present for Game 4 on Sunday night.

Speaking to the media after practice on Saturday, Head Coach Brad Stevens emphasized the potential impact of the boosted fan presence; “There’s a reason why people play for homecourt all year,” he explained.