It might not have been Tuesday, but the night belonged to Tacko Fall just the same.
Not for his production, exactly — that’s still coming along in his time with his G League assignment with the Maine Red Claws — but for his presence.
Fall isn’t just the hyper-tall sideshow many feared he could become; he’s got real ability as an NBA big even if still raw, and the combination of his gravity, personality and promise strike a chord with Boston Celtics fans.
In Friday’s drubbing of the Detroit Pistons, fans increasingly agitated for the 7-foot-5 hero as the night went on and the lead got bigger, finally coming to a head when forward Jayson Tatum tried to get the Senegalese big man into the game.
“I mean, obviously the crowd wanted him in the game,” Tatum explained of his effort to force the issue (per MassLive’s John Karalis).
“We wanted Tacko in the game, so trying to get him in there as early as I could.”
Tacko just faked like he was gonna check in. The crowd erupted. Then he sat back down. Now Brad calling for Tacko chants. Then Brad subs him in. This place is a madhouse.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) December 21, 2019
The chants, which come at nearly every game the Conakry native is present at (and some that he isn’t) reflect the growing fandom of the two way center.
“I knew it was coming, it was a matter of when,” Fall remarked. “[Jayson Tatum] tried to force me to go in first, and coach [Brad Stevens] was amping up the crowd even more, and then he turned around and said Tacko, go in,”
added Fall.
It’s gotten to the point the coach’s own family has started encouraging the former Butler product to play the beloved big more minutes against Detroit.
“My family is out of town and I was talking to them before the game and I was kind of going through the injury report,” revealed Stevens, whose daughter decided to weigh in on Fall’s playing time.
“Kinsley pipes in from the car, she says, ‘It’s time to give the people what they want … and that’s all she said.”
When the apropos moment came, the former Butler coach played it up to the crowd, who ate every second of it up.
This is the best thing you will see all day. I promise. pic.twitter.com/leNL2oiaIc
— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) December 21, 2019
“Tonight was intense,” Fall said. “Usually [the ‘we want Tacko’ chants] are like once or twice, but I feel like it started in the third quarter and it just kept going,” noted the 24-year-old (via WEEI’s Nick Friar).
He managed five points from the floor in as many minutes played, hitting both shots he attempted and one of two from the charity stripe, pulling down two boards and blocking one shot, not bad production even in garbage time.
But the UCF product is under no illusions about where his game is at present, even with all the voices clamoring for his playing time on a near-nightly basis.
“I still have a long way to go,” the former Golden Knight said. “Just got to stay the course, trust in the plan that they have for me and things will work out.”
While it could be months or even years before Fall is ready to play meaningful minutes in games with the Celtics, he’s a lot closer to doing so than not than he was at the start of the season.
“That means a lot for me that people want to see me do good, from the people who work in the facility to the front office, players, everybody,” offered Fall of the fans in the seats as well as his locker room pulling for him.
“I can’t let them down,” he added.
Based on the growth we’ve already seen in a young season, it seems unlikely that he will.