Romeo Langford made his long-awaited return to the Boston Celtics against the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
And the second-year guard, who missed the first 49 games of the 2021 season due to off-season wrist surgery and a positive COVID-19 test, did pretty well in his first game.
“Yes, he was good,” head coach Brad Stevens said at a video conference following the Celtics’ 116-86 victory over the Hornets. ‘Solid. It was clear that it was nice to have him on the floor again, and after catching the ball with the first catch out of bounds, I thought he did a lot of good things. ”
Kemba Walker added: ‘It was great to have him. Romeo is a very important piece of what we want to do. … I’m excited for him, excited for his opportunity because he got so much better. ‘
Langford played 12 minutes off the bench. He came over in the first quarter with two minutes left and made a handful of contributions early on, including a nice block on the edge of Charlotte’s Miles Bridges and a three-pointer to score Boston’s second quarter.
“It felt good to get out there again, get my legs under me and just compete with my teammates,” Langford said at a video conference after the game. “I had 12 minutes, it felt good. I was not too tired. I was not exhausted. So that was good. ”
Langford’s defensive versatility was also evident during much of the twelve minutes. This is one of the more prominent aspects he believes brings to the table.
“I think it’s just one man less for our team to worry about,” Langford said. ‘I feel like I’m at my best to separate things from me and my guy not to let me go. That being said, it means the team does not really have to help that much and to give up more tries when it comes to the guy I check. ”
The first time in 2019 of the Celtics also expressed the influence that COVID-19 had on him. Langford would return after the NBA All-Star break before being placed in the league’s minutes on March 10.
“It was pretty bad when I had the symptoms,” Langford said. ‘I had the symptoms for about four or five days and it hit me pretty hard. I felt like I really had a bad flu, and then I lost my taste and smell. I really do not smell that much yet. So I may not really do anything for two and a half weeks. So my main thing to come back was just to get my wind up and get my feel for the game and feel the ball and stuff like that. ”
Stevens noted before the game that he had no expectations for Langford for the next week or two. The plan, Stevens explained, is to help Langford return to form that will again lead to longer minutes.
Langford and the Celtics return to TD Garden on Tuesday while playing the Philadelphia 76ers.
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