{"id":4788,"date":"2025-07-12T17:51:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T17:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/4788\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T17:51:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T17:51:04","slug":"gonzalez-earns-high-marks-from-celtics-coach-in-sl-debut-but-upset-with-fts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/4788\/","title":{"rendered":"Gonzalez earns high marks from Celtics coach in SL debut, but upset with FTs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCeltics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“I\u2019m not allowing myself to miss like today.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tHugo Gonzalez made his Summer League debut with the Celtics on Friday. John Tlumacki\/Boston Globe Staff\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Conor Roche<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJuly 12, 2025 | 11:32 AM\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

3 minutes to read<\/p>\n

Hugo Gonzalez showed some all-around promise in his Summer League debut on Friday.<\/p>\n

The Celtics\u2019 2025 first-round pick put up 12 points on 4 of 12 shooting to go with five assists, four rebounds, two blocks, and a steal in their 92-78 victory over the Grizzlies. Beyond the stat sheet, Gonzalez helped initiate the Celtics\u2019 offense on several occasions and provided strong pressure on the Grizzlies\u2019 ballhandlers.<\/p>\n

In fact, Celtics Summer League head coach Matt Reynolds was impressed by the tone Gonzalez helped set defensively in Friday\u2019s game. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would say Hugo and the whole team were just pressuring relentlessly the whole game,\u201d Reynolds told reporters. \u201cThat\u2019s what we asked them to do, and he ended up on the ball handlers a lot. Particularly down the stretch, you could see that he was kind of wearing it a little bit. But that was an excellent tone that he and our backcourt set throughout the course of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defensive intensity by Gonzalez and other members of the Celtics caused the Grizzlies to shoot just 40.6 percent from the field and 20.7 percent from deep. Memphis also committed 19 turnovers, which is a really high number for a 40-minute game. <\/p>\n

Gonzalez\u2019s Summer League debut was far from perfect, though. The rookie wing was disappointed with his free-throw shooting on Friday, making just one of his five attempts from the stripe. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not allowing myself to miss like today. What I\u2019m getting upset because of today\u2019s game is the free-throw line,\u201d Gonzalez told reporters. \u201cSomething that, of course, everything in my game I need to improve, but it\u2019s something that I\u2019m not allowing again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The four misses from the free-throw line weren\u2019t Gonzalez\u2019s only misses from inside the arc. He only shot 1 of 8 on 2-pointers in Friday\u2019s game, missing a handful of layups and driving shots to the rim.<\/p>\n

Still, Gonzalez didn\u2019t look like a fish out of water in Friday\u2019s game. The 19-year-old finished his season with Real Madrid in Spain right before the Celtics selected him with the 28th overall pick in the draft in late June, marking a quick turnaround for him.<\/p>\n

As Gonzalez played a team-high 28 minutes on Friday, he noted that the pace of the game might have moved a bit too quickly for him at points.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard to catch up with the pace and everything,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cWhen I was in Europe, the game is a lot of times a little bit slower. Trying to have the possession until the end here if you got a shot, you better take it. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s actually making the game really up and down and you gotta catch up with that if you wanna play. I\u2019m just trying to adapt as soon as I can so, as I said before, contribute to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

If he was fatigued, there were a couple of moments in the second half where Gonzalez didn\u2019t show any signs of it. In the third quarter, Gonzalez blocked Grizzlies big man Armando Bacot\u2019s dunk from behind. In the fourth quarter, Gonzalez made a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to help seal the win for the Celtics.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez shot 3 of 5 from deep in the Celtics\u2019 win, a stat that their coaching staff certainly welcomes. But it was his all-around contributions in the things not seen on the stat sheet that impressed Reynolds the most on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the summer league team, I would say that what you saw this afternoon is exactly what we\u2019re looking for him to do,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cPressure the ball, space the floor, be ready to shoot, handle the ball, make plays for others, attack the basket. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought his aggression attacking the paint was excellent. Some plays he finished and some plays he didn\u2019t. I think that\u2019s going to kind of even out going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Celtics updates\ud83c\udfc0<\/p>\n

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