Even before tip-off of the Celtics' tilt against Houston Friday night, Evan Fournier was feeling good about himself. For that he could thank the arrival of his car.
Then came the actual game.
It took a little while to see the good vibes kick in on the court for Fournier, but once they did it was something.
The guy who went 0-for-10 in 33 minutes earlier the week during his Celtics debut, finally showed why Danny Ainge traded for him. In the 118-102 win over the Rockets, Fournier netted 23 points, 20 of which came in the fourth quarter.
“I give him a lot of credit,” said Celtics coach Brad Stevens. “I can already tell he’s not really a guy that rides the emotional roller coaster, he’s a pretty even-keeled guy, and he’s come into work every day and gotten his normal amount of shots up, doesn’t look bothered by the fact that he started in that first game 0-for-10. Didn’t look bothered by the fact that we didn’t give them enough shots as a team the other day. He’s just trying to figure out how he can help impact us and we did a better job of finding him tonight, especially once he got going.”
While Fournier only netted a total of six points in his first two games with the Celtic, he still is averaging 19.7 points per game during the 2020-21 season.