MIAMI — At 4 p.m. Monday, with the Maine Red Claws in the middle of a six-day break, two-way player Romeo Langford was getting dinner at a restaurant in Portland.
Then his phone went off.
The Celtics were recalling him for Tuesday night’s game against the Miami Heat. It was an ‘oh crap’ moment. He’s had last-minute call-ups before, but this was the latest, and it didn’t leave him with many options to get to Florida in a reasonable amount of time.
“It was either I leave at 5 from Maine and go to Miami, so I would have had like, 30 minutes to pack, which I couldn’t do,” Langford explained before Boston’s game against the Miami Heat. “Or I could get an Uber and get back to Boston and catch a flight at 8. That’s what I did. Got to Miami at like midnight.”
Luckily for Langford, the Red Claws were in a lull in their schedule. He was able to quickly shift from Red Claws mode to Celtics mode.
“Just gotta make that switch real fast,” he said. “That’s the NBA, you can’t, you gotta prepare for another team just like that the next day. Really, I just switched my focus to be prepared for the game plan for Miami. Just that fast.”
Langford dressed but did not get in against Miami. He has played in seven games for the Red Claws, averaging 10.6 points per game
VANESSA BRYANT made her first public comment Wednesday since the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, one of their daughters and seven others, taking to Instagram to thank people for the global outpouring of support since the tragedy.
“Thank you for all the prayers. We definitely need them,” Vanessa Bryant wrote. “We are completely devastated by the sudden loss of my adoring husband, Kobe – the amazing father of our children; and my beautiful, sweet Gianna – a loving, thoughtful, and wonderful daughter, and amazing sister to Natalia, Bianka, and Capri. We are also devastated for the families who lost their loved ones on Sunday, and we share in their grief intimately.”
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
PACERS 115, BULLS 106: Victor Oladipo’s only 3-pointer tied the score with 10 seconds left in regulation, and Malcolm Brogdon scored seven of his 15 points in overtime, helping Indiana rally for a win at home.
Oladipo had nine points in his first game back since suffering a season-ending knee injury last January. T.J. Warren scored 25 points to lead the Pacers, who have won eight of their last 10.
Brogdon had eight rebounds and nine assists.
Chandler Hutchinson finished with a career-high 21 points and Zach LaVine added 20 for Chicago, which lost its eighth straight in the series.
NETS 125, PISTONS 115: Spencer Dinwiddie scored 28 points in his first game with his new jersey number, Kyrie Irving returned to the lineup to score 20 and Brooklyn beat visiting Detroit.
Irving didn’t play Sunday at New York after learning of Kobe Bryant’s death, and Dinwiddie, a Los Angeles native, was in tears after the game talking about what the Lakers star meant to him.
Dinwiddie changed his number from No. 8, one of the numbers Bryant wore, to No. 26.
The Nets left two seats open with flowers on them at Barclays Center in honor of Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, who were among the nine people killed in a helicopter crash Sunday. The pair sat in those seats near Brooklyn’s bench for a Dec. 21 game against Atlanta.
GRIZZLIES 127, KNICKS 106: Dillon Brooks scored 27 points, Ja Morant had 18 points and 10 assists, and visiting Memphis cruised to its fourth straight victory.
Julius Randle had 16 points and 15 rebounds, and Elfrid Payton finished with 15 points and 11 assists for New York, which has lost seven of 10.
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