It wasn’t a sure thing that Cooper Flagg would play in Friday night’s homecoming of sorts against the Boston Celtics. Flagg has been nursing a sprained left foot and had missed eight straight games.
But the Dallas Mavericks rookie from Newport, Maine, grew up watching the Celtics and a large contingent of Maine fans was sure to be on hand for his first professional game at the TD Garden. Flagg’s father, Ralph Flagg, previously told the Bangor Daily News that his son was excited to be back in Boston and to play against the Celtics.
The rookie forward returned to game action Thursday night against the Orlando Magic and was in the starting lineup Friday against the team that has inspired his family for decades. His longtime trainer, Matt MacKenzie, was also on hand and explained before the game how Flagg worked to get back on the court after the foot sprain.
“He’s been working so hard, in the weight room, with the medical staff, obviously with the player development coaches,” MacKenzie, who owns Eastern Maine Sports Academy and Results Basketball in Veazie, said courtside at the Garden. “It’s just been a collaborative team effort, but ultimately, Cooper has worked very hard just to make sure that he’s at full strength, full health, to be able to get back on the floor.”
MacKenzie said Flagg wants to have a “really good” finish to the season, and that he wanted to be able to play in Friday’s game.
“Absolutely, yeah, he had this game circled when the calendar came out to start the year,” MacKenzie said. “And he wanted to make sure that he had the opportunity to kind of put on a good show for the Maine fans and play in what we call his backyard.”
MacKenzie is part of Flagg’s close inner circle, which also happens to be full of longtime Celtics fans. And it means a lot to them to share the return to Boston with so many fellow Mainers.
“It just means so much to be able to see all the Maine fans out here and be able to connect with so many different familiar faces,” MacKenzie continued. “I think for Cooper, he’s always taken a lot of pride in being from Maine and being able to play in front of his hometown fans.
So I think it’s going to be great.”
If Flagg had any nerves to kick off that homecoming, he didn’t show them. The rookie had his team’s first four points on the Garden floor after receiving a thunderous round of applause during pre-game introductions.
I know that there’s a lot of emotions going through, and I’m sure adrenaline will kind of carry him through tonight,” MacKenzie added. “But he’s very excited.”