Daniel Theis is at the Boston Celtics in the middle of his first NBA season. In his SPOX column, the German national player talks about his everyday life in the best league in the world.
Hello to Good Old Germany and welcome to my Monster Blog!
From now on I will always report to you about my life in Boston and the NBA once a month, so that you will be kept up to date on how I am doing and what happens off court. And by the way: If you want to know something special about me in the future, just ask me with the hash tag #AskTheis on Twitter or Facebook. I’ll pick the best questions from now on and answer them here in the blog. And now I wish you a lot of fun reading!
Sometimes I still can’t believe I’m sitting in a locker room with guys like Kyrie Irving, Al Horford or Gordon Hayward and I’m standing on the court after playing with you on the PlayStation for the last few years.
The season began for us with Gordon’s terrible injury, which was very difficult for all of us. However, she has also welded us together even more closely as a team. We fought our way together and won 17 victories in a row after two defeats. I particularly liked our Defense. In the last few games, however, we’ve seen some signs of fatigue and we haven’t defended so well. Unfortunately, games like those against Detroit, San Antonio, Chicago or Utah were lost. The NBA season is very long and every team has a few short dry spells. It is then simply important to remain self-confident and give the right answer on the pitch.
One more word about Gordon: The injury in my first NBA-game was a huge shock! As a Teammate and also as a friend it was simply unbelievable to endure. He supported me from day one in Boston and helped me a lot. After the game I tried to build it up as best as I could and help him with it. I visited him, we played cards, had dinner together and just talked. He was positive for most of the time, but then he went uphill when he was allowed back into the hall and started to dribble, fit and throw. All from one chair, of course, but at least! I am very happy that he is doing so well and the boat is already gone!
The whole organization here at Celtics is extremely professional. The full concentration is on basketball and you can see that at every corner. There are sports psychologists, many athletics trainers and you can do as much strength training as you want. There is always a trainer available around the clock. At the beginning of the season, each player was assigned a coach who is responsible for him/her. It is also really good that we always prepare breakfast and lunch and pay attention to individual nutrition plans.
The games in my new living room, the TD Garden, are always something very special. Always sold out and always in a really good mood! Even in the away games I see Celtics fans everywhere and always on the spot. For example, in the match against Brooklyn Nets, there were more Celtics fans than Nets fans in the arena and in the last quarter, our fans were so loud that the “LET’ S GO CELTICS” could be heard throughout the arena.
The traveling here in the NBA is much easier and more relaxed than in Europe, despite the many games through chartering. However, you have to travel a lot more because we are on the court almost every other day. Due to the many games and road trips, there is almost no time for proper training with the team. This means that we have a lot of strength and individual training instead.
Boston really quickly became our new home. My family feels very comfortable and our little daughter is already learning English in Daycare. The environment is very familiar and we have already made new friends in the team. The Baynes and Haywards have children of the same age and therefore there are always different family reunions.
The contact with Elias Harris is still very good. But I miss him very much as a neighbour and best friend! The possibility to simply walk over the terrace for talking and chilling is unfortunately no longer available. All the more I am looking forward to the off-season, so that we can finally meet again.
As usual in Germany, we will then celebrate Christmas on 24. December, not like here on the 25th. in the morning. My mother-in-law and a friend of the family will visit us to spend the days with us. Traditionally, however, the socks/Christmas Stockings are traditionally hung on the fireplace. I also hope that I can taste the good Christmas dinner with my broken nose!
Apart from that, I’m already looking forward to my first Christmas Game, at home against the Wizards. I wonder what it feels like to play at Christmas.
So far, so good! In the meantime, I’ll keep you posted as usual on Facebook and Co. and report back to me here in January.
Until then, on behalf of the entire Theis family, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2018!
Best regards from your Monster Blogger,
Daniel
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