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Boston’s Romeo Langford talks returning to action, his COVID-19 experience

justin quinn
·3 min read

“It felt good to get back out there, get my legs back under me and just compete with my teammates,” shared Boston Celtics second-year shooting guard Romeo Langford in what we are guessing is something of an understatement.

Langford had last played for the Celtics during the 2020 NBA Playoffs held in the Orlando-area Disney bubble, on September 17, to be precise. The Indiana native then went more than half a year without setting foot in an NBA game due to a longer-than-anticipated recovery from wrist surgery compounded by a bout with COVID-19. Cleared to return to play last month after recovering from surgery on a tendon torn in those playoffs, Langford found himself a late scratch due to COVID the very day he’d been slated to return.

“I wasn’t too tired, I wasn’t exhausted,” said the former Hoosier of his first stint in live-game action since that September day that feels like a lifetime ago now.

Like Robert Williams III, it was not an asymptomatic case of COVID that kept Langford off the floor -- in fact, it hit him pretty hard. "It was pretty bad for when I had the symptoms;" he explained.

"I had the symptoms for about four or five days, and it hit me pretty hard. It felt like I had a really bad flu, and then I ended up losing my taste and smell; I really still can't smell that much. I wasn't allowed to do anything for two to two-and-a-half weeks."

"That was my main thing coming back was just to get my wind, and get my feel for the game and feel of the ball and stuff like that," he added. https://twitter.com/TheCelticsWire/status/1379100463505801230?s=20

"First workout back, my legs, my body -- everything felt terrible," offered Langford.

"I was really planning on playing Friday, but we had a little four-on-four session and I didn't feel comfortable at all with my legs and my ability playing basketball. I just said to them, 'I feel bad,' and that I wasn't comfortable playing. I expressed that to them, and they understood, and I told them 'Just give me until Sunday, and I'll feel better.'"

"And that's what we did," he related, "I had two good workouts. After that I got my feel back, I got my shot back and that's why I played [Sunday]." https://twitter.com/TheCelticsWire/status/1379095629318742016?s=20

It might not have been an impressive statline with just 3 points on 1-of-4 shooting in 12 minutes of floor time, but Langford's defense was solid as ever, and his shot looked decent if a bit rusty. But whose wouldn't be after a seven-month break? We're just happy to see the former lottery pick back on the floor. This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook! [lawrence-related id=48654,48649,48620,48616] [listicle id=48648]

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