Matt Ryan gets emotional after hitting game-winner for Celtics in Summer League

BOSTON — While the results in NBA Summer League don’t matter all that much, the moments throughout the tournament mean quite a bit to players fighting for a job in the league. Matt Ryan had one of those moments for the summer Celtics on Monday night.

Ryan signed with Boston last February but played in just one regular season game. He was then part of the Celtics’ bench mob that celebrated just about every basket the team scored during its run to the NBA Finals.

Now he’s on the Celtics Summer League roster, and on Monday night, with Boston trailing the Milwaukee Bucks by a point with 6.3 seconds to go, Ryan dribbled the length of the floor and banked in a game-winner at the buzzer. 

That winner was just the exclamation point on a terrific night by Ryan, who led the way for Boston with 23 points off six made threes. He tweaked his ankle a bit on his final shot, but was already feeling better when he spoke with reporters in Las Vegas after the win.

Ryan said that it was his first game-winning shot since middle school, and added that he wasn’t too confident it was going to fall when the shot left his fingertips.

“I thought it was left and I thought it was long. It was long, but it happened to be pretty straight,” he said with a smile.

Knocking down that game-winner brought back a host of emotions for Ryan, who has had to take quite the path to get to where he is. He played for three schools in college, suiting up for Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and Chattanooga, and then had his pre-draft process in 2020 disrupted due to the pandemic. He went undrafted and spent a year at home in Yonkers, New York, finding ways to keep his basketball dream alive.

Over that year, he worked for DoorDash to pay the bills. Ryan held back tears Monday night as he discussed his basketball journey.

“It’s pretty emotional. It’s been a crazy couple of months. I was home for a year and a half. I don’t know if you guys have heard my story, but I was driving DoorDash a year ago,” Ryan said as he fought his emotions. “To be here, to be part of the Boston Celtics is special. It’s special and I’m just happy.”

Ryan isn’t signed for next season, but Boston has an open two-way spot open. Ryan could end up with the Maine Celtics again, building off a 2021-22 season when he finished second in the G League in three-pointers made.

The 25-year-old knows that his best bet at landing a two-way deal from Boston — or better — is to keep doing his thing in the Summer League.

“I’m just trying to play my game. Make as many shots as I can, play good defense, and contribute positively,” he said Monday. “I’m going to just try to keep doing that.”