Celtics' Matt Ryan Emotionally Shares He 'Was Driving DoorDash' a Year Before Scoring Game-Winner

Rich Obrey/NBAE via Getty Matt Ryan

Boston Celtics player Matt Ryan has come a long way.

In a stirring postgame interview Monday, Ryan revealed he was driving for DoorDash just one year ago, a far cry from sinking the game-winning shot to beat the Milwaukee Bucks a few minutes earlier.

"It's pretty emotional," Ryan, 25, said after his three pointer made him a Summer League legend.

"It's been a crazy 11 months. I was home for a year and a half," he told reporters. During that time, Ryan drove for the food delivery app and worked in a cemetery in Yonkers, New York, according to The Athletic.

"I don't know if you guys heard my story, but I was driving DoorDash a year ago," Ryan told reporters after Monday's game.

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Boston was trailing Milwaukee by just a single point when Ryan took a highly contested shot that secured his team the 111-109 victory.

Ryan added, "To be here, to be a part of the Boston Celtics is special. It's special."

Ryan signed a two-way contract with the Celtics in February, after competing in last year's Summer League for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has the chance to play during the regular season, depending on how he does this summer, and so far he's impressing.

Celtics Summer League coach Ben Sullivan told The Athletic, "Matt's got great confidence, great fundamentals, a quick release," said Sullivan. "He puts a lot of pressure on the defense from the outside."

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Sullivan also praised what he's seen of Ryan's shot organization and confidence. "I'm pretty impressed with how quickly he can get organized and into his shot no matter how quickly he's moving east, west, north, south. When you can do that, then you can get a shot off at almost any time."

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"I'm feeling really, really grateful for these opportunities — every day putting a jersey on and playing basketball is a gift," Ryan wrote on Instagram in March.

A November 2020 Instagram post shows him practicing shots in the gym. "There's nothing I love doing more than this," he wrote. "Being in the gym and just working. The greatest feeling is when you can literally feel yourself getting better at something due to your own diligence and consistency."

Next, Ryan and the Boston Celtics will take on the Memphis Grizzlies Thursday in Las Vegas.